Yeah. I forgot how much I hate moving! Ugh. The works seems endless. As I clean and pack one area, another gets messier. I will feel better once the truck is loaded. Oh wait, no I won’t because I will have to do it all again in a month. I didn’t realize we had so much crap. Well back to work…

For the past several months, Max has been obsessed with dying. He is afraid of everyone dying. He is afraid that he won’t be able to get his blankie or his toys when he dies. He always asks me how his blankie will get into his coffin. I have tried a couple of different approaches to help ease his fears, but to no avail. Then the other day I told him that maybe some day doctors would figure out a way so that no one will die. That seemed to calm him a little, but has not completely eased his worries. So, last night he comes downstairs to ask me when he has to go to the doctor again. I told him he will go in August. He said that he is going to talk to the doctor about not dying. So, I told him that he will have to get some shots at the doctor which will make him not die. Is that mean? He needs to get shots before schools starts and he is still a little traumatized by the stitches episode from earlier this summer, so I thought it might help ease those fears. Nevertheless, is it mean to make him think he will not die by getting the shots? It’s kind of the truth because immunizations help with disease, but he now thinks he will never die. Ugh! Have I created a worse situation?

We have finally sold our house. The person who bought it wants fast possession, so we are moving out next Saturday. Ben will be out of town for three weeks, so I will be staying with my sister until we can close on our new house at the end of August. I am so happy to be finally moving. The living situation will be somewhat hectic, but it is only temporary. I am so lucky to have such kind family members who are willing to take us in and store our stuff temporarily. Well back to packing…

From Democrats.com

Sign the petition:
http://democrats.com/monitors

To: George W. Bush

We call on you to request expert election monitors to avoid an unprecedented electoral - and Constitutional - crisis over the Presidential election of November 2, 2004. Such a request was made by 13 Members of Congress on July 1, 2004.

We saw a preview of this crisis in 2000 in Florida. We believe the 2004 crisis will be worse because:

* Across the nation, error-prone punchcard machines have been replaced by touchscreen machines that have failed repeatedly in actual elections.
These machines lack paper trails, their source code is proprietary, and computer security experts believe these machines are hackable, so voters have no confidence their votes will be recorded and counted honestly. To compound voter fears, Diebold CEO Wally O’Dell vowed to “deliver” Ohio’s crucial electoral votes to you

* The crimes committed by partisan Florida election officials in 2000 were never punished, which sent a clear signal to partisan officials that they could violate election laws with impunity

* As the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights documented in 2001, discrimination against minorities - mostly Democrats - in 2000 was widespread. More than half of the votes that went uncounted nationwide were cast by minorities. Most of these problems were never fixed, as the Commission documented in April 2004

* Most of the Florida non-felons whose voting rights were illegally revoked in 2000 have not regained their voting rights, and the 2004 “felon” purge was rigged to hurt Democrats by removing black “felons” and help Republicans by overlooking hispanic “felons.” This revelation - following a lawsuit opposed by Florida - created a furor, but officials insist they will “find other ways” to purge “felons”

* Also in Florida, Republicans eliminated the witness requirement for absentee ballots, creating a major opportunity for fraud. Republicans are tricking new citizens into registering as Republicans by illegally pre- checking the “Republican” box

* In Missouri, the Republican Secretary of State is trying to stop mainly Democratic voters in St. Louis from voting early

* There may be many other illegal activities underway at the state and local level that have simply not been discovered because no one is looking for them

* Key officials in your administration seek the power to postpone (or
cancel) the 2004 election based on warnings of terrorist attacks, even though past warnings have been conspicuously politicized

* Pro-Republican bias in the corporate-owned media, especially at Fox News, has been widely documented, creating an uneven playing field for the campaign. This problem is compounded by the extremely limited coverage planned for the summer conventions

* All five Republican Supreme Court Justices who betrayed America by throwing out 175,000 uncounted votes in 2000 remain on the Court, so any dispute that ends up in the Supreme Court will lack legitimacy

The American people share our concerns. A poll in June 2004 found 44% of all voters - and 62% of Democrats - fear a Florida-style debacle in November.

We believe observers who are experts in administering honest, transparent, and fair elections are needed for the “battleground” states (Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin) that will decide the Presidency. We call on you to request such experts from the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Carter Center.

Sign the petition:
http://democrats.com/monitors

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 yesterday. I hadn’t read any reviews or anything, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was shocked by how graphic it was. The images of the war in Iraq were much worse than I had imagined. I was against the war from the start, but to see these images made my stance on non-violence even stronger. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the theater. After it was over, most of the people in the theater just sat there trying to collect themselves. Tracy and I cried all the way out of the theater.

On a lighter note, there was an elderly couple sitting behind us, who loved Ben. In the beginning of the movie, there is a shot of John Ashcroft having make-up put on and asking the make-up artist to make him look young. Under his breath, but loud enough for the theater to hear him, Ben said “Make me look smart.” Jodi and I and the couple behind us laughed so hard.

I would urge everyone to see this movie. Even if you don’t agree with Michael Moore’s politics, I think everyone needs to see the realties of war. It is easy to forget about the innocent people who are killed or injured, but that is what we need to remember. We all know the tragedy of September 11, but we don’t deal with that threat every day. The Iraqi people do. It is so easy to demonize the people of a country because of their government and to forget they are human. They are mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons. They are like us. We all suffer because of our government. The attack on September 11 was a result of years of neglect and disrespect of the Arab world and we lost innocent Americans. The Iraqi people have suffered for years under an evil dictator, but they are suffering now because of the American government and business greed. We have lost respect in the world because of our President. Even Bill Clinton with all of his sexual escapades, was still was respected worldwide. If we really want to fight terrorism, we need to be a global partner.