Mommies Vote Too

Mitt Romney and His Supporters: The New York Yankees of the Republican Primary

February 1, 2012 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

As is often the case, my husband and I were discussing politics tonight. I mentioned that I had heard Sean Hannity comment on the level of emotion in these primaries. Basically, he was saying that those who support Mitt Romney have strong feelings against New Gingrich and vice versa. I could understand the point as I find myself with some fairly strong feelings on the ongoing Republican primaries. Still, my husband has a way of breaking it down in a way that makes it very simple. To him, this has become more like a sporting event – more to the point, a Red Sox-Yankees game. Now, if you’re not a Boston Red Sox fan or a New York Yankees fan, you may not completely understand his point. However, you’d have to be completely oblivious to the world of baseball to not know the level of animosity that exists between the fans of the Red Sox and the fans of the Yankees.

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I have spent many years lamenting the fact that the New York Yankees buy their championships by the sheer amount of money that they spend on their payroll. Yankees fans have pointed out that jealousy is not an attractive trait and have always claimed that it is more than the dollars spent. I didn’t used to agree, but then 2004 came to pass. My prayers were answered and, in the end, the amount of money spent was not the deciding factor. You may think I am crazy, but I truly believe that it came down to the heart and soul of the Red Sox Nation. Thousands of people (including me) became the most superstitious people on the planet. Friends of mine sat in the same spot to watch each game, sent text messages to the same people during the same innings, and wore the same clothing. I myself set fire to a shirt that featured the logos of both teams because each time I had worn it during a game, the Red Sox had lost. You can tell me otherwise, but I will always believe that the thousands of rituals we all participated in helped to propel our team to become the World Series Champions that year. Now I wonder if the same can be said for politics.

It’s common knowledge that Mitt Romney is outspending all of the other candidates. According to The Wall Street Journal, Romney outspent Newt Gingrich by a 5 to 1 margin and the gap is even larger when compared to the other candidates. So, the question for me is can Mitt Romney buy the primaries? Are we, as citizens of the United States and voters with our own minds, going to allow our votes be bought and paid for? God, I hope not. In the course of my life, I have often realized that I am an idealist. No matter how many times I watched my beloved Red Sox lose to the hated Yankees, I always had faith that they would win. (Admittedly, I had a lapse in faith after game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, but that faith was restored.) To that point, I still have faith in my fellow Americans. I think we are far smarter than many of the political pundits or those in the press would admit. I do not believe that we are cattle waiting for the prod to point us in the right direction. I hope I am right. I hope the American voters reward my faith the same way the Boston Red Sox did.

Filed Under: 2012 Election

An Open Letter to Fox News

January 3, 2012 By Cyndy 1 Comment

In recent weeks, I have been more and more frustrated when I watch Fox News. I could send them an email, but I imagine they receive thousands and mine would just be one more. Instead, I’ll share my thought with y’all.

Dear Fox News,

Before I even start this, I will say that this may not be an earth shattering revelation for everyone. Although I’d like to think I’ve always paid attention to the world around me, I know that I certainly have paid more attention since the 2008 election. Like many who are tired of a liberal media bias, I find a great deal of my news by watching Fox News. However, as today’s Iowa Caucus has approached, I have found myself less and less happy with the coverage provided by Fox News. In fact, I have become suspicious of the source that I once trusted and I am filled with more questions that answers after I watch some of the programming. Perhaps it is because I am trying to make my own assessment of the candidates that I am so frustrated by your spoon-feeding of Mitt Romney to me. Whether I turn on the O’Reilly Factor, Hannity or the Fox Report, I am faced with a presentation of all the reasons why I should vote for Mitt Romney. After weeks of this, I really want to know why your network is so focused on convincing me to vote for Mitt Romney.

One of my favorite segments on Hannity is Media Mash when Sean and Brent Bozell discuss recently reports in the media and show how different individuals were held to different standards by the liberal media. I always find it enlightening and entertaining to see how the gaffes of individuals such as Sarah Palin are treated far differently than the gaffes of President Barack Obama. Sadly, I now think that Mr. Bozell could do a segment showing how your network reports on the candidates vying for the Republican nomination. I don’t think he’d have to do too much digging to be able to see that Fox News is not affording the same respect and level of unbiased reporting to each candidate.

I have been astounded by the number of times I have seen Karl Rove interviewed so that he can tell us once again that Romney is the candidate that can’t beat Obama. If I have to hear Ann Coulter tell me one more time that Romney is going to be the Republican presidential nominee, I may hurl something at my television! Tonight, a group of citizens will have their say in Iowa. The right to vote is not just an obligation it is a blessing and it is one that the media seems to want to minimize. It is as if we are being led to believe that we need not go vote during this primary season because the political commentators and political pundits have done all of the work for us and they have it figured out. It is as if your network is saying no need for due diligence dear voter, we’ve already done it for you. Sadly, no you have not. You haven’t even come close. You have opted to highlight what you feel is important and newsworthy, often skimming over the actual facts.

I expect this kind of reporting from MSNBC and CNN. I expected more from you. I expected you to respect that I am a conservative, not try to make me a moderate. I expected that I would not have to so rigorously fact check the news source I had come to trust. I was wrong.

Filed Under: 2012 Election, The Media

Rerun: Political Pundits and Sports Reporters: Kindred Spirits?

December 13, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

I think it’s always good to look back at the end of the year at some of what has transpired throughout the year. I’ve been looking back at some of the posts written for this blog this year and will be sharing some of my favorites this week.

Political Pundits and Sports Reporters: Kindred Spirits?

I am the wife of a faithful and devoted Dallas Mavericks fan, so you would be right to guess that there’s joy in our home following the Mavericks’ win over the Miami Heat. We are celebrating. We are also frustrated by the coverage of that win by the national media. It is as if they are reporting on how Miami lost the Championship instead of how Dallas won the championship. Each day brings new theories on why they were not able to win. You see, the conventional wisdom among the sports media pointed to Dallas losing the championship. Therefore, the media now has to explain what went wrong.

You may be asking yourself what the NBA Championship has to do with politics. It’s a valid question. I didn’t really have an answer until after watching the post-debate coverage for the last 24 hours. That’s when the light bulb went off. Both the sports media and the politics pundits try to tell us who is going to win the race. Both become so vested in their predictions that they can’t see the forest for the trees. Once their predictions are made, their reports must remain aligned with the prediction or else they must admit defeat. (Continue reading)

Filed Under: The Media

What Happened to 60 Minutes?

December 12, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

Earlier tonight, I found myself at home alone and in sole possession of the remote control. Although I think I broke some sort of law as a resident of the DFW area, I opted not to watch the Dallas Cowboys play football. Instead, I turned on 60 Minutes which I had not watched in years. In just a short amount of time, I was longing for the 60 Minutes of my childhood or at least of my young adulthood. This was not the 60 Minutes I had respected as a news source. No, this was so skewed that I honestly believe that it should have started with a disclaimer that it was paid for by the Committee to Re-elect Barack Obama. Then I might have still had some respect for those folks who refer to themselves as reporters or journalists on that show. Sadly, I do not.

I no longer know if the media has changed that much in my lifetime or if I was simply naive in my younger days. I had been under the impression that it was the role of the media to seek out facts and report those. It has been my belief that the media had a responsibility to those on the other side of the newspaper, the Internet, the radio or the TV screen – a responsibility to tell the truth in an impartial manner. That belief was even further shrunk this evening as I watched Steve Kroft hold the hand of the President and help him craft the message he wished to deliver with that interview. It made me sad. It made me angry.

I don’t have much else to say on the subject other than to ask y’all a question. Tell me, how much further will we let the media slide away from impartiality before we demand more?

If you must watch the interview, you can find it here.

Filed Under: Sad But True, The Media

Mitt Romney: Romneycare was “one of the greatest things that had to happen”

December 11, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

Note: Alan Moore from Moore Common Sense provided this to me back in May on the day that Mitt Romney gave the speech referenced here. As we get closer to the Republican primaries, I though it was appropriate to share this again. If you have not yet had the opportunity to stop by Moore Common Sense, please do so today!

Today Mitt Romney will give a speech in attempts to shed the label that Romneycare is no different than Obamacare. But in his last run for President, he didn’t back away from it at all. Below is a video of him in 2007 on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. His comments are pretty telling.

I genuinely have some major concerns about Mitt Romney. However, in this political climate if he says he would work to undo Obamacare I believe he would have no choice but to do so as president. I also believe that he is the type of person who will say whatever to get elected and that is major cause for concern. If you don’t know where someone really stands on an issue then you haven’t a clue as to what he would do as president. We’re seeing that now with Barack Obama where neither the left or the right is getting what they expected. That was the biggest knock on Romney in 2007 when health care wasn’t a major issue. Immigration and the war in Iraq were by far more talked about issues in the Republican primary. It wasn’t until late in 2007 and early 2008 that the economy became the focal point.

As I’ve been saying since February I still believe Mitt Romney will win the nomination. Recent trends seem to point that way. He’s leading in the national polls average. He is blowing it away in New Hampshire. He’s polling 2nd in Iowa behind Mike Huckabee, who I don’t think is going to run. It’s a bit early to put too much stock in polls but considering Romney hasn’t even visited Iowa or South Carolina this year, the fact he’s up so high is interesting to say the least.

One caveat, this video was meant to play on class warfare. The theme is evil rich Republicans versus the hardworking blue collar Americans. I apologize for posting a video with such nonsense but this was the only clip I could remember of him talking about Romneycare as a candidate in 2007.

Go to 1:40 where he says:

“One of the things that I’m proud of being able to do in my state is putting on..trying..you know I was governor of the state next door…putting in..and trying a plan that gets everyone health insurance. And that was in my opinion one of the greatest things that had to happen and I’d like to see, frankly, all of our…”

It’s too bad the diner worker cuts him off before he can finish. It’s possible she saved him from further embarrassment if the end of that sentence was “frankly all of our country should follow such a model.” Wouldn’t that of been a juicy little tidbit?

Speed ahead to 4:50 and this should cast away any notions that he believes what they did were a mistake:

“I’m proud of what we did there and it could be a model in a lot of ways for a lot of states like New Hampshire”

Filed Under: 2012 Election

The Polls Don’t Matter To Me

December 5, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

Several months ago I wrote about the media’s obsession with Donald Trump’s possible Presidential Campaign and the resulting lack of coverage of the other candidates. Sadly, this pick and choose media coverage has become the norm and continues as we approach the Republican Presidential Primaries. The focus has shifted from Trump to Bachmann to Perry to Cain and now to Gingrich. Each time there is a shift, we hear more about one candidate and less about the others. Even worse, the media has determined that Mitt Romney will be the standard for comparison. As each candidate rises in the polls, he or she is evaluated on their ability to run against President Obama as opposed to Mitt Romney’s ability to run against President Obama. Political pundits including Ann Coulter have repeatedly stated that Mitt Romney will be the nominee as if it is a foregone conclusion and we can just all stay home while they decide for us. I have a problem with that.

I have not decided who will receive my vote in the Republican Presidential Primary. I’m not going to let the media decide for me. I don’t care what the polls say. As the candidates announced their intent to run for President of the United States,, I kept an open mind. On some fronts, I made my decision sooner than later based on a candidate’s experience, their positions on the issues and/or what they had to say. I knew pretty early on that I would not vote for Thaddeus McCotter, John Huntsman, Ron Paul or Mitt Romney. Other candidates such as Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich made it to my short list. Herman Cain took himself off my short list, but the other three candidates remain. And, yes, I do know that Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have slipped in the polls. I just don’t care. The polls don’t matter to me.

From the moment these candidates announced their candidacy to the moment I cast my vote, I have and will continue to evaluate their positions, their statements, their actions and their history. Will make a decision based on what candidate matches my own beliefs, viewpoints and such. I will not let the media decide for me as I don’t think predictions are their strong point. If I believed the media, I wouldn’t have believed that the Boston Red Sox could win the World Series in 2004 or that the Dallas Mavericks would win the NBA Championship in 2011. The media predicted neither one of those successes would occur. They were wrong. I am hopeful that they are wrong in their prediction that a Republican Presidential nominee has been selected before even one primary has been held.

Filed Under: 2012 Election

Get Involved In Your Child’s Education

December 4, 2011 By Cyndy 1 Comment

As many of you have no doubt heard, a group of second graders in Nanuet, New York had their beliefs about Santa Claus dashed by their teacher. In the midst of a geography lesson, the teacher allegedly informed the 7 and 8-year-old children in her class that it was their parents who purchased their presents and placed them under the tree. She allegedly told them that Santa Claus did not exist. As a mother, my immediate thought is to wonder how I would feel if my child had been in that class. To say that I would be outraged would be an understatement. In my opinion, it is the role of a teacher to provide facts not values. It is not only my job, but I believe it is my right, to teach my child about values. For a teacher to overstep the bounds as an educator is quite serious to me and, as a parent, this event would force me to ask additional questions about this particular teacher. Obviously these children came home and told their parents about this incident, but how often are they taught other information not in line with their parents values? I imagine that if this teacher were willing to go out this far on a limb about Santa Claus, he or she is probably sharing some other value judgments that may be inappropriate.

No matter what you think of this teacher’s alleged actions, I think that there is still a lesson for all parents and it is not a new lesson. It would be nice to think that we could send our children off to school and assume that the educational system will do its job. I don’t think that’s the case and I am not sure it really ever was. If you are a parent and you are not integrally involved with your child’s education, you are doing a disservice to your children and to yourself. I know that we are all busy, but there is very little, if anything, that is more important than our children. So, get involved. Make a point of meeting the teachers and administrators at your child’s school. Don’t wait for their to be a problem to meet these folks, instead develop a relationship from the onset. I believe it is important for a teacher to know that I, as a parent, have a role in my child’s education. I want to know about the curriculum, the teacher, the administrators and the process for resolving any problems. I want to know about the person who is educating my child. Now, I don’t want to delve into their personal life as I do believe that is crossing a line over into their freedoms. However, I want to know where they went to school, how long they have been teaching and to be able to get a sense of their teaching style. A teacher will spend a great deal of time with your child, so it’s in your best interests to learn about that person.

I like to think of it in this way. When I was selecting a daycare facility and then a preschool for our daughter, I did research. I sought our reviews from other parents, visited the facilities and gauged my child’s reactions to the facilities when we did visit. In terms of a daycare facility, we selected one that was focused more on education than babysitting so that her home life and time in daycare were in sync. We also selected a facility that maintained surveillance on all of the classrooms. As our daughter grew and it was time to select a preschool, we opted for one run by our church because it is important to us that a belief in God is a part of her education. She has not yet turned 4, but we have already begun to discuss the options available when she does reach kindergarten age. Admittedly, I am not impartial when it comes to my child and I imagine you are not either when it comes to your own children. Use that as a strength and make sure that you are the advocate for your child within the education system. Demand what your child deserves and take nothing less. Your child will thank you for it later.

Filed Under: My Rants, Sad But True

Flashback: Make Mine Freedom

December 3, 2011 By Cyndy 1 Comment

Thank you to Royal Legacy for sharing this video. I encourage you to watch it and see how so much of what was said in this 1948 video is true today. I wish everyone would watch it.

Filed Under: Freedom

Give Me a G! Google+ Hop

November 30, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Gimme a G! Google+ Hop! If you are a WordPress blogger like me, you know that Google will be bidding farewell to Google Friend Connect which makes Google+ all the more important to us. So, let’s hop and help each other build our Google+ Page Fan Base! Just a few ground rules for this hop. To be in the hop, you must follow the hosts listed in the first 3 spots and the featured blog or business in the #4 spot. The hosts will follow you back, but please leave a quick note to let us know that you stopped by so that we can return the favor. Please only link up Google+ pages as all other links will be deleted and no spam. This hop will open each week on Wednesday night and run until Thursday at midnight CST. That’s it! Link up and start hopping!

If you would like to be featured in the #4 spot, please contact me via email or leave a comment on this post.

Feel free to grab the our button, help spread the word through Google+, Facebook, Twitter and such! More than anything, have some fun!

NOTE: In order for the Google+ URLs to work from the linky, please remove the “https://” at the beginning of the URL. This is not necessary if you have already created a shortened vanity URL.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Texas Gambling Debate Isn’t About Gambling For Me

November 20, 2011 By Cyndy Leave a Comment

This weekend I had the chance to attend a meeting of the Rockwall Tea Party and listen to a presentation on Gaming & Racing in Texas as a Formula for Failure in Texas. The presentation was given by Ray Myers, Chairman of the Kaufman County Tea Party and he shared a great deal of information on the efforts of some to legalize gambling within the state of Texas. I’ll be honest and tell you that this is an area I had not delved into much and prior to the meeting I would have considered myself a supporter of legalized gambling in Texas. I wouldn’t say that the information presented completely changed my mind, but it has made me question my stance. It has also made me realize that my distrust of politics on the national level should not be limited to the national level. In my zeal to pay attention to the Presidential election, Congressional failures and corruption at every turn, I forgot that some of those very things go on within my own state. Recent events at Penn State should have made me realize that corruption can be found in so many areas and at so many levels, but I didn’t make that connection. I suppose it is the idealist in me. No matter what I have seen or read, there is some part of me that wants to believe that there are still those who want to do the right thing and those who actually do the right thing. I imagine there are those folks, but unfortunately, I see more evidence to the contrary on a daily basis. That is why it is important for me and for you to become and to stay diligent as voters and as members of our own communities. Even if you are not from Texas, I would ask that you read this. It might help you to see what I didn’t see when you are looking at issues and politics in your own state.

What I learned this weekend is that there are many who would benefit from the legalization of gambling in Texas who are using their money and their power to influence the outcome. Here are things that I learned that I did not know.

Joe Straus, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, is one of the folks clearly on the side of legalized gambling in Texas. I did not know that his family has been in the horse racing business for years and that he was the former owner of Retama Park northeast of San Antonio. Although he has transferred ownership to his father, that still seems a little too close for objectivity on the issue.
The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives has a fund, the Texas Leadership Fund, which he can use to make donations to other politicians. I honestly did not know this before this weekend and it seems silly to me that an elected official can make contributions to other elected officials who are in the same governing body.
Straus makes contributions from this fund and his personal funds to members of the Texas House of Representatives. As an example, he contributed over $100,000 to the campaign fund of Texas State Representative Linda Harper-Brown in 2010.
There are several Political Action Committees (PACs) that can be tied back to a gentleman by the name of Steve Mostyn, President of the Trail Lawyers Association in Texas. Mr. Mostyn is an avid supporter of the Democrat Party as evidenced by the millions of dollars he has contributed to defeat Conservatives. Many of these PACs are named in such as a way as to detract from their purpose. Examples includes Texans for Insurance Reform, Back to Basics and Texans for Public Education. Although he is a staunch supporter of Democrats, he also makes contributions to Republicans through those PACs. Mr. Straus is one of the recipients of those contributions.
Mr. Straus has also received contributions from Chickasaw Nation. A Chickasaw Nation subsidiary, Global Gaming, was the winning bidder of Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Those are the things I have learned, but I still have a lot more questions than answers. It is true that the money trail is there to find if you do the research, but it’s not quite as simple as a quick Internet search. It takes hours to pour over campaign finance reports to follow the trail and most of us do not have that kind of time. Sadly, I think that is what many count on. It appears that many elected officials are hopeful that we, as voters, either don’t have the time or won’t take the time to scour the reports and search out the trail. I’m not completely naive, I have always known that there was an element of “money changing hands” behind the scenes. I think perhaps my issue is that it has gone too far.

I still haven’t decided if I am for or against legalized gambling in the state of Texas. However, I am against any elected official personally profiting from the outcome. I am also against any elected official contributing to the campaigns of other elected officials within the same governing body. Whether it is simply an appearance of impropriety or actual impropriety, it doesn’t make sense to me. Elected officials have a responsibility to represent those who have elected them, not those who have the largest checkbooks. I do not think that any elected official should be able to accept any campaign contribution from any individual or organization that is not from within the district represented. I guess in the end, I haven’t been convinced one way or another about legalizing gambling in Texas. I have, however, been convinced that there is a serious need for reform of the campaign contribution laws and the transparency provided by those laws. As a voter, I want to log on, search for my state representative or senator and see the source of the campaign funds. I do not want to have hunt down the roots of a PAC. Is that really so much to ask?