While on active duty as a U.S. Army Chaplain, I appreciated serving, ministry and  working with chaplains who were also assiociated with the same denomination as President Obama.

Already our new president is strengthening the bonds of religion and society and how government, churches, and religious organizations can work together to better community and country. However, there are guidelines and regulations for each to follow to ensure maximum success.

On the campaign trail. President Obama emphasized his Christian faith;  in speeches he connected faith and public policy. For instance, he spoke about the present “faith-based” initiatives. He recognized the value of a partnership between government and religious faith organizations dedicated to improving communities. He is already pledging  and committing to expanding and renaming the faith-based office.

During the campaign, the Montgomery County Democratic Party established a list of 12 goals to be enacted by Obama should he be elected. First on the list was to rebuild the military. Second, to reform the faith-based office and its mission: he’s already discussing its mission.

Here is what we can glean from his present statements: “He explicitly rejects taxpayer-funded evangelism and religiously-based hiring discrimination with public funds.” This gives us reassurance that our tax dollars will not finance specific evangelistic efforts  to save souls.  That’s the mission of donations by church members in offering plates. Proselytizing on our tax dollars is forbidden.

President Obama succintly gives insight into his policy when he says:

“If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them — or against the people you hire — on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we’ll ensure that taxpayer dollars go only to those programs that actually work.“

I give kudos to faith groups who are dedicated to such principles. the Catholics and Lutherans set a high standard in public services without proselytizing. Our own Loaves and Fishes, United Way, and Urban Ministries are giving aid to the disenfranchised without requiring any profession of faith.

President Obama and the Obama family are people of faith and support the mission of serving the public. We, too, can assist by requiring inclusivemness and accountability in the use of our tax dollars by religious organizations.

In summary, we can benefit our needy neighbors and fellow Clarksville residents by recognizing and endorsing the following principles for religious groups receiving tax dollars:

• Groups don’t have a so-called “right” to take in tax money yet still discriminate on religious grounds when hiring staff.
• Ensure that no denomination uses tax dollars for any form of evangelism or religious education.
• Religious schools are part of our American fabric and make a significant contribution to the building of moral character. However, such fine educational institutions are not to be funded with tax dollars.

In addition, I request the following in the beginnings of their new administration:

• Reform of the Justice Department
• Sever ties between fundamentalism and the military
• Do not base  public policy on theology
• Preserve the ban on church politicking

For more information on these issues, read the January edition of “Church and State.”

In a special session Monday night, the City Council approved an amendment to the city’s capital project budget, giving the okay to $32 million in new debt and $39 million in re-structured debt for development of Mayor Johnny Piper’s proposed marina, water park and other Fairgrounds “development.” The debt package would extend loans through 2027.

In fact, the “done deal” marina has spurred boats sales, or the illusion and suggestion of boat sales, including the collage of watercraft already on display in a Riverside Drive dealer’s lot and another boat display/storage area strategically poised on the concrete slab that once housed the Fairground Pavilion.

Councilors Wallace Redd, Marc Harris and Wayne Harrison opposed the amendment, with Harris lobbying for a 30-day stay on this vote, a move that would have allowed new city councilors a say in a development project that will, in January, fall under their purview. Not all the new councilors support the marina; the current council make-up was a guaranteed win for marina advocates.

What consideration has been given to traffic flow problems on access roads (state highways) to the new development have been elaborated on. Clarksville already has significant traffic flow issues including along Riverside Drive, and water park/marina development will magnify those issues as well for the people who live, work in or travel that area.

As the new council oversees future development of the marina and the Cumberland as a recreational waterway, it is hoped that among their concerns they will consider the overwhelming noise pollution generated by powerboats and jet skis — the latter can equal the output of a racetrack in one’s back yard. The amount of oil and gasoline residue that seeps from vehicles such as jet skis, particularly older models, is a serious pollutant on many waterways; newer models have adapted to stricter EPA standards. In many forward-thinking states these “toys” have been banned on small lakes and rivers because of the noise, noise pollution, and pollution issues, and earth-friendly reclaiming of rivers and streams — or at least, do no further harm — is the most important priority.

Given that the city for years has endured the stench of wastewater treatment permeating the downtown business and residential district, it would behoove the new council to address that that issue in tandem with any new downtown and riverfront development.

If the current administration is hellbent on this form of development, it is incumbent on the next City Council to be proactive in protecting the natural resources that run through Clarksville, and ensuring that within this development, there are ample protections for the water, the shoreline and the abutting homes and businesses (including new residential development). Or hope that the pollution just runs downstream…rendering it NIMB (Not In My Backyard).

It was a cool November night and rain was just starting to tap on the tin roof of our one room log cabin newlywed nest. Beloved would be returning from work in Nashville soon and being the new bride that I was wanted to surprise him with homemade fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I thawed the chicken, started the mashed potatoes and began to warm up my cast iron skillet on the stove. I poured about an inch of Vegetable oil into the skillet to begin frying my chicken. While that was heating, I sliced my chicken breasts into large individual pieces and began coating them with flour. Everything was going smoothly; it all smelled so good and only 30 minutes to go before Beloved arrived home!

With all the busy-ness of the preparations I failed to notice that the oil in my skillet had become extremely hot and tiny little flames began to pop up all around the inside of the skillet. Frantically I looked around my kitchen for a lid or a towel or something to smother the flame; my eyes fell upon the bag of flour when I remembered Beloved’s advice once while in the kitchen to never throw flour on a kitchen fire. My next thought was the sink:

“I would just turn water on it!” I thought.

Too bad the sink was overflowing already with dirty dishes and no room for a flaming cast iron skillet.

I looked down at Jim the Cat for advice who looked at me with eyes as wide as saucers that seemed to say

“TAKE IT OUTSIDE!”

Since the flames were still small I thought that a little rain would do just the trick, but once cold air hit my skillet the flames grew even higher!. Cars that were beginning to pass by our cabin started to pull over to observe this crazy woman on her porch with a ball of fire balancing on a skillet! Now, out of desperation, I realized that I needed to get rid of this skillet! I began to walk out into the yard, arm extended, skillet ablaze, and an audience of curious neighbors. So there I am standing in the middle of my yard in the pouring rain, looking around for options. “There’s my garden hose, hmmm…that might splatter it, I should take it away from my car and the house…maybe out here toward the gravel driveway? I can’t sit it down because the flames are too high.

Then I saw It. A giant puddle had formed in the low spot in our driveway. “That’s what I”ll do!” I thought, “I’ll just toss the oil into the puddle, problem solved.”(Some of you reading this are already foreseeing what’s about to happen)

I slowly walked toward the puddle when grease began splashing out the sides of the skillet leaving a small fire trail behind me.

I finally reached the puddle and with one quick movement I slung the hot grease toward the puddle of water.

POOF! A giant 3 foot by 4 foot circle of fire burst up toward the sky. The heat on my face was frightening and I did a brief check for hair and eyebrows. Still there.

Anger and embarrassment toward the large crowd that had now formed along the side of the road and in our driveway to share this moment with me, overtook me and I waved my skillet at them to motion for them to leave, that one act caused the remaining hot oil in the skillet to mix with oxygen producing a grand finale, a thin wall of fire around me.

I tossed my skillet out into the yard, walked into my cabin slamming the screen door behind me. I dumped the mash potatoes in the trash, and called in a large pizza for supper.

I went back outside later to make amends with my cast iron skillet who has now become my best friend in the kitchen.

Here’s something else you can do with your cast iron skillet:

Old Fashioned Iron Skillet Cornbread

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups self-rising cornmeal

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the oil in an iron skillet. Heat the skillet in the oven. In a medium bowl mix the cornmeal,eggs and buttermilk. Remove the hot skillet from the oven. Increase the temperature to 400 degrees. pour a little of the hot oil into the batter and stir. Pour the batter into the skillet. Bake for 15-20 min. or until golden and crispy.

Serve hot with lots of butter~

Oh, I made it downtown. I’d planned to write about this event, take pictures of it.

But all the sloping curb cuts in the world won’t help if you can’t park your car due to the glaring absence of designated handicapped parking spaces. So through the window of the car I looked at the crowd gathered inside DAC, a bit wistfully I might add, and went back home. Sans art. Sans conversation that I would otherwise have enjoyed. Sans story and photos they might have appreciated.

As appealing as Clarksville’s Franklin Street and downtown area can be, it is not user friendly if you have mobility problems. All the talk in the world about needing more parking or the construction of a new parking garage is great, if you are able to walk from said areas to your final destination. I can’t. Neither can a lot of other people.

I love to buy cards at HodgePodge, select jewelry at what my granddaughters call “the rock store,” snap up clothes or accessories from Rogates, dine at the Black Horse or the Front Page Deli, and attend the Roxy. And then there is ArtWalk.

My daughter is fully disabled and not always able to walk about town. I have what I hope will be a shorter term issue with mobility, and can’t always walk about, which has resulted in my acquisition of a new “temporary” placard that may likely be renewed for another six months (hopefully not made permanent). Sometimes it is all I can do to walk from one park bench to the next as I work my way between downtown shops. I don’t like my current status, and I “work around it” as often as possible: sometimes I am successful, sometimes not.

My entire family is “handicap aware” or “mobility aware” and we all know too well that there are NO designated handicapped parking spaces in the Franklin Street shopping district. The spaces at City Hall are too far for me to use if I want to be on Franklin Street, if I want to be in that downtown district of choice. Strawberry Alley has several designated spots that, when any event happens there, are cordoned off since events and seating land on top of said spots, rendering them off limits to the very people who need them the most.

Despite it’s apparently lawsuit-inspired graded curbing and crosswalks, the city has not yet figured out that before you can use said easy access curb cuts, you have to be able to get to them, to park near them.

Ergo, when it comes to parking access, downtown Clarksville is not just unwelcoming but still downright unfriendly, if not hostile, to those with handicaps of long or short term duration who need to park near their destination. Apparently Americans With Disabilities are still not welcomed there.

When tax cuts are labeled as tax increases.

What with all the heavy-handed named-calling and negative dis-information being bandied about in these final days of the presidential election campaign, this image pretty much sums it up quite succinctly.

What with all the heavy-handed named-calling and negative dis-information being bandied about in these final days of the presidential election campaign, this image pretty much sums it up quite succinctly.

No matter your political persuasion, heed the advice at the bottom of the above sign: Go Vote!

Failure to exercise your right to vote also exorcises your right to complain about the outcome.

The first few minutes after I come out of Elle-Girl’s room after she’s gone to sleep. Yes, I know you must be thinking I’m crazy, or maybe being fake and unrealistically sappy, but its true.

Around 8 p.m. the business of bedtime begins: It’s splish, splash in the bath, wiggle into warm Jammie’s, and finish off the sippy cup of milk. It’s brush her teeth, spit, repeat, “nigh, nigh, Sea” (Night, Night Sea turtle toothbrush), kiss daddy goodnight. It’s the lowering of the night time shade, read the story one more time, “See” she says as she finds the frog on each page. Turn off the light, snuggle down tight, a brief nursing of Mamma’s milk, drift off to sleep.

The whole process takes about an hour, sometimes longer. Sometimes I find myself waking up an hour later nestled beside my Elle-Girl in her tiny toddler bed exhausted by the day.

Then eventually I make it out into the living room, where David is usually typing a paper, or waiting patiently with a really good movie paused and ready for me to watch with him. Its then the saddest part of my day occurs, because I do one last walk through of the living room picking up stray toys and unfinished imaginary play.

First its the little red ball we lost several hours earlier, or the sippy cup under the couch…”Was that from today?”… a wiggled off sock, an over turned book. But its the little things that some how managed to go unseen throughout the day or evening that melts my heart.

It’s the teddy bear tea party under my dining room table, ‘How did I miss that?’

Its Daffy and Donald Duck camping out behind the couch with a sock for a pillow and a scrap piece of fabric from my sewing box , as a blanket.

‘She’s so imaginative.’

It’s the little fish peeking out from under the couch cushion, ‘Was that for me to see?’

And a few of her favorite books laying together in the corner.

‘Why didn’t I stop and read those to her?’

Moments, precious moments that I some how missed out on.

I AM A STAY AT HOME MOM HOW DO I MISS THIS?

I have a brief moment of regret almost every night about whether or not I spent enough time with my child that day. I’m sure every parent goes through this. It does however make me take note and examine my priorities throughout the day. What really needs to be done, and what can be put on hold? Is that one new notification in my inbox really that urgent, and wasn’t the whole point of paying for DVR so that I may watch that show at another time?

I realize that its ok to let my daughter have time to herself, and I need it as well sometimes. In fact she prefers to play alone at times, even shutting her bedroom door to look at her picture books alone.

I do think as a mother I need to make myself more available, and present throughout the day. I never want her to think that I am too busy for her to come to me, or later in life as she matures, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m too involved in a project to listen to what she has to say.

Every morning I am reminded of how quickly she is growing up.

Every night I am reminded of how quickly these days go by.

Surely I am not the only one who goes through this. Let’s not take these moments for granted moms. Let’s read that book one more time. Let’s hang those clothes up tomorrow and let’s record Ellen to watch later, dancing is always more fun after midnight right?

Let’s get on the floor, build pillow forts and laugh at nothing at all, let’s sing silly songs, and put random things on our heads, so that at the end of the day as we make the rounds through the house that we find ourselves saying instead:

“Oh yeah, that was fun.”

Or

“I think I’ll leave that until the morning, maybe we can do it again……..”

1. Put soldiers in schools as teachers without requiring certification and Desert Storm was about protecting the oil.
2. Americans are innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C.
3. Palin is a role model to women.
4. McCain rallies harbor few fringe peoples.

Here are McCain’s statements:

1. McCain’s solutions to education and why we had Desert Storm.

During the third debate, when asked about the state of education in the US, McCain had this, among other things, to say:

McCain: “We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations or have the certification that  are are required in many states.”

My Reaction (Incredulous) : Returning soldiers should go straight into teaching?

Soldiers coming back from the war are all, every one of them, suffering from PTSD, according to local psychologists in Montgomery County.  Here, at the home of Fort Campbell army base, agencies that deal with child abuse issues are spending a lot, if not most, of their time with military families.  Soldiers are gone so long from their growing families that they come back out of touch with their children and how to react and interact with them.

Many soldiers came back from the first deployment with sex addictions that befuddled local psychologist, Mary Coe.  News of rape within the armed forces continues to escalate at an alarming rate.  Now McCain suggests that we should put these soldiers in a room with our young, attractive, hormonal young women and men? Or the youngest of our children?

No certification required of soldiers to teach our children?  Well then, what are they going to teach, and how?  Am I jumping off a limb to say that soldiers know how to be good soldiers, how to obey orders without question?  Will classrooms be organized in a military atmosphere, where you listen when told to do so and speak only when spoken to?  Where the teacher’s job is to break down the students and rebuild them as one unit?  People I know, with kids and without, will tell me this is a great idea.  Teach kids how to respect, obey, and have discipline.  To force feed information without question? Without critical thinking and questioning? That works fine if you’re not trying to work with kids who love to learn, who are creative and who can find and express their own personalities.  And the kids who don’t fit in?  How does the military deal with that?  A group is only as strong as its weakest person.

Meticulously programmed Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet/1956)

Personally, I can’t imagine that making kids into bigger better robots than they are now is the best thing for them or our future.  Or that making them hate school more than many do now is a solution.

No Child Left Behind is teaching kids to memorize data for tests, but we can and should do so much better than that, move beyond that.  We can make kids really hate learning and resist school, essentially pulling them to a place where their choice for the future is narrowed down to the military.

Or, worse yet, it will produce kids who love the discipline so much that they’ll be ready to choose the military as their future.  These kids will be so dedicated that they would turn in even their parents as traitors. Ok, let’s just say there’s something to that idea.  Why does McCain want or need to make larger armies?

McCain: (from the 3rd debate script)

Kuwait

“He (Obama) voted against the first Gulf War. He voted against it and, obviously, we had to take Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait or it would’ve threatened the Middle Eastern world supply.

He said (the war) threatened world supply, not oppressed people.  Kuwait sits on 10 percent of the world oil reserves, so fighting the terrorist Saddam was about protecting our source of oil and now our largest trading partner. This fact has been confirmed to me by a Vet of that and two other wars.

McCain needs armies to conquer oil-rich countries.  Let the Christian extremists believe that Muslims are evil and tell the rest of us that we are defending ourselves against terror.  What happened to the “spreading Democracy” thing?  We bought that for awhile.  Election time arrives: bring terror back into the picture.

If we keep using oil, we burn up the planet, even if we could justify our barbaric invasion into Iraq and Iran for oil.

2.  The Maverick has experience in an economic collapse.

McCain: “Americans are hurting right now, and they’re angry. They’re hurting, and they’re angry. They’re innocent victims of greed and excess on Wall Street and as well as Washington, D.C. And they’re angry, and they have every reason to be angry.”

My Reaction: Both Democrats and Republicans can be blamed for the current economic crisis.  But we should consider who has more “experience” in the world of high finance fraud.  When McCain says American’s are angry, does he know what it is like to lose your life’s savings and your future well-being?

From Wikipedia

“Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed in 1989, at a cost of over $3 billion to the federal government. Some 23,000 Lincoln bondholders were defrauded and many elderly investors lost their life savings. The accompanying slowdown in the finance industry and the real estate market may have been a contributing cause of the 1990-1991 economic recession.

“Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association made substantial political contributions to 5 senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH),John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), totalling $1.3 million. Keating said, “One question …had to do with whether my financial support in any way influenced several political figures to take up my cause. I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so.”

“After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings, with Cranston receiving a formal reprimand. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised “poor judgment.”

McCain admitted that was the worst mistake in his life. Thank goodness that hand slap worked; now the Maverick is running for president and I can’t image him being bought out by private interests. (sarcasm, Miss Betty, sarcasm)

So far I see a man with big bucks in his pocket and his hands in the poop when the last recession (so similar to this one!) hit.

3. Palin is a role model to women (in men’s fantasies).

McCain (From the third debate): “Well, Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin. They know that she’s a role model to women and others — and reformers all over America. She’s a reformer”.

My Reaction: She’s a role model alright. We don’t want a Hillary running things because she stands on her own integrity. Hillary doesn’t support a man because he’s a man. We want a woman who agrees with and defends the man. Palin can take it and turn around and defend it. That’s a role model in the man’s sexual fantasy.

Palin’s a reformer alright. In a YouTube video she greets the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaska to secede from the Union.

From their website:

Q: What is the Alaskan Independence Party?

A: An Alaskan political party whose members advocate a range of solutions to the conflicts between federal and local authority; from advocacy for state’s rights, through a return to territorial status, all the way to complete independence and nationhood status for Alaska.

4. Why the negative campaigning, McCain?

So far, I see a man with big bucks in his pocket and his hands in the poop when the last recession (so similar to this one!) hit. And a woman who holds down the victim while developers rape the land; later she and Joe Six Pack threw around their power by shooting down protected wolves from a helicopter. Oh, she’s a role model alright. She can take it and turn around and defend it. A man’s fantasy role model. She even charges rape victims for their medical examination (that is a fact).

How are you going to keep us from knowing about this stuff, McCain?

The best thing for you to do, McCain, is keep us from looking at you, any way that you can. You better find things wrong with your opponent and pounce on it. Even if it’s a complete lie, just say it over and over until people believe it. Keep your opponent busy clearing himself of all the crap you are saying. Remember, it doesn’t have to be true, you just need to say it a lot, and get people scared.

Say something like 9/11 and get people scared about that again. Then make-up doubts about Obama. People will make the connection. Terror = scared = Obama.

The first lie I saw was “the no hand over the heart” affair, in which Obama was accused of not crossing his heart while saying the Pledge of Allegiance.The truth to that image is that he was listening to the National Anthem. That picture of Obama not crossing his heart hangs at our local Republican headquarters today; they’re not keeping up with the rest of the world and perpetuating a blatant lie.

Then there was the no-pin problem, when Obama did not wear an American flag lapel pin. Obama rhymes with Osama. What more proof do we need that he himself is a terrorist? Obama is a Muslim. A co-worker said that to me recently. Or suggested he has a Muslim background. Geez, girl. That was so last spring. Catch up. That’s been disproved and the party has moved on to bigger, better things. Recently I saw a short movie with out-of-context slides of Muslim terrorists. Lots of blood and guts too. IS THAT WHAT WE WANT? (vote McCain)

I’ve been doing a little study of the Neo-Conservative party and their efforts to control the population. They seek to convince people that we are in terrible trouble from terrorists. (The Power of Nightmares). They use control by fear of terror.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Edvard Munch - "The Scream" (1893)

I’ve been to England when people were afraid of bombs in fast food restaurants and airport lockers. But these people did not walk around in fear every minute; they would not buy into fear.

In the last debate, McCain put himself on the line as supporting accusations that Obama is connected to terrorists. Although his campaign had been pushing that subject for weeks, McCain said “I don’t care about an old washed-up terrorist. We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” As Saturday Night Live puts it, he also believes there is a unicorn under his bed.

It’s desperate, McCain, but you know you have to get people scared because when they get scared they get mad and fired up enough to get out there and vote. And anyone who opposes you, well, you have to discredit them, as quick as you can. Liberal, hippie, washed up: use those words.

McCain’s supporters have been recorded calling Obama a traitor and saying things like “kill him.”

McCain (from third debate):

“Let me just say categorically I’m proud of the people that come to our rallies. Whenever you get a large rally of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, you’re going to have some fringe peoples. You know that. And I’ve — and we’ve always said that that’s not appropriate. I’m not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they’re great citizens.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Colin Powell is upset enough with McCain’s campaign to reprimand him in a press release.

The next thing McCain will do is insist on election fraud by ACORN. McCain will tell his lies and then it becomes our job to disprove it. Visit the ACORN website. Might as well get versed up in it ahead of time.

To my fellow people on this Earth who believe in McCain:

Our founding fathers gave us a Bill of Rights that has undermined our freedom

You refuse to watch the films, you refuse to question the stuff that is thrown at you.  We knew that Bush would not kill Osama, he is best friends with the Bin Laden family (see Farenheit 9/11).  He flew the Bin Laden family out of the U.S. directly after 9/11.  We, liberals, freethinkers, decent and creative people, were right. We were right about a lot of stuff: the war, Bush, torture, oil, violations to the constitution, our rights to free speech, and our rights to privacy. When we told you about it, you bullied us to get us to shut up. You are a long way from admitting that you were being bullies, just as you are a long way from admitting that fear lay beneath that. But know that it was all cleverly controlled. Being a bully is a way you were shown (by Fox News icon Bill O’Reilly and others) that gives you a sense of power when in reality you felt powerless. Now you need to WAKE UP. See the beautiful things around you that you have the power to destroy as you sleep.

You have been controlled through images of fear and terror. You react to it by hating and bullying and believing bullshit. Having to be “right” is a very low form of emotion for Democrats and Republicans alike. It’s barely above apathy. This is not the future we want for our United States. We are all in this together. Come back to us in this uphill battle to regain our freedoms and our prosperity and our health.

We miss you and miss America. We miss decency and fun. This is our most important choice.

Click here for a CNN transcript of the third debate.

The following video is the full 90-minute 3rd presidential debate.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And, unlike Wurzelbacher, he’s a licensed plumber.

Joe Moenck, a plumber in Zumbrota, Minn., is a member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 6—which, like all building and construction trades unions, has high professional standards for its members—such as making sure they hold a license to practice their craft.

Moenck was dismayed to see McCain repeatedly trot out “Joe the Plumber” during this week’s presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama. Says Moenck:

“I felt that when John McCain was talking about Joe the Plumber, I didn’t feel that that was sincere. He didn’t mention the middle class in the last two debates at all. It upset me that he brought this up strictly because he had to, because his ratings are low among the middle class. I don’t think he believes what he said, but he knows his support is low there and said that strictly for the ratings, as a campaign strategy.”

When “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher met Obama in Toledo on Sunday, Wurzelbacher expressed concern about being taxed on earnings of $280,000 per year should he ever start a small plumbing business.

But, as Moenck can tell you, hard workers like him in the building trades aren’t paid anywhere near $250,000 a year. For Moenck—and even for Wurzelbacher, who right now makes far less than his dream salary—Obama’s tax plan would mean a decrease in taxes by more than $1,200 a year—more than under McCain’s tax plan. And should Wurzelbacher ever pull in $250,000, he’d only pay a few hundred dollar more in taxes under Obama’s plan. Not a deal-breaker for a guy thinking of starting a small business.

Wurzelbacher also has a bit of an agenda. He’s a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors, a nonunion trade group that has endorsed McCain.

So, in addition to Moenck, we’d like to introduce McCain to a few other real Joe the plumbers.

There’s Joe Gutzwiller, a licensed plumber in Indianapolis and member of UA Local 440. Gutzwiller shares a lot in common with Moenck, including seeing through McCain’s pretensions of support for America’s middle class.

“I heard the one about health care, where McCain wants to tax our benefits, and I just think he’s looking out for bigger businesses and corporations leaving middle class people out of the whole picture.

“I think Obama is actually trying to help out middle class people who are feeling the effect of our economy. From what I’ve seen in the debates, he’s trying to prevent future problems and give the middle class a tax break to help stimulate the economy.”

And then there’s Joe Tatum in Virginia, who’s been a licensed plumber for 35 years after apprenticing with UA Local 10.

“McCain thinks we make over $200,000. I don’t make anywhere close to that. If I did, I could retire now instead of waiting ’til I’m 62.”

Over in Colorado, Joe Martinez, a plumber and member of UA Local 3, has this to say:

“John McCain doesn’t understand working families and I don’t understand how any plumber can vote for John McCain. He’s just not in touch with the working man at all.”

And there’s Joe Vicena, a member of UA Local 75 in Milwaukee, who sees McCain as continuing the same disastrous economic policies as George W. Bush.

“Our jobs are being sent overseas, people are losing their pensions and their 401(k)s, and the stock market is tanking. We need change in a positive manner. McCain is not the person to do it.  He is absolutely not the person.  Me and my family can’t take four more minutes, much less four more years, of the missteps and mis-policies we’ve had the past eight.”

Moenck, Gutzwiller, Tatum, Martinez and Vicena agree with their union that Obama is the best choice for America’s plumbers—and all middle-class workers—because, as under Bush, McCain’s economic policy would benefit the wealthiest and flush the rest of us down the tank. As Moenck puts it:

“If the middle class doesn’t have money to call Joe the Plumber, Joe the Plumber’s not gonna be in business very long.”

About the Author

This is a cross-post from the Firedoglake blog in partnership with the author Tula Connell, AFL-CIO managing editor. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly known as the AFL-CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States made up of 56 national and international unions including Canadian together representing more than 10 million workers. This organization gave Barack Obama one of his biggest Union endorsements.

Your vote is your voice

I know you’ve all been volunteering tons of time for a long, long time now.  But, I just read something from Barack Obama that I think we should all take to heart!

“Don’t underestimate the capacity of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory …  I want everybody running scared. Over the next 18 days, other than your family and your job, I want you to make a decision that there is nothing more important than bringing about this change that we need.” — Barack ObamaNow it is the time!   Only 18 days left for you to volunteer.  We must stay focused and fight as hard as we can until every vote is counted!  The next four years depend on whether we will stand up and demand change!  Can we afford four more years of more of the same?

Get Involved Today!

Please click on the following links today and get a list of people in your neighborhood who you can visit or make phone calls to and help get Barack Obama elected! The power of technology which has been the main staple of this campaign has allow everyday people like you and me the power to be involved in helping take back our country!

Please click on the following links today and get a list of people in your neighborhood who you can visit or make phone calls to and help get Barack Obama elected!

The power of technology which has been the main staple of this campaign has allow everyday people like you and me the power to be involved in helping take back our country!Barack Obama has even designed a video showing how you can help in the campaign right from the comfort of your home. It’s just that easy to get involved today. Just click on the following links to connect:

Volunteer. Knock on Doors. Make Calls. Find events to attend or support. Log in to My Barack Obama.

The Montgomery County Democratic Party needs your help; to volunteer, call 931-552-5523.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

In that debate, Moderator Gwen Ifill asked Senator Biden if he supported “as they do in Alaska, granting same-sex benefits to couples.” His answer was a resounding, “absolutely.” He further said that under an Obama administration, there would be no distinction between same-sex couples and heterosexual couples. When pressed on whether he supported gay marriage, he said no.

Palin’s response was, well, pathetic. It was the same kind of yammering she gave Katie Couric on the topic only a day before that she has “dear friends” who were gay and that she would “tolerate” and “be tolerant” of same-sex couples. Never mind the fact that she’s said before that she believes that sexual orientation is a choice that can be “prayed away.”

Let me say this clearly. I don’t care how much of a pit bull she thinks she is. Sarah, you and your “tolerance” can bite me. We don’t need “tolerance.” We don’t even need assurances that “contracts can be signed.” What we really need is protection — from people just like you.

Tolerance indeed. The last thing we need is a vice president who doesn’t even have the guts to even talk clearly about same-sex couples. She’s no barracuda. More like a betta. That’s a teensy little fish that’s all frills and fight, and wouldn’t even be a proper snack for a cat.

But, I digress.

This only illustrates the simple reality – both parties are the same on paper. Democrats are often long on promises, but short on delivery. Bill Clinton’s promise to allow gays to serve in the military collapsed into the single worst policy in US military history: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. This would allow gays to serve as long as they don’t act gay or disclose their sexual orientation.

Obama has promised to rescind the policy and let gays serve. McCain promised to take advice from his generals (most of whom are as homophobic as their grunts). But would either actually sign any law that would grant gays to serve their country with honor? Well, I’m not going to hold my breath.

As I’ve said before, the big issue in 2004 and 2006 was gay marriage. States all around the country have clamored to pass anti-gay marriage amendments because they all know what Biden said: that the constitution allows for same-sex marriage. This is why bigoted reich-wing groups like the American Family Association are so adamant to get these atrocities passed – not because they’re afraid of “activist judges,” but because they know the Constitution (darn that pesky fourteenth amendment!) guarantees equal protection under the law. So their only hope is to write discrimination into a document that is at its core — liberty.

Many of my fellow gay activists are angry that none of the Presidential or Vice Presidential candidates openly supports gay marriage. Truthfully, I’m okay with this. Because of this, it actually takes the candy of anti-gay bigotry out of the mouths of the already-sugar high right wing nuts who are salivating to have their pet issue back on the lips and ballots of the American people. Too bad. Maybe they’ll boycott themselves one day.

In fact, two of the three states that have constitutional amendments on the ballot, Florida and California, are likely to reject those amendments. The third, Arizona, already has rejected it once. It’s not the driving issue of the day. Thank God.

Let me say this, though. The United States of America, as a whole, is not ready for gay marriage. This isn’t an issue that’s going to go away overnight, and it’s not going to be solved with a simple presidential proclamation. As time goes on, we’ll see more and more states pass laws allowing for civil unions and domestic partnerships. If we’re EVER to see gay marriage in all 50 states, then it will be through education, understanding, and something far more than tolerance: patience. Americans are slow to change, and we’re slow to look beyond ourselves. But that’s what it’s going to take.

If we’re ever to see marriage, we’ve got to have a full set of protections in place first. Why the hell are we blathering about marriage, when in many states – including Tennessee – we don’t even have basic protections in housing and employment? What good is it to be able to marry when there aren’t even hate-crime laws in place across most of the country — including in Wyoming, where Matthew Shepard was killed ten years ago? There’s not even a hate crime law in place at the federal level!

Seriously, folks – let’s not get into the idea that we have to have this pie in the sky when we don’t even have the key ingredients needed for that pie? When even Alaska has a meager domestic partnership policy in place – mandated by its supreme court, it’s clear that we have a long way to go. That policy is still in flux, and several attempts have been made to nullify the court’s ruling. As a my friend Michael Rowe says, Quel surprise! “Tolerance,” indeed.

So we only got one question in the Veep debate. And it was about gay marriage. The two candidates even agreed on it. “Okay, let’s move on,” Ifill said. What an excellent idea.

As posted on Skipping to the Piccolo

In my understanding of stewardship, I learned from my parents and my faith group to give a percentage of my income to helping organizations. I not only believe supporting selecting organizations, I make it my practice to support the St. Louis Zoo, St. Jude Research Medical Center, and World Vision. For some of these gifts I receive a tax deduction.

Perhaps, though, I should keep myself informed about the financial income of the charities and churches. The value of stewardship includes holding accountable organizations that are the beneficiaries of our largess. It came as a surprise the amount that some religious organizations acknowledge as an annual income. The following are faith-based organizations where huge income is impressive:

• James Dodson’s Focus on the Family raked in more than $156 million
• Alan Sears’ Alliance Defense Fund budget exceeded $31 million
• Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council brought in nearly $13 million
• Don Wilmond’s American Family Association took in $22.5 million
• Pat Robertson’s Broadcast Network amassed nearly $250 million

They are politically active and aggressively pursue their objectives. With significant resources resources they sponsor troubling initiatives across the United States. Contributions to them are legally diverted into political activism.

As citizens of the Kingdom of God, it is incumbent to keep informed on what happens to the dollars we donate to any faith group. Asking for information on salaries or other expenditures makes us more responsible in our Stewardship. It is okay to ask any organization “where are my (donated) dollars going?”

Senator Rosalind Kurita

Recent reports from Democratic Party officials describing the vote at the Democratic Party Executive Committee Hearing that overturned the election of Rosalind Kurita in the Democratic primary vote have been rife with “spin,” omissions, and outright lies.  Party officials claim they voted to overturn the election because it was “Incurably Uncertain.”  This means, in their opinion, too many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Senator Kurita.  They assert there was a grand Republican Party conspiracy to reelect Senator Kurita.  Presumably this was a secret conspiracy, which is convenient, since one can hardly be expected to produce actual evidence if it is “secret.”

What angers democratic voters such as myself, is not that Republicans would choose to vote for a Democrat, but that leaders of my own party would overturn an election on the basis of such flimsy evidence because they did not agree with the results.  However, if the public examines the record of the proceedings recorded by the court recorder at the hearing, they will see for themselves how weak and inconsistent the evidence for such a conclusion is.  Given how incredibly weak the evidence presented to justify overturning the election is, the only other rational conclusion is that the executive committee was not interested in the evidence and had other motives.  This is why I am pleased that Senator Kurita has chosen to sue the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s action as unconstitutional.  If the court agrees to hear the case, the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s evidence will have to meet the standards of a fair and impartial court, not one which clearly was not interested in the facts.

Almost all political analysts believe that the Democratic Party Executive Committee’s real motive for overturning the primary election result is revenge for Senator Kurita’s vote to elect Republican Ron Ramsey Lieutenant governor.  This conclusion was reinforced at the hearing by the fact that almost no discussion of the evidence and its merits, or lack thereof, occurred after the evidence was presented.  Instead, a motion was immediately made to send the decision to a convention of the District 22 party officials.  While this may have given the Executive Committee a little political cover, and the appearance of fairness, they well knew that most of the members of that small group were Barnes supporters that could be counted upon to name Barnes as the Democratic Candidate.  Perhaps this would not have angered me so much if it didn’t remind me so well of the 2000 presidential election.

However, the official mandate of the Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting was to evaluate evidence for election irregularities.  Had the Executive party fairly and objectively considered the evidence presented it could not have reasonable over turned the election.  I am confident the federal trial will reveal this to be the case.  If the motive was in fact revenge, as many democrat commentators in the letters to the editor have freely acknowledged, I would remind them that in a democracy, revenge is taken against elected officials by not reelecting them.  Senator Kurita was reelected in a free and fair election that was certified by the election commission.

Some of these commentators have accused Senator Kurita of not being a “true” Democrat.  Senator Kurita’s voting record clearly refutes this contention.  Senator Kurita has the highest environmental voting rating in the Senate from Tennessee Conservation Voters for the past two years and was awarded the conservation legislator of the year award this year.  Senator Kurita has the highest voting ratings on women’s issues and education issues.  These are core Democratic party policy issues and Senator Kurita’s voting record is rock solid on them.  If however, the issue is strict adherence to party position, regardless of the implications for her constituents in District 22, senator Kurita is willing to seek compromise solutions with Republicans.

Let’s examine the so-called evidence for the “Incurably uncertain” primary election.  First, even though Democratic Party officials claimed to know about this “secret” Republican conspiracy in advance, they took no action to prevent it from happening.  Under state election laws, the Barnes’ campaign was entitled to place election observers in the polling places to challenge any and all of the Republican conspirators they did not want to vote for Kurita, but they did not do so.  What evidence did they provide to support this conspiracy theory? The fact that one poll worker accidentally misspoke and told a prospective voter that Barnes was a Republican.  Contrary to the claims of David Luciano that Senator Kurita’s counsel “had ample opportunity to put on a defense, and yet offered not a single witness or affidavit to dispute the evidence offered by Barnes’s attorneys.”  The record clearly shows that every allegation of voters being misdirected or told to vote in the Republican primary was refuted in affidavits obtained in interviews with multiple election workers who were present at the polling places.  Attorneys for both candidates were present at these interviews.  One of the things that most disturbed me about the testimony presented by Mr. Barrett was his willingness to denigrate the integrity of our poll workers.  These poll workers are our friends and neighbors.  They are people who are providing their community a valued service.   Attorney Barrett portrayed them as members of some grand Republican conspiracy.

What about all of these voters that were misdirected by these conspiratorial poll workers?  Two ended up not voting for Barnes because they did not check the sample ballot posted at the polling place to see which party primary they must vote in to cast a vote for Barnes.  Poll workers testified they informed these voters to do this.  In fact, these voters testified they were Independent voters and did not want to declare party affiliation.  Another voter, a Mr. Nepolitano, claimed that did not want to declare a party affiliation because he was an Independent, but was able to vote in the Democratic Party once he finally acquiesced to the process that required him to declare Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party primary.  Another voter claimed she was unable to vote in the Democratic Party primary because the poll worker could not operate the voting machine properly, but voting records show she did vote in the Democratic Primary.  That was the extent of the voting irregularities.  At most 4 votes were at issue.  Three by self avowed Independents, i.e. non-Democrats, that had no more or less a right to vote in the Democratic Party primary than the alleged dreaded hordes of Republican conspirators, provided they were willing to claim Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party Primary.  Two of those voted in the Democratic primary and may very well have voted for Barnes (in any case, they had every opportunity to do so).   The other two could have voted for Barnes if they had only been willing to follow the voting procedures I am sure all of us would insist our poll workers enforce.    In other words, as far as the Democratic Executive Committee was concerned, it was perfectly alright for a non-Democrat to vote in the primary, as long as they were voting for Barnes!

Let’s summarize.  A prospective voter enters the poll, says he/she is not a Democrat and does not want to declare Democratic Party affiliation, but wants to vote for a Tim Barnes, a Democratic Party candidate.  When it is explained to him/her the rules require he/she claim Democratic Party affiliation to vote in the Democratic Party primary.  At this point, he/she relents (or insists on going ahead and voting in the Republican primary even though the candidate for whom he/she wishes to vote is not on that ballot), declares Democratic Party affiliation, and then votes in the Democratic Primary.  This is then put forward as evidence by Mr. Barrett of a grand Republican Conspiracy?  Who would not laugh at such “laughable evidence?”

Several people and reporters have commented on my behavior at the Executive Committee Hearing.  First, I would like to apologize for getting angry.  I do want to clarify some of the descriptions of my behavior.  First, while I do support Senator Kurita, I was not, as reported, an angry Kurita supporter; I was an angry Democrat.  I believe this action by Democratic Party officials is unfair, unwarranted, and bad for the party.  I also feel it disenfranchises me.  Second, I want to correct David Luciano’s account of my behavior.  He accurately recounted that when one of the few Democratic Executive Committee members pointed out they had been instructed to vote based on the evidence and facts, not on retribution and revenge, I said “here! here!”  I did not shout that.  Then I was challenged by party officials and told I had no right to voice my opinion of the proceedings.  That is when I started to get angry and responded  ”but, I am a voter!“  It was clear that the party officials were very concerned that an insurgency might erupt and began hurrying toward me telling me to leave. That is when I went on to shout as I was voluntarily leaving “the Executive Committee should do its job and vote on the basis of the facts and the evidence, not vengeance.”  I did not need to be escorted out, but I am certain that I would have been escorted out had I stayed any longer.  At that point I retired to the restaurant and drank a cold Budweiser to wash down all the bull I had witnessed that day.

About the Author: Dr. Joe Schiller is an Associate Professor of Biology at APSU and a lifelong Democrat.

Montgomery County Democratic Party

Montgomery County Republican Party

The Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate is over and history. The verdict: Biden held his own, scored particularly well in areas of foreign policy, and, I believe, won the debate. Palin, after a spate of blundered interviews and disingenuous flubbed questions from “Katie” (Couric) and “Charlie” (Gibson), did better than expected but still managed at best a break even score, up from her previous level — which was sounding ridiculous.

Watching the man/woman voter scrolling scoreboard at the bottom of the TV screen, a tally of sorts based on Ohio voters, both candidates managed to find sharp and prolonged spikes of interest, catching the attention of listeners not by political affiliation but rather by the issues that were being discussed. What were those topics: the economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy, the economy and the economy. The Economy encompassed middle class tax relief, health care/insurance, jobs, gas prices, and the high cost of higher education.

Sen. Joe Biden

BIDEN: Yes, well, you know, until two weeks ago — it was two Mondays ago John McCain said at 9 o’clock in the morning that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. Two weeks before that, he said George — we’ve made great economic progress under George Bush’s policies.

Nine o’clock, the economy was strong. Eleven o’clock that same day, two Mondays ago, John McCain said that we have an economic crisis.

That doesn’t make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he’s out of touch. Those folks on the sidelines knew that two months ago.

Palin did her “I am one of you sitting around the kitchen table” complete with incorrect grammar, slang (”betcha” was the most irritating by far), and mispronounced words (can any Republican say “nuclear” instead of “nucular”? Please? Most notable, though, was Palin’s inability to stay on course and simply answer the darned question. All domestic roads, or in her case, questions, led back to taxes. Many of her foreign policy responses led back to taxes.The problem is, while I want a United States President and Vice President to have a real sense of what the average American wants and needs, I want that leader to sound, well, intelligent and functioning at a level commensurate with interaction on a global scale. “Betcha” doesn’t quite do it. By the time she spurt out the “six pack American” cliche she was, in my book, more than done. Nothing has offended me more in this campaign than that reference. Except the sappy “Charlie’s” and “Katie’s” in those CBS and ABC interviews. Maybe “six pack American” or “Joe six pack” was just my tipping point. Just how condescending can she get, I wonder.

Gov. Sarah Palin

PALIN: My experience as an executive will be put to good use as a mayor and business owner and oil and gas regulator and then as governor of a huge state, a huge energy producing state that is accounting for much progress towards getting our nation energy independence and that’s extremely important.

But it wasn’t just that experience tapped into, it was my connection to the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills? About times and Todd and our marriage in our past where we didn’t have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care? We’ve been there also so that connection was important.

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world. (Palin’s tolerance and freedom and equal rights did not extend to gay marriag or the choice issue).

Biden stumbled on words and names from time to time, and it seemed as if his mind had more to present but not enough time to dish it out. At times he almost seemed to be playing a game for which Palin remained ignorant of the rules, the first and most important being “Answer the question”. Biden zero’d in on detail and stayed on task; Palin, well, didn’t. Palin frequently responded with statements that became lost in a maze of topics, ending nowhere near an actual answer to the original question.

BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

As the debate drew to a close, Biden summed up the state of the nation under President Bush:

BIDEN: I’ll be very brief. Can I respond to that?

Look, the maverick — let’s talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He’s been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people’s lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush’s budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he’s got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against — he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He’s not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He’s not been a maverick on the war. He’s not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send — can we get Mom’s MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can’t — we can’t make it. How are we going to heat the — heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.

While both candidates were speaking into a dais-mounted microphone, at times it looked as if Palin was wearing a wire, possibly with an earpiece tucked beneath her hair (hair that, I might add, is a messy semi-upswept style fit for a bad prom night circa 1968 — sorry, Sarah); at the end of the debate as she walked across the stage, she pulled a device out from the hem of her suitcoat. We might almost suspect she was being prompted as each question arose.

The vice-presidential debate only served to affirm my choices in leadership for the next four years.

Like many Americans, I’ve been following the financial roller coaster ride that is Wall Street and the American financial system, though I may have been following it longer than most. Years, in fact.

In recent weeks I’ve corresponded with a New England friend who, after years of fiscal nonchalance and escalating debt decided to straighten up and become fiscally responsible. It took him five years or so to pay down all his debt, establish a fiscal net worth in savings and investments — and keep it that way. He’s the first to admit “it’s not easy.”

The first rule of thumb, he says, is pay down your debt. The second rule of thumb is “if you can’t pay for it, don’t buy it.” It doesn’t get more straightforward than that, unless you live in a culture like ours in which you are primed to consume beyond your means. Keep up with the Joneses until you both sink. It’s been the American way for some time now.

Today I read numerous stories of average Americans being hit by stock market losses, foreclosure notices, and credit card companies that are suddenly jacking up the interest rates on even their best customers…in one case, the credit rate jumped from 7% to 26% overnight. Insanity. Especially if those credit cards have been funding an overextended lifestyle.

Like many Americans, I am feed up with executives with multimillion/paychecks and even more in the “severance” packages or golden parachutes and the corporate windfall profits that seem to be built on the back of our consumerism.

Unlike many Americans, I also have developed little patience for those who play the “keep up…” game and overshoot their means by virtue of those little plastic credit cards. Unlike many Americans, I have little patience with those who can’t take the time to figure what a mortgage will really cost before they sign on the bottom line with black ink destined to turn red.  Playing Devil’s advocate, a friend today said “many people are not aware or savvy enough” to understand the (mortgage) process; some lenders have prodded them into signing things they don’t understand, or persuaded them to go for more than they can afford. If you don’t understand a contract, whether it is for a camera, a big screen TV, a car or a house, ask someone who knows (that includes consumer organizations). Read the fine print. Ask for details. Be specific. How much will it really cost? My mother would have said “If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.”

Some of my friends laugh at me because I “pay cash.” I have a system that works, and it starts with the essentials of housing, utilities, and food; internet access is important (school), cable TV is not. Anyway, anything I want to see I can view online, including TV shows and movies, which makes cable irrelevant. I use the local library as an alternate resource. When the essentials are covered, I can then do two things: (1) set some money aside and (2) maybe, maybe, treat myself to a movie, a lunch, or something. I have a “wish list” of things I’d like to have, and when I have the money saved, I get them. Time has an interesting way of reshaping that wish list; often when it comes time to buy, the priorities have changed. And that’s okay. Either way, I am not going into debt. The only true wild card is that of medical care/emergency.

The refrain of the past few weeks in America begins with the words “recession” and the really scary word, “depression”; it has also included terms like “thrifty” and “conservative.” At the core of solutions to fiscal crisis, both the latter words are apt. It is not necessary to keep up with the Joneses. It is not necessary to have the latest X-Box. It is not necessary to buy every new movie on DVD. (Main Street may not like it but it is survival of the fiscally fit.) It will not kill you to eat at home and eat leftovers from time to time (in fact, it will probably be better for you if you prepare healthy food at home). It will not kill you to plan your travel in a way that uses the least amount of gas. It will not kill you to add a sweater and, as the cold weather approaches, turn the thermostat down a degree or two or three, put an extra blanket on the bed. It will not kill your children if you spend less than $500 apiece on them for Christmas.

I know that the main idea of the experts is too pump more money into the economy to remain solvent, to money fluid and flowing, to keep business alive. It is a fine walk that is shuffling around the world; foreign markets are not immune. I also know that as consumers, and American economic survivors, it is essential to become frugal, and rethink many aspects of our lives. All things move in cycles over varying periods of time. Relief will not be easy, and will require hard and probably painful decisions.

We have been lax in minding our personal business, extravagant in meeting excessive “wants,” and deserving of chastisement for failing to teach our children and their children the value of thrift, of wisdom of savings, the reward of  “earning” something rather than impulsively paying with plastic and promissory notes.

It is a lesson that starts at home, long before it works its way to Main Street and on to Wall Street.  As a country, we’ve earned a failing grade in economics. As we move through this pick-up-stick economic game all we can do is survive and learn from it, redevelop old-fashioned skills.

My mother also said something about “the school of hard knocks.” Translation: experience is great teacher. Translation: Don’t spend what you haven’t got or can’t afford.

"Woman getting ready..."

Play dates are funny things.

The morning of, maybe even the night before you set about planning what you will wear. It’s kind of like when you were in high school and were going on a date with a guy, only difference is the debate over what you wear is now a little different.

As a teen you wanted to have it all together, smell nice, hair a certain way, and make- up just perfect.

As a mom on a play date, same thing, only this time you strive to not make it look like you have it all together.

You want to be approachable, right? You don’t want to give the impression that Gucci and pearls are the norm for you. Or maybe that’s just the impression you want to give, and if that’s the case then I think someone needs to tell you

• A. You’re not fooling anyone, and
• B. The rest of us are quietly fuming that you got to take a shower this morning!

So you pick out a cute outfit, a clean outfit, an outfit that doesn’t have any stains on it yet, if you have time you iron it, maybe one piece of fun jewelry, and run a comb through your hair, but don’t check it twice because, remember, we’re going for the whole “child blown” look. (That’s the windblown look for you non-parents)

And we’re not mentioning what your kid has on because we all know that as moms we all are guilty of obsessing way too much over this, so we won’t even go there!

So you’re ready, you’re out the door. You’re on your way to the play date.

You run questions, scenarios through your mind of anything and all that could happen, and how you will calmly handle it.

• What if my child hits?
• What if my child is hit?
• What if they don’t share?
• What if they do?

The Playdate: are you ready for it?

As you pull into the drive you give yourself a quick pep talk, and ok one quick hair check, and you’re off!

If you have the blessing that I had today with another mother and her children than you’re “date” goes smoothly. You relax a bit, even after you send her crystal drinking glass sliding across the patio as you race to “rescue” your kid from toddling toward the garbage truck. You see that she is just like you in some ways, even completely not like you in others, and that it’s OK! You bless each other during your time together and uplift one another as moms, because really don’t we all just want that? Don’t we all just want that extra set of hands in watching the kids while we start lunch, or an extra set of hands helping clear off the table when your done eating, don’t we all just want that human contact, that commodity, that level plain that connects us all as mothers?

I truly think so. So maybe next time I’ll slip on my favorite pair of jeans instead of the pearl earrings, and unlike High School, return a phone call for the next date!

See you on the playground.opinion