What Fuels Your Vote?

My goodness the hate mail has been flying around this past week. Lies, hate and bigotry are all alive and well in America, my friends, and for some reason, they're congregating in my email in-box. I had to read through my spam box just to take a break from the nastiness in my in-box.

I don't like to do this in my blog, but I want to take a few moments to talk about religion because, out of all the nastiness I received in my in-box, by far the most inaccurate and hateful messages were from the evangelical Christians in my life.

I was raised in an extremely conservative christian church by an extremely conservative family. It wasn't until I became an adult and experienced other churches that I really began to understand that the term "God's Love," a term that was thrown around every day throughout my childhood, really is supposed to mean love. Fear ruled the day. Christians, I was taught, were supposed to be fearful, to live their lives in fear.

So let's talk about fear, because most of the hate mail I've received this past week has been motivated by fear. Anytime a work is translated, including the bible, the translator has to make millions of decisions about which words to use. And words change meaning by their use over time. The word fear, for example, can be understood to mean respect (as in fear God), or it can be understood to mean the source of hate (as in fear everything you don't understand). My belief is that fear, as commanded in the bible, is intended to mean fear-respect rather than fear-hate (check out I John, 4:18-21). The best way to counteract fear-hate is knowledge. Real knowledge, not just assumptions fueled by emotions. Do some research. Study the issues. Use real sources rather than the chain hate mail that lands in your in-box.

Two great quotes from early in the last century come to mind:

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

and

"I have seen the enemy, and it is I."

Muslims are not the source of evil in this world, the source of evil is the fear that resides in our own hearts.

So I'm asking you now: is your vote fueled by fear and hate, or is your vote fueled by compassion and knowledge? Vote your conscience, but ask yourself first: what rules your conscience? Do you have peace in your heart or fear? Do you have to lie to make your case? Do you avoid research because it causes you to question your decision? Do you get all of your information from others whose lives are ruled by fear and hate?

The definition of bigotry is fear based, unreasoning attachment to one's own belief, with narrow-minded intolerance of differing beliefs. Let's let go of fear and bigotry for a day, and give our minds and hearts a bit of a workout.

Just think about it.
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Do You Really Think the Same Conservative Tactics Will Solve this Mess?

The belief in Trickle Down Economics contributed to this problem, it is not the solution.

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This Needs to be Heard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_NMZv6Vfh8

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Rednecks

We found some awesome Rednecks for Obama bumperstickers and T-shirts.

Then Mr. H decided to redneck his facial hair.

“We Hunt, Fish, Drink Beer and Support Barack Obama”

rednecks4obama.com

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Real Change

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONM7148cTyc

Monday was the sixth worst day in the history of Wall Street. I am so thankful that Bush and McCain were unsuccessful in privatizing Social Security by turning it over to the likes of the Lehman Brothers. Social Security is in a bad way currently, but privatization would have completely done in our senior citizens that depend on these funds for survival.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3Y1KPzW9k
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What does it mean to vote "Present"

Last week at the Republican National Convention, Republican leaders mentioned over and over and over again that Senator Barack Obama had voted "present" on several occasions. The inference of the statement by the Republican leadership was that Senator Obama had voted "present" in order to avoid taking a stand on an issue.

Did Senator Obama actually vote "present" on several occasions? Absolutely.

Let's just take a moment to learn what voting present really means. The "present" vote, while not counted as a "no" vote, is in effect a "no" vote that sends a message. The "present" vote is used by lawmakers in situations where they agree with a bill in spirit, however the current version of the bill is not good enough to vote "yes;" either it is too expensive, it is inadequately planned or funded, it will not stand constitutionally, or it has riders or earmarks attached that are entirely inappropriate.

A "present" vote is taking a stand. In fact the "present" vote says more than if the Senator had just voted "no."

Did the leaders of the Republican Party understand this? Of course they did. This is what they do and part of their every day job. What the Republican leadership was counting on, was that you would not understand the meaning of the "present" vote.

Now you do.

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Update: it became clear to me in conversations stemming from this post that some people do not know the difference between abstaining from a vote and voting present. Abstaining from a vote is choosing not to vote. Voting Present is a vote that counts against the bill passing. Bills pass by the percentage of yes votes to the total number of all votes (yes, no, and present).
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cross-posted from BlogHer

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We Can Do Better Than This

For a couple of hours this weekend a few democratic blogs spewed the same kind of toxic speculations, assumptions, assertions, and lies that Fox "News" reports as news every single day of the year.

Knock it off. We don't need to stoop to their level to reclaim America and our freedom and a viable future from the Republicans.

We need to draw some ground rules - what is appropriate? What goes to far?

McCain has repeatedly mentioned that he wants to address the issue of earmarks in Congress. He has also called Palin a "Cost Cutter." In that light, a close look at Palin's excessive use of Federal earmarks, both as a Mayor and Governor is appropriate.

Palin has been praised for going after corruption in the Republican Party. I think that is just excellent, but it doesn't mean she should get a pass on her own abuses of power both as a Mayor and as the Governor of Alaska.

I'm not going to go on and list everything about Palin that concerns me and why they need to be addressed. There are too many, and that's not the point of this post.

The point is this: there is a line we must not cross.

Sarah Palin's stand on Abstinence Only reproductive information (even for married couples) has been proven to be not only ineffective in reducing teen pregnancies, but actually places young people at a higher risk for acquiring Sexually Transmitted Diseases. This fact does not give us the right to tear apart her 17 year old daughter. I don't care whether she's pregnant or not. She is a minor. She didn't ask for this attention. She is not running for office. She is none of our business.
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Praying for bad things to happen to others

Dr. Dobson's group, "Focus on the Family" has started a prayer campaign to pray for rain at Obama's acceptance of the Democratic nomination.

This isn't the first time I've encountered "Christian" groups praying for rain to hurt others. When I was a teen, the band Cheap Trick came to play in my little town of Palmer, Alaska. My church started a campaign to pray that the concert would be rained out. I spent most of my youth wondering why "Christians" focus so much of their energy and prayer towards hating and hurting others rather than actually doing good. I still wonder.

By the way the concert was a rare, beautiful 70+ degree day.




Update: the weather was beautiful. The only rain occurred in the Fox "News" booth; it was flooded due to a sprinkler malfunction.
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The Best Use for Worn Out Panties

I've got to thank Tricia at Shout for bringing this to my attention.

The current regime in Burma has subjected women to systematic rape and sexual violence while oppressing attempts at democracy. The leaders of this regime have a superstition that contact with a woman's underwear will rob them of their power.

Surely you must have some old, worn out panties laying around. Do you just toss them away when the elastic loses its integrity?

Here's another option: send them where they can do some good.

Join the world-wide movement of women knocking off their knickers and sending them to the leaders of this oppressive regime. Follow the link for more information: Panties for Peace

pass it on
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I Believe in the Promise of America

When was the last time you actually read all the text of the Declaration of Independence? I have no idea how long it has been for me, but I made a point of looking at it this morning after watching a display of "who can cram the most flags into their outfit to prove that they're a good American?"

It's very frustrating for me to discuss my feelings about being an American because I am not an all or nothing kind of girl. I believe you can love your country and not love every last bit of it. I believe you can rail against bigotry and hate and still be a good American - despite the contrary opinions of those around me.

I do love my country. I am happy to be here and enjoy the freedoms that are promised to me, and I do appreciate our service men and women. That said, I don't believe that just because my country engages in an action makes it the ethical or right thing to do. I don't believe that American foreign policy automatically makes the world a better place, in fact it is making the world a much uglier and more dangerous place, both within the United States and outside of her borders.

If you read through the full text of the Declaration of Independence, which I cut and pasted in full below, you will find that many of the offenses of the King of Great Britain that were listed in that document, the Government of the United States of America is currently engaged in today.

I do believe that we can achieve and embody the promise of this document and the promise of the Constitution of the United States of America, but it will take a return to ethics and integrity in the highest ranking leaders of this nation. I believe in the promise of America; I hope to see us deliver on that promise in my lifetime.

Please take a moment to carefully consider this document.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

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Historic Moment

Barack Obama has clinched Democratic Candidate for President.

For the first time in my life, I will be able to vote for the presidential candidate of my choosing rather than against the presidential candidate that I think will do more damage.

“But what you don’t deserve is another election that’s governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won’t hear from this campaign - or this party - is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon.”

Things are going to get better.

Communication Skills

Senator McCain agreed with President Bush that "talking to 'terrorists and radicals' was no different than appeasing Hitler and the Nazis." (New York Times 5/16/08) This was in response to Senator Obama stating that he would engage in discussions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the democratically elected President of Iran.

I'll be the first to acknowledge there's a lot I don't know about international relations, diplomacy, and politics. But it seems to me that there is a difference between talking to someone and agreeing with them.

Isn't it possible that we can engage in coversation with another party without caving in to every one of their points? Isn't that what happens when we have political debates? Does allowing someone to talk automatically mean that you agree?

As soon as you plug your ears and start yelling "la-la-la-la-la, I'm not listening to you" you have effectively cut off and eliminated any opportunity to learn. The more you get them to talk, the more you learn about their vision, their plans, their motives, what makes them tick... That knowledge is power, not a weakness.

Oh, yeah, we're Americans, we don't need to learn anything from anyone else, they should just learn from us. Why is it that the rest of the world hates us? Freedom? More likely arrogance.

I'll cut this short and just leave you with this clip of Senator McCain calling for talks with Hamas