Obama and the Partial-Birth Abortion

Okay, so I took the advice of one of Calandria's readers and researched Obama's vote on the Partial-Birth Abortion issue.

**The description is taken from a reliable source, but it is also graphic. If you get queasy easily, you may want to stop reading here.

According to HealthAtoZ.com, the procedure for partial-birth abortion, also called intact dilation and extraction, is as follows:
- The body is given a series of medications to force the cervix to dilate, usually over a matter of days.
- The fetus is rotated to a footling breech position.
- The fetus is drawn out of the body until only the head remains inside the birth canal.
- Using an instrument, the physician punctures the base of the fetus' skull, causing the head to collapse.
- Often, the contents of the fetus' head are suctioned out, causing the head to reduce enough for the dead fetus to be pulled out of the birth canal completely.

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was a movement to, as it says, ban this practice. It was passed in Congress in 2003. The law says that "Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both" (Wikipedia.com).

Senator Obama, while still in the Illinois Legistlature voted "Present" on this Act in 1997. In the IL Legislature, a vote of "present" is equivalent to a vote of "no" because there is a required majority of "yes" votes to pass a bill. Congressmen use a vote of "present" usually to avoid a vote of "no" on an unpopular bill. This means he was against banning partial-birth abortion. In my opinion, although it is not worded the same as voting for the practice of partial-birth abortion, he is in every essence seeking the same result.

To read the blog entry and comments that inspired this entry, go here. To read more of the article in HealthAtoZ.com about partial-birth abortions go here. To read the Wikipedia entry on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 go here. To read the Act itself, go here. To read more on Barack Obama's opinions on abortion, go here. To view Senator Obama's voting record in his current office, go here. These links are the exact sources I used in writing this entry.

Although I included my own opinion, it certainly doesn't mean I am not open to the views of others. So, any thoughts?

The Weekend

Our ward's Halloween party was on Friday night. They were having jack-o-lantern, costume, and doughnut-on-a-string contests. (Mike and I both would have gone out for the doughnut contest except that by the time it started we were all sugared out!)

Families with last names starting with A-L brought healthy snacks, while the rest brought sweet treats. I made a family classic: hoot owl cookies. For the recipe, go here.

Mike starting on the jack-o-lantern (above) and the finished product (below). I think he did a great job! The mouth is kind of narrow, so the light doesn't shine through it very well, but that's how the character's mouth is. Any guesses?

This wasn't the winning pumpkin which was very cool. (Only now do I realize I should have taken a shot of it.) But we really liked this one. It's just so funny!

We went as mimes. Hahahaha! It think the lips are just the funniest things! All the little kids that saw us would just stare wide-eyed at us for a bit. They usually didn't even run away, I think they were just too freaked out. We certainly weren't the scariest things there, but we were probably the creepiest.

The next morning the Elder's Quorum put together a service project (that included wives, hence, I was there). Some of us raked up the leaves at a church building in town while the rest headed down the street doing the same for the residents. I don't think there are any trespassing lawsuits pending, but if one arises, I'll let you know.

Right now we're heading up to a stake meeting to see if we stay in our current ward or if our complex is part of the split. It'd be nice to go to a building a little closer to us (we drive across town right now, about 10 minutes away, and it's the farthest Mike has EVER lived from church before!) but we don't want to give up our nice 9 a.m. time. 10 or 10:30 wouldn't be too bad, but church at 11 or later is just no fun.

During the Test

In my Exceptional Students 6-12 class on Tuesday, we were studying ADHD and Learning Disorders. At one point during his PowerPoint, Bro. K. popped this picture up:
After letting the shock of what middle pictures sink in, he asked, "Would you ever want to put your kid through that?" We all asked what the "test" was that the kids were put through. He said they were first-graders on a 20 oz Coke. Some of us were a little surprised, others were shocked. I knew sodas, especially caffeinated ones, weren't good for anyone, especially smaller frames, but I had no idea they would have this drastic of an effect on a child's brain.

You think you know....but you have no idea

Since Mal already stated the rules of the tagging (previous post), I will just put down my seven random facts about myself.

1. I am a very prompt person. I love to be on time. It absolutely drives me crazy to be late to something.
2. I love to smell things. Ever since I was a little guy, I used to smell everything! I still remember waking up in the morning and smelling my Mom's bathrobe when she would be working in the kitchen.
3. I have to keep my hair short. Going bald might play some factor in this (okay, let's be honest. A big factor), but I love having short hair! I always have had short hair, even when I had thick, wavy hair.
4. Grey is my favorite color. I know, some of you are already saying "Grey isn't a color, it's a shade!" Believe me, I have heard it before.
5. I'm passionate about the San Francisco 49ers football team. Malie can testify to this. I check their online newsroom multiple times a day. I grew up in the Bay Area of California, and on healthy doses of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Steve Young. The past six years have definately not been glorious by any means, but I still love and want them to succeed. I'm part of the 49er faithful. I think a lot of fans died off after Steve retired.
6. I'm a health freak. So much that I'm graduating in Health Science (Environmental Health and Safety). I love to work out, eat right, feel healthy, read about being healthy, how to prevent bad health, etc. It really grabs my attention.
7. I really dislike the word moist. I don't want to hear about anything being moist. Enough said.

I really don't know how to tag people...even if I did I think Mal tagged most of the people I know that have a blog...so let's just go with that!

And You Thought You Knew Me... Pah!

Mum tagged both me and Mike... we'll get him later though. So, here are the rules, in case you can't read them off to the side there:
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random (and my I add "and/or weird") people at the end of the post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I can say "hello!" in 8 different languages, and "goodnight" in 6.
2. I'm picky about the feet I let near me - not to mention TOUCH me! They need to be clean, at least mostly free of callouses, have short nails, be scentless, and, with the exception of Mike's, cannot have any funky shapes to them. (His aren't so bad; he's just got really short pinky toes, which is a little weird.)
3. If I were going to be reincarnated I would choose to be a cat, and yet, I cannot say they are necessarily my favorite animal.
4. I want to live near the ocean; preferably the Atlantic, but I'd take certain parts of the Pacific too.
5. I don't care much for the classic movie version of Pirates of Penzance. The acting is good, the music is also, but I dislike the way they did the stage set.
6. I am something of an online quiz junkie. I don't go looking for them usually, but only because I know that if I do, I'll spend hours on that and not get anything done. I do indulge myself when someone forwards one to me or when I see a really good one on the sidebar of Facebook.
7. I once told Sister Dauk that Mum was pregnant and got scolded for it.

There, if those aren't random enough, I'm not sure what else I could do.

I tag: Shannon & BJ, McKenzie, Calandria, Ave, Taylor, and Lilliput.

Weekend in Utah

This weekend, Malie and I had a chance to head down to Utah to meet up with her brother Sam, and father Casey. Sam was endowed in the Salt Lake Temple on Saturday, it was cool to be a part of it. We even got a little bit of snow while we were there!

Here is the Tabernacle. I havn't seen it since it's renovation. They managed to maintain that vintage feel to it.

Leaving the temple entrance. Weird how the temple entrance is so far away from the actual temple.

Some pictures of Sam walking next to Justin, Casey trailing behind.

Justin and Sam in Temple square.

Sister Benson, the Wildens, and Mallory on Temple square with the Conference Center in the background.

Same picture as above, only Sam and Justin are included.

Going out to dinner later that night with the Pratts. Macaroni Grill (despite the name), is quite the Italian restuarant. The bread is amazing.

We woke up to a little bit of snow! Sam hadn't seen snow in eight years or so. I thought it would be appropriate to take it because it would be at least another two years until he saw snow again. He is only in the MTC for three weeks and then heads to Hawaii.

Doesn't it look like cotton or something?

Sunday afternoon, leaving Grandma Clark's house to head North. We had to head back to Rexburg....this means goodbye!

Casey took this one.

Awww.....saying goodbye to her little brother.....

And begins to surpruse attack him one last time....

The final wave adios!

A Story for You All

Here are the pictures from the open house in Utah. Karen and her siblings really know how to put on a show! Everything was beautiful. Thanks for all the hard work! So, here's a story about the happenings of the evening:

We took pictures with Mike's family.

Our kids at the time of marriage... okay, that's not a very funny joke. I mean, it is in my mind, but who knows who's reading this, right? These are Mike's nieces and nephews. I have the perfectly pleasant Sam, Mike's got the disgruntled Sadie (poor thing, she had the hardest time with her dress all night) and Kylie, Lexi, Claire, and Ethan are in the front.

We took pictures with Grandpa Watkins. We were so happy he could make it to the open house, especially since he wasn't able to go back east for the actual wedding.

Mum saw an old seminary student - all grown up and married. (sniff)
Mike saw his old mission president and his wife.
We were all able to re-connect with LONG lost friends.
Angela made us laugh, and Mike made weird faces at Jeff.
And Sadie ate cake - and she was better.
The end!

THEY'RE HEEEERE!

Don't worry, it's not poltergeist; it's wedding photos! We got disc 1 from Selena a few days ago, so here are the highlights!

Here we are at sunset on the slope of Bunker Hill. The sky was so pretty, we had to stop and take them here. This is actually at the end of picture day #1, and I was like, "My shoes are coming off right now." So, we relaxed a bit in the clothing department, sat on the grass, and started snapping shots.

Here we are looking out over Charlstown Pier towards "Ol' Ironsides" (aka: the USS Constitution).

Again, Charlstown Pier. My bouquet down in Boston was just pulled together by yours truly. If I had known I could do a fairly good job on my own, I don't know if I would've bought one up in Maine. There are better shots of it, but not in any of these really.

Here we are back up on Bunker Hill. There were dogs frolicking over in the lawn - a couple of them getting a little too close for comfort with this dress on - but Selena (along with the owners of course) of keeping them away.

On our way to the Public Gardens we ran into a number of children, particularly little girls. At one point I climbed into an elevator that had a mother and her 4-ish year-old daughter. The girls eyes just went enormous when she saw my dress. When we actually entered the Gardens there was a musician playing his accordian. Selena asked if we could dance to his music while she took some shots and he broke into the classic prossession song. We saw another man taking pictures while we danced and this little girl just stood there and watched.

Standing in the arch of a tree in the Gardens.
Walking the end of the Freedom Trail on Bunker Hill. (Don't worry, I didn't walk the whole thing in that dress and those stilletos. Although I probably walked about the equivalent.)

Next up: pictures from the Utah reception!

New Dishes!

So, while we were in Arizona, Mike and I looked online for some new dishes. I have a very small set that is missing a couple of pieces, and Mike has almost a full set of eight, but they're pretty old and again, some are missing. We figure we'll be able to sell his at least for a little bit, even just $10 or $20. He's gotten some good use out of them, so we wouldn't be loosing anything really. Besides, we had all this money and these gift cards - we might as well use it!

Anyway, we found some that we LOVED on Overstock.com, but they only had one set of 16. The set wasn't too too expensive, so we started looking on other sites for another. We found one on a site called Gifts1234.com or something like that, so, we bought them both. We loved the set. We were so excited to get them when we got back up to Grandma Clark's on our way back to Idaho.

When we got to Grandma's, there were no dishes. She said she'd give us a call when they came. Weeks went by, and still nothing. Finally, we contacted Gifts1234 and asked them what was up. They told us they hadn't shipped them because THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYMORE! I just thought, are you kidding me? Mike was very put out with them. He contacted Overstock, who had at least sent us a confirmation of the purchase, and asked them why we hadn't received anything. They proved their incompetence by announcing to us that they didn't know what could have happened, and that they couldn't track the shipment. They promised to call us, but Mike told them not to bother, we didn't want the dishes anymore. Don't worry - we didn't lose any money.

So, we used the dishes we had, which aren't all too bad, and I was fine with just using those. Mike however, has been saying he still would like some new dishes. (Hey, if he wants them, I'm all for it!) Then we found, in the bottom of some box not yet unpacked, a pile of cash and forgotten gift cards! CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY! We headed out to IF yesterday to run some errands and then attend a young man's graduation from the drug rehab ranch Mike used to work at. We cashed in the gift card to BB&B, and bought some dishes we both really like from Target using the cash and some Target gift cards. We love it! Plus, since we bought the pieces all separately (plates came in packs of four and bowls in packs of two) we didn't have to spend money on pointless mugs. (Why do dish sets do that? I don't want to serve dinner with a bunch of mugs on the table. Mugs are for casual hot chocolate parties. Who cares if they match?!)

Anyway, here's a picture of the pieces in the set. The closest plate is just a little salad plate, and the further one is that actual dinner plate. We were both really happy to find this set. And it turned out to be quite a bit cheaper than the online buys, not even taking into account the cost of shipping.

October Celebrations

Here are some pictures from Malies special day. It was great having her birthday mid-week because we honestly treated it like a Saturday...except we still went to school. Basically, we didn't do any school work. The day-after wasn't so much fun (it involved a lot of make-up work, cramming, postponed tests, etc), but Wednesday was great! Here are some highlights:

A few weeks ago we were in Barns-n-Noble and Mallory spotted a Dr. Seuss book translated into Latin. She was pretty peeved that it was in a "dead language" and wasn't to be found in any other language! So, I did some research online. Come to find out, there are three Dr. Seuss books in Russian! Interesting Note: these books are illegal in Russia and any former Soviet Union states.

When we were on our honeymoon in San Diego, Mallory really wanted to rent a tandem bike. Time didn't really permit the activity, but I did make a mental note for a future date. So this is what we did! We just cruised around town. I don't know how many of you have ridden one before, but it was pretty wierd. Mallory insisted on sitting in front, which put me on the wobbly back seat. I felt like I was leaning the whole time! Mallory just informed me to inform you all that it wasn't wobbly because of her driving skills. That's just the way the seat is. A weak frame could also contribute to that. FYI.

We made a pit-stop at a friend's house to get some pictures taken. This friend actually lives in the same home that my Grandpa Mel Clark lived in when he attended Ricks back in the 1940's.

Don't we belong in a Mentos commercial?

We also rode to the Rexburg Nature Park which consisted of a lot of ponds, beautiful trees, and a TON of ducks. All different kinds too! It was really pretty because the trees are just starting to turn.

The sun was setting when I took this picture, but you can still get an idea of what season we are in.

See all the ducks?! There was a family that was feeding them, and the ducks were blitzing them from left to right, top to bottom...literally. The boy feeding them was so happy! When they ran out of food for the ducks, the ducks called it a day and departed. He started to cry. Ironically, the ducks must have smelt food because they swam to another family that came to feed them. Same thing happened there too.

Later on we got together with some friends and had cake and ice cream. No, I didn't make the cake. When I offered, she insisted "My Mom makes her cake." I did help get out the mixing bowls though. I guess that counts for "helping out". Haha.

Singing Happy Birthday!

She didn't get them all blown out in one breath due to technical difficulties. Chelsea commited "candle interference" and Mallory was granted a second shot to finish the job.

Later on, Chelsea inserted herself into every picture. There are about 2-3 more that include her standing somewhere in the picture.

Jo-nathan, Chelsea, and Kyle all enjoying the party.