Harry Reid is an Extremist

**Caution, I am getting political here, so don't read if this in not your thing!**



Frankly, I am fed up with all of the commercials and internet ads claiming that Sharron Angle is an extremist.  So I am going to turn this around people.


Harry Reid is an extremist!


He is so busy making wild and unfounded accusations against Sharron Angle because the only extremist in this race is him. 


Let's look at this objectively...


Since Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader, this means he is a very powerful man in Washington, D.C. He is responsible for controlling the agenda of the chamber by scheduling debates and votes.  That means that he decides whatever the Senate is actually doing, debating, and voting on. This begs the question...what has the senate been doing since 2006 when Harry Reid became the majority leader?


ENERGY


The biggest thing going on in this sector is something called cap and trade.  It is confusing, but basically what it means is that if this bill passes or any form of this bill, the federal government will have immense taxing power over energy, manufacturing, and even the power usage in your own house.  Companies will only be allocated so much polluting power and if they exceed the amount of CO2 they emit, they have to pay extra to the federal government.  Supposedly, that extra money will go to companies that don't exceed their polluting limit. Yet I fail to see how much of that money will actually go from one business to another without a lot of it being ciphoned off by the federal government.


Harry Reid and the Democrats don't actually have any kind of plan for building any new sources of power, but they will just punish you with excessive taxes if you exceed federal limits.  Who decides what those limits are?  How does an excessive tax actually keep the environment clean?


 Do you think that in this kind of hostile business environment companies will actually invest in new manufacturing here in America? No way!  But India, China, Vietnam, etc. will gladly open their doors to the newest American widget maker. Hence, say goodbye to jobs and hello to oppressively higher taxes.


I think this plan is nuts and it is contrived by the extreme left of this country, people that we used to call communists.


I know this is a simple explanation but the basic principles are correct.


I will always stand by the fact that using a tax as a punishment to modify people's behavior is just plain wrong. Hey, I don't smoke and I can't stand the smell of it. However, smokers should not be punished with excessive taxes because they do.  It doesn't get them to stop smoking. I used to work in a gas station, so I know this is true.  However, the excessive taxes are addicting to politicians. The money starts rolling in and they find all sorts of ways of using it, ways that are not in line with what they original promised to do with it. Politicians become addicted to all that dough. It is just too enticing.


And now Harry Reid wants to create an enormous heroin-esque cash flow from energy taxes.  Yikes!  They are already dripping from power and we are going to give them more of it?


Harry Reid is an extremist. This is appalling.


NATIONAL SECURITY


In 2007, Harry Reid said that the "War is lost."  This was during the surge.  Guess what, buddy? The surge worked and you were just plain wrong!  I think it is extreme to be this negative, as a powerful national leader, while we have troops in harms way. You may disagree with me, but I stand by our troops. 


He was wrong. He should say so, but he won't.  Because his only agenda was to attack and hate George W. Bush. As long as he got a political advantage from bashing the troops and the war effort, then why should he care?





It makes me want to throw up.  No honor. Such an embarrassment.


IMMIGRATION


Just this past month, Harry Reid decided to do one of his tricky Senate Majority leader thingeys and stick a controversial amendment on to a necessary defense spending bill. Wasn't this the guy who berated Pres. Bush for not equipping soldiers properly and giving them the necessary items they needed to win a war so that the war wouldn't be lost?


What was the controversial amendment?  Oh, it had to do with giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. If you are a young person and attend college or join the military, you can get citizenship.  Isn't this classy of Harry Reid?  The guy who is in a close re-election campaign in a state where illegal immigration is a major problem?  I know it is a problem. I drive down my street and see 50 of them standing in front of Star Nursery looking for work.  Harry Reid is probably salivating over them.


"New voters. That will be just what I need to get the lead I need over Sharron Angle.  Screw those troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the equipment they need to win a war. I would hold that money hostage so that I can get those extra votes to keep my place on my throne.", Harry thinks to himself.


This is extreme: using important and necessary spending bills to promote your own personal agenda.


HEALTH CARE


I am really not going to delve into this too much because I get too angry about it.  But I am going to bring up a few points.


First of all, there is no way in hell the United States of America can afford this monstrosity.  Great Britain can't afford it, Canada is in shambles over it...


Second, now that the government is responsible for your healthcare, just like they efficiently issue you drivers licenses at the DMV, they will be able to tell you what to do on so many levels. Hey, you can't have french fries! They are cooked in oil. That will make you fat. If you are fat, you will be unhealthy, which means you will be using the healthcare system too much. Therefore, we, your loving government will now punish anyone who wants to eat french fries. We will tax it really high so that you won't eat french fries anymore. And all of that money will go to pay for healthcare...of course!


Where does it stop?  Think it can't happen? Wrong. Take a look at this headline.


Third, I am absolutely opposed to abortion. I think it is an abomination and I am not afraid to declare it and yell it from the mountain tops.  I vehemently stand behind that statement. It is not a choice...it is a baby!  Because of the passive manner in which the shoddy healthcare law was written, abortion will be covered with taxpayer money. If not immediately, it will be in the long run.  This bill was shoved down our throats by an extremist, Harry Reid.  He is a Mormon, supposedly.  And as a Mormon, I am telling you that you cannot be a Mormon in good conscience and support abortion.  Now, Harry Reid can conveniently sit back and say that he does not believe in abortion personally or support it. But by supporting this bill and being actively engaged in enacting Obamacare, he is supporting abortion.  So he is a hypocrite.


Fourth, considering the fact that healthcare is a huge sector of our economy, I unequivocally declare that it is an extreme act to vote on a final bill that was 1502 pages in length of convoluted legalese nonsense, with lots of goodies for individual states, in a matter of hours.  That is what happened.  It took me two weeks of active reading to finish Anna Karenina and that is a difficult read.  Who read the actual bill?  What was in the bill?  


??????


Harry Reid is the extremist, not Sharron Angle.


A WEASELY BULLY




In October 2007, Harry Reid made a deceitful smear speech against Rush Limbaugh. This was based on a specious argument that Rush had called soldiers phony. It was taken out of context. Rush Limbaugh was talking about a specific "soldier" who had made horrible accusations against American troops in Iraq who had committed supposed war crimes. The media just loved it. The problem was that the guy had never actually served in the military. He was a phony soldier.  An extremist website called Media Matters purposefully took his comments out of context and Harry Reid couldn't wait to use it to smear Rush Limbaugh and attempt to get him fired, in essence silencing a powerful voice for the conservative movement.


Here is a man that just months before had brazenly declared that the war was lost and now he is accusing a man with a stellar record of defending the military, with doing the exact thing he had done. The problem is that Harry Reid actually holds a position of power and he said horrible things about the military and Rush Limbaugh is a private citizen who can say whatever he wants to say, even though he never said it.


Harry Reid wrote a letter, which 41 senators signed, denouncing Rush Limbaugh in the hopes of getting him fired and sent it to the president of ClearChannel. Rush fought back and put the letter on eBay for an auction and ended up getting $2.1 million for it, all of which went to a military charity he has been involved with for many years.  


What was the weasel's reaction to this embarrassment?





He makes it seem like he was a part of this. What a liar. What a hypocrite.  He is so full of himself.  He never apologizes for what he did and the smear he attempted on Rush Limbaugh. It is like he is the reason all that money was raised. How much money did you donate, Harry Reid?  The weasel. What a weasel.  And a bully.


It shows you what kind of integrity he has, which is pretty much none.


Harry Reid is an extremist.


In conclusion, if you are privileged enough to live in the great state of Nevada and get to vote in the senatorial race...please vote for Sharron Angle.  If you don't like Sharron Angle, then please just don't vote for Harry Reid.


***


Sharron is a proponent of cutting taxes and has never voted for a tax increase. 


Lower taxes = freedom.


Sharron is a strong supporter of the military.


Strong military = freedom


Sharron wants to strengthen our border security. She believes in protecting life. She wants local school districts to have the power, not the federal government, which could care less about your kids. 


FREEDOM


Smaller government means more freedom. I love freedom.  I choose freedom. This is NOT an extreme idea.  This is an idea that created this wonderful, magnificent country.






Sharron Angle will promote freedom.  Harry Reid will promote himself and his own agenda.


Amen.

Do Run Run

I decided that the only way I am going to lose the last 10-15 pounds from two consecutive pregnancies is to train for something. Therefore, on November 6th I will be cruisin' down the beautiful, scenic Snow Canyon State Park, on gravel trails in the park, over to the Entrada lava fields and finishing up at Snow Canyon high school.  Yep, that is 13.1 miles. It is definitely more appealing than doing 26.2.  I am going to really have to work up the courage to try a full marathon again.

I was sort of inspired by Rinar's triathlon on Saturday.  I still have no desire to do a triathlon. I think those people are c-razy. First of all, getting in icy cold water early in the morning is not my idea of fun. Plus, I am a slow swimmer. I can swim long distances. I know I can, but picture a sea turtle and then it gives you a picture of my swimming abililties.  Maybe I could get faster. I don't know.

Then you flop out of the water like a soggy doggy and race frantically to a bicycle that costs way too much money.  I know I would love the zooming along aspect of the bicycle portion, but I am sure I would crash. Road burns wouldn't go well with my racing ensemble.

The worst part for me would be going from 25 mph to 7 mph.  It is a buzzkill to start running after you have been biking. I could imagine it is like running with a spare tire around your waist.  Ugh.

But maybe I am wrong.  I have much respect for my triathlon husband and brother-in-law.  They are doing great things. I just don't think I am up for that.  Plus, when would I ever find the time to do that much training? The great thing about the training program I am using for the half-marathon is that I only have to run 4 days a week.  I just want to finish with a decent time. I think if I stick to my schedule I will be able to do it.

Plus, I just got a new pair of Asics yesterday and they are pink with a paisley print on the inside. It is perfect. 

Girl power!

Kokopelli Triathlon

Several months ago Rinar set a lofty goal, an Olympic triathlon. This means that you have to swim 1.5k, bike 33k, and then run a 10k. I thought he was completely insane and I didn't know if he would be able to pull it off. I mean, he works half of the week in Albuquerque and travels to other places as well for his job. How would he be able to get all of the training done?

But sure enough, every morning he was up at 5am doing something, whether it was biking, running or swimming. Many times we would run together after the kids were asleep, doing numerous laps around our little neighborhood.

Another motivation for him was that his brother Lyf decided to do it with him and his friend Rich from work. Rich's wife Johanna also does triathlons and she is pretty fast and was going to compete in the Kokopelli as well. I think Rinar was most worried about getting beat by Johanna. He just didn't want to get beat by her!

It was a beautiful morning at Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah.

They were ready to go. Bring it on! The hay was in the barn and he was ready to roll.

Lyf was in the older age group, so his group started 10 minutes after Rinar's group.

Rinar came out of the water really fast. I was surprised. I think he was in the top 15 overall. He was looking good.

Angie and I were wondering when Lyf would come out of the water. It took a while!

There is Rinar coming back from his 20+ mile bike leg.

Rinar had good transitions so he was back out on the road for his run quickly. Then I later saw Johanna making her way on foot. Her group started 20 minutes after Rinar's group, so I wasn't sure if he was ahead of her. We guessed that he was.

She looked really good and she always had a smile on her face. Johanna did it with style.

After getting disoriented on his swim (he probably swam and extra 1/2 mile because he went the wrong way a lot), Lyf did a solid bike and then got going on his run.

Here comes Rinar for his big finish. He was really hurting by this point and had to walk some. But he was still able to finish strong. Did I mention that the last 1/2 mile is mostly uphill? Yuck, huh? But they were not deterred.

That is one proud mama!

A true triathlete.
I was pretty proud of him too. His time was really good.

2 Hours 33 Minutes and 2 Seconds

Here he is with Rich and Johanna...and yes, he beat them both. What a relief. Johanna just barely beat her husband. Rich is amazing. I can't believe he even did a triathlon. He has major hip problems and I think he even had one of his hips replaced. He is either amazing or completely crazy.
And then Lyf made it to the end. 3 hours and 9 minutes. He would have been under 3 hours if he had had a more focused swim, for sure. But it was still a solid time, and he didn't come in last!

Angie is explaining to Lyf what his wayward swim looked like from dry land.

The end!

Just Some Stuff

They finished their art projects and Eli had to improve his a little. Hey, he wasn't going to let them paint without him, for sure.

These paintings will find a new home on a wall in our condo.

My Artist

Eli has shown a propensity to doing art. He will actually sit down and colors for 30-40 minutes without stopping. I didn't realize boys were capable of doing this kind of thing. Zach never even picked up a crayon until he had turned 5. Raef was not much better. But Eli actually likes to put pen to paper, if you will.

So today we did an art project. Raef and Zach are still working on theirs, but I thought I would share Eli's creation with everyone. He did a great job. I picked out the colors and helped him a little bit, but he definitely had ideas on how he wanted it done. I would make a suggestion and he would ignore me.

I love this little guy. It was a good moment today.

The Humble Goldfish

When you have small children and you need to keep them occupied for over an hour, you make sure to bring snacks to sacrament meeting. Our snack of choice today was goldfish. It is the perfect little snack. It is easy to hold, tastes quite yummy, and generally does not make a big mess.

Eli made it through most of the meeting before I had to pull out the goldfish. He sat snugly on my lap and opened the ziploc bag and began to chow down on little orange bits of deliciousness. He must have been eating for at least 5 minutes.

I don't know...maybe there was a renegade pepper flake on a cracker or a bit of dust floating around in the room, but whatever it was, it found a cozy resting place in one of Eli's nostrils.

Did I mention that he was chowing down on goldfish?

Alexa and Kelsey probably didn't know that Eli had been eating goldfish, but they became very aware of it when the entire contents of his mouth ended up on their backs, their hair, their legs and the pew in front of them due to two very cute and well-timed sneezes.

I was laughing so hard I had to bury my head in his back to muffle the laughter. I think I heard a bit of giggling behind me as well. Actually, there was a lot of giggling behind me because their parents were sitting behind us. I started handing them baby wipes in an attempt to wipe it all up.

You know that we do come to church to be humbled. Kelsey and Alexa...do you feel humble now?

Peach Days Fiddling Contest

Labor Day weekend was fabulous. We went to St. George Utah, and the boys participated in the fiddling contest in Hurricane. They did really well in their small fry division (0-10). Zach got first place with 882 points and Raef was really close behind him 879 points.

Here you go...

Top three for the small fry division.

The winners...

And Eli got first place in the "Cotton Candy Eating Enjoyment" category. See...he is wearing his blue ribbon all over his face.

Dr. Said Daneshmand

When I was in Utah over Labor Day weekend, I was listening to the radio and I heard a commercial for the Fertility Center of Las Vegas. It reminded me that I made solemn promise to my doctor that I would mention him in my blog...so finally, a year later, here it goes!

This is my homage to Dr. Said Daneshmand. I will lather on the praise because he has given my family three wonderful gifts, namely Eli, Harry, and Julia. When Rinar and I first met Dr. D. over three years ago, we were impressed from the very beginning. He is professional, kind, friendly, approachable, smart, etc. etc. We very quickly established a rapport with him that lasted through 2 successful pregnancies.

I marvel that he spent years and years studying fertility and all of its intricacies and has developed the skills necessary to sit in a room with me and carefully place a tiny embryo where in needed to go and now that embryo is a real live person. Wow, huh? It is truly a miraculous gift that God has granted this knowledge to us mere mortals and endowed us with incredible powers of creation. God has given this gift to Dr. D., with a lot of hard work mixed in, of course.

Look at what he helped to make...

If I was crazy enough to want to do fertility again, he is the only person I would trust to be my doctor.

The commercial said that Dr. Daneshmand makes you feel like you are his only patient. So true. The Fertility Center is top-notch. Everyone knows your name and gets the job done. Plus, the couches in the waiting room are super comfy also. Of course, you won't sit in them for very long. I don't think I ever waited more than 10 minutes. I totally loved that part of it.

But just so you all know... I am not that crazy!

One Proud Mama!

Zach is really growing up. He now needs glasses, as he is pretty blind. I felt an urgency to get glasses for him since he is in a city orchestra with Raef. They had their first official practice yesterday. It is a great organization. There are four levels and the boys are in the ensemble, which is only string instruments. The highest level is a full orchestra of high school students and they actually get to go on a tour next year to China. Cool, huh? They do a big trip every 3 years so that every kid can have a chance to go.

They seat the kids according to how they ranked them in their audition. The auditions were tough. There was a standard piece you prepared for the audition and then when you were done with that, they had you sight-read something. Parents were not allowed into the audition room, so I had no idea how they had done on anything.

We found out yesterday. Raef was #1! He did the best on the audition for violas. There are never enough violas, but regardless, he is by far the youngest violist in the group. All the other ones look like they are middle school aged. He looks so little compared to all the other kids, but I am sure that won't last long.

Zach was also seated. In a group of about 30 violins, he was #2, first violin! He gets to sit in the front. I was really surprised because there was so much competition. But one thing about him is that he is an excellent sight-reader, so in a way I am not surprised. He just attacks it.

So here is one proud mama who had to take a minute and brag about the kiddos. Thanks for bearing with me on this.

Roofing Relocation

One nice thing about having a condo in St. George is that you have an air conditioned abode when your roof is getting repaired.

We finally decided to take the plunge and get our roof repaired. In Las Vegas, many of the houses have the A/C units on the roofs, to save land space, since yards are so small. We have one of those houses. Another thing about this design is that pigeons love it because they create an entire community under those A/C units, enjoying the free cold air and shelter they get there.

Hence, our roof had a bird cage around the units to keep the pigeons out. The problem is that the genius who put the cage on top of the roof did not put rubber washers in between the post and the roof where he had drilled many holes. This was done at least 7 years ago and only in the last year has it started to show the leak on our bedroom ceiling. It only rains here about 3-4 times a year and even that is not always significant. It takes a while for the problem to unmask. The roof repair was not that expensive, but removing the A/C units to fix it doubled the price of the repair. Awesome, huh? And a non-air conditioned house in August in the Mojave desert is not appealing, so we got out of town. Luckily Rinar was out of town as well, so it worked out perfectly.

While we were in St. George we had dinner with my good friend from Atlanta, Debbie L., who now lives there with her 3 girls. It was fun to be able to hang out again. The babies had lots of fun in her yard and I got these magnificent shots of them on the hammock. I almost look like a photographer. Isn't the lighting to die for? Rinar would just die with the condition of the kids. They were so dirty. Lollipops and babies don't mix very well.

But cuteness just shines through all the dirt!