Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ammendum to Arkansas
Wendy pointed out the hiking/camping/watersports stuff in Arkansas. I do love all those things. My picture of the bridge on my site is actually from a camping trip to Petit Jean. We just haven't found any good places to camp, hike, or waterski/wakeboard in SE Arkansas... but I love Petit Jean!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Political Research and comments
I've been doing a little political research and here is a beginning list of what I've found with a few comments... more to come
Abortion
Clinton favors abortion rights, but supports family planning.
Obama- favors abortion rights "it's an individual choice"
McCain- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)
Huckabee- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)
Energy
Clinton- reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Sen. Clinton opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and voted for a bill to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (this seems like a contradiction to me).
Obama- reduce dependence on foreign oil, cap and trade on emissions
Again- I'm not too keen on the whole cap and trade on emissions
"We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation and job creation and an incentive for businesses that will serve as the model for the world."
McCain- cap and trade on emissions
His plan would allow companies to trade excess carbon emission capacity and require emissions to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020. (Seems like it allows some companies to be irresponsible for the right price)
Huckabee- wants to gain energy independence by his second term
"I ultimately see this as a combination of solar, wind, hydrogen cells, especially biofuels and ethanol, because we can grow it through our agricultural economy, which would be great to a state like ours. But it would also include nuclear and clean coal and any other form that we can find that we can produce that makes us where we no longer are going to be dependent upon foreign oil sources." (This is a big deal to me growing up in an oilfield town)
I mmigration
Clinton- favors immigration reform and says we should track people in the country
She has attracted criticism for giving different positions on a now-failed New York proposal to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses. Her campaign at first indicated support for the program, but Clinton later said she would not back such a plan. (FLIP-FLOP)
Obama- wants path to citizenship and immigration reform
Sen. Obama says that he would not grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. He supports a system through which illegal immigrants could earn citizenship by paying a fine, obeying the law, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind legal immigrants. (Sounds Pretty Fair)
McCain- Sen. McCain wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would improve border surveillance and enforcement, strengthen penalties against those who hire illegal immigrants and stop document fraud. He wants to develop a sensible guest worker program that allows illegal immigrants to earn legitimate status.
(He's more lenient than some, but it seems as if he goes back and forth on how to handle this issue)
Huckabee-Gov. Huckabee favors allowing illegal aliens in the country to apply for legal status by registering with authorities, paying a fine, getting guest worker permits, learning to speak English and paying taxes. Such applicants for legal status must not be allowed to jump ahead of legal applicants. He says earned legalization is not an amnesty.
(Also lenient, but his voting is consistent- I do think that programs that seems attainable to illegals will be more likely to "work" and)
Amanda
Abortion
Clinton favors abortion rights, but supports family planning.
Obama- favors abortion rights "it's an individual choice"
McCain- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)
Huckabee- thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned (pro-life)
Energy
Clinton- reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Sen. Clinton opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and voted for a bill to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (this seems like a contradiction to me).
Obama- reduce dependence on foreign oil, cap and trade on emissions
Again- I'm not too keen on the whole cap and trade on emissions
"We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation and job creation and an incentive for businesses that will serve as the model for the world."
McCain- cap and trade on emissions
His plan would allow companies to trade excess carbon emission capacity and require emissions to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020. (Seems like it allows some companies to be irresponsible for the right price)
Huckabee- wants to gain energy independence by his second term
"I ultimately see this as a combination of solar, wind, hydrogen cells, especially biofuels and ethanol, because we can grow it through our agricultural economy, which would be great to a state like ours. But it would also include nuclear and clean coal and any other form that we can find that we can produce that makes us where we no longer are going to be dependent upon foreign oil sources." (This is a big deal to me growing up in an oilfield town)
I mmigration
Clinton- favors immigration reform and says we should track people in the country
She has attracted criticism for giving different positions on a now-failed New York proposal to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses. Her campaign at first indicated support for the program, but Clinton later said she would not back such a plan. (FLIP-FLOP)
Obama- wants path to citizenship and immigration reform
Sen. Obama says that he would not grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. He supports a system through which illegal immigrants could earn citizenship by paying a fine, obeying the law, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind legal immigrants. (Sounds Pretty Fair)
McCain- Sen. McCain wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would improve border surveillance and enforcement, strengthen penalties against those who hire illegal immigrants and stop document fraud. He wants to develop a sensible guest worker program that allows illegal immigrants to earn legitimate status.
(He's more lenient than some, but it seems as if he goes back and forth on how to handle this issue)
Huckabee-Gov. Huckabee favors allowing illegal aliens in the country to apply for legal status by registering with authorities, paying a fine, getting guest worker permits, learning to speak English and paying taxes. Such applicants for legal status must not be allowed to jump ahead of legal applicants. He says earned legalization is not an amnesty.
(Also lenient, but his voting is consistent- I do think that programs that seems attainable to illegals will be more likely to "work" and)
Amanda
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Arkansas
Since I listed all those things I love in NM, I thought I'd give some love to Arkansas.
Things I love/will miss:
* The people from Journey: I wish we could just take all of you with us... we hope to have some visitors out west
* trees- it's pretty much yucca plants and a few mesquite bushes
* water- except for the prior mentioned yucky rain mess
* our wonderful neighbors- where else in the world do your neighbors bake you cakes and feed your husband when you're out of town?
Things I love/will miss:
* The people from Journey: I wish we could just take all of you with us... we hope to have some visitors out west
* trees- it's pretty much yucca plants and a few mesquite bushes
* water- except for the prior mentioned yucky rain mess
* our wonderful neighbors- where else in the world do your neighbors bake you cakes and feed your husband when you're out of town?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
New Mexico
So it's been an incredibly long time since I've posted... life has been very crazy with work and getting the house ready to put on the market and looking for/starting a second job. Honestly I haven't had much to say and most of you have heard my ranting and raving about how angry I am with the racist people in my life. It's also amazing how God has totally changed our plans for the next stage in our life. At the end of my school contract Justin and I will be moving back to Hobbs, NM, the town where I grew up and my parents still live. I never thought in a million years that I would go back (one reason I attended college 12 hours away from home). I think God definitely has a sense of humor.
A few things I AM looking forward to:
* having people to speak Spanish with (Justin says he wants to learn, but it's hard to have a conversation with someone who can only say "hola!" and "como te lammo?")
* REAL MEXICAN FOOD- my mouth waters just thinking about it
* the realness of people- of course this doesn't apply to everyone, but it is frustrating to live with all the gossip (disguised as prayer requests), people who are deeply religious, but not relational
* desert rain- it smells incredible and is nothing like the yucky, sticky stuff we get here
* sunsets- without trees you can see parts of the sky you never knew existed
* being 3 hours away from the real mountains and 4 from the Rockies
I know God has a plan for us there and the more I pray about it, the more I believe it may be for my own parents. I suppose we will see...
A few things I AM looking forward to:
* having people to speak Spanish with (Justin says he wants to learn, but it's hard to have a conversation with someone who can only say "hola!" and "como te lammo?")
* REAL MEXICAN FOOD- my mouth waters just thinking about it
* the realness of people- of course this doesn't apply to everyone, but it is frustrating to live with all the gossip (disguised as prayer requests), people who are deeply religious, but not relational
* desert rain- it smells incredible and is nothing like the yucky, sticky stuff we get here
* sunsets- without trees you can see parts of the sky you never knew existed
* being 3 hours away from the real mountains and 4 from the Rockies
I know God has a plan for us there and the more I pray about it, the more I believe it may be for my own parents. I suppose we will see...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monticello Animal Shelter
Justin & I are starting to volunteer at the animal shelter here in Monticello. There are so many sweet dogs out there! My first mission is to start up a website with all the dogs pictures and bios. Here are a few pics of my favorites... (they're not the best pictures... the dogs were so excited and did not want to stay still... plus quite a few of them were scared of the camera... literally)
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Justin got me a new camera for our anniversary and since we don't have any kids to take endless pictures of... I took a ton of our babies. Here are just a few
To the left is Rita... Justin's baby... and probably one of the most spoiled dogs ever.
The silly looking black lab is my baby- Tigo. People are always scared of him, but he's the biggest baby... and he loves kids! When we lived in Little Rock he would continually get out and I always found him at the local elementary school playground.
The next three are dogs that we foster. We're currently working with an animal rescue out of Little Rock.
The next three are dogs that we foster. We're currently working with an animal rescue out of Little Rock.This is Bailey- dog #3. Justin found her on the side of the road near Dumas last January. She was a sad sack of bones. 
This is our latest addition. Apparently she doesn't like her picture taken, Justin found her out in the median on a highway near Dumas. We've been calling her "newbie" (since she's the new dog and we can't agree on a name). She is also up for adoption, but she's so sweet I just may want to keep her.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Culture Shock
So the longer I live in Arkansas (or the South) the more I am shocked by how different culture is here. A group of teachers and I were sitting having lunch one day this week and somehow the topic of interracial dating/marriage came up. I won't go into how I feel about that because that's another post in and of itself and it's not really the part of the conversation that shocked me. Eventually the conversation lead to church and one of the teachers said that if a black person were to walk into their church, they would probably be run out the door or at least made to feel uncomfortable enough that they would never return. I know things here are a lot more segregated than back home, but I was floored. How can people who claim to be children of God have so much hatred and prejudice for another human being? Do they not know that Jesus was not the white, blue eyed man portrayed in so many Americanized pictures hung in the fellowship hall. Did they ignore the "baptizing all nations" part of the great comission. Apparently they did not sing "Jesus loves the little children" growing up. It literally made me sick to my stomach that people could honestly feel like that was an acceptable thing to do... that their personal comfort and prejudice beliefs are more important than the kingdom.
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