It's been quite a week for Mary and for me. We made our annual trek to the land of eternal summer as my grandfather called it. Of course, he was talking about Florida. We took some extra time to the trip this year. Mary had a total hip replacement a few months ago and she has to be cautious about blood clots, so it was necessary to stop and walk around quite often. We left early on Wednesday morning and arrived on Saturday morning. We still have a great deal of work to do before we can just relax and enjoy the Florida sunshine.

Of course we voted in Pennsylvania on Tuesday before leaving. I am proud to say that Pennsylvania went into the "blue" column. We really hoped that Kerry could carry enough states to win the election. However, the American people decided differently.

I have some major concerns about the future of our country. The economy is in terrible shape and we are leaving enormous debts for our children and grandchildren to pay. We are also leaving a planet that is in pretty bad condition. Global warming is here to stay and we're doing absolutely nothing to turn that around. Social Security and Medicare are on very shaky ground. The move towards privatization will kill Social Security. But then, that's the goal of the Neocons. Kill Social Security and Medicare. Corporations come first and people come last. Where is the morality of that?

One of my biggest concerns is the fighting of a war that should never have been. Over 100,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed, not counting all the Iraqi and American forces who have received severe injuries or even died. Where is the morality of that?

My chief concern, however, is the fact that this administration will get to choose several Supreme Court justices. We are already in danger of losing many of our constitutional rights. Now we are likely to lose even more. The right-wing Fundamentalist Christians would like nothing more than to create a Theocracy. That would mean the end of America as we know it. We must remain ever vigilant to prevent that from happening.

I had a lot of time to think on the way down here to Florida this week. I have decided that I will redouble my efforts to support causes of peace and justice. I will increase the amount of time I can give to them. I will increase the amount of giving to those causes, and I will increase the tempo of my writing to support them on this web site. It is what I must do if I am to follow the teachings of Jesus. Not all Christians are single or even double-issue Christians. Some of us favor a woman's right to control her body. Many of us also want to preserve the rights of all human beings, no matter what their sexual orientation. Personally, I think gay marriage is far better than having multiple partners. I am convinced that Jesus would have stood with those who support people rather than corporations.

So, life goes on. We have a lot of work to do. Our work doesn't end just because we lost an election. May God have mercy on the soul of the United States of America.