Monday, January 25, 2010

Additions

So I thought of a couple other things that bug me. To illustrate the first point I will tell a story.

As some of you may know, Staci and I are trying to purchase a house; we put in an offer on a great house in Pleasant Grove up on the hill with an amazing view of the valley, a great Trax deck, a rentable basement, and a great kitchen with an even better pantry/mudroom. We put in our initial offer on the house back in October and it took the bank (it is a short sale) until December to respond to our offer and come back with a firm asking price. We checked out the house again and decided it was worth pursuing and put in another offer 2 weeks ago. The bank responded much quicker this time to our offer but their response was absurd. The bank has decided to not negotiate any more and instead foreclose on the house. The reasoning behind that decision is lost to me. Why in the world would the bank decide to spend thousands of dollars to foreclose on a house and then try to sell it rather than accept a couple thousand dollars on a short sale. What the heck!! It bugs me so much. Now the current owners' credit will be even more shot, they will not care about the condition of the house any more, the house will most likely remain vacant for a while and it will get in even worse condition and the bank will probably end up selling it for even less than what we are offering. All well.

Doctors bug me. Not all doctors, but the doctors who act like know-it-alls bother me. They are like mechanics. Most of the things they say, the patient (or customer) has no way of verifying if they are right or making stuff up. Staci was misdiagnosed for 10 years by her doctor, and it wasn't until we suggested a procedure was it discovered that what her doctor has been telling her all this time was completely wrong. Argh! And there is nothing we can do about it.

So, if anyone knows of a good house for sale or of a competent family doctor in the Provo/Orem area, we are in the market for both. (We do feel good about her OBGYN, though).

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Things that annoy me.

  • People who expect you to let them pull in front of you when they are sitting in the middle turn lane (suicide lane). You're not playing frogger, wait for a gap in both lanes until you try to merge. Don't pull halfway out then expect other cars to slam on their brakes to let you in. (by the way, I am all about being a courteous driver,
  • Athletes and celebrities who expect people to listen and give credence to their opinions about politics.
  • Reality TV stars (and I use the term "stars" very loosely).
  • Pollution
  • Meteorologist: maybe I am showing my ignorance but how can a collective group of people be wrong so often and still get people to listen to them? Oh wait, that reminds me....
  • Politicians: if the old "power corrupts" then how is it possible for career politicians to be anything but corrupt. They live their lives making laws and telling people what to do; they are like a parasite living off of everyone else in the country who actually works for a living. An honest politician is an endangered species. Please give us term limits on all Congressmen and Congresswomen, someone should not be a Senator for 30 years.
  • Taxes: I really don't think most people realize how much they are paying in income taxes every year because everything is automatically deducted from their earnings. And then on top of that we pay Social Security (which is a doomed program, I don't plan on ever seeing a return on that), and a bunch of other taxes that I don't feel like writing about right now.
  • and last (for now), but certainly not least, by bad attitude. I used to be a much happier person, at the rate I'm going I will be one grumpy old man. I suppose I now have a new year's resolution.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Cruel irony


As mentioned in my other blog, Staci and I visited the Mountain Meadows Massacre memorial in July and I had some thoughts I wanted to share, although I'm not quite sure where this train of thoughts will lead.

The basic history is this. After the saints moved to Utah the US government was getting reports that the "mormons" were building an army and were planning on going to war with the US, and were harassing and attacking settlers moving out west. So the government sent Johnston (I don't remember his rank) with a sizable army to quell the uprising. This started the Mormon War. There was much fear among the saints; they all knew that whenever they started building a temple persecution would come and lead to them having to leave. This had already happened three times coupled with violence, murder, theft, and other atrocities.

At this time there was a group of settlers coming from Arkansas heading for California. Among that group were some who had participated in the extermination from Missouri and boasted about it and talked about how they were going to do the same thing to the saints in Utah.

Some of the community leaders in Cedar City decided that preemptive action must be taken to protect the people in Southern Utah. A plan was devised where and carried out where the settlers were attacked by the local indians then offered protection by the utahns. A condition of them receiving protection was they had to turn over their firearms. While the utahs were accompanying the settlers to Cedar City they turned on them and started killing everyone old enough to be aware of what was going on. They killed men, women, and children.

That is so tragic, and the cruel irony part is that is almost exactly what happened to the Saints in Missouri. The very thing these men wanted to prevent they ended up doing themselves to other people. In Far West, Missouri after the mobs were ransacking the outlying towns everyone fled to Far West. The government of Missouri represented by the State militia guaranteed the protection of the Saints if they turned over all their firearms. After they gave up the only way of protecting themselves and trusted the government, the militia/mob was turned loose on the city and ransacked the city.

This makes me wonder how many other times this has happened throughout history. I have a habit of reading articles on KSL.com and also reading the comments. Without fail, when there are articles about anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the comments end up being a mormon bashing and anti-mormon bashing session. Now I am not going to get into all the different things that come up, just one. So many times someone will write, "well if you don't like living in a state with so many members of the Church than why don't you leave?" Now since when is it Christian to kick people out because they don't agree with you. It is really sad that all too often non members living in a LDS majority area feel in a sense persecuted for not being LDS. I understand that there are different reasons why that is, one being no one wants to date them because they want to get married in the temple. But we are smart people and can come up with solutions to these problems that don't have to always be "baptize them". Of course I love the Gospel and I believe it is led by Jesus Christ and that all can benefit from it, but I also have a feeling that right now is not the right time for every single person in the world to join the Church and just because someone isn't interested in the Gospel right now doesn't mean they aren't trying to follow Jesus Christ.

I guess a good summary is we shouldn't be extreme and fanatical. Hugh Nibley wrote an article titled "Zeal without Knowledge" in which postulated on the need to ever be learning, not merely acting. I believe this is why missionaries study so many hours a day, they have plenty of zeal (desire to do good things) but they are young so they need to increase their knowledge so they know what are the best things to do (and of course the more they study the Gospel they more they have the Spirit and the better they can teach so as to give people the best chance to accept the Gospel).

In conclusion, follow the Prophet, follow the Prophet, follow the Prophet, he knows the way.

And if I got any of the details wrong about the MMM I apologize and invite you to correct me as a comment. (oh and I warned you I didn't know where this was going)

Oh and what's with this Health Care Reform going on and the federal deficit forecasts, argh.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Decisions

Last night I was watching the Orlando/Cleveland playoff game and getting pretty emotional about it (I wanted Cleveland to win but they lost), it was getting late and Staci and I were planning on watching a tv show we had recorded before going to bed, also we still needed to read and pray. I had the realization when there were about one and a half minutes left in overtime that I was letting some game happening a thousand miles away control my life and get in the way of things I wanted to do with my wife. So I made the decision to turn off the game before it was over and go spend time with Staci instead. Mind you, this was a big deal for me, the game was still close and came down to the last shot; in the past I would have insisted on watching until the end but I chose not to. Also I resolved to not let some game control what I do with my time. I will not be opposed to watching games and enjoying it but I will most likely spend a lot less time doing so.

Also for anyone not aware, I have a new blog that I'm sharing with Staci where we are posting the goings on in our life. My old blog will be just for posts like this one where I share random thoughts, and the occassional political greivance will be expressed. The new blog is jamonandstaci.blogspot.com

Cheers.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Question

Did you hear that the taxes on all tobacco products went up a lot last week? The federal tax on a package of cigarettes went from around .50 to about $1.10. This was done for a couple reasons, to fund health care for children, and to get more people to quit smoking. My question is how do you feel about this?

I don't like it, now I am all for people quitting smoking but I don't like the government vilifying a group of people and then raising taxes on them; and if the government really was concerned about our well being why not prohibit alcohol again, it certainly causes more problems than tobacco, how about pornography, a much larger plague on the world than cigarettes. I see this as just one more way the government is squeezing as much money out of the public as possible, and that I am against.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Life Accomplishments thus far

Instructions: Take the following list and bold the items you have completed or experienced.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train (I figure an overnight boat counts too)

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort


25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run
(whiffleball counts right)

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language (it didn't last too long)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been on television

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain (hm, I need to do this soon)

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own

49/100

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Some thoughts

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts from my previous post; I appreciated the advice and general support I got, all of it helped.

Also I just wanted to write down a couple things I learned. Did you know that there are fewer stars in the galaxy then there are dollars in the national debt? To be fair it should be said the US GDP is a lot larger than the number of stars in the galaxy as well. It is so hard to comprehend how much money is being spent by the government. To give everyone an idea I have posted a couple pictures of various galaxies.
The picture on the right is of two galaxies colliding, the one on the left is the Eagle nebula, one of my favorite pictures taken by the hubble telescope.
I tried to find accurate numbers for stars in a galaxy but because of the size it is impossible to count but the numbers are estimated around 200 billion (for the Milky Way at least, I am assuming other galaxies are of comparable size). In my brief search I could find a specific number for the national debt either but I think the number is around $10 trillion, about 50 times larger than 200 billion. And another number of interest, there are apparently around 6.8 billion people in the world.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Why is life so hard?


Why does everything in life have to be so hard? Shouldn't answers to problems come easier? Why does the Lord stay his hand for so long? Why are some things so easy for some people and so hard for others? Can the reward really be worth all the anguish we go through in this life? I hope so.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

WTF

I am sick and tired of the government. I posted a couple months ago how I was officially supporting President Obama as long as he did a number of things, used his brain essentially. Well he and the majority of the government are acting like fools, or deliberately trying to bring down capitalism and the American way. I just read an article talking about AIG and how the fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, said "I think if there's a single episode ... that has made me more angry, I can't think of one (other) than AIG,""We really had no choice" but to prop up the company because the consequences of failure could be disastrous. " Oh really, this is a company that cannot succeed on its own, why in the world should I be paying them to continue in their failing ways. No choice? You mean that the supposedly best financial minds in America can come up with nothing better to do than prop up a failing company? That is absurd.

And what is wrong with Obama, he is so full of it. He has said over and over how he will veto any pork that comes across his desk, that he will "call out" congressmen and congresswomen who try to pass wasteful spending bills and yet he keeps signing billions and trillions of dollars of pork laden legislation into effect. If all the proposed budgets and "stimulus" bills are approved, and there is no indication that they won't be approved, then by the end of the year our national debt will be roughly 60% of the nations GDP (gross domestic product). That would be like me working for a company that makes 10 million dollars a year and I get into personal debt to the amount of 6 million dollars, even though my personal salary is much much less than that. Another way to look at it is, total tax revenues approximate 1 trillion dollars a year, with how much the goverment will be in debt is comparable to someone making $50,000 a year being in debt $700,000. That is pathetic.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Some more pics

"I love my wife", that's what I'm thinking in this picture.

Isn't this a great candid picture of my wife and me at our luncheon.


We felt very fortunate to have our entire bishopric come down for our wedding, true they did get out of going to a leadership meeting for Stake conference but I like to think they would have come down even if they didn't get out of going to a meeting. They were so helpful also for our open house we had in Provo. We had the open house at our Bishop's house, (the couple on the left) and the other four were there helping out with refreshments. Bishop Buckner even posted a road sign to help people find the place better, they were very helpful and effectively played the role as sudo-parents for the evening.
We had some fun playing around with some of the pics.
This picture essential sums up our relationship, I goof around and she puts up with me. :)




Staci doesn't like kissing pictures, but aren't these great!!!



Here is a great picture of my roommates and my wife (isn't she HOT in this picture). These are great friends that I've had for a number of years, they are all folk dance originating friendships. I lived with Dave and Scotty (the two on the right) for about three years and they have always been great roommates, I've known Jed (the tall one) for about a year longer, we weren't roommates until this last year. Staci has been really good friends with Jed for a couple years also and she became really good friends with Dave and Scotty while I was still living in SLC. When I moved back to Provo I moved back in with these guys and they were the ones who can be credited for getting me and Staci together. I do need to thank them their great friendship and also for being very chill during my and Staci's transition from friends to dating friends to engaged to married. You guys rock!!!


I didn't realize this at the time but this dance that my mom and I are dancing in this picture is a Viennese Waltz, not only is it a great dance but it is also the very first dance my mom taught me as a youth. I am very lucky Staci let me pick the song to dance to (she was dancing with her Dad at the same time and had every right to choose whatever song she wanted), thanks babe, I love you. Oh by the way, the song we are dancing to is "Can I have this Dance?" from High School Musical 3, great song.


So this is a great picture of the bouquet throwing, it was a great bouquet and we were really hoping one of our nieces would get it, or Staci's roommate, but some random girl who had just walked into the reception who we didn't even know plowed her way through and snagged it, we were a bit bugged but luckily we had some extra flowers that we gave to our nieces.


I really like this picture of us cutting the cake.
"I'm number one" that's what I was saying when this picture was taken. Actually I don't remember why I was doing that. "one reception down, two to go", or maybe I was saying, "which way is the wind blowing?" If anyone has other suggestions I would like to read them in the comments.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ha, I'm married!!!

So it has finally come, the turning point in my life, one could even say the turning point in eternity for me. From now on and forever I will be a married man, SWEET!!!!!

The wedding was fantastic, it really was an emotional roller coaster of a weekend. But more on that later.

This post will be mostly pictures with a few explanations. This first picture was right when we came out of the temple. The next four are pretty self explanatory.








































































Here is my favorite pic of Staci.
Here are some of our great friends, starting on the left going clockwise, Stephanie Calton, Jed Brown (also our photographer), Dave McMullin, Brian McMullin, Scotty West.And of course our parents, notice the missionary name tags on my parents. They had just arrived that day from Chile, we were very blessed to have them there with us for when we were sealed.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

It's been a while

Because it has been such a long time since I last posted a blog I am going to have a very random compilation of thoughts, not the masterpiece that I usually post.

First on my mind was something that I saw on TV, Ben Stein was being interviewed about the upcoming Obama presidency and he said "Now that he (Obama) is elected I hope he's the best president we have ever had." He has a very good perspective on how we should view our political leaders. These past four years have been lined with how critical so many people have been of President Bush, so many people have been so quick to point out that he has one of the lowest approval ratings in history (yet they gloss over the fact that Congress has an ever lower approval rating). Because of this animosity towards a Republican president many republicans have mentioned how they are looking forward to opposing Obama to show the same animosity towards him as a sort of payback. I admit that I have had similar thoughts, looking with an almost longing to see the country turn to pot, figuratively of course, and then in four years we would be able to say that it was the biggest mistake to elect Barack Obama. But after further consideration, and hearing what Ben Stein said, I've come to realize that it is foolish, selfish, and prideful to hope for a bad presidency just to see someone fail who doesn't have the same political persuasions as you. So this is my official declaration that I support Barack Obama for the presidency so far as him helping improve the country, strengthening the economy through sound principles, strengthening the family through good social principles but more importantly through his example of how he treats his family, and keeping our country safe from terrorists, oh and of course through all of this I expect him to uphold the constitution and support our inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Instead of keeping this in cue for who knows how long I will post it now although I was originally planning on writing a lot more. Actually I want to get a couple things off my chest.

Why is it that Roland Burris is so adamant about becoming instated as the fill-in Senator for Obama's seat as soon as possible. Does he not understand why everyone is so concerned about making him a senator when he was named by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich right after he was accused by the FBI of corruption by trying to sale the senate seat to the highest bidder? True Burris has not been implicated with any involvement in the scandal but why not slow down and allow the Democratic Congressional leadership become more comfortable over the appointment. Is he worried that no one else will see him as a good pick, from all I've seen on him, and admittedly it's not much, he is an adequate choice. Just calm down and let Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi get more comfortable. And what's with Caroline Kennedy being seen as a great pick to fill Hilary Clinton's seat, all I've heard about her is she has tried to stay out of politics as much as possible, and that makes her a good choice to become senator, why, because her last name is Kennedy? That's ridiculous.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

What a wonderful life

Dear Santa,

I am having a hard time deciding what I really want for Christmas this year, usually there are a couple large items on my list that I would most likely buy myself if I didn't get them from someone else (something I've done for the past couple years and has resulted in some nice stuff). This year, however, I don't seem to want too much and although there are some expensive items that would be sweet to get such as a mountain bike, a snowboard and snowboarding boots, another gun (you never know when we'll loose a lot of the choices due to government legislation and regulation), and a surround sound system to complete my basic home entertainment system, these items aren't as appealing to me due to recent changes in my life.

As I'm sure you are aware, I have finally found the woman of my dreams, the love of my life, my "one and only", and because she has agreed to be sealed to me for time and all eternity I am finding all of the customary things I ask for are appealing less and less to me when compared to Staci Wilcock (soon to be Staci Andelin)

I have been thinking of a literary character to whom I could compare my soon-to-be bride and I think Desdemona from the Shakespearian play Othello will suffice. Desdemona is known for her beauty, purity and devotion to her husband; Staci fits those comparisons very well. Now Santa don't misundersand me, I am not comparing myself to Othello and fortunately there is no Iago in our relationship (except that one tempter, Satan, who tries to destroy everything good and beautiful), and I am certainly not suggesting that Staci will have a similar fate to Desdemona, I am merely comparing Staci to Desdemona due to her beauty, loyalty, and above all her purity. I love her so much; I have gone two days without seeing her amd my life has felt empty in those two days. She makes me happy, she keeps me laughing, she helps me grow spiritually and helps me see new perspectives to life, she takes care of me when I'm sick and loves to have fun when I'm well, she keeps me healthy by motivating me to eat healthy (and she usually generously prepares the food herself) and by encouraging me to exercise regularly through her example (something I am needing more and more with a desk job). She gives me direction, motivation, and above all she gives my life so much more meaing. I had a realization the other day that from now on all of my decisions will effect her; I am humbled at the trust she is placing in me and I hope and pray that I can live up to that trust.

So as you can see, my life is so much better with Staci in it. But that is not all that is going well for me; I also have been blessed with a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love my Savior so much; I am reminded of one of my favorite lines from a fantastic movie, "Amazing Grace"; the priest who was a former slave ship captian says a very profound yet simple line towards the end of the movie (and his life) "I can remember two things, that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior". Sometimes I wonder why He is so merciful towards me; the scripture in D&C 18:10 comes to mind, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God", I am humbled to realize that the worth of my sould is also great in the sight of God.

So as you can see, my life is very good right now and I foresee it only getting better regardless of what I get or don't get for Christmas this year. I hope you don't take that the wrong way; I really do enjoy receiving gifts and I really appreciate the effort you go through to get the right gifts for the right people, but my happiness is not related to my material possessions (but they're still nice). To show that I appreciate receiving gifts as a simple gesture of friendship and love (I say simple because it is just one of the many ways to show these things and it is not necessary either) I will attempt to right down some smaller items that would be nice to receive on December 25, 2008.

I realized the other day that I don't have very many whit Sunday shirts; I would prefer nicer shirts, with some texture, French cuffs (not necessary), and a wide European collar (pretty important). I don't want any ties though, I am a little too picky with my ties and I don't want you to feel bad because you bought me a tie that I won't enjoy wearing.

Some how I have lost most of my black socks that I received last year for Christmas; I'm not sure how that happened but it did and again this I could use some black socks, I prefer the thick kind.

I am a fan of Church books; Hugh Nibley books are good as well as books written by Apostles, but no LDS fiction.

I think Batman: The Dark Knight is coming out soon on Blu-ray, I would absolutely love to receive that.

That is about it, if you come up with something that you think I'd like then I'm sure I will enjoy it, you have bben doing this for a long time and I trust your judgment. Oh, I just remember that next to my fiance the other great gift I have already received is for my parents to be able to come to our wedding. Those two things have made my life great.

Merry Christmas

PS. I trust I'll be getting the customary orange in my stocking right? :)

Monday, November 17, 2008

Dang, We look good!

Here are our pics,
Tell us what you think
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Many thanks to Jed Brown and Stephanie Calton for helping make these pictures look so great.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Election Day

I have been thinking about politics and the future of America a lot recently, as I'm sure a lot of people have been. I thought I would write down a few of my thoughts before elections are finalized.

First off I want to say that I really don't want an Obama presidency; I do not hate everything about him but there is a lot of his views that I totally disagree with. I do have to admit that there are some things that are admirable about him, first and foremost is he seems to be a genuine family man. He cares about his wife, daughters, mother, and grandmother (who just passed away today, which is unfortunate that she passed away at an already stressful time for Obama). It is true, however, that he has a half brother living in poverty in Kenya although admittedly I don't know all details about that.

Another thing that is admirable about Obama is his ability to get young people excited about politics. I have seen a couple interesting youth groups singing songs and praising Obama, one was a steppin routine done based on exerpts from some of Obama's speeches with the teenagers starting out by chanting "Alpha and Omega" over and over, that I found a bit disturbing. I have read a lot of criticism comparing these youth groups to Hitler's youth groups in Nazi Germany. That is a bit unfair though because even those youth groups were based on community service and serving the public good, they were all just so completely deceived about their leader's intentions.

Then I have to ask the question, what are Obama's motives? I don't know but there are a number of disturbing patterns about his life and associations. He has repeatedly associated himself with the extremists of society, including domestic terrorists, Palestinian terrorist sympathizers, and racist religious leaders. It may be true that these men are not involved in his administration but I see these as signs to what his personal views are, and with a man so inexperienced we have very little to judge him with so why not use all the information we can gather. I am very concerned about what will happen to this country if Barack Obama is elected the next president and with the most recent Fox News poll showing Obama with 50% and McCain with only 43% it is looking more and more likely that Obama will win.

But I must remind myself not to fall into the liberal mentality of the past 8 years where bad news for America was good news for liberals because they could pass the blame onto the Bush administration. (This very well could have been the mentality of conservatives during the Clinton years but I don't remember and I certainly hope it wasn't). I will not become an America hater just because I don't agree with the current administration. I will still pray for my elected officials that they will be able to make good decisions for the great country and that we can stay protected from our enemies and that the wars we are involved in can end as soon as possible with the best possible results for us.

God Bless the USA