We are now on day 7 of my being laid off. What do I do with my time? I am on the computer when the Husband is not working on his business and I apply for positions all over the country.

I really want to stay on the Coast of Maine, but there is not alot of work. I am writing my wedding book, to put on line, and that keeps me busy. My husband and I are in the house all day, but we barely talk, he is working on his own business, trying to stay positive for me.

I feel like a loser, I have never lost a job before, so there are alot of emotions. I am at a cross roads in my life, and have actually applied for positions outside of the hotel industry. When you have been cast aside so easily, it makes you second guess your decisions up to this point. My husband has been so wonderful, and it was because of me we are on the Coast of Maine, I wanted to move back to New England, and now look at us?

I am a bit angry, but that is a worthless emotion it was downsizing, and business nothing personal. My head knows all this, but my heart is crushed.

I will keep you up to date on my progress looking for my next career path.

I am at a crossroads in my life. The company where I was work, has had to do some downsizing, and I was let go without warning on Wednesday. I do understand, but I have never been laid off or fired before.

So, then I of course, have a zillion questions, what did I do wrong? What could I have done better? Been there more? Lowered prices for meals? What??? These are questions that will never been answered and maybe part of me doesn't want to know, it is easier if I blame myself without knowing it really was my own fault.

I was so angry, but I knew it was not my clients fault, so a few hours later, I emailed my old boss, to give her updates on upcoming events. I am still angry but sadness has just set in, I am lost and trying to get a plan together.

I have already applied to positions, not any I desperately want, but life goes on, and we have to live. I have finally started my self-help book for weddings, and my wonderful husband is helping me stay positive. I did a mean thing and made him quit too, I could not have him on the property when I was not there. Selfish, I know but it would kill me, having him working my weddings, we are all allowed to be selfish once in awhile.

The economy is so scary right now, and we are in Maine, so we need heat, groceries, snow tires etc. I am scared, but motivated enough to know self-doubt is not a luxury I can afford right now.

From Fox News, it is amazing that a public figure wants to give her support for her candidate and he does not want it, can he really afford not to? I get fed up with Hollywood having cameras in their faces and saying why Obama is their candidate, but I see no one going out and asking the "real people" of the world who their candidate is, it is as if main stream media wants you to believe Obama is the best candidate.

"LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan's efforts to stump for Barack Obama were reportedly thrown back in her face by the Democratic candidate's campaign ... and her father is none too happy about it.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, LiLo wanted to promote Obama but was turned away by his camp due to her wild ways. Now daddy Michael Lohan is biting back.

"For Barack Obama to condemn my daughter for past indiscretions when he admitted to the exact same himself is indicative of what kind of president he would be," Michael Lohan told Pop Tarts via e-mail on Wednesday night.

"His visions of a positive future for this country should be representative of a positive future for people as well. It is looking beyond the difficult times and letting go of the past," Michael said. "Obviously, Obama can do this for himself and not others, when in fact a good president should have hope for all."

Michael and his famous daughter have had a rocky relationship in recent weeks, but he had nothing but nice words for his little one in his e-mail.

"Lindsay is gifted — she has a wonderful heart and she can and will affect millions of people in a very positive way. She is here to stay," he said. "Obama might have eight years, and then he will be giving lectures. Who knows, maybe Lindsay will give him a part in one of her movies."

I have gotten sucked in again to the New 90210, but for me, I want to see more of Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Brenda ( Shannon Doherty) then I do the new kids of the show. Annie is way too sweet, she is already on my last nerve, I do like Silver and Annie's brothers story line.

Last week shows, the most exciting was finding out who's Kelly's son's dad was, and that was at the end of the show. Personally, I knew it was Dylan but part of me would of loved it to be Brandon's. Where is Dylan? I loved 90210 the original and I am trying to care about these new kids, but I watch to see Kelly and Brenda interact, it is incredible. I know Donna was mentioned but what about David? When are we going to see Donna ( Tori Spelling)?

I know that Luke Perry is now on Sci-Fi Jermiah and David Austin Green is on Sara Conner's, so are we ever going to see the guys again? How come Steve has not been mentioned?

I know I am older, but I want to see the originals back especially since I feel we got jipped with out Brandon and Brenda at Donna and David's wedding at the end of the run of the show.

Just my opinion.

Work has been a bit much lately, myself and the Director of Rooms,we get along for a day or two then he does something to tick me off. Which means he offends my group in some way, because he feels he has the right.

He should ask me first before going off half cocked without knowing what agreement I made with my vendors/clients. Example, this past weekend we had a wonderful wedding, they had hired and outside company to come in and decorate and bring in own tables, chairs, linens, china etc., and the decorators informed me on Sat. PM that the rental company can not pick up until Tuesday. Due to the fact, there was nothing in that room until Thursday, I agreed, well Mr. Director, had a fit. He wanted to charge them, and even made a stupid comment, " If they ever want to work here again, they have to abide by our rules." EXCUSE ME!! We are struggling a bit for business, and you want to offend a group that can reccommend us to the high end, cleintele that we are trying to attract.

I get mad a myself for backing down, because I am sick of fighting with him, if this was a romantic relationship, I would have broke it off a long time ago, but this is business, and I have to decide which battles to fight and which ones can go by the wayside?

Do you have someone in your work place who thinks he/she is smarter than they think? Or thinks has more power than they do? I have heard from a few people that this person will be the downfall of this property, I do believe that, because he is sometimes so abrupt with the guests. He wants to make sure they go by his rules, or what he perceives are the rules. He has told some of my wedding tours, that no rooms during July/August, hate to break it to him, we would never have sold out the few times we did this summer if it wasn't for my wedding groups. ALso, I have a way of saying so no one is offended before I even tour them.

I do keep a running grievance list against him, not that I would use it, but it makes me feel better and I get my aggravation out on him. He made another comment about a "real hotel" excuse me aren't we real? Also, how would you know, I am not sure any "real hotel" would put up with your bullshit....It has been 2 days and I am still so angry at him.

Just to make it better, the rental company came on Monday Morning and had everything gone by 11am and shocker he was not here and no one has touched that room today to get it ready for Thursday so what was the big deal? Just a question...

This is an article from the New London Day, I think we should all go shopping at "Home Depot" and not pay for anything.

Waterford - By all accounts, 24-year-old Randy Heon of Norwich was a model employee at Home Depot, until the day this summer when a shoplifter carted off a bunch of chainsaws and he tried to interfere.

Soon after, the home-supply company fired him.

”I was thinking I was helping the company,” said Heon, who had been with Home Depot for six years, starting in high school.

Heon said he was behind the desk in the garden center at the Route 85 Home Depot when an associate yelled, “Help, shoplifter!” and he ran over and grabbed at the cart the suspect was using to load up his car. But Julie Cleary, another witness and a store employee, said she saw Heon trying to pry an item out of the shoplifter's hands.

”Afterward, the loss-prevention guy at the building said, 'Good job,' “ Heon said. “Customers said I had done a good job, too.”

Yet Heon's termination papers clearly cite his run-in with the shoplifter as a violation of company policy and the reason for his firing.

”On June 30, 2008, Randy Heon was involved in an incident in which he pursued a shoplifter attempting to remove unpaid merchandise from the store,” reads the undated documents. “As a result of the (major) violation ... Randy Heon's employment is being terminated effective immediately.”

A manager at the local Home Depot would not comment on the incident, referring questions to the home office, which didn't respond to a message.

Heon, a former associate of the month at the Lisbon Home Depot store and a manager in Waterford, said he was shocked at the firing, which occurred about a month after the incident. Heon said he was fired only after the shoplifter was caught and police and store managers reviewed a security videotape that showed Heon chasing after the suspect.

A district loss-prevention specialist, according to Heon, insisted that Heon be fired on the spot.

”He was told that he should have simply waved and told the man to 'Have a nice day,' “ said Heon's 30-year-old girlfriend, Jessica Glenn, in an e-mail. “Can this really be legal?”

Not only is it legal, experts said, but Home Depot has fired several employees in other locales for similar incidents. In Midwest City, Okla., for instance, four Home Depot employees lost their jobs last year in a single incident when they helped police catch shoplifters.

”Employers decide what happens in the workplace,” said Jacques Parenteau, a New London attorney who specializes in employment law.

Parenteau said workplace rules that restrict an employee from interfering with a shoplifter are meant to protect employers from potential lawsuits filed by workers who are hurt in such incidents. They also protect against ambiguous situations in which employees may act like “cowboys” and wrongly accuse customers of stealing, he said.

David Cadden, a professor of management at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, added that companies could potentially be sued by shoplifters if they were injured in the course of being apprehended.

Cadden said large companies began instituting shoplifting policies about 15 years ago when they decided they had more to lose from lawsuits than from pilfering.

”It happens when an organization is terrified of the potential for lawsuits and they are willing to accept a certain degree of loss,” he said.

Cadden said he doesn't personally agree with such policies because of their effects on morale as well as their one-size-fits-all mentality. But he understands that companies must be consistent in their application of the rules or they could face lawsuits from fired workers.

Heon said he has considered filing suit, and may yet do so. But Parenteau said such suits are long shots because, assuming the worker finds another job within a few months, it is hard to prove much in the way of economic loss that won't be eaten up by court costs.

Heon admits that he was aware of the company policy against pursuing a shoplifter. But he said he never touched the suspect and only pursued the car long enough to get a description and the plate number.

The firing left Heon without health insurance at around the same time he found out that his girlfriend is pregnant. Heon has since added to his hours at Mohegan Sun, where his work includes being a bouncer at the Ultra 88 nightclub, but he would rather have his job back at Home Depot.

”I should have been given a warning,” Heon said. “I don't think it was a bad thing to try to stop someone. What would have been the right thing to do - let him get away with the stuff?”

ITS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!

I have a birthday cake on my desktop screen. I am working (of course) and then I will be home alone tonight because the hubby is working at the Resort. Birthday's are not special to him, I do blame his parents for celebrating his birthday on Thanksgiving and not on his actual birthday Dec. 1...

My mom always made each of our birthdays specials, My sisters are a week apart and she never combined thier birthdays, my brother is like my husband a Dec. 9 birthday boy, and she made sure it was special and not Christmasy..

I am getting older, but I still love my birthday, we are going to dinner on Sunday Evening I believe due to we are both working all weekend.

Happy Birthday to me..

Do you remember? 9/11/01 - Where were you when you heard? What has changed in the 7 years since the attacks?

I am appalled that people forget so easily, how about the families who were affected directly? Or the Friends in directly?

I will never forget that day, and the two men who were with me at the time, my roommate Thomas and my boyfriend Seth are both gone now, but in my heart and head I will always think of both of them. Thomas calling me at work, crying that I have to come home, he can not be alone. Seth, working at the local airport calling me and telling me what is coming across the towers and the National Guard.

My birthday is September 12, so the next night Seth took me out for my birthday, it was so somber, really no reason to celebrate, will never forget what our country is fighting for, our freedom..

NY DAILY NEWS:

Seven years after that terrible morning when terrorists in hijacked airliners struck, construction has overtaken the sacred site where the twin towers once stood.

So it was with especially heavy steps that the grieving relatives, cops and firefighters ventured down Thursday into the bowels of Ground Zero to leave white, pink and red roses on the footprints of the fallen World Trace Center buildings.

Some, their faces glazed with tears, fell to their knees and prayed. Others sobbed silently and leaned on each other for support. Still others looked around and stored away the memories, knowing this could be the last time.

"I wouldn't know where else to go," said Brian Blanco, who escaped from the south tower on 9/11, and who stood near the abyss in Zuccotti Park.

SARAH PALIN: Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, I will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America. And I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions, and met far graver challenges, and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost, there was no hope for this candidate, who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters…

(APPLAUSE)

The pollsters and the pundits, they overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself, the determination, and resolve, and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

The voters knew better, and maybe that’s because they realized there’s a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

(APPLAUSE)

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by. He’s a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight.

(APPLAUSE)

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.

I’m just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm’s way. Our son, Track, is 19. And one week from tomorrow, September 11th, he’ll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew, Casey (ph), also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

So Track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it’s two boys and three girls in between, my strong and kind- hearted daughters, Bristol, and Willow, and Piper.

(APPLAUSE)

And we were so blessed in April. Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig.

You know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that’s how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special-needs…

(APPLAUSE)

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message for you: For years, you’ve sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you that, if we’re elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

And Todd is a story all by himself. He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman and a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope, and a proud member of the United Steelworkers union. And Todd is a world champion snow machine racer.

(APPLAUSE)

Throw in his Yup’ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package. And we met in high school. And two decades and five children later, he’s still my guy.

(APPLAUSE)

My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson that I’ve learned, that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

And my parents are here tonight.

I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath (ph).

(APPLAUSE)

Long ago, a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path — he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed, “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity,” and I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people. They’re the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America.

(APPLAUSE)

I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.

(APPLAUSE)

I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.

(APPLAUSE)

So I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education even better. And when I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and I knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska…

(APPLAUSE)

… I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.

(APPLAUSE)

I guess — I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

(APPLAUSE)

I might add that, in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they’re listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

(APPLAUSE)

No, we tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

(APPLAUSE)

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes and whoever is listening John McCain is the same man.

(APPLAUSE)

Well, I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And…

(APPLAUSE)

… I’ve learned quickly these last few days that, if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

But — now, here’s a little newsflash. Here’s a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.

(APPLAUSE)

Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason and not just to mingle with the right people. Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

(APPLAUSE)

No one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant’s heart.

And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

This was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys.

Suddenly, I realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

(APPLAUSE)

I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top.

(APPLAUSE)

I put it on eBay.

(APPLAUSE)

I love to drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef, although I got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her.

(APPLAUSE)

I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto, if necessary.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator McCain also — he promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest. And as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

(APPLAUSE)

Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending, nearly $500 million in vetoes.

We suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks,” on that Bridge to Nowhere.

(APPLAUSE)

If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.

(APPLAUSE)

When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged: directly to the people of Alaska.

(APPLAUSE)

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

(APPLAUSE)

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

(APPLAUSE)

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are open, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we’re forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

(APPLAUSE)

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source, Americans, we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And…

(APPLAUSE)

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: We’ve got lots of both.

(APPLAUSE)

Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems, as if we didn’t know that already.

(LAUGHTER)

But the fact that drilling, though, won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

(APPLAUSE)

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need…

(APPLAUSE)

We need American sources of resources. We need American energy brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.

(APPLAUSE)

And now, I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent, and maybe you have, too. We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers, and there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the State Senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use word “victory,” except when he’s talking about his own campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot…

(APPLAUSE)

… when that happens, what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

(APPLAUSE)

The answer — the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.

(APPLAUSE)

Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much money; he promises more.

Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan.

And let me be specific: The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, and raise payroll taxes, and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

My sister, Heather, and her husband, they just built a service station that’s now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they…

(APPLAUSE)

How are they going to be better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio…

(APPLAUSE)

… or you’re trying — you’re trying to create jobs from clean coal, from Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

(APPLAUSE)

You’re trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

(APPLAUSE)

How are you — how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?

Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election: In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They are the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners or on self-designed presidential seals.

(APPLAUSE)

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speech- making, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things, and then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things.

(APPLAUSE)

They’re the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones that we’ve always been able to count on to serve and to defend America.

Senator McCain’s record of actual achievements and reform helps explain why so many special interests, and lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn’t run with the Washington herd. He’s a man who’s there to serve his country and not just his party, a leader who’s not looking for a fight, but sure isn’t afraid of one, either.

(APPLAUSE)

Harry Reid, the majority of the current do-nothing Senate…

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

… he not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.”

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we’ve chosen the right man.

(APPLAUSE)

Clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain and that is only…

(APPLAUSE)

… that’s only one more reason to take the maverick out of the Senate, put him in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

This world of threats and dangers, it’s not just a community and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they’re always, quote, “fighting for you,” let us face the matter squarely: There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you.

(APPLAUSE)

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world, the nightmare world in which this man and others equally brave served and suffered for their country.

And it’s a long way from the fear, and pain, and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. It’s the journey of an upright and honorable man, the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this great country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on Earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives by the grace of God, the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome. A fellow…

(APPLAUSE)

A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio…

(APPLAUSE)

… Tom Moe recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway by the guards, day after day.

And the story is told, when McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn towards Moe’s door, and he’d flash a grin and a thumbs up, as if to say, “We’re going to pull through this.”

My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through the next four years.

(APPLAUSE)

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you, and God bless America. Thank you.

YOU GO GIRL!!!!

SARAH PALIN: Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, I will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America. And I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions, and met far graver challenges, and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

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It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost, there was no hope for this candidate, who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters…

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The pollsters and the pundits, they overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself, the determination, and resolve, and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.

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The voters knew better, and maybe that’s because they realized there’s a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

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Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by. He’s a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight.

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And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.

I’m just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm’s way. Our son, Track, is 19. And one week from tomorrow, September 11th, he’ll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew, Casey (ph), also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.

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AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

So Track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it’s two boys and three girls in between, my strong and kind- hearted daughters, Bristol, and Willow, and Piper.

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And we were so blessed in April. Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig.

You know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that’s how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special-needs…

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To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message for you: For years, you’ve sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you that, if we’re elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

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And Todd is a story all by himself. He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman and a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope, and a proud member of the United Steelworkers union. And Todd is a world champion snow machine racer.

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Throw in his Yup’ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package. And we met in high school. And two decades and five children later, he’s still my guy.

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My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson that I’ve learned, that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

And my parents are here tonight.

I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath (ph).

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Long ago, a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path — he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed, “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity,” and I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people. They’re the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America.

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I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.

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I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.

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So I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education even better. And when I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and I knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska…

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… I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.

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I guess — I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

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I might add that, in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they’re listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

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No, we tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

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As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes and whoever is listening John McCain is the same man.

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Well, I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And…

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… I’ve learned quickly these last few days that, if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

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But — now, here’s a little newsflash. Here’s a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.

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Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason and not just to mingle with the right people. Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

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No one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant’s heart.

And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.

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This was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys.

Suddenly, I realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

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I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top.

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I put it on eBay.

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I love to drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef, although I got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her.

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I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto, if necessary.

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Senator McCain also — he promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest. And as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

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Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending, nearly $500 million in vetoes.

We suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks,” on that Bridge to Nowhere.

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If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.

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When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged: directly to the people of Alaska.

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And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

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I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

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That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are open, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we’re forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

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To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source, Americans, we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And…

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And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: We’ve got lots of both.

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Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems, as if we didn’t know that already.

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But the fact that drilling, though, won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

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Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need…

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We need American sources of resources. We need American energy brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.

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And now, I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent, and maybe you have, too. We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers, and there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the State Senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use word “victory,” except when he’s talking about his own campaign.

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But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot…

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… when that happens, what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

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The answer — the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.

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America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.

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Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much money; he promises more.

Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan.

And let me be specific: The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, and raise payroll taxes, and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

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My sister, Heather, and her husband, they just built a service station that’s now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they…

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How are they going to be better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio…

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… or you’re trying — you’re trying to create jobs from clean coal, from Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

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You’re trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

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How are you — how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?

Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election: In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They are the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners or on self-designed presidential seals.

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Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speech- making, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things, and then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things.

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They’re the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones that we’ve always been able to count on to serve and to defend America.

Senator McCain’s record of actual achievements and reform helps explain why so many special interests, and lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn’t run with the Washington herd. He’s a man who’s there to serve his country and not just his party, a leader who’s not looking for a fight, but sure isn’t afraid of one, either.

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Harry Reid, the majority of the current do-nothing Senate…

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… he not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.”

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we’ve chosen the right man.

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Clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain and that is only…

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… that’s only one more reason to take the maverick out of the Senate, put him in the White House.

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My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.

(LAUGHTER)

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This world of threats and dangers, it’s not just a community and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they’re always, quote, “fighting for you,” let us face the matter squarely: There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you.

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There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.

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You know, in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world, the nightmare world in which this man and others equally brave served and suffered for their country.

And it’s a long way from the fear, and pain, and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. It’s the journey of an upright and honorable man, the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this great country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on Earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives by the grace of God, the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome. A fellow…

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A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio…

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… Tom Moe recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway by the guards, day after day.

And the story is told, when McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn towards Moe’s door, and he’d flash a grin and a thumbs up, as if to say, “We’re going to pull through this.”

My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through the next four years.

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For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you, and God bless America. Thank you.

YOU GO GIRL!!!!