Its 0237 right now and I am not tired. Its nothing unusual, because right now I have a lot on my mind. My friend and I are trying to get a business off the ground, its nothing major, but it is OURS, and that makes it very important to us. Right now we have more going out than coming in, and I am dreading having to tell my husband that I need to take $300 of his hard earned money to pay 3 business bills.

This coming election is also starting to cook in my mind, and I am really worrying about this vote. It is so stupid to sweat politics, because no matter who you vote for, you get the same carp, just a different guy. It is this time of year, every 4 years, that I start hating life. Democrats and Republicans, its always about them. There are over 70 registared political parties in this country, about 10 that are large enough to produce a candidate, but it seems sometimes like all the majority care about are Democrats and Republicans. I know I am not alone, I can't be. When I talk to other people they say the same things that I do about politics and domestic issues. So why does it feel like my voice means so little in this cut throat war of the "in crowd"?

I want someone to either reform education or pass a bill allowing parents to take their kids out of failing schools and put them into private schools, yes we can do that now, but I would like to be able to get some assistance to pay for it. Private schools are expensive, even though there is one that looks promising for us right now. Our state is like 36th in the school rankings, and with our experience with our first daughter starting Kindergarten, its pretty clear that our school district is trying to race the kids through reading, writing, and arithmatic to get them up to par with the first half of the country. The kids spent the first part of the school year learning to write letters in the Denelean format, and now their education requirements are for them to start writing words and reading. I did not expect this for Kindergarten. We invested in every leap pad made so far, both of our daughters have their own computers that we give them assignments on, and we found great worksheets that we can print and have them do. We are getting our 4 year old ready to face what our oldest is having to go through right now. Our oldest does homework every night, and then has another hour of work that we have to give her, its like a supplement to make the speed with which they are trying to teach her to read and write a lot easier on her.

Yes, education reform is very important to me.

I would also (ideally) like for the govt. to get back to separating church and state. We live in the South, and our state is trying to get progressive, but is stubbornly holding onto the ways of the past. I want my children to learn about evolution, my god, its been proven that it exists, and they absolutely must learn it as a part of life sciences. We have a ton of religous private schools here, so why can't the public school system be required to teach the facts and nothing but the facts?

Besides that, my husband is an atheist, and I am an agnostic, so it should be up to us whether or not our children are taught about God, and it is not the job of the school system to do this.
My family was Mormon, and I take our daughters to a Mormon church to learn about God. One day their choice to be religous, an atheist, or an agnostic will be made from their own understanding and desire. The idea of having religion force fed to them sickens me.

Outside of education as an issue, I am still waiting for an administration that will audit Social Security, revamp and update it, or do away with it. I don't think they will need to do away with it if they were more dilligent about finding fraud and stopping it so that we could be putting the funds where they are supposed to be going. Unfortunately, right now, its just not a workable program. My mom had a series of strokes, and then had one bad one 7 years ago. She was declared unemployable by not just her own physician, but by two other physicians as well, but she was denied disability. I ended up having to write her congressmen, her state's governor, and she had to get a lawyer, just to fight for something she had started paying into when she was 15. She is 54 now, and with her health the way it is, she will not be alive when she is considered old enough to retire by the Government's standards. She barely has enough to make ends meet, but she is surviving.

Ironically, her medicaid is far better to her than Social Security, and medicaid is a lot cheaper. My husband's grandmother is a widow, and receiving social security. She is almost homeless. Her kids are so self-absorbed that they do not do much for her. We may end up having to move her in with us, because she does not get enough to live on. She isn't supposed to be driving anymore, but I know that she does.

So, Social Security needs to be revamped, the money that is wasted from ss employees being too lazy to catch the fraud is taking food from the mouths of my mother and my husband's grandmother.

My husband and I have our retirement accounts, but we were lucky, we knew social security was messed up early enough that we were able to start putting money away. We ordered our social security statements to find out what we have paid in to that broken wheel thus far, and it is well over $300,000.00 with our combined contributions. We were both working by the age of 16, and have always worked, so there we go. That money is enough to pay off our house, replace our 97 minivan, buy him a car, and put enough money into the girls' college savings to be able to stop putting money into those funds.

It also sucks because we are basically double paying for one thing. We are already investing in our retirement. We have been doing that for the last 8 years. Yet, we are stuck with social security, and are stuck with the knowledge that the government is literally letting people defraud us and everyone else paying into it. The reason this is such an issue for me is because 2 years ago the GAO (Government Accounting Office) did an audit of the SSA and they concluded that more than 100 billion dollars of Social Security is lost in fraud alone. 100 billion dollars is a LOT of money.

Next issue is this oil thing. In 1999 Congress passed a bill that is decreasing the amount of fuel the US can import from the Middle East. This is a great bill, and I am all for it. The problem was there was not a major source to replace the decreasing barrels being shipped in from the M.E.. When Bush came into office he did what he needed to do in allowing a pipeline to go into the wildlife refuge in Alaska. I can not say I am happy that they had to do that, but I also strongly support the continued reduction in oil exports from the M.E.. So, I will settle for one evil to bring an end to the other evil, but only for now. I find it really frustrating that we can build a space vehicle that flies people into outer space, we can have a space station that actually sustains life, we can build a jet fighter that is invisible, we can map out the human genome, but we still can not make a synthetic fuel that does not require anyone wanting to use it to buy a new car. We even have synthetic oil, so why can't we spend the money to develop synthetic gas?

Next issue is same sex marriages. I am not homosexual, but it is not the right of anyone in this country to deny another the right to marry another person, regardless of gender. It is a civil rights violation. Why is it so hard for people to just let everyone be equal? Its just stupid.

Next issue is the military. When the government promises cutbacks in military spending, what they do not tell voters is that to cutback military spending they will lay off thousands of soldiers, rather than have one less defense contractor. Back when we were in the military, as enlisted, you know the guys and gals that get to die in far off countries for crap pay, we had all figured out that if the government didn't buy just one stealth bomber a year, every enlisted soldier could get a pay increase of $1000. Under Clinton being in the military was the worse. Clinton did massive military cutbacks, gave us a "kinder, gentler, military" and the social mainstream in the country was so hateful to the military that morale in the military was reduced to poop. No one wants to enlist anymore because it sucks to be in the military. People hate you when they find out you are in uniform, during the Yugoslavia involvement they were protesting off of our post, Americans were protesting outside of the post, and calling us "baby killers" shouting death threats to us, and calling in bomb threats to the post. It brought a lot of soldiers to an all time low. Then as part of military cutbacks, as if getting rid of thousands of soldiers wasn't enough, they privatized military housing. What they did not tell anyone was that in privatizing military housing, they were also going to be increasing the financial burden on the soldiers and their families. See, now if you want to live on post, you pay your housing allowance for rent, and you pay your electric, water, and trash out of pocket. The housing we lived in while my husband was in was built back in the 50s, and had not been made energy efficient AT ALL. The cold literally just came in through the windows and walls. Which means the electric bills during the winter months were going to be between $200 and $300 a month.

Now the US Military is way understrength, and no one wants to enlist. Like being treated like carp from your own countrymen is not enough, your treated like carp by your Commander in Chief. I wonder why no one wants to sign up to wear that uniform, make carp for pay, possibly die before your kids grow up, and still have to take all of the other carp that goes into being in the military on top of that.

So, I want someone that gives a damn about the US military. I would like to see someone that cares enough about them to provide them with better training and education, and to see their pay increased reasonably as well.

Next issue: Clinton's Federal cuts shut down libraries all over the country. In our previous state we had no library within a reasonable drive from our home. In our new state, we have no library in our city, or county. Its insane. Of all the things to cut out of the budget, why would anyone want to see libraries cut? I grew up going to the library, it was a big deal, and I want my kids to have that too.

Next Issue: No funding to focus on research and development for new technology. Its exciting when we are creating things, learning new things, but its like the Politicians just take it for granted. They have no interest in growth and development for our own country. I want to experience the excitement that my grandmother experienced when the country was on a roll straight into the future.

Next Issue: The federal tax system. Shoot me, I support a flat tax, which is a sales tax, and eliminates income taxes.

Next Issue: Has been for a very very long time. I want someone that can get the UN to make itself accountable to the taxpayers. I want to be able to go online and access the UN's 7 trillion dollar budget. I want to know where all of that money is going, I want to know how much Kofi is paid, I want to know where every single dollar, pound, euro, and yen goes. It is just not right, or democratic, to have an overhead form of International Government, that is not accountable to the billions of taxpayers that pay their checks. Its like a secret society, because the only way we know what is going in that building is when we see it on the news, and even then we aren't getting the full story. Its shady.

Next Issue: Instead of foreign aid, I would love to see the US take all that money, and put it into an updated Marshall Plan. Instead of sending money and food to some country in the hopes that it is going to the people it was intended for, I would like to see the government giving people the means to build things, and do for themselves.

Next Issue: Foreign freaking policy. I resent the notion of anyone from outside this country assuming that if a military presence is needed for anything, that the US and Britain will handle it. That is so stupid, and it costs us billions to support off shore bases.

So I have two separate ideas to resolve this.

The first is for the UN (after it makes itself accountable) to be able to recruit civilians from all over the world for its "International Peacekeeping Force" and to be able to intervene militarily when necessary. I would like to see them have a Joint Chiefs of Staff of their own to insure that politicians aren't using the uniforms like an expendable piece of garbage.

The second idea I have come up with is for the world to be divided into regions, and for each region to have its own combined military that would be in charge of keeping the peace in each region. The US, Canada, and Mexico would be responsible for North America. The nations of South America would be responsible for South America. Latin America can be regionalized and the North and South Americas could join to help keep that area secure. All the nations of Africa would have a military of their own, the Middle East would have its military, Asia would have its military, and so on. Then they could have each regional military accountable to the UN, or each region could form its own oversight method. Each Region would be responsible for keeping the peace in its own region, and only if that failed, would an outside military be called in.

Next Issue: I would like to see legislation passed that disempowers special interest groups, and disables the shady practice of "lobbying".

Next Issue: No MORE POLITICAL PARTIES. I would love to see candidates run on their merits rather than on the wealth of whatever party they are attached too. It is oppressive for me to have to go vote in an election and be stuck with the nation's two parties simply because they are the wealthiest.

I know from experience that politicians from the Democrats and Republicans totally suck. I will not apologize for this statement, because its true. This constant power struggle between these two groups of arrogant wannabes has done nothing but cause a division in the country. Its unAmerican to bully someone into giving up their beliefs for yours, it is okay when it comes to disempowering the various religions, but people still get over-zealous and religous when it comes to their damn political party.

I have lived in both Democrat dominated and Republican dominated states. Democrat dominated states could care less about the poor, while Republican states spend so much on welfare programs that they have deficits bigger than any generation can handle. My state, as small as it is, has over 100 billion dollars in the red. We have state funded welfare programs that are fruitless, but we still put money into them every single year. So I KNOW THAT ALL OF THIS STUPID PROPAGANDA ABOUT PARTY IDEALS IS A LOAD OF CARP.

NO more politics.

Next issue: Clinton gave himself a pay increase of $100,000 while in office, under both Clinton and Bush Congress gave themselves pay raises. I do not want anyone in the Executive or the Legislature to receive pay or benefits until they do the job we elect them to do. Not this stupid "we couldn't pass the bill because of them" carp. I am SICK of that political finger pointing. Those lazy rich barstards are not working, they are acting like a bunch of toddlers fighting over a set of Legos. I also don't think the president should get the $50,000 clothing budget. They all make more than enough money both above and under the table to pay for their own damn suits.

Next Issue: Legislation needs to be passed to keep lawyers from abusing and manipulating the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. There is specific writing in one of them (memory escapes me now) that states these rights are valid for US citizens. It means that a lawyer can not use the the constitution as a means of protecting a non-American under any circumstances. If a non-American gets into legal trouble, then let the damn lawyers abuse the UN, and the International Rights agreement, instead of violating the rights of the American people.

Next Issue: The nation's capitol is a nasty place. The reflection pool is so full of algae that the water is a pea green, there is trash and filth everywhere, and instead of DC just being old, its decrepit. It needs to be cleaned up, its disgusting.

Next Issue: Take stronger measures to make parents take responsibility for their kids. When a 14 year old kills someone's mother, don't whine about how the child never had a chance because he never knew his daddy and his mommy is a crackhead. Bring the parents or guardians in front of the judge and hold them accountable for what they did. No more civil suits everytime someone's kids screws up. Make the parents be held accountable for it. A man can't just make a baby and then go back to whatever he was doing. A woman can't just make a baby and then use every excuse under the sun to deprive that child of a normal life. Its time for adults to be held accountable.

I also know this can not be used against every parent, but it should be for a lot of them.

Next Issue: Insuring the protection of our rights. Instead of making guns illegal, or whining that if we didn't have guns there would be no crime. What if we went after the illegal gun dealers, held them accountable when a weapon they illegally sold is used in a homicide. They are an accessory before the fact when they sell a weapon to someone who can not legally own one. A law abiding citizen should not have to give up their right to bear arms to protect the crimnals. Its not right. I may not like guns, but its still wrong to keep infringing on the rights of all of us, instead of going after those actually breaking the laws.

Next Issue: The stupid problem people have with accepting that Americans are not all white, not all black, etc.. An American is an American. The reason this is an issue for me is because of a particular experience I had. On 9/11 we were living on a military post. We were counting the days till my husband separated from the military. As in any other states, you will meet a lot of people who own a 7/11 etc., that are not American born, but are citizens. A man from somewhere in the Middle East owned the 7/11 off of our post. He came in every morning at 0'dark thirty to start his own shift in his store. He was a friendly face, he remembered you even if you only came into the store once a month, he was always so happy and wonderful. He is a citizen of the US. He had to take a crash course in US history, law, and government just to get his citizenship, and that was the easy part. He risked his and his family's life just to get to the US. But his face hung in shame on 9/11. One of the soldiers that worked with my husband actually made it impossible for him to not look her in the eye, and she found him in tears. When I went in to buy a stupid lottery ticket he was quiet. None of his happy "how are you this evening?" "how are those bright angels doing?". He was quiet, and had the most defeated look on his face. That is not fair. He worked just like the rest of us, and he built his own dream. It is not right to take his dream away because of the crimnals. Everyone that believes in this country enough to be a part of it, felt 9/11. EVERYONE. He lost a lot more that day. Because in the eyes of his own countrymen, people he adopted as his own, he was the enemy.

We need something that instills in us the knowledge that we are all one people, no matter where we are from. We need leaders who set an example of tolerance and acceptance of every single one of us.

Okay so I guess I have a lot of things I would like to see changed. I will stop now, its all a pipe dream anyway, just a bunch of wishes tied up into an ideal of what this country could be.

Needless to say, I am not happy to be having to vote for another candidate that is not quite one of us.