SOME ELECTION THOUGHTS

I've said it many times and I'm sure I'll say it many more times: I am so excited that our country has reached past it's horrible, racist history and elected a black President. I always thought my party would have the first black President, but I got that one wrong. (Although, there is a funny email going around that says that Bush should resign and Cheney would take over. He would then choose Condolessa Rice as his VP. He would then resign and the Republicans would have the first black, woman President. That would be great!!)

Anyway, I will support Mr. Obama as my President. I'll cheer the things he does right and challenge him on the things he does wrong, obviously based on my politics and prejudices.

So, my thoughts on the election:

- Mr. McCain was outspent by Mr. Obama, by some accounts, upwards of a quarter of a billion dollars! That tells me a few things.

One - no Presidential candidate will every risk being outspent again by taking public financing...the campaign finance system is dead.

Two - Democrats have always complained the Republicans "buy" elections, because Republicans have always outspent Democrats. That's no longer a valid argument. It's strange, however, that no one has accused Mr. Obama of buying this election.

Three - Mr. McCain was hoisted with his own petard. Most Republicans were against the McCain-Feingold Act. Mr. McCain was hurt by this foolish amendment to the law.

Four - Mr. Obama spent more money in this election than Bush and Kerry combined in the last election.

- Despite all the money spent, Mr. McCain was ahead of Mr. Obama until September 15th, when the roof fell in at Lehman Brothers. He actually made a race of it right up until the last few weeks, but with the economy in the tank, he could never regain his lead.

- President Bush had/has the lowest approval ratings of any President. That will always hurt the candidate from the same party. Mr. McCain had to not only explain his own politics, he had to show how that was different from President Bush. He was never able to get past that issue.

- Although I personally think Sarah Palin will be a force in the Republican Party in the future, she was a poor choice as a running mate for one primary reason. By choosing her, Mr. McCain took away his principal case against Mr. Obama: his inexperience and unreadiness to lead. It shifted the attention to Palin's fitness and experience and away from Mr. Obama's.

- Although I voted for George W. Bush twice and still think he's an honorable man who I praise daily because my family and my country has been safe from harm for all these years since September 11, 2001, I think he has done a number of things that were wrong.

He spent like a drunken sailor, which has been said, is an insult to drunken sailors.

He didn't protect our borders as much as he should have. He's too lenient on illegals. Please don't accuse me of being racist or Mexicanist. I love immigrants, except those who come here illegally. I want more immigrants fro all countries. They make us a more interesting and diverse country. I want them. But, they have to come here legally.

He has made Mr. Obama's Socialist leanings seem not so bad, because of his own Socialist issues. I dont' like Socialism/Marxism. If we continue in that direction, our country will fail. We will become Europe Junior.

Well, I've rambled on long enough. Suffice it to say, I'm not excited that Barrack Obama is our President, but I'm excited that we've elected a black man. I pray for him and pray that he will lead our country in an honorable way.

PEOPLE I LOVE

I've spent some time since the recent election thinking about people who have differing opinions and beliefs from mine. (Is it "from" mine or "than" mine? I don't know...you know what I mean!!) People with whom I could get into a really massive discussion or even argument and we'd disagree on virtually everything, yet I love them dearly.

I'm not going to name any names, but there are people in my family and my extended family that don't like, or maybe they even hate my church; don't like, or maybe even hate my politics; don't like, or maybe even hate my philosophies.

Although those differences might seem like they mean a lot to us right now, in the (dare I say it?) eternal scheme of things (or if you like it better, I could just say, "In the long run...") what really matters is our family, our friends, and those we love.

I hope we don't let those differences get in the way of the love we have for one another.

I love my family, every last one of them, and my friends, regardless of our differences.

YIKES!!!

I weighed in today for the Martin Family Biggest Loser Contest.




This is my weight with my camera.

and...



this is my weight without my camera.

I'm going with the nekkid and no camera weight, which is 251.2 lbs.

Remember: The winner is the one who loses the greatest percentage of their body weight. Not total pounds.

Good luck to all.