My Take

Well, every yahoo who can string together a few words is commenting on the election results.  Reckon I might as well, too.

Back when the health care reform was passed, lots of folks said they were going to remember it come November.  Looks like they weren’t kidding.  Not only did Congress pass a bill few people understood, they pushed through a bill they said had to be passed now or else.  According to polls at the time (and now, for that matter), a majority of people were agin the bill.  When people found out it was going to be 2014 before most of the major provisions kicked in, folks really got to wondering what the rush was when about 10% of Americans don’t have jobs.  Have said it before, folks ain’t gonna be happy ‘til there’s more jobs out there.  FDR figured that out and created several job programs.  Didn’t really help the economy at the time, but people felt better cuz they had paying jobs.

One exit poll I saw last night said people were mad about the economy first then health care reform then a list of other things including taxes, the war, and some other things.  Another poll I saw said just as many people were wanting to “fire” Nancy Pelosi with their votes as were wanting to send a message to President Obama they ain’t happy with his agenda.  Thought that was kind of interesting.

There are several other things I found interesting about the election.  In no particular order:

• Maybe it was just my perception, but seemed to be several media folks with long faces last night.  Not really sure what that means.  Can say I saw one Chicago reporter talking about the e-mails and tweets she was getting from the Dem party and President Obama asking the recipients to encourage people to get out and vote.  One can only wonder why she would be on those e-mail lists much less reporting on the content?  Maybe she’s on the Pub lists, too, but they just weren’t sending out that stuff. Yeah, right.;
• The last time the Pubs gained this many seats at once was right after Social Security was passed, which was very unpopular when it was passed, too;
• Was reminded last night if the Pubs do manage to pass a bill reversing the current health care reform bill, it will have to be signed by Mr. Obama, who has the power to veto it.  Just sayin’; 
• Many Dems wanted nothing to do with Obama during this election and actually called on Bill Clinton to campaign for them rather than the president.  Neither one of ‘em seemed to have helped much;
• Guess the American people didn’t really give the Dems a mandate back in ‘08.  Or, if they did, it was quickly revoked.  Voters sure can be fickle sometimes;
• Some exit polls reflected Pub voters think the gov’t is going too far and the Dem voters think the gov’t ain’t going far enough.  What a shock;
• All of a sudden, the Dems think both parties should work together rather than just one party dictating everything.  Imagine that;
• The Pubs claim they are not interpreting this election as being given a mandate…for now.  They say this is the American people saying it’s time to put up or shut up.  Voters ain’t happy with the Dems and the Pubs are the only alternative.  Imagine if they don’t like what the Pubs do the next two years, they’ll kick them out, too;
• California elected Dems in the two major races but weren’t so liberal-minded when it came to Prop 19, which would have legalized marijuana.  Got voted down by a purty healthy margin.  Guess they don’t want their weed taxed.  How anti-establishment of them;
• The Tea Party did fairly well.  They won some and they lost some.  Hear they don’t want to be a third party.  They just want to reform the GOP.  Think they would be better off splitting off on their own.  They’ve tapped into a lot of voter anger.  If their candidates in DE and NV hadn’t been so out there, they probably would have won those seats, too;
• Maybe it’s just me, but think the media is giving Sarah Palin a little too much credit for last night.  Yes, she endorsed some people who went on to win.  But, think people voted for those candidates despite Mrs. Palin rather than cuz of her.  Have my doubts many people will want to vote her into the Oval office as I heard insinuated several times last night.  Only time will tell…

Hope both parties learned an important lesson with this election.  While sometimes you have to show leadership courage and take folks down a path they may not want to go, there are times you have to listen to what the people are tryin’ to tell ya and change accordingly.  Ultimately, we voters have the final say-so on your job performance.  We the people have the power to pick and choose our leaders, and we ain’t afraid to use it.

Anyway, that’s what this yahoo thinks about the election.  Whether you are happy with the results or not, they are what they are.  It’s long been past time for folks to come together and find solutions rather than being hard-headed ninnies thinking they are the only ones with the answers.  If this bunch wants to be the latter, reckon they’ll find out who’s boss two years from now, too.

Y’all have a good one.

A Little Bit of This…

Well, fall is finally in the air.  Football season is under way, the NHL is playing exhibition games, the temps are falling, and there are political ads out the wazoo.  What more can you ask for?  Got a few things to talk about this week.  Hope you’re interested enough to hear me out.  Gonna end on a positive note this week, too.  So try to stick around if you can.  Promise you’ll enjoy the last snippet.  With that being said, let’s get ready to reeeeaaaaaddddddddddd:

• Not gonna be able to run in Birmingham’s Susan G. Komen, a great and wonderful cause, 5K run this year.  Was able to run a 5K here a couple weeks ago.  Was sponsored by Time Warner Cable and $5 of every entry fee went towards breast cancer awareness, whatever that means.  Have had a tough time running in both races.  Get to thinking about my grandmama and mother both beating breast cancer.  Also think about my Aunt Trisha losing her battle with it.  Well, she always figured she was going to win either way.  She was either gonna beat the cancer or get to meet Jesus face-to-face.  Will always admire the attitude she had during her fight.  Never really care about my time or what place I come in during these races, it’s more about the cause to me.  Highly encourage each and every one of you to be sure to check yourself for lumps on a regular basis.  That includes you, too, men.  If you think men can’t get it, just look up Ace Frehley on the internet one day.  Might be surprised.  And, women you should also be sure to get a mammogram whenever you get a chance.  It’s been proven over and over again they detect cancer at its earliest stages, which is the best time to beat it;
• Ain’t political ads fun to watch?  They’re usually more about the lies the other guy has told than what the politician it’s about is  gonna do.  Think the best one I’ve seen is one about a politician who stopped a crime from being committed.  Sounds like he got beat up pretty bad in the process.  There’s an ad for him that talks about how this shows he has great character.  I think it’s great that he stepped in and saved the day.  But, part of me also thinks, if he had such great character, he wouldn’t be trying to use this to his advantage in an election.  But, in his defense, there’s no “I’m so-and-so and I approve of this ad” statement at the end.  So, it could be some his supporters have put this ad out and not him.  (Just for the record, though, his wife speaks in the ad.)  However, have noticed he sports a very obvious, bright white bandage on his hand in the ads he does approve of.  Sad thing is, I can’t even tell you what office he or his opponent are running for.  In my defense, it is an ad for a politician in a state other than the one I live in.  Only pay about half attention to those ads in my home state.  Pay about half of that in someone else’s state.  At least they’re trying to talk about his positives.  Have said it once, and will say it again:  if all you got to brag about is you’re not your opponent, you ain’t got much to offer, either;
• Been hearing a lot of yapping bout folks being disappointed that Obama ain’t solved the world’s problems in two years.  Now, ain’t a fan of the man nor his policies, but anyone who thought he’d cure everything in two years should probably not be allowed to vote again, ever.  Well, not really, but it does show the short-sightedness of the American electorate.  In case you ain’t been paying attention, this is a world-wide economic downturn.  We are so dependent on the world economy, there’s only so much we can do as a country to improve things.  Reckon we’ll just keep overturning our elected officials until things finally straighten out.  Our economy has always gone through cycles.  We are currently on a downturn.  Part of me thinks some of the problem is we’ve basically legislated out the depression phase of it.  Great prosperity has always followed a depression whether we want to admit it or not.  Ain’t wishing a depression on us, but my point is eventually the economy will cycle through this downturn and things will get better.  None of the legislation passed during the 1930’s brought us out of the Great Depression.  But, it gave Americans hope, which goes a longer way than just about anything else.  Most of the hope was created by creating jobs.  Can’t say any of the legislation passed in the last four years or so has given folks much hope.  Reckon that’s why President Obama is in such trouble, if you believe the polls, anyway.  Imagine it ain’t a coincidence they just announced the recession has supposedly been over since June…2009.  Not really sure how they come to figure that out now.  But, will say it’s mighty convenient it was announced right before the mid-term elections when the Dems are supposedly trailing badly in many races.  Maybe I’m just being overly suspicious, though…;
• See where Lady Gaga has gotten involved in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” debate.  Think a majority of Americans (including our elected officials on both sides of the aisle) support doing away with this silly policy.  The problem is the language which does away with it is wrapped into other stuff which ain’t so good.  This is the problem most of the time.  Kind of like the debate which said the Pubs were agin extending unemployment benefits a while back.  They weren’t agin extending the benefits, they were agin the way they were going to be funded.  There’s usually more to a story than most Americans want to dig into.  Not sure why this is not just a bill in and of itself.  Would pass with flying colors.  Anyway, at least Ms. Gaga appears to be taking the issue seriously, unlike Stephen Colbert when he was called to testify about illegal immigration.  Read Congress will sometimes call celebrities to bring attention to a particular cause.  Not sure what knucklehead thought calling Colbert was a good idea.  First of all, they had to know he wasn’t going to take it seriously.  Second, this is a pretty hot topic right now so tricks shouldn’t have been needed to draw attention to this subject.  Nice to know our elected officials are taking things so seriously right now;
• Been lots of brouhaha about Katy Perry and her duet with Elmo.  Saw the video.  Think it’s much ado bout nothin myself.  Seems like the kids on lots of kid’s shows dress a lot racier than she did.  The Sesame Street folks have been doing this a long time.  Would think people would trust their judgment by now.  But, some folks nowadays just like to complain bout everything.  By her standards, her dress was pretty tame.  In just about every picture I’ve ever seen of her, she usually has a very low cut top on with a push-up bra shoving those things halfway up to Canada.  To me, it’s hard to tell she has any cleavage in the offending outfit.  But, in the long run, Sesame Street is getting a lot of publicity out this whole thing.  Proving once again that any pub is good pub;
• Heard an interesting debate the other day bout whether golf has lost it’s mainstream status now that Tigger’s struggling.  My man TK Stack Money (that’s Tony Kornheiser to most folks) was saying golf never has been a mainstream sport, especially in comparison to the other sports.  As much as it pains me to say this, have to agree with that statement.  Think Tigger has been mainstream, but not golf itself, least not at the pro level.  (Lot more people play golf than watch it on TV.)  Lot of people today don’t watch for the golf.  They watch to see what Tigger is doing.  Supposedly, TV ratings go way down when he’s either not in contention or not playing in the tournament at all.  Just proves they ain’t golf fans, they’re Tigger fans.  Such a shame, too.  Many people complain about the it’s-all-about-me attitude of many professional athletes these days.  Pro golfers are just about as polar opposite of this that you can imagine.  That’s both the men and the women, by the way.  I actually prefer to watch the LPGA cuz they show their personalities a lot more while they are playing.  It’s a real shame more folks don’t watch them.  Anyway, if you want to watch a sport where the players have honesty and integrity, take a little while to watch some golf on the telly.  It’s actually kind of relaxing;
• OK, here’s the positive ending I promised.  Ever heard of Ike Ditzenberger?  Well, you are about to.  He’s a 17 year old boy with Down Syndrome.  He goes to Snohomish High School out in Washington.  He also happens to be on the football team.  The coach promised Ike he will play in practice as long as he keeps his shoulder pads on and his mouthpiece in.  Every time he does, Coach Mark Perry closes practices with The Ike Special, a play where Ike gets to carry the ball for a touchdown.  Ike’s dream has been to score in an actual game.  Last Friday night in a game against Lake Stevens High School, Coach Perry called The Ike Special on the final play of the game.  Ike ran it 51 yards for the touchdown!  Now, Lake Stevens was in on it, and they let him score.  But, the defenders added touches of realism by “trying” to tackle him, even diving and missing several times.  Lake Stevens won the game on paper 35-6, but in my opinion, both teams won that game.  My hat is off to both coaches.  This is what sports should be all about if you ask me.  If you want to read the story and/or see the play, just follow this here link to see The Ike Special.  You won’t regret it.

Well, that’s all I got for now.  Appreciate you hanging in here with me, and hope you’re having a great week.

I’m out!

Short Attention Span

Have some more random thoughts tonight. Seems like I have an awful lot of them as I don't expound on just one subject most of the time. Just get easily distracted, I guess. Makes me think of Jeremy from The Rats of NIMH. He was easily distracted, usually by shiny objects, though. Read the other day Geminis generally lose interest pretty quickly a lot of times. What a bunch of hocus poc...ooh, flashing lights on TV. Wait, what was I talking about?

Anyway, here we go:

• All this healthcare reform talk is getting old. The only thing either side seems interested in is calling each other names. Truth be told, neither side seems able to tell it like it is. The Right Side of the Aisle calls the other side socialists. The Left Side of the Aisle calls the other side hate-mongers. As I've said before, if you have to resort to name calling, you probably don't have much else to stand on. Supporters also claim they can pay for all of this without increasing the national debt by "taxing the rich." They are already paying for the bailouts, the stimulus package and probably some other things, too. Even the rich only have so much money. If this passes somehow, think their definition of "the rich" will expand to "if you ain't on welfare, you're rich" before it's all said and done. Have a feeling a lot of them will be looking for lobbyist positions if this edition really passes. We shall see...
• Along those lines, see where the White House hired a third party to send out e-mails on this whole mess. Turned out they sent them to a lot of people who didn't ask for it, i.e. - spam mail. Read today our tax money paid for this. What a great way to spend our money...NOT!!!
• Last comment on this whole mess for now. Saw where the White House set up an e-mail address for people to send them anything that "seems fishy" from people against this healthcare stuff. Supposedly so they could correct any misinformation. My head chooses to believe that. Not sure my heart does, though. Had the potential to evolve into Nixon's enemy lists. Glad they finally decided to get rid of that.
• Saw the other day where people are getting fired over their blogs. Most had been trying to do them anonymously. Once their identity was released, they got fired from their jobs. Somehow, that just seems un-American to me. Now, there are several things I'm not sure of in this whole mess: 1. What exactly were they writing about?; 2. Were they writing bad things about their employers?; 3. Were they doing it when they were supposed to be working? If the answer to either of the last two is "yes," might could agree with the firings, emphasis on MIGHT for # 2. My biggest question is why shouldn't they be allowed to write anonymously? Some of the most influential writings in our country (The Federalist Papers) were written by unknown authors. Historians think they know who wrote them, but nobody knows 100% for sure. Anyway, IF they were not bad-mouthing their employers, and IF they were not writing on company time, they shouldn't have been fired from their jobs just because they were blogging anonymously. That's all I have to say about that...
• Read several articles about people openly carrying weapons outside of President Obama's town halls in New Hampshire and Colorado. Most tried to put a spin on it of white folks not liking a black president. What those articles failed to mention was the guy in Colorado was black. Some did post pictures of him, but the photo was cropped to where all you saw was him from behind with a close-up of the AK-47. Goes to show the state of mind of the writers and that their opinion may also be in the article rather than just "reporting the facts." Write all this to caution you to always be wary of the source and what they may be trying to prove. It's one thing if they are writing an op-ed piece. It's another when they claim to just be "reporting the facts."
• Give the Secret Service credit for not making more out of these situations than they did. Said there is no law against the people carrying the weapons openly so they weren't going to ask them to leave. Now, if they would have entered the buildings, that would have been something else. See where Congress is now considering passing a law against carrying weapons in the vicinity of the president. Am one of the biggest Second Amendment supporters you will ever meet, but can't say I necessarily disagree with a law like that. Just hope there are specific guidelines spelled out and things aren't left for interpretation.
• Irritates me that Britain released that Libyan bomber. You want to be compassionate to folks, but this guy was responsible for killing almost 200 innocent people. Think that should outweigh just about everything else. Then the Libyans greeted him as a hero. Wish Reagan was still around to rattle their cages again. Saw one of those turn of the century shows which touched on Reagan's decision to bomb Libya. Most of the show had a pretty liberal slant, but the narrator's comment on this, "For all the controversy that decision caused, you have to admit terrorist activity out of Libya dropped to nothing after the bombs fell."
• Read where the Taliban cut fingers off a couple of people who voted in the recent Afghanistan election. No reason other than because they chose to vote. The Taliban warned everyone there would be violence towards folks that voted. You have to admire the courage of those people who still voted even with this threat hanging out there. Should also make you grateful we don't have to worry about such things when we vote. (Thank you, Veterans!) Hope it also makes you think twice the next time you decide not to vote in an election.
• Anybody else watching Big Brother this year? Have had some interesting people in the house this season. They claim to give everyone a psych evaluation before accepting them as contestants. Based on this year's cast, Charles Manson might could pass that test. Speaking of Charlie, thought of him the other night while those ladies were crying over Jessie's eviction. Their devotion to him was just downright spooky.

Well, thanks for making it to the end. Guess had more to say than I realized. Apologize for not being more witty. Hope to get back to that next time.