Election Tuesday... finally. Is it really over?

My normal Tuesday involves sending the kids to school, getting ready for my preschool kids to come and stay extended day.. that means until 2:00 PM.. having an hour to myself before I pick my own kids up from school and taking the oldest two to piano lessons and then coming back to deal with dinner and homework and music practices. Not really exciting but a day I can mentally deal with. But today....

Today is a day that has FINALLY come! I did my part. I marked my ballot. I made my choice. No more political ads on TV.. no more listening to biased reporters trying to hide the fact they are openly supporting their candidate on air... no more! no more! no more! Please! The day is here.. the vote is on.. it's over.. right?

No. Reality check. I'm pretty sure both sides will not give up without a long, drawnout legal battle now. If we thought 2001 was bad, just wait. And the worst part? Neither side will do whatever they've promised.. mostly because they will be unable to. While we have been bombarded with presidential campaign ads and posters and interviews and paparazzi stories and debates and ... and.. and.. the smaller campaigns have been more or less ignored.

We should be concerned with who's running the House and Senate. Because whoever is running the House and the Senate, there is where change and hope will grow or die. The President can suggest and write and propose and invite and counsel and .. and.. and.. but without the Congress, he's just one man with an idea. On the other hand, if the House and Senate are behind him as President, he can do whatever he wants and there is no one to say 'Stop! Let's talk about this!' It's the House and Senate we should be watching closely.

The media, American citizens, and the world powers have villified President George W. Bush and I'm not here to say the man has not made some serious mistakes or that he didn't pretty much bow out several months ago, but the man does not work alone. And we should look back 4 years ago. Americans had a choice 4 years ago. We. Us. The American voters. Bush or Kerry. John Kerry is the best option the Democrats gave us then. Can ANYONE imagine John Kerry dealing with something like the aftermath of September 11, 2001? I don't believe you if you said yes. And I truly believe if we do not finish this fight over in the terrorists part of the world, they will bring it back to ours. They came here once and we arrogant Americans couldn't believe someone did not stop them. Who? Who should have stopped them? The President? Everything he put forth Congress immediately smothered. We have no border control. We have subjective immigration forms. The Clintons had reduced our military in their days so we were still building back up protection units.

Look back even farther. Al Gore. Would he have taken care of 9/11? I don't think so but he'd definitely be better than Kerry! I think Al would have done what his predecessor did. Ignore the attacks. Give us some smarmy explanation on TV and show us how good his hair looked that day. Terrorism has been around for decades. Americans have been targets for many more years than the measly 8 years of President George W. Bush. 20 years ago, I was in Vienna when the Vienna and London airports were bombed. I was there and told not to speak English or I'd be a target. I was there when America bombed Libya and missed Kadafi.

side story: One night late, my roommate and I had to catch the last bus home for the night.. it was dark and no one was on the street. We were still under the instructions not to speak English on the streets but since no one was around, we did. Until 2 men of Middle Eastern looks came around the corner. We switched to German too late. They'd heard us. They got on the bus with us and asked us where we were from. We were not good liars so we said America. Lucky for us, all they said was, "Why did you miss?" I was so grateful to get to my apartment that night.

I would talk to the Austrian people who told me continually to 'take my bombs and go home.' And all I wanted to say back to those old coots was 'you wouldn't be here so smug and rude without my bombs'.

We've had military barracks around the world bombed over the years. Americans kidnapped and tortured. And we've had Democratic Presidents in office when these atrocities have happened. Hmmm. What did President Clinton do that has made him off limits to consequences for his actions? Why don't we hold the Clintons responsible for their choices? I don't remember major economic crises during his years and I've been told he was good with domestic policy. OK. But he was no world leader in my eyes. Jimmy Carter is a great humanitarian today but he was no world leader in his day either. After a Democratic President, we Americans seem to remember we need SOME protection for our country and some gumption and action from our President. What did Reagan do? I remember from his campaign saying on TV to Iran.. 'those hostages had better be released before I get into the Oval office or here we come!' and within days after that election, those hostages were home.

Does that imply respect for the Democratic way of thinking? I see pure nose-snubbing from Iran. Do I see a different attitude coming from them if Obama gets in? No. McCain? No. But which one will keep Iran from testing its bombs on us or our few allies? Hmmm. Pres. Bush may not be liked anymore, but he's still respected enough as a world leader that these other world wannabes are still leaving us alone. He's proven he won't just sit and chat!

I'm not sure where I'm going with my thoughts but I know I'm tired of the media trying to portray me as unAmerican for respecting the office of President of the United States of America. I'm tired of the whiny people the media seem to find whenever there's a crisis. I know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I also know Sadam Hussein needed to come down. Was it our job to do that? Probably not. But we did. President Bush did not have full authority to launch war tactics by himself. If he did, we'd still be hearing the whining from Congress about their lack of power. Why are we not holding those Senators responsible for their decision to attack? Because the media says it's all Bush's fault. And because those same Senators are flip-flopping all over their reasons for their decisions back then. We had what we had and we did the best we could then. Hindsight is always 20/20. Admit it and move on.

Was it George W. Bush's fault a hurricane hit New Orleans? No. But the media did everything they could to make us believe it was. And they found every whiny hiny sitting in the dome of the Saints with their hands out. 'Where's the water? Why haven't you brought our handouts yet? Oh look! A box of clothes! Let's dig through and take only what we like and leave the rest strewn across the lawn! What? You want me to pick up my own trash? Where's my medicine? Why are you letting us die?' My guess says every one of those dying citizens had a TV in their home before the hurricane and every TV for days had been warning about Hurricane Katrina coming straight at them. Hello? What did they do to help themselves? Did they save any water bottles? Did they look up a bus schedule? Pack any medicine? Get school buses loaded and moving? The only girl I wanted to help was the one who got tired of sitting and waiting by a bridge and said she was going to walk out of town. Where was the mayor? The governor? Who's brilliant idea was it to let the prisoners out of prison? Why did they get more privileges than the outside citizens? Where are those leaders now? They reelected the mayor.. albeit a more humble mayor and he's doing better at fixing his city. The governor is long gone. Oprah was quick on the scene with her sob-story telling and hand outs ready.. and it went on and on.. in fact, it's still going on!

And yet, the mid-states flooded out this year. Farms and crops ruined. Families and livelihoods destroyed. Where was Oprah for them? Where were the hand outs and the collection boots on the street corners for them? I didn't see any. Was that because the media didn't feel it was worth showing over and over and over again? It was a story on the local nightly news and then forgotten for more impressive stories like Obama has another successful fundraiser. Why didn't he help those farmers and fundraise for them? Why doesn't he get his moviestar friends to cough up some much needed fundraising relief for people losing their homes? their retirements? their insurance?

OK. I'm done for now. I can't get started on the whiny hiny movie stars who befriend and manipulate American politicians and then move to Europe so the tax policies won't affect them and they won't have to 'share the wealth'. It's election Tuesday and in about 4 hours the polls will close. The campaigns are over. The ads can stop running and interrupting reality TV. Thank goodness tomorrow is Wednesday! Then the real fighting can begin.