Today is Tuesday, January 20, 2009. It's a historical day in the UnitedStates of America. On this day Barack Hussein Obama II will be sworn into the office of the President of these United States of America. I want to remember this day to tell my grandchildren about the significance. This country has come a long way, but still has a long way to go.

I truly believe the reason MOST people voted for this man was due to the fact that he is half black. The main thing everyone is talking about is the fact that we are going to have our "first black president," or our"first African American" President. This just aggravates the hell out ofme. See, Barak Obama is HALF white and HALF black. Unless, they have found a way for men to get pregnant, and I'm talking about men that were male from the time of birth, not that woman who became a man. (Thomas Beatie, the "transgendered pregnant man".) Then, it is completely impossible for Obama to be our first "black" President. HE IS HALF WHITE! Come on give his Mom, and her parents the props they deserve for raising him right. After all his grandparents, you know the WHITE ones, raised him.

This has become a racial thing, not an issue on his values and skills. I know that I voted for him for those reasons, not his race. I don't give a damn if he's half purple...but just give the credit where it's due. He's intelligent, honorable and willing to do the job that many wouldn't dream of doing. I believe he'll do an awesome job indeed. To top it off, he also has a great sense of humor.

Okay, now that I've vented about that issue, let me tell you what I think about Barak Hussein Obama II. I think he was the best candidate that ran this time. I am glad I voted the way I did. I believe he IS the best man for the office. He has a plan on how to make things better forAmerica. I believe this, or I would not have voted for him.

I will be honest, again, that up until I hit the voting button, I was unsure of who I wanted to vote for in this election. I do know that I would never in a million years have voted for Palin. The woman was just an embarrassment. Her values were askew. How dare her "preach" on pregnancy issues with a teenager of her own that was pregnant. The fact that she found it important to tell other women how to handle their own bodies just annoyed the hell out of me. The fact that she said things that just made me sit there with a look of disbelief on my face was annoying as hell. So, McCain had you run without her you would have had my vote. However, I am glad that you chose her...otherwise we wouldn'tbe where we are on this day.

I know I will look back on this day with the same feelings I have now. I would like to come back a year from now and reflect on how PresidentObama has done in the office. I have no doubt he'll have his ups and downs. After all what President Bush has left for him to clean up is an uphill battle. I just don't doubt that he'll take care of it the way it should be. It took a Democratic President to clean up the last mess a Republican did, it's going to take another.

I'll also come back to reflect on where America, and Americans are a year from now. I wish President Obama nothing but happiness, peace, and the knowledge he needs to run this country.

It's great to see America has grown, matured, and is making mends with the people that live here now. The only people that we still owe are the Indian's that owned this land to begin with, before we all got here.

I know this country will grow and learn from all of this, I only hope that it won't continue to be a racial thing.

May Goddess and God bless America.

One more thing Mr. President...You had Pagan's vote for you too, like my daughter and me. You failed to talk about us in the religious portion of your speech. Pagans live in America too...and we vote!

Austin, Texas is one of those cities that you can enjoy alone, or as I did yesterday with six others.
You see my daughter and I had the awesome opportunity to live in Killeen, TX during this summer this year, because my job moved me from San Antonio to Killeen. Well, along the way I met some incredible soldiers and friends. I ended up "adopting" several soldiers as "my own kids." I truly love them like my own. So, every now and then I get the awesome opportunity to spend some time with them. Either they come to San Antonio or we drive up to Killeen. This time we all met in Austin. It was incredible.

To start off we all met inside the state capitol building. They said they were in the basement, in reality they were on the second floor. Funny thing...in that building if you're in the hallways you really can't tell where you are. It's when you wander into the center of the building you realize that you are indeed on another floor.

Once we found them we wandered the halls; went to see some offices. There is one guy in the building that has his office set up like an old time soda shop. No kidding! Did I get photo...no, they would not have turned out. However, I do plan on going back during the week sometime to capture the office! It was the coolest!

We went to Toy Joy, the coolest toy store outside of Archie McPhee's. All in all it was just an awesome day.

If you haven't been to Austin, or even if you have, there are some places you must check out. The Capitol building, go down Guadalupe and check out the HUGE chess board next to the library, keep going and go across the river near UT. Check out the campus, then go to Toy Joy, from there go play some frisbee golf, and then go eat at Freddies! Before you finish up the day head to Round Rock and go to IKEA.

All in all Austin, Texas is GREAT. If you know any Pagans...it only gets that much better. We had a great time. We had each of the elements covered...so they stood on the star and represented well.

Blessed Be!