Yesterday was one of those days when the Universe wraps itself around my head and humps my skull just to show its dominance. Sort of like the times Coco climbs on top of Chuck's backside and moves her lady parts in and out, in and out, as if that would even work if things were functioning, and Chuck just stands there and lets her do it, sometimes glancing over at me as if to say, she thinks I'm buying this. She really thinks this is intimidating, and we both know that all this means is she is a total fucking nutjob.

Except, I believe the Universe very much when it tells me it is in charge. And a lot of what happened and then continued to happen yesterday falls squarely into the bag of things I will not write about on this website. And that bag is labeled PRESERVING MY RELATIONSHIP WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

I think things were made worse by my mood, one of wanting to walk around shooting randomly at things that could splatter or at least topple over in a magnificent way, and I don't even believe in the right to own a gun. In the last few days I have received innumerable requests to weigh in on what is currently going on with the circus that is the Republican National Convention, and I call it a circus because I'm trying to be nice. You have to understand that my family reads this website, and in order for us to have a working relationship I have to be careful when I write about certain things. But my blood pressure is such that if I don't say a few things about this then my head may just explode, and then it'd be all their fault. And they'd go to jail. So this is how I'm rationalizing what I am about to write.

I am angry. I am infuriated. And I don't think I would be if Sarah Palin were a qualified or competent choice as McCain's running mate. But the fact, the reality is that she is not. And instead of demanding better from their party, instead of going, wait a minute, no, we deserve better than this, many Republicans are contorting themselves into a denial of reality. (please read this, it's a report from the AP, not some spooky liberal blog that wants to kill babies) And that right there is what has been going on for the last eight years.

And I am just so damn sick of it.

Any time I engage with one of my conservative friends or family members, or sometimes the conservative commenters on this website, it usually devolves into them screaming about WELFARE! and TAXES! and THE GOVERNMENT IS TAKING MY MONEY AND GIVING IT TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T WORK! And what they don't understand is that this is not the issue at all. What I and many of my more liberal friends want is to HELP people, not give them a free ride, but also not to ignore those who would benefit from us tossing them a life jacket.

Case in point: Because Leta was diagnosed with plagiocephaly when she was two months old, she cannot qualify for private insurance until she is thirteen years old. So the only insurance we can get her is high-risk insurance that costs us upwards of $300 a month. Just for her alone. And even then that insurance won't cover anything until she has reached a $3000 deductible. I am fortunate enough to have grown up in a white, middle class family who could afford to send me to college, as did my husband, and we have enough work experience to run a business that makes it so that we can afford this insurance for our daughter. We don't have to make the choice between buying food or insuring our daughter. We are really fucking lucky.

But what about the family who cannot afford that insurance for their child? The family who can barely make rent, and if they stretch the budget they can eat three meals a day all week, let's hope nothing bad happens to their kids because then they're screwed. Kids, go hug your father, he's off to one of his three jobs, none of which provide him insurance. And it's not because he's lazy or unwilling to work, it's that his family couldn't afford to send him to college, or he came from a family that didn't know they should encourage him to go to college because they were busy trying to survive. If giving up more of my paycheck could help get this family adequate healthcare, then PLEASE. TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY.

I get the feeling that people around the world are looking at this election as a gauge to see if America is finally ready to wake up and realize that we are not the only country on this planet. They are waiting to see if we are going to put yet another fundamentalist loon in charge of public and foreign policy, someone who doesn't think that global warming is in any way caused by humans, so screw the rest of you who live here on this planet, we need that cup of oil with breakfast in the morning.

To my readers who do not live in America, who are not American, please know that there are so many of us here who are disgusted with what we have let happen in the last eight years and are doing everything we can to ensure that it stops. We are just as scared as you are of those around us who have their fingers in their ears and are going LA LA LA LA LA in an attempt to convince themselves that their behavior and their policies are not in direct violation of the teachings of the God they think put them in power.

Vote Obama 08