Buffalo Gal

It is October 31 and in just 4 days voters will pour into the polling places and hopefully….fairly …elect many people to office.  As always lately, daily news media outlets are full of reports about what has happened in the past few hours.  

One interesting, (and disturbing) report is that the Obama campaign has kicked several news media off their campaign plane, undoubtedly due to the fact that the three banned papers endorsed John McCain for the Presidency.  The Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, and the New York Post are "out" and they will be replaced by other media "bigwigs" ( the short item reported) and staff from JET and one other specific Black media outlet.   It follows recent reports of the Obama campaign banning any further interviews with local stations in both Florida and Ohio after news anchors asked Joe Biden some really tough questions instead of the usual softball ones tossed his way by other mainstream media people.   The Obama campaign lawyers have also recently sent threatening messages to some other on-air media outlets regarding their FCC licensing….not even a veiled threat that they will "get them" if they keep on airing certain ads not in favor of Obama. Are we looking at an Obama police state?  It surely looks like it is possible.  If the Obama lawyers launch investigations in an Obama presidency every time a media outlet reports something other than totally favorable to the messiah….the Dept of Justice will be used as a way to get those who criticize or question Obama.

Along other lines today, Cindy Sheehan, the Iraq War Protester who camped just outside President George Bush’s Crawford, TX property a couple of years back, is running for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in San Francisco.   Sheehan’s campaign headquarters were attacked about 3 a.m. on Oct. 30 by unknown assailents.  Windows were smashed, a computer was damaged and other acts of vandalism perpetrated on Sheehan’s headquarters.  Not so strangely, this attack happened just after Sheehan had a close encounter and serious confrontation with Pelosi on KQED in a public forum broadcast on that outlet.  Sheehan’s campaign manager Tiffany Burns made statements that any time Sheehan has had any successes or rise in the polls of voters in that San Fran. district, something bad has happened to Sheehan’s campaign…the latest being the severe attack on her headquarters.   It makes Pelosi’s campaign supporters appear to be made up of thuggish goons….(a la an organization that many people in large cities with certain ethnic groups are associated with)…especially those in politics…and other nefarious ties…but it seems strange it happened in that timely manner.   Does Pelosi not have any control or guidelines for her supporters, we might ask?

Another news item today reported that the men who put up the effigy of Governor Sarah Palin hanging by the neck at their West Hollywood home, have been forced to remove the so called "art display" because of orders from a city official after so many people in the W.H. neighborhood complained loudly and long-ly about the more than questionable "halloween" decor on that house.   Both men had tried to hide behind the same feeble excuse that the artist sponsored by an NEA grant gave when his "work of art" turned out to be an upside down crucifix in a jar of urine titled "P – - s  Christ!"      Also a number of hanging effigies of political figures have been appearing as part of "halloween displays" around the country including an effigy of Barack Obama hanging from a tree branch—-a display sure to chill the hearts of those who remember lynch mobs.  Palin was by far the favorite "lynch-ee" of these gross displays of the worst kind of statements.  What have we as a culture come to with such mockery and horrible taste?    It is as crude, cruel and despicable as it gets no matter who is the object of the mockery.

One light hearted editorial that made me laugh is one by Jed Babbin, an editor of HUMAN EVENTS.  Mr Babbin wrote a piece titled "Election Night Violence" and anyone who wants to chuckle at a great "spoof" should google the article with the author’s name Jed Babbin attached to the title.    It is a hilarious send up purporting to be a November 5 call by police squads in New York City when several incidents of violence break out after a close election that Barack Obama has just conceded to the winner, John McCain.  The first call came from someone at the New York Times editorial suite where officers found a 60-ish red-haired woman who had attached herself, in the style of the movie, "Alien" to a 50-ish man who was lying on his back on his desk being pounded by the angry female.  The woman was screaming "How could you let Americans do this?"  as she pummled the hapless man lying on the desk.  There were at least 30 other bodies lying on the floor or slumped in chairs.     The woman was identified as Maureen Dowd.The unfortunate beating victim was Arthur Sulberger, Jr., publisher of the NYT.   Both parties were removed and taken to precinct headquarters for further questioning.    Another call came in about another riot at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the heart of downtown NYC.   Officers arrived to find citizens being evacuated from the hotel, where in a top floor suite, fires had been set by a man identified as K.Olbermann.  All the revelers in the posh suite had been consuming a volatile mix of Red Bull, vodka, and LSD and Olberman was found screaming that Obama is a false messiah and he (Obermann ) was the true messiah.  The evacuees from the scene reported that Olbermann was the one who had set the fires.  Officers found Olbermann, dressed in a long purple robe standing atop a pile of NYT and Washington Post newspapers, threatening to pour vodka over them and set them afire.   Officers had to use excessive force to subdue and apprehend Olbermann who was demanding to be made anchor of NBC nightly news when he was finally brought under control and arrested, and brought to precinct headquarters.

The whole spoof was written as a direct report from the NYC police commish, Ray Kelly, reporting directly to Mayor Bloomberg about the outburst of election night violence.

Better to google "Election Night Violence" by Jed Babbin and read his own hilarious send-up of a most strange turn of events on Nov 4-5.   It is in the same class as spoofs by Will Rogers and Mark Twain when they commented decades ago about thier political happenings.

 Jed Babbin, an editor of HUMANRIGHTS….an online news media outlet wrote a hilarious column spoofing the threat of election night violence in the case that Barack Obama loses the election to John McCain.

It was not the kind of violence we have been threatened with—–people going out into the streets burning, looting, tipping cars, vandalizing property….a’la the riots following a trial for Rodney King in Los Angeles or the summer riots of 1968 which nearly burned down several major cities’ neighborhoods in places like L.A. and Detroit.

The settings for Babbin’s send-up are high class New York hotel suites on upper level floors…the really spendy ones…where Jounalists are on hand to celebrate what they are sure would have been an Obama victory.  But then, in Babbin’s scenario, Obama is defeated in spite of the MSM media people’s determination to get him elected and things begin to unfold in the posh hotel suites.  He has Maureen Dowd attacking some other news media person and Keith Olbermann of MSNB going berserk in another posh hotel suite.

It is a must read:   http://humanevents.com/article.php?=29201&keywords=riots+election+night

 Writing my blog last night triggered all kinds of memories of Halloweens Past.    After I finished, I thought of another High-Jink that got pulled off at least twice at the same farm….and it was real vandalism in that the farmer had to un-do what kids had done.

It involved a stack of small square hay bales….a HUGE pile of bales all ready for winter feeding of cattle.   A fairly large group of Pre-Halloweeners paid a nighttime visit to this stack of hay bales and got up on the stack and threw a lot of bales off and around the area. They thought this was a hilarious trick, not thinking at all about the mess they were making and the farmer who would have to put the bales back in the stack.  I cannot recall if the same gang came back one or two times more, but the Trick was repeated in the dark of night.  This also involved the driving of a car or cars, which had their headlights turned off of course as they stealthily drove into the hay meadow to the bale stack.   It was on one of the visits later that they got a huge Trick played on them by the farmer. 

After having his hay bales thrown around by the teenagers who thought it was a real nifty Halloween Trick, the farmer took action and planted himself in the bale pile one night, carrying his shotgun (I think it was a shotgun….but I do not know what ammo was used..if it was real shells or some other thing that would accomplish a scatter-shot when needed.  Sure enough the same Gang came back, driving in an old Pontiac belonging to one of the teenage boys of the time, lights off….being driven slowly and cautiously toward the object of their trickery….the huge bale pile.   Shortly after pulling up to the the bales, the kids were getting out and getting ready to do their dirty deed one more time when the farmer fired his weapon directly into the radiator of the Pontiac rendering the automobile into a similar condition as his bale pile had been in for more than one time in the past nights.   I heard a description of what happened among the kids who were totally taken unawares by the counter-attack of the farmer…..well-deserved I might say.  They scattered like a frightened flock of doves when they hear the first shotgun go off….the driver suddenly lost the use of his legs due to fright and fell headlong into the hay meadow having to have some of the others drag him from the scene of the crime.

I cannot remember other details of whether the car could be driven or if the entire gang had to walk back to town.  Gone from my memory is the story about what the driver’s father’s reaction was to his son having gotten the Pontiac’s radiator blasted.  I only remember what an instant legend it became in the halls of the school.  One thing I am pretty sure of….the parents of that era when they found out their kids’ involvement, probably meted out some pretty severe punishment on their wayward teens.

Ah yes….there was a Halloween decades ago when I was still a growing "tadpole".  I think our Halloween adventures were even more daring and creative than the ones right now….there is so much to worry about now…creepy people lurking for little kids, tainted treats or razor blades in apples….kids have to be warned of the many dangers Halloween Now can pose but when I was a Trick or Treater—–we were pretty much free of the present day worries and fears..it was a much different era..free of the anxieties that kids and parents have to deal with now.

The Tricks were a lot bolder and funnier then too.   I do not remember wanton damage inflicted on homes or businesses then—-getting your windows "soaped" was about as wicked as it got.  Not too many years ago in this community, a whole row of windows were broken at the school  by Halloween vandals—teenagers who combined a night of so called fun with too much alcohol.  Alcohol was not a key factor in my Halloweens.  Kids my age knew how to have a lot of fun and how to get very creative in causing "tricks" or mischief…but there was little or no alcohol involved..just kids full of the dickens who knew where and how… to play "Tricks".

The small town creamery kept stacks of the metal milk and cream cans OUTSIDE of the building just  behind it…what a target—those cream cans were the first to go after it got dark. Some gang of kids always knocked all the cans down and the sound of "rolling thunder"  at the south end of Main Street was always the first sign of the night’s Tricks kicking off…literally. There were still old fashioned outhouses to be tipped also….pretty much gone from the town scene but the Master Toilet Tippers knew where the outhouses were located in the country near town.  I never heard if anyone was in an outhouse when it got tipped over but there were some "rural legends" abounding of such an occurence—-made up stories mostly. (I take back what I said about harmless tricks—tipping toilets and kicking the cream cans WAS a form of vandalism and someone else had to fix things in the morning…but in that era, Halloween Hijinks were tolerated, even expected.)

The greatest Halloween Trick or "feat" I ever witnessed was the appearance on the morning of November 1 of an old threshing machine that had been hauled to the school grounds by an obviously huge gang of "Hallow-"Weiners".  Somehow in the dead of the night, when the one local cop had probably fallen asleep in his car…the Gang of 50 or more got an old threshing machine moved from the local junkyard on the east edge of town to the schoolyard about 5 blocks further west.  How they got it there without anyone seeing it or waking up is a testament to the sound sleep habits of grown ups in those days.  It was an amazing sight for the kids arriving at school that morning after Halloween.  Nobody ever revealed the identity of the Movers and Shakers and I never heard for certain who did it. I was much too timid in those days to stay out that late and be a part of such an amazing Trick…I just basked in the aftermath on November 1 like the other kids did.

Another Halloween, about the same era, the one lone cop in town, known as "Fearless Fosdick" to us kids, actually did fall asleep at an intersection in town…obviously worn out completely from the impossible task of keeping track of small town kids who knew how to outsmart grownups on Halloween.   A gang of late night celebrators succeeded in quietly and softly pushing him and his car into the middle of the intersection before he woke up, in a confused and bleary-eyed state of exhaustion.  "Here comes "Fearless!" was a cry heard many times on Halloween or on other nights when mischief was abroad.  Teens scattering in alleys and dark nooks and crannies was common and all the Miscreants knew all the escape routes… the whereabouts of which  "Fearless"  knew nothing of!

Much later, after "Fearless" was retired and gone,  there was another local deputy whom the kids of that era nicknamed "Bookem" probably after the Hawaii 5-0 show that always featured the boss saying "Book ‘em, Danno" when a criminal was cornered.  I was much too adult to learn about the antics of that generation of kids who tortured "Bookem" just as my generation had tortured "Fearless".  But I  picked up occasional rumors… overhearing my teenage sons talking and trying to keep things secretive from me.

My mother and father, as young marrieds in the mid-1930′s, had the best story of all about Halloween High-Jinks.  There was a business where young people gathered in those days—-the era of the 1930′s.  It was called "Mac’s Sweet Shop" and it was the kid hangout for more than  two decades in our small town.  "Mac" was the nickname for Ern M. who was the owner and operator of the ice cream and soda shop of the day.   Kids tormented Ern who was a  naturally crabby man who had no children of his own, even though he coveted the business of the kids of the town.  He would have gone bust if it weren’t for their business but he had a hard time being the friendly "Arnold" type of "Happy Days".  He was a Curmugeon who could simply not help himself when it came to kids and their high spirits.   After being treated fairly badly by Ern on a daily basis, the kids planned a magnificent Halloween prank for that October 31.  Word got around about the night’s plans and a lot of young and older adults gathered on Main Street for the Kids’ Grand Finale to the Night of Nights—-October 31.   Just about closing time at the Sweet Shop , a massive mob of teenagers and younger kids came marching down the street, bearing an outhouse. My Dad estimated the crowd at over 100 kids.    They carried the outhouse right up to the front door of Ern’s Sweet Shop and placed it so that Ern could not get out his front door.  Apparently it was the only exit as Ern pleaded and scolded through the windows for the kids to let him out. Nobody budged….not the kids, not the adults , not even the lone local cop….Ray W… who was enjoying Ern’s come-uppance as much as the kids and the others.  This continued….the stand-off of the outhouse against Ern’s front door, the mob of kids, the adult onlookers and the one local cop of the time.  Sometime about Midnight or thereafter, the gang of kids picked up the outhouse and carried it back up Main Street, probably to return it to its owner.  Ern came out, sputtering like a wet firecracker,according to my parents, and went grumbling home to sleep a few hours before he would open his Sweet Shop for the breakfast crowd on November 1.  The battle between the crabby Ern and the teenagers of the town continued until Ern retired and sold the Sweet Shop to another owner. 

Mac’s Sweet Shop  later became the "Ben-Lee Cafe" which was our hang out in my era. That building is now the City Hall of the town.   Quite a sedate end to the lively soda shop and cafe of decades ago.  I still think of an outhouse propped in front of the same front door that is still there when I go by the building…..what fun it would have been to have seen the vengeful plan carried out that long- ago Halloween night in the 1930′s.  But at that time I was only a twinkle in my Daddy’s eye!!

You would think a person my age would not go around dressing up in a Dracula costume…wouldn’t you?   You would think a person my age would not attend two costume parties in less than a week…wouldn’t you?

Well,I have been at two costume parties since Monday…one that day and one today…and I dressed up in a Halloween costume for both of them.  On Monday, I was being Dracula and my friend A. was my "bride"….she was dressed as "Bride of Frankenstein" but we needed to change the story a bit to make our story fit the day so she became the Bride of Dracula.  Perhaps we could have made up a story about how she and Frankenstein just did not hit it off on their weird wedding night and then when Dracula flew through the open window of the Bridal Chamber and bit her on the neck….she was his forever after.  That sounds good. My "bride" was attired in a white lace negligee and a white nightgown, she wore a platinum blonde fright wig, another piece of white cloth—-sheer and kind looking like part of a lady’s old slip for her bridal veil.  With her extremely pale makeup and the rings around her eyes both top and bottom in shades of purple, taupe and cinnamon, she was quite a sight…and that was before we painted on two fang marks with red nail polish.  Then we had to go to work on me—Dracula, the Groom.  I had a long black robe (found at a 50% off special at K-Mart) and I had gelled my hair with the most Super of Super Gels so that my slicked back Dracula "do" with a couple of rather long "sideburns" was pretty dramatic.  I barely recognized myself in the mirror with the strange stiff hairdo that felt like it was a helmet. Later, one of the other ladies at our "Vampire Tea Party" in the afternoon, said my hair looked look it had been shellac-ed and it felt rather varnished also.  Stiff, stiff, stiff!!!  We did my face in a nearly white shade and added purple, brown and gray to my eye lids, under the eyes and pretty much all over the top of my forehead once we were done and had picked ourself up off A’s bathroom floor from laughing at each other.  If my cat had seen me she would have raised every hair on her back and gone screeching in terror to her basement condo….that is if I had been at home but I was at A’s and we had to get by her husband, R. in order to go to our party.  We drew red blood drops coursing from the corners of my Vampire mouth and I was ready to insert my Vampire teeth (they cause a lot of drooling and you are unable to speak or eat or drink).  Two other ladies who were going to ride with us to K’s home where the Vampire Tea was to be held, were rather taken aback at our appearances when we swept outside to get into the vehicle.  They knew it was us even they couldn’t TELL it was us.   We made our way to the party-place and proceeded to shriek as each costumed woman appeared…we had a black clad witch, a couple of ghosty looking girls and one clad totally in red—-our Vampire Tea color…what else?   We finally got over each other and proceeded to the bufffet table of totally red foods.  We were pretty creative:  Red Sauce "Ghou-lash",  Bright Red Borscht,  several red salads made of various flavors of jello and one of cranberries….red corn chips, red salsa, a totally red fruit plate..apples, grapes, and strawberries and for dessert, a Red Velvet cake.  All of us were hungry as we had been costuming and making up and had skipped lunch.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon (til it got dark!) playing Quiddler and if you love word games and Scrabble, you would love Quiddler if you do not know what it is….lots of fun.

Today our Silver Sneakers class had a costume party and we excercised in costumes…not an easy trick.  I could not quite get up to speed for another round of Dracula but I did wear my black robe with a set of red horns…also found some old orange Halloween socks that go back to my days teaching elementary students.  We had a blue Smurfette with us, today, a WW 1 soldier (real uniform) and a few medical people…a doctor plus our Guest Visiting Instructor was impressive in her pink nightgown, curlers, nightcap and huge "bug" slippers. We had a hard time keeping straight faces when she had to hike up the nightgown to get a Silver Sneakers’ ball wedged between her thighs for one of the regular moves we make each week.  We also snarfed down a birthday cake after class—-SS is two years old at the Detroit Lakes Community Center and the birthday had to be duly celebrated.  We did—-we work up good appetites getting our muscles, joints, and ligaments moving each class time.

Now I am taking a break from being Dracula.  I have a treat bag full of Halloween candy and a big red apple from the Community Center treat bowl.  It is a good Indian Summer Day today.  It is true Indian Summer because the definition of that season is "a time of mild weather following the first cold spell of the Fall."    I think Sunday’s mini blizzard qualifed us for Indian Summer very well!!!!

I have added some things to my "profile" on my Buffalogal blog.  Since I am very interested in political happenings and especially the current election cycle, I decided I needed to add something to my profile that will inform readers of my blog.

In Other Stuff:   I read a brief commentary by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe today which Ifound most interesting.  Jacoby is one conservative voice on the staff of the otherwise liberal BOSTON GLOBE newspaper.  I commented on this in answering one of my owncommenters….most Left Liberal Mainstream Media newspapers and other media keep sort of a "pet" Conservative on their staff or allow a conservative an occasional column (as inthe NYT allowing Bill Kristol of the WEEKLY STANDARD (conservative) to write an occasional column for the NYTs.   Jacoby is actually a part of the staff of the GLOBE as is Charles Krauthammer who is a regular on the staff of the liberal WASHINGTON POST.

Jacoby writes  today in a piece titled "The Dictator Label" which I urge you to Google.  (By the way, being a self confessed techno/computer/dummy, I could use advice on how to successful link newspaper articles/essays/editorials/blogs et al.  I would appreciate any helpa lot!!!)

Please…  Google "The Dictator Label" by Jeff Jacoby.  You would be able to read the entire article.

Jacoby compares the 8 year Bush hatred which included calling him things like "Bush=Hitler",a movie in 2006 on the subject of a Bush assasination, and crude "F – - – Bush" posters being raised at rallies to the present concern about Barack Obama’s seeming desireto shut down his critics.  Obama has become notoriously thin-skinned and I remember an early attack on some source that criticized his wife’s comments about an America that she said was "mean"  until her husband became a candidate for president.  I noticed at the time how ballistic Obama went just on that occasion and now there are plenty of other incidentscropping up all over the nation that lead Thinking People to consider what sort of "Dictator"  Obama could become.   

One famous statement about Bush as a Dictator came from Michael Kingsley who made theassertion in 2003 that "George W. Bush is now the closest thing in a long time to dictator of the world."  CNN’s Jack Cafferty also joined the Howl at that time by saying that "theadministration intended to establish a ‘full-blown dictatorship in this country’ ."               Jacoby goes on to ask some key questions of how Bush could be a full blown dictator whennothing was done by Bush or his administration to silence his many and frequent critics.  Mostly the accusations went unchallenged and Freedom of Speech reigned, as itshould in our democratic and free nation.

But Barack Obama is beginning to stack up a long list of showing dictatorial bellwethers, as in the Missouri "truth squads" that were recently revealed;  in the threat by the Obama organization toward the NRA warning that an ad revealing Obama’s anti-gun stands should notbe aired…  and additional threat from Obama campaign lawyers  urging them not to run that ad threatened this:  "This advertisement knowingly misleads your viewing audience. Forthe sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station should refuse to continue to run this advertisment."  How is that for threatening Lawyer-Speakcoupled with a hint that this station, under Obama, might just lose their license for saying anything negative about Obama???    That is what I read in it.  And there has beenmore, recently, when two TV stations were banned by the Obama campaign to have any chance to interview Biden or Obama …this after a few Anchors asked some toughquestions of Joe Biden in Ohio and Florida and the immediate order went out to ban these two stations from further interveiws.  Now that is a real dictatorship-in-the-bud. Shades Vladimir Putin’s old days as the leader of the KGB!!!

"Similar lawyer letters went out in August when the American Issues Project produced a TVspot exploring Obama’s strong ties to former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.  Station managers were warned that running an anti-Obama ad would be a violation of theirlegal obligation to serve the ‘public interest’.  And in case that wasn’t menacing enough, the Obama campaign also urged the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation."

Can you imagine the Justice Deparment under an Obama presidency???   They would beforced to launch criminal investigations every time any news outlet was deemed to be criticizing Obama’s policies.  Welcome to the end of "Free Speech" in the United States!!!

The entire Jacoby editorial needs to be read thoughtfully to consider the implications of theloss of Free Speech that might occur just around the corner!!!

Whose will it be?  Those First 100 days of a new presidency?  Will it be McCain or Obama? Next week at this very hour we may be getting our first returns of this years’ election races…Tuesday November 4, 2008.

I read Realclearpolitics as usual this morning and was most struck by a commentary from Pat Buchanan….before anyone jumps the gun and tries to "Shoot the Messenger" because it is Buchanan, listen to what he says about a possible first 100 days of an Obama administration.I am going to give you the website:     The key part of this opinion post includes  12 "bullets" which Buchanan believes will be the hallmarks of Obama’s first 100 days in office.    (To see the complete essay , google: "Obama’s First 100 Days" by Pat Buchanan. )        

 Every time there is a new president, there is some sort of magic declaration about his/her first 100 days in office.  It began, I think, with the first 100 days of the Franklin Roosevelt administration which was facing the ruins of the Great Depression which began in Octoberof 1929…79 years ago.   The Roosevelt administration did many things that changed forever the face of American political rule by passing legislation that must have seemed socialist tothe people of that time.  It gave jobs to people who were unemployed, raising government taxes to pay for the many programs designed to pull the country out of theDepression.   We have never again been truly solvent as a nation since then—with brief periods of a balanced budget, at least on paper.  Our national debt is astounding and itcontinues to grow and grow.  A possible Obama administration could be even more radical than that of FDR in 1932 and the years following.

Here is what Buchanan predicts…..from items 1-12   (these are quotes from the opinionpiece.  Intro:   "Rep. Barney Frank is already calling for new tax hikes on the most successful and a 25 percent reduction in the military budget.  Senator John Kerry has talkedabout massive federal spending a la FDR’s New Deal.  Specifically , we can almost surely expect: (1)  Swift amnesty for 12 million to 20 million Illegal Aliens and a drive to make them citizens, and register them, as in the Bill Clinton years.  This will mean that Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona will soon move out of reach for GOP presidentialcandidates, as has California.      (2) Border Security will go on the backburner, and America will have a virtual open border with a Mexico of 110 million.    (3)  Taxes willbe raised on the top 5 percent of wage earners, who now carry 60 percent of the US income tax burden, and tens of millions of checks will be sent out to the 40 percent of wage earners who pay no federal income tax.  Like "The Man" said, redistribute the wealth, spread it around.         (4) Social Security taxes will be raised on the most successful amongus and capital gains taxes will be raised from 15 to 20 percent.  The Bush tax cuts will be repealed and death taxes reimposed.   (5)  Two or three liberal activists of the Ruth Bader Ginsberg-John Paul Stevens stripe will be named to the Supreme Court, U.S. district and apellate courts will be stacked with "progressives".     (6) Special protections forhomosexuals will be written into all civil rights laws, and gays and lesbians in the military will be invited to come out of the closet.  "Don’t ask, don’t tell" will be dead.  (7) Thehomosexual marriages that state judges have forced California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to recognize, an Obama Congress or an Obama court will require of all 50 states.  (8)  A "Freedom of Choice Act" nullifying all state restrictions on abortions will be enacted.  America will become the most pro-abortion nation on earth.   (9)  Affirmative action–hiring and promotions based on race, sex and sexual orientation until specified quotas are reached—will be rigorously enforced thoughout the U.S. government and privatesector.  (10) Universal health insurance will be enacted, covering legal and illegal immigrants, providing another powerful magnet for the world to come to America, if necessary by breaching her borders.   (11) A federal bailout of states and municipalities to keep state and local governments spending up could come in December or early next year.  (12)  The first trillion dollar deficit will be run in the first year of an Obama presidency.  It will be the first of many.     Welcome to Obamaland!   (end quotes)

I read Nancy Pelosi’s new "promise" today.  She said that the new Democratically controlled…..one which has the lowest rating of any congresses past…much lower than the low rating held by George Bush as president……  Congress would be more bipartisan than the last one.  Say what?    Pelosi presided for the past 2 years over the most partisan legislature in our recent history.  What on earth can she be talking about?  Is this perhaps another of Pelosi’s own interpretations of basic dogma, as she did when she so blatantly juggled Catholic doctrine regarding the church’s position on abortion (and got roundlycriticized and corrected by Archbishops all over the U.S.)  Ms. Pelosi lives in fantasy land if she says she will be non-partisan.  Nobody is more partisan or more self-centered ormore short-sighted when it comes to things being done for the good of all Americans..with Pelosi’s recent 2-year history, it is always designed for the Liberal Democrats alone….no thought is given for the common good of a whole nation.  Pelosi’s every statement is one colossal heap of horse manure!   She said she was going to presideover the most ethical House of Representatives ever….what a horse laugh…as well as a pile of you-know-what.

Another glimpse of what is to come in an Obama administration is a severe restriction on ourprecious Bill of Rights…particularly the First Amendment right of Free Speech.   Already, the Obama campaign has blackballed two TV stations—-no more interviews for thosestations who had the gall to ask Joe Biden some very tough questions, particularly the station in Florida in which the anchorwoman asked Biden pointedly about the Marxist leanings of Barack Obama… among other issues….ACORN voter registration fraud, Obama’s ties to terrorist Bill Ayers and a few other questions that the ordinary public has been longing tohear asked on a Mainstram Media outlet.  Biden went ballistic, he attacked the anchor and asked condescendingly, "who writes your questions"—-a huge insult to a professional femalejournalist who had asked her own questions.  Later, at an Ohio interview with Biden another two anchor persons asked the same provocative questions and once again Biden sentthe word to Obama headquarters….cut this station off from any further interviews.   If that is not a violation of the Freedom of Speech amendment, what is?   Are we seeing the beginnings of Police State tactics towards a Press who asks legitimate questions that ought to be answered in a free country like ours?  Throughout the whole long primary andpresidential campaign, Obama has shown his personal prickliness when asked anything that he finds disturbing or offensive to him—we have seen it with the questions aboutJeremiah Wright, Father Pfleger, William Ayers, ACORN connections to Obama,his true birth certificate which has never been revealed,  and several other pertinent subjects. Obama will NOT answer anything honestly…he is   master of The Dodge or else he attacks the questioners for deeming to ask His Holiness such things.  I think we are in for along period, if he is elected, of seeing him and his minions go after First Amendment Rights…both concerning freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  And that is only theone issue—-what will an Obama administration attempt to do to the Right To Bear Arms guaranteed in our Constitution. 

If Obama’s Marxist tendencies are truly revealed in a presidency, we could see things wenever thought possible in a Free Nation such as ours.  He is set to turn into a Reverse Robin Hood—-take from the Rich(most productive members of our nation) and spread the wealth to the Least Productive.   How is it just to give tax breaks to those who do not even pay income taxes.  Does he thing the ones who pay all thier taxes are going to stand still for such tactics???  I think we all know the answer and it is a resounding NO!

A must read for people who are dissatisfied with the Mainstream Media’s disgraceful behavior and coverage of the presidential campaigns.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6099188

One of my favorite books of childrens’ poetry is Judith Viorst’s IF I WERE IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD.   The title poem has thoughts like this….."If I were in charge of the world there would be no Mondays, no oatmeal, no spinach and no liver"….."If I were in charge of the world there would be no sad children, ever…"   I wish I had a copy of the book right here so I could cite a few more "If I were in charge of the world statements"  but I don’t.  I do have a few ideas about what I would do if I were in charge of the world and here are some of them.

If I were in charge of the world, there would be no cold winters and no cold springs.        If I were in charge of the world, there would be not more talking on cell phones while driving….and while I am at it there would be no more women "putting on their faces’ while driving….and no more drivers reading books propped on the steering wheels…and no more drivers writing in notebooks or reading newspapers lying on the passenger seat……………If I were in charge of the world there would be no people who dump dogs, cats, kittens and puppies in country ditches when they decide they do not want them anymore…..If I were in charge of the world, these pet dumpers would spend eternity up to their necks in a verydirty cat litter box………If I were in charge of the world, there would be no more babykilling, a ‘la abortion clinics………If I were in charge of the world, political figureswould keep their promises and be unable to lie any more………If I were in charge of the world there would be no more racism, no more hatred, no more law-breaking…………If I were in charge of the world every day would be Saturday….a Saturday with a Bison football game and the Bison would always win……………If I were in charge of the world, families would always get along and there would be no fighting between moms and dads, sisters and brothers, aunts uncles, cousins and everyone else in a family……….If I were in charge of the world every kid would have their mom and a dad living with them all the time……….If I were in charge of the world there would be no more wooden toothpicks, no more tires that blow out, no more brakes that fail, no icy roads ever, no tornadoes, hurricanes, bad floods or earthquakes……….If I were in charge of the world nobody would ever want to fight a war with each other no matter what country it was………..If I were in charge of the world nobody would even know what the word "terrorism" even meant……..If I were in charge of the world , there would be no exit polls

on election day and no projections on any TV, radio or any other media about who won the election….NOTHING til the votes were counted everywhere..all over the United States………..If I were in charge of the world, there would be nobody that left carts in parking lots except in the cart corrals……………If I were in charge of the world, there would be no epidemics of any sort………If I were in charge of the world, your parents would never die and leave you sad and sorry………..If I were in charge of the world there would be Christmas, Thanksgiving and Birthdays at least 4 times each year, but you would not get any older………If I were in charge of the world, there would be more vacations than working days or school days…..If I were in charge of the world, everything would be pretty near perfect for everyone.

It is about 4:30 on Saturday afternoon.  Two hours ago I was sunbathing on my deck in the pale October sunshine.  Even with a north wind, I was sheltered on my lawnchair/lounge by the south facing wall covered in steel siding reflecting the suns rays onto me.  Mmmmmm.  The pleasure of sunbathing on October 25 was doubled by reflecting on things happening today.  Early this morning I read Farside of Fifty’s blog about their Border Collie, Chance, celebrating his birthday today.  My second son is celebrating his birthday today also!  Second Son is way ahead of Chance, however…my son was born on October 25, 1963 so he is noting a significant number today…..in Jamestown where he has gone to spend a day at a seminar.  Not quite like the birthdays of old when we would invite classmates out to the farm for some rollicking touch football games, a birthday "lunch" and the opening of friends’ gifts.  Those days are gone, replaced by the traditional responsibilities of his own business, a lovely wife and three growing children—2 teenagers and one in late elementary school years.  HIs Dad and I have already gone through these adult changes of family raising and now its his (and his 2 brothers’ turns) while we sit back and enjoy our growing grandchildren’s lives and adventures.

Another pleasant thing, in addition to the unexpected sunbath, was listening to the Bison Football game on the radio.  Being the incurable Bison football fan that I am, I was worried after the past weeks’ defeats and downturn in Bison fortunes.  But the team won over Illinois State and did rather well again after several times of disappointing outcomes.  Last week’s game at Northern Iowa was painful to say the least.  I have said this before but I feel so sorry for the players and the coaches when things "go south" on the football field.  I especially have felt sorry for Nick Mertens who has had to take a lot of heat and criticism since assuming the number one quarterback position this season.  The call in shows to the Bison coach and the after game commentaries have been kind of wicked for 3 weeks. I feel happier today for those players and coaches who needed a win…. badly.

October weather is so fickle.  Yesterday at this time, we were getting rained on from the low hanging clouds and foggy atmosphere; today the sun shone and it felt terrific to be outdoors.  Now it has clouded over again and the wind is getting colder and colder.  I remember what one of our older friends used to say about such changes:  "If you don’t like the weather in the Red River Valley….just wait five minutes!"   He was and still is, so right.

In another seasonal item, I was amazed yesterday by a letter to the editor from a man complaining about the sugar beet haulers…. which are busy these days carrying the beets to piling locations or the Beet Plant in northern Moorhead…the writer complained about the beet trucks being a nuisance for him—-a bike rider— for excercise apparently.  What cheek! I would say that the writer is the true "nuisance" being out on the roads during the beet hauling season.  Sure, the roads get rather muddy and covered in places with both dirt and beet debris and none of us are happy about driving on slippery muddy roads,  but this crop is one of the "Geese That Lay the Golden Eggs" in this area!   I would think that anyone who rides a bike on country roads could be big enough to give it up for the short season that the trucks need to haul the beet crop to necessary locations.  I reminds me of people who move into wild animal habitats complaining when "little Fifi" gets attacked and eaten by one of the wild animals into whose territory they have moved.  Bike riding on beet hauling routes seems a bit careless and selfish in this harvest time that lasts a short time.

I baked a cake for Second Son today…my second "made from scratch" devils’ food cake in less than two weeks.  There must be some sort of cooking/baking revolution going on within me.  It is not like me to do this so consistently but we will all enjoy it together tomorrow afternoon when we observe the "birthday boy’s" day —just one day late.