You gotta love a southern gal who refuses to bite her tongue.  Angie Harmon found herself defending her displeasure once again with the way the country’s being run by President Obama.  The fact anyone would have to defend his or her stand on the state of this country flies in the face of what this same country is built on.  She’s been accused of being racist because she voiced her displeasure with some of the decisions made by the Obama administration.  Harmon’s always been outspoken in all things political, and even when I find myself biting my tongue to keep from stirring the hornet’s nest, I quietly sit back and think, “You go, girl”.  When asked for a comment by Fox News, she clearly had a bellyful and unleased what she’s obviously  been holding back, “Here’s my problem with this, I’m just going to come out and say it.  If I have anything to say against Obama, it’s not because I’m a racist, it’s because I don’t like what he’s doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him, you’re called a racist.  But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is.  I’m just not

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crazy about what he’s doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change…so okay….I’m still dressing for a recession over here buddy and we’ve got unemployment at an all time high and that was his number one thing and that’s the thing I really don’t appreciate.  If I’m going to disagree with my President, that doesn’t make me racist.  If I was to disagree with W, that doesn’t make me racist.  It has nothing to do with it, it’s is ridiculous.”

Anyone who’s ever seen her in an interview knows she probably didn’t stop to catch her breath - in true Harmon form, if it’s on her mind, it’s on her tongue. 

With such across the board statements we heard after the election that the new President’s arrival in the Oval Office would eradicate racism simply hasn’t panned out (And why would anyone think it would?).  Maybe it’s because racism goes far deeper than one man who happens to hold the highest office in the country.  Is racism alive and kicking?  Unfortunately, it is.  But to disagree - keep in mind, there’s a big difference in ‘disagree’ and ‘disrespect’ - with any decisions or policies any president makes should simply indicate the fact we live in a country that makes it absolutely acceptable.  It’s not indicative of racism.  Period. 

There are many who would disagree with President Obama regardless of what he was doing in office - but it has nothing to do with race and has everything to do with loyalty, albeit displaced at times, to the political party.  Just as President Bush had those who vehemently disagreed with all of his policies, there were some who admittedly did so simply because he is Republican.  How many times have we said, “Aw, c’mon…you know if the Republicans had control, that never would’ve come to pass” or “A Democrat would never have allowed that.” 

I’m wondering why Harmon’s vocal approval and insistence that Sarah Palin would have made an excellent vice president doesn’t have folks pointing and yelling, “Feminist!  Feminist!”

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We’ve arrived at the last day of this eventful and historical year.  In hindsight, we realize we’ve witnessed much history and have seen things we never dreamed possible.  The country’s largest companies have found themselves struggling just to keep their doors open, political leaders in new scandals from everything from marital affairs to placing price tags on political vacancies and the unbelievable audacity of one businessman’s belief he could get away with the theft of fifty billion dollars.  Below you’ll find a few more newsworthy events from the last half of 2008. The first half can be found here and here.

July 15 - A woman calls 911 to report her granddaughter has been missing for thirty one days. Caylee Anthony, who was two years old when she disappeared, has since been found murdered less than one half mile from her home.  Her own mother, Casey Anthony, was indicted on October 14 for the murder.  Her trial is set to begin in early 2009.

July 23 - Hurricane Dolly makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the U.S.-Mexico border.

August 29 - Republican presidential candidate John McCain announces his running mate.  AK Governor Sarah Palin comes in with a bang and shakes up the entire election.  She’s well-received and

Anne Pressly

quickly gains a solid following from those not only from her home state, but from the country as a whole.

September 13 -  This is the day most analysts agree was day the chains come unhinged as Lehman Brothers announced it was near bankruptcy, AIG announced it was in hot water because of its underwriting practices and the mortgage crisis finally comes into full light and Americans realized just how bad things were on the economic front.

October 2008 - OJ Simpson is finally found guilty of one of his crimes.  A jury determined he was guilty of several felonies committed during a Las Vegas hotel room break-in.  He’s accused of stealing, at gunpoint, sports memorabilia and other momentos.  He’s facing thirty-three years in prison as a result of this guilty verdict.

October 20 - Anne Pressly, an admired Arkansas news anchor, was found murdered in her home.  A suspect has since been arrested and is awaiting trial.

October 24 - Jennifer Hudson’s family, including her mother and brother, are found murdered in their Chicago home.  A few days later, her nephew is found murdered in an abandoned vehicle.  An ex-husband of her sister is now charged with these murders. 

October 2008 - New legal provisions are passed that require insurance companies to provide the same coverage for mental health as they do physical health.  For twelve years, advocates have worked to ensure this law is passed.

November 4 - National history is made as Barack Obama becomes the first black president ever elected and will be the first U.S. president to enter office during wartime. 

Jennifer Hudson

November 2008 - The pregnant man (who is biologically a woman) announces a second pregnancy.  Thomas Beatie, a transgender who has undergone testosterone therapy but still has the reproductive organs of a woman, gave birth for the first time in March of this year.

December 9 - IL Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested for attempting to sell the vacancy left by President-elect Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate.  He’s also been accused of a number of other illegal and unethical activities.  Attempts are now being made to have him impeached from office.

As we head into a new year, we do so in a recession but also with hopes of effective solutions to these problems and with sincere attempts to leave the “one step forward and two steps back” way of doing things behind.

In my efforts to have an adult discussion with my 18 year old son, who will casting his very first vote on Tuesday, I asked him who he planned to vote for. Hey - I can do that. It might be a no-no in social situations, but the rules don’t apply to family members. So, that said, I asked him who he would be casting a vote for. He replied, “Sarah Palin.” I tried to correct him with, “Oh, the McCain/Palin team.” His non-plussed answer was, “Yeah. Whatever.” Now, anyone who knows me knows how seriously I take politics. Love them! I get frustrated and have a tendency to talk to the television anytime a faux pas is committed, as though they can actually hear me. Still, I’m pretty adamant in the declarations of the voting process being a responsibility each of us carries. So, his two word reply had me thinking how a golden opportunity had just presented itself. I told him that it’s not a decision to make the second he’s asked, but that he really needs to be convinced of the reasons he votes for any candidate, and more importantly, his answer needs to convince me (as if he heard that last part). I ended my little pep talk with, “Why did you say Sarah Palin instead of John McCain? She’s his VP pick. She’s not running for president.” His next two word reply was, “She’s hot.” You can imagine my look of disbelief. Then, with one of his classic “Jacob looks”, I realize he was just trying to get me riled up. So, after establishing that he’s indeed of the Republican mindset and it has nothing to do with how hot the VP candidate is, I managed to get him to go into a little more detail. Problem solved and crisis averted.

As we embark on a historical election that’s only a day away, I thought it’d be a fine time to take a walk through the past.

• Contrary to what many think, former president Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives. The Senate acquitted him, but he goes down in history as only 1 of two presidents to have been impeached. Remember, Richard Nixon resigned before impeachment procedures began and Andrew Johnson is the only other president, besides Bill Clinton, to have actually been through the impeachment procedures.
• 18 presidents never served in Congress, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush
• The scandals are many, including the infamous Whiskey Ring scandal during Ulysses Grant’s term that involved high ranking politicians who successfully stole tax dollars on the sale of whiskey and managed to keep it hidden until the then-U.S. treasury secretary Benjamin Bristow uncovered and exposed it. Another scandal during Grant’s term was the impeachment of William Belknap for accepting thousands of dollars in bribe monies in exchange for an appointment in Indian Territory.
• Lest we forget the Teapot Dome scandal during Warren Harding’s term. In the early 20s, Harding transferred the responsibilities for naval oil reserve properties to the Department of Interior. These rights were then altered and exploited for the financial gain of Albert Fall, the Secretary of the Interior at that time. He went on to grant the exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome reserve in Wyoming for huge sums of money and loans that were interest free. He was later convicted of these illegal activities, marking the first ever conviction of a cabinet member.
• And then there’s the more recent Watergate scandal of the early 70s. This ended a presidency when Richard Nixon chose to resign versus facing an almost certain impeachment. Five men were caught breaking into a Democratic headquarters site at the Watergate complex. These men were all employees of Nixon and it was discovered through a journalist’s investigation that the orders to break into this office came from the highest office in the country. The Senate investigated and heads rolled. It was also discovered that Nixon recorded phone calls and conversations within his office and then refused to release the tapes to the committee investigating the scandal. Nixon was eventually indicted for illegal wiretapping, bribery, obstruction of justice and other crimes.

So, as we all await the results after Tuesday’s election and ponder all of the petty accusations from the past months, a little perspective provided from history might be just what we need while awaiting the announcement of who will become the next United States President.

As some of us are anticipating Governor Sarah Palin’s address tonight, it was revealed her seventeen-year-old daughter is five months pregnant and is planning to marry her boyfriend.  I’m still trying to understand why that seems to be the first bullet point when the media is highlighting the sum of her.  There’s so much more to this “dark horse” who came out of nowhere to potentially become the first   Republican vice president who also happens to be a woman.  I am really fascinated by what I’ve managed to find that was hidden under her daughter’s pregnancy status.  She was once a television journalist and beauty queen.  She’s tough as nails in her convictions and just the fact that we are so unfamiliar with her speaks volumes to me.  We seldom hear of any politicians who are getting things done without insisting the media document each step towards ensuring campaign promises are being kept.  Did I mention she’s a new mother?

It’s not uncommon for teenage girls to find themselves pregnant.  It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s not indicative of how this girl was raised. A parent’s success or failure is not based on a teenage pregnancy.  What’s interesting to me is Barack Obama’s response when asked about Governor Palin’s daughter.  He said that a candidate’s family is off limits - and their children are especially off limits.  In a campaign that’s caused more rolled eyes and sarcastic remarks by me to the TV or the dogs or anyone who happens to be within earshot, I’ve finally found something that had me saying, “Ah, it’s about time.”

There’s also someone else who this will affect on a very personal and intimate level.  That person is Bristol Palin’s future mother in law.  Levi Johnston surely has a mother who is trying to come to terms with her son’s sudden image all over the national news.  It was only days ago that not only had we never heard of Bristol Palin, but because of John McCain’s choice of a running mate, we’ve now been introduced to an 18 year old kid whose girlfriend is pregnant and who the media feels the need to announce his impending attendance at the RNC.  It almost seems we know more about Levi than we do Governor Palin.  I’ve yet to find one article on the internet with no mention of her daughter’s pregnancy.  I want to hear about her determination, her views on the war, the economy and I want to know her voting record.  How does she feel about stem cell research?  Taxes?  The budget increases for our military?  How about abortion?  Internet crimes?  The death penalty?  Honestly, I’m indifferent to her daughter’s pregnancy.  It’s just not factored into my decision to vote or not for the McCain/Palin team.

I’m beginning to think John McCain made an excellent choice - even it wasn’t Fred Thompson.  I’m just happy to see she’s human and prone to the same issues the voters of this country are.