WHAT CAN THOSE REPUBLICANS BE THINKING?

the new Sarah Palin?

Romney finally got one cheek off the pot.  He has announced Paul Ryan as his running mate.  It is probably the only thing that he has done with the Democrats saying they hope Ryan will be his choice.  It is my understanding that the Paul Ryan budget is a very scary plan for everyone other than the top 1%

Will this choice please Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannitty and those who really count?  Will it please the far right?  Obviously, Grover Norquist will be pleased.  Even the NRA probably has no complaints. 

Nobel prize winning economists have been openly stating that the budget is one of the worst we could have.  We shall see what voting groups this will turn away, if the new voting purges leave anyone to vote

Of note is that there are now five senior Romney advisers traveling with him.  I'll none of the five will get him to become tactful, caring, empathic and Presidential.

WHAT SHOULD WE KNOW ABOUT POLITICAL CANDIDATES?

It would be of interest to know whether a candidate sees election to office as a cushy, job with great benefits of power, where one can do as they please, get inside tips to things, and leave the office a wealthy person with many useful connections. Or one can campaign for office and share a genuine interest in making our country a better place for all citizens, with strong awareness of class, ethnicity, culture, the economy, and all the major needs that people in our country must get in place to be safe and lead happy family lives regardless of gender identity, race, religion, and all the other elements we all need for a healthy and productive life in all areas.

We are told demographics, education levels achieved, profession, whether married with children and 'facts' which tell us little about the candidate.  I want to know what kind of person the candidate is around others.  How do they think, can trey accept change, do they have empathy for others in totally different lives than theirs and who live by different values of religion, race, politics, life goals, habits, and tastes. In other words, I want to know more about what they have done than what they intend to do.

We are being asked to choose a candidate for whom to vote and know little about them other than the statement akin to the essay required for college entrance or election to any office in a club, school, organization, union or whatever., Most have more substance than the stated life goals of the Miss America contest but tell as little that is useful.  Most candidates say what they want to do but have not the foggiest idea as to how to go about getting it.  They speak lofty, idealistic promises or statements  like, "I will stand up to special interests and insiders and fight to strengthen our schools, improve our roads and invest in smart economic growth that works for everyone."  Doesn't everyone?

The questions we need to have answered are:  Do they have personalities and tact for negotiation, are they able to compromise without caving in to that which they find unacceptable? Are they easily intimidated?  What do they really know about the process of the job for which they are campaigning?  Do they really bring something unique to offer by way of skill for the job or are they just naive and and kidding themselves?  Do they have patience to work out success after a failure?

Unfortunately all those questions so frequently await answers until after a candidate has been elected. when it is too late to do anything about it but live with it until the next election and hope smarter people will cast their ballots more intelligiently.

SAME OLD; SAME OLD

While the world rages, our constipated media is saying little of interest  Syria remains a cliff hanger; European politics are as bad as ours; the Olympics are nearing an end (watch what you have missed ON DEMAND, that is f you have not recorded the ones you want to see.

The Presidential campaign can't talk of Romney's past successes because there is only successful one was RomenyCare which is like ObamaCare which he wants to abolish.

In my many decades of following Presidential campaigns I have never witnesses one such as this one where Romney has sounded like the Jehovah's Witnesses when asked why they should believe and answer, "You should have faith",  He remains vehement that  (though he said before that people who don't show their taxes are hiding secrets) that  he will not show more tax returns.

Romney offers nothing new other than his constant shifting position on everything he once states as his view.  Apparently people are short sighted and think that voting against Obama  who didn't walk on water, will improve their lives.  How sad for them should they get their wish and reality sets in.

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas"..The difference is that Dorothy was over the rainbow and we are not.

WE ARE THE SUM OF THE PIECES OF OUR PAST

As I look back at my life I can see the pieces that have come together to make me who I am today.  Elizabeth Warren is correct in a message whose content was also reiterated by President Obama:  None of us got here by ourselves.

Music and lyrics are most influential.  I feel fortunate to have been raised in an era of ballads with lyrics that celebrated life and could talk about what we all deal with in relationships.  It was gentle music as was the Irving Berlin song written in the 30s, Blue Skies.

However in the 50s, after Dave Brubeck changed ballads to make them more exciting, marrying classical training with jazz, we heard: Dave Brubeck's  Take Five
It cannot be said that the music was dull or as musicians' of that era would have called B-flat.

Musician's were making uplifting, hopeful music not the desolate, hateful, depressing rap that kids are forced to express today.  Our music is and has been a real sociological study of times and will continue to be, I guess.  I suppose all music is innovative but it also reflects the state of mind of our people.  Despite the Korean War, we were happier then.

TOO MANY MISS THE GREAT REWARDS OF GOOGLE "ALERTS" A FREE GOOGLE SERVIE

Learning short cuts in life saves time and money.Lots of time can be spent surfing the Web and, indeed, trolling for news is and new things is often gratifying.  Searching for products is easy with Google.  It saves time, gas and your feet.

For years, I have allowed Google to maintain searches on subjects that  allow me to sit back and just read what Google finds for me. Granted, it was even  more useful before Twitter Facebook. 

One find that has been of great interest to me has been hearing about 'new laws' daily.  I had never known there were so many new laws enacted all over the world until Google started to show them to me via alerts. They are email to you on a daily basis, pretty much, because new laws are constantly being enacted. Here is a current example...Google searches a very wide sweep internationally, at times. 

It is great for subjects, politics, keeping track of people, following news stories and so many other things.  I like using it to follow Op-ed writers who do not write a column every day.

CURRENT CHILD ABUSE IN THE USA

Child abuse is said to have reached endemic proportion in the US.  With the poverty levels as they are and the unavailability to abortion, many unwanted babies are born to women who cannot care for them.  How any one can refuse a woman who is impregnated in incest or by rape is neither Christian nor pro-life if one just looks at the statistics of child deaths not due to natural causes in our country today.  For more on this, please click here and be sure to watch the video.
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If you are aware of or believe there is child abuse, you can respond to the hotline.  National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)  The BBC is looking into why our rates of child abuse are growing.    Are we given an inkling if the USA is doing anything about it?  Not likely as more and more states are enacting anti-abortion laws and the war on women and increased poverty continues.  Is it easier for mother to kill a child than attempt to abort herself?  Most likely, given the cases of child deaths from beatings and starvation.

A report from Pediatrics shows increasing levels of horrifying degree. Romney claims to be against all abortion, even from incest and rape pregnancies.  He says he has no help do do for the poor because they are already taken care of thought he suggests pulling the rug out from under them in most programs that would assist them.  We will do without so many police, teachers and others who night be helpful to them.  An people think that Obama is heading our country into the wrong path?  I ask, who is pushing for better care and rights for the middle and poor class in America.  Certainly not Romney who won't even show his tax returns because he wants to maintain privacy before taking on the job which of necessity allows the least privacy for any American citizen possible.

INDISCRIMINATELY FORWARDED EMAILS

Many friends, who have sent me emails after my husband's death, have (as my Jewish friends would say) performed a mitzvah.  They have kept me laughing.  However, many who blindly forward are hardly 'friends' though they are the first to forward messages labeling themselves so.  Most people have, at some time or other, received "You were sent this on best friend's day', or 'Girlfriend's Day' or something similar.  It is often accompanied by a 'forward to endless people in the next 30 seconds and something surprising and wonderful will happen to you'.  I'll never know what I have missed.

In our busy lives, it makes me wonder at the dull lives these people must have that t hey have so much time to waste. Sometimes the forwards are beautiful pictures but when they are accompanied by religious edicts, they lose their charm for me. It finally dawned on me they have become as unwelcome as telemarketers and arrive just as intrusive.

If any of you have ever received a thank you for your contributions in the past (from a political candidate you would choose your own death in preference to their election) you might experience the same feelings when a 'friend' sends you a forward that insults every belief you hold.  My 'friends' all know my political stance and would not clutter the web with pages and pages of other people's addresses and forwarded messages that sent only once would be annoying but repeated many times is dangerous to my blood pressure.

The upshot of this rant is the real question.  How do you stop this flow without revealing the offensive thoughts cluttering your mind?  It seems like the dilemma of the salt machine from the old fable,  I use a mail program which presorts my mail into folders.  This allows me to take a quick glance that there may actually be something worth reading before I dump it.  It also makes me refine my definition of 'friend'.