Dishonesty and Arrogance

There is so much to be fired up at right now in Arizona Politics. We have the SB 1070 issues going national. We have a nasty fight between McCain and Hayworth which is now just plain entertaining. We have Arpaio and his buddy Andy Thomas shopping around in several counties to indict state officials with no evidence. And we have an arrogant US Congressional candidate(David Schweikert) already admitting he has won the primary and is going to save the rest of his money for the General Election. Apparently this is based on a poll he had done, yet won't release the polling numbers.

Of the issues I have listed, the latter issue is probably the least important to most of you in CD5, but it is burning my hide because I have done a lot of research on Schweikert and am frustrated with his politics. I thought this might be a good time to share my knowledge to which I have documentation (AZ public records) backing it all up.

I am a strong proponent of everyone being an educated voter. We all need to research all candidates and propositions that are on our ballots. Educated voters make this country GREAT!

What is so amazing to me is that I live in a predominantly Republican District (with about 130,000 Republicans and 110,000 Democrats) and 2 years ago David ran against Harry Mitchell and lost by around 28,000 votes. I found out that in the history of our district every other Repbulican candidate has received 10% more of the districts votes than the Democratic candidate, and David actually lost by 10%. This is a total of 20% less votes than past Republican candidates. How does this happen? Let's learn from the past and not make the same mistakes. We have to get Harry Mitchell out of Congress and David Schweikert has proven that he can NOT get Mitchell out. This is not personal. This is about our liberties and freedoms which Mitchell is destroying along with Reid and Pelosi.

My research:
I found it is so much easier to research candidates if they have been an elected official. Lots of public records. Do your own research, you might find important info that everyone needs to know, because as you know, we can not rely on the media.
Back when David was the County Treasurer, he continued giving money to school districts that were not operating with in their budgets because they had outstanding bills to pay. (Known today as a "Bail-out" which he now says he would not support if he were elected.) At the Board of Supervisor's meeting in November 2006, in which the board was trying to get to the bottom of a 4.2 million dollar deficit drawn from the treasurer's special fund, David did not show up, but sent his employee Mr. Partridge to answer on David's behalf. He told the Board that they were investing in negative balances by paying the School districts bills. Do you think that is a wise investment? Would you invest in a negative balance? One Board member got upset for good reason and said that there is no such thing in the "real world of finances." David lives in a world where he just comes up with this crap to save face.

I also found out that during his time as treasurer the Maricopa County Health Care District unanimously voted to fire the County Treasurer because there was too much risk. (This was from a MIHS Board meeting dated Octoober 22, 2007) This required an act of legislation to change this.

I support Susan Bitter Smith. Jim Ward claims she is a career politician. A career politician is someone who gets paid. Susan is a non-compensated elected official currently on the CAP Board. Before that she was elected to a school board, also not paid. When she served on the Scottsdale City Council she was paid, but that is the only paid elected position in which she has been elected. I don't think that one paid elected position can categorize her as a career politician. She has been instrumental in keeping taxes down on my property taxes for the last 10 years or so as a CAP board member. I know her to be fiscally responsible and the best person to represent me in Washington. What I also like about her is: not only is she a successful business owner, she already has many contacts in DC and I believe she can really make a difference representing me. She also makes herself available to talk to you. If you have questions she is simply a call or an email away. I love that!

I am only one person, but I am one of many supporting Susan. Just take a look at who is behind her. Susan has been endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, the Arizona Police Association, and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. Here is a quote from ,"I don’t have to tell you how important the outcome of this election is to all of us in law enforcement. It is critical that we elect candidates that are prepared to fight to secure the border and to insure that we have the tools we need to protect the public!"

I hope you take the time to research all candidates and issues before voting and encourage your family and friends to do the same!

Cinqo de Mayo in America

I was wondering where I was living? It feels like I have been transported to a different country with few freedoms and the government telling us what we should do and think. As I understand it Cinqo de Mayo is simply the celebration over the victory of one battle between France and Mexico back in the early 1800's - It is not their Independence Day (which is in September) so it really is just a reason to go out for Mexican food and have Margaritas. It is a celebration that is not even celebrated throughout Mexico - so why is this SO important to those in the United States? Well probably, this year, because of Bill 1070. A law was passed here in AZ to simply put into law here in the state exactly what the federal law says. Maybe now the law will be enforced this time. Illegal aliens are not bad people. There are wonderful families and people who want to come here and make a better life for their families. This is honorable and they should go about LEGALLY finding a way to America. The reality is: that illegal criminals, drug runnings across the border, and kidnappings that are linked to Mexican illegals have been the reason it becomes more difficult for people to come over the border to create a better life and enjoy the liberties here in America.

Four high school boys wearing t-shirts with the American Flag on May 5, 2010 (Cinqo de Mayo) were suspended from school because they refused to take them off. Where do we LIVE? Mexico? It is obvious they wanted to make a statement, but it was a peaceful statement of Country Pride. The Principal's name that sent the boys home is Rodriguez. Doesn't Rodriguez love the country in which he is employed?
Sharpton and his "peap" came here this week and got people riled up and thinking that we are discriminating - It makes me want to puke! He is convincing people that cops are going to go around checking ID's and throwing people out based on the color of their skin. This is ridiculous. They have to be pulled over or picked up for criminal acts or violations of the law - at this point if they do not have the correct paperwork to prove they are legal, they need to be sent home. This has been the law for as long as I have been here, however it is not being enforced.

I man goes to the Suns game on May 5, 2010 wearing a shirt that says "VIVA LOS 1070". He was sitting 2 rows behind the Spurs so the cameras could pick it up easily. Security came and escorted him out of the building because it could cause a problem. The problem wouldn't be the man with the shirt - the problem would be the people who have a problem with this and may want to start a fight. I think security should be aware of the man and be ready to arrest anyone that violates that man's rights rather than have a security guard take away his rights first, which are, by the way, protected under the 1st Amendment. But, sounds like protecting law abiding, peaceful, legal residents of America is not a priority.

And isn't it interesting that May 6th, the day after Cinqo de Mayo, is our National Day of Prayer?

Temple Wedding off limits to non-Mormons

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2010/03/29/20100329mormon-temple-wedding-family-not-allowed.html

Above is the link to an interesting article written in the Arizona Republic March 28th.
I thought the article was well written and respectful to both sides of the issue.

In the Fall of 1990, I found myself in a very similar situation. My parents could not attend my wedding. My father and brother are not members of the LDS church and eventhough my mother was, she was not "worthy" to enter the temple. The word "worthy" seems to have such a negative feel to it. Unworthy does not mean you are not of worth. Heavenly Father sees us all equally in his eyes and we are all worthy of his love and worthy to turn to Him forever. The misconception is not that members or non-members are not worthy - It is that there are criteria to entering the temple. There are rules. Just as there are rules to enter the Kingdom of God when we leave this earth. Just as there are rules or laws everywhere we go. Even bars and casino have rules! We are surrounded by rules that help protect us whether they are given to us by our government, parents, church leaders, employers, etc. The guidelines in the temple are simply that - rules to protect us. The temple is a holy place in which no "unclean" thing should enter. Are their LDS temple-recommend holders that enter the temple "unclean"? I believe there are. These are the ones that slip through the cracks. Is it fair? NO! The temple is not a secret - it is sacred and the Lord wants His temples dotting the earth and spreading heaven around and blessing His children.

I think it is so sad that the mother in this article puts so much emphasis on the "wedding day". Wedding Day's are beautiful memorable days for families. They are family reunions. But one spectacular wedding day means nothing if your marriage doesn't last. If society put more emphasis on preserving families and less emphasis on the extravagances of wedding days, and the family feuds and bitter feeling on wedding days, we would live in a better place.

I understand her profession as a wedding planner makes this even more difficult for her. But to be this upset that your child is getting married to his spouse in an LDS temple, floors me. She has a son who has chosen a religion and is faithful to that religion that promotes eternal principles of love and family. Who would be upset with this? This mother is blessed beyond belief and she is blind to it and it could cause her to lose her son and his family if she is bitter about this "wedding day." Think of some of the other endless possibilities that could have happened to her son: He could have eloped, he could have fallen away from the Catholic Church (and LDS church) and become completely "non-religious" and chosen not to get married. He could have married an atheist........
The mother is not angry that she could not attend the wedding. She is subconsciously angry that her son is a Mormon and has chosen a different path than what she had planned. It is laughable that there is a petition going around to have the LDS church allow civil weddings right before the temple weddings - like it is done in other countries. The only reason that is done in other countries is because the governments do not recognize our ceremonies as a marriage in their countries. We live in a Free country and are blessed that our governement recognizes all churches' marriage ceremonies as legitimate marriages. Do you really want to go down that road where the government needs to regulate the churches marriage ceremonies? Because that is what would happen. You can have a civil wedding first, you just need to wait a year before you can have an eternal marriage and beautiful thing is that the couple can choose what they want to do.

If one of my children decided to be baptized a Catholic, was faithful to that religion, and chose to get married in a beautiful Cathedral, I would be sad that this child left the LDS church, but I would encourage them to be faithful to their commitment, stay close to the Lord, and I would be so happy for them on their wedding day and would be there to support them not only on their wedding day but more importantly for the rest of my life. Let's put more emphasis on preserving families rather than wedding days.

Proud Momma (aka "Crazy Momma")

My husband received a call on his cell several weeks ago on a Sunday evening as we were visiting our "family" (really close friends who were crazy enough to adopted us into their family) in Mesa for our weekly Sunday Dinner. He came into the dining room to tell me that the Stake Presidency is asking our oldest son, 10 years old, to speak in Stake Conference.
"What!? Can they do that? Can they ask a 10 year old to speak in front of 800 people? Are they allowed to do this?" Everyone in the room was beaming with enthusiasm as I freaked out. "Does it have to be of a spiritual nature? or could he talk about video games, because I think he could handle that," I commented. (What still amazes me is his interest, knowledge and skill level on video games because - WE DON'T HAVE ANY! - he gets all his experience at friends' houses).
After I let it sink in for a minute and accept that this truly is an honor and would be a great experience for him, I find him in the back room watching TV. I sit next to him, get his attention and tell him that Daddy just got a call from the Stake Presidency and they are asking if you would like to speak in Stake Conference next month. His eyes got really big (cow eyes) and his jaw dropped to the floor and he stopped breathing. I started laughing at his response.
He was still not breathing. I said, "(Son #1), are you OK. This is really an honor that they would choose you to be the youngest speaker out of the whole stake. What do you think? Would you like to do it? It is up to you."
Now his hand came up against his cheek. He took one breath, then paused again. Finally his jaw closed, his smile appeared and he said, "Yeah!" with great enthusiasm. The topic was Keeping our Baptismal Covenants. He was excited! (for a little while)
The next night after getting his homework done, he asked if he should start his talk. He went on LDS.org and found talks and articles online. He printed them out, read them, underlined things he liked. We had a few baptism books he went through too. He actually started writing. I wondered where my "real" son went.
Then I found him the next time we had time to work on the talk. I didn't push it. Several days later I set time aside just for the talk and made him work on it. He told me the things he wanted to say; like quotes he found, tree of life analogy, promises made at baptism, and the iron rod we have on earth to help us return home. He organized the main points. I helped him fill them in with scriptures and more quotes.
We even went to the church and practiced at the podium with microphone and all.
The night before Stake Conference, he was being very selfish and mean to his sister - (I did mention he was a 10 year old boy right?) so he went to his room. It was not pretty. He makes sure we know that he is NOT giving his talk the next day and we couldn't make him. I ignored him and Prayed REALLY hard!
He woke up the next morning. Got dressed for church in the clothes I set out for him. Got his papers together and practiced 2 more times for me. I knew he would do great!
He exceeded my expectations! I don't think he was nervous at all. He got several laughs and really enjoyed himself.
After Conference, complete strangers came up to him complimenting his talk and the way he presented. When I got to AJ through the crowd, he was surrounded be these cute 12 or 13 yr old girls, who were so sweet and telling him how cute he was and that he did such a great job. He is still laughing about that. What a great experience for him! I am SOOO Proud!

Beef Jerky Connoiseur

Summers in the motor home with my family were a treasured memory and a family tradition that began around 1976. One memory was our frequent stops at gas stations/convenient stores. Dad would get us anything we wanted - my mom gave up long ago trying to control the amount of sugar we had. On these road trips, Dad introduced me to beef jerky. So I quickly gave up on the candy and chips and went directly to the beef jerky. We would try different flavors at each stop, find our favorite brands. We had fun with this.
Back home, in Hawaii, we didn't stop much at convenient stores because we were in our busy routines so any beef jerky that my mom bought at the store was a real treat. It was not cheap and I really appreciated every bite.

I was home from college one summer and walked in the house to find a large cylinder container of jerky sticks. Eureka! I opened the container and started eating the jerky as I walk back to my room. This was different jerky. It was grainy, not enough salt, dry. I finished it. Went back for another piece to make sure I just didn't get a back piece. No it was the same, but I kept eating it.

I have to find mom and tell her this was not a good brand. I find her outside cleaning the pool. "Mom," I say. "Hey this jerky doesn't taste that good," as I continue chewing and swallowing between my words. Mom starts laughing and asks, "Are you eating the jerky that was on the counter?" I nod in the affirmative. She is giddy and says with a facial expression of disgust, "That is the new doggy treat I bought for Duffy (our little Maltese dog)." The was mortified because I had just swallowed the last bite. I turned around to go back in the house just horrified that I just ate dog food. Before I got to the back door mom stopped me and said, "Oh Bridget! You can have it, because Duffy wouldn't even touch it."

Fake it!

As I am sitting up on the stand with our ward choir last Sunday, my son leans over to my husband and says, "Daddy, why is mommy so mad!" He explained that I wasn't mad, I was just listening to the speaker and concentrating on what he is saying. This has got me thinking.... I had another experience a few years ago in Costco. I was having a great day - doing some needed Costco shopping and I make my way up to the cash register and the clerk says in a very concerned manner, "Is everything OK m'am?" I was so taken back by this! Then my smile came out and she was assured that I was just fine. I have been blessed with a natural frown (mad mamma look) if I am not smiling. I have also been blessed with a very big smile of which I am often very concscious of... let's just say you can often see more gums than teeth and often catch a glimpse of my wisdom teeth when laughing. "Big Mouth" is pretty accurate. So which Bridget do you want to be around? It is scary how unhappy I look in my relaxed / no-expression picture. And the second picture is most likely the Bridget ya'll know and want to be around.

So I start thinking I need to be more aware of my facial expressions and make sure the photo radar picks up a "happy mamma"driving next time. I also started thinking I need to Fake it more.

There is something very powerful in Faking it! I don't mean fake and lie about non-virtuous things - I mean when you are sad or angry, what good does it do to make sure everyone knows you are upset? Let's FAKE it! Attitudes are contagious. I can think of a handful of people in my life who make me smile just by looking at them - and that is because they are happy. It is not because they are having a "good day" or that they do not have trials. It is because they are happy! I was a pro at this in High School and College. No one (except family, best friends and room mates) knew that I was unhappy or struggling on any given day. Mainly because - I was faking it! I didn't want anyone to ask me what was wrong for fear I might start crying. I faked it! And because of that it made others happy and they enjoyed being around me - as I found out many years later. Wow what is wrong with that?

So my husband says to me last week, "Why can't you pretend to be excited to see me when I get home from work?" So I started thinking, "He's right!" - (don't tell him I was thinking that). So I have been experimenting with faking it. It WORKS! I actually start believing what I am Faking the first few times. It is like FAITH! If you act as if you have faith, your faith is increased and your testimony is strengthened. My sister-in-law Kim reminds me that doubt and fear can not exist with faith. So I put it out of my mind - fake if for a while and whala! things are better. It's like counting your blessings. One minute you are ticked, angry, feeling sorry for your self, then you start thinking about all the blessings in your life and Whala! you feel important and special again.

When I am tired and want to duct tape my kids mouths shut, I fake it and pretend I am on "The Nanny Show" and show my best side to the invisible camera's following me around. Wow! I can be a really good mom when I fake it. And the benefit is happier kids, happier husband and best of all happier Momma.

"PEACE MAN!"

Peace is something we all desire in our life. But it seems to mean different things for different people. I am in the process of defining “peace” in my life. I had a friend tell me that it is her new motto. PEACE. Since then I have started my quest to study peace. When someone says, “peace” it always seems to rub me wrong and I wanted to find out why and do some searching into the definition of peace. There is nothing wrong with peace – it is the goal of every family, community and country. I want to live in Peace like everyone else, however, I feel very strongly that creating peace does not mean we all take care of our own needs and stay out of the way, mind our own business and walk away and hide when we see total injustice as if we are blind to it. Often when peace is mentioned it is an expression of tolerance, acceptance and support of someone’s desires, life choices, actions, etc. This has nothing to do with peace, if you ask me.

Peace is preserving good and being prepared to fight wrong. It is also acting quickly when it is time to fight for that which is good!

I have been preparing for a family trip to Washington DC by doing a lot of reading about the founding fathers of America. What an amazing group of men who sacrificed and whose families sacrificed so much. These men understood that to have Peace they needed to fight that which is fundamentally wrong and unrighteous. They agreed that peace is preparing for war! Our Founding Fathers studied History much more than we do now. They learned from other civilizations what worked and what didn’t.

I was researching peace and came across this from Wikipedia: “Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus (aka “Vegetius”) was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what he tells us in his two surviving works: Epitoma rei militaris (also referred to as De Re Militari), and the lesser-known Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae, a guide to veterinary medicine.”

It was in Epitoma rei militaris that Vegetius had great insight into war and peace. I believe the fathers of our country were very aware of his writings. It is here that Vegetius said, "Let him who desires peace prepare for war."

There is much on-line about this subject. A majority of what I read during my research came from angry writers (their choice of words and language sounded angry to me – this is obviously my opinion). They made statements like, “If you want peace then stop preparing for war.” I believe that makes perfect sense to them, because I don’t think these people can take the meaning of that statement any further than the surface. They are not capable of understanding the ramifications.

There is so much evil lurking “under the surface” of society and it will not go away just because we have now stopped preparing for war and have called a truce. Evil will not soften its heart by us discontinuing war efforts. Evil will pounce on the opportunity and mock the fools that let down their guard.

I believe we can still be a peaceful people with love in our hearts for our brothers and sisters worldwide, and at the same time fight evil for the benefit of our families and values and everything else that is good. Pray everyday for our leaders and soldiers and their families. Get involved in your communities wherever you can and spread the Good!