Domestic Divapalooza

Sen. John McCain has selected Sarah Palin, the Alaskan Governor, as his vice-presidential running mate.

What a great way to start the weekend!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, an emerging figure in Republican politics, is a God-fearing, gun-toting former beauty queen who could just become America’s next vice president. At 44, Palin is younger than Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.

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Two GOP strategists close to the McCain campaign said all indications pointed to Palin, a self-styled “hockey mom” and political reformer.

Palin is a first-term governor credited with reforms of her out-of-the-way state.

At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.

More breaking news

Palin is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. She is the state’s first female governor, the mother of five — and at 44 is its youngest chief executive.

Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska with her parents, to Charles and Sally Heath, when she was 3 months old.

She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls’ basketball team. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and was a runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant.

Palin studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. She eloped with her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.

Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face and a new voice, and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor in 2006.

Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Track Palin joined the Army last September and will deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11. Palin had kept her pregnancy with Trig a secret as she worked in the governor’s mansion, confirming only weeks before the birth that she was going to have a son who she knew would have Down syndrome. She returned to work in April three days after giving birth.

Palin will be the second female vice presidential candidate from a major political party. The first was New York Rep. Geraldine Ferrarro, who was Walter Mondale’s Democratic running mate in 1984.

Over on CNN I picked up a few comments I found to be of interest:

A Republican VP choice who has MORE experience then the Democratic Presidential choice….this is gonna be fun!!!! - Jim

YES!!! What a great inspirational woman for VP! And for it to come to us from the GOP!? The DEMS should take a lesson. She’s awesome! - Sharon

And one not so positive comment over on CNN:

It’s clear Republicans are not making a VP choice that is actually good for America. They are making a choice strictly to get votes. What happens if they win? In addition to 4 more years of Bush, McCain will be the oldest president ever elected! Have they really thought about the important questions such as Do the work well together? Does Palin have anything to offer the US besides being a mother? Two years as the governor of Alaska is laughable. - SPW

Let me guess.. SPW is a die-hard Democrat that doesn’t know how to independently think for himself. I’m sure many die-hard Democrats will say that John McCain is only doing this to get more votes. WHATEVER.

They are just pissed off that Obama didn’t do the right seek Hillary to be his running mate. Why not? Wasn’t Hillary good enough for Obama?

In any case.. I’m flippin’ excited to see that “yes we can” have a bright next four years filled with all the changes that John McCain and Sarah Palin have on their work records.

Let’s see.. Obama had to bring experience to the table in asking Big Mouth Biden to run along side him. WHATEVER.

Ok peeps - it’s time to get the Holiday Weekend started. I’m so flippin’ happy and excited. This is definitely a reason to celebrate!!!

I heard that term "NObama"  on TV last night and about fell out of my chair from laughing so hard. So this morning I got curious and decided to do a search on the term and this is what I found:

We are Sen. Clinton supporters who will not fall in line like "good little Dems". We can think for ourselves and will not be blinded by Sen. Obama’s "Charm". Everyone is welcome here to discuss their views on who we should vote for in the general election, should Obama really become the nominee. - NObama Democrats

It’s great to see that there are actually Democrats out there that can think for themselves and not falling into the trappings of voting for somebody just because they are Democrat.

I asked NObama Democrats to be my friend on Myspace and look forward to the exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions on how this election is going!

Oh and by the way… President Clinton’s speech made me want to PUKE last night. Did he really need to open his mouth?

John McCain stands on the right side of the issues that matter to you. To make America less dependent on foreign oil, John McCain is in favor of increasing domestic drilling, while Senator Obama wants you to properly inflate your tires instead of drilling for more oil.

John McCain is against raising your taxes, and he wants to keep current tax rates low, and cut others, not because he wants to make the rich richer, but because he knows keeping taxes low not only keeps jobs in America but it helps to create new ones. Senator Obama says he will raise taxes only on the rich but in the Senate, he voted for tax hikes that would have impacted those taking home just $42,000 a year. He has proposed tax increases on income taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, estate taxes, and Social Security taxes. All of these tax increases are the fine print under his slogans, and they add up to more than a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next decade.

Senator Obama may be great at delivering a speech, but the policies he is proposing will cripple our state. We can’t afford to stand idly by and allow him to be elected as our next president.

All that according to Governor Dave Heinemann

While I appreciate getting that reminder in my e-mail inbox I don’t agree with what he said about Obama being “great” at delivering a speech. His speeches are NOT all that great and his focus is on a European audience that has nothing to do with making our country better.

Quite frankly I think Obama is foolish to not have asked Hillary Clinton to join him instead of Biden. So foolish that his colossal mistake will lose him the election. (Not that he had a chance in the first place.)

Even Hillary Clinton sat down with FOX News. I thought she did a pretty good job.

Obama will not sit down with Bill O’Reilly for whatever reason and he won’t interview with Sean Hannity.

He’ll sit down and break bread with all these other leaders from other countries but when it comes to answering questions on behalf of a large number of the American People - he won’t do it.

What’s he so afraid of?

I know it’s normal to fluctuate on the scale. I get that’s sometimes the fluctuation with weight can be 2 - 3 pounds. But for me sometimes a fluctuation can be anywhere from 5 - 7 pounds. I know THAT isn’t normal so I just attribute it to my hypothyroid. 

There is a war going on inside my body in spite of the fact that I am taking Synthroid every day. I know this because there are so many things that are not normal for me. It’s not normal that my weight is not flying off as fast as it should. But, that’s ok — I just take it one day at a time, one mouthful at a time, and sometimes one bite at a time.

Today we’ve got Thrasher Basement Systems at the house. We spent all day yesterday getting our basement ready. They are going to take 2 days to water guard the entire perimeter of the basement. Afterward they will install a new sump pump with battery backup. It’s not a cheap job but it’s a very necessary one.

The next time the power goes out the batter back up will kick in and we won’t  have any flooding due to the fact that the sump pump is generated by electricity. Eventually we’ll pick up a small generator but even with that, what if we are out of town and can’t get the generator fired up? Then we’d still have flooding and we can’t afford to have flooding every time a major storm hits and the power goes out. That would suck.

The water guarding is necessary because we have that basement seepage going on. The previous owners of the house did not bother to be completely honest about that and it’s WAY too late to do anything about it — so we are sucking it up and getting it fixed. After all, this will be our final house — unless of course Don comes home and says we have to move in which case I will have no problem packing it up and moving. Especially if he were to say that we need to move to Texas! (I know, wishful thinking Christine)

Please pray for my friend Charla’s little girl. Megan fell off her bed last night. Not only did she dislocate her elbow but she landed wrong and totally broke her arm. She’s been in the hospital since last night and is scheduled for surgery tonight. Depending on how everything goes will determine if Megan gets to go home tonight.

Not much else going on around here - we are just very busy working, blogging, cleaning out closets, arranging the basement, etc. You know how it is — oh and the kids start AWANA on September 3rd at Brookside Church so that’s exciting. Kinsley’s 3rd birthday falls on November 28th so she missed the cut off. She’ll get to do Cubbies next year. Fiona on the other hand will start Cubbies this year and has already learned her first verse: 1 John 4:10 … God … loved us, and sent His Son …

Out of all the people he could have picked to run for Vice President along side him, he sure did pick the wrong one. Obama basically told all the Hillary Clinton supporters to kiss off. He basically ignored Evan Bayh, who happens to be a pretty upstanding guy. Who does he pick? He picks Joe Biden! I can’t stand Joe Biden. Let’s not get me started on this beautiful Saturday morning about Joe Biden. Instead, let’s see what some of the other bloggers are saying…

Voice Ink - This ought to prove to be a more than interesting convention to watch and Democratic campaign to defeat. Who wants to have either of these men as the President of the United States??? Let the research continue!

The Jawa Report - Praise the Lord and pass the popcorn. This is going to be more fun than Carter/Mondale ‘80. And I don’t even like McCain that much.

Red State - Biden is a “reassure people” pick, not a Hope pick, and certainly not a Change pick.

Plains Feeder - If I have anything to say about it, Obama will be running with this terrorist commie at his side right up through November. No matter who Barack selects, he is stuck with Bill Ayers.

Mr. Hawk decided to have breakfast in my backyard.

Fiona kept saying things like, “Mom.. come see the big bird in our yard. It’s big Mom… hurry up.”

I was thinking it was going to be a black crow or something - NOT!

I’m surprised Mr. Hawk let me take a picture from the sliding glass door.

As soon as I stepped onto the concrete he grabbed his breakfast (which by the way was still chirping) and flew off.

He was picking fluffy feathers off his breakfast while we were watching.

Kinsley didn’t think it was fair of Mr. Hawk to eat a smaller bird for breakfast.

There’s been a lot of discussion here in Nebraska about whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18 years of age. It seems many officials from Universities around the country are on board with doing that.

Having the drinking age set at 21 saves approximately 900 young lives per year. However, under age drinking still goes on today no matter where you set the limit.

I had the opportunity to live in Germany when I finished high school. The drinking age for Americans overseas is 18. For the Europeans, it’s a way of life. 

I have heard some people say that they should think about setting the age to 19. That way, high schoolers are unable to buy booze for their friends.

To me it seems a bit contradictory to say that an 18 year old is capable of voting for the president of the united states, can join the military and put their lives on the line for the country, but can not have a beer.

I don’t know what the answers are except to say that binge drinking is not going to stop. We need to educate our young adults and maybe create a less taboo environment?

It actually felt kind of strange when I flew back to the states from Germany. In Germany I could drink alcohol but when I came back I couldn’t. I had to wait 3 months before I could buy alcohol. That was definitely strange for me.

What do you think?