Out of neccesity....

This post is for my family. I think they think I'm going to hell for some of my opinions, especially when it comes to this election. I'm not the traditional voter. I despise both parties because I believe they ignore the regular American. I believe I'm pretty close to being a regular American. I'm middle class, married, I think that everyone deserves the right to education, food, shelter, jobs, and to not be judged by physical characteristics (i.e. race, stature, disability, etc.) I believe in an America where anyone can be successful as long as they work for it. I believe that people should be held accountable for their actions, including corporations since the supreme court gave them the same rights as people. I believe in defining marriage, but I also don't think that it is ok to deny insurance and visitation rights to a couple who decides to have a homosexual, committed relationship. I also don't believe that adults who choose a polygamist lifestyle should be treated as criminals, outcasts, and felons.

I voted for Bush in 2000 and in 2004. I could not see how Mr. Gore or Mr. Kerry would be able to lead this country. In 2000 as I watched the primaries I wished that John McCain had won. I would have voted for John McCain in 2000.

I have been watching Barack Obama for over 4 years now. I first heard of him because he was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democrat Convention. He is a great speaker and at the time I thought, its too bad he's a Democrat.

As I watched him over the past 4 years, I have been impressed with his ability to gain the respect he has from Republicans and Democrats. People like Warren Buffet and recently Colin Powell (who we all wanted to run for President in 1996) have come to the same opinion I have. Mr. Obama doesn't expect us all to agree with him. He believes that in America, we have differing opinions, that we should engage in vigorous debate, that we should have different points of view, and that through our differences we can find the answers that help us all. He wants to unify America, to make us safe, and to reclaim the title as the greatest nation in the world.

Mr. McCain used to be like that. He would go against his party to fight for his causes. He would reach out to us and try to find out what we need. BUT, that is not the John McCain running for President in 2008. John McCain has changed. He has hired a campaign staff that is inadequate, he has chosen a VP because he knew she would energize that same portion of the Republican base that would not consider a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a candidate. John McCain and Sarah Palin have spent the last few weeks dividing America. That is not what I want in the next four years. I don't want red states respected above blue states. I don't want an America divided even more. We can't afford it.

I work with extremely poor people. I see how someone who has gotten an education, who works hard, who tries to feed their family, struggles everyday because their employer refuses to give them health insurance and they do not qualify for state insurance. I see adults who have grown up poor so they just expect that they will always be poor. They can't see how they can escape it. I see children who don't have warm enough clothes, who may be getting most of their meals at school, and whose early childhood education is threaten because the money the state gives their child care center is less then it costs that child care center to care for them. I have seen people with disabilities, in wheel chairs with mental retardation forced to live on their own with less then $900 a month. Out of the $900 has to come rent, food, utilities, clothes. How many of us can live off of $900 a month? I then see these same people forced to move because the company in charge of their affordable apartment was swindling money from HUD vouchers. Many of these people were placed in shelters because there are not enough $300 or less one bedroom apartments with wheel chair access.

I have studied our federal budget. I have seen how 2/3 of the national budget is fixed. Most of that goes to social security pay outs, which are very important. But almost a 1/3 of our federal budget goes to countries like China in the form of interest only payments. How many of you would take an interest only loan out from a bank. How long would it take to pay back an interest only loan? You don't pay back interest only loans. Why are we borrowing money from China in the first place? Why can't our federal government live within its means? Why do we spend less on our own people then we do on interest only payments? Guess what, that $700 billion spent on bailing out wallstreet didn't come from your tax money, it came from loans our government took out from other countries.

Our government is messing our country up. A lot of that is the fault of that past 8 years, but not all of it. Until the Republican party can show me that they are willing to return to the party ideals of fiscal responsibility, caring about those less fortunate, and trying to unite us rather then divide us, I will be voting Democrat for a while. What John McCain has shown me is that he will not be a huge difference between the past 8 years. I find his "spread the wealth around" argument so humorous. "Socialism" he calls it. Hmmm, I believe that his plan to buy up failing mortgages and renegotiate the terms of the loan a redstribution of wealth. Allowing people who can't afford the home they live in to pay less then the value of that home so they can stay in it. Oh well, I digress. Don't we pay our fast offerings so that those struggling to pay for food and shelter have a chance to make it through hard times? Don't we donate to charities to help a cause we believe in. Don't we all agree that a lower middle class family never gets a break because they make too much to qualify for government assistance but too little to really get to make something of themselves? Are we really that stingy that those of us making higher incomes do not want to give these families a break? Don't we want everyone to have affordable health care? Don't we want all of our Grandma's and Grandpa's to be taken care of when they can no longer work? Don't we want birth control to be free? Don't we want to (and this is a quote from Barack Obama), "... try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby."

Of course don't get me wrong, I never vote solely by party, so there will be some Rebulicans, Libertarians, and Independents getting my vote. And if either of Washington State's Senators were up for re-election I would vote against them (not a fan of either). At a state level my vote is leaning towards Dino Rossi, because I see that Washington State is in need of a change in leadership.

But you heard it here family, I endorse Barack Hussein Obama for President of the United States of America. (Let's remember that I'm the only member of the family who regulary reviews the constitution).

Why I love Spokane....

So, I've decided to start a new series where I talk about why I love Spokane. I realized that this is the town where I fell in love with my husband, where we bought our first house, where I will raise my children, and where I will probably live for the rest of my life. So, I decided that I need to fall in love with Spokane. Every week or so I'm going to write about something I've found about Spokane that I think is so cool.

Riverfront Park is a place I almost always went when I would visit Spokane with friends.Here is a night when I went up to visit Brittany with Jennie Johnson. We decided to dress up goofy and walk around, guess? Ok you're right we went to Riverfront Park.

Here is Shane and I on a trip to Spokane. Good times.

This is where we host Walk With Me for Easter Seals. We use the pavilion in the background and offer free parking in that parking lot. Through Walk With Me I have gotten to meet some wonderful people around town. Riverfront Park is the perfect location for our walk.


This is the famous Clock Tower. Isn't that a beautiful sight? My work is very close to the park so I get to drive by it quite a bit. I love how calm the river looks and the contrast as the trees have begun to change colors. I got to walk through the park today as I have begun to map out the walk path for next year's Walk With Me. I wasn't completely satisfied with the route we took this year.
I wanted to add this picture because of the trickle of water. I'll make sure to compare this picture with a spring picture. The river goes from this peaceful stream to a raging river when the snow melts. Its really cool.

So one thing that is helping me fall in love with Spokane is Riverfront Park. It is beautiful and a place I look forward to making many more memories.

Pink hair and Chicago

First of all, I took this picture last night of DJ. He is such a handsome guy. Also, check out the colors of the sky and on the taller building. We had a good sunset last night.

DJ asked that I put pink in my hair so I went to Moses Lake and my friend Brittany did it. It turned out really well and I've gotten a ton of compliments. I was a little worried about how people at church would react, but when I told them I did it for my husband they were like, oh that's really cool. It also upped my cool factor with my Young Women so I think it was worth it. Plus it is a lot of fun.

This is the view from my hotel in Chicago. I stayed at the Crowne Metro. It was a quick trip, but totally worth it. I learned so much to help with my job and was finally able to meet my co-workers that I've only had an email relationship with.

This is one of the doormen at the hotel. I was leaving for good. Everyone was so nice. I was shocked at how friendly Chicago is. I would really like to go back for a longer visit with DJ. It would be cool to take the train over.

I took a water taxi to get a quick view of downtown. This is one of the bridges facing Sears Tower.

This is another Taxi, but it looks exactly like the one I was on.