Response to the Election

I am deeply disturbed by the outcome of the election.

But you know what? I don't hope that I am right so that I can say I told you so, I hope I am wrong so that our country doesn't go down in a fading pile of ember and ash. I think my democratic friend said it best on FaceBook:

"I will say this... If he does not turn this country around with an additional 4 years, I will not vote for anyone in his party.. We're giving you 8 years to fix what was destroyed in 8 years.."

There are so many things I want to say about this whole circus.

Before I go on, no I did not vote. For those of you who are about to accost me about not voting and keeping my mouth shut, move on, please. I had 101% intention of voting. I've used my voter's registration card as a bookmark for the better part of six months so I would be pumped and ready to vote. But the fact is, I got off at 5pm yesterday and the daycare was already calling about my 6-month old being very sick. So instead of dragging him out to the Mico VFD (my polling site) and making him wait with me for God knows how long, I took him home and gave him some infant vitamins and prayed because at six months, there is not much I can give him to make him feel better.

I also prayed all night that the outcome would not be what it was, but... Oh, wait. God isn't allowed in politics. My bad.

First and foremost, to all the ignorant people out there who think that NOT voting for Obama means you're a racist... That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I did not vote for him last time, either, but a part of me was proud of how far we've come as a nation that we actually elected a black president into office. However, his race does not define whether or not he is a good president. I think both he and his wife are more superstars than they are politicians. Not voting for Obama does not mean that you're racist. Let me think of how to explain it so you can understand.

Perhaps an equation of sorts?
Racists = C
People who did not vote for Obama = A
Are we clear so far?
I'm going to go so far as to say C always equals A.
But A does not always equal C.

Saying A always equal C is the equivalent in terms of ignorance as saying every Christian is Republican, every Muslim is a terrorist, every hillbilly uneducated and stupid, every California blond and tan.

Are you with me here, folks?

Secondly, I would like to throw my two cents in about something. There's been a lot of media coverage about Republicans "coming out of the closet." Why is this even an issue? I'll tell you why. Because Democrats have a better offensive line when it comes to bullying people down. Why do I say this?

Case in point: I live in Texas. Did you see that huge red star at the bottom of the map of our country? Yeah, that was us. But even here in Texas, I find it hard to find people who agree with me on politics. How is that possible when we consistently vote Republican???? But it's more than that. Yesterday I was accosted by someone at work who asked me why I didn't vote in 1998 and look what happened... That guy got four more years.

Excuse me? You think because I'm a not-quite 30 year old woman with 3 kids and another on the way and tattoos that I am automatically a Democrat? Like a chump I kept my mouth shut and just smiled. I am ashamed of myself. I should have said something. I am saying something. Here it is. I'm not a Democrat. If anyone even bothered to look at my FaceBook "About" information, you'd see, clear as day, I am listed Republican.

But that's not all. All day yesterday I could hear people across the floor talking about how horrible it was that their kids voted for Romney at school, or how there was no way Romney was going to win, and it went on and on. I have to give credit where credit is due... They don't let up. 

"Did you vote? You're going to vote, right? We have to get him re-elected. Four more years, yeah buddy." All. Day. Long.

The one person that I can (now) identify as a mutual Republican at work, was told on her way out to "vote for the right guy." Her response? "Mickey Mouse? Right. Got it." Bam. Further proof that we are bombarded with opposition to the point that we bow our heads and walk away. I am not berating her. As I stated above, I basically did the exact same thing.

As for the people who keep saying "old white guys voted for Romney, not Obama"... Umm... Have you seen our vice president??? Just. Saying.

I am not going to move out of country (oh, please, Mr. President, don't make me regret it), and I don't think that Obama is Satan or the anti-Christ. In fact, I won't even return to this subject until his four years are up. Once again, I hope I am wrong about him, and everyone who voted for him can say "I told you so." But I definitely do not believe that he is the best thing for our country by a long shot.

I was ecstatic to hear my views echoed on the morning radio talk show on 99.5 Kiss here in San Antonio, where the huge issue of whether or not the record turnouts had anything to do with the fact that we're basically guaranteed more handouts was being discussed. They were basically stating that every lazy, non-working, selfish person on a couch got off their butt for a few hours on November 6, 2012 to guarantee that they could continue to be so for the next four years.

I agree.










P.S.  Good reading: Five Ways the Mainstream Media Tipped the Scales in Obama's Favor

It Doesn't Stop

I read an article about a mother who lost her two boys during the storm Sandy on the East Coast. It was so terrible sad. Her two sons, 2 and 4, had been swept out of her arms as she was stranded and trying to get help. Then she spent all night trying to get people to help her find her kids but no one would help her. She ended up with hypothermia the next morning after being out all night, and her two boys were found dead.
This is one of the saddest things I have ever read. With 3 boys, 9 years, 20 months, and almost 6 months, it mangled my heart to read it, and I was sitting at my desk as work, crying for this woman and her babies.

I was trying to find the article on my phone to share, but instead found...I don't even know how to describe it. It's...beyond crazy. Beyond immoral. Beyond desensitized. These people... It's unfathomable to even try to contemplate for comprehension what was going through their heads. And it made me cry more.

This mother killed her son and another child because she was mad at her husband.

This mother stabbed her newborn to death right after it was born.

A newborn was left, umbilical cord still attached, outside in 40 degree weather, abandoned by someone's home.

What....what is wrong with these people? They're not even people, they're monsters. They're worse than monsters, but there is no words for what they are. I want to hide my children away from the world, but I know I can't. I fear leaving them at daycare, but it's better than leaving them with just one person, with no one else watching them, with no accountability.

Pray for your children. Pray for other people's children, too, because it is so obvious that they need it.

Broken Heart, Burning Stomach

What is wrong with humanity? Parents killing kids. Nannies killing kids. Kids killing kids. It's everywhere I look on the news. I can't escape it. Every story I hear or read about children, babies dying tears at every part of me. It scares me, especially because I rely on daycare for my children. My husband wanted me to find a friend to watch them, but without accountability, we lose our way sometimes, so I cannot trust them to one person. My heart breaks for those who have lost their children. I can feel the bile in my stomach boiling every time I hear of another child lost. There's something wrong. It should not be increasing.

Newspaper Clippings

Rarely will I go out of my way to buy a newspaper, much less on a day other than Sunday when I can get my fix of coupons (when I remember to do so, as I am neither a coupon queen or even a weekly clipper). However, after yesterday's news clip at 5 o'clock about a road rage incident near my job, I felt the need to buy the paper and read the story.

Now, generally my news intake is limited to online news chatter of my choosing: politics, science, weather, sports, perhaps the oddity of people in faraway states doing silly things and thinking "I'm glad they're in [insert whatever state you choose other than Texas] and not here. How embarrassing. That's why I don't trust people from [afore mentioned state]." Sometimes I will watch the news on tv (which is rare; last night I caught the clip while talking to my mom).

After reading the article I was after, I began scanning the rest of section A, and the jalapeno sausage kolache and glazed donut I had just eaten went sour in my stomach as I realized how bad urban San Antonio has become in the 7+ years it's been since I moved to the outskirts. Apparently, Bexar County is the worst in all of Texas for road rage incidents. In addition, upon light scanning of the internet news forums, it seems I live in a fantasy world, thinking San Antonio is not that violent.

How bad is it? On www.neighborhoodscout.com, we have a Crime Index of 2. 2 doesn't sound so high, does it? We can't be that bad. Well, that's on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being the safest. Holy cow, we can't be that bad, can we?! We have a higher per capita rate in murder, rape, robbery, and assault than the national average, which, technically, isn't too terribly bad, but the assault rate is almost double the national average. The property crime is almost double the state average and more than double the national average. The generalized crimes per square mile...triple the national average.

Of course, there are things to be thankful for. So far there only appears to have been 4 or 5 officer related deaths, as opposed to Houston's 6 from July through September alone, bringing the total for 2012 in Houston to 9.

See, this is a horrible way to start off my week. First off, I took yesterday off so today is my Monday. Secondly, and more importantly, as a mother, I have an ongoing fairy tale fantasy in which I believe that even the most evil of people will not harm children. Of course, I know this not to be true, but I like to think it. Mostly because my children leave my house, and because my house is not a fortress castle where I can keep them in turrets and build 30-foot stone walls around us to keep them from harm. When we are in the car, it worries me that we are eggs in one basket. When we are at the grocery store, I keep them close and don't let them stray. Am I being an over-protective mother?

Maybe thirty years ago you could have said yes. But not now. With the explosion in population the rate of crime has naturally increased. But there also seems to be a shadow looming over us. I don't know whether it's just here in San Antonio, in Texas, in the United States, in North America, or the entire world, but there appears to be a steady decrease in morals and steady increase in crime. This worries me to a sickening extreme because with 3 boys and another child on the way, I fear for what place of hopelessness I am leaving them in.

A Universal Offense

Nothing is sacred anymore. We are slowly heading toward a society where we are no longer mystified, no longer awed, and no longer believe that the separation between church and state that we apparently so vehemently believe in (fighting everything from prayer on the field to "under God" in the pledge to crosses in courthouses) applies to the states getting involved in the church.

Okay, so I am going out on a long, flimsy limb here, but... It's not that far-fetched.

I ran across this article, and my anger was growing in an off-hand, mildly interested way until I hit this paragraph and what followed:
"They claim it belongs in the temple. It’s hardly that simple, explained Deepak Sarma, a professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University."

According to the article, a law was passed in the area some 50 years ago that basically denies religious rights when it comes to the treasure, allowing it to be seized by the government.
What? Regardless of what religion you align yourself with, or what variation of that religion you claim, I don't see how it would ever be okay to what I believe is effectively robbing the religion institution. Those monies, treasures, whatever you choose to call the massive amount of gold, diamonds, etc. found in the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, include donations given by believers to the Hindu gods they worship.

How would you feel if your government, from where ever you may be, invaded your place of worship and took your tithes, your donations, your charities, to do whatever they wanted with? I imagine some form of righteous indignation would ensue, or at least I hope it would.
For the sake of religious rights there, here, and around the world, I hope the greedy travesty that would be the government seizing billions of dollars of what rightfully belongs to that Temple never comes to fruition. I understand that in these trying times, it would be tempting to take and use what appears to be doing nothing but gathering dust in the confines of what the article calls "local superstition."

The dissolution of religion is nothing more than our modern society wanting to get away with every form of evil without ramifications of morality deigned upon them by a god or religious beliefs; and so now we have shaken our moral coils and now go where ancients feared to tread...the world of no belief.