Thankful Thursday

Thank you for reading my blog and lending a helping hand in your families and neighborhoods across the world.

The Dignity of Marriage

The returns are still coming in, but the prospect of a ban on gay marriage (even in California!!) is looking good! In California, Proposition 8 is passing with 52% of the vote! In Florida and Arizona the ban has been upheld! Marriage is defined as a union between only a man and a woman. Thanks be to God! Thank you voters! For maintaining that the beauty of Holy Matrimony shall be given respect, dignity and protection in our country.

Keep On Moving

Okay, so Obama is the POTUS elect. What now? Fortunately, congress is not wholly democratic. There will be some balance in the U.S. Government. If you have never done so before, now is the time to get to know your congressmen and senators. Now is the time to write their emails and phone numbers down. Now is the time to give them a call, let them know you helped to elect them. Let them know what you expect of them in the next 4 years. It works. Even if you have to leave a message. Send your emails, leave your messages and if you can, make an appointment and visit them at their offices. Thank them for their service to this country and encourage them to listen to the people who placed them in that service.

And So It Goes

When I visited the polling center yesterday to cast my ballot, the lines were long so myself and about 40 others were sent to a room to wait. We got to watch T.V..guess which channel? CNN. My state went for McCain, but not for lack of trying.

Our new POTUS elect has already began his backtracking with his comment "The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even in one term, but America I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there." (emphasis mine)

Does Your Vote Count? And Whose It For Anyway?

Tomorrow is the big day. November 4th, 2008. Tomorrow the American people will make history in little booths all over the country. Tomorrow, folks will be glued to CNN, FoxNews, even MSNBC! Who will it be? Obama? McCain? How does it happen that the winner is determined even before the west coast of America has finished voting?

Let's go back to school for a minute (homeschool, cause they don't teach this in Public school anymore). Subject: Election 101

Voting for The President of The United States.

The framers of the Constitution set up this process called the Electoral College, as in group of people working for the common good, not going to university. They weren't sure it was a great idea to leave the election to just a national popular vote, nor did they like the idea of congress choosing the President. (Article II Sec. 1) The problem with their setup was that it did not foresee the forming of political parties. In the 1800 election this problem became very clear with the Jefferson/Burr ticket. Voters wrote both names down and there was tie forcing the vote to go to the House and ultimately electing Jefferson. The 12th Amendment was added to ensure that this did not happen again.

What does this mean to you? Although your ballot may say Obama/Biden or McCain/Palin you are really voting for Joe Smith who supports Obama/Biden or Mary Jones who supports McCain/Palin. So who the heck is Joe Smith and Mary Jones? They are the electors your state has chosen to vote for you in the Presidential election. 48 of the 50 states have a winner take all policy. All of the electoral votes are cast for the popular vote winner of that state. Maine and Nebraska are only awarded 2 electoral votes based on popular vote, the rest of their electoral votes are determined by the winner of each congressional district.

Your state's electors are equal to the number of your state's senators and U.S. representatives combined. There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs. A candidate only needs 270 to win the election and become President.

So can it happen that the candidate who did not win the "popular vote" become President? Yep. It's happened 4 times.

Who are your Presidential electors? Some states will list them on the ballot beside or under the candidates name. However, not all states are required to do so. You can click here to get a better idea of how many electoral votes your state has and what state laws are associated with them.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Become and informed voter. Learn the process. Teach your children and your grandchildren. Sometimes, as in my case, you can even teach your parents about this.

“The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.” - Benjamin Franklin

What a Weekend!

 

This weekend, aside from trick or treating on Friday, my family and I attended the One In The Spirit conference in Perry, Ga. It was a beautiful day of music, talks and even some Catholic comedy. The highlight fo rour family was the concert by Tony Melendez. Remember him? He rose to fame after singing for Pope John Paul II back in the early 80's. His concert was rockin'! We all enjoyed it immensely. If you get the chance to see him perform and talk about his journey we highly recommend you do.

You can find more info about Tony here: Tony Melendez Ministries

Are We Ready to Vote?

Raymond Arroyo, over at Seen and Unseen, gives us a good shaking this morning. What made me mad, was that he's right. We are being "entertained" this election. All this so called news about the economy has no real substance. It's sound bite after sound bite. The debates were a joke. Neither candidate was very clear and the questions asked were very weak. I've seen better high school debate tournaments.

So, Raymond challenged me this morning. I am rising to the challenge. I have read the Federalist Papers. The Papers were created by our founding fathers and outline how our government should work and why. I am adding this to my required reading.

I'll also be adding this to my homeschooling curriculum.
Thanks Raymond!

Federalist Papers