Yoda the cookie, well, I tried...





After the Chilean Independece Day festival

Brothers hangin out on the deck

My cute cousin sent me this article by Camille Paglia today and wow, I think it makes some great points about Sarah Palin and the entire presidential race at the moment. I find myself fascinated by Ms. Palin and the notion that she is a mom to many and a hard working public servant.

I don't agree with Ms. Paglia or Ms. Palin either completely, but there are some deep thoughts in here we could all learn from. Its the close-mindedness of both parties that hurts us all. I am still sad about losing one of my oldest mama friends to this presidential race only b/c we couldn't civilly discuss both candidates equally. I hope she returns one day, but I am not holding my breath. People have forgotten that we can have conversations without always "campaigning."

Here is the article, sorry, blogger won't do links--you'll have to cut & paste:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/09/10/palin/index3.html

Here are 2 great excerpts:

"But the pro-life position, whether or not it is based on religious orthodoxy, is more ethically highly evolved than my own tenet of unconstrained access to abortion on demand. My argument (as in my first book, "Sexual Personae,") has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation and that it is our right and even obligation as rational human beings to defy nature's fascism. Nature herself is a mass murderer, making casual, cruel experiments and condemning 10,000 to die so that one more fit will live and thrive.

Hence I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful. Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue. The state in my view has no authority whatever to intervene in the biological processes of any woman's body, which nature has implanted there before birth and hence before that woman's entrance into society and citizenship.

On the other hand, I support the death penalty for atrocious crimes (such as rape-murder or the murder of children). I have never understood the standard Democratic combo of support for abortion and yet opposition to the death penalty. Surely it is the guilty rather than the innocent who deserve execution? "

and this:
"Over the Labor Day weekend, with most of the big enchiladas of the major media on vacation, the vacuum was filled with a hallucinatory hurricane in the leftist blogosphere, which unleashed a grotesquely lurid series of allegations, fantasies, half-truths and outright lies about Palin. What a tacky low in American politics -- which has already caused a backlash that could damage Obama's campaign. When liberals come off as childish, raving loonies, the right wing gains. I am still waiting for substantive evidence that Sarah Palin is a dangerous extremist. I am perfectly willing to be convinced, but right now, she seems to be merely an optimistic pragmatist like Ronald Reagan, someone who pays lip service to religious piety without being in the least wedded to it. I don't see her arrival as portending the end of civil liberties or life as we know it."

Little Teeny is 2, not teeny no more

I try not to ever make this blog political, my goal was always to keep it positive and show that being a stay at home parent can be fun and rewarding. I do see good things about both teams of candidates, but this last week both sides have been doing stupid things too--they're only human. I admire Sarah Palin for challenging my own views on working moms, and how parents really can be equal. Nobody questioned whether Joe Biden was up to the task of being a Senator with his wife and daughter recently killed and 2 sons still in the hospital. Yet, her problems are minor in comparison and people are concerned about her "balancing it all.

Anyway... the media is busy finding things out about Palin's record that may discredit her big stance on ethics. I feel for her, I'd feel the same way if it was Biden. If I ran for office they would find some bad things about me too. And that's why you'd never catch me running for office.

And a few more things I would never do:

Skydive (I once wanted to, but I don't trust those punk rock instructors to check the equipment!)
Fly in any small plane (they crash every day!)
Get a pet with small kids (I can't take any more bodily fluids in this house)
Pierce anything (almost did my nose in Chile, but I like tattoos better)
Be a dentist (teeth give me the creeps)
Go in a Hot air balloon (I hate fire, I hate heights--both in one place, no thanks!)