THE FACE OF ONE LOCAL VOTER

Today after putting groceries in my car trunk, I was waiting for a gentleman to close his car door so I could get into my driver’s seat. He was taking a long time and finally turned to me and said with a slight sneer ”am I holding you back?” I replied very nicely and with a laugh that he was. He looked at the re-elect Obama button I was wearing and made a derisive noise to let me know who he was voting for, so I said “good luck”.

I will describe the man to you. He was about 50 years old, overweight with tattoos on his neck and arms and the baggy shorts he was wearing were hanging half off his rear end. He did have plaid underwear on, so he wasn’t totally disgusting. I can’t imagine what kind of work he did, but immediately thought he was probably one of the NRA members who live everywhere in our county and maybe his pants were falling down because of the weight of his concealed weapon.

As I got into the car, I thought that if he had met Romney himself, the former governor would probably not shake his hand or if he did, he’d later wipe it off.  I’d do the same thing myself. I thought thank goodness he isn’t a Democrat.

 

THE NEW GENERATION

One week ago today our first great-grandchild was born, her name is Juliet Elizabeth.  I saw a video of her when she was several days old and I must say she is very beautiful. All the rest of the family agree that she is something special.

 

 

TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHY

My very old friend asked me why I’ve become so political in my blog. I had to stop and think how all this happened.

I distinctly remember when George Bush was elected president, I went next door to my neighbor, who was a Republican and said to her (very nicely because I liked her) that I hope she realized that she had just voted for a war. Her reply was, no she just felt he was “rattling the sabers” for Saddam Hussein to realize he meant business. I told her she was totally wrong and we were going to war.

Then what happened? If you were against the war you were un-American and not patriotic. I remember riding in a car and the street was lined with people protesting the war and the signs they were holding up said “Honk if you’re against going to war”. I said to the driver “aren’t you going to honk” and he said no because Iraq had WPD’s and Bush was all for keeping America safe. I said to him “remember this: Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction!”

The result is that George and Dick and friends made a lot of money, but the cost of the war impacted the United States so much that we have now have an enormous budget deficit as a result. If you don’t believe me, don’t you wonder why George Bush has had no say in the last two major elections for President? The Republicans know they were all wrong, and now they’re trying to make two wrongs into a right. The Republicans have destroyed the middle class as we know it.

A MATTER OF TASTE

I spend a great deal of time watching TV shows about young people buying their first homes or those in search of a new place when they’ve been transferred from another state. I’m always interested in seeing how the houses are decorated and what changes in decor will be made after they’ve moved in with their own furnishings.

The buyers always have a choice of three places, although it’s obvious that they have looked at others. The majority want a house with three bedrooms, two baths and a must have kitchen, featuring granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Nothing else will do.

There are also those persons who have specific wishes which are hard to find in their price range. There was one woman recently who wanted a Victorian home with this feature and that feature, but she never found exactly what she wanted. She complained about everything and I disliked her very much. She and her husband had the choice of two beautiful homes and one with weird features. They chose the weird one which shocked me, so I couldn’t wait to see how she had decorated it because I figured that it would have a wow factor, what with all her antiques. In showing us her now livable home at the end of the show, I was astonished to see black leather furniture in the living room and a sheer red cloth on their chrome dining room table.

It’s all a matter of taste.

YOU CAN’T HELP NOTICING

You can’t help noticing all the signs of local and state politicians running for office or for re-election on every highway and byway.

Yesterday, I remarked to my husband that I now feel sorry for the incumbent school superintendent who is running for a third term. Here is a woman who was totally unqualified for the job to begin with, but was bolstered by our local Republicans as a great educator although she only has an associate degree from our community college then finished her education with a degree at one of our state colleges. She taught school for a while before entering politics.

Why do I feel sorry for her? Her friends are no longer her friends simply because they are now friends with someone who has no more qualifications as an educator but has more clout. 

I sincerely feel badly for the woman who unfortunately according to the latest news now has large numbers of Democratic teachers registering as Republicans in order to vote against her. It’s obvious they don’t feel she is qualified to be their leader.

Don’t you think it’s time for the job of the Pasco Superintendent of Schools to be filled by a qualified educator not another elected politician?