Palin's Interview is Humorous

Chris was just watching a SNL skit that was a spoof of Katie Couric interviewing Sarah Palin and it was hilarious. I was curious though, wanting to check out the facts I found the actual interview. The scary thing is, there are a lot of places in the skit that they are just quoting the real interview.

See for yourself.

SNL Skit Video
Actual Couric/Palin Interview

This all goes back to my belief that McCain chose Palin because she is a woman and he hoped she would bring in votes, not because she is the most qualified. Check out this story for more.

Palin to Obama - really?

I am sad to say that I have been provided with an example that supports my fear of folks voting for Palin for President and forgetting the Vice part.

I received an email containing this article. The way it starts off you think it is going to be about supporting kids with Down Syndrome but then it takes a twist and starts talking about abortion and the Born Alive Infact Protection Act. It goes so far as to compare aborting disabled babies to the Nazis and the Hollocost. Then it ends with a blunt comparison of Obama and Palin and strong support of Palin.

I feel the need to respond to a few things here. First, in Obama's book he states (I'm paraphrasing, but it is in Chapter 6 of The Audacity of Hope) that he firmly believes that politican's faith should stay out of their political decisions - morally he disagrees with abortion, but consitutionally he believes that women should have a choice. Second, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act was written to protect an infant that was aborted and then lived - no matter what stage of development. That means that if a 4 month old fetus is aborted and still has a heartbeat when removed from the mother, the doctors are legally obligated to try to keep it alive. Finally, the fact that Palin is anit-abortion should have virtually no impact on whether you vote for McCain or Obama. Palin would be the Vice President - she wouldn't get to vote on issues before congress, bills or acts - McCain will be doing that. Please don't forget this!

Compare Candidates

First off, let me be clear that I do not yet know which candidate will get my vote in November. I do know that for the first time since I have been old enough to vote that neither candidate terrifies me - I think that either solution will be worlds better than what is in the White House now. That said...

My first thought when McCain announced that his running mate was a women (without knowing who) was "what a media ploy!". All of the debates around Palin's experience aside, I really think that McCain chose her to get votes, not because she was the most qualified - and that really bothers me.

My second thought was "I wonder how many will vote for McCain because the want to see Palin win?" I'm worried that many will vote for McCain/Palin because they like Palin and her extreme conservitive views. The thing is, unless McCain suffers a terrible tragedy, Palin will have minimal power - it is McCain who will be in the Oval Office. I think it's important to keep that in mind.

I am baffled when I see news stories and articles that compare Palin to Obama - it's apples to squash. We need to look at apples to apples - Obama to McCain and Palin to Biden.

On another note, I have seen and heard a lot of comments made both about Obama and McCain that just don't seem accurate. I have read Obama's books, and while I don't agree with all of his politics (specifically healthcare, but other issues as well) I truely think that he is a good man. I have not yet read McCain's book but based on his past decisions (in life, not necessarily politics) I think that he too is a good man. My time over the next 6 weeks will be limited, but I hope to research as many of these potentially inaccuracies as I can. Here is my list so far - if you can provide factual input on any, or if you have suggestions for additions, please comment.

• McCain & Obama - % of voting history with Bush?
• Obama - won't wear a flag on his lapel?
• Obama - if wins, insists on swearing in on the Koran?
• Obama - has Muslim family members?
• McCain & Obama - voting history around oil issues?
• Palin - bridge to nowhere, true history on
• Biden - history with efforts in Iraq
• McCain - political accomplishments?
• All four candidates education and voting history (a document for comparison through debates)
• Research Michelle and Cindy
• Compare policies around major issues of healthcare, oil, war, education, jobs, abortion and economy

MiniMama's doin' shots!

Of Birch Beer that is. I've been sampling local beers as we go and we
finally found one that Mom likes at the Firehouse Brewing Co.

Centered

Mom standing at the center geographical United States in Belle
Fourche, SD.

Montana Flopped

The drive to MT was gorgeous. We saw tons of Antelope! The destination
however was a flop. The saloon was yucky and the only employee didn't
even say hi :( I'll just have to get back to MT another time, maybe
hit YellowStone.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

Wait until you see the pictures on my camera, this one doesn't really
do it justice. The cool part is that there were people scaling and
climbing it which was fun to watch and they gave perspective, this
thing is huge!

Sensory Overload

Today was just....it was....I can't even describe it. I'm on sensory overload.

We went through two states, prairies (which were on my bucket list) and mountains, we saw antelope, deer, prairie dogs, buffalo, turkey, mountain goats, hawks and chipmunks - all wild. We saw Scottsbluff, the Oregon trail, Needle Peaks, Mt. Rushmore, Spearfish Falls and the Pigtail Bridges.

I posted a handful of pictures here.

Tonight we're in a pretty spiffy Comfort Suites in Spearfish, South Dakota. Tomorrow is an easy day, we're going to see Devil's Tower in Wyoming and then go to Alzada which is a teeny tiny town in Montana, but it has a saloon and it will get me to Montana. Then we hope to make it to Ruby's for dinner where they have an acutal gun-slinger!

Good night for now.

The big dudes

We made it!

Wild mountain goats

Again on the side of the road!

Wild Buffalo

Taken from the safety of our rental car but it's not zoomed in at all,
he was that close!

Wild Prairie dogs

Wide open spaces

Though there's not much to see, what there is to see seems to go on
forever! It's awesome and beautiful in its own way. We're just past
the Nebraska stateline in South Dakota enjoying the Great American
prairies.

Nebraska - Check

Mom and I are on a road trip together. Thursday we were able to meet in Salt Lake City (SLC) where we rented a convertible and drove into town to check out Temple Square (shown in my last post). We enjoyed a home-cooked lunch at the Lion's Club and got a tour of the Mormon Conference Center. We got stuck in Salt Lake City for an unexpected night, but we made the most of it by having dinner at the Red Iguana and then slipped onto the AM flight to Rapid City, South Dakota.

You all know how I want to hit all 50 states so from Rapid City we have all sorts of fun plans.

Pictures for now, we can fill in details and links later.

Our goal in Nebraska was Scottsbluff, but on the way we couldn't help but stop at Car Henge - words cannot describe....wait until you see the video!

We did make it to Scottsbluff though, the museum was closed but it was cool to see. It's fairly flat terrain and then this huge rock structre. It's right on the Oregon Trail and it was the way they knew that they had survived the plains and were entering into the mountainous part of the trail.

Chimney Rock was near by and caught our attention too.

The trains in the area are insane! Mom counted 142 cars on one, we have no idea how long a car is but we figure that train was easily more than half a mile long.

We had a very delicious, Mid-West Gourmet meal at the Whiskey Creek Saloon and now we're resting up for tomorrow. Check back tomorrow for more.

Salt Lake City Fun

Mom and I spent yesterday exploring SLC. I'll give details later. The
Mormon/LDS temple is shown here.

All Hung

Chris randomly scored 11 days off in a row. We've been using them to entertain and finish the little things around the new apartment. We FINALLY got some wedding photos on the wall (I know, it's been two years, sad huh?).

We also finally did something with the art we've been collecting on our trips.

I've been trying to hook myself up with a headboard for year and it just hasn't happened. Well, we finally found one! We finished staining it and brought it home this week.

Oh, and Chris hung my new magic bookshelves, notice how the books seem to be floating?

Since we are both gone so much we had to start packing about a month before we actually moved, this meant a month of coming home and having to move boxes to get to the dresser, of having to dig through boxes to find a shirt or sissors. Then once we got here we both had to leave right away to it's taken us almost a month to completely settle in. I think we are actually done. As in, completely settled, everything hung and organized and in it's place.

I still think I might paint a few walls, but that is a project for another month.

PS - I really think that there is a test labratory near our new apartment where they try to see how large they can make a lizard. I swear there are more lizards around here, most of which are practically the size of a small iguana - they're almost so big that they don't bother me!

Gifts from Spain

I have friend in Spain. I've mentioned them before, they found me by looking at my wedding pictures on Flickr. Carolina loves to go barefoot and admired my barefoot wedding day. Ever since she and her husband Gerardo and their twin daughters Patricia and Sofia have been emailing me reguarly about live in Spain, sending photos etc. We have become great friends!


Last Christmas I made a something small for each of them and sent them a Christmas package. To return the favor they send me a housewarming gift, it was awesome! They sent a calendar with scenes of Cordoba (they're home town), four bookmarks which are so pretty that I framed three of them. The girls sent paintings they created which are amazing and Carolina picked out an Indian ankle bracelate for me the has bells and jingles. See?

They also included a letter telling me how much fun they had getting to know me and how they hoped that the calendar would make me want to come visit. The coolest part? Chris has two weeks of vacation in October and we decided earlier this week that we want to use some of that time to try and visit them! So, we are trying to figure out the details but I think we will soon get to meet my Spanish Family! I am VERY excited, if you couldn't tell :)

Political Advocate

No, I'm not getting into it.

All I will say is that I'm incredibly frustrated by how extremist everything is. Where is the rational thinking person who falls somewhere in the middle? The person who I can agree with on more topics than I cringe at?

Chris's grandpa Jerry is a very political person. His views are also extreme, he is very conservative. I rarely agree with everything he says, however I very much respect his opinion and his is very well spoken and articulate. He has written several papers over the years on the political climate and recently decided that he wanted assistance building a website to get his thoughts out there.

Chris went over there yesterday and got the 83 year old Jerry set up with his very own Blog. The coolest part? Jerry has already written and successfully published a post all by himself! Check it out. I would love to hear the response of a very liberal person to Jerry's thoughts, just to see the two views come together.

Stuff

Over the holiday weekend Chris and I went shopping for more new house stuff. We finally found a headboard we liked that wasn't insanely expensive, we ended up at WoodYou with one that we will stain ourselves. We also decided to buy the flat screen TV that Chris has been dreaming about for the past year. With the holiday they were on sale and we had some coupons from moving so we got a really good deal. Chris got it setup while I was gone, and it is pretty nice. We're planning on having a house party soon to show of our new place.

Moving back to town got me reminiscing about when we had our first place together, out in Lake Mary. Just about everything we owned was a hand-me-down or purchased at a garage sale. Our big exciting purchase was a dorm style desk at Walmart. Not that there is any way anything wrong with any of this, it's just that we have come a long way in five years... Actually, a lot has happened in the past five years since we first became "an item". I finished school, Chris getting the airline job, five seperate moves including the one north, I've had a total of five jobs if you count the silly ones, the wedding, the travels - we've been pretty busy. And just wait, there is even more to come :)

Untraditional Family

Over the holiday weekend Mom and I drove out to Ocala for some family time with the Pratts who I lovingly refer to as my pseudo-family.

The orignal intention was to have a game night. In the end we just had good food and hung out. We went to the Quary by Hannah's school and were eaten alive by massive mosquitos :)

We also played some 6 player Euchre. At 11pm when we were still there, we decided to stay the night rather than drive the 1.5 hours back. With that settled I wound up staying up until 4am chatting with the adults (the kids all went to bed, pansies!). We talked about all sorts of things including how incredibly luck I am to have grown up with such an odd but tight support group around me. We talked about politics, religion just a little and all sorts of crazy things. It was particularly nice to spend so much time with Alan in particular. All in all it was a great time, one of those nights I'll never forget.

There seems to be a trend where I spend Labor day with the Pratts. Two years ago I went to Naples with Megan - another time that I will never forget.