The Cost of Electing a New President

I am not a highly political person but as I was watching Rock Center with Brian Williams on Monday I was highly disturbed. They reported on that show that night that the Super PAC for Mitt Romney will most likely spend about $350 Million dollars on attack advertising before the election is over. This made me so angry and I have not been able to get this figure out of my mind all week. This makes me feel like our country has priorities out of whack! 

People are willing to give millions of dollars to run attack advertising against another candidate but they are hesitant to donate to a non-profit organization. The attack advertising is a whole other reason this has been on my mind all week. We are parents are always telling our children to get along with others and "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." These men and women who want to run our country are setting terrible examples for the next generation. I am not saying I want my child to look up to a politician but it would be nice if we could have leaders of this country that we could have our children look to for examples. 

This obscene amount of money that will be spent during this campaign season begs the question, "If all that money were to be put toward the National Debt, could we begin to pay it down and still elect the right person to run our country?" It seems fiscally irresponsible for these Super PACs to be spending all this money when there are Americans who don't have enough money to buy groceries or pay their rent/mortgage. 

I will be on high alert this campaign season to keep these horrible advertisements off of my television and radio. I will be reading about what each candidate can do for my family and my country, I don't want to know about each skeleton in any closet, I don't care about that. 

Politics and Religion

Today I had an unusual experience at church. Not only did I get a wonderful sermon for my weekly dose of religion, but I also got an unexpected dose of politics.

A little background: 

I was raised in a very Catholic family and was a practicing Catholic through college. I deflected when I decided my views did not match those of the church. For a long time I did not claim to belong to any organized religion. I consider myself a Christian and always will.  During my time of no church, I explored other areas of religion, Buddhist in particular. I have found that my style is a great blend of both of the principles of each religion. About 2 years ago I decided to go back to church and choose one that friends of mine attend. One of my friends is the Associate Pastor in the church as well. My son and I attend regularly, I have also begun teaching Sunday School to his age group once a month. We love all the friends we have made at this church.

Leading up to Sunday:

Last year, our Senior Pastor left the church to pursue another opportunity for himself.  Ever since our church has been in search for a new Senior Pastor. This is a process I was not used to. In the Catholic Church, when a Priest leaves the church, another is simply appointed to our church by the Arch Bishop. I had no idea the process other denominations went through to find a new Pastor. In December, it was announced that my friend who has been Associate Pastor at our church was being recommended for the Senior position. This was wonderful news to me, I have a very strong bond to this pastor and his wife. I consider them friends and he is a wonderful spiritual leader for me. 

Sunday:

Today was the day, we as a congregation would vote on my friend to become the Senior Pastor. I was excited, even my son was excited to know the outcome of the vote. During the service today he preached a wonderful sermon about Epiphany and the vote was to take place after our service. Once the service was over, it was time. I was so ready to cast my vote for him. The chair of the search committee went to the front of the chapel and gave us some background information on the search and on the pastor. The motion was on the table to proceed with the vote. Then there were people who asked to get up and speak, they were talking about why we should not vote for my friend. They were upset about the search process, non-trusting of the leadership of our church, and not speaking kindly of my friend. I felt horrible. I sat next to his wife in the pew to lend her some support, as I knew she had been anxious about the vote but these speeches had totally blindsided me. We ended up casting our votes after much discussion and tension filling the chapel.

Once we all left the meeting and shuffled our children off to Sunday School, there was much chatter about the speeches and the vote. I learned of some of the campaigning that had gone on against my friend and I felt hurt and betrayed. I feel that politics do not belong in my church. Now, my feelings about some members has changed. Since I don't know, nor do I want to know, how people voted I don't know how to approach some members now. I don't yet know the outcome of the vote. I am sure I will find out soon this week, but this is bothering me very much. I can't believe how some people can act this way toward each other, aren't we supposed to be Christians?

Traffic!!

 !!!WARNING!!! I am stepping on my soapbox!!


For those of you who don't know I have  long commute to work each day. I drive 30 miles each way all on the highway. I don't usually complain about this too much because it is my choice to live far from my job. However, today I am a bit fed up with other people in their cars. Here in Denver we have been having a lot of rain and most of it has been happening right at rush hour and has been messing up my traffic. Today was horrible because there was no rain but traffic was still slow going on my way home.  I don't understand why so many people have to drive so slow in the left lanes, I feel the left lanes are for people who are going to drive at least the speed limit. 

The one thing that drives the the most crazy, and it is usually a short drive, is when people decide to yield when they are entering a continuous lane. This is the type of lane that is coming off the highway when I am coming home each night and every night I end up yelling obscenities at more than one driver in front of me. Maybe they don't know the difference between the two signs. They are very different as you can see. I am sure that all my wonderful readers would never make this type of mistake, but please share with your "bad driver" friends, a continuous lane is just that, you are supposed to keep driving as you enter the lane and do not YIELD!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful traffic week, I hope none of you are the people I scream at while driving. The only time people are safe from my "road rage" is when my child is in my car, however, I may need to go to the dentist because one day I will grind my teeth so hard while driving they will all break off in my mouth. 

Traffic - Where is the Courtesy??

Ok - Stepping on my soap box for just a few moments!

I have this feeling that people leave their manners somewhere when they get into their car, and I am a little tired of the lack of courtesy. I have a very long drive to and from work each day (30 miles to be exact) so I have to data to back this rant up!

Don't people know that when you are in the lane next to an on-ramp you need to have enough courtesy to let another person enter the highway. This may mean that you will have to step on your breaks to make room for that person, you can't always speed up to make that room. There are some people on the highway that think they have to speed up, they can't actually slow down for that other car and let them get in front.....then they will be winning. I think we all need to get this thought out of our heads and remember that their agenda is just as important to them as yours is to you.

My other pet peeve in my car is people have stopped waving to say thank you when someone actually does slow down to let you in. Are we so jaded that we can’t actually say thank you to people. I think people think, well they won’t see it so I don’t have to do it…..really?? I can see through the glass of your rear window and you have just pissed me off that I may not let the next person into traffic when they are trying to enter the on-ramp.

We all get caught in a horrible circle of “righteousness” that we all forget to follow the golden rule of life. If we do unto others as we would want them to do unto us, we might all have a much more pleasant drive experience, no matter how long or short your dive may be.