POLITICS!!!! WHAAAAA!!!

Becky is a much more thoughtful, studious and intelligent person than I am. I had already made up my mind about this year's presidential election, but Becky was feeling very conflicted.

She miraculously found herself with a couple hours in which the girls were entertaining themselves so she did some research on the two candidates. These two links display the voting records of McCain and Obama during their time in the Senate.

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=53270

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=9490

Becky went through and made a list of the issues she cared about and how the two voted. That's how she made up her mind.

I went by imagining them both in a He-Man outfit and deciding which one gave me the fewest creeps, and when they both gave me the creeps, I chose based on which one hasn't cheated on their wife with a beer magnate.

I couldn't get the lists to go side-by-side. Sorry.

MCCAIN
Against same-sex marriage
No to increased aid to Katrina
No to study on what went wrong with Katrina
Yes to economic stimulus package
Against the ethics bill
No –increase Pell Grants
N0-500 million to help vets deal with PTSD
Yes-embryonic cell research
Abortion-believes it should be up to the state, not Federal
Education-pretty much voted No to increase spending
English-supports it as the national language
Troops-thinks we need more in Iraq
No to Unintended pregnancy amendment.
No-to funding for Special Ed.
No-to increase $$ for child health care

OBAMA
Against same-sex marriage
Yes on to increase Aid to Katrina
Yes on amendment to study what went wrong with Katrina
No vote on stimulus package
For the ethics bill
Yes-Increase Pell grants
Yes-500 million to help vets deal with PTSD
Yes-embryonic cell research
Pro-Choice-but with a huge emphasis on education and prevention
Education-reform NCLB
English-supports it as the unifying language
Troops-says he will start pulling out immediately
Yes-Unintended pregnancy amendment.
(funding for awareness, covering contraceptives…)
Yes-to funding for Special Ed
Yes-to increase $$ for child health care

So there it is. If you're one of the rare undecideds, feel free to go look at the site yourself.

Random Things

Her hair is long enough to hold a ponytail now. She might as well be flirting with punks at the mall.




25 weeks and she's svelte like a Volkswagen New Beetle.









Lucy is to cuteness as Becky is to ultimate hotness.


It's like a small child is emerging right out from the center of the Care Bear's trachea.





Daddy and Sam "marched" in the Independence Halloween Parade. I was not Robin Hood, nor was I an elf. I was Peter Pan, which is less gay than both of those other things and Sam was Tinkerbell. I say "marched" because we were supposed to keep up with the Centerpoint Medical Center car and we weren't allowed to throw the candy. We had to hand it to the onlookers. So Dad would pause to help shy Samantha hand out some candy and then I'd have to sprint pulling Sam in her little wagon to catch up with the car. Sweaty Pan.



I had my first overnight camp out with the scouts this last weekend. Here are some quotes to describe the experience:


"Colten! Do NOT put burning sticks over other people's heads!"


"Herman! Stop balancing barefoot on the wall around the fire pit!"


"Jared! Take the rotten fish back to the pond where you got it!"

"You're really going to spend the camp out playing video games? Really?"

So yeah. A great group of brilliant young men.

Old People and Walking Sticks and Farts

Grumpa and Grandma Tolman came over for conference weekend. I think they came because they wanted a valid excuse for not paying any attention to conference.

This is how Grumpa and Sam spent most of the Sunday afternoon session. The doll is not named Fredrickson San Marcos.


Gramma Deanna spent much of the weekend showing Samantha pictures of invasive surgical procedures.






After the old people pushed Sam on the swing, Daddy had to show them how it's done.

We came home the other day to find an unintelligent walking stick standing on the side of our white house. I don't claim to be better at being a walking stick than a walking stick, but I'm pretty sure that their camouflage is more effective when they're around other sticks. Anyway, it was pretty cool, and once we relocated him to the bushes, he really did blend in quite well.