First may I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the Obama family at the loss of Barack’s grandmother.  It must be good to know that the election process is finally drawing to a close so that there will be more time with family, time to honor her.

Please know that because my husband and I are not Democrats, and do not agree with many of the things on the Democratic platform, we do not let this come between us and the people around us.  Oh we talk back to the commentators on television, and make a nasty comment or two at something that is said, but the bottom line is that we care about family and friends no matter what the party or who they vote for.

That is something that is concerning me with this campaign…people are so passionate about it, that I’m concerned about what kind of reactions there will be when one candidate wins, and the other does not.  I do like how Obama always speaks of us having to come together, no matter what our differences are, and trust that will be what happens.

Still, as is almost always the case, tomorrow we will be voting Republican, for John McCain, Sarah Palin and those on the ballot in our State and local government.  I guess that is quite obvious from this blog.  At long, long last, it’s the night before election day.  My husband has gone to get his challenge papers (he’s on the local town committee for our party), and we have reviewed our sample ballots.  The yard is “decorated” with signage of his favorite candidates, and we were able to get ahold of a McCain/Palin sign a little while back, better late than never.

For me, election day and evening is almost like watching the Super Bowl, or the World Series, a game with a winner and someone who doesn’t win, but the far reaching consequences are so very much greater.

Get out and vote, everyone, and whatever the outcome, remember, we live in the greatest Country in the World…God has blessed America, don’t forget to thank Him for that, and lets come out of this excessively long campaign season, and the election, caring for one another, no matter what candidate we voted for, and no matter who wins.

Where we live, voting at any election is easy, we just go around the corner, but for others, it’s easier to vote by mail for various reasons.

I received an email with a link to can get an Absentee Ballot, it came from my preferred party, but anyone can use it I’m sure, just click here and fill out the form.  The only thing I’m not sure of is whether you will start receiving emails from this website party when you fill out the form.

Update 10/20/08 - As you can see from a post I did today, I don’t encourage voting early except in the case that you must vote absentee, then you want to make sure your ballot reaches it’s destination on time.

…and why I can’t vote for Barack Obama.

“Joe the plumber” has been made famous by asking Barack Obama a pointed question about how part of his economic plan would, or wouldn’t, help his business, a question that inspired lively discussion between the candidates at the debate tonight.  Way to go, Joe, maybe now that people know who you are, your financial future will be a little brighter.

I’ve been listening to the “who do you think won the debate” discussion for about 45 minutes now, and of course the responses depend upon who the person has been supporting all along.

Personally, I felt Barack was smooth as always, and I really appreciated McCain’s quick and good responses, most of which I agreed with.

For me, among other much smaller things, who I vote for keeps coming back to one haunting thought…the anti-American philosophies that Barack Obama listened to for many, many years under the ministry of Jeremiah Wright.  Now don’t click away yet…think about it.

It frustrates me that Barack can get away with cutting ties with Wright ONLY AFTER it becomes an issue in the press….yes this is old news, but haunting me even to this day. I am not nearly as concerned about the economy as I am about a man who may have some confused ideas in his brain after listening to his preacher teach for 20 years….don’t be fooled by smooth talk, it’s not enough to base your decision on who to vote in as President.

Last night I watched Frontline, and they did a profile on both candidates….in it they played footage of a much younger Jeremiah Wright, from the time Obama first started attending the church, and he was as off in his teaching then as he is now…and Obama just gets away with saying that he has cut off ties with him…doesn’t that bother you?  I am not saying that if he keeps filling his mind with what is good for as many years as he has filled it with Wright’s garbage that he might not be a good candidate one day, it’s just too soon now.

So there you have it, it’s not the economy, but his record and his ties to frightening people in his past that he artfully brushes over whenever they are brought up that make Barack Obama the WRONG man to be President of our great Nation, at least for now.

In case you need a refresher, here is what Obama listened to for years, and a couple other interesting clips you may have never seen before, watch them all, please!

I know, I know, the negative beat goes on by many people and many in the media, but I don’t care, I voted for George W. Bush, and I’d do it again. I know that posting this will set me apart, slot me, put me in a category…and guess what? I don’t care about that either. Here’s a bit of background, and the first reason why I’d vote for Bush again…the war.

About 9? 10? years ago when the candidates were just beginning to be named, when I heard George W. Bush was on the list, lets just say I had a feeling, call it woman’s intuition, a sixth sense, or just something resonating in my spirit (I like that last choice), I knew he would be our next President. There was really no reason for that feeling, I wasn’t one to follow politics back then…until then. I’m afraid I don’t have any sense about who will win the next election, but I did then.

Almost as soon as he became President he was under attack…and then on September 11th we were under attack. I still find it surreal to think that about an hour from my home planes crashed into two beautiful buildings that graced the horizon on many of our travels; that a plane headed for Washington DC crashed in PA; that a plane crashed into our Pentagon; that people died from letters that contained Anthrax. The mind doesn’t like to remember such things, we want to block it out and get on with our spoiled American lives, but we can’t, we shouldn’t.

At that time we were a united Nation, and wanted one thing, to get the people that got us. And President Bush lead us into war first in Afghanistan and then Iraq, and the rest is history. Oh, I know that every single decision made was not perfect, who has ever heard of a perfect war? War is never, ever pretty, and no leader has ever handled every decision with perfection…read your history books…not the ones altered by the new wave of “revisionist history”, the old history books. Some new history books and biographies are good too, but keep a close, and skeptical, eye out for the spin.

I do believe this is a necessary war, and am so thankful that President Bush was in office during that time…and President Clinton was out. President Bush is determined and not swayed by negative press, he isn’t a people-pleaser. You can’t be a people-pleaser and lead a Nation at war, especially in our spoiled Society. (Yes, I know that not everyone reading this is spoiled, I am generalizing.)

And the economy….what do you people who think that it’s all the “present administration’s fault” whenever anything happens expect during a time of war? What time in history when we have been at war have we not had to make sacrifices? Spoiled, spoiled Americans, that is what we have become.

Thank you, President Bush, for not swaying, thank you for spending time on your knees before God throughout your Presidency, thank you for the emotional sacrifices that I’m sure you have made by sending young men to war, and most of all thanks to the people who have willingly made sacrifices.

As we look ahead to the next election, think, what is more important, “change”, or staying the course? What will you sacrifice in this “gimme-gimme” society? Perhaps this is why McCain is closer in thinking to Bush when it comes to our involvement in the war (please don’t be ashamed of that, McCain…stand for what you believe!) and perhaps this is why we see Obama slowly changing some of his positions on the war in Iraq (flip-flop away, as long as you flop in the right place).