My current top pet peeve – people who forward emails without research. Not only the usual “check snopes” type urban legends, but also political information – don’t take the word of someone who has an agenda when you forward an issue to everyone you know!

Ugh! I’ve been avoiding any political discussions lately. (Though President Obama’s Miyagi-like mad fly-killing skillz were very impressive!)

Anyhow, I just received a forward about the evils of Bill S909 – the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. According to the email, it will protect people who commit incest, pedophiles, and other creepy folks, and make it impossible for people to speak freely and quote the Bible, pray, or express contrary opinions on homosexuality (plus many other free speech topics). First off, I now identify myself as a Christian. However, I still think that these accusations are confused, so I wanted to read the original text of the Bill before making a decision to talk to my representatives (always a good idea – read the fine print!)

Do these people ever actually read the text of Bills before they send these emails? The one I received said (in part):

On the other hand, guess what WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will be considered a hate crime and YOU WILL GO TO JAIL…..

1. Praying In Jesus’ Name in ANY PUBLIC VENUE–that includes church buildings

2. Preaching against SIN in general that could in some way be considered hateful by those who don’t want to be told they sin or their behavior is sinful
3. Quoting the Bible in church as that is offensive and considered hateful speech by some

I’m not a lawyer (nor have I ever played one on TV…), but my father is, and I have done a lot of paralegal-type work for him, so I have read a lot of bills and other legal documents. In reading Bill S909, I don’t see anything that would indicate the above is accurate. In fact, there is even a section which says:

Section 10: RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
For purposes of construing this Act and the amendments made by this Act the following shall apply:
…
(4) FREE EXPRESSION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual’s expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual’s membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs.

So, you can express your beliefs all you want. What you can’t do if this Bill is passed is hurt/kill someone or incite others to hurt/kill someone. Saying “straight white men are evil, and sex outside procreation is sinful” would be OK. Saying “we all know straight white men are evil sex outside procreation is sinful, so we must kill all straight white men who have sex outside of procreation – here is how we should accomplish this…” would not be OK, especially if you or your followers then follow through on it.

However, the Bill only is in effect if someone is actually injured:

‘(2) OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-
‘(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person–

Emotional or psychological injury doesn’t count:

‘(1) the term ‘bodily injury’ has the meaning given such term in section 1365(h)(4) of this title, but does not include solely emotional or psychological harm to the victim;

I, personally, think the bill sounds like a good idea. But, if you disagree with me, please at least read the Bill and offer a reasonable, educated argument. And please don’t send me any more emails that aren’t well researched, and rely only on biased media reports! Thanks in advance!

We celebrated this historic day with coloring pages and me “encouraging” the girls to watch the swearing in, and as much of the speech and ceremony as possible.

What an amazing nation I live in – a nation that has changed so much in the past century. I am so proud that we elected Barack Obama as our 44th president, and I am optimistic for the next 4 years.

Meanwhile, we celebrated New President Day with more packing! That’s Change, right?

We also celebrated by having guests over for dinner – we had issued a Brussels Sprout Challenge a couple months ago, and we were finally able to serve up the Roasted Brussels Sprouts tonight.

The verdict? Two people who swore “I don’t like brussels sprouts” ate seconds. I win! I’ve converted so many people over to the joy that is Roasted Brussels Sprouts after a childhood of eating refusing to eat mediocre steamed brussels sprouts.

So, let’s believe in change, let’s celebrate change, let’s find joy in unexpected places. Let’s do our best to have hope for the future – hope for the little things (like yummy food) and hope for our futures.

There are a zillion blog entries out there discussing the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Obama. This is just one short one, one little link to Obama. I may also be one of the few liberal Mormons you’ll meet, but I do exist, and I’m sure others do too. The Church will actually have representatives a the Inauguration, and I really like what President Monson said: “We send our best wishes to President-elect Obama and pray for the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven to be upon him and his administration.”

I am one person, mom, attachment-parenting person, writer, blogger, friend, church-goer, dog-owner, sister, aunt, cat-lady, homeschooler, daughter, grand-daughter, geek, person with chronic illnesses who voted for Obama and is thrilled for his inauguration! Watching his speech Sunday warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. All of his speeches seem to have that effect on me, and that’s part of why I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s festivities. I am also looking forward to reading Dreams from My Father when I’m staying at my mother’s house (my step-dad has a copy).

I was also excited to find out that I have a link to President-elect Obama! My step-father started a folk music coffee house the year before I was born. One of the people who came to perform there was Pete Seeger, and we ended up having dinner with him before the concert. So about 20 years ago Pete Seeger had dinner with me, and now he’s performing with Bruce Springsteen in a concert for President-elect Barack Obama!

I remember playing debate bingo when we were watching Gov. Palin and Sen. Biden in the VP debate, and it was far too much fun. If you are thinking of a bingo or drinking game for tomorrow, check out this bingo/drinking game for the Inauguration.

On a more serious note, one of my dearest friends from Austin has written a great post about President-elect Obama’s Inauguration and the comments she has heard from conservatives. Is it OK to show how happy we are? Or do we need to be sensitive to those whose candidate didn’t win? Well, I’m quite happy, and not afraid to say it. I highly recommend reading and pondering Suna’s wonderful entry.

This is the first political post on this blog this year, and it’s pretty long. If you aren’t interested in reading more, feel free to skip. Please remember to keep comments polite.

A woman on the ballot for VP??? My first thought was that it sounded too good to be true! I remember as a kid when we named our cat for Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984. I wasn’t expecting a female VP this election cycle, so I was really surprised when a friend told me about John McCain naming Sarah Palin as his VP choice. The choice made sense, though, choosing a woman could pander to the upset Hillary Clinton supporters, and possibly swing female voters to McCain.

When I first started reading about Sarah Palin, I was impressed: she’s an active and involved mom of 5, she calls herself a hockey mom (I think that’s the Alaskan version of a soccer mom), she enjoys outdoor winter sports such as ice fishing and snowmobiling, she’s well-loved in the community (85% approval rating!), she’s been an active partner in her husband’s fishing business, and she became involved in government – city council, mayor, and then governor partly to clear out the corruption and excessive spending in the Alaskan government. She’s type of woman that mothers of daughters want to point at – you can do whatever you set your mind to do! Sarah Palin sounds like someone I’d like to have coffee or lunch with – definitely a strong, unique, and fascinating woman. (Even if her office has a the skin of a grizzly bear her father shot on the sofa)

After I got over my initial “oh wow! a woman!” excitement, I looked at her stand on issues that are key for me. Any remote possibility of me supporting her politically disappeared completely at that point. Read the rest of this entry »