Oh, I dunno . . . seems to me it's more of a "When you're a human being you tend to rape, pillage, plunder, hustle, and rob others" kind of situation. No one group has the corner on corruption. As for me, I *do* try to live by the tenants of my faith every day of the week, not just Sundays. You know, things like "Love thy neighbor as thyself," "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," "Thou shalt not steal/kill/commit adultery," etc., etc. . . If I'm wrong about the "big guy in the sky", then no harm, no foul. I see everything fade to nothingness, and that's that.

But what if you're the one who's wrong?

We had a Republican president, and a Republican congress. The conservative credentials of the president and many of the R members of Congress, especially when it came to fiscal policy, are definitely debatable.

But that aside, would you care to define the ditch Republicans ran us into? If it's the economy, there are numerous examples of ways in which the Dems were, if not solely responsible, then certainly complicit. If it's the war, then let's look at the ways liberal PC thinking has tied the hands of our troops and made it extremely difficult for them to do a complete job of routing out the enemies of humanity. If it's issues of privacy and freedom, then what has Obama done to curb infringements on our freedom? That "snitch on your neighbor to the White House!" bit was a fantastic way to encourage free speech and open dialogue between opposing viewpoints.

When I heard Delay was going to be on DWtS, I thought it was going to be a disaster, that he would be doing nothing but giving the Left even more fodder for ridicule. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. His dancing was not the worst I've ever seen on that show, and he conducted himself like a gentleman at all times. I hope his participation in the show helped some people see him more as a multi-dimensional human being, and less as the one-dimensional political monster the MSM liked to paint him. I was sad to see his injury force him out, and I hope he heals in time to perform the Texas Two-Step at the finale.

You're right. McCain didn't lose strictly because he wasn't a Conservative, he lost because he's an arrogant prick. He could be conservative when that fit in with his political aspirations. He could also be a wishy-washy moderate. Sometimes, he decided to frolic along the shores of liberalism with his good pals Hillary and Feingold because *that* suited his aspirations.

He ran a campaign based on "Vote for me because it's my turn to be president." He did his best to punish people IN HIS OWN PARTY who had the audacity to disagree with or question him. He missed the memo that arrogance does not equal strength, and (honest) humility does not equal weakness. There were plenty of reasons to oppose the other guy, but our GOP candidate didn't give us a single reason to support him. I voted for him, but it was the most reluctant vote I've cast in my 16 years as a voter. I know several people who either voted for a third party candidate, or didn't vote for president at all, because they refused to support McCain.

Look at Obama's approval numbers sliding down into the toilet. There may be a lot of noisy socialists out there (noisier now than ever before because they mistook the election results as having granted them a personal mandate), but at its core, this is still a nation of conservatives.

I'll ascribe an awful lot of nastiness to the NEA, but not this particular bit. School hours from 7:45 AM to 5 PM? That means, in a BEST case scenario, teachers have to show up at 7:15, and can't leave until 5:30. That's at least 10 hours, 15 minutes in the contractual day, and most teachers will tell you the planning and paperwork often extend way beyond the contractual day. I can't think of a single teacher (myself included) that would be happy about that. If this were to go through, it's my belief you'd see teachers (the good ones, that actually put in time and tons of emotional effort) jumping ship right and left. And before someone comes back with "But lots of people put in those kinds of hours, everyday!" . . . Think about putting in those hours with your children and between 30 (elementary school) and 180 (middle/high school) of their peers.

In the summer of 2002, I went to Norway with my husband (who'd been an exchange student) to attend the wedding of his host-brother. The wedding was full of Norwegian patriotism. The groom and many guests were dressed in traditional costumes. Small children were waving Norwegian flags. I was really touched by the honor they were showing to their heritage and their country. I thought how nice it would be to live there, and be able to participate in such a patriotic display . . . and then it dawned on me: no matter how long I lived in Norway, I would never be a Norwegian. I'm a British Isles mutt with a smattering of Native American. I could learn the language, assimilate into the culture, but I'd still be, in some fundamental way, an outsider. One of the things I love most of all about America is that *anyone* can be an American, regardless of what blood is flowing through their veins, or what accent they speak with. Americans are a symphony of colors and sounds, and I think that's pretty fantastic.

As a postscript, we have a friend (now an American!) originally from Ukraine. His favorite thing about America is the DMV. He says, "You go in, you take a number, and when your number is called, it's your turn! It doesn't matter who you know, and you don't have to bribe anyone with vodka!" He's not kidding when he says this . . . the fact that the DMV has to deal with every single person in turn is a source of great joy for him.

This might just replace the "Perez is a bully" video as my favorite.

Back in 2002-03, I did a brief stint as a choir teacher at a middle school in Ashland, Oregon. VERY liberal . . . Ashland fancies itself "Berkeley North". One teacher proudly displayed a class project in the hallways: the students had written and illustrated their own pledges of allegiance (keep in mind that this was less than a year after 9/11). Every single pledge, save one, was a pledge of allegiance to the world/earth/globe. The single pledge to the USA was a biting, cynical commentary on commercialism -- something along the lines of, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the malls for which it stands, one dollar . . . " This same school had a winter solstice labyrinth the kids could participate in (meditate while walking through a pine-bough/candle/incense spiral, in the center, the kids were to put a piece of paper with their "wish for the world", which the teacher said she'd take home and ceremonially burn so the wishes could "go out into the universe"). But when my choir sang "Silent Night" at the "winter music program", it was received with gasps and suspicious looks, and a few parents who secretly thanked me for having the courage to include a traditional carol.

Truly, the world has gone insane.