Percentages

From a friend of a friend of Julia's who lives in CA...
Also found on another blog that I follow.

Mormons make up less than 2% of the population of California. There are approximately 800,000 LDS out of a total population of approximately 34 million.Mormon voters were less than 5% of the yes vote. If one estimates that 250,000 LDS are registered voters (the rest being children), then LDS voters made up 4.6% of the Yes vote and 2.4% of the total Proposition 8 vote.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) donated little or no money to the Yes on 8 campaign. Individual members of the Church were encouraged to support the Yes on 8 efforts and, exercising their constitutional right to free speech, donated whatever they felt like donating.The No on 8 campaign raised more money than the Yes on 8 campaign. Unofficial estimates put No on 8 at $38 million and Yes on 8 at $32 million, making it the most expensive non-presidential election in the country.Advertising messages for the Yes on 8 campaign are based on case law and real-life situations. The No on 8 supporters have insisted that the Yes on 8 messaging is based on lies. Every Yes on 8 claim is supported.The majority of our friends and neighbors voted Yes on 8. Los Angeles County voted in favor of Yes on 8. Ventura County voted in favor of Yes on 8.African Americans overwhelmingly supported Yes on 8. Exit polls show that 70% of Black voters chose Yes on 8. This was interesting because the majority of these voters voted for President-elect Obama. No on 8 supporters had assumed that Obama voters would vote No on 8.The majority of Latino voters voted Yes on 8. Exit polls show that the majority of Latinos supported Yes on 8 and cited religious beliefs (assumed to be primarily Catholic).The Yes on 8 coalition was a broad spectrum of religious organizations. Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Orthodox Jews, Muslims – all supported Yes on 8. It is estimated that there are 10 million Catholics and 10 million Protestants in California. Mormons were a tiny fraction of the population represented by Yes on 8 coalition members.Not all Mormons voted in favor of Proposition 8. Our faith accords that each person be allowed to choose for him or her self. Church leaders have asked members to treat other members with "civility, respect and love," despite their differing views.The Church did not violate the principal of separation of church and state. This principle is derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." The phrase "separation of church and state", which does not appear in the Constitution itself, is generally traced to an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, although it has since been quoted in several opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court in recent years. The LDS Church is under no obligation to refrain from participating in the political process, to the extent permitted by law. U.S. election law is very clear that Churches may not endorse candidates, but may support issues. The Church as always been very careful on this matter and occasionally (not often) chooses to support causes that it feels to be of a moral nature.Supporters of Proposition 8 did exactly what the Constitution provides for all citizens: they exercised their First Amendment rights to speak out on an issue that concerned them, make contributions to a cause that they support, and then vote in the regular electoral process. For the most part, this seems to have been done in an open, fair, and civil way. Opponents of 8 have accused supporters of being bigots, liars, and worse. The fact is, we simply did what Americans do – we spoke up, we campaigned, and we voted.

Proposition 8 Passed!!

I'm so grateful that the majority of residences that voted in California voted Yes on Proposition 8. There is so much to say on this but so much has been said I really don't know where to begin. I feel the main problem of this not passing would have been the religious rights of others. The Anti-Prop 8 people say other wise but we have seen it already happening. We have seen a religious leader sued because he doesn't believe in Gay marriage. We have seen schools teach of the morality of Gay marriage in schools where the parents don't have to be notified. We have seen doctors sued because they refuse to perform IVF on a lesbian. Now I have no problem with the hospital visitation for a partner and actually think that hospitals are ridiculous of having "only family" visiting rules. If the patient is an adult they can chose who can visit or if they have a partner they should be able to visit. I do believe that no one should refuse to hire someone that is gay. It will be interesting to see where all of this goes.

Halloween!!!

This year money was tight when it came to buying a costume for our 2 year old thank goodness she is so easy going. I was going through some clothes that someone had given us earlier this year to see what needed to be pulled out because she would now fit in it. I came across a beautiful white dress with pink flowers on the torso and was excited to have such a nice dress for her. Later on we were at Jo-Ann fabrics for their $.99 McCall's pattern sell and came across some pink wings. The pink wings were $10 but with a 50% coupon it was worth the price. We then were at Smiths and saw a crown for $2 and thought perfect. So dd was a butterfly/faerie for Halloween and she loved it. (Pictures to be posted later)
As we pulled out the candy she wanted some and I put one in her container she finally understood what was happening and started walking away from the house saying candy. We went to a fellow employee of DH and she gave Liahona a bag with a bunch of candy, a book, and after talking for awhile she gave Lia a CD player. Yeah for the CD player since the one in her room was broken and it was difficult finding music for her to sleep through on the radio. We then went trick or treating at one house where a member of our church lived she let Lia pick out the candy. Being the good girl that she was she picked one, the sister said get a handful and Lia took one, the sister then took dd hand and had her grab a big handful and put it in her bag, and of course dd loved that. We then went to the next house and the man held out the candy, dd then took her whole hand and grabbed a handful of candy and stuck it in her bag. Luckily this man was also a member of our church and we explained what happened at the previous house and he got a kick out of it.
I'm glad that Lia had such a fun time.

Thank You for Dinosaurs

My dd loves dinosaurs anytime she sees one she gets excited and starts roaring. Well yesterday while I was at the store I saw a sandwich cutter that cut a sandwich into two dinosaurs. I debated whether to buy it or not wondering if it would be worth it since getting her to eat is like pulling teeth. I decided that it would be worth a try and it worked. Today I made grilled cheese sandwich again after failing yesterday pre-dinosaur and cut it up. I gave my dd it and she was so happy she couldn't wait to bite the head off. She ate more than half of the dinosaur which is about a quarter of a sandwich a lot more then what she usually does. A victory for us!!!

Writing

I feel at a lost doing this blog when I was in high school I used to write all the time and received really good grades in English when I completed the assignments. One of my English teachers liked one of my papers so much that she asked to keep it so she could show her students the following year how to do the assignment. I'm not saying this to brag, just to say I have no idea why I feel so insecure about writing a blog. I guess it would be that it has been fifteen years since I graduated H.S. and only attended a year of college. I haven't written a lot since then maybe because I was too afraid that I would fail if I tried or the fact that even with all the praise I received as a teen I really wasn't as good as they said I was. Oh!! I know it was that creative writing class that I took in college I just couldn't handle having my writing being critiqued like that.
Another thing I didn't like was proofreading and as you read you'll be able to see that. At this time I'm just writing what comes into my head and that is how you all will see it. Unless I do any major mistakes or write something that is contradictory to what I wanted to write I'm not going to make any major corrections. For me this is just for fun and that is all.

The Begining

I hope that this blog works better then my last I just didn't have all the features that I wanted to have. I kept seeing others use blogger and always thought that it cost but then decided to check it out and what do you know it's free. YEAH!!! I like anything that is free. I may not be too active on here but I may will give it a try. My first blog will be quite short since my dd will be waking up from her nap any minute.