WHEN MACHINES DON'T READ MINDS

The marketers are feeling smug because they have stolen into our computers unlawfully, to my view, since they were uninvited and had no permission. They have taken our clicks to websites, assuming they can figure out why people were there.

Suppose, I, as a grandmother went to a bridal site to acquaint myself with bridal wear. I was only interested in this when my granddaughter was getting married. Do I want a lot of advertising sent to me? Absolutely not! What if I were unhappily married and went to porno sites believing my spouse would not learn of it. Would I want advertisements from companies selling sexual enhancements? Probably not!

I can think of many instances when I have searched the web for a kitchen appliance. I may have gone to many sites before I found what I wanted. Once I have made my purchase, I have no need for advertisements for the same product. I can see that the notion might be helpful for a few, to have the steps taken for them, but is it worth the annoyances of spam and 'targeted' ads? Not to me it isn't.

Whenever I fill out the marketing forms I indicate that I have no pets. Why, then, do I get catalogs for pet paraphernalia. I think I know. My daughter had a parakeet she left with me for a summer. Since I had to care for him, I got a PetCo card which was supposed to do something for me if I bought enough. Since then I am being deluged with catalogs for pet gear.

I am Caucasian and often wonder why I get clothing catalogs for the 'black' woman. Clothes really aren't all that different except for 'dressy' clothes which are culturally very much fancier, tassle-ier, and with more form fitting styles for the larger woman than other catalogs. Even though I have never purchased a single item from them (main reason is that they don't have petites in my size) I have been getting the catalogs for years. This brings me to another observation. Those who telemarket, send out requests for contributions, and otherwise make money by outreach, never take a name off the list. I have been widowed for almost 8 years and no matter how many times I have tried to get my husband's name off mailings, I have failed. I have failed even when I have said they will not ever get another penny from me until my name and not my dead husband's is on the request. I wonder how many forests it will take to finally get rid of the mountain of useless catalogs because of some bright MBA who thought of tracing computer clicks to sell advertising. I would like to see my computer no longer violated. If I want a product, I will look for it until I find it. I don't want a cottage industry set up to do my thinking for me.

NEEDED: HIDING PLACE, SAFE, FOR A FEW YEARS

Sadly, the day has come when all I want to do is hide from the world. I love my country, but feel no kinship or loyalty to the people currently ruining and destroying it. Apparently no one listened to Osama bin Laden who said he would break the economy of the US as he did Russia in the 90s. I can see Putin smiling at the stupidity with which our leaders went into the same battle, too smug to bother to look at history.

I, for one, chose to believe bin Laden and watched him do exactly as he said he would do. When I listen to those who swallowed the Bush/Cheney rhetoric..."we fight them over there so that we don't have to fight them here" I am nauseated at the obvious mental blindness of those who first said it and those who believe it today.

If, as it seems likely, Obama makes it to Presidency, I believe that people will be angry at him rather quickly because there is no way a human being can fight the entrenched evil system set up in Washington and maintained by the media and others and make significant changes with the speed that will be demanded. Everyone seems to be seeing him as the Messiah who has come to rescue the country. Alas, he is only a very well-educated, bright mortal who will be criticized as was Nancy Pelosi , unable to make rapid changes because there were not enough Democratic votes to be had when Bush was promising to veto anything that came into the Oval office.

Hopefully Obama will not be fighting the House and Senate but the dark forces will untie everywhere...commerce, the Market, people who want to continue the US cash cow they have suckled from for the past eight years, the lobbyists, CEO's, the super rich, and all the rest who care little about the fact that the country is dying before their eyes (that is if their eyes were open).

DOING A GOOGLE SEARCH ON YOURSELF

Every once in a while it is interesting to Google for people I know or knew. I have not used a paid site since I have not wished for that much information on anyone. Some sites claim to be free but often have a package for which they charge. The Internet is wonderful, it is most difficult to hide in it unless you do nothing and have no computer, perhaps. I find references to myself so far back that it was two email addresses ago. So far nothing has shown up with my current email address being posted....which seems to explain why I am getting far less spam these days, happily.

A relative who wishes no contact with his family was easily found though he may be surprised to learn that his family has no wish to be in contact with him as well. Having abandoned his biological children, the Internet exposes he has adopted two from abroad. One can learn and infer much through what information Google imparts, desired or not, on all of us.

If you have ever left a comment, an item on a wish list or review on Amazon, it appears magically through Google unless you wish to go through life using a pseudonym. Signed guest books also appear quite readily. There is no end to where one might find themselves showing up, it seems. I Googled (even though Google does not accept having their name turned into a verb) my first and last name, my first initial and last name, my first name and maiden name; in fact all names I have been known as throughout my life (as women are more likely to change names than men are through no choice of their own but as society has dictated).

The moral: It is easy to run but difficult to hide in today's world.

THE GAMES THAT SHOULDN'T BE

As the pundits sit in a round table on MSNBC, the older ones talk about past US Presidents and how these TV personalities were speech writers in the 'game' of politics. War is a game; politics is a game, and I guess to guys, most things are games. I rather doubt women think of those areas in the same deprecating way.

Throughout, this reminiscing of the past was a premature eulogy for Ted Kennedy. It served to show me the shallowness of the MSM (Main Stream Media). If one didn't know that there are many people who actually work towards causing things to happen, not just talk about what should be, or could be done, it might be even more depressing to me.

Somali children invent a new 'war game'...Ethiopians and Islamists. I don't see any little girls' faces in there but that doesn't mean there aren't any. Little boys seem to be being trained as insurgents. I dread the thought of what the little girls will be used for.

There is even a game about the 'political battleground'.

For those of us who are serious about our welfare and that of our future citizens (our children and their children and others' children) the attitude expressed this evening on the Chris Matthews show, as he talked over everyone, was to me a continuation of disappointments in American media. Most on CNN, when I tuned in there, seemed less egotistical. While the MSNBC crew talked more about themselves, CNN with their great graph and other visuals, explained the candidate's race. Since I have too much of a negative visceral reaction to Hannity, O'Reilly and others on Fox I could not make myself turn to that channel, even to be fair and balanced in this blog.

People, stop playing. Recess is over now. Let's get to work on this country! Let's make it a better place to live than it has been for the past 8 years, at very least!

2003 CHILD PORNOGRAPHY LAW UPHELD BY SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court upheld a 2003 child pornography law. The article stated, among many other details that should be read in entirety, was:

"In 2002, with Justice Scalia in dissent, the court struck down a law that made it a crime to create, distribute or possess “virtual” child pornography that uses computer-generated images or young-looking adults rather than real children.

The 2003 law was a reasonable legislative remedy to whatever defects existed in the invalidated law, Justice Scalia wrote, although he alluded dryly to the law’s “unlikely title,” the Prosecutorial Remedies and other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act, which can be rendered by a politically attractive acronym, the Protect Act."

Though I have never considered myself in favor of most of the overly strict rulings that smack of governmental paternalism, I totally agree that nothing about child pornography should be covered by 'free speech'. There is no reason whatsoever for child pornography (which only salaciously feeds the pedophiles among us) to be circulated on the Internet or anywhere else.

Interpreting what is child pornography within the privacy of one's home as a parent takes a picture of a baby on a rug, a mother naked in the tub with her 15 month old son, or many of the other family pictures shot for memories, can be difficult when the morality police start coming out in droves. However, digital photography has made having pictures processed by strangers no longer a necessity so that it creates a better climate for family photographers and an easier climate for the industry that is making millions peddling child pornography if they can get away with circulating it on the Internet.

It would seem there is no other description for such photographic circulation than 'child abuse' and titillating pedophiles.

ANOTHER CHANGE NEEDED IN THE US

Whenever I weaken and turn on Meet the Press, George Stephanopoulos, MSNBC I hope I will hear some honest sharing of reality in politics today. Sadly, this doesn't happen. Most striking is how much the MBA's of the country have taken over. The campaign is not about whether a candidate truly is the best choice to run the country; it is about how we can convince a gullible public to vote the way we want as we do in the supermarket to get shoppers to buy our newest and worst product. It has become a game, not a concern for the welfare of our country and its citizens.

For the last 40 or more years I have wondered and asked why we cannot have a President picked in the same way that any CEO might get chosen...on a test of past performance and readiness alone. This should be done by giving them a test to pass, just as school children are asked to take the MCAS in Massachusetts schools, LSAT for Law schools, MSAT for Medical schools and the many more tests given by companies before hiring an employee. How ridiculous it is that we choose our President on the basis of such superficial issues as voice quality, belief in God, and sound bites (usually showing nothing real about what will happen in this country if the candidate is elected).

It is always sad to know that the people who do the most damage to the country are either oblivious to the effect of their actions or just don't care about anyone but themselves and their own political or economic gains. I place politicians and political news journalists in this category with very few exceptions. It is encouraging to note (or is it tragic? I'm not sure which.) that it is currently Pat Buchanan who seems to think carefully and logically before he casts his opinion these days which boggles my mind

LONGING FOR HOME; COPING

There have been times when I have longed to be home but am away from it.

Away from home, habits and comforts are often difficult to sustain. When you are visiting a private home, the hostess makes you comfortable for the night (at least it seemed so when she said goodnight and left). Everyone seems asleep or busy from the sounds emanating from the 'warm' rooms while you begin to cool in your room that has just had the heat turned on after several months. Meanwhile you begin to chill. You, of course, don't know where the blankets are and do not feel comfortable looking in closets and drawers, having unsuccessfully checked every possible source in the room you have been given. I've piled pillows over me, put on my coat, and curled up in fetal position, teeth chattering, until I finally fell asleep, totally exhausted, wishing I were back home. All the while I wish I knew enough about the kitchen to go get something warm to drink! Note: Prepare yourself with snacks and warming liquids (especially if you are heading for teetotaling territory).

At home, I love sitting on the bathroom throne with a book of easy crossword puzzles and a pencil on my knee; not puzzles with all sorts of esoteric trivia, but just words, simple words. Forgetting that most people do not have a magazine rack in their bathrooms as I do, I have been trapped as a guest with nothing to read. That situation puts my body in neutral, unsuccessful in purpose, and wishing I was back home again rather than guilty for fiddling while Rome burned. (This happens in houses where there is only one bathroom and several people are standing in line waiting to come in as soon as the 'guest' is through). As I look at whatever labels I can find from my seated position, I can check under the sink for cleaning products. Even toothpaste boxes and toilet paper rolls have been temporary saviors.

It has taken me a long time to convince myself that multitasking is a necessity not an indulgence. I must keep many senses engaged simultaneously. I have never been able to study unless I also have some sounds in the background. I find the most relaxing are nature sounds and I particularly love a CD brought to me from the UK with Dawn sounds, birds calling their world to wake up. I find this suitable while I am working on the computer when watching TV. The nature sounds do not interfere with the music that gets played on the TV, especially during commercials. Others have been unable to tolerate the running water (checking out the plumbing) or looking out the window for the strange bird sounds. I only get a bit overloaded when someone sends me a .wmv to watch as I am going through the daily email. In those instances, in order to hear the .wmv clearly, I am sometimes forced to mute the TV. In someone else's house I used to go through computer withdrawal until I bought myself a wireless laptop.

Worse is when there is an empty roll where tissues once lived and there is no 'spare' in sight. Houses like this never have a box of facial tissues in the room, either. With great difficulty and caution, you search for something, anything you might reach that might do the job. Further detail will be omitted lest it trigger PTSD episodes.

While away from home I can only get webmail which works fine except when I want to save something. I subscribed to a free email program and mail my webmail to myself at another account which I can then retrieve when back home. As I ponder what is most difficult, I realize it usually is around food, taking it in or letting it out, and sleeping arrangements. It is understandable that people sometimes find their mattresses too uncomfortable for further use. So they throw them out? Sometimes not. They become guest beds!

When you feel alien and long to be back home in Indiana or Kansas or wherever you came from, it is time to click your heels together and repeat, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."