OUR WORLD HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY PRE-PUBESCENTS

For years I have watched as the humor has been slowly leaving our country.  It is as though a huge vacuum has sucked it out of our world.  Comedians have lowered the bar so far I can no longer watch 'roasts' as I used to enjoy when they were first started on TV.  It is pitiful to watch people laughing at themselves being destroyed by gutter humor.

Once we were proud of our Presidents whether we voted for them or not.  We had pictures of them in our home or office.  We honored the flag and didn't burn it, toss it on the ground nor make briefs out of it.  Today we are subjected (by Amazon, no less) to Chia Obama.  It makes a mockery of growing green, Nature and plant life to say nothing of our President.

The humor doesn't stop with Obama.  The Clintons were not neglected with insults, presumably passing as a joke.  Two Amazon offerings were annoying, at least to me.  I find no humor whatsoever in the insults implied by the products bearing the Clintons' names.  I am not prudish and accept the right of individuals to make and sell tasteless products.  However, I abhor the people who would buy them and believe them to be acceptable to display or to give as gifts.  It makes me cringe to think that, as a country, we have stopped honoring the people who served and continue to serve in public service with such disrespect..

Demonstrating the middle school humor, we have an offering of a toilet bowl brush. Not to be partisan, we have a companion item.

I have enjoyed the prepubescent humor of my several grandsons but none were ever personalized.  I can understand the toys that make flatulent sounds as relevant to that age.  I find it hard to believe my fellow Americans have replaced the naive child's humor when accepting their bodies and learning to be appropriate with adults.  Bur taking over the attitude and personalizing it in such unacceptable objects seems to reflect a disregard and disdain for the office of the American President..

THE FIRST WORDS FROM GINGER WHITE AND LAST WORD: LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

Ginger White gave a very poignant interview to Lawrence O'Donnell on 12/1 on MSNBC.
The whole reason for which she I speaking out and describing their 13 years in the relationship with Herman Cain which she says was never a love relationship but, rather, a sexual one. 

Pundits had been saying that she had first spoken out because he was ridiculing the others who had accused him of sexual misconduct.  She claims it has never been political.  She further says that word of their relationship had leaked out to local press and local media was closing in on her with questions.  The local media planned to go with it it as a story whether she cooperated or not.  She decided it best, after talking to her 20 year old daughter and 18 year old son, and sharing the truth with them.  The family remains supportive to her.

She says she has not received any money for speaking out.  Neither of them ever told the other they were in love.  She says it was totally a sexual relationship with someone who was a friend, fun to be with, but that she was intrigued with him.  She was offered a getaway from her every day life.

Listening to the very sensitive interview conducted by O'Donnell, it was difficult to understand what this all meant to Ms. White during the 13 years with her 'friend'.  She speaks without a great deal of emotion about an affair she describes lacked a great deal of emotion.  Nothing she said was particularly contradictory.  She answered candidly, taking a few seconds to think before she answered..In summary, she made it sound not unlike what many single parents have done...that is, leap at kindness and financial help from a rich man offering fun and sex and relief from the tedium of life.  She apologizes to his wife and children (more than he has done so far) and one is left wondering what he told her about the wife she never met or why he entered into the relationship for all those years as he did with her.

On 11/29, I wrote a blog expressing similarities to the extramarital relationships Tiger Woods had, each of the many knowing that h was married but not bothered by that fact.  They got angry and spiteful only after they learned that they were not singularly his love but rather, the affair du jour.

Whatever the explanations are, the way Cain has handled the allegations of sexual harassment and his campaign in general, does not commend him to me as a man I could respect as President of the USA.  For me, it is not a moral issue but rather as issue of his poor judgement and choices, lack of qualifications for the Presidency, lack of understanding foreign relations, the Constitution and what he would need to know to run the country..

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE SEQUELS ONLY GET MORE INTERESTING

Incredibly. I have read 116 Pride and Prejudice sequels and that covers a fraction of all that have been written.  It fascinates me to share the 'what if' plots that good writers (and some not so good) imagine..  The range is from bland, utterly boring, exciting, loving, 'feel good' reading, violent, suspenseful, supernatural (I've avoided these), taking place in the 1800s and the 2000s.


There have been so many versions of the Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy story that I could spend the rest of my life re-reading them and they would always seem as though it is a first read.  The fact that the major players remain the same and the authors stick roughly to the original script, I never know which way this story will be going.  For example, Mr. Bennet has out-lived his wife, been killed in a duel, shot and killed in a hunting accident,  died of a heart attack, or, in some stories, is still alive at the end of the book.  Mrs. Bennet has fallen backwards off a cliff and been killed, been just a silly, loud, tactless woman, violent, vicious, a loving mother, likable. unlikable, even totally ostracized by her community.

Caroline Bingley has been hateful, mercenary, jealous, intelligent, efficient and helpful, dead by her own hand, and even became a mother. I could go on and on with the differences and likenesses to the original by Austen.

Clearly, the men and women who write them are genuinely creative  They use Austen as one might a Rorschach test.  Each author, through Elizabeth and Darcy, lets the reader know a great deal about how the author sees the world and people in it.   Some are even based on the movie versions rather than Austen herself. Others are well researched historic novels.

Among my many addictions, reading these sequels remains one of my most indulged.

iT IS NOT OFTEN i GET ASKED TO DO A POLL...BUT....

It is not easy for me to ignore being asked to participate in a poll. Thus when asked to do one about Obama, I clicked and got on the Internet page. I went to it and found it to be questionable as to whether it was a legitimate poll.  It reminded me too much of corporate phone mazes designed to get you to spend money or be totally confused.  Just as the telephone robots never ask the questions you want answered....namely , "How do I get to talk to a real, live, human who .might understand my question?"

Below is the questionnaire I could not fill out as I didn't like any of the choices.

I

 The questions do not strike me as allowing the responder to adequately answer. For example, I was unaware that Obama has a plan to give 12 million illegal aliens amnesty.  Since very few voters have seen or read all of Obama's healthcare plan, the question to repeal it in entirety, some of it or none of it also seems loaded.  While I support Obama, I did not answer this poll and wonder if it was actually put out by someone wanting real answers of support to Obama or they are questions to fool the responder into thinking that these are Obama positions.  If so, it seems like 'dirty pool' to me.

WHEN THE WRAPPER COMES OFF AND REALITY APPEARS

Herman Cain can no longer hide his hypocrisy.  This egotistic man finally has others showing the world all the reasons some of us guessed at why we could never vote for him as President, beyond the fact that he was so unprepared for the job.  The final thrust that pierced his armor came today when a woman claims to have had a 13 affair with him.  It is unlikely that he would understand her reason for going public at this point.  She says it was because he ridiculed the other women and she couldn't stand it.  It is just like the daughters of incest who keep their mouths shut for years until the next daughter gets tapped.  Then they 'sing' to save the younger sister but also because they are the cheated on one.

Clearly, the others happened while he was having his affair with Ginger White, as she claims.  It has similarity to the women who came out en masse about Tiger Woods.They  knew he was cheating on his wife, unbothered, but became furious and ratted him out as soon as they heard they were one of many.  One can only assume men continue to give the story that their wife doesn't understand them and they are staying together for the children's and family's sake.  The feel no guilt that he is cheating on his wife because she 'deserves' it.  But when they find out he has cheated on them, they do not feel they deserved it, not giving a thought to the fact they were being lied to as much as the the wife has been.  However, when the break up comes, it is the wife who leaves, broken hearted but wealthy, while they are left broken hearted alone with no alimony claims.  Women like Sugar Daddies and are even willing not to question their lies.

MORE GOVERNMENTAL AND POLITICAL HYPOCRISY

In Ohio, an eight year, old third grader, was removed from his parents hoe and sent to foster care because it was decided his parents weren't doing enough to maintain his weight and, thus, his health.  The boy weights 218 pounds. "A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother's inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect."  The mother blames the ads for fast food and says she tries to control his eating.  No mention was made about the weight of the parents or any other household members.

Strangely, it is difficult to believe that a parent do more to limit the child's intake.  They need not take him to fast food restaurants nor buy fattening food.However, when we hear the potato lobby is powerful enough to get schools serve French Fries with every meal. it does take some of the responsibility away from the parent if he receives school meals.  Further, since the food growing lobbyists have also forced the non-medical, dietary challenged Congress to claim tomato sauce on pizza as a vegetable and proper meal for children, one has to wonder why the authorities take it on themselves to assume the parents are totally to blame.

Obesity in children has become a far greater problem than this child or just a few children.  It is of epidemic proportions in the US today. A local  paper writes:  "Last year, the boy lost weight but in recent months began to gain it back rapidly. That's when the county moved to take the child, records show.

The mother said that when she found out that other kids and a sibling might be giving her son extra food, she tried to put a stop to it and explain to him that he could eat only certain foods.

She tried to follow the recommendations of the doctors, such as getting him a bike and encouraging him to get exercise. The mother wonders what role genetics plays in the boy's condition -- both she and his father and some other family members are overweight, she said. However, she also has a 16-year-old son who is tall and thin."

It amazes me that people are so uncreative in their solutions to a problem. It would appear that there are probably about 1385 children in that area who are obese.  There aren't enough foster home so there needs to be a program that offers healthy, low caloric food for children, exercise programs, such as many other cities and towns have begun to use.

If Ohio had politicians running the state that cared about its children, better solutions would be found for all the children, not just foster homes for a few.  Children should be offered more real-world activities and fewer virtual ones.

GIVING THANKS DOES NOT REQUIRE A TURKEY

More of my friends have no time for the exhausting preparations for Thanksgiving  dinner which were only normal for all of my long life.  First of all, people used to like turkey when it tasted good.  Today's turkeys have been raised to be big (probably on hormones), juicy (by injecting lots of fluid), so that the meat is tasteless to me.  I stuff myself with stuffing which I far prefer to turkey meat.  More people give up the cooking and go to a restaurant where people can choose their own meal...at not an insignificant price for it all.

It has become clear to me, where once the meal was important and to which I looked forward, that it is no longer of interest to me.  What represents the day is not taste but feeling.  A feeling of togetherness with loved people counts for so much.  No longer is it possible to have all of family together; there are too many in-laws pulling them away.  Others who matter to me are an ocean away.

It makes me realize that I spent the day with people I can see anytime but the busyness of our lives doesn't make it happen unless a special day is set aside.  It finally makes clear why there have to be some holidays.  It forces people to retain some sort of direct contact, take a few pictures, eat a complete meal without rushing, and take a day off from the usual employment chores.  That in itself should be enough for which to be thankful.

The global economy, politics, terrorism, wars, protests, police brutality, murders, thefts, violent crimes, and all the many other negative things in our society leave little for which to be thankful from our world.  However, it is easy to be thankful for loved ones: relatives and friends, good health, and enough money for a roof overhead.  It is more than so many of the 99% can claim to have these days.