saltydad

"I Didn't Vote for Obama >> I'm a middle-class white guy living in lace w:st="on">Jacksonville , Floridalace> I've got a wife and two kids. Because the kids had no school today, I took a vacation day from work, and took the kids downtown to vote early. Fifty-nine minutes later, two smiling children and I proudly sported "I Voted" stickers. >>
But I didn't vote for Obama. >>
I voted for my ancestors, who believed in the promise of this country and came with nothing as immigrants.
I voted for my parents, who taught in the public schools for decades. >>
I voted for Steve, an acquaintance of mine from lace w:st="on">Kentuckylace>. (Killed by an IED two years ago in lace w:st="on">Iraqlace> ). >>
I voted for Shawn, another who's been to Iraq twice, and Afghanistan once, and who'll be going back to lace w:st="on">Afghanistanlace> again soon -- and whose family earned eleven bucks a month too much to qualify for food stamps when the war started. >>
I voted for April, the only African-American girl in my high school -- it was years before it occurred to me how different her experience of our school must have been. >>
I voted for my college friends who are Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and yes -- Muslim. >>
I voted for my grandfathers, who worked hard in factories and died too young. >>
I voted for the plumber who worked on my house, because I want him to get a REAL tax break. >>
I voted for four little angels from lace w:st="on">Birminghamlace>. >>
I voted for a bunch of dead white men who, although personally flawed, were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, >>
and sacred honor, and used a time of great crisis to expand freedom rather than suspend it. >>
I voted for all those people and more, and I voted for all of you, too. But mostly, I voted selfishly. >>
I voted for two little kids, one who has ballet in an hour, and one who has baseball practice at the same time. >>
I voted for a world where they can be confident that their government will represent the best that is in this country, >>
and that will in turn demand the best of them. >>
I voted for a government that will be respected in the world. >>
I voted for an economy that will reward work above guile. >>
I voted for everything I believe in. >>
Sure, I filled in the circle next to the name Obama, but it wasn't him I was voting for -- it was every single one of us, and those I love most of all. >>
Who else is there to vote for? >>
Vote like it's about a better lace w:st="on">Americalace> . ....Because it is...." >>
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__________________
Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


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