Happiness is a warm gun?

Really?

gun enthusiasts around the country are stocking up...

on GUNS.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_re_us/obama_gun_sales

Whether it's the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress that instills fear that there will be tougher new gun laws, or a tanking economy people are out there are buying up a lot of guns.

The article quotes one store in Fort Worth, Texas as having sold a record $101,000 in a single day.

That's very scary.

The alarmist in me thinks that all this gun buying is just going to lead to more innocent children being injured and killed.

"Between 1979 and 2001, gunfire killed 90,000 children and teens in America. (Children's Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)
Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence. (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence)"
http://www.neahin.org/programs/schoolsafety/gunsafety/statistics

I guess the really disturbing part of this article is that it refers to "stocking up" on guns. The woman at the beginning of the article, Rachel Smith, talks about purchasing a "20-gauge shotgun — one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January."

I guess I don't understand why 1 gun isn't "enough".

"Happiness is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles from The White Album.

Equality For All ! ! !

Please check this site out and sign the petition if you agree, AND SEND/POST to as many friends/forums as you can.

Thank you.

EQUALITY FOR ALL!!!


http://www.mormonsstoleourrights.com/

"Strip the Mormon church of its status as a religious organization.

According to IRS law,

Section 501(c)(3) describes corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literacy, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in section (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distribution of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

...And then I woke up

I was so excited when Msnbc called the election at 10pm CST. Like many of you, I’m sure, I wasn’t alone when I sat there, suspicious because the winner was "called" so early. I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to believe, I wasn’t going to celebrate it until I saw the McCain concession speech. That speech very soon followed. I was a bit surprised at McCain’s speech. I guess I sort of expected him to be a bit broken up, you know, a little emotional about it, having trouble finding the words, etc. His speech was almost robotic. When the camera panned to Sarah Palin, you could see how hard she was trying really hard to maintain her composure.

It will be interesting to see in the next 10 weeks who President Elect Barack Obama picks for his administration. President Elect Barack Obama! Doesn't that sound amazing?

I am still closely watching the Propositions on the ballots in California, Florida and Arkansas.

I am saddened on a very personal level at the prospect that California and Florida will likely pass their Prop 8 and Prop 2. I had high hopes that Prop 8 and Prop 2 would not pass and gay rights would begin sweeping the nation.

And then I woke up.

I guess I expected too much. One thing at a time right? I mean, we did make history last night Electing Obama as our President.

In Arkansas it looks like the ban on Unmarried Adoptions has passed. How sad. There are so many special needs children, and children who are no longer cute cuddly babies that need adoption and Gay and Lesbian singles and couples are more than happy to make a family with these children.

I just don't get it.

Arkansas effectively just voted to keep these children orphans.

How can Prop 8 in CA and Prop 2 in FL be overturned? How can we reverse the decision in Arkansas to ban adoptions to unmarried people? The San Francisco City Attorney's office has already stated that they plan to file a legal challenge in the California Supreme Court to challenge the validity of the measure. Also, the first lesbian couple to be married in Los Angeles plans to announce a lawsuit arguing that the proposition is unconstitutional.

Read about it here:
http://www.mercurynews.com/samesexmarriage/ci_10901475

I also read that Attorney Gloria Allred is getting involved in the legal challenge.

Read about it here:

http://washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=22207

More on my Election Day

Each Election Day we have our share of family members who notify us of a move or death of a relative. For deaths we respectfully give our condolences and fill out documents to remove the deceased from the registered voter list. Today we had 2 death notifications and numerous proud parents telling us their children are in Iraq right now, or away at college. We make no changes for the soldiers and collegiates, we just remind the parents about absentee voting for the next election.

But what about the winner in terms of these sometimes official, sometimes unofficial notifications?

That goes to the notification about a family member who was in rehab.

Oh, it's not funny that a family member is in rehab, it's commendable that a person should realize they belong in rehab. It's just the way this family says it. Imagine a bit of a southern drawl, "Ella (pseudonym) won't be votin' t'day. She's in reeeeeehab agin."

In the Primary this couple made the same pronoucement and I about blew an aneurysm to keep from laughing out loud. Today it didn't faze me because I'd heard it before. I just exchanged knowing glances with the Republican Judge seated next to me.

....Maybe I'm a little "punchy" from a long day and not enough sleep, but this really cracked me up.

My Election Day

I am a Democratic Election Judge in a precinct of 925 voters. Of that 925, 85 people voted Early or Absentee, and ONLY 489 people came to our Precinct today to vote. That translates to roughly 58% of voters showing up at our Precinct today. Or roughly, 63% of the registered voters in our Precinct voted. What’s up with that?

We had people lined up at 6am outside the building and we had people backed up waiting for an open booth until about 7:30am. After that, the rest of the day was like the Primary, a few people here, a few there. We thought we would get a rush of voters after 5pm, but they never showed up. In fact we only had about 20 voters from 5pm until the polls closed at 7pm.

The Precinct that I work at is overwhelmingly Republican, however McCain did not win overwhelmingly. The Republican Committeeman’s face visibly dropped when he read off the votes. In our little Precinct Obama got 212 votes and McCain got 259 votes. When I first heard the results, I was a bit disheartened, until one of the Republican Judges voiced her dismay that Obama got so many votes. Then I realized, this isn’t a bad thing. This is a good thing. It means that a whole lot of Republicans voted for Change, they voted for Obama. (In our Precinct, I can’t say for the rest of the Precincts in our County, although the Republican Committeeman led us to believe that other Precincts in our County had similar results. Time will tell. I’m watching the results on television now and am anxiously awaiting the tallies.)

I am a Democratic Election Judge. A Republican Election judge and I helped 3 young retarded men vote for the first time. According to Election rules, a Judge from each party must accompany any voter who needs assistance, in order to insure that the assistance is fair and impartial. I was honored to assist these young men in casting their first ballots.

These 3 men knew EXACTLY who they wanted to vote for in the Presidential Race. All three couldn’t wait to blurt out “Obama” when we began to read the Presidential Candidates.

I have to say, after the third man cast his ballot I got a little ferklempt. Kudos to Trinity Services for driving these young men to their polling place! These young men were so excited after they put their ballots in the ballot counter. Each of them came up to the Republican Judge and to myself and shook our hands and thanked us for assisting them in casting their ballots. Their faces were beaming with pride. I have to say, this was the best part of my day today.

Why I'm dreading Tuesday...

1. I have to get up at 4am to get to the polls to be there at the prescribed 5am check-in. (I am an Election Judge.) Since I'm a card carrying member of Insomniac's Anonymous, I'm not fond of early rising.
2. I still haven't found a place for my son to be while I am at the polls. Since his school is a polling place, there is no school on Tuesday.
3. I'm dreading the sheer number of people that will be voting. This is only my second term as an Election Judge and I've never really experienced the turn-out that is typical for a Presidential Election. And I think it goes without saying that this year could be a record turn-out.
4. Quite frankly I'm a little nervous about the outcome. Anyone remember Al Gore?