Katie101's Blog

A man walked into an restaurant to have dinner. Sitting at one of the tables was a homeless man with a sign that said, "I'm homeless, so be sure to vote for Barack Obama so he can help my situation."

The man looked at the homeless guy, thought a minute, and sat down to order his food. When the waiter appeared, he was wearing an Obama t-shirt. The man placed his order with the waiter. His food arrived and as he ate, he thought and became increasingly angrier at the things he had just saw.

By the time the check came, the man signed the credit card slip to pay the bill, but didn't leave the waiter a tip. When the waiter saw this, he was furious and said, "Why aren't you leaving me a tip? Was your service not acceptable?" The man responded, "Everything was fine, but I'm going to give the three dollars that I was going to give to you to that homeless guy over there. Just like Barack Obama, I'm going to 'spread the wealth around'."

Vote for Obama and you will soon become that waiter.

The other day while having a conversation with a colleague, we were discussing democracy and the current shape it's in. He said, "Democracy is scary because you have to depend on your fellow citizens to make good decisions when they vote. In the past few years, society has changed, and most people around us don't think like we do." So inevitably, democracy turns into "by SOME people, for THE people", doesn't it?

I am counting down the days until November, not in excitement, but in dread. Democracy has given us two candidates that I, along with a large percentage of other Americans, don't too particularly care for. We can thank democracy. We can thank those around us who either voted opposite than we, OR we can thank those who didn't vote at all. Who is the bigger culprit? You be the judge.

From what I've read, most democracies only last about 200 years and then they fail. If you think about it, we're 232 years past the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I wonder if we make it 68 more years.......that remains to be seen.

 

My students write in journals three times a week, and this morning as I was driving to school, I kept hearing "historical moment" being echoed in my brain as that seems to be the only thing coming out of the media's collective mouths with regards to Obama being the first "black" man to receive a Democratic nomination.

This led me to ask the following question for my tenth graders' journals: "If you could change one event in history, what would it be and why?" I got the usual Holocaust, slavery, 9/11, etc. But one student, who is relatively quiet, shocked me. He said, "I wouldn't change anything because events, whether good or bad, have a tendacy to build character. If we had not had any of the bad things in history, we wouldn't be the people we are today." My mouth dropped open and the students were all quiet.

What a wonderful spin to put on history. This gives me hope as I am not looking forward to the next four years. I'm not excited about what will be written in history. I don't have faith in either candidate and the only thing that sustains my hope is that God the Father and His Son will protect me and give me everything that my family and I need.

In the meantime, I won't think of rewriting history anymore. I will think of history through the eyes of my student, and realize that adversity builds character in more ways than one.

The conflict between Georgia and Russia may be dying down due to a cease fire being signed. This makes me happy as I saw in my mind a fiasco of biblical proportions unfolding had this not happened.

I don't make it a habit to criticize our commander-in-chief because that's not my job; however, I will go on record saying he should stay out of Georgia and Russia's stuff. That is not our business. There are some things that we shouldn't get involved in and this is one. To become embroiled in a war with Russia is something that we have to avoid. Remember- and someone can correct me if I'm wrong- but a president cannot go out of office during a war/conflict/etc. Now I'm not itching for one of the other guys to get in, but Bush has served his time.

There are several countries that I never want to see us in conflict with and Russia is one. Could it be that since Georgia has oil refineries located on its soil, we want to protect it from being "bullied"? Isn't that why we ran to the aid of Kuwait?

Instead of policing other people's business, we desperately need to police our own.

This morning, I mailed my updated voter registration form to the board of registrars in Shelby County. I've been an absentee voter in my native county for the past ten years and I figured it was time for me to vote where I actually live. As I put the stamp on the card, I had a thought......

As a black woman, the right to vote is something that I had to earn twice. Many of my friends, relatives, and even co-workers don't vote (black and white). And their excuse is one that we've all heard and may even be true in some way-- "My one vote won't make a difference." But is it really about making a difference or is it about being a good citizen? Is it really about putting a certain person in office or is it about exercising a right that we were given when we were born on this soil?

I wasn't always a patriot. As a teenager before my senior year, I was very apathetic and bitter about the US and the things it allowed to happen. Then I attended Girl's State in Montgomery the summer before my senior year. I saw what good the government could do and I saw the good that we as productive citizens could do. When I returned home that year, I wrote an essay and won the Lillian Pugh Andrews Patriotism award and was honored by the Women's Club in my town. I learned early on what it meant to be a patriot -- part of that means being a good citizen and genuinely caring about what the country is facing-- not with an attitude of apathy, but with an attitude of hope.

As we approach November, I am not very happy about my choices for who is to run the country. I am not very happy that the things I'm concerned about don't appear to be at the forefront of neither candidate's agenda. However, I am happy that I can choose either one without paying a tax, without fear of being murdered, without having to be a landowner, without having to have a husband, without fear of being stalked......I can go to the voting center and vote. And it doesn't make a bit of difference if who I vote for wins or loses. It doesn't matter if I vote Democrat or Republican. What does matter is that if we all did our duties as responsible citizens, and this includes voting, our country wouldn't be in the shape it is now.

Encourage those around you to vote- not for a particular person- but because it is their right.

Being that I can be somewhat high-maintenance, I get a pedicure and manicure every two weeks. I get these services at a shop in Alabaster- some of the nicest Vietnamese people you'd ever want to meet. Today, one of the women who usually does my nails told me that Friday and Saturday, she's going to Atlanta to take the U.S. citizenship test. She is so excited- she's only been here a year, yet she's been ardently trying to learn the language so that she can be successful with this test. I don't know this woman at all outside of the nail shop, but I am soooo very happy for her. She came to America, wants to stay, and is taking the proper steps to do so.......so that leads me to the question-

Why can't Mexican immigrants do the same? What's the difference with them? Is it because they merely cross a border on land whereas this woman crossed water? She crossed an ocean so that makes her want it more? Obama and McCain both want to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses....(if you don't believe it, look it up). So then, what will be next? Will they give them rights to an already shrinking social security system that barely gives my 80 year-old grandfather $600.00 a month? Will they give the illegal children (not the ones who were born here and who are, in fact, citizens) free financial aid to go to college when they don't even have social security numbers? I'll bet before it's all over, they'll be voting, too. Shame on our wonderful government.

My hat is off to Y.P. I say good for her for wanting to be here legally so that she can partake in everything good and progressive that our country has to offer. She is an example of the US being the land of opportunity and she is capitalizing on it.

Why can't the others follow suit?

I pondered writing this blog for a minute, but I think that a lot of people feel the same way that I do, so I want to give y'all something to ponder....

Many of us have stated that there isn't a candidate worth voting for in November. Frankly, I agree.  I vote with the issues and to speak honestly,  John McCain teeters too much on the liberal side (he stated in California once that he would agree to allow illegal immigrants receive driver's licenses....no way is that cat getting my vote)...that I can't tell what he is sometimes.

So I wonder, what would happen if everyone who felt the way that I did didn't vote? What if we had an all-out boycott of the election process? I understand that voting is my God-given, democratic opportunity. But I don't want to waste it on Obama, Clinton's wife, or McCain. Of course, I don't see this happening, because I suppose that at the end of the day, we have to vote for someone in order to exercise our rights as American citizens. But generally speaking, does anyone want to comment on the effects, positive AND negative, that a voting boycott may have?

And remember, I'm not saying that I propose this- just wondering what everyone else thinks.......

I got this email from my father and thought I'd share......very interesting....... 

I'M NOT PUSHING ANY POLITICAL CHOICE HERE. I JUST FOUND THIS TO
BE AN EYE OPENER AND IT MADE ME THINK.

INTERESTING THOUGHT-- CAN A MUSLIM BE A MUSLIM-AMERICAN?

HERE IS AN EYE OPENER TO START OFF YOUR DAY... CAN A MUSLIM BE A
MUSLIM-AMERICAN? HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT -- IS MUSLIM-AMERICAN REALLY
AN OXYMORON? CAN A DEVOUT MUSLIM BE AN AMERICAN PATRIOT AND A LOYAL
CITIZEN?

I FORWARDED THAT QUESTION TO SOMEONE WHO WORKED IN SAUDI ARABIA FOR
20 YEARS. THE FOLLOWING IS HIS FORWARDED REPLY:

THEOLOGICALLY, NO. BECAUSE HIS ALLEGIANCE IS TO ALLAH, THE MOON
GOD OF ARABIA.

RELIGIOUSLY, NO. BECAUSE NO OTHER RELIGION IS ACCEPTED BY HIS
ALLAH EXCEPT ISLAM (QURAN, 2:256)

SCRIPTURALLY, NO. BECAUSE HIS ALLEGIANCE IS TO THE FIVE PILLARS OF
ISLAM AND THE QURAN (KORAN).

GEOGRAPHICALLY, NO. BECAUSE HIS ALLEGIANCE IS TO MECCA, TO WHICH HE TURNS IN PRAYER FIVE TIMES A DAY.

SOCIALLY, NO. BECAUSE HIS ALLEGIANCE TO ISLAM FORBIDS HIM TO MAKE
FRIENDS WITH CHRISTIANS OR JEWS.

POLITICALLY, NO. BECAUSE HE MUST SUBMIT TO THE MULLAH (SPIRITUAL
LEADERS), WHO TEACH ANNIHILATION OF ISRAEL AND DESTRUCTION OF
AMERICA, THE GREAT SATAN.

DOMESTICALLY, NO. BECAUSE HE IS INSTRUCTED TO MARRY FOUR WOMEN AND
BEAT AND SCOURGE HIS WIFE WHEN SHE DISOBEYS HIM (QURAN 4:34).

INTELLECTUALLY, NO. BECAUSE HE CANNOT ACCEPT THE AMERICAN
CONSTITUTION SINCE IT IS BASED ON BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES AND HE
BELIEVES THE BIBLE TO BE CORRUPT.

PHILOSOPHICALLY, NO. BECAUSE ISLAM, MUHAMMAD, AND THE QURAN DO NOT
ALLOW FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND EXPRESSION. DEMOCRACY AND ISLAM CANNOT
CO-EXIST.

EVERY MUSLIM GOVERNMENT IS EITHER DICTATORIAL OR AUTOCRATIC.

SPIRITUALLY, NO. BECAUSE WHEN WE DECLARE "ONE NATION UNDER GOD",
THE CHRISTIAN'S GOD IS LOVING AND KIND, WHILE ALLAH IS NEVER REFERRED
TO AS HEAVENLY FATHER, NOR IS HE EVER CALLED LOVE IN THE QURAN\'S 99
EXCELLENT NAMES.

THEREFORE AFTER MUCH STUDY AND DELIBERATION.... PERHAPS WE SHOULD
BE VERY SUSPICIOUS OF ALL MUSLIMS IN THIS COUNTRY? THEY OBVIOUSLY
CANNOT BE BOTH 'GOOD' MUSLIMS AND 'GOOD' AMERICANS. CALL IT WHAT YOU
WISH.....IT'S STILL THE TRUTH.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF INTELLECTUALLY IN AGREEMENT WITH THE ABOVE
STATEMENTS, PERHAPS YOU WILL SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS. THE MORE
WHO UNDERSTAND THIS, THE BETTER IT WILL BE....FOR THE RELIGIOUS WAR
IS BIGGER AND MORE COMPLEX THAN MOST AMERICANS CURRENTLY KNOW OR
UNDERSTAND.

The Alabama primaries are on February 5th, and I haven't a clue who to vote for. None of the candidates spark my interest and all of them have skirted around an issue that I have a lot of interest in- IMMIGRATION.

The few souls that I have talked to all say the same thing- "They don't want to touch it because it is controversial. They don't want to lose votes..." My questions is, lose votes from whom? When did illegal immigrants gain the right to vote? And for those immigrants who have become citizens, how many of them actually exercise their right to vote? I don't get it.

Congress is on the trail of steriod users......while there is a war going on.....while the country is spiraling into a recession.....while education is becoming a futile effort.....and while our boarders are becoming a proverbial wide-open gate.....

I teach some of these students (remember, schools cannot question the legal status of these children, and neither do they have to be immunized), and everything that they write and turn in to me is based on immigration (essays, speeches, etc.). Don't get me wrong- I love my students- ALL of them, but it just goes to show you that the mentality that they have is that they are right and WE are wrong. They don't think they should have social security numbers and such. One child said in his persuasive speech, "Keep building your walls, Mr. President, and we'll keep building our tunnels."  There are no absolutes for them and everything should be handed to them. This is the way that they think, and the presidential candidates have not tackled the issue (for real) at all. I'm a little baffled. And a lot upset.

This is the first time in the 10 years that I have been able to vote that I feel none of the candidates give a rip about me. Such a dreadful feeling......

Wow, this poor forum has been inundated with those citizens of Birmingham who are terribly unhappy with the new taxes, and I say with good reason. On the other hand, you also have those citizens who are happy with the increase, ready to give their portion for Birmingham's progression, and I say with good reason, too. So for those who are not happy, what is the solution? Your mouth, your hands, and your vote. Your mouth to voice your opinion at City Council meetings. Show up. Get on the agenda. Speak your peace. Remember the First Amendment?  Your hands to write, write, write. Write letters. Write petitions. Remember the First Amendment? Your vote to vote out the people who made decions about YOUR money without YOUR approval. What will griping do? Make you a bitter person. If you want to spend your money elsewhere, come on down to Shelby county! We'd love to have you!!! But if you don't do that, make sure that when the next  voting rounds come through, remember your city council and how they decided how you would spend your money. You better believe I haven't forgotten our lovely law makers in Montgomery.....have you forgotten their self-imposed pay raise while some people in Lowndes county don't have indoor plumbing? I most certainly won't. And that's my solution. Use your democratic vote that people died for in the battle against the King of England and that people are still dying for today.