And what if McCain is elected instead?

Hold the presses, we no longer have to fear a test from America's enemies if Barack Obama is elected, but rather the wrath of God instead. If I wasn't convinced who to vote for before, I certainly am now! http://www.fellowpatrioticamericans.com/

What the Election is Really About

© Callie Shell / Aurora for Time

These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html

Senator Government

Is it me or does Cindy McCain look like she's mocking her husband in this photo?

It's a toss up- what to title this post, "Senator Government," or, "Sarah Palin- Not my Role Model!"

Was McCain's misspeak tonight calling Senator Obama, "Senator Government" a Freudian slip or was it strategic? And how he could possibly think that just because Sarah Palin is female that she warrants the title of role model to women across America, let alone an expert on every family of a child with special needs?

51 million Americans (18% of the population in the US), 4 million of whom are children between 6-14, have disabilities. How does John McCain, in his assertion tonight that, "she (Palin) understands that better than almost any American that I know," not know any families that include individuals with differing abilities. How Sarah Palin has automatically become qualified to be the spokesperson for "Special Needs Families" is beyond me. I own a VW Jetta. That does not automaticallymake me more qualified than almost any other American to drive them or repair them.

McCain should also know how to employ person first language. Obama's not off the hook here either. When speaking about a particular subset of the American population, they should not repeatedly say "special needs children," "disabled children," or ,"special needs families." These are individuals-people, and families who are living with differences from what my be considered typical. The disability does not define the individual. Having been a special education teacher for eight years, I do understand and appreciate the road Palin has ahead as a mother of a child with Downs Syndrome. Though some people seem to overlook the fact that there many more joys than challenges when raising a child with cognitive challenges and other different abilities.

Obama does address a very important federal spending predicament proposed by the McCain platform in this statement:
"I do want to just point out that autism, for example, or other special needs will require some additional funding, if we're going to get serious in terms of research. That is something that every family that advocates on behalf of disabled children talk about.

And if we have an across-the-board spending freeze, we're not going to be able to do it. That's an example of, I think, the kind of use of the scalpel that we want to make sure that we're funding some of those programs.

Funding special education and research requires, well, funding. How will the McCain/Palin administration handle expanding programs and research for autism and other disabilities if they are going to freeze spending? And what about those unfunded mandates? The federal government already isn't paying for the programs they mandate. I can tell you first hand how much that affects programs for students with special needs. It's not pretty.

And finally, WHO CARES if Sarah Palin's husband "is a pretty tough guy too?" Last I checked it was Sarah Palin, not her husband, that John McCain chose for his running mate. That comment was pointless and rather demeaning to Sarah Palin as a competent politician and leader.

Of Turkey and Marsupials and Crafty Things

The Thanksgiving holiday from work has been a welcome break. Thanksgiving dinner was quite good and celebrated with my aunt and uncle, Jim and Neile, their friend John, and my friend Jeff. We had a free range turkey with issues this year. First of all, it still had feathers. I don't know if this is normal for turkeys because I generally like to stay as far away as possible from anything resembling the actual animal I am eating. But I saw them. And it was weird. They were on the inside of one wing. Just a few, but enough to weird me out. Then more were discovered on the inside of the other wing a few minutes later. After that I stayed out of the kitchen mildly obsessing over the situation and talking myself into eating the turkey despite the feathers. There was an amusing sight when dinner was through and I had worked up the courage to be in the kitchen with the turkey. Neile was literally arm wrestling the turkey. She was attempting to break the turkey down for leftovers and she could not get the wings off. I wish I had my camera. There were several jokes about the turkey being allowed to range too far, but am horrible at retelling jokes so I will leave that one alone.


The break has given me the energy to remain faithful to my handmade holiday pledge. Yesterday I made an engineer's cap from Readymade and a bird ornament from Last Minute Patchwork and Knitted Gifts.




And finally, the break has given me more time to spend with my sugar gliders. They were very photogenic today.

Currently listening to: Ravens and Chimes

So I Lied

I know I said I wasn't going to post anything I'm working on for Christmas gifts but I couldn't resist the temptation of sharing the stocking I made for my mom. She won't see this anyway. I don't know which is better, that I like the way it turned out or that it's done BEFORE THANKSGIVING!



In other news, I want to thank Glueslabs for being my first subscriber. Can't wait for Friday night, wink wink!


Currently Listening to: Night Canopy

Post Title Goes Here....

Hello. Welcome to the first post of the blog I have been intending to create for a few years now. Perhaps that will give you a clue to one of my worst habits- starting things that I never seem to finish within a reasonable amount of time.

Today is one of the windiest rainy days Seattle has seen all year, which also happens to be our Veterans Day holiday from school. What better reason could I have to sit around in my sweats and have an excuse for not doing anything that involves leaving my apartment, except to take this picture of the screen that was blown from my living room window last night.

I have decided to take the Buy Handmade Holiday Pledge seriously this year and have started early. I'm hoping to make 75% of my holiday gifts this year and have actually started before December 15th (which previously meant that I only made about 2 or 3 things). I cannot divulge details of what I am working on since some readers are recipients. Though I can share that there will be quilts, sewn items, knit accessories, and sugary treats!


Check out this video done by Sigur Ros and the Royal Danish Ballet of one of my favorite H.C. Andersen stories, Little Match Girl, which seems appropriate for this time of year and this kind of weather.

(Photo of Hans Christian Andersen's statue from my trip to Copenhagen in February)

Currently Listening to: Sigur Ros: Hvarf-Heim