I love being from Tennessee. It's a beautiful state and the people are friendly. Most of all, people in Tennessee are generally sensible and down-to-earth. We are the Volunteer State and that's a well-earned title. If you need help doing something, we're there. I think half the state headed south in the wake of Katrina. We have high numbers of men and women who volunteer for the military. If your car won't start in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Tennessee, you don't even have to ask someone to jump-start the battery. At that first "click" of the starter, the good 0l' boy in the pick-up next to you is already grabbing the jumper cables out of his truck box. We're just sensible.
Why in the WORLD then has some judge ruled the death penalty as conducted by lethal injection unconstitutional on the basis of "cruel and unusual punishment" but Old Sparky, the electric chair was drug out of the closet and used to zap a killer 'til his eyeballs popped out a couple of weeks ago? Does anyone besides me see the stupidity here as demonstrated by our judicial system?? How about the sheer irony? Does that not just baffle you?
What is the deal with these judges legislating from the bench? Our legislative process is such that it takes a bill through both houses of the state legislature and then in front of the State Supreme Court to "vet it for constitutionality" before the governor signs it into law. This is how all our legislative processes in this country work. The death penalty law has been passed and used for YEARS and now some judge takes it upon his subjective mind to declare it is "unconstitutional".
What's so funny is that he bases that subjective opinion on "cruel and unusual punishment". What can be more humane than lethal injection? Let's get real here - the most cruelty that could be involved would be if the doc doing the IV missed the vein. Shoot, if that's the case, then I should have several viable lawsuits against dingaling nurses in my doctor's office and at the Red Cross for jabbing me full of holes in search of the "disappearing blood vessel". (Honey, I just know it was there. I could feel it! Let me try one more time...)
Hey, I have an idea. Let's do away with lethal injection altogether and just run with Ol' Sparky. He obviously still works after 45 years and he's easy to use. Strap 'em in and flip the switch. Wait a few seconds. Repeat. The ultimate 'taser! Woo hoo! And he's much more entertaining and dramatic. It gives the families of the victims better "closure" to see the murderer of their precious loved ones fried like a green tomato. Fires up the protesters more, too. Nothing gets liberal leftists more riled up than a good zapping.
Alternatively, we could go with one of the various middle eastern methods. Hanging seems common and so is beheading. I personally like Saddam's old method of getting rid of people he didn't like - shredding them starting with the feet. I really wish they'd used that on him. The phrase "hanging is too good for him" was very applicable in his case.
I know the argument against the death penalty in general is that some innocent people get "sent on" by accident. That's probably true, especially in the days before DNA and high tech forensics. That's where Barry Sheck (sp?) and his Innocence Project comes in. I'm all for them going over old cases and funding DNA testing just so we make doubly sure we got the right low-life to zap or hang or shoot or whatever we end up as an alternative to the cruel and unusual lethal injection.
Yeah, right...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
A Sobering Read
I was meandering through the bookstore the other day (one of my favorite pastimes) and noticed a book on one of the center aisle tables entitled "The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks. Being a Southerner (and darn proud of it), I picked it up and read the back. The book is a fictional tale about real life people and real life events that were birthed by the Battle of Franklin near the end of the Civil War (or as we Southerners prefer to call it - the War of Northern Aggression). It looked interesting so it went in my bag at the checkout counter.
I've now spent the last week reading this book every chance I got. (Take my advice, don't try to read and drive.) It's an odd book. Not a pleasant read so much as a story that grabs you with cold hands and compels you to read further. It is full of mental illness, death, depravity of the human soul, violence, hope, faith, and a steadfastness of character - all good Southern novel traits according to my college Southern Literature professor at Middle Tennessee State University oh so long ago.
Ashamedly, I have to confess that despite having been born and bred about 30 miles from the location of the novel, Franklin, Tennessee, I had never heard of the central character Carrie Winder McGavock. I have heard of McGavock High School and McGavock Pike in Nashville but never wondered where the name originated. Now I know.
I had also never studied up much on the Battle of Franklin. I was quite familiar with the Battle of Stones River that occurred in Murfreesboro where I went to college and lived for several years. I've been to Shiloh and Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Stone Mountain. I've visited Andersonville Prison in Georgia, even. But I've never really paid attention to the Battle of Franklin. I am ashamed.
The most deadly day in the entire Civil War occurred in a place that I associate with great malls and a high-income population, big houses and golf courses. I never knew it. How did I miss this? I grew up under the wing of a Civil War enthusiast, my dad, and across the street from a real, live historian. The fact that 9.200 Americans died in one day in Franklin has simply stopped me in my tracks this week as I read this book.
Think about that for a minute. 9,200 Americans DEAD in ONE DAY. That's worse than 9/11 and the Iraq war combined. You could even throw in Pearl Harbor and only approach that number. That's more than died in Normandy on D-Day.
The book is not so much about the Battle of Franklin as how it impacted the lives of people who were there. I recognize some of the common traits of disaster survived in the characters that Hicks has built around these real-life people. I recognize the Southern outlook on faith, death, work, family, and honor these people held.
Over the years, it seems that Carrie McGavock has become a sort of historical heroine who was viewed as better than others with stronger moral fiber than others. I beg to differ. Carrie McGavock sounds like an average Southern woman to me. She was pragmatic and practical. She did what needed to be done because it needed to be done and she happened to be there to do it. She grit her teeth and went to work helping people that needed help. That's what we Southern women do. Sure, we have our blue days just like Carrie. Who doesn't? But we carry on and we are polite about it. The world is too full of unpleasantness without us adding to it.
Next week I will be traveling right by Carnton Plantation on my way back across the state from a trip to west Tennessee. I hope I have time to stop and visit. If not, I'll build in time on my next trip because I need to see Carrie's cemetery and thank all those boys who died in a different war long ago.
I've now spent the last week reading this book every chance I got. (Take my advice, don't try to read and drive.) It's an odd book. Not a pleasant read so much as a story that grabs you with cold hands and compels you to read further. It is full of mental illness, death, depravity of the human soul, violence, hope, faith, and a steadfastness of character - all good Southern novel traits according to my college Southern Literature professor at Middle Tennessee State University oh so long ago.
Ashamedly, I have to confess that despite having been born and bred about 30 miles from the location of the novel, Franklin, Tennessee, I had never heard of the central character Carrie Winder McGavock. I have heard of McGavock High School and McGavock Pike in Nashville but never wondered where the name originated. Now I know.
I had also never studied up much on the Battle of Franklin. I was quite familiar with the Battle of Stones River that occurred in Murfreesboro where I went to college and lived for several years. I've been to Shiloh and Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Stone Mountain. I've visited Andersonville Prison in Georgia, even. But I've never really paid attention to the Battle of Franklin. I am ashamed.
The most deadly day in the entire Civil War occurred in a place that I associate with great malls and a high-income population, big houses and golf courses. I never knew it. How did I miss this? I grew up under the wing of a Civil War enthusiast, my dad, and across the street from a real, live historian. The fact that 9.200 Americans died in one day in Franklin has simply stopped me in my tracks this week as I read this book.
Think about that for a minute. 9,200 Americans DEAD in ONE DAY. That's worse than 9/11 and the Iraq war combined. You could even throw in Pearl Harbor and only approach that number. That's more than died in Normandy on D-Day.
The book is not so much about the Battle of Franklin as how it impacted the lives of people who were there. I recognize some of the common traits of disaster survived in the characters that Hicks has built around these real-life people. I recognize the Southern outlook on faith, death, work, family, and honor these people held.
Over the years, it seems that Carrie McGavock has become a sort of historical heroine who was viewed as better than others with stronger moral fiber than others. I beg to differ. Carrie McGavock sounds like an average Southern woman to me. She was pragmatic and practical. She did what needed to be done because it needed to be done and she happened to be there to do it. She grit her teeth and went to work helping people that needed help. That's what we Southern women do. Sure, we have our blue days just like Carrie. Who doesn't? But we carry on and we are polite about it. The world is too full of unpleasantness without us adding to it.
Next week I will be traveling right by Carnton Plantation on my way back across the state from a trip to west Tennessee. I hope I have time to stop and visit. If not, I'll build in time on my next trip because I need to see Carrie's cemetery and thank all those boys who died in a different war long ago.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Have You Forgotten
By sheer chance, I was unpacking an old moving box that I had not unpacked since 2003 when we moved from Texas. Inside it were four magazines from the week of September 11, 2001. They were Time (Special Issue), Newsweek (Extra Edition), People, and a photographic special edition of Time.
I opened the one on top - Time, Special Issue - and glanced at the cover title "One Nation, Indivisible". How ironic. I flipped through the to the big main spread with the extra fold-out showing the workers at Ground Zero rescuing (or maybe recovering?) a victim. The article was written by Nancy Gibbs..."So while it was up to the President and his generals to plot the response, for the rest of us who are not soldiers and have no cruise missiles, we had candles, and we lit them on Friday night in an act of mourning, and an act of war.
That is because we are fighting not one enemy but two: one unseen, the other inside. Terror on this scale is meant to wreck the way we live our lives...If we falter, they win, even if they never plant another bomb."
Within the same pages of the same edition were results of a poll taken by Harris Interactive by telephone of 1,082 adult Americans on Sept. 13, 2001. Those poll results said:
From People, in the article "America Under Attack: Black Tuesday" the unnamed author states..."But while World War II was a battle for national survival, the conflict against terrorism is something more subtle and limited - a struggle to preserve national values."
From Time, in the article "If You Want to Humble an Empire..."This was the bloodiest day on American soil since our Civil War, a modern Antietam played out in real time, on fast-forward, and not with soldiers but with secretaries, security guards, lawyers, bankers, janitors. It was strange that a day of war was a day we stood still."
So, have we forgotten? I believe a majority of our population has. We are definitely a divided nation. Divided politically and becoming even more divided ideologically every day on not only defense but on issues that make up the very fabric of those national values that were attacked.
Are we only filled with pride and a sense of one purpose when we bleed? Do we have to be under attack to realize we, a nation struck by the peoples of the world, have more points of agreement than points of division? We are disagreeing over troop strength and withdrawal dates, WMDs and funding. But surely, surely, we agree that no one has the right to come to our shores and kill our citizens without provocation or reason. Are we allowing these evil fiends to tear us apart in the hearts of our character and our values?
War is now something fought in a distant land rather than coming to our streets and our cities and our fields. It's inconvenient to political candidates regardless of whether they are "for" the war or "against" the war (or were for it before they were against it). The war is now a beach ball being batted around on the Sunday news shows and from political stumps. Polls, not unlike the one noted above, are taken to see where the best "stance" should be in order to win votes. What would the citizens of our great nation answer to those same questions now? I'm sure there would be different numbers because, for the most part, we have forgotten. The politicians and bureaucrats and talking heads have forgotten. Congressmen and Senators have forgotten. Media pundits have forgotten.
You know who remembers best? Those who lost friends and family that September day six years ago. Those whose friends and family members are in our volunteer military. Those volunteer soldiers who even now are preventing that war from coming back to our shores by taking the fight to the initiators and their doorsteps.
Wake up people. This war is not going to go away if we just take our toys and go home. They will be back. They will be back and they will be even better prepared. They will have bigger catastrophes in store than four jetliners loaded with fuel and 19 nut cases with box cutters. There is a whole population of nut cases out there who are ready and more than willing to bring this war back to our shores. We have to prevent that from happening again. Let their citizens perish as a result of their actions - not ours.
Who can stop it? No, not the President and surely not those wafflers in Congress. Our soldiers on the fronts lines can delay it. Our guys in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan can take them out one by one but they are only removing men, not evil. Our soldiers in the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad can dampen it. Our sailors patrolling the waters where the world's oil supplies are floated out to the nations can forestall it. But only us, WE THE PEOPLE can stop these crazy, evil demons from toppling all that our nation stands for, has worked for, and has died for in the last 231 years. We have to be united when we don't bleed, or else we surely will bleed once again.
God bless America. God bless our President. God bless our soldiers.
I opened the one on top - Time, Special Issue - and glanced at the cover title "One Nation, Indivisible". How ironic. I flipped through the to the big main spread with the extra fold-out showing the workers at Ground Zero rescuing (or maybe recovering?) a victim. The article was written by Nancy Gibbs..."So while it was up to the President and his generals to plot the response, for the rest of us who are not soldiers and have no cruise missiles, we had candles, and we lit them on Friday night in an act of mourning, and an act of war.
That is because we are fighting not one enemy but two: one unseen, the other inside. Terror on this scale is meant to wreck the way we live our lives...If we falter, they win, even if they never plant another bomb."
Within the same pages of the same edition were results of a poll taken by Harris Interactive by telephone of 1,082 adult Americans on Sept. 13, 2001. Those poll results said:
- 78% thought it was very likely that Osama bin Laden was personally involved in the attacks.
- 44% thought it was "somewhat likely" and 34% thought it was "very likely" that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the attacks.
- 62% thought the US should declare war as a result of the attacks.
- 66% were in favor of ground invasion of another country as part of retribution.
- 65% thought that US military strikes against OBL would lead to a broader war between the US and other countries in the Middle East.
- 85% favored strategic air strikes against isolated military targets.
- 81% favored assassinations of leaders responsible for terrorism.
- 55% favored ground invasion with US troops that would result in loss of US lives.
- 48% favored massive bombings that might kill civilians.
From People, in the article "America Under Attack: Black Tuesday" the unnamed author states..."But while World War II was a battle for national survival, the conflict against terrorism is something more subtle and limited - a struggle to preserve national values."
From Time, in the article "If You Want to Humble an Empire..."This was the bloodiest day on American soil since our Civil War, a modern Antietam played out in real time, on fast-forward, and not with soldiers but with secretaries, security guards, lawyers, bankers, janitors. It was strange that a day of war was a day we stood still."
So, have we forgotten? I believe a majority of our population has. We are definitely a divided nation. Divided politically and becoming even more divided ideologically every day on not only defense but on issues that make up the very fabric of those national values that were attacked.
Are we only filled with pride and a sense of one purpose when we bleed? Do we have to be under attack to realize we, a nation struck by the peoples of the world, have more points of agreement than points of division? We are disagreeing over troop strength and withdrawal dates, WMDs and funding. But surely, surely, we agree that no one has the right to come to our shores and kill our citizens without provocation or reason. Are we allowing these evil fiends to tear us apart in the hearts of our character and our values?
War is now something fought in a distant land rather than coming to our streets and our cities and our fields. It's inconvenient to political candidates regardless of whether they are "for" the war or "against" the war (or were for it before they were against it). The war is now a beach ball being batted around on the Sunday news shows and from political stumps. Polls, not unlike the one noted above, are taken to see where the best "stance" should be in order to win votes. What would the citizens of our great nation answer to those same questions now? I'm sure there would be different numbers because, for the most part, we have forgotten. The politicians and bureaucrats and talking heads have forgotten. Congressmen and Senators have forgotten. Media pundits have forgotten.
You know who remembers best? Those who lost friends and family that September day six years ago. Those whose friends and family members are in our volunteer military. Those volunteer soldiers who even now are preventing that war from coming back to our shores by taking the fight to the initiators and their doorsteps.
Wake up people. This war is not going to go away if we just take our toys and go home. They will be back. They will be back and they will be even better prepared. They will have bigger catastrophes in store than four jetliners loaded with fuel and 19 nut cases with box cutters. There is a whole population of nut cases out there who are ready and more than willing to bring this war back to our shores. We have to prevent that from happening again. Let their citizens perish as a result of their actions - not ours.
Who can stop it? No, not the President and surely not those wafflers in Congress. Our soldiers on the fronts lines can delay it. Our guys in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan can take them out one by one but they are only removing men, not evil. Our soldiers in the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad can dampen it. Our sailors patrolling the waters where the world's oil supplies are floated out to the nations can forestall it. But only us, WE THE PEOPLE can stop these crazy, evil demons from toppling all that our nation stands for, has worked for, and has died for in the last 231 years. We have to be united when we don't bleed, or else we surely will bleed once again.
God bless America. God bless our President. God bless our soldiers.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Eco-Craziness
The liberal left has to have a cause. Back in the sixties, they discovered that to have a cause was to identify with some kind of group and perhaps become more important in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't the cause that was important so much as the effort to become immortal or somehow make a lasting impact on the universe that was the goal. For instance, the Sixties Boomers joined anti-war groups, love-ins, sit-ins, draft card burnings, etc. Many of them did all these things just in an effort to belong to some group rather than as a true statement of conviction.
In the seventies, the environment issue first arose and I will admit, we needed to start paying attention. I remember when chucking your hamburger bag out the window was normal. Trying to hit the road sign with your glass Kick soda bottle was a sport. Some of us were pretty good at it, too. Then the "clean environment" movement came along and things like Love Canal were uncovered and suddenly we had Super Sites in our backyards that had been killing us for years without our knowledge. Something needed to be done and I'm grateful for those who had sense to do it.
Then came the cause for the homeless in the eighties. All the Hollywood names jumped on the bandwagon - help the homeless! What everyone forgot to do was ask the homeless if they wanted to be helped. Many did not. They LIKED living the lifestyle. So many were mentally ill and would not accept help regardless. The help the homeless movement got a toe-hold and then faded away among the liberal left as "glamorous" or "fashionable" and the faith-based community picked up the cause and have done wonders with it.
"We are the World" also came about in the eighties in an effort to feed the starving of Africa. As far as I know, the people in Africa are still starving despite all the millions and billions raised for their assistance. Again, it was the faith-based organizations that are still there teaching farming, dealing with the war-torn, and actually helping these people, even on a small scale.
Now, the trendy "cause" is global warming. You are not "in" in the liberal world if you are not paying carbon offsets and griping about carbon dioxide levels as you ride to your 20,000 square foot mansion in your 5 mpg limo after getting off your private jet. These people gripe about cow farts and how the methane is causing the polar ice caps to melt. (Obviously, these people have never been around my brother who can put out more methane than a whole herd of Holsteins. It's an art form with him.)
And as a country girl, I suspect most of them have never even been around cows. Let's face it people, cows smell bad. Their poop smells bad. However, it makes great fertilizer (my God, a natural USE for cow poop! Who-da thunk it!) It makes tomatoes grow and corn and all those "natural, organic" foods the liberal left love! If you want organic food, people, you have to have cow poop. And chicken poop. And goat poop. Bat poop is supposed to be really good but it's hard to find. To have all this poop, you have to have methane! And there go the polar ice caps.
I saw a news segment on Fox and Friends about eco-friendly pets. Some dude was on there touting organic dog food and such. Did he stop to think that that organic dog food has to get to the consumer via big rig truck? Putting out lots of diesel fumes and (gasp) carbon dioxide? What an idiot. I think he was just a savvy marketing consultant (he even had a dog in a cape as a hype point) being paid by the organic dog food company to push their products.
You want an eco-friendly pet? I offer you mine. They poop outside which fertilizes the grass of my orchard. I feed them leftovers from my table so I don't buy dog food that has to be shipped in from somewhere. Concerning my leftovers: I get my beef from my neighbor down the road who has a herd of Black Angus. I get eggs from my neighbor across the street who has a flock of chickens. The horse farm across the way is an endless supply of manure for fertilizer (boy you should be here when they spread it on the hay fields - Phew!) I can buy vegetables from farmers in any direction I go and cheaper than at the store.
Now how is my carbon footprint so far? Oh, I guess I should mention the negatives. I drive a Denali SUV that sucks gas. To balance it out, I also drive a Honda Civic that sips gas. I have an empty pasture and barn that I've been thinking of populating with a couple of shire horses so I can hitch up the Honda to them and ride to town without using ANY gas. But then we have the methane issue again and WOOPS there go the polar ice caps.
In the seventies, the environment issue first arose and I will admit, we needed to start paying attention. I remember when chucking your hamburger bag out the window was normal. Trying to hit the road sign with your glass Kick soda bottle was a sport. Some of us were pretty good at it, too. Then the "clean environment" movement came along and things like Love Canal were uncovered and suddenly we had Super Sites in our backyards that had been killing us for years without our knowledge. Something needed to be done and I'm grateful for those who had sense to do it.
Then came the cause for the homeless in the eighties. All the Hollywood names jumped on the bandwagon - help the homeless! What everyone forgot to do was ask the homeless if they wanted to be helped. Many did not. They LIKED living the lifestyle. So many were mentally ill and would not accept help regardless. The help the homeless movement got a toe-hold and then faded away among the liberal left as "glamorous" or "fashionable" and the faith-based community picked up the cause and have done wonders with it.
"We are the World" also came about in the eighties in an effort to feed the starving of Africa. As far as I know, the people in Africa are still starving despite all the millions and billions raised for their assistance. Again, it was the faith-based organizations that are still there teaching farming, dealing with the war-torn, and actually helping these people, even on a small scale.
Now, the trendy "cause" is global warming. You are not "in" in the liberal world if you are not paying carbon offsets and griping about carbon dioxide levels as you ride to your 20,000 square foot mansion in your 5 mpg limo after getting off your private jet. These people gripe about cow farts and how the methane is causing the polar ice caps to melt. (Obviously, these people have never been around my brother who can put out more methane than a whole herd of Holsteins. It's an art form with him.)
And as a country girl, I suspect most of them have never even been around cows. Let's face it people, cows smell bad. Their poop smells bad. However, it makes great fertilizer (my God, a natural USE for cow poop! Who-da thunk it!) It makes tomatoes grow and corn and all those "natural, organic" foods the liberal left love! If you want organic food, people, you have to have cow poop. And chicken poop. And goat poop. Bat poop is supposed to be really good but it's hard to find. To have all this poop, you have to have methane! And there go the polar ice caps.
I saw a news segment on Fox and Friends about eco-friendly pets. Some dude was on there touting organic dog food and such. Did he stop to think that that organic dog food has to get to the consumer via big rig truck? Putting out lots of diesel fumes and (gasp) carbon dioxide? What an idiot. I think he was just a savvy marketing consultant (he even had a dog in a cape as a hype point) being paid by the organic dog food company to push their products.
You want an eco-friendly pet? I offer you mine. They poop outside which fertilizes the grass of my orchard. I feed them leftovers from my table so I don't buy dog food that has to be shipped in from somewhere. Concerning my leftovers: I get my beef from my neighbor down the road who has a herd of Black Angus. I get eggs from my neighbor across the street who has a flock of chickens. The horse farm across the way is an endless supply of manure for fertilizer (boy you should be here when they spread it on the hay fields - Phew!) I can buy vegetables from farmers in any direction I go and cheaper than at the store.
Now how is my carbon footprint so far? Oh, I guess I should mention the negatives. I drive a Denali SUV that sucks gas. To balance it out, I also drive a Honda Civic that sips gas. I have an empty pasture and barn that I've been thinking of populating with a couple of shire horses so I can hitch up the Honda to them and ride to town without using ANY gas. But then we have the methane issue again and WOOPS there go the polar ice caps.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Who Cares?
As I watch the news this morning (Fox) and peruse all my online news portals, it appears to be a slow news day. It makes me wonder what Grand Poobah decides what makes the news. Whoever it is, I'm sure they work at the Associated Press because all the news outlets take their "reporting" from the talking points of the AP feed every day. Doesn't any news channel do independent reporting and research anymore?
I detest that everything now is a "news alert". Does anyone remember when a news alert would stop you in your tracks wherever you were in the house and make you pay attention to the news? It meant something really BIG was happening. Always in the back of your mind, the thought "It's the Russians" would wiggle when you heard the networks break in with "Breaking News". Of course, more than likely it would be a tornado warning or an airplane crash or something. Now, a news alert can be something as inconsequential as Paris Hilton breaking a heel as she comes out of rehab. (Yes, I used "Paris Hilton" and "inconsequential" in the same sentence - imagine that.)
I'm a news junkie - I'll admit it. I just wish there was better smack to feed my brain with than the continuous drivel that the 24/7 newsies pour out.
I detest that everything now is a "news alert". Does anyone remember when a news alert would stop you in your tracks wherever you were in the house and make you pay attention to the news? It meant something really BIG was happening. Always in the back of your mind, the thought "It's the Russians" would wiggle when you heard the networks break in with "Breaking News". Of course, more than likely it would be a tornado warning or an airplane crash or something. Now, a news alert can be something as inconsequential as Paris Hilton breaking a heel as she comes out of rehab. (Yes, I used "Paris Hilton" and "inconsequential" in the same sentence - imagine that.)
I'm a news junkie - I'll admit it. I just wish there was better smack to feed my brain with than the continuous drivel that the 24/7 newsies pour out.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Position Statement from the Porch
- I am a conservative white American (English-American if you want to trace the genealogy back far enough and be politically correct).
- Married. Christian. Middle class female.
- I DON'T drive a minivan and don't do soccer - we stick to traditional sports like baseball and football.
- I vote Republican or Libertarian or Independent, depending on the views of the candidate on key issues such as national defense, abortion, immigration, and family values. I'd vote for a monkey over a Democrat. I am going to vote for Fred Thompson in 08.
- I'm self-employed and a military "dependent". My husband reenlisted in 2003 when Iraqi Freedom started and I supported that decision 100%.
- Our son wants to attend the AF Academy for college and is currently in a private Christian school for which we pay (no vouchers here and no tax break either).
- I've lived in other countries and seen nationalized health care and don't want to go that route.
- I'm a member of the Sandwich Generation in that I have elderly parents and a disabled brother for whom I care.
- I plan to use this blog to voice my opinions. I hope you chime in because I LOVE a good debate.
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