The seniors are doing their research papers right now. They have to research a career that interests them. I’ve had a good time helping them with the research, the outlines, the thesis statements, etc. I look forward to seeing rough drafts on Monday and delving into the editing portion.

Anyway, one of the boys came up to me early this week and said, “If I become a firefighter, will I have to pay taxes?”

I told him, “Of course you will.”

He looked at me with a blank face for a moment and then he finally said, “But Obama won the election and firefighters make less than $250k a year.”

“You will STILL have to pay income taxes,” I reiterated.

I went on to explain that Obama has promised to add an additional tax deduction for working people. He has said that the tax rate for middle income families will be less than it was during the Reagan years (not difficult to do, by the way), that families making less that $250k a year will not see a tax increase, and that middle income families will receive tax relief. The key word is relief, which in and of itself is a rather ambiguous word.

Nowhere does Obama say that middle income families will no longer have to pay taxes at all. However, SO many people came out of election season believing that. MANY voters think that their boat just bought the gravy train. As sorry as I feel for those who are uninformed, I also have to say that they could have avoided ignorance by doing a little light reading on Obama’s own website.

Foolishness.

I am disheartened by how many Americans voted for big government last night. I cannot imagine using my precious vote to say that I want the government to have their hands in even more of my business. I’m an adult. I can handle my own finances, moral decisions, and other major decisions. I don’t need the government to tell me how to love on every, single issue.

I think we will be surprised at how much more of our lives become legislated in the next few years.

He seems genuinely shocked about the way the Obama campaign is forcefully trying to muzzle him. Was he busy watching old Laverne and Shirley reruns when the same campaign suddenly pulled Michelle Obama out of the spot light after she opened her mouth in public and showed us all her inner angry woman? What about when they kicked The New York Post, the Washington Times, and the Dallas Morning News off of Obama’s press plane just days after each paper’s editorial sections had endorsed McCain?

As a comical aside, two of the seats vacated by those journalists who have been kicked off the press plane will now be filled with writers from “Ebony” and “Essence”. Wave Goodbye to hard-hitting investigative journalism and Hello to fawning feature articles.

He and his wife are in Florida today and will stop in Gainesville. It is not as though Gainesville needs a lot of convincing. They are a tiny blue dot in the middle of a sea of read during every presidential election. You can thank the University of Florida for that. The students and professors make up a tiny puddle of liberalism in an otherwise conservative county, and surrounding. So, it is not as thought Biden is being given a very difficult task in Gainesville. It is the equivalent of giving your “slow” uncle a pity job bagging groceries at the family supermarket.

Do people really think that Obama’s censorship tactics will stop if he in the White House? If anything, they will become more strong-arm and aggressive. The Obama campaign is staffed by a throng of Thugs.

Go ahead, you bleeding heart liberals, drink your Kool-Aid. And while you are at it, get a job.

Ironic, isn’t it? Florida’s early voters are out in droves, but only 15% of them are under 35. That’s odd, coming from such a whiny, loud, pushy, outspoken generation. They love to talk trash, but when it comes to getting out and actually taking a few minutes to cast a vote, young voters would rather stay at home and play on their Wii.

And we wonder why our nation is debt the way we are? We spend SO much money on public programs and when it comes down to it, a large number of people using such services are not even in the country legally. Take, for example, the case of Barrack Obama’s aunt.

It turns out that Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, has been living in PUBLIC HOUSING here in Boston, even though an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago. She is living here illegally. She is living in publically subsidized housing, which also raises the question of HOW she secured such housing with a standing deportation order in place.

There are estimates that show there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the United States – people who have been told to leave and willfully decided to disobey the order, to willfully break the law.

So, while many Americans are unable to find affordable housing, people like Obama’s aunt are taking up valuable room in our social programs. And, what does Obama want to do? He wants to expand these kinds of broken, corrupt programs. He wants to spend more of our tax dollars of programs that will inevitably go to benefit people living in the United States illegally instead of the Americans who deserve the assistance.

Deplorable.

I think my stance as a solid Independent when it comes to politics gives me a quite a clear view in this entire presidential election campaign. I can sincerely say that before the Republicans and the Democrats chose their candidates, I had absolutely no more compelling urge to vote one way or another. I’ve been able to look at the issues from a true middle position.

So, this new kink in the drama is particularly amusing to me. McCain has suspended his campaign in order to focus more time on the absolute financial crisis that Washington is currently examining.

Democratic supporters are ridiculously jumping at the situation, claiming this is a sigh that McCain is afraid of the debate. Other Democrats say McCain is using this as a “distraction” (Joe Biden) and “desperate” (Keith Boykin).

Excuse me while I take a few minutes to regain my breath. I laughed so hard I am wheezing.

It is not as though McCain is new on the horizon. The guy has a long, public record of being well-prepared, easy-going, confident and on-target when speaking. This is the man who actually tried to invite more debates with Barrack Obama, while Obama stodgily stuck to the idea that he was only willing to participate in the required number of debates.

I happen to agree that McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign is a move that shots confidence. If he were truly desperate, he would cling with a death-grip to every opportunity to further his own campaign. Instead, he is putting his CURRENT job as a Senator in the forefront of his life for now.

Obama’s people are very, very stuck on the word “multitasking” right now. That is all well and good, but do they understand that there is a time to multitask and a time to make sure you are not spread too thin?

Loons, diehards, avid supporters – whatever. They must have been out at the crack of dawn. Barrack Obama is speaking in the Blue Jays spring training stadium next door to my daughter’s school today and even though doors will not open until 10 a.m. and Obama will not speak until 1 p.m., the clump of people waiting outside this morning as I drove by around 7:30 was pretty big.

They were also partially obscured by cigarette smoke, just one more reminder of why I hate crowds.

Getting into the school this morning was not so bad, It took a little longer and there were already people trying to get into the school lot to park. They had to be turned away which was what was making the drop-off take so much longer.

This afternoon I have to be at the school about the same time as the speech starts for my volunteer time in the classroom. Parking might get a little tricky. I plan on parking in the driveway of a friend’s home and walking, but I have heard that particular street might be closed off this afternoon.

I’ve been to rallies before. I attended my fair share when I lived in Gainesville. I even walked across an interstate pushing a stroller. However, I stop at allowing an event like this to eat up my entire day. We live in the age of television and I can see pretty much any political speech I want to from the comfort of my own home. I don’t see my view as me being inactive or uninvolved. I just want to maximize the way I use my time.

Of course, it sounds like I will be hearing the speech whether I want to or not. Since the school is quite literally right next door, we will all be hearing it.

I see links all of the time for ways to search for sex offenders in your neighborhood, but what about everyone else who may have been convicted of crimes like manslaughter or battery?

I just came upon the link for FelonSpy.com on a local forum I was visiting to talk about a crime that had been committed in the Tampa Bay area. Someone had posted it and I thank them very much.

I was hap-hap-happy to see that my neighborhood looks clear, though there are some questionable folks over toward the highway. I pout in the address for my old house where my ex still lives and my daughter visits every other weekend and there is a neighbor around the corner that should be kept an eye on for sure. I forwarded the results to my ex for him to take a look at.

Anyway, give it a try. You might be surprised.

I was pleased at how many ceremonies and events were planned and staged for the remembrance of September 11, 2002. It shows that we are a nation that does not want to forget about the insane violence that runs rampant in this world, the violence that wishes to penetrate our nation.

I am hopeful that we will all be able to take a few minutes, in the very least, every year to remember the fallen.

I also hope we will wake up and realize that we have American terrorists tucked safely way in our own county. In fact, we have American terrorists who are befriended and harbored by a presidential candidate. How marvelously handy.

I wonder how it is that patriotism has become so sadly redefined in the last couple of decades. The concept of personal freedom has cut so deeply into our collective unity that even dangerous people with ill intent are handed more liberties than ever before. How have we come to a place where people who have harmed others and even go as far as to boast of their criminal acts are now celebrated and lauded?

I wish that the remembrance of September 11 would also serve to embolden Americans to feel the pride for the Nation that we deserve to feel.

I overhead a very telling conversation today as I was gassing up my car. The Democratic Party might want to work a little harder to understand how their party members really feel.

You could tell from the bumper stickers on their hybrid car that they lean so far to the left that if I had blown a bubble with my gum they would have tipped over. Those are the kind of Democrats I overheard this morning.

But, the conversation I heard the mother having with her son was too good not to pass along to all of you. The boy looked all of 11 and he was telling his mother he thought the Democrats should have put Joe Biden on the ticket as the presidential candidate, with Barack Obama as the candidate for vice president.

His mother looked at him for a second, flipped her overly-highlighted hair and said, “I agree. Dumb move, huh?”

The news today is full of information on how Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his presidential running mate.

Still, all I can think of is how Obama’s gums creep me out. They always have. I am transfixed when I see him on television. His gums give me the shivers – and not the good kind of shivers. It is a lot like my past complaints about actor Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows creep me out (he plays Sylar on “Heroes”).

There are just some physical features that I find so repulsive that I cannot get past them. I know it is trifling, but it is real to me. Obama’s gums eclipse every word he speaks, every point he makes, and every action of his life.

Yikes.

The breaking news today is all about John Edwards admitting he lied in the past about the affair he has been having with Rielle Hunter – a woman who was working on his staff.

His wife, Elizabeth: the mother of his children, the woman who has stood by him, the woman who is dying of incurable cancer. He had the nerve to cheat on her? He is still denying that her child is his. He says the kid was fathered by another Edwards Campaign staffer. So, I assume they passed this woman around? Please note, though, that Edwards has NOT taken a paternity test. Just because Edwards SAYS he is not the father does not mean that he is still might not be the father indeed.

When I listen to his statement from October 2007 when he denied the affair, he sounded so smoothly convincing. He denied the affair up until last week. John Edwards was someone I liked a great deal. I’m no Democrat (nor am I a Republican), but I liked the man and may have voted for him at one time.

As much as I like Elizabeth Edwards, I do not respect that she apparently knew about this affair as early as 2006 and supported her husband as he lied to the public. Any woman with even a drop of honest self esteem would leave a man who has cheated on her. She is no longer obligated to support his political career in any way, shape, or form.

It makes me think about how convincingly my ex-husband could lie to me – how he still lies to me. In fact, the man even lies to me when the truth would sound better. Maybe it is just a habit with him. As a person who compulsive tells the truth, I have a very hard time stepping into the shoes of someone who lies frequently and easily and really understanding how they live knowing how seeped in dishonesty they are.

John Edwards has nothing more to offer the public as a politician. His career is over. It continues to amaze me how many men are ruined due to their inability to remain faithful to their wives.

Four out of every ten. Now, that is just the stats for women who are in veteran’s hospitals, but it is overwhelming nonetheless.

And these are just the women whoa re brace enough to report it.

One of the biggest reasons that women in the military may not report a rape or other sexual assault is the fear they have of losing their job, being harassed, or that nothing will be done about the incident. In 2007, only 181 out of 2,212 reports of military sexual assaults (8 percent) were referred to courts martial. In the civilian world, a full 40 percent of those arrested on similar charges are prosecuted.

We all know that no matter how much it is denied, the military is still a man’s world. However, this has got to change. An institution that is supposed to be made of people whoa re protecting our nation should not be an institution where rape is commonplace and often covered up.

One recent, and harrowing, example is Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. She filed a rape claim with the military against Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean seven months before he was accused of killing her

I voted for Ross Perot. Twice. I happen to love the man. And, I miss having him around the political arena like he used to be.

I take some comfort in his recent public comments that our nation needs to focus more on national debt. Not that I take comfort in our astounding national debt, but I do take comfort in knowing Ross is still out there trying his best offer solutions. Of course, politicians refuse to listen to his wisdom.

Back when Ross ran for president in 1992 he garnered 20% of the vote. That is impressive and I wonder if it is not the absolute best anyone not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties has done in the recent future. (As an aside, it pisses me off to no end when people refer to the USA as having a two party system. We have two dominant parties, but endless other BETTER parties that would do our nations a lot of good if the money of our two mammoth parties would stop trying to crush the little guys.)

My man Ross has a new website all about our national dent. You really ought to check it out. He conjures up lessons we should have learned after the Great Depression. I suppose too many people who lived through the Depression are dead, otherwise we would not be on such a collision course to repeat history.

I have tears in my eyes. I have had tears in my eyes several times since the earthquakes in China hit. The world has been watching this tragedy and mourned along with the people of China.

The tears I am shedding now are from happiness, pride, and soft-heartedness, though. The story of policewoman Jiang Xiaojuan is just amazing.

She is the mother of a 6-month-old son, who she breastfeeds. After the quake, she took it upon herself to breastfeed some of the orphaned infants. At one point she was feeding nine babies.

She modestly chalks it up to a mother’s instinct and her duty as a police officer. She is actually embarrassed by all of the worldwide attention she is getting and says, “This was a small thing, not worth mentioning.”

I love this woman. I nursed my own daughter for an extended amount of time and I understand the emotional side of the process. I can see how it felt very natural for her to step and in and help the motherless babies. Her body also probably stepped up to the task, naturally producing enough supply. Still, she does deserve recognition. She is selfless and loving and it our modern world this is rare.