My Political Post for 2010

Today was the first day of the homeschool convention here in Phoenix.  The exciting thing this year is that I get to go to seminars instead of working in a booth.  I’ve been in the Konos booth for 6 or 7 years now, but they aren’t doing conventions any more.  Sad but true.

(Photo from  www.focusonlinecommunities.com)

Anyway, the first session was power packed:  State Senator John Huppenthal, Governor Jan Brewer (of immigration fame), Senator John McCain (the 5th Arizonian to not win the presidency), and my personal favorite, Michael Farris.  Those who aren’t submerged in the homeschool world might not recognize that last one.  He is an attorney with the Home School Legal Defence Alliance (or Association… or another A….).  He’s also a dad of ten kids.  Yes, you read that right.  TEN.  My hat’s off to him for that point alone.  He’s a lawyer with a great sense of humor who entertained and enlightened us this morning.  But it gets better. 

(Disclaimer:  I might not have all the details totally accurate, but please get the gist of this.)  The UN has a new-ish treaty that they are trying to get all the UN countries to sign called the Rights of the Child.  It is pretty well a sure thing that our president would sign this document before his term is up.  (Notice I didn’t say termS.)  Up front it sounds all nice and fair for children, but it is not.  It would not only undermine the autonomy of the USA but also the authority of the family.  I learned all this today at the homeschool convention… amidst several thousand like-minded individuals who don’t take kindly to governments telling us what to do with our children. 

Mr. Farris has written Senate Resolution 519 (Here is the text, in case you’re interested: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-sr519/text )  Mainly it states that the primary safeguard for the well-being and protection of children is the family, and that the primary safeguards for the legal rights of children in the United States are the Constitutions of the United States and the several States (plus WAY more).

I did not realize that if this resolution has 34 co-sponsors in the Senate, this treaty could never be voted on by President Obama.  I just assumed that he would vote according to his socialist beliefs and we would suffer the consequences… again.  But 34 senators can say, “We will not support this” and it freezes the vote.    This is also why the Founding Fathers, who would be shocked and dismayed at the state of the union, put a clause in the Constitution to separate the USA from other countries.  Brilliant.  For such a time as this.

The AZ senators are already co-sponsors, among (I think) 27 others.  So I can’t do any calling to senatorial offices.  But if you live outside of Arizona and don’t want President Obama giving away your right to parent your child according to your beliefs, please find out if your senators are co-sponsors of Sen. Res. 519…. and encourage them to be sponsors!  Be American and contact your representatives!

Ok, My Sister’s Jar will be back to fluff and nonsense, and vacation pictures, and drivel tomorrow.

Go Senator McCain!

Two and a half more days and we’ll all know exactly what the good ol’ USA deserves.  Well, you get what you deserve, right?  God help us!  We visited the McCain Campaign Southwest Headquarters  this week and helped the cause by putting together yard signs.  It was a buzz of activity. 

Our homeschool co-op also stepped into his office for a few moments to see all that is on display there as well.  They have a rotating system of showcasing hundreds of different pictures, certificates, awards and memorabilia, but the set that was out blew my mind.  The honor and service awards  were vast in numbers that Sen. McCain has been awarded.  Wow.  I wanted to read one in particular to my kids about his life and commitment to America, coming from a family devoted to military service and his valiant stint as a POW, but I was in tears reading it silently and couldn’t manage a vocal performance at that moment.

There were pictures of Senator McCain with Presidents Nixon, Regan, Ford, Carter, Clinton and both Bushs.  There was a picture of him in his flight suit as a handsome young soldier (who looked a lot like Tom Cruise, in my humble opinion) taken three minutes before his personal freedom was taken away from him for six years after he was shot down.  There were also many awards around the office for his work with prisoners of war and veterans.  The man knows what’s going on.  He’s been there, done that and wrote the book.

I was not automatically for Sen. McCain in the beginning.  He did not get my primary vote, but unquestionably, he has my Tuesday vote.  There is just no comparison between the two candidates in work ethic, experience, history, values, respect, track record, etc.  What in the world has Sen. Obama done for our country so far?  I cannot for the life of me figure it out.  And what in the world is a world citizen?  Are they handing out new passports for everyone on planet Earth who can fog a mirror?  I want an AMERICAN citizen as President, who is proud of our great country, and proud of our system of government, our emblems and our Christian heritage.

As many of you, I’ve read a vast array of commentaries about both candidates.  The one that made me really laugh said that in order to claim a nationality, like Chinese, or Spanish, or Black, you have to be at least 1/6 of that nationality.  I don’t know if it’s true, but they stated that Sen. Obama is 1/8 black, so he can’t legitimately even claim that.  Shoot!  That was his main playing card! 

This is my kind of candidate…. a little stand up right before the big day.  To our eternal amusement, Senator and Mrs. McCain did a stint on SNL.  Here’s the link:  http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mccain-qvc-open/805381/

Needless to say at this point, VOTE! on Tuesday.  And if you got a call from the “McCain” camp telling you to get out and vote on WEDNESDAY…. it’ll be all over by then.  It’s TUESDAY that counts.