Faith in our Youth

I just spent a fantastic evening driving some of our youth group to an inner-city worship service in Joplin, MO. What a great experience! First of all, I am so proud of our kids. They are such a good group of young ladies and gentlemen. They reflect behavior that coinsides with wearing the name of Christian! These kids give us so much hope for the future. It's refreshing to see kids who are well behaved, respectful, disciplined, and loving to each other. Thank you all for being so great! I look forward to seeing what the future holds for each of you! Love you all!

Dear Barack You're Wrong About Small Towns

Dear Barack: You're Wrong About Small Towns

(Originally written and published by Will Manly who is a reporter for The Hays Daily News and The Stir) (KUDOS TO THIS KID! WHAT A POWERFUL MESSAGE TO ALL AGES OF THIS NATION ABOUT BARACK OBAMA! HIS GRAMMAR AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE MAY NOT BE PERFECT BUT, HIS MESSAGE IS LOUD AND CLEAR! LISTEN UP, AMERICAN CITIZENS!)

Dear Barack Obama:

I grew to like you over the last year. I've always thought of you as dangerously naive at best. Eloquent, gifted, genuine, yes. But dangerously naive at best.

I couldn't vote for you--but not because of your funny name or your lunatic pastor. I couldn't vote for you because you say we should raise taxes (even on the rich, who I'm convinced already pay too much), and because you say we should abandon Iraq (which I'm convinced would be surrendering a war we must win), and because you don't respect the Second Amendment (which I'm convinced should disqualify any politician from any office).

Still, I've liked your message of unity and your ability to inspire. And, since your rise I've hunted, quite frantically, for young conservative leaders with your talent. (to my relief, I found Bobby Jindal.)

And I've long said if you beat Hillary Clinton, you will have done your country a tremendous service. But anymore I'm having a harder and harder time rooting for you.

First came your wife's comment about being proud of America for the first time -- conveniently, right after you started winning primaries. Then came your own words about your grandmother, who is just a "typical white person" - a racist, or at least someone with racist tendencies. (I'm a "typical white person" I suppose and I'm no racist. In fact, little makes me angrier than when it's insinuated that I am.)

Sometimes people say things they don't really mean. But this is a pattern.

Last week, we heard your comments about small-t0wn America. Someone at a San Francisco fundraiser asked you why it's so hard for Democrats to win in rural areas. You said: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them...So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them..."

Is that a minority? HEY CLETUS, GET THE GUN? (If only we had a job to go to, some time in the last 25 years...)

Here's a thought: Maybe gun rights voters know gun control laws kill people and steal freedom.

Here's a thought: Maybe some of us have moral objections to any immigration system that forces rule-followers to wait decades for legal status, and reward border-violators with amnesty.

Here's a thought: Maybe some Americans cling to their church because their pastor is Nice person, because they find love there, because the have something they can believe in.

Here's a thought: Maybe, just maybe, us simpletons in small towns find it harder to be bigoted than all o' y'all city folk. Maybe in small towns, where everybody knows your name--and how hard you work, if you pay your taxes, how well you treat your neighbors, how often you volunteer in the community, and whether or not you're a good parent--people see the content of your character, so they don't give a hoot about the color of your skin. (But I grew up in a small town where about one third of the population is of a different race than me. What do I know?)

And here's my favorite thought of all: Maybe small-town folks are --really--capable of thinking. All on our own.

You re wrong about why small-town Americans don't' vote for Democrats.

We don't vote for Democrats because we're self-reliant so we don't like the government trying to "solve" everything for us. And because you tell your rich friends in San Francisco that we're dumb. And because, each election, whichever one of you is running for president traipses all over the country telling us you have all the answers, that you're the one on our side. That you understand and respect our way of life.

But each time, a little bit here and there slips out--and by the end of the campaign, we can tell what you think about us. And we manage to learn who you really are.

And we see you're just a horse's ass.

I like this place

I'm really enjoying this blogging thing! It gives me a chance to vent!

Lift the Federal Ban on Offshore Drilling!

We just signed a petition demanding that Congress lift the federal ban on offshore drilling immediately -- before they take their month-long summer break. Members of Congress are doing nothing while gas prices soar. Let's put their feet to the fire! Join us in signing here: http://www.grassfire.org/108/petition.asp?PID=17662431&NID=1

Smooth Move Dummy!

Today was bazaar. Not only am I sick of being in my third week of poison ivy from head to toe and on my third round of steroids that make me VERY cranky and VERY hungry 24/7 but to top it off, I decided to try and cut my left thumb off! DON'T TRY TO CUT VEGGIES WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY WITH YOUR TEENAGE CHILD! Unripe tomato, very sharp knife, slip of the hand and PRESTO: trip to the doctor and stitches..... Needless to say, I had a little talk with satan and told him to leave my home because he is not welcome. I think I will go to bed now and end this day....

Things to consider before voting in November

Print this out and take it and read it just before you vote this year......


INTERESTING DATA JUST RECEIVED ON TAXESSpread the word.....
This is something you should be aware of so you don't get blind-sided. This is really going to catch a lot of families off guard. It should make you worry.

Proposed changes in taxes after 2008 General election:

CAPITAL GAINS TAX

MCCAIN 0% on home sales up to $500,000
per home (couples) McCain does not propose any change in existing
home sales income tax.

OBAMA 28% on profit from ALL home sales How does this affect you?
If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.
If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your
home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you
make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the
elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.

DIVIDEND TAX

MCCAIN 15% (no change)
OBAMA 39.6% How will this affect you?

If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama become president. The experts predict that 'higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.

INCOME TAX

MCCAIN (no changes) Single making 30K - tax $4,500 Single making 50K - tax $12,500 Single making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 60K- tax $9,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250

OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts) Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Under Obama your taxes will
more than double! How does this affect you? No explanation
needed. This is pretty straight forward.

INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)

OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax How does this affect you? Many families
have lost businesses, farms and ranches, and homes that have
been in their families for generations because they could not
afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved
ones will not only lose them to these taxes.

NEW TAXES BEING PROPOSED BY OBAMA
* New government taxes proposed on
homes that are more than 2400 square feet
* New gasoline taxes (as if
gas weren't high enough already)
* New taxes on natural resources
consumption (heating gas, water, electricity)
* New taxes on retirement accounts
and last but not least.... * New taxes to pay for socialized medicine
so we can receive the same level of medical care as other
third-world countries!!!

Why am I still up so late?

Okay, this is 3 nights in a row now! I'm still up at almost midnight wondering why I am still awake! Maybe it's the beautiful evenings we have been having here at the lake. I hate to see them end and don't want to leave the front porch.

OR MAYBE, it's the recent drama we had in the neighborhood and I'm afraid the drunk neighbor might pour Round-Up on my newly planted flower beds because we called the police on him for beating the crap out of his wife! You know, I could sleep on the porch if it wasn't for that guy! Turd...

Maybe it is because I am enjoying my life for the first time in a long time. My husband was almost killed in February of 2007. We have been living a life in and out of hospitals from coast to coast ever since trying to get him back to as normal as possible. We finally have a bit of a breather before the next surgery and I am getting to enjoy our life. Maybe this is the beginning of coming off of the Prozac! One can only dream.....

Well, I just got the light shut off on me which is my sign from the hubby that he is irritated by the clicking of the laptop in his ear. I guess I'll have to save more for another day.

Here's to maybe getting a little shut-eye tonight!!!