A SECOND BIG REASON TO NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN

The Republicans did not see fit to allow anyone to think Hillary Clinton was fit to be Commander in Chief or President. Her law degree from Yale and 30 years of successful political endeavors for women and children and many other projects, for her years in the Senate and on significant committees in no way compares in John McCain's mind to Sarah Palin's readiness for the job. I am left gasping in astonishment as to whether he really thinks he is immortal, women are just interchangeable bodies, or the American public is that stupid!!

The Environmental News Service writes that Palin has challenged the influence of big oil companies (her husband works for BP, formerly British Petroleum) and she is in favor of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Is there anyone out there who truly believes that McCain's health will endure through four years of a Presidency and that, should he not, she will be able to take over for him on day 1? If a degree in journalism with little major experience in the field, mother of 5, and governor of a rich state with relatively few financial problems prepares this 42 year old former beauty queen to balance the budget or pay off the National Debt, let alone deal with the foreign affairs of the country, they have made a total mockery of the process of electing a President and Vice President, the person to whom the red button control falls as second in command.

WHAT LANGUAGE DO WE SPEAK?

Why do we have to press 1 on a phone maze to speak in what most people (though perhaps not officially yet) is the tongue that has been steadily rising to predominance for 388 years. It would seem that we are catering to the plethora of Hispanics, many of whom are also illegal aliens. The judgment on that can of worms has not been handed down yet, to my knowledge.

Somewhat more understandable may be the English and French signs above Eastern NY, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. However, considering the cost to the taxpayer of bi-lingual signs, no one should be given a US driver's license who is illiterate of signs in English.

There had been many generations of European immigrants who took great pride in learning English and becoming citizens. They welcomed their new country in which they felt safe and found work. While they kept their religion, culture, values, ethic foods and all, when out of their homes, the tried to behave as Americans. They did not ask for welfare but extended families took care of one another and everyone tolerated deprivation of privacy and long, arduous hours at work. They were proud of the education they helped make available to their children and the greater life opportunities to which they exposed them.

Barack Obama's speech, as he accepted the nomination for President, was brilliant. It was not the time or the place for him to expand on the people who call themselves Americans but do not behave as such. The flagrant violation of our laws in the name of religion and ignorance is appalling to me. There is a common language of English but, more importantly, their is the greater language of humanity and integrity that has been missing for the last eight years. History will laugh at those who impeached President Clinton for a strictly personal act that hurt no one but himself and his loved ones while allowing President Bush/Cheney to flaunt laws, violate the Constitution and for personal reasons enter a war that killed more people than the worst despots, murderers and dictators in history. We can only hope that we will start speaking in the same voice and language, as a untied nation of people, once again with respect for all Americans, not just the greedy and wealthy.

WHITE OR BLACK

Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes was the inspiration of a great joke (but a bit too politically incorrect to post here). Barack Obama is half white and half black by parentage but, for reasons of still evident racial bias, he is seen as black. Does the fact that he fell in love with a black woman make him, more black? Had he been all white with a black wife, would it make him as black? Does Clarence Thomas's white wife make him less black in other than his own self-image, or is it only his face that is brown from kissing he has done? How backward our society still is in these matters.

There is no question that the color of skin should not be the deciding factor on what a person may or not be or believe. It is the person within that skin to whom we should be looking. Racists are too ready to assume that if Obama becomes President, blacks will take over the country. Laws are passed on equality rights which, for all practical purposes, mean nothing. If laws changed people's biases, there would be no more Confederate flag flying in our country. Yet we see that 140 years has done little to dissipate the schism between the North and the South. 50 years ago, black people in most of the north spoke the same English as the whites. Today one may need an Ebonics translator to understand. Was this an influence with which side he identified or were the doors slammed in his face when he tried to identify with his white half?

Only in the USA does having a white mother and a black father seem to make one 100% black. It is not the math I was taught, but apparently the math being used is as unintelligible to me as Einstein's theory.

Why do we have to press 1 on a phone maze to speak in what most people (though perhaps not officially yet) is the tongue that has been steadily rising to predominance for 388 years. It would seem that we are catering to the Plethora of Hispanics whom we also see as illegal aliens. The judgment of that can of worms has not been handed down yet to my knowledge.

WHATEVER ARE THEY THINKING?

At the preliminary activities of the Democratic Convention, a woman (whose identity I missed) commented "The better candidate has won the nomination". I take great issue with this mentality. It does not follow logically that the most favored is, indeed, the 'best'. Nor does it follow that the winner is always the best. It is just a shot of opinions in time, or as in sports...a good day.

It was commented on MSNBC that Hillary Clinton would be speaking and that her body language would be "parsed". Now that is about as accurate as phrenology, reading the bumps on someone's skull. However, it is consistent with the subjective speculations that seem to be all that the media is capable of putting forth. On CNN: The "big question is 'Can Hillary Clinton convince her voters to back Obama?" Really? Whose big question. It would seem to be a media question because they have begun to sound like the first act of a soap opera, like the nightly news who preface the presentation of the news as though they are running a marketing ploy; stay tuned or you will miss all this excitement; don't touch that dial (we need the ratings).

An announcement was made by Dan Abrams of MSNBC that at official in New York warned delegates that "drinks go to your head faster (in Denver) because of the altitude" and that is why they refer to the 'day after imbibing too much the night before in celebration; as "the Mile High Hangover".

CNN: Michele Obama, a new star in the Democratic party, an attorney who is all poise and professional. Speaking of Hillary, this man said, "Her time is past and someone ought to tell her!" I was outraged that this person is permitted to speak on TV. Another example of our 'unbiased' news people!! He went on to say, "I get a sense her heart isn't in it." Amazing that he has objective insight into her heart; it amazes me as to the source.

These inane comments happen all the time and it makes me think I will have to start writing them down as I hear them. When I am sure of the accuracy of my recording their quotes, I will be more specific about the sources in the future....for myself whether anyone else is interested or not.

MICHELE OBAMA'S SPEECH AT THE CONVENTION

Confessing that my early fears about Michele Obama, the angry woman who let it all show to the entire TV viewing audience, repeated over and over in sound bites, that her children didn't want to enter their bedroom in the morning because their father's feet smelled, raised many early questions in my mind about whether she was to be an asset or a liability to her husband if she became First Lady.

Tonight, regardless of how many people may have participated in writing her speech, she had to deliver it by herself. And, deliver it she did. She not only brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience, but she brought tears to mine. I respond to emotion and affect in a room only when sincere touches me and when I perceive the emotion is shared by many there no matter how Ms Obama may have been coached and rehearsed, I knew that this woman was willing only to speak that which she believed from the great core of her being and integrity. It doesn't bother me an iota that her husband is ambitious and wants to be President. Anyone campaigning for the office should be. Fred Thompson's failure cannot wholly be attributed to his ambitious, young and beautiful wife pushing him into something he didn't wish. But that Fred Thompson never indicated that he wanted to be President enough to fight to convince a nation of voters that he had the proper 'fire in the belly' required probably cost him the candidacy..

Having been a working mother myself, long before it was accepted, admired or even socially tolerated, I felt I could identify with the hard work this woman has done to be able to stand by the side of a man as dedicated to not only succeeding to office, but truly believing that he could be helpful to the masses of people unable to help themselves. When one has come from poverty and succeeded, not through luck but through preparation, one has learned that you need never go back to poverty as long as you have your health, mental capacity, and a profession that assures you there will always be work for you out there somewhere because of your superior abilities.

Michele Obama, I believe, was able to convince most of the loving basis for her being on stage to support her life partner, the husband and father of her children, and for their combined hopes for making a more promising future for their children and those of all other Americans. Whereas I saw Barak Obama as a Pied Piper early in the campaign, I see this man as capable of raising the bar of honesty, morality and integrity in the White House promised but not delivered by G W Bush. The family resume is far more promising than four years with a man with an appearance of scarcely making it to the inauguration with his health and mind intact. After eight years of being lied to, all promises ignored or broken, conditions of living in the USA falling steadily lower for all but the top 1%, it is with much pain and sadness that I watch the most needy being the most gullible, believing that our great white-haired hope for our future is John McCain.

Since our Democratic candidate seems surely to be Obama, I believe that Ms Obama's speech tonight did much to alleviate my panic that the 'black rage', forced as protection on the difficult climb up the ladder to where she is today, will not be her most visible feature in the White House.

Good work, Mrs. Obama! Now we will hopefully hear what it is, stated clearly for all the non-believers, just what it is Mr. Obama plans and how, and with whose advice and assistance he will effect those plans.

A MASTER UNDER GOOD REGULATION

"This is the story of Pride and Prejudice as seen through the eyes of Reggie, Mr. Darcy's dog. Reggie has a keen perception of things going on around him and the story begins with Darcy as a young boy of 15, picking Reggie out from a litter. We see the two of them become close companions as Darcy grows up and enters the story of Pride and Prejudice that Jane Austen penned. But the story also takes you to those silent months and behind the scenes where Reggie has much on which to reflect, comment, and intervene. Visit "KaraLou's" website, Jane Austen's Land of Ahhhs;, www.ahhhs.net, to read additional stories by her."...description of the book by the author or publisher.

I have tried to read all the Pride and Prejudice spin-offs, but struggle with whether this one has just gone too far afield for even my obsession with Austen (or the cottage industry that has sprung up from the ability to plagiarize her original work). I admit that Pemberley's Promise, also by Kara Louise, was one of the best of the 26 that I have so-far read. She has also written a couple of others, one an altered Version of Pride and Prejudice (Assumed Engagement) and the second, (Assumed Obligation) a sequel to Assumed Engagement, as well as to Pride and Prejudice. These are now ordered and I will offer my unsolicited opinions on those, too, when I receive and have read them.




I would be interested in reading some feedback from others who are Austen fans. To leave a comment you need a gmail account. You can get a free gmail account by signing up at: http://www.google.com/, whether you ever use it for anything else or not. Otherwise, I'm not sure whether you can even leave an anonymous comment...a peculiarity of blogspot.

THE BEIJING OLYMPICS

China planned for seven years for these games. They lasted sixteen days.
I realize that many are more sports minded than I though I admire the work that those who participated put into preparation and I am full of National pride (not too often recently felt) when a USA athlete won a medal, especially a gold. However, what I did not appreciate was having my already limited TV life interrupted for those sixteen days. There is no doubt that I am an impatient spectator of most sports. Those which are full of grace and beauty, as with the gymnasts and divers, are always pleasurable entertainment. Unfortunately few others offer me such pleasure or interest, though I am sure they were eagerly watched eagerly awaited by relatives and friends, as well as those not in Beijing, but who participate on whatever level in similar games themselves.

Thus, I was happy to see Meet the Press back on TV and felt that some of my life was back. It is hardly that I think Meet the Press ever foretold the direction of politics but it reminded me of the realities of our current political situation.

There are lovely closing shots on BBC. Hopefully, if I am around in 2012, I will undoubtedly feel the same. The Olympics will be in London where the citizenry will decry the expenditure they are forced to carry, just as I decry the focus away from issues of survival so important to me.

If the medals awarded to each individual are counted, the totals underscore the American commitment to team sports. They read like this:

Americans: 315 medals.

Chinese: 186.

So both the Chinese and the Americans got what they wanted at these 2008 Beijing Games - the USOC also able to claim a doping-free American team and first-rate conduct from Aug. 8 on from the American delegation, highlighted by visits from the likes of basketball stars Kobe Bryant to the pool and Jason Kidd to women's beach volleyball.

Rogge had predicted as many as 40 positive doping tests at the 2008 Games - based on the 12 positive tests from the 2000 Sydney Games, 26 in Athens in 2004.

As of Sunday, with tests completed thru Wednesday's competitions, the total stood at a mere six, the most notable silver medal-winning Russian heptathlete Liudmyla BLONSKA; American Hyleas Fountain was moved up from bronze to silver.

In the month before the opening of the athletes' village, 39 athletes from all around the world were caught in positive tests, Rogge noted Sunday, saying, "You have also to count that in the fight against doping."

The U.S. effort included a dozen athletes who have been voluntary submitting to extra blood and urine tests in a bid to prove each is doping free - among them Phelps and decathlon champion Bryan Clay.

I find it sad that there isn't a similar test for politicians lying...especially those in our current administration who would certainly win a Gold medal if they were awarding one for greatest whoppers and obfuscation of out times.