HUMOR IS BACK: I HEAR HOPE AGAIN

Becasue I have lived through a great many moon cycles, I feel more qualified to comment on the past than many who are young and do not have my historic perspective. I feel like the old TV show that was "You Were There" . I have been there through it all for a very long time. The show was created by Goodman Ace and blended history with modern technology.

For years I have observed that there is less humor or funny stuff appearing when people are depressed en masse and not hopeful. People are indeed on hard times but, it seems, there is a ray of sunshine in the hope that we will have a complete change of government administration. I will grant that much of the humor is not new but at least people are passing around something to laugh over rather than to cry.

For whatever reason, Palin seems to be the subject of much of the new humor. I recently received this in email: "Playboy has asked Sarah Palin to pose nude for the November issue. She agreed as long as she doesn't have to do an interview."

GAFFES?

Apparently McCain gaffed yesterday and said, "My fellow prisoners" when he meant to say something like , "My fellow Americans" or whatever. The man has to be tired but, he will be tired as President, as well, if he were to win. We all make Freudian slips but is that what we can assume that was? Knowing how melanoma has a fondness for traveling to the brain, among other places, I would still like to see his medical records shown.

In February, McCain announced he was a 'proud Conservative, Liberal Republican', forced to correct himself quickly.

"You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." (Watch video clip) , another McCain special.

Even Barack has a few such as: "I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go." --at a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon (Watch video clip)

Palen: "There ya go, Joe...lookin' back instead of forward." Does she read or care? " Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." --George Santayana ...

Many people who know him and have observed McCain's loss of control and temper are deeply concerned about what might happen if he were President. He has been witnessed as striking a woman, using despicable profanity to his wife, and some have come forward to speak about it. Would these be called gaffes, as well? They sure aren't planned for great P.R., I would say!

WE ARE CONSTANTLY DEALING WITH LOSS

For those who have difficulty with change, these are trying times, though it feels right to change from an incompetently run Republican USA for the last eight years to a Democratic one with some positive hope. Those unwilling or unable to make change must likely follow the adage, "The Devil you know is better than the Devil you don't know." Once I have met a Devil, I want to make a change immediately!

There was a time when I loved really good French Fried Onion Rings. There was only one place in town that made them fresh rather than little frozen and thawed out skinny strips of gooey onions, deep fried in pancake batter. The restaurant closed. The staff must have taken all their meals there, too, because I have never seen so many well-fed waitresses in one spot as an ad for their highly caloric meals. Not only have I never found a replacement but I have been so long without them, I can no longer eat fried things with any residual enjoyment. (the side-effect is that my cholesterol level is going down)

My city used to have lots of small stores and even a huge discount house. All are gone. (the after effect is that I seldom go to stores, I shop online) It saves fuel and I usually can find what I am looking for. I don't have to eat lunch out or waste lots of time and gas. Living in a city that is surrounded by well-to-do, and often dry towns, we seem to have morphed into a city of restaurants and bars. It is much easier to find a great meal at a restaurant than it is to open the refrigerator door and wish you could teleport food from it to make a meal that never happens.

Sometimes things change for the better. Our single small theater years ago was torn down. only to be rebuilt many years later to house several smaller theaters offering great movies from which to choose. While the cheap movie is a thing of the past, there is rarely a time when there is not a great movie to choose from just two miles from home.

I've heard people say, "Your loss is my gain." It could just as easily be said, "Your gain is my loss." Ideally, we say neither. It is not a loss or gain; it is a change.

GETTING SOME OF THE OVERHEAD DOWN

For too many years citizen's have had to pay the cost in utilities, phone repairs, road repairs, construction sites, and any number of others who work in or on streets. Only off-duty policemen could be used. Naturally, whoever was doing the work has no choice but to pass that expense on to the consumer. For the most part there are union contracts set up with the towns who feel unable to change these.

In August, Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts decided it was unnecessary and said by October citizen employees could be hired. The program will start with state projects only, to avoid conflict with agreements cities and towns have with contractors. Today the off-duty police of many towns stopped traffic in a protest in Woburn, probably rattling the two traffic flaggers so that both, at each end, allowed traffic to start through, causing a traffic jam for a bit.

Can it be that a currently less popular Governor than was expected is actually making a change for the better? There is a hope that the plan will save the state taxpayers millions of dollars in the next few years. We all know that it is the tip of an iceberg on the waste in the State funds. If we can reduce nepotism, hire only people qualified for the job they get (that includes you, too, Caribou Sarah), stop theft and no-shows, life might improve for most of us. Well, ALL hope is not dead yet!

WILL MY PANIC BE OVER ON 11/4?

There still seem to be a few voters out there who plan to vote for McCain because they don't really know him. I suggest they get to know the real McCain who, if truth be known, makes G. W. Bush look like a far better candidate. It is a long article but the facts are real and can be checked.

Palin is, further, a very poor choice for him to have made as she is totally unqualified to take over for him during his presidency, should the unfortunate likelihood happen that he gets elected. Palin's small town snobbery was powerful, though she thinks she was speaking to hockey moms (as though they don't have those in urban areas, as well, and to Joe Six-pack, not realizing whom she was insulting.

There was a time when I was reasonably sure that Obama /Biden was a better choice. While I still believe that, now I am totally panicked that they might not get in. When people equate Obama's intelligence with Palin's, I fear the man in the white coat will come to get me. As I think of it, if McCain becomes President, I may beg the man in the white coat to come get me!

Wishing for 11/4 to come soon is back to be wishing my life away...not a good way to go. Yet, the agony of hearing all the people who are either throwing their vote away, or voting with no valid facts to back up their choice, I slip away from continuing my feel-good-life at all times.

OLD REMEDIES

Maasai herdsmen in Kenya have turned to an age-old contraceptive device, the "olor", to protect their precious goat herds from an ongoing drought.

The olor is made from cowhide or a square piece of plastic, and is tied around the belly of the male goat. It prevents the bucks from mating with the female goats. It sounds preferable to castration!

This is certainly not the first that old methods have proven superior to current state-of-the-art. Acupuncture was brought back as many effective herbal concoctions have as well.

With today's high costs and the overuse of modern medicine, ancient alternative remedies are making a comeback. Alternative Medicine dates back to 5000 B.C.E in China . As with manufactured drugs, some natural ingredients may prove harmful if taken in improper amounts, or mixed with other ingredients or medicines, so care should be taken.

We've gone organic in farming and resorted to pest control in more innovative ways than the dangerous pestisides that has done humanity so much damage.

If you can't afford or do not have air conditioning, you can find ways to keep from melting. An atttic fan is what we used before AC.

There was a time when we relied on our senses more than we do today. People fell in love reacting to animal magnetism or some inate sense of attractiveness for biological and reproductive preferences. Today, researchers question whether women on the pill marry the right man.

We can deny a lot of things but we should not deny that the world is changing. mankind keeps evolving, that which was good for us once has often been replaced by something purported to be an improvement when, in actuality, it is only costlier and may turn out to have more negative side effects.

Survival requires us all to maximize the use of all resources available to us as our finances get more strained. It is surprising that things that used to work, still often work as well as the expensive, well-packaged and marketed product we don't always get a chance to realize we don't need.