MoxieLife

Babes Invade Camp Obama

 Well, invade is strong. We will actually be attending Camp Obama on Sunday to learn more about organizing to swing Missouri - more to come!

Babes for Obama

I am working with Arkansas Women to come out in support of Obama. Why? Because we are, mostly, white women who are mothers who are frustrated by the media attention given to Palin/McCain (yes you read that right, who is first on that ticket now?).

We are doing several things to mobilize and if you would like to support this let's chat and spread the news that Women Support Barry!

1. T-shirt being designed by artist to show support of Southern Women who Support Obama
2. Contacted friend of Hilary to see if she would visit our fair state to let women that they can't let the Democratic party down by voting for McCain
3. Working in support of Missouri to go Blue - We will be arranging carpools for rallys, etc. Want to donate gas money from another state you can paypal me at [email protected]
4. Working on a Blog (yet to be posted) that addresses the issues as seen by Women in the South
5. Communicating with friends in the West Coast who personally feel powerless, but are willing to help in anyway
6. Working to articulate the issues
7. Putting a PR Plan together for local/regional media in regards to Babes for Obama

It is TOO early in the election process to GIVE UP. Obama and the Democratic Party need our support. If you have ideas on how to approach the media, stage events, or get involved pass them onto me and I'll work with the women of Arkansas to let them know we are Voting for Barry!

8,000 Out of Power - But We Are All OK

Ike blew through our little neck of the woods while getting creamed by a cold front coming in from the north which left us without power and stuck behind a raging creek. For those of you not familiar with our little slice of heaven we live in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It is located in the northwest corner of the state (Walmart is our famous friend). The area is it's own bioregion, the Ozarks, with flora and fauna only found here. Not to mention that it is drop dead gorgeous.

Well, we live behind a low water creek and earlier this year a huge storm took out our walking bridge across that creek. I applied to FEMA, but was refused help. (I didn't ask for ENOUGH money.) So, when it rains we know we will be stuck for a few days after the rains.

That we can live with. No power, that is another thing all together.

We were down 24 hours and I'll tell you that means: not opening the fridge, no heat or air, no cooking, no lights, no showers, no water at all, and cell phone batteries slowly dying. It is roughing it in your own home and boy were we ill prepared.

I cooked soup in our French cast iron fondue pot over a sterno flame. That isn't exactly the most efficient form of cooking.

I am better off then some, many still don't have power and won't until Wednesday or Thursday.

Now, where was that list for the preparedness kit?

Top 5 Blogs

I feel like I am in a blog reading rut and thought I would ask you the Top 5 Blogs that you read regularly. What is happening out there that you LOVE? Who is writing something that you don't like to miss. Share your love with me!

Walking the Line of Spirit and Politics

As a Unitarian Universalist the line between spirituality and politics is something I struggle with. My current blend of spirituality is based on the fact that we are energy and therefore one and when we recognize that we are able to be closer to one another.... which is touching god. Ok, that is the pseudo science spirituality that I adhere to at this moment.

That said, where does that lead you in the world of politics. Politics is ultimately dividing. Us versus Them. We are MORE right then they are. Division isn't waling the path of my spirituality.

How did Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama do it? How did they stay in touch with their spiritual path for the higher good and participate in the political landscape?

How do you do it?

Time Out for a Little Green Lesson

Enough about politics for today, lets talk about dish washing liquid. Yesterday I was at Meglomart* shopping for a new mouse (mine died, didn't know that could happen, but it did), and I decided to pick up a few more things since I was already there.

We wash our dishes by hand. Our kitchen is the size of most peoples small guest bathrooms (remember I live in a home that is over 100 years old in the Ozarks, grandeur it is not). There is no room for a dish washer other then my husband and I.

My husband is a brand junkie. Once he decides he likes a brand that is the ONLY brand that we can buy. (Tide, Heinz, Hellmans, etc.) I though am willing to try new things, especially if they are "green".

I was walking down the dish washing liquid aisle and was looking at the new "green" brands. There was Clorax and Palmolive. Now usually I use Dawn. I am happy with Dawn. It works... it smells nice. It's fine. I buy a 33 ounce bottle for $3.50. I don't know if that is a good price or not, but I am fine with it. Well, the new "green" products were $3.23 BUT (there is always a but) they were only 20 ounces.

Now I am not a "green" expert, but if you get LESS for your money and it is contained in the same plastic container that a custumer may or may not recycle doesn't it seem WORSE for the environment? Wouldn't a larger package be more efficient. You would by LESS plastic throughout the year not more.

What would really be green: filling up our own containers. My container is perfectly fine. I don't need a new one each time I buy dish washing liquid. I could probably use it for years. That would save plastic and be really "green".

Lesson, green is so often not green, and it won't necessarily save you money or save the planet.

(I didn't buy ANY dish washing liquid. I was disgusted by the whole thing.)

Obama is NOT Running Against Palin

I just finished watching Face the Nation with McCain and most of Bob's questions were about comparing Obama's experience with Palin's. Let me repeat my title... OBAMA IS NOT RUNNING AGAINST PALIN. He is running against McCain.

Let's stop the comparison.

Only in our WORST nightmare if the McCain ticket wins and he dies would Palin be president (I realize with his age and cancer risk that we are looking at that as a possibility). So, let's pit McCain with Obama and Palin with BIDEN.

We don't need to justify his COMMUNITY ORGANIZING to her, we don't need to address anything about Obama to her because, yes let me say it one more time, HE ISN'T RUNNING AGAINS PALIN. She is the VP candidate and to put her in her place she needs to be addressing the long history of Biden.

Hear me people!

Can't We All Just Get Along

There is a higher part of ourselves that wants to be able to see each person as worthy, to love one another, to get along. Knowing that is the higher, perhaps more spiritually centered goal is great, but what do we do in the mean time when we are fighting to get America back on track?

Do we stand there? Do we let them tell lies with a smile? Do we take the higher ground?

In my 38 years I have seen Democrats sit back and take the slamming and cesspool of lies that the Republican spinsters have thrown our way. We never fight back. We took Al Gore all the way to the Supreme Court because he won and we still lost because they are meaner and more able to play the game.

Maybe they should win then.

Maybe we should just pack it in and be the sheep that we have been for so many years.

HELL NO!

I am sick of living in a police state. I want real reform. Real change. I want government that cares for the people. I want the world stage to see us as leaders not cowboys with guns. This is not the time to back off. This is the time to call them on their lies, get motivated, show the world that we mean business. We want change and we aren't going to back down until we get it. Even if it means we can't all get a long.

We Don't Need a Mean Girl in the White House

As Democrats we tend to not be mean in our politics. We are the gentle, kind, smart electorates, but where has that gotten us? Why do we continue to show grace and decorum when it has lost us election after election. Here is what we are thinking but not saying (don't read ahead if you are interested in keeping the gloves on):

Executive experience in the State of Alaska does not qualify you to be Vice President. You have been and are a puppet to the Republican party and unfortunately do not yet grasp the impact of your statements on the people and the nation. Executive experience is the new buzzword for "I am better then you." Well, your limited experience is the new buzzword for same old politics.

If you are a REAL family values woman you would stay home with your family. Your family needs you now more then ever. Special needs children and pregnant teenagers need thier mothers. As a mom who was a teen mom I'll tell you that the time and care that my own mother spent with me was invaluable. I couldn't have done it with anyone else by my side and if she had put her own limelight or career first I would have drifted out alone. Abandoning family isn't my values.

Abstainers and teetotalers, of which I am one do not drink. We often don't tolerate those that do very well. We certainly don't get DUI's. Those of us that don't drink work everyday with our daughters to also follow the path of abstaining from alcohol and the only way we can do that is to be a shining example. Being the one who doesn't drink when you are 38 or 18 is not easy, but it is the choice we have taken. Perhaps our ideas about not drinking aren't the same as Govenor Palin's.

Then there is Oil, government, lobbyists, and more... she has a tiny grasp of our dependence on these things. How they corrupt government, but unfortunately her ideas of getting us out of that mess are to drill more, have less government, and do what with lobbyists I don't know. Where were the conversations on real independence from oil? Alternative fuels were not mentioned once. She is just big oil all over again.

Women have long learned how to be mean with a smile. That isn't a good thing. We don't need a pitbull with lipstick in our White House. We need smart, courages, strategic people who are going to lead our nation out of the quagmire that we are currently in.

We don't need a Mean Girl in the White House.