Results tagged “Politics”

DEMOCRAT

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.

REPUBLICAN

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST

You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST

You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government
pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pour the milk down
the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts
stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the
size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond,
drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You drink some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You drink some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Russian Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION

You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch
any creature's private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US
government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money
to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION

You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION

You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed tempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION

You have one cow.
The cow has Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk..
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy..

FLORIDA CORPORATION

You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state
tell you which one you think is the best looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION

You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

Because I have been reading Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue," I have been thinking and talking about politics. Btw, I finished the book today and I recommend it. Sarah is definitely one of the 'common' people and her story is an interesting. Even more interesting to me was the way the Republican campaign was run.

Now back to Dave Barry. Here is a quote I ran across and thought I would share it for a chuckle!

"The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to trust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy.

The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club."

I did not vote for President Obama. I did not think he had the experience needed to hold the highest office in the land. He is smart, but his smarts are book smarts. And book smarts are not enough. He makes a pretty speech. He looks good on camera, though like many other presidents before him, the grey in his hair has grown exponentially since he took office a year ago. He is naive. Or at least he was when he took the office of President. He thought he could bring about change just by saying it. He thought that being the first black President of the U.S. would mean change was inevitable. But instead of getting people to work together, he and the Democratic Party have been ramming their agenda down the throats of the rest of the people in the country. And last week, the country fought back with the vote in Massachussetts.

While I did not vote for Obama, I was hoping that the years with him as leader would help to bring our country closer together. I hoped he really could get in there and make a difference.The divide in this country between the conservatives and liberals has grown larger than the Grand Canyon. The urbanites, who lean to the liberal side view the rural inhabitants as stupid, bigoted, and backward. The rurals, who tend to lean towards the conservative end of the spectrum are outraged at the liberals who they see as lazy people who don't know the meaning of hard work and who are trying to undermine the basic principles of our country.

Guess what...it's not black and white and both sides are wrong. We all need one another. Much like the North and South back in the 1800s, we are two sides that make part of a whole. Each side has strengths and weaknesses and if we would stop letting lobbyists and politicians divide us, we could come together and become the better nation for it. Instead we are fighting amongst ourselves like children and we are letting the media drive a wedge between us.

It has become a game of tit for tat. The Republicans mistreated the Democrats when they were in control. When the Democrats came to office, they did the same and said, 'well they did it first.' Come on...are you children or grown men and women?

Someone is going to have to be brave, step up, roll up their sleeves and say 'let's work together'.

And then someone else is going to have to make a stand and say..."Yep! We are here at the request of the public. They voted for us. They pay our salary. We need to find out what it is they want, then we need to figure out how to please the most people. We need to stop making this a peacock show where we all strut around trying to outshine the other. We need to get down to the business of building a government that the people want."

My kids and I have been studying some about the American Revolution lately. I hope that our country doesn't have to resort to another revolution to bring us all together, but things need to change. America stands on the beliefs of the rights of the people. America led the way by creating a government that was formed by the people and was supposed to work for the people. And America led the way by creating a Bill of Rights that said what the government could not to do the people. Yet, instead of continuing to be a beacon of light and leading the way in this world, we have become a country of bickering children who can only see things one way - theirs. I know those who will vote along party lines regardless of the candidates. The politicians and media have done their job well. And we have become lazy. Why try to figure out what the politician stands for? Why try to determine who will make the better leader? Why use our brains at all? Just ask the question...who is from which party, then pick the party that you have become brainwashed to follow.

WAKE UP! We need fresh blood. We need a new strong 3rd party. We need to stop business as usual in Washington! We need people who believe in America. We need people who will listen to their constituents. We need people who spend their time in office concentrating on making our country a better place instead of spending their time if office thinking about how they can position themselves to win the next election. Our country desparately needs term limits! 6 years for the President with no chance at re-election. Then he can spend all of his time working on his job, not worrying about getting re-elected. The same thing for senators and representatives. Think of the money our country would save because these servants, and that is what they are supposed to be, would be spending their time in office actually working, not seeking photo ops and impressive interviews.

I started writing this post with the thought in mind that I am sorry that President Obama's desire for change has hit a brick wall. He, along with others in the past, came into Washington hoping to change things, yet here we are...business as usual. So my post evolved into my rambling thoughts of the changes we need to make if our country is to go forward. Or we can continue to sit and spin our wheels, changing leaders every few years, and having more and more hard feelings rise up among Americans... And while we are bickering among ourselves, other countries will grow and surpass us. And some countries, or the terrorists hiding in them, will take advantage of our division and our business as usual attitude and weaken us even more.

If you haven't seen the "I Pledge" Video, take a few moments and watch it now. Go ahead, I'll wait....

I found out about this video when my husband forwarded me an article that expressed concern over the references to 'serving' President Obama and over "Obama worship".

I watched this video and I didn't see it the same way as the author of the article. While I am bothered very much by the fact that these people seem to be pledging their allegiance to a person instead of to their country (remember how that worked out for Germany?), I tend to look at the positive side of things.

I wish that more people had pledged to stand behind President Bush instead of attacking him from Day One, but if people are ready to stand up now and take responsibility and reach out to their fellow human being, I say we should not beat a dead horse, but we should look at this as a great leap forward for a better tomorrow.

Many in this nation have become so wrapped up in their own self-importance, that they forget to look out for their neighbors, their friends, people on the street and even for family. Yet, we see when tragedy strikes (be it a tornado, a flood, or a terrorist attack), these same people pull out all the stops to help those affected. Wouldn't it be amazing if we didn't wait for the disaster to strike, but if instead, we each made it a priority each and every day to do something positive in the life of another human being? Can you even begin to imagine the possiblities!

My hubby forwarded this article to me this morning. For those of you who believe that President Bush was evil incarnate, don't bother reading it because it won't change your mind. But for those of you who wonder just how history will treat President Bush, perhaps you would be interested in reading the article as it shows the facts of accomplishments.

And for those of you who are wondering if I am turning this into a political blog, rest assured I am not. It's just with the changing of the guard, I have been thinking about it a lot this week and what better place to share my thoughts than here?

On Tuesday, the kids and I got our school work done in a timely fashion and gathered about the television to watch the Inauguration of our 44th President. I don't think I have seen an inauguration in years. If I did, it didn't make a lasting impression on me. But I have a friend who impressed upon me how significant it was that we live in a country where the change of power occurs without a shot fired. And of course, there was the special significance of this being the first African American President.

I am glad we watched. I was just about moved to tears when President Bush walked in for the last time to the tune "Hail to the Chief". He had a rough presidency with not anywhere near the support he should have had for the tough decisions he had to make. As he walked in, I couldn't help but imagine that his step was a little bit lighter...his time was done and he could head back to Texas and his ranch and to a life where he was in more in control of his life and din't have the weight of the world on his shoulders.

I felt sorry for President Obama that his swearing in got botched. At first I thought it was nerves (and heaven knows, I would have been nervous), but then to find out that Chief Justice Roberts goofed.... However, I did not find this misstep to deflect from the importance of the moment (though it did remind me of when I graduated from high school and the principal messed up the reading of my name!)

President Obama gave a good speech and exuded confidence and hope. The music that John Williams wrote was awesome! Aretha Franklin had on quite a hat! And the packed mall was an amazing thing to see.

I found it moving when President and First Lady Obama walked President and Mrs. Bush to the helicopter. The commentators made the remark that it seemed the two had grown close in the preceeding weeks as evidenced by the heartfelt hugs that were being passed around.

All in all, it was an hour and a half well spent. It was an excellent reminder of what living in a free country means.

If you haven't decided how you are going to vote on Tuesday, why don't you take a minute and watch this You Tube video. Maybe it will help you figure it out.

I graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1988. I learned many useful things while in college. But as a Sociology major, one of the most important and lastingly helpful things I learned was to take every poll with a grain of salt.

As this very difficult election season heads towards its culmination, we are bombarded with poll statistics on every side. They mostly say Obama is in the lead, but the lead ranges from tenths of a point to 15 points. The percent of undecided seems to be between 6% and 10%. The thing that worries me about this bombardment of polls is that people are already believing Obama is the winner. They see he is ahead, and that is what they focus on. Then, should the undecided swing the way of McCain, or the votes don't go the way the polls are stating, there will be a cry of foul play! The vote has been fixed! Likewise if Obama were to win by a landslide, the same cries will be raised because of doubts already in place due to voter registration irregularities. Polls are really a detriment to the political process.

For those voters who want to say they voted for the winner, they will simply vote for whoever is in the lead. For those voters who don't want to have to check into the issues, who want someone else to do the hard work for them, they will also vote for whoever is in the lead based on the polls because they believe that person must be the best choice if most of the people are voting for them. I know we don't like to believe that people are so 'weak minded', but there are those that are and polls don't encourage them to gain information on their own.

I am not a party voter. I have voted for Democrats, Republicans and even 'third party' candidates like Ross Perot. The way I roll is to vote for the person that I think will do the best job.

For instance, I am voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. I don't think Obama has the country's best interests at heart. I think he is naive and is likely to make some very costly mistakes because of it. I would love to have a national health care plan, but that is not enough to make me vote for a man I just don't feel comfortable with having as President.

On the other hand, I had decided to vote for Mark Warner. I didn't want Mark Warner to be governor, but I felt like he did a good job when he was Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He brought a lot of business into the state and helped areas of the state that had been hard hit economically as they tried to move from old standbys (like tobacco) into the new century. The last Saturday of September, I was working with Jack and Katrina at a youth fundraiser booth in Bedford for Centerfest. I looked up at a man who stopped by and was shaking hands with people in our booth, then I realized it was Mark Warner! How cool! He said something to me to the effect of 'are you trying to get people to stop by from both sides of the fence?' because I was wearing a McCain sticker and a Warner sticker. I talked with him and the reporters following him and explained that I voted on the person, not the party they were running with. Another gal in my booth said the same thing, though she wasn't voting for Warner.

Today, a gal sent a link to my homeschool email list regarding a political ad. First, that is a no-no on our list because we don't discuss politics or religion on our list. We keep things friendly. But, I know why she sent it. It was of importance to homeschoolers. I saw the title of the link and went to check it out. This video is what I found. As a homeschooler, a person of faith, and the daughter of a NRA member, I am appalled to see what Mark Warner really thinks of me.

Mr. Warner, you have lost my vote. I can only hope the word gets round to the other people like me in the Commonwealth as to what you really think. And Mr. Warner, in case you are at all concerned...I believe the very people that you say are threatening what it means to be an American are indeed the ones that are trying to keep America on the track that used to make it a beloved country around the world. And Mr. Warner, I have many homeschool friends that sit on both sides of the political spectrum. I cannot begin to imagine how they will feel that you have lumped them in with people that they are often opposed to.

Big foot in mouth moment, but thanks for your honesty. I would have hated to have voted for you and found out your opinions when it was too late.

Jus so you know, I don't plan on talking a lot about politics. I respect people's right to choose the candidate of their choice and to have the beliefs that they do. I am an Independent. I vote for the candidate that I believe will do the best job for our country, regardless of their party.

But I am so enthused about the historical significance of this election. The first black Presidential candidate and the first Republican woman vice president candidate. Exciting times!

I saw this ad played last night. McCain shows real class and smart political advisors.

Too bad that Obama's strategists aren't as classy:

Obama's response

From the beginning of this Presidential Election year, things have been exciting. The sitting VP not running. All new candidates. The months of not knowing who would be the Democratic and Republican candidates. It wasn't cut and dried early on like it often is. What an awesome season it has been.

Picking the Vice Presidents has been something that has kept us on edge. I was a bit disappointed with Obama's safe pick of Biden. Biden is a good guy, but for a man who is campaigning on change, to pick an old timer, Washington insider...seems to be a safe choice.

McCain has set things on ear this morning by choosing Governor Sarah Palin, from Alaska as his running mate. She is the first Republicn woman to run for this spot. She is young. She is a mother of 5. She is a businesswoman. She has a child with Down's Syndrome. And she has lots of interesting real life experiences under her belt.

McCain has done an awesome job! He has pushed Obama's speech from last night out of the news today with speculation as to who the VP would be. And now the excitement over it being a woman...fascinating! And did you see the McCain ad that he released yesterday congratulating Obama on his historic moment of being the first black presidential candidate. McCain has class and awesome campaign managers.

The next 60 days are going to be exciting!