Thoughts on Gov. Palins Outstanding Speech, Obama Feeling the Heat

Two nights ago was the national coming out party for Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin. The expectations were high; this upstart governor from Alaska had been a surprise choice by Senator John McCain just days before, and not many people knew much about her. That didn’t stop the attacks by the leftist-liberal media, though. They checked her out from top to bottom, as we expect and appreciate, but when they found nothing at all fishy with her record, they took their biased attacks personal.

First, they attacked her for being, what they called, a “bad mother” for choosing to have a life separate from her kids. They say she won’t have time to take care of them and be Vice President. I don’t know about you, but if I ever said that about any  woman, I’d be crucified, right on the spot. Most women I know are just as capable as men, but there’s my point. We’ve got to stop looking at gender as the deciding factor on a person’s abilities. Individual women are better at certain things, just as individual men are better at certain things. We all have a specific niche that we fill, but not as a gender group; we fit because of who we are.

So in other words, bunk, bunk, bunk on Sarah Palin not being able to have a family and be second-in-command. Previous Vice Presidents have done it! Why should a woman be any different? It’s true men and women handle things differently, but unless I’ve just been living under a rock all of my life, fathers helped create their children, and they should have a major part in raising them.

With all of that (and more) coming at Gov. Palin before her national debut, one can imagine the stress she felt and the anticipation the rest of the world felt. Republicans and other conservatives waited with huge excitement and anxiousness that she would pull it off without a hitch. Left wingers watched and licked their chops, waiting to jump in a tear her to pieces should she even stutter. She didn’t, which is more than can be said for Senator Obama, who is tied to his teleprompter. From what I’ve heard, Gov. Palin’s teleprompter didn’t work right throughout the entire speech. She couldn’t read any of the first two lines on the screen, and so did most of it extemporaneously, or at least from memory. She did have a slightly-rumpled copy of it on the podium, but one didn’t see her use it that much. Oh, and the pitbull joke? It was probably the line that will be most remembered from the entire speech. That, my friends (to quote the next President of the USA, John McCain), was an ad lib!

So, Sarah Palin took the stage with all of that pressure upon her, and she shone beautifully. She was incredible and beyond impressive. She took to the stage with an aura of power and confidence surrounding her. As Brit Hume said, she is one of the few “who make it look easy.” And she did, without a doubt. She came, and she delivered the Republican Party to John McCain. Even on her premiere night, she took swings at Barry, saying, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” The crowd leapt to its feet in support and applause. 

Barack Obama responded the next day after leaving an interview with Bill O’Reilly, saying that organizing communities really is the same thing as being a mayor. In fact, he points out that his duties as a person “who brought people together” equaled those of Gov. Palin, who ran the city of Wasilla, AK and then, while he was a do-nothing Senator in a do-nothing Congress, became Governor of her entire state! Another bunk goes to Obama. He is truly feeling the burn. He even went as far to say (in the midst of incessant stuttering) that the GOP has no agenda but to attack him. What? That sounds a little self-centered and self-conscious to me. The GOP has a plenty big enough agenda, starting with an actual plan for energy independence, tax breaks, education, and true reform in Washington. In the meantime, calls from the leftist media for McCain to replace Palin were replaced with calls from the same leftist media for Obama to replace Biden! I agree with Rush Limbaugh what said last night on FNC. Just the fact that this media is even discussing this idea means the Obama camp is, too. And why not? Gov. Palin’s historic and magnificent speech garnered 37 million viewers, just a paltry 1 million less than Obama’s speech at the Invesco Center.

Palin, in her speech, unabashedly proclaimed her support for the Pro-Life movement and told parents of children with special needs, “You will have an an advocate in Washington.” Palin, 44, is the mother of Trig Palin, an infant she chose to carry full term and deliver earlier this year, even though he had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome in utero. She also pushed forward with the reform mantra, telling the media that it didn’t bother her that she wasn’t a member in good standing of the “Washington Elite.” Gov. Palin told the crowds she wasn’t going to Washington to be part of the in-crowd. She was going to help fix Washington; according to Palin, her boss is the American people.

With a clear voice and an unforgettable message, Palin did in one night what it has taken Barack Obama nineteen months: she won over the hearts of the American people. Yes, the Obama-Biden ticket is popular, and will be hard to defeat, but the truth is, they’re scared of the Barracuda. And let me tell you, they’ve got a reason to be.

 

McCain-Palin 08

Gov. Palin was Truly Incredible

I’ll blog more on this later, but I just wanted to get out a quick update to let you all know what I thought of Governor Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech tonight. In a word, incredible. In a few more, I think we’ve just heard from the next Vice President of the United States of America. In the words of Fox News Channel, “A star has been born in the Republican Party tonight…”

I also watched Mike Huckabee’s speech. It was magnificent, as well, and I think his support, and the support of the movement he’s begun with HuckPAC will help elect McCain-Palin to the White House.

I’ll post back tomorrow with a full opinion, but now I’ve got to get some sleep. Whew! What a wonderful night!

Pickens Plan Fact-Checker

Let me just say this upfront: I think we need to end our dependence on foreign energy, especially foreign oil. However, for the Pickens Plan to be successful, they’ve got to get their numbers right.

T. Boone Pickens has a commercial running that says America uses 25% of the world’s oil and they since we only possess 3% of the world’s oil reserves, drilling isn’t going to be that significant.

However, his math’s a little bit off. It’s a fact that America uses 25% of the world’s oil available, as in drilled, processed and refined resources, that much is true. What’s slanted is the idea that the 3% number he’s quoting is related. That 3% number refers to the world’s oil reserves, or supply that isn’t in production and may not have even been drilled yet. It doesn’t refer to the amount that is usable today!

America has billions and billions if untapped oil resources that we need to drill and need to drill now. All of this can be done in am environmentally safe way.

The Pickens Plan is great, don’t get me wrong, bit only if it presents the facts in a more accurate manner. We need his ideas, but he shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss something he doesn’t correctly report.

McCain-Palin 08

As many of you know, until the end in March I was an ardent Huckabee for President supporter. I campaigned for Huck up and down the web and even made telephone calls for him. In fact, up until McCain’s announcement on Friday, I supported Gov. Huckabee for the vice presidential nomination. He was my first pick. 

What many of you probably don’t know is that once Huckabee dropped out, I began to begrudgingly “support” McCain, but only in the fact that I was going to vote for him. I had no intentions whatsoever of campaigning for him. He was too liberal for my tastes and didn’t really seem to have the leadership necessary for the highest position in the land. In reality, I was more or less voting against Obama. Because of my disaffection for Senator McCain, I was eagerly waiting on his pick for the VP nomination. Only a true conservative pick was going to get me fired up.

It was, in fact, a blessing in disguise that Sen. McCain waited until Friday to announce. It gave me time to reconsider his policies and his issues. Actually, it seemed like it gave McCain the needed time to really streamline his policies and hit his streak. In the past few weeks, he has really gotten his act together. The stronger he sounded on television with his ads against Obama and the stronger he sounded in his speeches, the more I realized that McCain really could win this thing, and he would probably do it with my support.

Then came last Friday when Senator McCain of Arizona made his two best political decisions ever. First, he announced that he would be announcing his VP pick on Friday at noon, right after Barack Obama’s historic speech. Second, he really delivered by announcing my second choice for VP, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, as his vice presidential running mate, wiping out any Obama media coverage. Sen. McCain really couldn’t have picked a better time to announce, nor could he have picked a better running mate.

Gov. Palin has a proven track record of reform and integrity and has true conservative grit. Face it, there is no one else who could oust corrupt (but highly popular) incumbents at the city and state levels. After serving ten years for the citizens of Wasilla, AK, first as a council member and then as mayor, she became the Chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Commission. That first statewide position didn’t work out well for the ruling class, as it never has for anyone when Gov. Palin is around. She quickly blew the whistle on major corruption involving the government and oil companies with Alaskan interests. In fact, she resigned her position shortly after accepting it in protest of the ineffectiveness of the current administrations corruption battle.

Palin believed she could do a better job, so she ran for governor of the whole state. In a resounding victory, she became the youngest and first female governor of the State of Alaska in 2006. Governor Palin has become the country’s most popular governor and accomplished many of her campaign goals, all while being highly involved in her five children’s lives, most recently giving birth to a child whom she knew would be born with Down’s Syndrome. Obviously, Palin is adamantly Pro-Life. Raised in a Christian home, she has held true to her morals. As a hunter and fisher, she vehemently supports Second Amendment rights and environmental conservatism when drilling for much needed oil. She believes in a limited government and in limited government involvement. She knows we, as Americans, can take care of ourselves and our fellow citizen. Truly, Sarah Palin understands “real” America. She’s been there. She knows. And she’ll take it all the way to the White House.

McCain-Palin 08.

So, it was a Textbook Experience…

Today I drove over to Pittsburg and purchased all my textbooks (and when I say “all,” I mean a total of four…) at the PSU Bookstore. Since I’m in Honors College, I basically have to buy everything there, since that’s the only place my scholarship is good. Because of HC, that ending total was nice: $182.66, but the process itself wasn’t.

It all started out okay. I walked downstairs to the textbook area and someone helped me pick out my books, since I had no clue what I was doing. I was able to get three of them used, while the fourth could only be purchased new. The trouble started when I walked back upstairs to the register. 

 

Okay, to be fair, none of the following would have happened if I’d remembered to mention that was in Honors College, but I didn’t. Anyway, I go up to the register and casually mention to the cashier that I’m hoping the money transferred to my account, because, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to pay for them. 

 

Now, it wasn’t that I had come to Pittsburg unprepared, it was more that the person on the phone wasn’t very clear. See, I  had a local scholarship check from the Oswego Alumni organization that was made out to both me and Pitt State, which meant I couldn’t just go to my bank and deposit it (which I would have preferred to do). The voice on the phone said I would need to see someone in Financial Services at the University to handle it, so I walked into Horace Mann (a building) and sat down in the department. The girl there took the check and ran it through, filled out some papers, and then basically said, “Thank you” like I was done and was supposed to leave. On the other side of that desk was me, who was thinking more like, “Okay, now where’s my money?” So, I asked when I would be able to use the money; she looked at me like I had just asked the dumbest question, “All money is disbursed on the first day of classes.” What?! That’s next Monday! I thought like the commercial, “It’s my money, and I need it now!” I’d planned on using that money to purchase my books today, and I hadn’t brought anything else with me. It’s not like I have any money in my checking account what with getting ready for college and all, so I called Dad and he transferred some money into my account, $500.

 

So that’s what I was dealing with at the register at the bookstore. The cashier rang up my books and told me the total was $496.99. At that point, I was just happy that I had enough to cover the books. I thanked her and walked out the door.

 

Now, to be fair, none of the following dilemma would have happened if I hadn’t walked out of the bookstore right then. If I had just remembered to tell her that I was part of HC, everything would have been better, but I forgot. No worries, though, right? I just walked back in and explained what happened. Since the bookstore is actually a Barnes & Noble and not part of Pitt State, she had to figure my discount by hand with a little dinky Office Depot calculator. Then she ran everything through again. She asked for my card, but it was then I got a little concerned, again. I realized that if their preauthorization had been the whole purchase total, then the hold on my checking account would prevent her from running the transaction again; the transaction would be declined because it would still be tied up by the bookstore’s hold.

I explained what I was thinking and I saw the recognition pass over her face, “Oh…” She scrambled to think of a solution. True, it was my bad that I’d forgotten to mention my HC discount, but the whole Barnes & Noble/Pitt State split had caused this mess. She couldn’t just edit the transaction because the two systems were disconnected. She had to have run the whole thing again, as a new transaction. After she worked with it for a little bit, I offered to call my bank, which I did. All they told me was to void the transaction and hope for the best, so the cashier voided it. Still no luck. I called the bank back and asked for a person I knew who worked much higher up. She offered the same advice, but then realized that I had been burned by the idiosyncrasies of the debit/credit card system. My money existed, but it was unavailable to me because the whole “hold” process didn’t work very quickly, especially for getting the money back in my account. After talking to the merchant, per policy, to verify  my situation, she told me she call me right back after talking to the higher-ups in Parsons.

 

The Parsons people told her that it was up to her personal judgement as to whether she trusted the customer and felt the situation was valid and what she did about it. She put what’s called a POST-MEMO on my account, which basically means I was free to spend that money again, but on a trust basis with the bank. So, I had the very gracious cashier run my card again. No dice. My friend from the back was still on the phone, and while it was running mentioned that I may have to go to the Pittsburg branch to pick up a Cashier’s Check, for which she would call ahead and explain, or use their ATM. I told her that it still hadn’t gone through, but that I would try one of the ATMs outside of the bookstore. As soon as I walked out, she realized that the reason why it hadn’t gone through this time was because she’d forgotten that I’d reached my $500 limit on my debit card and it was basically too late to lift it since she was already off the phone with Parsons and the bookstore was trying to close. Luckily, the Commerce Bank ATM worked, although I had to pay the service charge, and I was finally able to purchase my books and let those very kind people go home.

 

So, lessons of the day:

1. Scholarships are considered “financial aid” and are not disbursed immediately, no matter what the people on the phone tell you.
2. Remember to mention Honors College or other qualifiers the first time through the check-out line.
3. Always transfer a little more percentage-wise than you think you need (i.e. I should have transferred $700 in case of something like this happening).
4. Debit cards can be convenient, but once something goes wrong, it’s straight downhill from there.

 

Anyway, it wasn’t really that bad at all until the systems meltdown around me, but just be happy I learned these lessons for you…

Summer and the Beginning

This is my last summer at living home, and it’s probably been one of the most exciting I’ve ever experienced. It’s been a little backwards… starting with an end (graduation) and ending with a beginning (starting at Pitt State), but it’s been completely worth it.

 

A week after graduation, I took off on a road trip with three of my friends (Bryce, Tyler, and Hannah) and we drove eleven hours to Beaumont, TX to see our friends Vernon and Lois Wells and, of course, visit the beach. It was our first venture (except for Hannah!) out on our own, and it was refreshing, exhilarating, fun, and tough. All of the sudden all of those “given” things, like what we’re going to do today, are gone… but along with that realization comes amazing freedom and responsibility, and let me tell you, it’s completely worth it. We had a blast hanging out with Vernon and Lois at their house and at the beach when we all took a trip out there and when we went alone. I’ll never forget Hannah pulling the car over to scold Vernon and Tyler… nor have I ever seen anyone hold their hands up in the air that long! The bird that escaped into the Yukon was pretty awesome, too. Especially since it pooped on Tyler’s seat…

Overlapping that trip was our (first of the year) family vacation. Mom, Dad, and Corrie came down to visit Vernon and Lois and the two groups were there together for about a day and half. Corrie was about to celebrate her 15th birthday, so the four of use decided to help her do it in style. We made a Wal-mart run and picked out some awesome gifts and we made her a tasty cake that we decorated ourselves. It was incredible. After my friends left, we saw some movies [I saw Ironman while they saw Indiana Jones... I'd seen it the week before] and relaxed in Vernon’s pool. Oh, and Dad and Vernon got in a huge water fight… that was pretty awesome.

I had Pitt C.A.R.E.S (Orientation) and my Honors College Overnighter soon after and met some new people (including my roommate for the fall) and got enrolled in all of my classes, a task that was, unfortunately, not any easier than high school.

Later that week, I left home once again for Joplin, MO and the Ozark Christian College Campus for Highest Praise 2008, The Voice of the Savior. Brad, Courtney, and Zack went, too. It was great to get to see all of my amazing HP’ing friends again and the savor my last year on tour. But, then, there were the eight hour rehearsal days: totally exhausting and totally worth it. We learned that music, oh my! If we weren’t eating or sleeping (who sleeps on HP, anyway?), we were practicing, practicing, practicing, but it was great fun. Then, we headed off for the Great American Southwest on a whirlwind tour that stretched from Broken Arrow, OK to Phoenix, AZ to Oswego, KS. Over the course of the days on tour, it was so cool to see and feel God working in my heart and in the hearts of my friends on tour and the in the audience, as well. It’s so breath-taking to realize that God is using you, but more than that, it’s humbling in the biggest way. Starting with HP, God started really working on my heart. Rather, I started to open myself up to what He had been saying all along: “I’m real, I love you, trust me with everything.”

That led into church camp a week later, where God took that seed He had planted and dumped a whole ton of Miracle-Gro on and said, “Go and do. Reach people for me,” and I really started to listen. It was difficult, though. I started the week with on of the worst colds I’ve ever had in my life, and I was miserable, but I felt that God was testing me and teaching me, showing me that He wants me no matter the circumstances.  I’m trying… I’m Ever Moving Forward ™… I’m still not there yet, but I’m getting there. I want to be wholly His, and He’s pushing me right along. This year at camp, I had an amazing and incredible camp family, too. It was kind of funny, too, because Brad and I were in a group completely made up of College Heights people… even our Mom and Dad were from College Heights. It was cool, though, because, well, they were basically just amazing people. Everyone bonded almost immediately, but our friendships definitely began to cement with the building of our Flower Power cross duct tape sculpture… nothing says sticktuitiveness like a roll of Duck brand duct tape!

And tonight, we just got back as a family from Beaumont, again, after taking somewhat of a sabbatical trip for Dad. He’s working on this amazing project (writing a book!) and it was a good time for him to be able to get away and actually do it. We took our bikes to the Galveston seawall and rode about twelve miles. Mom and I actually rode less because my bike got a flat tire on the way back, but walking is great exercise,too, you know. While in Texas, we ate amazing food and saw several movies, like WALL-E and The Dark Knight. Both were good, but I liked the Batman feature a lot more. Vernon, Lois, and I also checked out this huge, castle-like playground and splash park in Port Neches, TX on the banks of the Neches River. It’ll be a great spot for him to take his Praiseville kids.

I’ve still got some stuff coming up, like finishing up work at Oswego Public Library and VBS, but, for the most part, all of my big summer plans have been fulfilled, and it’s been good, and relaxing.

What about the beginning? It all starts August 23, bright and early, when I move into my new accommodations at Pittsburg State. It’ll be an emotional day, but it’ll be worth it. I’m moving on to another phase of life, and I’m excited and ready. I’m still working on buying dorm room equipment, like bedding and a new laptop, but it’ll all come together. As I’ve learned this summer, this is one of the most exciting times in life. I’m not going to waste it.

Yikes! Obama? McCain?

So tonight Obama finally scrounged up enough delegates to clinch the democratic nomination, but Hillary’s not conceding.  Honestly, I don’t blame her. I’m not positive the democratic race has been completely fair as it is.  By any means, I’d much rather have her than Obama.

 

On the other hand, McCain is a horrible choice, as well. He is not a conservative, nor will he fight for the Republican Party. This primary season was the best opportunity in years for the GOP to strengthen the base and win support from disgruntled Dems, but we were so lost in our own troubles we barely made it out alive, and when we did, we got McCain. Gag. Me. With. A. Plastic. Spoon. (and remind me why we got rid of Huckabee!).

 

I mean, really, who cares about McCain? He’s just a tired old man and there’s no excitement left in him. Yes, vote for McCain, but only against Obama. Hopefully we can ressurect Congress in 2010 to prevent McCain from doing too much damage. Right now, the USA is what it is, and unfortunately we can’t, in the election do a ton to “CHANGE” it, but we can work toward the future, and for the future to be brighter, it must include McCain.

 

As Rush Limbaugh has said, there’s no one in leadership today who’s a professing conservative. Sure, we have a few Senators, but we must band together to light a fire under the floundering conservative movement. If we don’t, we could end up living in the new USSR, or at least the Obamunistic Regions of the Middlemost Part of the Continent Wrongfully Taken From Those Indigenous Peoples Who Lived Here From Antiquity. Oh yea. CHANGE. HOPE. SÍ SE PUEDE… bah humbug.

Wait just a minute, there…

I know so many of you are already tired of politics and some of you are probably sick of seeing anything political on my Facebook, but please, hear me out.

 John McCain is predicted by the media to become the Republican nominee.  Reading the results of last night, it appears that means an Obama-McCain face-off in November.  Does no one realize, for one, how old McCain is? What about his personality versus Obama’s vibrancy or Hillary’s last name? More importantly, even Obama recognizes that McCain has “sacrificed his principles for his party’s nomination.”  

Can anyone, in right conscience, vote for a man or woman to lead our country who abandons his or her beliefs for personal gain? I cannot. 

McCain is not a Republican, no matter what the news media or the little “R” next to his name says. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing; he’s a Democrat who never re-registered.

Now more than ever, I believe Mike Huckabee is our nation’s best hope. He’s our shot at restoring our nation to its former ideals and God-directed and pleasing paths.Mike is a (true- that means no asterisk) conservative, and he’s a Christian.  Mike is a strong candidate. Here’s a look at how he stands on the issues.

Mike Huckabee is our only hope for victory in 2008. He’s not out of this race, no matter what you hear.

 Yes, McCain leads overwhelmingly leads the delegate count, but there are plenty of races left in this election cycle.  We can fight for a brokered convention where obligations for all delegates vanish. Huck has a chance; he has more than “just” a chance, he can win this thing!

We need everyone’s help. If you know people in states that have not voted (i.e. Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, etc.), call them, and talk to them about Mike. Point them to Mike’s website. Talk to them about the issues and the future of our country. Tell them we need Mike!

 Mike Huckabee 2008! 

Way Cool

Okay, so tonight at youth group, something amazing happened.  It was unexpected, but totally amazing.  It’s something I’ve seen many, many times before, but it hits me every time.  Tonight, at around 7:20, a life was saved and a person was reborn.  You’d think after being in church for “years and years” I’d become immune and calloused to things of that nature, but that’s the beauty of it: every time someone new enters the Kingdom of God, the angels really do celebrate and I can feel the Holy Spirit flutter and jump for joy in my chest, ecstatic that another of his children will spend eternity with him.  I was really honored to witness such a marvelous event tonight, and it kind of makes one think about perspective.  Here we all are, going through our daily lives, mostly oblivious to the fact that there is a war going on all around us, and we are both the prize and the warriors. Winning is simple, but, like normal humans, we tend to make things harder on ourselves than they really should be.  All it takes is admitting we can’t save the world on our own, that we can’t handle the weight of our sin, nor can we rid ourselves of it.  That’s what this person did tonight, and they will spend eternity in the very presence of God!  I call that victory.

The New Year

A few days ago, we welcomed in a new year, 2008.  It’s interesting to me that, in a country so bent on destroying everything people hold near and dear, almost all Americans still celebrate the new year.  Most celebrate it in a similar fashion. Many of us celebrated the arrival of 2008 (and, less importantly, the ending of 2007) with an all-night vigil. The American entrepreneur spirit of prevails, too: it’s an “All-American” tradition to hope for a better life in the year to come and many people even write lists upon lists of so-called “resolutions,” aspects of themselves they hope to change in the next 365 (or in the case of 2008, 366) day period. This cooperation, and more importantly, common sense attitude, is an important lesson that all citizens of this great blue ball should ponder and commit to the top of their resolution list. 2008 is going to be a big year for me.  This is the year I graduate high school and start college and I’m excited and nervous. I still don’t know where I ‘m going next semester, but time will tell. Actually, in reality, God will tell.  This is so huge a decision that I couldn’t dream of making it on my own; it’s a great reminder that God sees the whole picture, and that we should turn to him for guidance in every part of life.