Hilary and Sarah together….

Katha Pollitt from The Nation magazine has some questions she’d like to ask Sarah Palin. What do you think?

§ Suppose your 14-year-old daughter Willow is brutally raped in her bedroom by an intruder. She becomes pregnant and wants an abortion. Could you tell the parents of America why you think your child and their children should be forced by law to have their rapists’ babies?

§ You say you don’t believe global warming is man-made. Could you tell us what scientists you’ve spoken with or read who have led you to that conclusion? What do you think the 2,500 scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are getting wrong?

§ If you didn’t try to fire Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Baker over her refusal to consider censoring books, why did you try to fire her?

§ What is the European Union, and how does it function?

§ Forty-seven million Americans lack health insurance. John Goodman, who has advised McCain on healthcare, has proposed redefining them as covered because, he says, anyone can get care at an ER. Do you agree with him?

§ What is the function of the Federal Reserve?

§ Cindy and John McCain say you have experience in foreign affairs because Alaska is next to Russia. When did you last speak with Prime Minister Putin, and what did you talk about?

§ Approximately how old is the earth? Five thousand years? 10,000? 5 billion?

§ You are a big fan of President Bush, so why didn’t you mention him even once in your convention speech?

§ McCain says cutting earmarks and waste will make up for revenues lost by making the tax cuts permanent. Experts say that won’t wash. Balancing the Bush tax cuts plus new ones proposed by McCain would most likely mean cutting Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Which would you cut?

§ You’re suing the federal government to have polar bears removed from the endangered species list, even as Alaska’s northern coastal ice is melting and falling into the sea. Can you explain the science behind your decision?

§ You’ve suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?

Meet Dead Donna!

She’s our new Halloween addition this year. All the dogs were very wary of her – Boxer was nosing her and almost knocked her over, but Miriam was lightening quick and able to catch her before she hit the floor. The dogs were a lot of fun to watch. We took a short video of them barking at her.

I’m working on a small project to lighten things up a bit – I’m creating a little video – I’ll post it when it’s ready.

It’s Thursday and since I’ve gone back to 5/8 work days, I will have to work tomorrow. At least I get off at 3:30 – so, it ain’t too bad.

Tonight I had my first guitar lesson since summer break. I fessed up and told Mark that I hadn’t practiced much. He said sometimes the break is good for students to take it easy. So, I’m energized again to play – still working on my first CD.

Mir represented us at our neighborhood meeting tonight. It went well. The fall season is off to a good start. Now, to start working on Halloween. It’s never too early to start planning.

It’s late and I should be in bed.

Goodnight.

Here’s a clip by ABC News about Sarah Palin and banning books:

Didn’t we, the United States, already settle this question? Didn’t we already determine that banning books was unconstitutional – a violation of free speech? So, here we are in 2008 and another small town Mayor is wanting to ban books. The fact that Sarah Palin would even ask about the possibility of banning books is chilling. Do we really want her as our Vice-President? I don’t.

The Republicans are at it again – accusing Obama of insulting Palin by using a “lipstick on a pig” phrase in a speech. This is an old saying, in fact, even John McCain has used it. Now, who is being disingenuous here?

Are you tired of the McCain campaign yet? They can’t talk about the issues so they make something out of nothing.

Here are some more examples – funny how Republicans also use the same phrase…and they don’t get attacked…

“I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” – John McCain, in reference to Hillary Clinton’s health care plan, last year.

“George Bush has given a mission to General Petraeus, and he has done his best to try to figure out how to put lipstick on a pig.” – Barack Obama, last year.

“Or as we say out in our home state of Wyoming, you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” – Dick Cheney, 2004.

“It’s all about withdrawal or not withdrawal, okay? I mean that’s what it’s all about. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” – John McCain, last year.

“You can put lipstick and earrings on a hog and call it Monique, but it’s still a pig.” – Texas Gov. Ann Richards.

“John Kerry tries to put a bunch of fancy, fancy talk…but there is nothing you can do to really — to really obscure that record. You can try, though. And in Wyoming, we’ve got a saying for what it is when you keep trying to make something that’s not so good look good, we call it putting lipstick on a pig.” – Lynne Cheney, 2004.

“It gets down to whether you support what’s being done in this new strategy or you don’t. You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig in my view.” – John McCain, last year.

NYTimes article regarding remarks Barack Obama made:

He has declared her family off limits. He has praised her biography, telling an audience, “Mother, governor, moose shooter — that’s cool.” But he has taken sharp aim at her record as Alaska governor, vigorously questioning her evolving stance on the state’s so-called bridge to nowhere.

“She was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it and she started running for governor and then suddenly she was against it,” Mr. Obama said, speaking over an applauding crowd in Michigan. “I mean, you can’t just make stuff up. You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid.”

Umm, Mr. Obama, 50% of American voters re-elected George Bush and you’re telling me they’re not that stupid? That fact that this election is so close should serve as another example of American stupidity. Don’t give Americans too much credit – you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.

It’s time to get serious about our two wars and the troops who are fighting them. We Americans need to start contributing more than we have. This country is fighting TWO wars. Never in our nation’s history have we fought one war, much less two wars, and cut taxes at the same time. Our government is NUTS. Americans need to be contributing more to the war effort and need to be more affected by it.

Therefore, it is time to implement a wartime military draft. Our military is stressed to the max and needs relief. And those of you who voted for Mr. Bush the second time around need to stand up and accept your responsibility. If you are too old to join, then you should be encouraging your children to join. You may not have known what you were voting for in the year 2000, but you damn sure knew what you were voting for in 2004. There are no excuses.

Now get yourself or your kid to the nearest recruiting office. Waving a little Amercian flag doesn’t cut it with me – support our military by joining up. Oh, and by the way, I am a military veteran.

God bless America.

After two months of working 4/10s, I went back to a regular 8 hour workday today. Although, I loved having Friday off – I felt I was losing the other four days of the week.

With my guitar lessons starting up again from summer break and our neighborhood association meetings starting up again – the 4/10 just didn’t work. Getting home later, around 5:50pm for me, meant pushing back dinner, less time for the dogs, and being very tired by 8pm such that I didn’t want to do much of anything, not even play my guitar.

Last week I had a chance to see how working 7am to 3:30pm felt – and I liked it. I got home early and was able to have dinner almost ready by the time Mir got home. The dogs had more outside time and we were done with dinner before 7pm. We even took several walks last week after we ate. This is the kind of lifestyle I like.

So, I’m glad I had the chance to experiment with a different work schedule, but in the end, for me and my family, 4/10 is out and working the conventional five days is in.

Anne Killkenny is a resident of Wasilla, Alaska and immediately after the announcement of Sarah Palin as VP candidate, wrote this letter to friends and family. The letter began circulating the internet. It’s very interesting and gives you good idea about who Sarah Palin is.

Read Letter

For those of you skeptical, the letter has been verified by Snopes as authentic and written by actual Wasilla residence Anne Killkenny.