Something to keep in mind before voting in ANY election:

“Before the election of local, state or federal legislators be sure to find out where they stand on the issue of education. For the Federal government to be involved in education at all is in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. Don’t fall for socialist con words like ‘choice’ or ‘accountability’ in education. In socialist doublespeak ‘choice’ means you might be permitted to choose among several different government schools in your area (all of which are promoting the same socialist programs). ‘Accountability’ means accountable to government, not to parents. Make it known in no uncertain terms that you want to take back the educational system that made America the greatest nation on earth –FREEDOM in education!” –Debbie O’Hara

Nickelodeon vs. Scholastic polls . . . kids vote and the winner is (emphasis added by me):

“As if the conflicting polls of ‘registered voters,’ ‘likely voters’ and ‘national adults’ weren’t confusing enough, now we have a pair of surveys of American children that show contradictory results: ‘Senator John Kerry has been declared the winner of Nickelodeon’s “Kids’ Vote” according to kids nationwide who exercised their voting power in the network’s presidential poll held online Oct. 19…. In this year’s vote, Sen. John Kerry received 57% of the vote, and President George W. Bush received 43%.’ But Scholastic, a children’s publishing company, gives victory to Bush: In the 2004 Scholastic Election Poll, George W. Bush received 52 percent of the votes and the Democrat contender, John F. Kerry, received 47 percent.’ Apparently kids who read favor Bush, while those who watch TV prefer Kerry. Hmm, whose parents are more likely to vote?” –James Taranto

From John Kerry’s hometown newspaper (emphasis added by moi):

“It’s about national security, and whether President George W. Bush or Sen. John F. Kerry can provide the leadership to safeguard America from terrorism. … When it comes to the war on terror, President Bush means to keep our military strong and our country secure. John Kerry, on the other hand, has all the attributes of the shape of water when it comes to telling us what he believes and what he’d do for America. Like incoming and outgoing tides, Kerry is content to go with the flow. … We in Massachusetts know John Kerry. In his 20 years in the U.S. Senate, Kerry [has had an] uninspiring legislative record. He’s been inconsistent on major issues. First he’s for the 1991 Persian Gulf War, then he opposes it. First he’s for the war in Iraq, then he’s against it. First he’s for a strong U.S. defense, then he votes against military weapons programs. First he’s for the U.S. Patriot Act, then he opposes it. Kerry’s solution to stop terrorism? He’d go to the UN and build a consensus. How naive. France’s Jacques Chirac, Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other Iraq oil-for-food scam artists don’t want America to succeed. They want us brought down to their level. And more and more, Kerry sounds just like them. In a recent campaign speech, Kerry said America was in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. No doubt John Kerry sincerely wants to serve his country, but we believe he’s the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” —The Lowell Sun, John Kerry’s hometown newspaper, adds its endorsement of President Bush

Just back from the county fair, and it was sooooo exciting!

Our family was extremely well-represented in the various competitions.  We walked away with the following:

My niece (7 years old) and my nephew (5 years old), each won 1st place blue ribbons in the student art division;

My daughter (8 years old) won a 1st place blue ribbon for her “Praline Cookies” in the 4-H Homemaking division;

My husband won a second place ribbon for the two chest-on-chest jewelry boxes he made for me and our daughter from wood he planed down from a pecan tree that fell in our yard;

And I won a second place ribbon for a photo of my daughter on the Galveston Seawall and a first place ribbon for a photo of my sister, niece, and nephew at last year’s fair!  Not only that, but my first place entry also won an “Outstanding” ribbon and “Best in Class” ribbon!

I don’t like to brag, but I’m so excited about all this that I just had to tell you!  It was a great day for all of us.

Quotes on the Changes in Our Nation since 1776 and Kerry’s Double-standard re: his faith:

“We did have a completely different class of people in 1776. When this country was formed you couldn’t find 10 people on the continent who thought that it was the responsibility of the federal government to provide them with a job or health care. Know this…transport today’s average American back to 1776 and the Revolutionary War would never have happened.” –Neal Boortz

“I do wish Kerry would explain sometime why it is OK for his faith to shape his stands on social welfare programs and the environment when he vows never to let his stands on abortion and embryonic stem cells be shaped by that same faith.” –Jeff Jacoby

And Some to Make You Laugh:

“If the voters are looking for consistency, they got it in John Kerry. Not once in three debates did he appear flustered. Always in control, he delivered his message with surgical precision. If he wins in November, the debates were the critical moment.” –Eleanor Clift

“[Y]ou could feel the presidency slipping away from George Bush.” –Craig Crawford on the third debate

“I don’t know if I just never really noticed it before, or if it was simply WAY more pronounced in Debate #3, but John Kerry’s hand movements stirred up enough motion to light a small mid-Western city. Good Lord, it was like watching a Richard Simmons ‘Sweatin’ to the Oldies’ video without the music or the tights.” –Chuck Muth

“Imagine President John Kerry at the Berlin Wall. ‘Mr. Gorbachev…I challenge you to get to an emotional place where you can imagine a different kind of non-wall reality, that fully respects the ‘wallness’ of your current reality, yet takes us on a spiritual journey in which’…” –Ann Coulter

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.” –Winston Churchill

I received the following from a friend and felt it very important to share.  I think everyone is familiar with the first World Trade Center attack in ’93, the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, and of course, 9/11.  Some may be too young to remember the American Embassy in ’79 (I was in high school), but there have been many more attacks on our nation over the last 25 years that I had either forgotten or was unaware of because they received little news coverage, that are documented here.  It is CRITICAL that John Kerry not become our next president, or we can count on these types of attacks becoming a regular occurrence once again:

This is not very long, but very informative. You have to read the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again. In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979… that alarm has been ringing for years.

US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary.

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

That’s what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been “Get Out of Bed!” In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world’s most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America’s inability to deal with terrorism.

America’s military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.

Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.

Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.

The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high officials in government over what they knew and what they didn’t know. But if you’ve read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don’t have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.

The President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to “Get out of Bed” and act decisively now. America has been changed forever.. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said “… it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.” This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having the courage, political or militarily, to address what so many who preceded him didn’t have the backbone to do both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.

Some interesting reading coming our way via www.townhall.com:

I found it simply amazing that Edwards claimed a vote for Kerry would result in people leaping out of their wheelchairs.  Charles Krauthammer writes a very good article regarding the true value of stem cell research, the fallacy of the “ban” Kerry keeps trying to pin on the President, and the cruelty of false hope extended to people afflicted with paralysis, Altzheimer’s and other diseases without cure.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20041015.shtml

And there’s always Paul Greenberg . . . this lovely column contains a sweetly sentimental story about his sister and her facinatingly American melting pot of language.  He details how the various places she lived shaped and formed her vocabulary/accent/dialect and how even though she is sometimes difficult to understand, you always know what she means.  Much the same for our verbally challenged W., who may stumble over a word or two, but you always know what he means.  Read it — you’ll enjoy it:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/paulgreenberg/pg20041015.shtml

And interesting information from Argent_Paladin regarding John Kerry’s first marriage and how much it meant to him:

And now we see what Kerry really thinks about marriage (Warning: Miss O’Hara, if you are reading this, make sure you don’t have any heavy objects that you might want to hurl at the screen). He divorced his wife of 18 years and two children (teenagers), after 6 years of separation. He left her when she was undergoing a bout of clinical depression and suicidal tendencies. During the 6 years that he was separated, he didn’t exactly act like he was married.

and

Article

Excerpts:

During the period the Kerrys were separated, for instance, the senator apparently felt little constrained by his marital vows. Gossip columns at the time linked him to Morgan Fairchild, Cornelia Guest and even President Reagan’s liberal daughter, Patti Davis. An upcoming Boston Globe expose will reportedly feature details of the Massachusetts Democrat’s 1980s affair with a 25-year-old British reporter.

According to a previous account offered by the paper, the fact that Kerry was still technically married till 1988 “reportedly came as a surprise to some of his frequent companions.”

He got the first marriage annulled despite the protests of his first wife. Perhaps it was because her family was worth only $300 million while Teresa Heinz was worth $600 million. Or perhaps it was because his first wife wasn’t a political wife. Draw your own conclusions.

A Fabulous Article from the ever-so-brilliant Paul Greenberg (my comments are in indented italics):

The not-so-boyish charm of Dick Cheney
Paul Greenberg

Maybe not, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have such a strong presence in the “co-pilot’s” seat . . .

If I were kidnapped by outlaws, I’d rather have John Wayne in “Big Jake” (Dick Cheney) come to my rescue than a pretty-boy Ken doll. Pretty boys are not strong, not protective, not dependable. Because they are too worried about getting dirty, getting hurt, or missing an appointment with their personal trainer. If you’ve never seen “Big Jake,” John Wayne gets dirty, gets hurt, and keeps riding until the bad guys are done for and he rescues his grandson from the mean banditos. He doesn’t give up, because he knows what the right thing to do is . . . to save the innocent and punish the bad guys.

This tickles my funny-bone . . . I can just see Edwards with a brush and a tube of Gleem in each hand, computer-generated starlight sparking from a pearly incisor!

But, (and I think Miss O’Hara will agree with me), the brain is probably the sexiest organ of the human body and I think Dick Cheney is pretty damned sexy!

I just bet liberals hate it when their words come back to bite them on the backside . . .

This is an awesome point . . . How anyone can expect international cooperation in light of their constant insulting commentary is beyond me. Kerry is a fool, yes, I said a fool. To run around spouting off about this coalition he will form as he basically slaps each and every possible ally in the face. It’s simply and absolutely amazing, the man’s stupidity.

This would be laughable, if it weren’t so sad . . . and I love the following information regarding the truth behind Cheney’s connections with Halliburton. These people are so desperate to smear the President/Vice President. They throw out a soundbite and pray that the majority of the American public are too dense to suspect truth-twisting and too lazy to verify.

What is that saying about those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it? It’s my fear that, we as a nation, have forgotten the hard lessons of history. If more would learn their lessons, look back to the past, perhaps they would see the need for the same kind of leadership we were blessed with some 150 years ago. A leader who may not say the popular thing, but a leader who would do the RIGHT thing. Because so many are turning their backs on the right thing, turning their backs on our commitment to freedom, both for ourselves and our fellow mankind, this war will have been fought (and lost) in vain. We need to WAKE UP and listen to George Bush in the same way so many listened to President Lincoln, heeded his warnings. Or this UNION that teetered on the edge of peril and dissolution in that century will not survive this century, perhaps even this decade . . .

©2004 Tribune Media Services

Ross Mackenzie had the following to say, and damn!  It’s good!  If only he helps a few see the TRUTH . . .

According to The Washington Post, Sen. Edwards has cast these votes, among others: against removing Bill Clinton from office for obstruction of justice (1999); against tax cuts for married couples (2000); against the Bush 10-year, $1.35-trillion tax cuts (2001); and against allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (2002). In 2003 he voted for limiting the size of the economic stimulus tax cut, against adding a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, and against the $87 billion supplemental appropriation for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

oh!  And also this:

On domestic policy, Cheney summarized the Bush administration record: “We’ve got 111 million American taxpayers who have benefited from our income tax cuts. We’ve got 33 million students who’ve benefited from No Child Left Behind. We’ve got 40 million seniors who benefited from the reform of the Medicare system. The Democrats promised prescription drug benefits. For years they’ve run on that platform. They never got it done. The president got it done.”

Thank heavens for folks who try to tell it like it is, in hopes that someone is listening.