Turkey For A Lab

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and I'm thankful already.  I'm thankful that I won't be standing in security at LAX airport or shivering in temperatures not meant for human life as I wait for my mother to pick me up in a place best known for snow days this time of year.  I'm thankful that I won't turn into a snowcone. Instead,  I'm nice and toasty here just a few miles from the fire place (read: wildfires) where the scent of burning leaves has finally dissipated.

I'm thankful that never again will I have to wear a pastel, rainbow-striped, full-body snowsuit or witness my grandmother "oohing and aahing" over my mother's homemade stuffing sludge, the likes of which no one, and I truly mean, no one but my grandmother (i.e. her mother) liked.  Several vintage bags of stuffing still sit in my mother's basement freezer with the dates of much too long ago... as the ice crystals can attest.  If stuffing sludge ag

ed like wine, we'd be selling it off the back porch by now.  

We were always a small family, but my mother ignored that little detail.  She always prepared enough for an army-- something that's still just as true as ever.  There was the Thanksgiving when potato peelings forced the garbage disposal to EXPLODE.  Gushing water...potato peelings... big blobs of bleached imprints on the floor-- one for every waterlogged potato peeling that landed on our linoleum.  Then, there was the Thanksgiving in which our 28 pound turkey refused to defrost even after two days in the bathtub.  

However, my favorite, favorite Thanksgiving involved not the meal or the desserts or quirky family episodes.  It involved leftovers, or shall I say, the one year that we didn't have any.  

See, if you

 live in the midwestern United States and your mother overcooks Thanksgiving (like mine always does, ) there's never enough room in the fridge or freezer for the leftovers that are sure to come.  But you nearly always have subzero midwest temperatures working in your favor.  Slide open that back porch door and voila!  It's like having a G I G A N T I C, industrial-sized freezer the size of your deck... literally! 

That year, as in every year prior, we marched outside to the back patio with platters and tupperware in hand.  Sweet potatoes... mashed potatoes... dark turkey... white turkey... brown-and-serve rolls, mounds and mounds of stuffing sludge, and slices of chocolate chip pecan pie (since pecan pie is just not rich enough on its own.)  

We built an altar of abandoned food right there on our porch, atop a dusting of freshly fallen snow.  Then, we scurried into the warmth of the living room and settled into couches where we could rest from the gluttony of Thanksgiving recreation and contemplate over a cup of hot cocoa.  

It was my brot

her who first saw the midnight flash of blackness.  No one listened to him; he was just a kid after all.  Then, I saw something-- a whoosh of black fur.  We heard a rattle and a crash.  Then a turkey carcass rolled across our front yard like a tumbleweed. At that point, everyone jumped to their feet and rushed to the back patio.  My mother witnessed the black shadow helping itself to our offering.  Not a split second later, her voice bellowed into the peaceful Thanksgiving night:

BO! GET OUTTA HERE!!! SCRAM!!! 

It was too late.  Bo, our neighbor's black labrador, had helped herself.  Freezer bags were mangled.  Mashed potatoes were smooshed into the snow. Turkey bones littered the yard.  "All our leftovers gone," my mother lamented.  We stood there, our heads held low-- even though the kid in me was secretly saying a prayer of thanks: no leftovers, f

or once!!! Hurray!

In the midst of destruction, as we stood in the darkness of that Thanksgiving night, my mother took a moment, then raised her head up high.  It was then that she reclaimed a bit of her Thanksgiving pride as she exclaimed victoriously-- 

"Well, look here.  The stuffing was left untouched!!!" 

Inside, she found a place in the freezer for the stuffing sludge-- where it still remains.

I don't get to visit my family or participate in any of the Thanksgiving Day family food rituals of years past, but I'm thankful for the mishaps and mistakes just as much as the triumphs.  And although I hate to admit it in print, I'm even thankful for that damn stuffing because it always triggers memories and has become, in a sense, family folklore.

Copyright 2008 Kliedle

Autograph Hounds of the Digital Age

Somewhere in my old bedroom there is a box scattered with TAB bottlecaps, E.T. collector cards, Viewmaster slide inserts, Little Golden Books, and my childhood autograph collection.  I treat each item like a relic, an invitation into my own past.  

Like very few kids today, I wrote letters-- letters to friends, letters to family far away, letters to pen pals across the globe, and letters to people I'd never met, people I admired.  

A segment of those letters spurred my childhood autograph collection.  I'd go to the public library and spend hours searching the gigantic celebrity address directory.  I wrote my "fan letters" in cursive, in bubble letters, in colored markers, in my very own handwriting. Sometimes I drew pictures on them and plastered them with stickers.  

I tossed each letter into the mail as if it were a wish I was sending off into the world beyond.  

I rarely asked for anything in return, but sometimes I politely asked for an autograph, if it really, really meant a lot to me.  Even if I never ever received a reply, the joy I felt in writing those letters was something I felt I could pass onto the recipient for the mere cost of a postal stamp.  I was always genuine and polite and very much a kid admirer.

I got replies -- thank yous from publicists stating that the celebrity no longer accepted fan letters (Jessica Tandy, at the time), signed glossy 8x10s (Cindy Crawford), thank yous with regrets (Shirley Temple--too many requests), and even my letter sent back to me (oddly) emblazoned in thin, purple magic marker (Bill Cosby.) 

Today, as I live in Los Angeles and work in entertainment, I see celebrities *not often* but much more often than the average person.  The magic is still there, like a sprinkling of pixie dust, but it's no longer a big deal.  They're just people, but part of me still wants to protect them.  As someone who came from the roots of being a genuine fan, I always honored the person I admired. That honor doesn't seem to exist much anymore in the age of Ebayers and paparazzi.  An autograph, a moment with a celeb, a splash of pixie

dust is nothing if it's not worth money-- lots and lots of money.  

Outsiders wanting in, people wanting a piece of the pie, folks thinking they can barge into the private life of a celebrity lunching at the table across the room just because they think they can, because they think that since celebrities have sold their souls to the public, they no longer deserve privacy.

A couple of weeks ago, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson were at Arclight Hollywood promoting their new film, Last Chance Harvey.  As the studio cars waited for them, several "fans" approached Dustin and shoved laserdiscs and DVDs in his face. Security got him into his car, but these "fans" persisted.  Dustin signed from the backseat, just so he could go home.  

I knew, as did Emma and Dustin, that these weren't real fans.  They were organized Ebayers and those laserdiscs? Probably for sale online somewhere.  There's no respect or sentimentality behind those autographs.  There's no story to tell or human connection involved.  As in many things, it's all about the bottom line... how much is that celebrity worth in the marketplace? They're not people, they're A-listers or D-listers and like stocks, their worth is weighed depending on the "going rate" on Amazon.

For every childhood autograph I collected, there is a story... a meeting, a letter, a connection.  I know there are still real fans out there, but something has been lost as civilization has entered the fast-paced, money-hungry digital age.  Shove another DVD in their face, explode another flashbulb, bully your way into their kid's birthday party because there's a chance that you could get that money shot.  It saddens me that there are so many out there who look at a celebrity and see nothing but dollar signs -- Dirty, dollar signs at the expense of others. Yeah, that's sexy.  

Copyright 2008 KLiedle

Photos by Bob Willoughby "The Graduate" and secretleaves paperworks/flickr

P.S. I still write letters... sometimes in colored pencils, sometimes in marker.  I still draw on boxes and plaster glittery stickers on things.  I like scratch and sniff.  

A kid still exists in all of us...

A Diverse Majority: Hollywood And Politics

Like many people, I got up early on election day.  I waited in line to cast my ballot for a most historic election.  By the end of the night, I was tired but elated and moved by the events that had unfolded before my eyes.  

A few days ago, I called my grandmother to get her take on the election.  She'd voted for McCain, but in the same breath, she explained that she didn't feel as confident about her McCain vote.  Still a conservative, she didn't think McCain wanted it as badly.  Still a conservative, she acknowledged that one has to be a little bit liberal to get things done.

My grandmother was born two years before women were given the right to vote.  She grew up in a world where a womans' future was in the home.  She grew up in a world where African-Americans were maids or drivers and minstrel shows were as common as vaudeville.  She spent time in Alabama where they had an African-American maid that pressed and starched my grandfather's dress shirts for a paltry 25 cents.  When my grandparents moved back to Nebraska, my grandmother asked the woman to join them up North.  She responded that she couldn't.  She'd said that they're prejudice in the South and just as prejudice in the North, but they hide it." She'd rather live in the South than in a place where [she felt] people tried to hide their feelings toward her and her race. 

This was a year of change--not only in politics but in Hollywood.  The real America has begun to emerge.  This is no longer a country of a white majority, but a patchwork quilt of the fair-skinned, the dark-skinned, Native Americans, Latinos, Chinese, Gay and Lesbians, and a list of people too diverse to mention here.  They are no longer "minorities."  

Together, we are all a diverse majority.  

With success of shows such as Ugly Betty, The George Lopez Show, Grey's Anatomy, and others, Hollywood casting sought out diversity.  More and more, it's no longer about casting the "token" African-American or Asian.  Characters are cast in diverse ways because that's what the make-up of our reality in America has become.  There are more female writers--four of whom were nominated in screenwriting categories at last year's Academy Awards (Sarah Polley, Tamara Jenkins, Diablo Cody, and Nancy Oliver)

The white men who have traditionally written the stories for Hollywood now have to rewrite their own futures.  The white men who have traditionally made the rules in government have to make room for others who have a voice, too.  The seas of change are not to be feared, but embraced, for we all become better because of it.  

Hollywood and Politics have just begun to realize what those who have been paying attention have known all along.  Diversity is not a threat or a detriment to our lifestyle as a people, but something to uphold--something that sets the United States of America apart from many other nations around the world.  We are people living in an increasingly global world.

Photo by racole/flickr

(c) Copyright 2008 KLiedle

  

Farewell, My Dear Apple...

As I look to the future, I mourn for my lost companion.  For the last 7 years, my Apple iBook has been a part of my life.  Together we've traveled through countless states and lived in three.  We've composed books, uploaded zillions of photos, surfed oceans of webpages, written three feature-length screenplays and several shorts, and typed 119 posts to this very blog.  

Two days ago, my "Little Mac" started having problems.  She was having memory issues  and difficulty recharging.  When her battery gave out, she lapsed into a self-induced coma.  Her indicator light pulsated like a heartbeat ready to give out at any last moment. 

My Apple iBook lasted all 7 years on one battery which must be some sort of record.  She endured a keyboard replacement "surgery" a number of years ago after I spilled water on her and had to rush her to the Mac Emergency room.  Five years ago, my negligence caused her to be thrown from the roof of a vehicle.  To my astonishment, she went back to work the very next day-- with only bumps and bruises.

Last night, I made the painful decision to take her off life support.  Her adaptor was the only thing keeping her alive.  

Going along with Little Mac's wishes as well as mine, we've chosen to donate her "organs" (applications.)  They will be received by the Macbook Pro I just purchased TODAY.

So, goodbye Little Mac... I'll always remember you and the time we spent together all those years.

And Mac Pro?  We're just getting acquainted with each other this afternoon, but I'm excited for our future together.  May it last at least the next 7 years...

P.S. I promise to be more careful this time around.

Copyright 2008 - KLiedle

Self-Publishing Success: "Once More With Feeling" Now Available!

After many hours of working on writing, drawing, layouts, and combating technical difficulties, I've learned many things about self-publishing.

Above all, I've learned that despite all the difficulties and the times when I wanted to scream and give up, the fruits of labor have been sweeter than cherry pie.


Now, I have something to show for my efforts.

Now, I know the next time will be oh, so much easier.

Now, I can say officially that my first published storybook,
"Once More With Feeling" is available for purchase at two online retailers: Createspace and Amazon

"There once was a sad girl who thought she'd never find love again..."

Fairytales can come true and love can strike more than once. "Once More With Feeling" is a storybook romance about second chances.


"Once More With Feeling," Written by Kendra Liedle. Illustrations by Scott Vogel and Kendra Liedle.

No Gifts Necessary For This Wedding...

Yesterday, I went to a wedding. I didn't dress up nor did I bring a gift.

It wasn't a real wedding, but it sure felt like one. "Rachel Getting Married," written by Jenny Lumet and directed by Jonathan Demme is the story of a family in the midst of a weekend-long wedding celebration. Like many weddings, it's full of conflict, dysfunction, unresolved family issues as well as love, family, music, connectiveness, renewal, and private moments of letting go. Rachel may be getting married, but this story centers on Kym, Rachel's unconventional sister, back from rehab in order to participate in the festivities.

Kym (played with precision by a remarkable Anne Hathaway) comes off as a rebel with a seemingly indestructible exoskeleton. However, she is so much more complex and fragile than even her family gives her credit for. Their family, in all its glorious dysfunction, tries to hold together for the sake of Rachel's wedding, but they are not exactly a tight-knit group. They're seen more like a cobweb trying to hold together during a rainstorm. Old family issues, yet unresolved, rise up like ghosts with Kym's arrival. She is a reminder, a bookmark of sorts, to a chapter the family would soon like to forget, but can't.

The film's beginning is a shaky one-- literally. Shot documentary-style and mostly hand-held in its first moments, we are introduced to a world that seems confusing, uneasy and off-kilter. This may be off-putting to some filmgoers, yet it is purposeful, for we are most definitely seeing the world through Kym's eyes.

A wedding is a momentous occasion, full of love and joy yet also full of heartbreak and anxiety. Amid constant music and the hustle and bustle of wedding preparation and out-of-town guests, Kym joins the crowd, but doesn't really feel like she's a part of it. Everyone feels like they know her 'personal business' and for someone in recovery mode, that's not an easy thing.

Kym's presence forces her sister and her parents to confront things they'd rather keep buried. This is a difficult thing, but necessary for the family to move forward. Without giving much away, the film showcases the conflict between honoring the past and letting it go, and most importantly for Kym, learning to forgive oneself.

"Rachel Getting Married" feels real because it it's loosely constructed and free-flowing. It feels like we're watching it in real time-- full of family drama, unspoken moments, and joy. It's also, by far, the coolest wedding I've ever seen on a movie screen-- apart from perhaps "Monsoon Wedding."
"Rachel Getting Married"
Starring: Anne Hathaway (Kym); Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel); Bill Irwin (Paul); Debra Winger (Abby); Tunde Adebimpe (Sidney); Mather Zickel (Kieran); Anna Deavere Smith (Carol); Anisa George (Emma)

Directed by: Jonathan Demme; written by Jenny Lumet. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Copyright © 2008 KLiedle

Politics Of Fear

Recently I received yet another forward... This one, however, wasn't laden with lame jokes. It wasn't warning me of the next computer virus or masquerading as an e-chain letter. This forward was political. Although it came arrived to my in-box titled, "Know Your Candidate,"its words stemmed out of fear, not knowledge.

I showed it to a politically charged friend of mine. He couldn't just let it go. He took it as his personal responsibility to respond...in an intelligent, articulate manner for all of those out there who nurture fear and fear change.

Below is the full text of his response to the forward, "NoBama>>Know Your Candidate"

Note: So that the response makes complete sense, you may want to scroll down and read the original "NoBama" post (Green text below) first.

Subject: "KNOW YOUR CANDIDATE" Re: NOBAMA Post

Yeah, so? Despite all the drama you attempt to inject into your bulletin, there's nothing actually there. Fluff. Air. The answers to all of these things are easy to find and rather boring. Read a book about the guy.

The real question is what are you so afraid of? Free your little mind of it's narrow ways. Even the Limbaugh Hannity fear machines have acknowledged they're grasping at straws with this stuff. You could put a little flier together about anyone and inject it with mystery and suspense to insinuate there are things we should all be very concerned about.

Barack Obama is a Christian man & always has been. So what's that make you? It doesn't matter to me what your beliefs are, but don't tell me you're a Christian, because if that's the case, you're a hypocrite & a liar. A liar to yourself first & foremost, as Jesus himself never spread fear & lies. His universal message was love one another & treat others as you would have them treat you.

You must ask yourself why you're so afraid. Is it because honesty doesn't look quite as you expected it to? Is the skin color wrong or the ideas too bold? Free yourself. This perpetual state of fear isn't what your Creator had in mind for you, and in your heart of hearts, you know you're very lost because what's feeding on you is dark and distorted & can't quite see the light. Reality isn't open to interpretation, my friend. Your eyes might see again if you'll let them.

Reality isn't "What they don't want you to know!" or "What they're hiding!" or "Their REAL motives-- Oh my!" You think Obama's going to invite Al Qaeda to tea parties at the White House? This is an intelligent and articulate man with good intentions and if you really can't see that, then I feel sorry for you. You're in a world without light. You have become the dangerous one. You are what you most fear...

To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt;

"This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

I want to tell you a bit about me. This may or may not surprise you. I'm a caucasian male, 40 years old, and I consider myself fairly conservative. As in, I believe in fundamental values, I work hard, I don't buy things I can't afford and I know what's right.

The choice in this election is obvious to anyone with a clear mind & no hidden agendas. You have two candidates who put themselves forward as Christians, yet rely on fear, distortion & character assassination to scare people into voting for them. On the other side you have two candidates who actually live by true Christian ideals; faith, solutions & helping those in need. Buddy, if you don't understand that Jesus was a liberal democrat in the truest sense of the term, then again, you're in a world of darkness. Look up those two words. Democrat: One who practices social equality; relating or appealing to the common people. Liberal: Generous, bountiful; Tolerant, not narrow in judgement.

So go ahead, vote for the Republican ticket. The upside to me is that, if McCain & Palin are elected, then in four more years there truly will be nothing left of the Republican Party. The downside is that the rest of us, and what's left of this country, have to go down with it.

~Dale S.

NO BAMA>> "Know Your Candidate" original post

For months now, I have been sending editorials to family and friends stating, KNOW YOUR CANDIDATE. This perfect example of know YOUR Candidate. Any Candidate, All Candidates. If we don't replace some of those idiots in Congress and Senate, there is little A President can do own his own. Your questions are certainly food for thought, to all you have addressed.

The only logical conclusion is vote NOBAMA.......................................Bill

I Would Like To Know...?

MAYBE I'VE GOTTEN THIS ALL WRONG - JUST BEING AN AVERAGE MIDDLE CLASS GUY WITHOUT MUCH FORMAL EDUCATION BEYOND A M.B.A. DEGREE...BUT NOW, CHECK THIS OUT:

THIS MAN WANTS OUR VOTE FOR U.S. PRESIDENT - HIS FATHER WAS A KENYAN, AND A BLACK- WE SAW ALL THOSE PICTURES OF HIS NICE AFRICAN FAMILY.

HIS MOTHER IS A WHITE US CITIZEN FROM KANSAS, AND DECLARED ATHEIST. SO, WHERE ARE ALL THOSE PICTURES OF HIS NICE WHITE MOTHER AND HIS NICE WHITE KANSAS GRANDPARENTS - THE ONES WHO RAISED HIM ALL THOSE EARLY YEARS?

LET’S SEE - HIS FATHER DESERTED HIS MOTHER AND HIM WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG AND MOVED BACK TO LIVE WITH HIS FAMILY IN KENYA (THAT'S THE ONES IN THE MEDIA PUBLISHED PICTURES).

HIS WHITE MOTHER THEN MARRIED AN INDONESIAN MUSLIM AND TOOK HIM TO THE CITY OF JAKARTA WHERE HE WAS FIRST SCHOOLED IN A MUSLIM SCHOOL.

HIS MOTHER THEN MOVED TO HAWAII AND HER SON WAS RAISED BY HIS WHITE, MIDDLE CLASS - AMERICAN GRANDPARENTS THERE.

UMMM…NOW HERE'S THE BEGINNING OF THE HARD PART FOR ME (HELP ME OUT HERE, IF YOU CAN):

SOMEHOW, SUDDENLY - HE WENT TO THE BEST HIGH DOLLAR, UPPER CRUST PREP SCHOOLS IN AMERICA, AND NEXT HE GOT INTO A TOP IVY LEAGUE COLLEGE, AND LATER, INTO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL - HOW? WHO SPONSORED HIM? WHO PAID FOR ALL THAT SCHOOLING?

(HAVE YOU LOOKED AT TUITION EXPENSES TO ATTEND UNDERGRADUATE YALE LATELY?)

HOW ABOUT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL? (SOMEBODY PAID A LOT OF BUCKS FOR THIS KID'S IVY LEAGUE EDUCATION.)

WHO? HOW? FROM WHAT WE’VE READ HE APPARENTLY DID NOT HAVE SCHOLARSHIPS THAT PAID IT ALL.

HE ALSO DID NOT HAVE TO BORROW FOR COLLEGE, ALSO FROM WHAT WE READ. SO???

THAT BRINGS US TO THE MORE CURRENT YEARS, A U.S. SENATOR'S SALARY IS NOT THAT GREAT, BUT THIS YOUNG MAN AND HIS YOUNG WIFE JUST RECENTLY BOUGHT A $1.4 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE THAT HE ACQUIRED THROUGH A 'DEAL' WITH A WEALTHY FUND RAISER FRIEND; A FUND RAISER FRIEND WHO APPARENTLY IS A CRIMINAL LAW BREAKER ,PER THE NEWS OF HIS RECENT CONVICTION IN CHICAGO FEDERAL COURT.

WHAT SORT OF 'DEAL'?

AND, RIGHT OUT OF HARVARD LAW, HE 'WORKED' AS A CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST IN CHICAGO. WHAT KIND OF PAY IS THIS, WE CAN ASSUME IT IS LITTLE OR NOTHING PAY WISE! OR IS THERE OTHER KIND OF PAY INVOLVED??

HE THEN ENTERED POLITICS AT THE STATE LEVEL WHICH CERTAINLY IS A LOW PAYING JOB, AND THEN MOVED RIGHT TO THE NATIONAL LEVEL. DID HE "FUND RAISE" TO GET THE FUNDS TO GET ELECTED? WHAT KIND OF PROMISES DID HE MAKE?

NOW, HE SCRAMBLES TODAY WITH A NICE SMILE BUT VERY MINIMAL EXPERIENCE IN ANYTHING - WHILE OTHER PEOPLE WRITE HIS RAH-RAH SPEECHES FOR HIM.

IN ALL HIS MINIMAL TIME IN THE STATE, AND NATIONAL LEGISLATURES - HE’S NEVER LAUNCHED ANY IMPORTANT LEGISLATION, NONE WHATSOEVER.

MOSTLY, OF LATE FOR SOME TWO YEARS, HE'S BEEN OUT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, USING OTHER PEOPLES MONEY.

THEN COMES THE ENDORSEMENTS FOR HIM FROM OTHER COUNTRIES, ONES THAT ARE NOT EXACTLY USA FRIENDS, LIKE THE IRAN PRES, FRENCH PRES, AND THE IRAQ MINISTER THAT WANTS THE USA OUT. HMMM…WHAT DO THEY SEE IN HIM THAT THEY LIKE?

HE CLAIMS TO BE 'PROUD OF HIS AFRICAN HERITAGE'. VERY NICE, BUT IT SEEMS THAT HIS ONLY CONNECTION WITH AFRICA WAS THAT HIS DEADBEAT AFRICAN FATHER GOT A WHITE AMERICAN GIRL PREGNANT AND THEN DESERTED HER.

UMMM....WHERE IS THE OUTSPOKEN PRIDE IN HIS WHITE HERITAGE? AFTER ALL - IT WAS WHITE GRANDPARENTS THAT RAISED HIM!

FOR OVER 20 YEARS HE HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF AN 'AFROCENTRIC' CHURCH IN CHICAGO THAT BLANTANTLY PROFESSES THAT ITS MEMBERS SHOULD HATE WHITES, HATE JEWS, AND BLAME AMERICA FOR ALL THE WORLD'S FAULTS.

HE REPEATEDLY COVERED UP FOR THE PASTOR, DESCRIBED AS HIS “SPIRITUAL COUNSELLOR”, AND THAT CHURCH - SAYING THAT HE CAN SEPARATE THE RELIGION FROM THE POLITICS, WHEN HE HEARS A HATE-WHITEY SERMON.

HE CLAIMED THAT HE WAS SIMPLY UNABLE TO CONFRONT HIS RESPECTED PASTOR OF 20+ YEARS ABOUT THE PASTOR'S DEMONSTRATED UN-AMERICAN BIAS.

BUT -- HE WANTS US TO BELIEVE THAT HE CAN CONFRONT NORTH KOREA, IRAN, RUSSIA, ETC. WHEN THE TIME ARISES TO TAKE AMERICA'S SIDE.

YEAH - WITH HIS “EXTENSIVE POLITICAL BACKGROUND” AND “GLOBAL EXPERIENCE”, HE “HOPES” THAT HE COULD BE A "UNITER OF OUR GREAT NATION" AND BRING US ALL TOGETHER. (a Sheep Sheerer posing as a Shepard and gathering another man’s flock to lead them to slaughter)

BUT - WE ARE LEFT TO THINK THAT HIS REAL 'HOPE' IS THAT HE REALLY HOPES THAT NO ONE WILL PUT ALL THESE PIECES TOGETHER, AT LEAST NOT UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION.

LIKE IT OR NOT, THESE ARE REAL FACTS THAT POSE REAL QUESTIONS REGARDING A MAN THAT WANTS TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT; YOURS, MINE, OUR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS. PLEASE THINK…THEN GET OUT AND VOTE.
*************************************************************************************

No matter what your political affiliation is, I urge you to vote for Hope Over Fear

www.barackobama.com/

www.johnmccain.com/

Picture credits:
linde "Freedom From Fear," stuart63 "Fear of the Dark," amoeba84 "Hope Over Fear."
Copyright © 2008 KLiedle

***This post includes text written by those other than the blog author.***