Election Coming To A Close With A Smile

I've been watching the news for the past 30 minutes, as most Americans are doing tonight, waiting for the outcome of this election. The news is reporting that there have been record turnouts in voting. Nothing unexpected.

This has been the most heated, debated, passionate, funny, scary and any other words you can think of Presidential Election that I have ever seen. Why? Well, for one thing, no matter who wins tonight whether it's McCain or Obama history will be made. Obama would be our first black President and Palin would be our first female VP. So that's one reason why everyone is so excited about this race.

Another reason .....we're looking for someone who can get us out of the quagmire we have sunk into. Everyone is tired of rising gas costs, health care costs and prices while our paychecks grow slimmer and slimmer. We're tired of the housing market going downhill and trying to hold on to our homes while around us there are foreclosures. We're tired of having such a huge debt as Americans. We're tired of losing our men and women over in Iraq and Afghanistan. We're just plain tired.

Barack Obama's key word for his campaign during this Presidential Election has been "change". The one word all of America wants to see and hear. McCain has promised to change things as well. Either way, I hope one of them can.

The news reporter just stated that all over the country at the polls, whether they were voting for Barack Obama or John McCain, voters were not only enthusiastic but had huge smiles on their faces. Silly news reporter. He thinks everyone is smiling because they think their candidate is going to win....and yes, that will come later on tonight. But what everyone is smiling about while the Presidential Election is still up in the air is the fact that no matter who wins, George W. Bush will be gone!

No more President Bush who has made history by having the largest disapproval in the Gallup Poll since it began 70 years ago. No more George Bush who helped Iraq have their first "democratic" vote in over 50 years only to take American democracy away when he vetoed majority votes on three bills....one that would expanded Congressional oversight over the intelligence community and ban "waterboarding" or other forms of interrogation techniques, one that stopped the State Children's Health Insurance Program which would have expanded and helped federally funded health care and benefits for children from low income families and the one that I hated the most because I have two type 1 diabetic children....The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Democracy to George Bush means "it's G.W. Bush's way or no way".

When Bill Clinton left office in 2000, he had an approval rating of 65%, the highest rating ever for a President since World War II. The reported surplus? 559 billion. By August of 2007, the national debt stood at 8.98 trillion dollars and counting. 63,000 jobs lost in February of this year. No wonder George Bush's approval rating is now somewhere between 19% and 34%, depending on which Poll you see.

Bush's reaction to his low popularity? During a February 28, 2008 interview on Fox News Sunday, Bush had this to say...."I frankly don't give a damn about polls." Well, guess what George W. Bush. Almost every American would reply with, "Frankly, George, we don't give a damn about you!"

Kentucky Wildcat Football Homecoming A Thriller

I have just finished watching the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 21-20. I am incredibly happy and ashamed at the same time.

Incredibly happy because Kentucky had some firsts tonight. First SEC game we've won this season. First time our coach Rick Brooks has beaten Arkansas' coach Bobby Petrino. First touchdown reception for Randall Cobb. Then make it two in the same game. What a shot in the arm this guy was. And way to shake it off and keep your head in the game, Hartline. And our defense? Outstanding, especially at the last when they held Arkansas who had plenty of time to make another touchdown or at least a field goal. How much time? Over 2 minutes, which everyone who watches football knows, is enough time to make or break a game. Especially with a good team like Arkansas. And especially when Kentucky has a nasty un-lucky streak when it comes to close games. They usually end up in heartbreakers. But not this time.

So now the question remains, why am I ashamed? I'll tell you why. I don't like to be clumped in with a lot of other supposedly faithful Kentucky Wildcat fans. Fans who are fans as long as the team is doing well. When this happens, they proudly hold out their Kentucky shirts to show the name or wave their Wildcat flags in the air and scream at the top of their lungs.

But what happens when the going is tough? When Kentucky is behind 17-7 in the 4th quarter. When it looks like Kentucky has lost their Homecoming game? These supposed "True Blue" fans not only boo their own team but walk out of the stadium, leaving half of the seats empty. You read right. While Kentucky was making their comeback and winning the game, half the crowd wad driving home or was already there. As the announcer said, "Shame on you."

I grew up here in Kentucky. I love this state and am proud to be a Kentuckian. Most of the time, I love the people in this state but when it comes to sports.....not so much. Lots of fans will argue, saying that the Kentucky Wildcats football team has never been as good as the basketball team. That even though, over the past few years they have showed promise, Kentucky's football team will never reign supreme over basketball in the SEC. They say we're a basketball state, not a football state. They act like it's okay to boo the football team because of this reason. After all, they're only the football team right?

Wrong. Number one, the Kentucky Wildcat football team has gotten to the point where they deserve to be treated with respect, especially from their own fans. The football team has always played with a lot of heart and many times could have won games but there always seemed to be a black cloud hanging over their heads. If something could go wrong, it would. Still, that is no reason to be booed by their own supposed fans....and for those who do, I use the term fan loosely.

Number two. These same fans who use this argument completely forget that when the Kentucky Wildcat basketball team is having problems, they boo them as well. It doesn't matter that Kentucky Basketball has won more SEC titles than anyone else or that they have tons of banners, both SEC and NCAA, hanging up in Rupp Arena. Let them have a few bad years and they get booed as well.

To sum it up, I am ashamed of the Kentucky Wildcat fans who only stand behind the teams when they are winning. Who boo the players while forgetting that these are just young men, barely into adulthood, who are trying their best to win and feeling down enough without having their fans turn against them. Players who look up into the stands to see that half the crowd has given up on them and gone home early. Well, Kentucky football players you got the last laugh tonight didn't you?

My husband and I sat in front of the television cheering them on the whole time. We delighted in watching them win while laughing at the fools that booed and went home. They don't know what they missed. It was a heck of a comeback and I want to say, "Congrats, Cats! Way to play tough and not give up!"

To the fans who left I say, "You may give up on the players but they don't give up on themselves." And by the way, get a dictionary and look up the word "fan". Not the one that talks about an object which blows out cold air....hey, wait. Maybe that does describe you because if booing your own team isn't cold, I don't know what is.

Casey Anthony Indicted By Grand Jury

Yesterday Casey Anthony's luck seemed to run out. The mother of missing 3 year old tot, Caylee Marie Anthony was indicated by a Grand Jury on 7 different counts. The counts were first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about the disappearance of Caylee. Casey is being held without bond, so this time she will definitely have to stay in jail.

If Casey Anthony is convicted of manslaughter she could be facing the death penalty or life in prison. It is my understanding from watching Nancy Grace that if Casey Anthony is given the death penalty and it is carried out, she would be the first woman in Florida history to be put to death.

It only took the Grand Jury 30 minutes after listening to the facts of the case, despite not having a body, to indict Casey Anthony. I can only guess that the prosecution made a pretty good case without having to have the body. As everyone knows, what goes on in a Grand Jury trial is kept secret from the public, although yesterday speakers outside the courthouse were turned on and filtered into the media trucks parked outside. However, they were warned that they could face charges of criminal contempt if they repeated anything they had heard. I wonder. will that stop them?

What got me the most was the fact that Casey Anthony cried yesterday when the indictment came down. Now, I'm sure most of us would cry if they were facing life in prison or death. What gets me about this situation is that through this whole thing, Casey has never once broke down in tears in front of the public. Not when her child was supposedly kidnapped. Not all the months she was "searching" for her daughter in between spending stolen money at various places such as Target and Winn-Dixie. Not when it's been 4 months since she's seen little Caylee. Instead, she was out partying with her friends, buying beer and living off her friends money.

I'm sorry if I sound heartless, no, really I'm not. Casey Anthony, Susan Smith or any of the other mothers who have killed their children (supposing Casey has killed Caylee and it seems that's what has happened more and more every day) with premeditation should be killed or at the very least spend their entire lives behind bars without parole.

There is no worse crime than hurting or killing an innocent child or an elderly person. People who cannot defend themselves. It is cowardly, mean and beyond comprehension for most people, including myself. Children are meant to be coddled and loved. Elderly people are meant to be treated with respect. What has this world come to when you see more and more mothers killing their children, throwing their newborns into trash containers or rolling them into a river in a car?

As a mother who thought she could never have children and was finally blessed after 10 years of marriage with three children, I do not understand why these parents believe that killing their child is the only option of getting rid of them. There are so many couples out in the world who would love to have a child. Who hope and pray to God every day for one. Who would love to raise these children who are getting killed. From watching this case on Nancy Grace night after night, I know for a fact that Cindy and George Anthony would gladly have raised little Caylee if Casey no longer wanted to. They should have been given that chance.

Casey, you can cry those crocodile tears all you want. I do not feel sorry for you in the least. It is little Caylee who I pray for and hope that is still, miraculously still alive somewhere.

High Blood Sugar and Ketoacidosis Is Scary

As you may have noticed if you actually read my dribble religiously, you will have noticed that I didn't post any blogs for a few days. That was due to the fact that my oldest daughter was in the hospital fighting a bout of ketoacidosis, one of the scariest things a parent has to face.

For any of you who are not diabetic or do not have any knowledge of what ketoacidosis is and what happens to a diabetics body when they have it, I wrote an article about this subject on AC. You can find it here.

I have 3 children ages 22, 19 and 18. My two oldest children, a boy and a girl have had type 1 diabetes since they were 8 years old. My husband has type 2 diabetes and had to have his toe taken off last year due to neuropathy. Thankfully, myself and our youngest daughter don't have diabetes....yet. Keeping my fingers crossed we never do because it's stressful enough having three diabetics living in the same house.

Yes, it's true that when diabetics blood sugar is running high they are very emotional. They yell, they pout, they cry. Sometimes there's fists going through walls....I kid you not. We've been lucky that all three of them haven't felt that way at the same time. But I digress.

Ketoacidosis is a very scary and dangerous condition. Something we can't seem to get across to our daughter, even though she's been very sick both times she's been in the hospital with this. I really don't know what to do to get her to understand how crucial it is for her to take care of her blood sugar. Even though her ketoacidosis was due to a combination of her blood sugar running high and a respiratory tract infection, she chose to concentrate on the "infection" word.

I have fought with her about taking her insulin which only makes her more stubborn. I have tried to sit back and hope that she would take the insulin if I didn't bother her. Sometimes, it works, sometimes it doesn't. I have prayed about this constantly and am grateful that the Good Lord has been watching out for her but still I worry.

I'm hoping that the doctor's lecture will get through to her. In the meantime, thank you for letting me rant and hopefully I will not miss posting something every day.

Thanks for reading.

Second Presidential Debate A Yawner, But Obama Clear Winner

My husband and I watched the last debate and were not impressed. And we weren't alone. A lot of professional politicos also declared the debate, "A yawner." Despite this fact, I think that Obama came out the clear winner, at least in our household.

I have been an Obama supporter since he beat out Clinton. Yes, Hilary Clinton would have been my first choice for President of The United States by a narrow margin. When Barack Obama won, I stuck with the Democratic party because I felt John McCain was a clone of Bush. I had hoped that Obama would choose Hilary Clinton as his running mate, but sadly that didn't happen. My husband, on the other hand, thought he was going to vote for McCain. But after watching the debate and listening to their ideas for America, my husband said he would vote for Obama.

But getting back to the debate. Yes, both candidates brought up some interesting ideas for helping America get out of the economic distress we are in, not to mention the war and health care plans. What I noticed the most was that while Senator Obama tried to answer each question as thoroughly as possible, Senator McCain, when asked a question, would fire something off about Obama, say very few words about what he planned to do about whatever was mentioned, and just kept repeating the same phrases over and over. "My friends" which I believe I read totaled a number of 30 times. And "We are Americans. I have faith that we can get through this." Problem was, he really didn't enlighten either my husband or myself as to how Americans were going to get through the issues that have plaguing us for 8 years.

Then, Senator Obama started defending himself, making the debate more of a "he did this" or "he did that" instead of discussing America.

Many people have taken offense to the fact that during the debate John McCain pointed at Barack Obama and referred to him as, "that one". Not Senator Obama. That One. And while I wondered at first why there was such a big uproar over 2 simple words, I understand it now. In a public forum such as a debate, calling Obama "that one" instead of using his name was very disrepectful to McCain's opponent.

No matter whether you thought it was disrespectful or nothing big, the truth of the matter is, lots of people are cashing in on those two words. For example, Zazzle found here has several "That One" t-shirts. They sell for around $24.00. Zazzle isn't the only one cashing in on McCain's faux paux. There are lots of internet sites selling these t-shirts.

Yet again, another McCain strategy has seemed to backfire. Not only did the remark make undecided voters wonder whether to vote for him, Obama supporters to have something to wear against him but it also made money for others besides himself. Maybe McCain should demand a percentage of the profits. At least that way, he would have gotten something out of it.

McCain And Palin Changing Tacts When First Ideas Draw Criticism

This week has been a very big disappointment to me as a voter and a citizen of the United States of America.

It started last Sunday, a week ago, when Sarah Palin addressed a group of McCain/Palin supporters and brought up, yet again, the ties between Barack Obama and William Ayers. Ayers, of course, was the leader of the Weather Underground which protested the Vietnam War by bombing several buildings including the Pentagon, The House Of Representatives and several police stations. And while this is a terrible thing to do, in my opinion, what Palin failed to remind voters was the fact that Obama was 8 years old when this happened.

How old exactly was John McCain when he was one of the senators who were basically bought by Charles Keating, a real estate tycoon who ran the Lincoln S&L. The same S&L that shut down costing taxpayers billions of dollars? Not only was McCain one of the senators, he was the one the ethics committee dubbed as "closest to Keating." He was at least 30 something years old. McCain was given a slap on the wrist for his dealings with Keating when in reality, the man should have been ousted from office along with the other 4 senators.

How old was Sarah Palin when she used her position in public office to get rid of her ex-brother-in-law? Sarah has been found guilty of using her position in office for personal reasons. And while a lot of Palin supporters will point out that "Troopergate" was started in order to defame the Republican nominee for President that's not true. In fact, "Troopergate" was started before John McCain chose Palin to be his running mate.

McCain and Palin spent the better part of this week defaming Barack Obama by saying that he was "hanging out with terrorist". They stood by and watched as their supporters, so caught up in the mud-slinging yelled, "Terrorist!" "Muslim" and "Take his head off!" (in reference to Senator Obama). They knew they were inciting voters by bringing up one of their biggest fears. Terrorism.

But by doing so, McCain and Palin were putting a huge target on Obama's back. We all know that this kind of mob mentality can get ugly. It only takes one crazy person deciding to "do something about Obama" to prompt what could be an attack on Obama's life. A man whose only crime is trying to become President. A man with a wife. A father to two beautiful little girls. But did they care? No. That is, until McCain and Palin realized that their tactic wasn't winning over the undecided votes. If anything, their attacks were turning people off and making them decide to vote for Obama. They didn't stop their attacks until the press brought this into the spotlight.

Now, all of a sudden, McCain is trying to stop the rampage he and his running partner have helped to cause. Friday night, McCain was booed by supporters for saying, "Senator Obama is a decent, honest man and no one should be scared to have him as President of the United States." And while I feel this course of action is a little bit late, Senator Obama thanked John McCain for sticking up for him. A very classy thing to do, I might add, since this whole McCain campaign has been one attempt after another to not address the issues but instead, to smear Obama's reputation. Still, I guess McCain deserves a pat on the back for trying, however, then again, how do we know McCain is defending Obama's honor because he's truly sorry he incited the voters so much or because he realizes his attack campaign on Obama is making him look bad to the undecided voters? Or maybe, McCain and Palin are afraid that Obama will start bringing up the Keating Five and Troopergate, smearing their reputations much worse than they could smear Obama's.

Yes, Senator Obama fought back and put up a 13 minute video called KeatingEconomics.com that has been airing on the internet but this was only after several (and I do mean several) attacks on his reputation. No matter how cool and calm Obama may be, a person can only take so much before their backs are pushed against the wall and they have to come out swinging. Unless you are John Kerry who tried to ignore George Bush's tactics in 2004. A choice that I believe ended up costing him a chance to be President of the United States.

Whatever the reasons for McCain and Palin stopping their attacks on Obama's personal life, I am glad it's over (hopefully). I believe that rational and smart Americans want to hear what the candidates plan to do on every issue instead of all the mud-slinging, so that they can make a wise and educated vote on election day.

Peter Cook's Interview With Barbara Walters Makes Him Look Like More Of An Idiot Than We Already Thought He Was

I'm hoping that a lot of people have heard of Peter Cook, the estranged husband of model, Christie Brinkley. Their divorce over the summer has become one of the nastiest divorces between celebrities in a long time and that's saying something.

Christie decided to divorce Peter when it came out that he was spending over 3 grand a month for porno tapes and was having an affair with an 18 year old girl. Cook then ended up paying the 18 years old girl $300,000.00 to stay quiet about said affair.

And as if all that weren't bad enough, Cook went on 20/20 with Barbara Walters to plead his case. A case that has as many lame excuses as a sieve has holes. His reasoning for having the affair with an 18 year old girl when he was married to one of the most beautiful women in the world? "I was searching for a connection that was missing in my marriage." Please. Couldn't Peter have thought of anything a little more original that that?

Cook even goes so far as to try to blame Christie for his affair. He says that he wasn't given enough attention in the marriage. That he should have been thanked for all the things he did for Christie and the family. That's your duty as a husband, nimrod! To be there for your wife and kids. Cook knew that Brinkley was a huge celebrity and that he would be in the shadows but he married her anyway. Now, he's whining about being Mrs. Brinkley. Give me a break! There are plenty of men out there that would love to switch places with Cook and would not complain.

Cooper Lawrence, a psychiatrist who was on Showbiz Tonight, offered an explanation for Cook's reaction, stating that a lot of prominent men who marry prominent men feel they need more attention the longer the marriage goes on. However, she also started her comment with, "Either he's (Peter Cook) dumber than we thought he was or he thinks we're dumb."

Personally, I'm not falling for the sob story. The man had everything he could want. A beautiful model/wife, wonderful kids and tons of money yet he threw that all away because his ego is the size of California. Nope, I don't feel sorry for Peter Cook. He feels sorry enough for himself for everybody.

You can see the interview on Friday night's 20/20.