December 1st, 2010

Dear Sofia,

Today is the first day of December, the first day of snow here in Madison, and Russ Feingold's last day in the Senate! Feingold has been the Wisconsin state senator for a loooong time. This year, voters here - including your mom and dad - voted him out of office. He has supported lots of bills that would hurt America, including the "cash for clunkers" program, the McCain-Feingold immigration bill (which should be called an illegal immigration bill) and all the stimulus packages put forth by President Obama (these were supposed to stimulate our economy and create jobs, but oddly enough they did neither). Feingold out, republican winner Ron Johnson in! I am excited to see him take over and help our nation, in whatever ways he can. We will pray for his ability to do this.

Many people today are talking about the recent "wikileaks" incident, which was the publishing of tons of information on our governmental affairs gathered confidentially. It was stolen by at least one person, maybe more, and given to the wikileaks organization, who chose to disseminate the info publicly. It is sensitive information and should NOT have been stolen, nor handed out. Who knows who has seen/read it by now?

It has been impossible to avoid reading some snippet of it, though, or hearing it on talk radio. There are some pretty incredible items in that information, including that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered associates to "gather information" on United Nations ambassadors visiting the U.S., basically to make sure they are here for their stated purposes. That's the kind of security we need our government to take measures for! Also, China spied on the U.S. and stole info transmitted through Google and its products. Things like... oh.. Blogger. Hmm..

And you know what else I learned? That U.S. officials under Pres. Obama asked other countries to take our Guantanemo Bay prisoners, and even offered a special visit with the Pres. to secure the deal! Yes, Obama really does think that much of himself; "You take these dangerous criminals but, in return, you get to meet Obama! Now, isn't that worth it, Austria? Plus, it will give you 'prestige' amongst the other European countries." Ugh.

Last bit of news for the day: Giselle Bunchen (a fashion model) is featured in Vogue magazine this month talking about her recent home birth! That's the kind of publicity home/natural birth/midwifery needs, I think. She had her son in a water birth, which is something I considered for you. Giselle loved the whole process and can't wait to do it again. Awesome!