The “feminists” don’t speak for me:

Because I believe that women are miracle workers through our extraordinary capacity to nurture life within and to bring forth children. To me, the primacy of unrestricted abortion in the “feminist” agenda reveals an insidious movement to deny women our full potential.

Because I interpret chivalrous gestures as an affirmation of female ascendency. It is odd that in a culture where the rich and powerful rely on personal security details, “feminists” perceive the male instinct to protect women as a sign of female weakness.

Because I am amazed at the degree to which motherhood has honed my management skills, especially in the areas of communication, accountability, multi-tasking, and prioritization. Research suggests there is a physiological basis for this change.

Because I contend that in free societies with rule of law, religion is not a common means for men to subjugate women. I believe that men of faith humbly recognize their weaknesses, and by the grace of God, endeavor to triumph over behaviors that are destructive to women and families.

Because I can have it all, just not all at the same time. Years ago, I had a fulfilling non-domestic career. Now I am reveling in my adventures as a stay-at-home mom. When my husband retires and my children are in school, I’ll rejoin the workforce. Provided that Obama and the Democrats in Congress do not destroy our healthcare system, I have decades ahead of me to make my mark on the outside world.

Because I am willing to admit that my spouse outranks me. In our house, my husband is the commanding officer and I am the executive officer. He sets the overall course for the family (with my input); I make the day-to-day decisions (with his input). I am 100 percent certain that if I asked him to reverse roles, he would.

Because I maintain that when a “feminist” uses the v-word outside its medical context, she curtails violence against women as effectively as a misogynist who uses the c-word.

Because I believe that parents who shelter their adolescent daughters from sexual experimentation and drug and alcohol use, liberate them to become healthy, confident women.

Because I think that fertility awareness is the most pro-woman form of family planning. It is safe and reliable, works in achieving and avoiding pregnancy, increases marital intimacy, and provides additional health benefits. If you are tempted to crack a joke, please consider that Planned Parenthood’s vested interest in purveying pills, condoms and abortions makes natural family planning an ideal target for Alinsky-style ridicule.

Because I see the Conservative movement within the Republican Party as the natural home for true feminists. No two women are alike. No national organization can reasonably claim to speak for us all. Why not affiliate with the party that promotes equality based on unalienable rights rather than the party that thrives on conflict over superficial differences?

Jo and Joe earn less than $40,000 combined each year. First generation Americans of Mexican descent, they have three children ages ten to four and rent at the least desirable neighborhood in town. In the past four years, they’ve had their phone disconnected at least three times for failure to pay their bill. To my knowledge, they are not particularly religious.

Jo and Joe, just as my parents raised my siblings and me, value education for their children and expect them to excel in school. And also like my parents, to make ends meet Jo works days, Joe works nights, and grandma watches the children during shift overlap. They are proud and, aside from sending their children to Head Start for preschool, would not dream of accepting a handout.

We met Jo and Joe in late 2004 when we rented at their apartment complex while waiting take possession of our own home. A few weeks after we had moved out, Joe rang our doorbell. He had been walking our neighborhood looking for people who needed lawn care. Since my husband, a habitual late worker, hadn’t mowed the lawn in over ten days, the tall grass in our yard gave Joe reason to believe that we were potential customers. Joe explained that he hoped to start a landscaping business someday. (Mock that, Sen. Obama.) After discussing the matter with my husband, I hired Joe for the summer.

For the following two years we were stationed overseas, and Joe reliably took care of the yard in our absence. Now that my husband is an uber-commuter, Joe continues to provide weekly lawn service. Because he is busy with his full-time job and family life, we are still Joe’s only customers.

Given that Jo and Joe are struggling as it is, we are concerned about their fate if the economy tanks. So a few weeks ago, I asked Joe directly how his family is faring in the slowdown. Joe replied that all is fine. There have been some layoffs at the deli, but over the years, he has managed to “carve a place out” for himself and is not worried. In addition, the plant where Jo works, is doing well and exports to China and Italy have actually increased.

Then Joe gave me his very astute observations on the economy. He said that the economy is “like a roller coaster — it has its ups and downs, and you just have to ride it out.” He said that falling gas prices had given his family some immediate breathing room, and opined that bailout money should not be wasted on Wall Street when people like him would use it more responsibly.

Even though many liberal Democrats in effect wish to subjugate the working poor through entitlements, Jo and Joe are living proof that the America dream is alive and well, that there is no substitute for hard work, and that parents still teach their children that they must contribute to society. Hopefully Joe will swing over to the R column by Tuesday, but if not, Jo’s vote is one that Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin should be proud to have earned.

FINAL NOTE added on 5 NOV: Jo and Joe both voted McCain/Palin. The American Dream lives on.

In doing a search for my parents’ “lost Biden” in the Congressional Record, I discovered some beautiful remarks that he made on the Senate floor on July 18, 1989 in response to the Supreme Court decision to strike down laws protecting the American flag:

…it is often pointed out to me by my colleagues and the press that France does not have a statute to protect its flag, the Union Jack in Great Britain does not have special status in terms of how it is protected, and I respond in the following way. You do not define a French person or an Englishman by what they believe, or what form of government they subscribe to. You define them based on their ethnicity. You can determine who is French, who is British, by their ethnicity.

How do you define an American? Do you define Americans based on their color, on their religious beliefs, or on their parental and grandparental lineage? We are the most unique democracy in the history of mankind because we are the most heterogeneous nation in the history of mankind. And we have remained strong, vibrant, and vital in spite of that great diversity.

These young people are taught in school as we were that our strength flows from our diversity. That is true ultimately. But initially, our diversity pushes us apart. It does not bring us together. The fact that we are black and white does not generate confidence. It generates fear initially.

The fact that we are Christian and Jew does not send us running into one another’s embrace to herald our differences. Mankind fears that which is different, and we are very different, except in one very important regard. That is that we are, as a Nation, more or less united on the means by which we can realize our dreams and the rules and regulations which will guide us in our attempt to fulfill our dreams–the Constitution–a covenant, if you will, embodied in that flag, to the President’s right. That is the national symbol of unity, and we need unity in this country because we are so diverse.

Symbols are important. We would have to be blind to world history to not understand that symbols are important. And I say to my friend, the Presiding Officer, that we have a symbol–unlike the Court’s inability to recognize it–that is needed to unite this Nation, this diverse Nation, and the symbol is the flag.

Just as my parents were left wondering what happened to Sen. Biden between his first term and 1988, I am perplexed as to how his views on unity, diversity, and the unique symbolism of the American flag could have changed so much since 1989 for him to join a candidate:

-Who considers wearing a flag pin a “substitute” for “true patriotism.”
-Who lamented to his San Francisco supporters that people in fly-over country “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
-Whose surrogates belittle small town America.
-Who equates criticism of his economic proposals with racism.
-Whose mentor trampled on an American flag for a photo-op. (Obama was 40 years old at the time, not 8.)
-Whose treatment of his primary opponent created a gender based rift in the Democratic party.
-Whose campaign threw 12,000 miniature American flags in the trash after a rally.
-Whose tax policies reek of class warfare.

Sen. Biden, I join many in both the Republican and Democratic parties to beg you to come on back from the dark side. The road to perdition is not a one-way street.

The stated mission of CCHD is:

to address the root causes of poverty in America through promotion and support of community-controlled, self-help organizations and through transformative education.

As a Catholic, I am glad that there is a dedicated Church agency helping the poor in America, and on paper, CCHD appears to be a good cause; however, an article posted yesterday on EWTN.com citing Catholic editorialist Stephanie Block, reveals the alarming news that through CCHD, “millions of dollars have funded Alinksyite community organizing groups.”

By reviewing the CCHD annual report and list of grantees, I found that in 2006 CCHD awarded 45 grants to ACORN chapters around the country, totaling $1,165,000. CHD’s grants for 2006 totaled $9,669,407, meaning that ACORN received 12 percent of the available funds, or based on CCHD’s annual operating cost of $13,106,628, ACORN received 9 cents out of every dollar placed in the collection basket.

The CCHD fulfills its mission through grants given to community organizations nationwide based on seven criteria: the activity “must conform to the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church,” must work to eliminate “the root causes of poverty and enact institutional change,” and “must benefit people living in poverty.” “People living in poverty must have the dominant voice in the organization.” The organization “should demonstrate ongoing leadership development” and “a clear vision for development of financial capacity.” Finally the organization “must be fully nonpartisan when engaging in political activities.” (emphasis mine)

Considering that the ACORN Votes Political Action Committee’s endorsement of pro-abortion Senator Barack Obama for President is displayed on ACORN’s website and as Block points out, “ACORN’s ‘People’s Platform’ has nothing in common with Catholic social justice teaching and everything in common with socialism,” ACORN should be precluded from CCHD funding on at least two counts.

Because the annual special collection provides 88 percent of CCHD’s revenue, church-going Catholics can put a stop to the outrage. The non-ecclesiastical Catholic Weekly The Wanderer recommends for a Catholic:

to contact his or her bishop and inform him of the contents of [Block’s] editorial…[because] it is the solemn duty of a bishop to inform his flock about the serious discrepancy between the official image of CCHD as an instrument to help the poor and the unfortunate reality that, too often, CCHD funds are used to promote secularist and Marxist-inspired political activism.

On a personal level, one can also quietly refrain from contributing to the special collection, or reduce the donated amount by at least 9 percent. Certainly, all should pray that our Bishops will continue to fight poverty by supporting organizations that operate within the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Like many Pennsylvanians, ten days ago I became aware that a crisis in the United States financial system threatened to send our country into a full scale depression unless a $700 billion bailout bill was enacted quickly. Subsequent news revealed that certain Members of Congress had been warned of the impending disaster years earlier, but either denied the existence of a problem or spent tens of billions of tax dollars treating symptoms without addressing root causes.

I believe this negligence is as reprehensible as if Congress had been given specific intelligence of the 9/11 attacks to include the terrorists’ names and passport numbers, the buildings targeted, and the flights to be hijacked, but did not take action until the first plane hit the World Trade Center simply because the exact date of Al Qaeda’s plans was unknown.

In recent years Members of Congress have staged televised hearings to chastise the baseball Commissioner because players were taking steroids and to point fingers at network executives because Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl half-time show. Because of the severity of the financial situation and the urgency with which taxpayers were implored to support an expensive and complicated rescue package, I think it is high time for someone to call our Senators and Representatives out on the carpet for the consequences of their inaction.

Election Day is a month away, and some may argue that voting gives Americans the opportunity to remove the guilty from office; however, I disagree. Because many incumbents enjoy insurmountable advantages in their reelection campaigns and Congressional term limits have been rejected, there seems to be no effective way to hold our national legislative bodies responsible for dereliction of duty and to curb the abuses of power resulting from that lack of accountability.

In my opinion, the only remaining redress is for our state legislatures to reassert their position over the federal government as our Founding Fathers intended. I respectfully request that you begin a movement for the Pennsylvania Legislature to hold hearings to determine whether our House and Senate delegations have fulfilled their obligations to the Commonwealth and to vote for a recall of any member who has not. At the very least, the people of Pennsylvania deserve a performance review of Representative Paul Kanjorski, who chairs the House subcommittee directly responsible for the financial mess.

Pennsylvania’s greatest statesman Benjamin Franklin said, “No man’s life, liberty or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session,” and “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” I ask you to heed his wisdom and take the long overdue steps necessary to reign in a Congress that has usurped power from the states and used it irresponsibly.

Thank you for your attention and your continued service to the people of our district.

Sincerely,

(Posted on YouTube by the same person who created the OIF veteran “Dear Mr. Obama” video.)

64 phone calls (32 each week) to likely voters, not all were Republicans.
9 McCain supporters (3 last week/6 yesterday)
8 Undecided (5 last week/3 yesterday)
1 Obama supporter (last week)
2 refused to respond
44 answering machines, messages, wrong numbers, etc.

Points of interest:
1. Given four choices (the economy and jobs, gas prices, national security, health care) 7 of the 8 “undecideds,” without hesitation, cited the economy and jobs as their top area of concern this election. Although, the economy is usually the number one issue in an election, I was surprised to find that the choice was nearly unanimous.
2. Of the 9 McCain supporters, 5 felt that all four issue choices were equally important and had to be pressed to pick one.
3. Last week, when the phone bank script introduction used the words, “calling on behalf of the local Republican Party,” 7 respondents initially pointed out that they are not Republicans. This week, the script was changed to “calling on behalf of the local McCain-Palin campaign,” and no one balked.

The county:
My phone bank was in a county in Pennsylvania where President Bush won every precinct except one in 2004. The local economy is a mixture of farming, manufacturing, and in one community, tourism. There is also a large and growing population of commuters to the three metropolitan areas within 75 miles. The population is 90 percent white. The county unemployment rate was 3.3% in 2007. The county foreclosure rate is 0.02%, but I could not find a national average for comparison.

My conclusion:
To win the votes of the remaining undecided electorate, we need to present a strong pro-McCain message on the economy. The grassroots Get-Out-The-Vote efforts in counties like mine will be crucial in canceling out the work of the Phiadelphia/Pittsburgh Democratic party machines.

I’ll be working the phone bank every Monday until Election Day, and will report back on any significant findings.

If I were Vice President and not a stay at home mom, mac and cheese or McDonald’s for dinner would be history. No matter how busy our family schedule would be on a given day, it wouldn’t matter that I was too tired to cook something nutritious and appealing to little appetites because there would be a kitchen staff to do it for me.

If I were Vice President and not a stay at home mom, I’d be relieved that my days of waiting for doctor’s appointments were over. With a physician available, I wouldn’t have to drag a sick child out of bed to the emergency room in the freezing cold because he happened to develop an ear infection at 2:00 AM on Sunday. My special needs child would have access to the top specialists for his condition.

If I were Vice President and not a stay at home mom, my remaining young daughters would never go on another date without a chaperone. They would resent it, but the Secret Service would be with them in situations where parents should give their children some leeway, but honestly don’t want to.

If I were Vice President and not a stay at home mom, my family would travel the world and see history in the making. There would be no long lines at the airport or the challenge of keeping track of 14 shoes, 7 carry on bags and 5 little fugitives while trying to get the cursed stroller folded into the x-ray machine at the security checkpoint. My children would learn first hand that the United States of America is the greatest country on Earth.

If I were Vice President and not a stay at home mom, my husband, my children and I would have to sacrifice privacy, quality time, our comfortable routine, control over our lives, and proximity to extended family. Despite these hardships, if the next President felt that I had the unique potential to strengthen America and secure a future of liberty and prosperity for my children and grandchildren, I would do it in a heartbeat.

With a houseful of kids, a son in the infantry, an expectant daughter, a special needs baby, and a challenging job, Governor Sarah Palin is someone to whom every American mom can relate. Whether we work at home or in a factory or in an office, whether we have one child or eleven, all of us feel overwhelmed and inadequate more often than we should. We regret that we aren’t perfect, and we blame ourselves when our children aren’t the best behaved, or the smartest, or the healthiest.

So please, liberals, keep alienating millions of American mothers by criticizing the Palin family. You will never say anything harsher about Gov. Palin than she has already thought about herself.

First, on international issues (Iraq and Georgia), within his answers McCain was able to cite a visit to the country in question, summarize the history of the situation, and name the leaders with whom he has an established relationship. In a topsy-turvy world, McCain is very reassuring vis-a-vis risky Obama.

Second, in answering domestic policy questions, McCain repeatedly used anecdotes to illustrate how problems were tackled in the past in bipartisan fashion. For example, he discussed how President Reagan and Speaker O’Neill worked together to fix Social Security 25 years ago. This could help sway independents and undecides in his direction.

Third, he used a wily old man sucker-punch when responding to a Clinton voter who wanted to know why McCain considered himself a better choice than Obama. He started off by stroking the young lad’s ego with words to the effect of, “I should have called on the guy behind you,” as though the question was too hard, and then of course went on to answer it effectively. Our candidate is good on his feet.

Crowd Reaction to Georgia Speech
As other posters have noted, McCain used the York appearance to make a statement on Russia’s invasion of Georgia. I would term the crowd’s reaction to the statement as subdued support. This is not surprising, considering that for well over a decade, I have known of the potential for Russia to use the treatment of Russian nationals as an excuse to reassert control in former Soviet republics, and even I wish the problem would just go away on its own. I can’t imagine how someone with no familiarity with the history of the Caucasus feels about more conflict in the world.

Smooth Operations
The operations team for the town hall meeting was SUPERB and deserving of highest praise. Even though my frame of reference is a 1992 President George H. W. Bush event, I was impressed with how smoothly the staff managed crowd control, parking, seating, etc. The line was long and the security checks were thorough, but everything kept moving in a very orderly fashion. I would have swooned from the greatness of it all, but the campaign team hospitably distributed water to the crowd.

Standing Room Only
I had been checking the John McCain campaign website daily in hopes of finding an event nearby, and on Sunday morning, there was nothing listed. I received a robo-call about the appearance mid-afternoon Sunday and saw a notice on the site immediately afterwards. That means in under 45 hours, the McCain team and local Republican organizations easily mustered 4000 supporters. I do not doubt that he could fill his own 76,000 person stadium if he were so inclined and egocentric.

The Retinue
Because I am a staunch pro-lifer, one aspect of the appearance disappointed me. Senator Arlen Specter delivered the warm-up speech before the Straight Talk Express arrived. Former Homeland Security Director and two-term Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge and Senator Joe Lieberman arrived with Senator McCain. Although these gentlemen are prominent and distinguished public servants and it was appropriate for them to take part, couldn’t Senator McCain find any nationally recognized pro-life friends who willing to ride the bus with him?

All in all, I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to see Senator McCain in person. His ability to speak well on any topic and his campaign’s operational efficiency gave me cause for optimism this fall.

In an open letter to Izvestia, [Gorbachev advisor Alexandr] Yakovlev argued that the Communist Party had turned against the individual citizen and had proven incapable of bringing forward “a leader capable at least of inspiring purely human and political respect.”

I’m still laughing.

Upon entering the House chamber, I expected to see a Republican pep rally. Instead, it was much more like stepping into a Normal Rockwell painting. Average Americans, in a national crisis were looking to our leadership for help. I was able to stay for 90 minutes, but would have been happy to listen all day if I could.

Most in attendance were families on summer vacation touring the Capitol. The format of the session was informal but informative. The Representatives took turns approximately 15 minutes long to talk to the visitors, almost all of whom sat on the House floor, about the energy debate and the House procedures driving it. Members speaking during my stay were Representatives Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Michael Burgess (TX-26), Pete Sessions (TX-32), Steve Scalise (LA-01) as well as one each from California and Kentucky whose names I could not make out. Specific topics discussed during while I was there included:

-Oil production in the ANWR
-Energy independence as it relates to national security
-”Drill here” job creation
-Safety of offshore drilling
-Supply and demand
-Discharge petitions
-The role of the rules committee
-The power of the Speaker of the House
-The power of the majority
-The importance of an up or down vote on offshore drilling

I estimate that there were 200 people in attendance at any given time, of whom 125 appeared to be of voting age. Most people seemed to stay for about 30 minutes, or two speakers. Based on five hours of speechmaking, I assess that the Republicans are directly reaching about 1250 eligible voters every day.

Each Republican speaker that I saw received rousing applause or a standing ovation after his talk. When I moved to the gallery, I observed only five tourists who did not clap at all.

The crowd was not apparently partisan, but rather eager for getting fuel prices under control. Rep. Sessions introduced Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky (IN-01) when he arrived on the House floor with a tour of his constituents. Whether he is in DC because of high gas prices was unclear to me, but he received warm applause just for showing up.

Outside the Longworth House Office Building, I overheard one female tourist, about 40 years old, ecstatically talking to someone via cell phone about her family’s opportunity to sit on the House floor, so I do believe that the word will spread. I am sure that each family will return home and tell a few people about the experience. Perhaps when the adults return to work, they will have a new set of gas price talking points for the water cooler; however, I do no know if 18,750 people constitutes a critical mass for action.

If I may make some respectful recommendations:
-Representatives, you are doing fabulous work. Your speeches are easy to understand and have great imagery and analogies that your audience will remember. I was able to hear you clearly when I was in the gallery.
-As carefully as I was trying to hear your names, I couldn’t make them out. I did my best to write what I heard and then had to look you up on the internet later. This is important because the first thing my husband asked me was, “Who did you see?” If you can, please have your staffers pass out your business cards to visitors while you talk.
-Please consider allowing 5 minutes for questions and answers at the end of your time. It would bring home the idea that it is the people’s House.
-If you can linger on the floor after you speak, it would give visitors the chance to say something to you personally. I wish I could have shaken each of your hands simply because you did such a great job. Alternatively, you could announce that you will be in your office for visitors for 45 minutes.
-You seem to be downplaying this monumental event because the Democrats have called it “a publicity stunt.” I believe this is playing right into their hands in the worst tradition of the Republican party. In addition to your work on the House floor, please try to meet the public somewhere where they can take pictures.

All in all, it was a great experience and I encourage everyone in the DC area to take some time and get there before it is all over.

Please read on…

VERSE 1
You made me hot, then left me cold
With that gutter ball you bowled.
Won’t face a 70-year old
In the town hall.
Wooed me with speeches, now I know
The prompter is your Cyrano.
Now It’s time to let you go.
‘Cause I’ve given up on Obama.

REFRAIN:
It’s not too late in 2008
For me to find a new candidate.
You couldn’t close the deal
In big industrial states.
I’ve made a change of my own
‘Cause I’ve given up on Obama.

It’s not too late in 2008
For me to find a new candidate.
You bought a piece
Of Tony Rezko’s real estate.
Got a sweetheart deal loan.
So I’ve given up on Obama.

VERSE 2:
You were as sexy as Al Gore
When you refused to drill offshore.
Another Carter Democrat,
You want to set my thermostat.
High fuel costs don’t leave you aghast
You’re sorry that they came too fast.
It’s time to put you in the past
Now I’ve given up on Obama.
to REFRAIN

VERSE 3:
I wonder what gave you the urge
To pull out before the surge.
I need a man who will stand firm.
You flip flop just like a worm.
I thought that we’d make history,
But you failed geography.
Now I’m gonna set you free
Cause I’ve given up on Obama.
to REFRAIN