I am proud of my country today.  However, I am no more proud of my country today than I was yesterday and I will be no more proud tomorrow than I am today.

A while back I wrote some thoughts about the election.  I’ll reiterate my great and profound respect for the Office of the Presidency.  A respect that I give to President Obama, just like a gave to President Bush.  My respect for the Office goes hand in hand with my pride of our country.  I have respect and pride for both.

Today I was watching CNN a little bit, reading tweets, and Facebook status messages and so many people said “I am finally proud of my country”, “I’m proud of my country for the first time in 8 years”, or comments along those lines.  Is that really pride in your country?  It sounds to me like it’s pride in a person or a political party.  It sounds to me in four or eight years, however long we have President Obama, they will no longer be proud of their country.

Show respect for our President.  Instead of booing him or mocking him just minutes before he leaves office, have some class.  When was respect lost?  Why do people think it’s appropriate to do this?  President Bush has always acted with class.  The people who disagree with him can’t show even a little bit of respect.

It’s our great country that allows us to have the freedoms to disagree with our leaders.  Our country gives us the freedom of speech.  It gives you the ability to be classless and act with no respect.

So I encourage you to always be proud of our country and show respect to the person occupying the Office of the President.  Don’t hinge the pride you have for your country on a single person.  Always be proud of your country.

There is so much more I could say on this topic and my thoughts from today.  But I’ll leave that for a later time.

President Bush, you have served our country, and I am grateful for that.  You have kept us safe, and strengthened our security.  While I may not have agreed with every single proposal or thing you have done, you were a good President.

Mr. President you have served our country honorably for the last 8 years.  You’ve not always had an easy time, but no President does.  You always seem to be in good spirits, which impresses me.  Mrs. Bush has always been a First Class lady, and her time as First Lady has touched many lives.  Thank you, Mrs. Bush, for your service and your dedication to your country and husband.

It was an honor and privilege to work for you in D.C.  Getting the chance to work with the great group of people that served you was amazing.  Meeting you and Mrs. Bush were some of the highlights of my time, and I carry memories with me that I’ll never forget.  The chance to live history was something I’ll cherish forever.

My office, both at work and at home, are constant reminders of the great times I’ve had serving you and Mrs. Bush.  The pictures and letters are a constant reminder of your good nature, your humor, and your kindness.  To meet you was to truly see who you are, which no television cameras can convey.

As the sun sets on your Presidency I, like you, look forward to the future of our country.  I pray we will remain a “shining city on a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”  I thank you again for your service, and may God bless you and Mrs. Bush.

I know most of you read this in an RSS reader, so click on the link. Read it on my blog.

At the top of my blog is an image of the United States Constitution. It’s been there for about three years now. Sometimes I think about redesigning, and changing it. But I think it’s a solid reminder.

Our Constitution starts out “We the people of the United States…” It’s a document that our forefathers wrote, that the people of the United States accepted, and that was made by us. Our forefathers understood that the people should run government. Instead it seems we have government running people.

Or worse yet people encouraging government to run our lives. While I’m sure we can point to many examples of government trying to run our lives, today I’m focusing on the efforts to overturn Proposition 8 in California. It was sparked by this Google Blog posting. Google is supporting the case to have the Courts overturn the will of the people of California.

By nearly 600,000 votes (link is .pdf) the people in California voted in favor of Proposition 8. The Constitution of California was amended. If you want to change it, have another ballot question. The courts should not overturn the will of the people, and throw out a Constitutional Amendment.

The current issue before the courts is not an issue over “basic rights”. It’s an issue about if the people still control the government, or if the government rules over the people.

So to Google I say: by challenging the will of the people you are not fighting for basic rights, you are fighting for bigger government that controls its citizens. You are fighting for a government that can exert its will on the people no matter what. That is not the freedom that is the hallmark of the United States of America.

(Note: I’m not arguing for or against Prop 8 here. I’m arguing that the people passed it, and the Constitution was amended. A court cannot simply throw out a Constitutional Amendment.)

And it got busy at work.  It was kind of fun.  It’s nice to be busy again.  The fast pace of session is nice.  I’m really liking working with the new members cool.  So overall I’m liking it a lot. It’s also back to full time again.  They’re not sure if that’s permanent or not yet, but five days a week is nice again too.

The other night Kari and Adam came over for dinner.  Beth had to call me and remind me so I would come home.  Otherwise I would have been working even later.  It was fun to hang out agian.  We hadn’t seen them since their wedding I think.

We got Beth a new car.  A Pontiac Bonneville.  It’s a nice car, it has around 95,000 miles on it, but it seems to run well.  I was worried about the mileage, but we were able to get a warranty on it.  So it doesn’t worry too much.  Plus we’ve heard from a number of people who have driven their Bonnevilles for over 230,000 and a few over 300,000.  So that’s pretty exciting.

Last Sunday Idrove the parents truck back up to LP.  The roads were not good.  The freeway was covered with ice.  I saw at least a dozen cars in the ditch, two on their side, and one on it’s roof.  But by the time I road back to St. Cloud wiht my aunt and uncle it was good again.  Beth picked me up and we were traveling 70 mph.

I’m glad to be done with that.  And I’m looking forward to relaxing the next couple of days.

It’s off to a good start too.  Even though we’re only 13 hours into 2009, I’d say it’s pretty good.  The coffee is tasty, the rolls were delicious, and the temperature is above 0!  After all of the auld lang syne I’m relaxing at home.  My wife is even home with me this year, so that makes it a little better than last.

Looking back at 2008 I can say it was a good year.  The trip out to PA (pictures) was one of the highlights of the year for me.  It was fun to meet Beth’s side of the family more.  PA is a good place to visit as well.

It was the first full year in our house, which was fun.  Getting the pool up and running was nice.  We’ve recently done some small projects around here to make it a little more homie.  While it takes a fair amount of money, owning a house is worth it!

We had a number of friends and family get married in 2008.  So we got to see a number of friends and to do a little bit of traveling in as well.  A fun mini-vacation added to the good memories of this year.

It was a year of new things as well.  From a new car to new phones, and a new nephew, with no new jobs (we left that to 2007).  As for Beth’s need for a new car we’ll get that squared away in 2009.

Of course the year in review wouldn’t be complete with out some mention of the elections.  Even though my guy for President didn’t win, I still got to see him.  My guy for State Rep. did win!  It will be interesting to see the next two years, which I’ve talked about before.

That sums up 2008 for me, at least everything I can remember.  I hope it was great for you.  Best wishes and blessings for your 2009!