You know, I had all these wonderful thoughts about the election last night as I was trying desperately to come down off the wave of pride I was riding after President Obama was declared the winner of the yesterday’s election. I even had some pretty good ones this morning, despite the fact that I was ridiculously tired and felt like I’d been hit by a campaign bus.
But now? Now that I have the time to sit down and compose said thoughts into a coherent blog post?
I love the smell of democracy in the morning. -Erica Acton
For all you Harry Potter fans, be sure to check out the link below. Mr. Acton is one crazy talented guy, and you can find more of his work at Matchstick Marvels in Gladbrook, Iowa. They have all the cool stuff in the Brook. 😉
(c) 2012. All rights reserved.
Cast your votes for Vegin Martoka today! He’s been nominated for President of the United States of America and I think he would be a great leader for our country in this difficult time. After all, he led Lokana through one of the most turbulent times in its history, dealing with the devastating droughts and the assassination of his parents, as well as the attempted coup by the Zealots, led by his own brother-in-law, Balil.
Vegin believes all men – and women – were created equal and will make sure that all are treated equally before the law. He despises corruption and has ousted corrupt officials from every level of government. A family man, Vegin strives to lead by example. Honor, decency, and integrity are very important to him. He is a team player, willing to compromise when needed, and believes that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
So vote for Vegin! Click here to cast your vote. He will lead Lokana – erm, America, sorry – back to glory! 😀
(c) 2012. All rights reserved.
My friend Kina has been inundated with awards lately. As such, she put together a massive awards post yesterday and invited readers to select an award from her long list of accolades. In keeping with her idea of awarding yourself and paying it forward, I selected the Fabulous Blog Ribbon. The rules for this award entail sharing five fabulous moments, as well as five likes and dislikes, then nominating five other bloggers for the award.
For someone who’s received as many award nominations as Kina has in such a short period of time, I think this was kind of a brilliant way to handle all the award posts. That way, people aren’t always reading post after post after post about which award you’ve received.
And now, without further ado, the questions…
Today is the Fourth of July. Independence Day. America’s birthday. And on this day, I’ve got something to share with you.
All gave some. Some gave all. Some stood through for the red, white and blue, and some had to fall. And if you ever think of me, think of all your liberties and recall some gave all.
Photo by Kay Kauffman
The lyrics in the caption are from the Billy Ray Cyrus song, “Some Gave All.” I’ve always loved that song and on a day like today, when we honor those who fought and died for our independence, I find those words especially fitting.
After catching up on a few news stories this morning, I thought I’d take the time to jot down a few thoughts on the recent Rush Limbaugh flap. For anyone still living under a rock (possibly a rock on Mars, which is where Seymour occasionally accuses me of having grown up), he called Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke a slut after her Congressional testimony in support of the contraception coverage requirement. He was then forced to issue an apology, at least part of which (I didn’t visit his website, so I have no idea if this is the entire statement or just a portion of it) I read here this morning:
For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? …
My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”
But this time it wasn’t mine. Well, okay, it reminded me a lot of mine, but this time it wasn’t me, I swear. This was an article from Wednesday’s Iowa Falls Times-Citizen, or rather, it was a letter to the editor of that newspaper. Here is what Jory Rapp of Alden had to say:
It saddens me, as well as angers me, to think that it has become so “politically incorrect” to say, “Merry Christmas.” We are so afraid of offending someone for one reason or another that stores won’t put Merry Christmas in their ads, school concerts are called “winter concerts,” and such ridiculous rot as that. It seems like it’s wrong to offend everyone else; everyone, that is, except for the Christians.
If memory serves me right, wasn’t our country founded on Christian beliefs, values, and morals? We trusted in God to establish, guide, and bless our country, yet now we spit in His face and are outraged at having Him be part of our country and its government. Then we have the audacity to moan at the shape our country is in and ask why God allows certain things to happen. If we would look to the Bible and the history of the Israelites, we would see what happens when people turn their backs on God, when they choose to worship other gods and idols. We are headed down that path and if we continue to kick God out of everything, one day we will be standing in the midst of a disaster asking, “Where are you, God?” and His answer will be, “You didn’t want me around, so I left.”
This Christmas season, I will remind my children that we celebrate because God chose to send His Son to this earth as a baby to one day be the Savior of all mankind and that we are to share that gift with others. I wish everyone a very blessed and “Merry Christmas.”
I thought this was very well written and I pretty well agree with it. If Ben Stein can stick up for “Merry Christmas” even though as a Jew, he doesn’t celebrate it, why can’t the rest of us? “Season’s Greetings” has got to be about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The holiday is Christmas. If you have a problem with that, go back to wherever you came from. Or celebrate Festivus.
And now, on to snarkier matters…
It appears that the Idiot Brigade is back in full force. I swear I got stuck behind every idiot driver in Grundy County Wednesday. I was nearly hit by someone who decided to switch lanes without making sure there was no oncoming traffic and then again by someone who decided to take his half out of the middle while I was trying to pass him. If he’d come any further into the left lane, he could have knocked me right off the road. And then yesterday I was nearly run over by some idiot at a stop sign who was watching around the corner instead of right in front of him, where I happened to be walking. Jerks. What is it about winter that brings out the idiot in people?
On a more positive note, thank God it’s Friday! I am so looking forward to the weekend. No getting up for work and struggling to make it through the day, no idiots to deal with on the road because I fully intend to stay home and be exceedingly lazy, nothing but chick flicks and romance novels. Oh, and Christmas present wrapping. And Christmas card writing. And maybe a little bit of 4-H paperwork. Woo! I love weekends!
Merry Christmas, y’all, and happy Friday!
(c) 2008. All rights reserved.
…After all, I was seriously upset last night. I suppose it’s a stupid thing to be that upset over, but I think the reason it bothers me so much is that music has always been such a huge part of my life that it really irritated me to see a performance where it looked like nobody really cared. They were shooting for mediocrity and barely achieved even that. I was always taught to strive for excellence. Those kids (the fourth graders in particular) had a serious problem with projection; we sat about as far away from the singers as you could possibly get and could hardly hear them most of the time. At one point we couldn’t even understand what they were singing because they weren’t enunciating at all. I remember quite vividly a lesson I received once on enunciation during kids’ choir practice at church. Let me tell you, I enunciated perfectly after that.
It also really bothers me that in so many public places, we are encouraged not to say anything even resembling a remembrance of what Christmas is really all about. Christmas is first and foremost about celebrating the birth of Christ and his life and works. Secondly, it is about spending time with family and friends and thanking God for the blessings you have had and continue to receive. It is not about shopping and buying and spending and receiving. As a kid, I remember not really caring so much about the family part and the religion part. But now that my mom and both my grandparents are gone, I really cherish the times that I can spend with my family all together. Those times are few and far between. And the older I get, the more I can appreciate what God has done for me in my life and the more I find myself…apparently forgetting to take my hot water out of the microwave so I can have some hot chocolate. Excuse me.
Okay. Yesterday I heated up some water twice in order to make a cup of hot chocolate and I forgot about it both times. I think I remembered it as I was leaving work for the night. Today I’ve only done it once so far. Let’s see if I can remember to take it out of the microwave while it’s still hot this time.
Anyway, I think I’m a little calmer now. I am just so sick to the teeth of all this stupid political correctness garbage. Kids don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance in school anymore because “it might infringe on someone’s right not to believe in God.” You can’t have the Ten Commandments in courthouses anymore. Oh, and by the way, no Christmas carols in the annual Christmas concert because someone might be offended. Really, how much farther are we going to let them take this? If you don’t want to hear Christmas music, don’t go to the concert. If you don’t want to say the Pledge of Allegiance because you don’t believe in it, don’t say it! If you don’t like the way we do things in our country, go somewhere else. Otherwise, shut your yaps and do like the rest of us.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the separation of Church and State, but I think in some cases we’ve taken it a bit too far and much farther than the Founding Fathers intended, Christmas concerts and prayer in school being prime examples. I’m not saying I want to live in a religious state, but seriously, people, use some common sense. By not allowing such expressions of faith as singing Silent Night in a school Christmas concert, we are effectively offending ourselves. I’m offended that kids are not allowed to sing a religious Christmas song at the Christmas concert because it might offend someone else. The community in which I live is predominantly, if not entirely, Christian, and I think it’s stupid that we are not allowed to sing Christian Christmas songs during the Christmas concert.
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t done being snarky. I’m sure I probably just talked in circles around my main point of wow, we’re all being stupid here, folks, but oh well. I guess I’d just like to know why what was okay for us to sing as kids in our Christmas concerts is suddenly not okay to sing now. For crying out loud, they could have at least sung something like Silver Bells or Jingle Bell Rock or Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! While these are all nice songs in their own way, they’re no Angels We Have Heard On High or O Holy Night, but they’re at least Christmas classics. Where were they in the program?
Okay, okay, I promise I’ll get off my high horse now. I’ve been looking at my archives list and I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for over a year! I know, that’s not much for some people. I have one friend who’s been at it regularly for the last five years. But for me to actually keep something like this going this long is pretty cool, especially given that I haven’t been doing a whole lot of actual writing lately. I so need a free time machine.
And in case you were wondering, yes, I remembered to retrieve my hot water from the microwave so that I can have some hot chocolate. Yummy!
(c) 2008. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 