On to more serious matters.

I don’t really know how to write this entry. Mostly because it is such a deeply personal issue for so many people, but also because there are some people in my life that I’m afraid that I will offend. But I still feel like I need to say this, because it is important to me.

I’m not “pro-choice” per se. But I think that identity was developed using what the conservative right has defined being pro-choice as. Believing that it meant you were for abortion, without reservation. And I am not. I’ve identified myself as “pro-life” since I can remember, although I try to always make the distinction that I’m not “pro-life” like some people are, who are really anti-abortion but don’t appear to care about all the other ways life is abused in our nation and in our world. The wider pro-life view is a big part of why I will be voting for Obama this year. But that is my choice, and I know other people need to make their choices based on their personal research and priorities.

Where am I going with this?? I don’t really know, other than my point was to direct you all to a few entries that I think anyone who thinks the abortion issue is black and white should read. These are real stories by real women. And I have to agree with one of them in particular, who said in reference to McCain’s air quotes when talking about the health of the mother and late term abortions, ”I don’t see any way a thinking person can look at those air quotes and see anything but pandering, contempt, and a dangerous willful ignorance.” (For those who didn’t watch: he put air quotes around “health” and said that the pro-abortion ((sidenote – is ANYONE really pro-abortion???)) movement has stretched the term “health” so that women could get abortions basically whenever they wanted.)

Before you comment, please read the entries. And if you still think the issue is black and white, well then I guess we’ll just have to disagree. And that’s fine. I just wanted you to think about it.

A Little Bit Pregnant

Uppercase Woman - On National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day and her personal story
Uppercase Woman – On John McCain

Flotsam

Thank you for your time. And if you have nothing productive to say, save it and say a prayer for my soul instead.

Now, on to the real entry:

Ryan and I watched the debate last night. I wanted to see how both candidates did. Biden has a reputation for going on so long that he gets himself in trouble, and Palin…well her recent interviews speak for themselves (I watched the full interviews on the TV’s websites-not just the worst clips floating around the internets). And the debate went much better than I expected. But the fact that Palin avoided answering so many of the questions and basically refused to come to the defense of McCain’s health care plan (which I can’t even begin to list the negative aspects of – seriously) or anything else was extremely disappointing. She kept returning to the few things she’s comfortable discussing. And that kind of defeats the purpose of the debate. But people were so impressed because she didn’t make a complete fool of herself. What does that say about her qualifications? Really?

There are a lot of blogs out there commenting on the debate, and so I’ll leave it at that. I find all of this interesting, and I was honestly happy that neither candidate came out looking like a complete fool. That being said, Sarah Palin, as likeable as she may seem to many people out there, is totally unqualified to be Vice President. And I didn’t see any evidence to the contrary last night.

Jess describes my thoughts on John McCain and Sarah Palin very well, and links to a lot of other blog entries and articles discussing the same topic. Go read her entry. And remember that important point – the Republicans had to LIE during their convention to make Obama seem like a bad guy. If he’s so bad, why do you have to make up lies about him and his record? There has been misinformation about Sarah Palin too, and I think it is important to know the truth about candidates (www.factcheck.org is a good site for checking information, and I’m sure there are others). But none of the information that is wrong about her has been pushed by her opponents.

The fact is, the Republicans have been a huge factor in bringing our country to the place it is at right now. McCain and Palin are running on a platform that admits that – they said it during the convention even. But they want another chance to show us that they can do better than all of their colleagues. And I just don’t think that’s the right path for America. If a CEO and his team run a company into the ground for years, you don’t then take one of the team members who stood by the CEO but now “promises to do better” and put them in charge. You get rid of the whole lot and get some fresh blood in there.

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Onto other things that are less contentious. Because this isn’t a political blog, and I don’t like people fighting, even though I know that many people are passionate about their political beliefs (and that is totally fine – great, even).

I still haven’t figured out how to post photos, so there aren’t any on here. But there are some on facebook, and I’m sure we’ll get them on our flickr site soon. Hopefully we’ll remedy the whole not posting photos on the blog thing soon.

UPDATE: Pics are now working!!!

This is a view of the lake from the State Park we were at over Labor Day. Yay!! More pics to come!

END UPDATE

WTF is up with the Vikings!? Come on, guys! You CANNOT lose to the Packers. This is unacceptable. And depressing.

Ryan and I are going on a backpacking trip this coming Saturday (my birthday! Happy camping birthday to me!). I am hoping it won’t be freezing cold. We’ll see. We will be going just overnight, and it will be somewhere on the Superior Hiking Trail, but I’m not sure where.

Does anyone else have a total love of the Mac vs PC commercials? Because they all crack me up. “I’m a free pizza!” “I banish you. You are banished.” They all make me totally LOL. Literally. I’m pretty sure you can watch them all on Apple’s website. And you should if you haven’t yet. Go now. I’m all done here.