Back in August the plan was to take my son to see each of the candidates.  I grew up in NH and spent my childhood going to campaign events.  We live in Massachusetts and it's only a 2 hour drive to my parents' house.  My son is 11, has Asperger's Syndrome, and is obsessed with anything Presidential--except George Bush.

I had voted for John Edwards in the primary in 2004, over my own Senator, and well after it was obvious who the nominee would be.  At yearlyKos I signed up for the Edwards breakout and was not disappointed.  I had watched the debate carefully and thought most of the candidates did well for themselves.  I waited to be swept up in the Obama excitement because I'd liked him at the convention in 04.  But to say I was underwhelmed by his performance would be putting it mildly.

The first event we attended was in Merrimack, two towns away from the town in which I grew up.  It was on a Saturday night so we could combine a visit with Grandma and Grampa for the little guy as well as the event.

So there was a great diary today at DailyKos on this article by a woman who discussed the postive aspects of her mothering while smoking pot.  

I made a comment, along with over 150 others, but the response to me seemed to be focused on my screen name.  I suggested that the writer had poor parenting skills and was told that if I were honest I'd sound like a bad mother as well.  Given that I'd been clear that I was nowhere near a perfect parent I do think the response was to my screen name rather than the content of my responses.

The new head of family planning for the Bush administration is somewhat local for me.  The Boston Globe had an article on him today and it was filled with plenty of frightening information.

Dr. James Keroack hails from the tony North Shore town of Marblehead.  He's the physician overseeing 5 "crisis pregnancy" clinics.  "Crisis pregnancy" clinics exist to prevent "abortion vulnerable" women from obtaining an abortion.  One of these clinics is in Worcester, less than 50 feet away from the Planned Parenthood clinic.  One might ask why that makes a difference.  

I'm typing this from the waiting room while my son is with his occupational therapist.  As I was driving us here I was thinking about the difficulty in accessing appropriate services for kids with special needs.

My nine year old has PDD/Asperger's Syndrome which is in the autism spectrum.  Some other day I'll get into the fun that was his infancy.  Today I'm thinking about services.