More lives lost

Nine American lives were lost in Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday. I won't recount the article for you. If you've had the news on, you've seen it.

The economy has taken on great importance over the past few months. It's certainly affecting me and you can see the candidates are also noticing. One quote I heard last night from one of the talking heads was that the economic indicator Bill Clinton paid attention to most was the price of gas. It seems that as the economy takes a downward swing, we hear less and less about Iraq.

I hate this war as much as anyone can and I've been against it from the beginning. I hear promises from most of the Democratic candidates to get us out of Iraq quickly and while that sounds wonderful to me, I can't lose sight of the fact that it's not going to be that easy. The next president can't just walk into the Oval Office and say "bring them home NOW." And POOF it's all over. It isn't going to work that way. We've been there a LONG time. It's going to take a while to get them home.

Not only our soldiers, but what about all our civilians who are over there working? I've heard estimates of 100,000+ American civilians working in Iraq--most for private contractors. How do we get them all home safely--and quickly? Realistically, this pull out will take months--at least. Hillary is the only person I've heard mention the civilians working there.

What about the safety of the Iraqi people? What about all the destruction we helped cause? Shouldn't we have to stick around and clean up our mess? Don't get me wrong. I want this war ENDED yesterday, but how in the world do we do that? It isn't going to be as simple as some people--including some of the candidates--seem to think.

One down! Many more to go!

I took a little hiatus from politics. I needed some time to recharge my mind...and my heart. Tonight, I realized I had to come back. It's in my soul. I was very disappointed when Hillary didn't win in Iowa. You know, it's nothing against Obama. It's just that it means so much to me--as a woman--to see another woman succeed! I want it so much for us. I want it for our kids. I admire Senator Clinton a great deal. I feel a bit of a kinship with her just because she's a mom.

I listened to the talking heads over the past few days. They all said she was going to lose--BIG. I was heartsick. I don't live in New Hampshire, so there was nothing I could do about it except hope their polls were wrong. I felt a dream I had for myself--for my daughter--slipping away. Unless you've been under a rock, however, you know...



Hillary won! Hillary Clinton WON the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary! No woman has EVER won a presidential primary! HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE!

I woke my kids to watch her speech. I cried. It was historic. Once again, I have hope. When she said she listened to NH and found her own voice, it was what I needed to hear. I think her message will resonate with many in the country. I know we have a long way to go, but I have hope. I'm starting to hear "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" in my head just like I did in 1992. And I'm starting to allow hope to enter my heart the way it hasn't in almost eight years.

Powerful stuff! Let's make it happen!

Is Rosie on her way back?

According to this article, Rosie O'Donnell may be on her way back to TV.

Yippee! It's about time. I, for one, will be watching.

Fake FEMA

Why aren't we hearing more about the fake press conference held by FEMA in the wake of the California fires? Is the media so manipulated by the current administration that they feel they can't speak out? Or are they too interested in the latest from Britney's custody case to talk about it?

I honestly don't get it. Our media is supposed to be free. 20 years ago, something like this would have been chomped on by our media. Now it seems lost amid all the latest celebrity gossip. This is important!

I hope FEMA learned they should just send out a press release. If you haven't seen it already, you should watch OUTFoxed. (You can watch the entire video if you search Google.)

Enough!

So I watched the big debate the other night. I was really turned off by all the attacks on Hillary. What was up with that? Well, I know. They were all trying to save their asses. Ok, whatever.

I'm disgusted in a way. I'm sick of the democrats fighting with each other. Let's not fight one another. Let's fight the people we NEED to fight. I liked what Bill Richardson had to say about the personal attacks.

I tried to watch a little of Chris Matthews after the debate, but he totally turned me off. He is so completely biased AGAINST Hillary that I can't hardly stomach him these days. I'm not sure where it comes from. Maybe he needs to get Ann Coulter back on his show.

Matthews seemed more interested in the idea that Kucinich claimed to have seen a UFO than the substance of the debate. Then he felt compelled to ask all the other candidates who talked to him if THEY believed in UFOs or other crazy questions. Enough of that crap.

Then he decided to harp on Hillary for the rest of his show. I'm bored with him. That's for sure. I'll stick to Olbermann.

How young is too young?

I'm sure you've all heard about it. I meant to blog about it last week, but time got away. I'll be honest, part of my reason for not blogging about it was because I needed to sort out my true feelings. I'm a liberal. I believe in certain freedoms. I believe that every woman has a right to birth control. I believe every woman has a right to determine what is best for her and her body. However, I'm not sure how young is too young.

When a school in Maine decided to start offering birth control pills and the patch to its students, a controversy erupted. My first thought was "IF" it is necessary, it's a good thing. Then I began to think.

These weren't 17 year olds. They weren't even 14. Most of these girls were 11 - 13. Is this appropriate? My mind began to churn.

See, I have an 11 yr old son. Do I want him to have access to birth control? Yes, I would like to know that if he was sexually active(at 11? eeek!) he could get a condom if he needed it. Do I think sex at 11 is acceptable? No way. Do I want a school to just toss my 11 yr old a condom and let him go on his merry way? Absolutely not.

I have an 11 year old. Do I think he is responsible at age 11 to be able to remember to take a pill each day? Absolutely not. Do I think an 11 year old girl is responsible enough? I doubt too many are. I still have to remind the kid to put his homework in his backpack. I don't think he would remember a pill every day.

I did some reading. Was teen and pre-teen pregnancy a big problem at this school in Portland, Maine? No. In actuality, only five students who were treated at this clinic last year reported being sexually active. So why is this so necessary?

How would I feel as a parent if my child was given a prescription without my knowledge? I'd be upset enough if she were 17, but to think my 11 year old was given something like that without my knowledge would be horrible in my imagination. There are so many what ifs.

What if that 11 year old has a horrible, possibly deadly, reaction to the pills and as a parent, you don't know what to tell the doctor treating her because you don't KNOW she's taking the pill?

What if the girl is responsible and takes the pills every day, but her boyfriend has some awful disease--maybe even AIDS. No, she won't get pregnant, but she can still get very sick!

What if the pills are taken sporadically and she thinks she's "safe" but winds up pregnant anyway?

What if we are letting 11 year olds believe they are intellectually mature enough to have sex by giving them pills rather than more education?

What if it was MY kid?

I know quite a bit about the state of Maine. It's a liberal state. Portland is a very progressive city, but is this just too much? Apparently some seem to think so because there's a proposal to allow parents to prohibit the dispensing of birth control to children under 14.

Now, before you think I think that if we give a kid a condom or a pill that they think it's giving them permission to have sex, I don't think that. I know that kids are going to have sex no matter what, but at 11, aren't there more important things for them to think about? I know some parents don't pay attention. Some kids are home for hours alone after school. Still, I think if a child is having sex on a regular basis at 11, there are bigger issues other than just handing out birth control.

I'd much rather see them take those 11 year olds and counsel them. The parents don't have to know. No one needs to know, but if you are going to give them a pill, give them some counseling as well.

After much thought, I think that's what I think.