That is, unless you happen to be part of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association.

According to the Associated Press, the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs, Colorado is taking a zero tolerance approach when it comes to peace-loving holiday decor this year.

A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

No, I am not making this up for good blog fodder. This is actually true.

Hard to believe though? I’d say so.

How anyone could take offense to the peace symbol is beyond me. I mean, I know that homeowners associations have the right to their rules -?‚? no matter how inane those rules may be -?‚? but let’s get real here for a second. This is a holiday garland in the form of a peace symbol. What are people going to take offense to next? Frosty the Snowman decorations?

Now, granted, there were only a few homeowners who complained. But the thought that anyone would complain completely befuddles me. And furthermore, the idea that a homeowner would be fined close to $1000 for?‚? hanging up a?‚? peace sign wreath because it’s “divisive”?‚? is just plain sad.

The article states that some of?‚? those who complained have children serving in Iraq and were offended by the peace symbol because they viewed it as an anti-war protest. Again, this befuddles me. Regardless of our stance on the war or whether or not we have relatives serving in Iraq, who doesn’t want peace? Besides,?‚? if my child were serving in Iraq, wouldn’t that make peace on Earth, and particularly in the Middle East, even more important? (On a side note, the woman facing charges has said that the peace sign was not politically motivated.)

I guess the whole thing is just another reminder to me of why I want to avoid homeowners associations. You may not have to worry about your neighbor painting his house purple, but you might?‚? have to start worrying a lot more about your Christmas decor. Because let’s face it, nothing says Satan like a peace-sign garland, right??‚?

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Although I tend to be liberal on most issues, that doesn’t mean that I agree with every Democrat all the time. Case in point: House Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel has just announced that he will be proposing a measure in the next few months to reinstate the draft.?‚? One of his reasons for making this proposal is to “deter politicians from launching wars.”

“There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” Rangel said.

Um, is it just me or is that a really bad reason to reinstate the draft? What kind of crazy reverse psychology game is he trying to play??‚? I’m pretty sure that I don’t want the draft used as a way to double dog dare the administration to go to war. Because newsflash, Rangel, they may decide to go to war anyway. Are you ready to?‚? allow your children or grandchildren to be drafted into a war they may not even believe in? Because I’m not. And I’m pretty sure most Americans aren’t either.

The good news is that there is almost no chance in hell that this will pass through Congress given that Rangel has already failed twice to pass?‚? similar legislation. Maybe he should take the hint and figure out a better way to deter politicians from going to war.

Hmmmmm…?‚? Might I suggest the upcoming Global Orgasm for Peace Rally?

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Considering that we’ve made it our mission here in America to spread “democracy” far and wide throughout the world, you’d think that our country’s electoral process - arguably the most fundamental of all democratic processes - would be running smoothly. You’d think that there wouldn’t be any “funny business” going on that might, say, cast some doubt as to whether our elections are conducted fairly.

At least that’s what I’d like to think. Unfortunately, I have been hearing more and more about the underhanded, and?‚? seemingly illegal, practices that are conducted to suppress voters.

There are so many shocking examples, I don’t even know where to start. Here are a few:

• In California, Tan Nguyen, a Republican candidate running for Congress, has admitted that one of his staff members sent out up to 14,000 letters to newly registered Latino voters, telling them that it is illegal to vote if they are an immigrant. Not an illegal immigrant. An immigrant. I guess Governor Schwarzenegger better stay out of the voting booth this year then, eh?

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• In Florida, early voting has revealed a “small little glitch” with the electronic voting machines. Apparently, after some voters selected a Democratic candidate, the computer registers that they voted for the Republican candidate. I know you think I’m joking, but I’m totally serious. This was reported in the?‚? New York Times today. Apparently, the elections officials in that county don’t really see it as a problem because as long as voters complain, an elections official can come into their voting booth (forget the violation of privacy here) and fix the computer for them. That’s if the voter realizes what has happened. And that’s a big if as far as I’m concerned.

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• Around the country, Republican campaigns have been “robocalling” voter households with pre-recorded anti-Democratic messages that have made many voters believe that the call is being made by a Democratic candidate. (i obsess linked to several good articles on this in her post today.) Because the calls are made to the same voters repeatedly and because voters often hang up before it becomes clear that the call is not actually from the Democratic candidate, many annoyed voters have called Democratic headquarters offices to complain and, in some cases, voters have even threatened not to vote for the Democratic candidate who they believe is making the calls.

Want more examples that will piss you off??‚? Read the transcript from Amy Goodman’s interview with New York Times columnist Adam Cohen who was interviewed today on Democracy Now!. Learn about how often electronic voting machines break down and how they often contain no paper trails or learn how in Georgia, a now defunct law required?‚? voters to buy an ID card?‚? if they didn’t have a driver’s license - too bad those ID cards weren’t made readily available for purchase.

So, tomorrow is election day, and I have already sent in my absentee ballot. I’m just crossing my fingers that it doesn’t get returned to me for using the wrong color ink. Somehow, that doesn’t sound as preposterous as it did yesterday.

When it comes to?‚? relating?‚? to other moms, I realize that there’s a big difference between being?‚? nosy and?‚? judgmental?‚? and being a caring, concerned friend. For example, while the?‚? judgemental mom might make her mommy friend feel guilty for not?‚? properly bundling up her child on an outing to the park in cold weather, the concerned but caring mom would simply offer an extra blanket if she had one to spare.

However,?‚? I often find that the line between being judgmental?‚? and being?‚? concerned is not always so?‚? easy to judge. For example, a few months ago, during one of my son’s playgroup dates, the topic of sports came up among the moms present. One of the new moms, who had just joined the group recently, mentioned that she and her husband love to play tennis and basketball.

“Wow”, I said. “You have time to play tennis and basketball with an infant??‚? That’s great. I haven’t exercised?‚? at all since my son was born. Who watches?‚? your baby while you guys play?”

“Oh,” she said, “no one has to watch the baby?‚? for us because we play with the baby.”

“You play with the baby? What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, it’s easy,” she explained. “I just strap my daughter into the Baby Bjorn and play with her. She loves it. In fact, she usually just falls asleep while we play.”

As I looked around the room at the handful of other moms?‚? listening in to the conversation, I noticed that almost all of their mouths were hanging open. As was mine.

This girl was playing tennis and basketball with her baby strapped into her Baby Bjorn? Was she serious? Hadn’t she ever heard of shaken baby syndrome?

Immediately, I thought to myself, “Could this explain her baby’s listlessness? Could this baby, who was?‚? always very quiet and almost always asleep?‚? during the few outings she had attended with the mom’s group, actually have brain damage because her?‚? mother bounced her around several hours a week playing sports?”

By the time I had wrapped my mind around it, she had changed the subject. But for the rest of that day and for weeks later, it bothered me. Should I say something to her? Warn her about the dangers of bouncing her little bitty 14-pound baby around on the tennis court? Tell her that the bones of?‚? her child’s skull had yet to?‚? completely grow together? Was it possible that she really didn’t know this? I felt compelled to say something.

And yet, something stopped me.?‚? Part of me felt like?‚? it wasn’t my place to say anything. And after all, she is the mother of the baby not me. Plus, I hadn’t seen them playing tennis or basketball. Maybe, somehow, she could play without really moving. Maybe the image of her jostling that baby up and down for an hour three times a week was just me over-reacting and not understanding the situation.

So, I never did say anything.?‚? And in retrospect, I feel a little guilty about it. I mean, if that had been me, and I had been putting my baby at risk without realizing it, I would have wanted another mother to say something to me. It might have hurt my pride at the time, but I would have appreciated it.?‚?

So, now I am just left wondering if her baby is OK. I saw her again recently and was relieved to see that her daughter, now a one-year-old,?‚? appeared normal. But if I had to do it over again, I would have said something. Only I would approached it delicately, and rather than?‚? blurting out, “Are you crazy?!”, which is what I was thinking,?‚? I would have simply suggested the following: “Perhaps you might want to consider taking up a hobby like Scrabble instead.”

Lead. If you’re into chemistry, you might know it as Pb or atomic number 82 on the periodic table. When ingested in high levels by humans, it can cause neurological problems, gastrointestinal problems, kidney problems, and even reproductive problems. In extreme cases, it can even cause death and is particularly dangerous to children.

According to Wilkipedia, lead is commonly found in things like?‚? car batteries, coolant, paint (prior to 1978), high voltage power cables, and roofing material. Not really things that your child will be playing with, right? So I guess we can all heave a huge old sigh of relief and move on, right?

Wrong.

It seems like every time I turn around,?‚? I’m hearing about yet another?‚? seemingly innocuous?‚? item that contains lead. Your artificial christmas tree? Full of it.?‚? ?‚? The plastic?‚? Halloween costumes?‚? for sale at stores nationwide??‚? Lead, baby.?‚? The candy that our neighbors could be handing out for Halloween? Mmmm, yummy lead. The lunch bags we’ve been using for the past five years…uh, lead sandwiches anyone??‚? The toy jewelry that your child got from a vending machine and that cute little?‚? bracelet you bought your daughter at the Disney?‚? Store??‚? Yep, you guessed it - lead and more lead.

I could go on, but I won’t. You get the picture.

What I want to know is: what the heck is going on? You’d think that since we know that lead is poisonous, that at the very least, we wouldn’t find it our children’s toys.

I guess we can find some solace in the fact that in some states, like California, business are required to provide warnings when a product is known to contain toxic chemicals. That is, unless there is no such law in your state. In which case, some people apparently feel free to ignore the public health risk just so they can sell their products, as reported in this news story:

California law requires businesses to provide warnings when they expose the public to hazardous chemicals, like lead. But that’s not the case everywhere. Some costumes found in California are being sold in other states with the warning labels blacked out.

Blacked out, people. The?‚? labels warning us that?‚? our children’s Halloween costumes contain toxic levels of lead are being blacked out.

What is this world coming to?

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