I Say the Pledge of Allegiance- Do You?

I don't understand it. First, I do have an outside job just you'll know what I'm talking about. I think I was the only person at work today who actually stopped to observe a moment of silence in honor the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the brave souls who fought back in Pennsylvania. We have an enormous United States flag hung from the ceiling and I stop everyday to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Finally they have stopped looking at me like I'm a curiosity and smile instead. I wonder if they think I'm nuts or agree, but just aren't stopping to do the same. I remember all too well what happened that day; what I did, and the conversations I had with my neighbors and family and friends. I know many of us do too.

My son came out to our barn as I was wrapping up the last of the morning chores and told me a plane had crashed into one of the building of the World Trade Center. I remember saying, "Uh oh! Somebody's going get it!" I was thinking about the small plane that had hit the Empire State Building many, many years ago. Then he said, "No, I think it was bigger than that." I came into the house and we sat in front of the television watching the Today Show on NBC as they reported that they believed a jetliner had crashed into the building. We were chatting about how someone could get off course that badly and not go back on course before they hit a building. Then we both saw a split second (as did many others) before it hit, the shadow of the approaching second plane. We jumped and grabbed onto each other. "We're at war," I said quietly. "I know," he replied, "But who with?" He was twelve. Up until that point we had not heard of Al Qaeda or their terrorist organization. We watched the news, we just hadn't paid that much attention to them. We learned quick, but still didn't know the half of it. We did cry over the news of the Pentagon and the plane going down over the field in Pennsylvania and for the people who literally sacrificed themselves to save others from being killed by the hijackers. We also prayed- a lot.

My son is now serving his country in the United States Navy. He was inspired to join by those events, and following in his late grandfather's footsteps (he served in World War II) he ended up at sea. I pray he and his shipmates and the troops they carry we be safe and come home, whole, in mind and body.

I say the Pledge of Allegiance, just as it was when I was allowed to say "God" in school. Do you say the pledge?

God bless America!

Codename: Cipher Now Available on Kindle!

I am so excited! Now available from Amazon.com for your Kindle e-reader device is my new book Codename: Cipher. (You'll notice the Morse code on the cover- it translates to Codename:Cipher!)

This is the first book in a series (I am already working on a sequel as yet un-named) with the main character Grant Sommers. Grant, breaks code as a hobby. His father, a government code breaker, taught him to do this after he and Grant's mother divorced. They had fun communicating this way as Grant grew up. However, Grant's hobby has led to some major trouble.

Have you ever gotten unsolicited emails with pictures you would never let your kids near? Grant did. He usually just deleted them, until one day one loaded while he answered the door and he discovered there was what appeared to be just random words at the bottom, only to Grant it was a code to break, and he did. After a pattern emerged, his father, who had retired, took the messages to one of his former co-workers who told him it was nonsense. Grant's father got killed for what he knew and now Grant is on the run, not knowing who to trust after he was kidnapped and let go by people who said they were from the government. He goes through a lot trials and learns a lot of life lessons along the way (like, be careful who you trust). Do you think Grant will ever be able to turn the tables on these terrorists and stop the killing? What mayhem will these people cause? To what lengths will they go? And will they get away with causing turmoil in the United States as planned? You'll have to read Codename: Cipher to find out!

You can go directly to the page on Amazon.com here:
Ihttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBK4EGI

A Thank You to Our Veterans

Sunday, November 11, 2012, is Veteran's Day. Have you thanked a veteran for their sacrifice to protect our country and our rights against foreign countries who might want to destroy our way of life? They give up time with their families they can never make up. They give up their innocence when they go into battle and see atrocities they might never have seen otherwise that leaves many of them with PTSD issues, depression, drug and/or alcohol issues, or all of them.  Many are not able to cope with these issues or don't know where to go for help. They lose their families due to the issues they suffer from because of what they have witnessed. How many former soldiers have come home just to die later from exposure to chemicals in the air where they fought? Too many. How many are jumpy all the time? I can think of a few that I wouldn't want to walk up on without warning them I was coming.  How many have come back missing limbs or paralyzed and wondering how they would now support themselves and their families, how they will get along in society? How many have suffered from indignation upon arriving home from the Middle East or, in the past, Vietnam? How many times have our reservist soldiers gone into disaster zones within our own borders to keep the peace so that you don't have to worry about violence from those who would loot or destroy what you have left after a flood or fires?

We need to thank our veterans for their service to our nation. So- Thank you veterans and current members of the military. God bless you.

Questioning the Electoral College

As the presidential election of 2012 is rolling around, I think it is time for a little lesson in voting. Did you know that even though one votes for a candidate, all the votes are tallied, and someone has received the most votes, they may not actually win the election? That's right. That vote can be overturned in a sense by the Electoral College.

The Electoral College has been around since our country's first election. The framers of the Constitution for some reason decided that election of a president by popular vote was not good enough and so created an electoral college to do it for us supposedly based on the popular vote. Seems like an un-necessary extra step to me. Members are based on various factors: number of senators in each state (2), and the number equal to how many representatives there are for each state which is based on population and will vary as the population does (Census figures), and three for Washington, D.C. These electors are usually voted in by popular vote. Supposedly, the electors vote according to who their individual states have popularly voted for the president, only actually they do not legally have to do that at all. It has happened four times in our history, as recently as 2000 when Al Gore, who won the popular vote, lost the electoral vote and therefore was not put into office. Regardless of how anyone feels about who won or lost the election that should not be legal. If someone won the popular vote that is who should win the election.

In this day and age when business people and politicians are often bought and paid for in various ways, otherwise there wouldn't be any lobbyists out there; it would be way too easy for someone to buy an electoral vote. I'm not saying that has happened, but it potentially could. Some states have sanctions for not voting with the popular vote- a fine and not being able to be an electorate again. Big deal! Anyone could pay the fine for them and if they truly are just trying to rig the election, then they don't care if they are not voting in the next one. At least Michigan negates the vote of the person not voting according to their state's wishes; others just give a slap on the wrist, so consequences vary wildly all the way to only being replaced.

When I checked the National Achieves (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html) it listed how many representatives there were for each state and how many states had no laws or pledges regarding the electors voting with their state's popular vote - that means no penalties. There were 24 of them. That's 24 states' electorates potentially voting against the popular vote – almost half!

I don't see how we would have the right to point fingers at other countries' elections if we can't guarantee we would have an absolutely fair election. This is from a Constitution-believing, proud patriot: The Electoral College must go if we can't find a way to guarantee they will vote with the people they represent. I understand the College is supposed to make lesser populated states just as heard as the larger ones, but unless we want another play out of the 2000 presidential election, changes need to occur. Maybe jail time should be part of the deal for not voting as they are supposed to and it should be counted as election fraud. I am not a politician and I do not have all the answers, but together, as a country, the way the founding fathers did, we should figure out a solution.

Where Were You September 11, 2001?

To borrow from an Alan Jackson song, where were you when the world stopped turning? Obviously September 11, 2001, the world did not stop turning- but it sure felt like it. I was in our dairy barn cleaning up after the morning milking. My youngest son had already gone inside and saw the report on the Today Show.  He ran to tell me a plane had hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. My reply after the 'Oh my God!' was, "Somebody's in trouble," the last word being dragged out. I asked if it was a small plane like the one that hit the Empire State Building so many years ago and of course he looked confused not knowing what I was talking about. (I only knew about it from historical reports-I am not old enough to have read about it real-time.) He just shook his head and said, "No, Mom; it was a jetliner." You could have knocked me over with a feather. As I was finished in the barn, we came inside to watch the updates together. Horrified, we watched as yet another plane hit the second tower and then the towers collapsed. Panic reigned supreme in the streets as people understood we were under attack even as they had no idea what had happened.  I told him one is an accident, two is on purpose. Then of course came the reports of the plane crashing in Pennsylvania and the one that hit the Pentagon. All air traffic was officially grounded. We just stared at the television, my arm around his shoulders. We knew we were at war. My husband having heard vague reports on the radio that we kept in the barn came in and asked if we'd heard the news.

As the days went on we learned, if we had not already known, what real heroes were. Those brave, selfless individuals who caused their own plane to crash rather than let the terrorists take it into the White House or some other government building, gave everything for their country. The rescuers who knowing full well they might not make it out, went into those burning towers to save those that could be and then retrieve those who couldn't and many of them too gave everything to their fellow man not just their country. There were poor, unsuspecting people conducting business, going about their day who were killed inside those infernos, many of which died trying to save their coworkers. We will never forget.

All these years later, we still remember vividly where we were. Of course many have been born who have never felt the devastation of seeing that awful, terrible site except on historic news reports around the anniversary, and many of those will go on to defend our country, once they are old enough, so that it doesn't happen again, or if it does, they will be there.

September 11 has been named Patriots Day in observance of those thousands who died that day.  Just as December 7, 1941, is remembered as Pearl Harbor Day in honor of those attacked in Hawaii while they slept is not meant to bring about hatred for the Japanese, Patriots Day is not meant to bring about hatred for those of Middle Eastern descent. There is enough hatred in the world. It is to remember the victims, the fallen heroes of that terrible day, and to remind us to keep ever mindful, ever vigilant and not let it happen again.

God bless America, the survivors, the families left behind wherever in the world you hale, and the heroes who defend us against those who would do us harm if given the chance again.

A Birthday Card to America

Happy Birthday to my country- the United States of America. We have many patriotic holidays, but I must say this is our most  precious and patriotic of all of them. Men, at great risk to themselves and their families, signed a proclamation that we wanted our independence from British rule and after years of fighting and many dead men, women and children, we earned that right. We won the right to vote for our representatives in government and our head of government -the President of the United States. We may not like who gets into office, but they were put there by a majority vote of everyday people like you and me and not forced upon us as some other countries have.

There are a few thank yous that need to go out today. Try the members of the Armed Forces - Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard and Reserves, and the United States Border Patrol. (HUH?) The Border Patrol agents are for more than trying to keep non-citizens from crossing our borders; they watch for those who might try to do harm to our country and stop them at the border (they need our help and support too by the way). If you see a serviceman or woman today thank them. Someone before them served to give us our freedom, keep our freedom, and stop our country's enemies. The tradition continues with today's members. Please give them the respect they deserve. And while you're at it, thank a veteran. They don't get that often enough, they really don't. Many have made great sacrifices or the ultimate sacrifice (thank their families). Help when you can and celebrate our independence every day.

While you watch the candles glow and sparkle and fizzle (the fireworks) and listen to some great music and exploding rockets (again the fireworks), participate perhaps in a barbecue, or enjoy your family, raise a glass to our country and wish it a happy birthday with many more to come.