Clash of Cultural…Likeness?

I was having a conversation today over email (I know archaic isn't it?) with my friend in Australia and we were talking about her trip to the US next month. I have the honor and privilege of having her and her fiance here in Indianapolis for about a week. I sent her links to visitor sites for Indianapolis, Louisville and Cincinnati to see if anything looked fun to her. She made a comment that completely caught me off guard: "I want to experience everything American while I'm there".

Why this caught me off guard I'm not really sure. As I thought about that statement today I couldn't help but think about what is really American. I know what there is to do here and what being an American is; but what is it to experience American? Should I let them pay my bills or clean my house? No they probably already do those things. Drive my car? Now there's a thought but I don't think my insurance company would like that. Do I take them to the Amish Country? Now there's something you have to see to believe (I still don't believe it and we have Amish within 15 minutes of us).

So my question really is how do you experience another culture that's similar to yours? I was in Japan a couple of years ago and it was easy to experience the culture because it's so different. But I don't think that American and Australian cultures are as different as we might think they are. I'm looking forward to their visit and showing them the Midwest and I know they'll love it because Indianapolis is a great city. But if they have the same types of foods and entertainment, how do I help them experience culture?

Another Approach to Governmental Healthcare

I love Whole Foods and know they're a great resource for finding food that it all natural and preservative free. In an attempt to eat healthier and cut as much Gluten out of my diet I went to Whole Foods today because they carry Gluten-Free products. When I started walking up and down isles looking at what items they carry that are Gluten-Free (they have everything) my chin hit the floor. Now I do understand that you pay extra for specialty food but Gluten-Free products are double the price of their normal merchandise.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. If our current government wants to help with the health care of our population lets give more tax cuts to the food manufacturers to cut their costs. If junk food is so cheap and eating healthy is to expensive why not have the government charge more for junk food and less for healthy food? This is a great way to get our country eating right first so we’re not full of preservatives and/or fat. I believe that if the government took an interest in the basic health of the country first then the cost of healthcare would more than likely go down.

What are your thoughts?

What do SE Cupp, Michelle Malkin, Saul Anuzis all have in common?

They are helping Smart Girl Politics celebrate the inauguration at the 1st Annual SGP Twitterball!

What is the Twitterball you ask? Twitterball is an online chat party on Tuesday, January 20th from 9pm to 10pm EST with some of the biggest names in the Conservative Movement.

Twitterball will have a main ballroom and four additional chat rooms that feature leaders from the top conservative movements online such as Dontgo, New Republicans, SGP, Rebuild and TCOT.

Weighing-In LIVE on the present and future of conservatism are special guests including:
Saul Anuzis - RNC Chair Candidate

Chip Saltsman-RNC Chair Candidate

Sharon Day-RNC Secretary Candidate

Michelle Malkin

Amanda Carpenter

and our very own "Smart Girl", SE Cupp with a special video presentation.

Being part of the Twitterball is easy! Go to http://tweetchat.com/; enter your Twitter username and password (if you don’t have an account just take 2 minutes and set one up); use the tag #SGPball to enter into the “room”.

Please join us for this historic event in the Conservative Movement and Smart Girl Politics.

You can follow me on twitter for more information as well @tamsul

smartgirlpolitics.ning.com

FB: Conservative Women's Movement

Hope to see you all there.

Thank You for Giving to the Lord

There are many people who touch us throughout our lives but a select few will be remembered for a lifetime. My former youth pastors, Bob and Sue Kring, are two of those people in my life.

Recently I received The Olivetian from Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) and saw that Bob had passed away. I felt like I brick had been dropped on my chest. But in the very next thought I knew he had completed God’s work here on Earth and he went home to live with our Lord. Bob was an amazing man who cared so much for the kids in the youth groups he led over the years and it showed in his actions.

I really never felt like I fit into the youth group at our church whether it was just me being an insecure teenager or the fact that I didn’t come from a Christian home I’m not really sure. But Bob and Sue always made me feel welcome, a part of the group and made me want to come back every week.

I have many great memories and photos of youth group from going out west for 2 weeks to a dude ranch in Wyoming to pool parties to Celebrate Life meeting. There is also one memory that caused me to leave the youth group. We were in Howell, Michigan for an event (not sure what for) and one of my friends was next door at the high school for a football game so I left our event to go visit without letting anyone know. My thought was that I had plenty of time and I would be back about an hour before the event was over. Well I didn’t think about things wrapping up early. When Bob found me I could see that he was upset with me; actually it looked more like disappointment than anything else. I can’t remember if I apologized (I hope I did) or what was said but I was so embarrassed I didn’t want to show my face again and I didn’t…that was the last time I remember seeing Bob.

Because of the influence that Bob and Sue had on my life in the formative years I always maintained a relationship with God and would not be the strong Christian I am today without them. God has an ultimate plan for each of our lives and the role we will play in everyone else’s life. For me, I would not be who I am without God leading Mr. McMullen to invite me to church when I was in kindergarten, my parents letting me go, the friends I made at church and ultimately the Kring’s love and guidance.

There is a song by Ray Boltz called “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” that has touched me whenever I heard it but I was unsure why. Today as I’m writing the words came to me and I truly believe this song was written for Bob.

To everyone from the Plymouth Church of the Nazarene thank you for playing a part in my life and helping me become a better Christian. And to Bob and Sue, words can’t describe how grateful I am to you for touching my life and showing me what it truly means to give selflessly. To you I say, “thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad you gave.”

Twitter and the RNC; is it a good match?

I recently had an experience on Twitter than made me realize organizations have a long way to go to completely understand why they are using Twitter. I have gone back and forth about whether or not to mention the Republican National Committee (RNC) in this blog and I decide to so I can bring attention to the issues in the party today.

My experience started out well with the RNC putting a link out on Twitter to the site Republican For A Reason for people to go to so the party could get an idea of what people want to see done within the party. When I went out to the site it worked fine in the beginning. I spent about 15 minutes giving the RNC my opinion and when I submitted my response it gave me a character error. At this point I sent a Twitter to the RNC expecting to get a response and after waiting about 15 minutes I got no response.

Let me stop here for a minute. If you’re an organization please take this comment to heart: Twitter is not about talking at your followers it is about talk with them; this will be how you really learn what people are wanting from you.

Back to my story…after no response on Twitter I decided to call the RNC headquarters and got stuck into an automated system and after not being able to get at least an operator (and a little ticked off) I hit the number for the Chairman’s office. I actually got a person who ended up transferring me to the department who is responsible for the site and I went into voice mail. I left a message and asked for a return call so I knew when it was working again and you guessed it they didn’t call back.

I’m going to stop there because I believe you get the picture. We have a problem in the RNC today that truly came to light in this past election; we don’t know how to communicate properly. Things are not as they were 20 years ago or even 4 years ago; we are a very different group of people with very different communication needs today. We want to feel like we are part of something and making a difference.

To the RNC: PLEASE change the way you are communicating with conservatives. I’m personally grateful that you are using Twitter but start talking with us not at us.

To the Chairman candidates: Thank you for using Twitter to communicate. Saul Anuzis and Katon Dawson keep doing what you’re doing because you are engaging your followers. Michael Steele and Chip Saltsman please start engaging your followers and working toward talking with us not at us.

Presidential Election and the Internet

As I reflect back on the last year worth of politicing for the Presidency, I can't help but think about how the Internet played such a big role. We continue to talk about how the uses of the Internet have changed over the last 2 years but how it changed this election is amazing to me. Even though I saw the same bombardment of television ads as previous campaigns I couldn't go on the Internet without seeing an Obama banner ad or article about his campaign.

Looking at how the Obama campaign targeted the youth is a great lesson in social media. They looked at where thier "consumers" were and went to them. The campaign gave the voters a forum to voice their opinions and they listened. I couldn't go to a social networking site without seeing someone write something about Obama or his campaign.

When I registered to vote almost 20 years ago never did I think this was where campaigns and elections would end up. Future politicians and political parties need to step back and take a look at what has been accomplished and learn from our next Presidents campaign. If you don't make changes you will get left in the microdust.

Get out and vote!

I'm writing this not to give you my political view or persuade you to vote for any specific candidate. It is to remind you that voting is always important. Stick with me for a minute and you will understand why I feel it's important to vote.

Last year I ran for re-election to retain my seat on the Shelbyville City Council. On Election Day my election was a tie; yes that's right 345 for me and 345 for my opponent. After a recount the numbers were still the same. In the end of a very long and emotionally draining court battle absentee votes were thrown out by the Shelby County court and the Appellate Court upheld the decision and I lost 336-330 (if you would like know why the absentee ballots were thrown out let me know; another story in itself). Now come on no one likes to lose but after you have spent 4 years being a public servant and representing citizens in your community it is hard to hear a court say you have to step down. I occasionally have my moments where I can't help but think if 1 more person would have come out I could have won (although I would have needed 7 more since the absentee ballots were disqualified).

We live in country where voting is something that is taken for granted by far too many people. Most citizens feel that voting in the Presidential Election is important and the turn out is usually decent every 4 years usually between 50%-60%. But don't forget you have other candidates on the ballots too. Use this election as a time to start a new important habit for your city, county, state and nation. We have the privilege, duty and right to elect those that represent us...please get out and vote!