Grimesy Campaigning

It's that time of year again.
The time if year when it matters not what one has done -- it matters what the other guy has done worse. Or can be inferred to have done worse.
"Worse" being relative.

The necessity for smear campaigns or mud slinging doesn't seem to matter.

Senator (I think) Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is a good (or bad) example of this.

Now, I can only offer an outsider (Ohioan) point of view, but it seems that Mr. McConnell has been good for Kentucky. He does his job, which is more than can be said for the majority. He has weighed the options, made deals, voted for or against many policies and projects.
All he needs to do to campaign for re-election is say "Here is what I have done for you, my people."

Instead, he has chosen to attack his opponent, Allison Grimes.

And the grounds he is using as an attack platform are dubious, at best.
One attack was that she supported Obama.
Well, she's a member of the Democrat Party. I would be much, much more disturbed if she did NOT support the majority of her party's politics. I don't know about you, but I don't want to vote for someone who does not support her own support network. Who cannot be loyal to those she promised loyalty to.
Nope, I would not want to vote someone who stands for nothing.
Not even her own standing.

Her first ads that I saw represented facts about McConnell's attendance and voting record. His supporters immediately started screaming that she had her facts wrong and besides that, who was she to cite any such facts, when her record for another position may (or may not) be just as dubious.
Reminds me of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing over Rabbit or Duck season.

Now, the 'scandal' of Ms. Grimes is that she won't say who she voted for.
The media is making a big deal of her refusal to answer.

Shouldn't they be making a big deal of the invasion of her civil right to a secret ballot -- an American institution, especially for presidential elections.
Besides that, who cares?
No one, it seems to me, except Mr. McConnell and his supporters, who are not in favor of voters having rights, apparently.
If she voted for Obama, she supported her party. Good for her.
If she voted for someone else, she voted her conscience, Good for her.
Why is this an issue?

Ms. Grimes has, for the most part, not dignified that issue with any comment. She certainly is not making it a campaign issue. Nor a publicity point.
For that, I would almost vote for her myself.

It should only be about who will do or has done a better job. Nothing more, nothing less.
The candidates that meet that criteria will be the ones who get my vote.
In any race.
In every race.

The American Way; The Butt of the World

Once again, in an effort to GET THEIR OWN WAY, our duly elected Congress has moved to make the USA the butt of the joke in the global community. They have approved an action to sue the President for not being a good president.

The idea does have some intriguing possibilities. These Congressmen (and women) might want to think carefully about what doors they are opening. Imagine if we could all start suing politicians for being liars or for not keeping their promises!
Although, of course, they would limit the sue-ability to the president, I'm sure.
As they have done/are doing with the term limits question. (In case you missed it, it is okay to limit the tenure of the presidency, but term limits for the Congress are unconstitutional.)

But that isn't the issue.

The issue is that they are making the American Way of government into a Joke and a Failure in the eyes of the world. Something that, were they doing their jobs, they would be making great efforts to resist.
But it's okay. They can blame it all on the president, and the gullible (and mostly nonvoting but vociferous) citizens of the USA will jump on the bandwagon and Facebook and yell "Hell Yeah!"

Don't get me wrong. I do not think Mr. Obama is the world's greatest president. I did not vote for him. He wasn't my choice. He isn't my choice.
And, (speaking of term limits) he will be gone in a brief but endless couple of years. We've survived six years; we can endure two more.

But he was the choice of the percentage of the population that cared enough to get off their butts and actually vote. I have to respect that. If I can't respect the results of an election, why am I voting?

Once elected, the President should have the public support of his (our) Congress, and of the, for the, and by the people who cared enough to elect him.

Privately, there is always room for discussion, argument, discord, dissent, and any other word you want to use for being adamantly opposed to everything you disagree with.
That's the American Way.

I object to the American Way being made a mockery of.
I object to the American Way being made a joke in the eyes of a world watching to see if a democratic republic is a viable form of government for longer than a couple centuries.
I object to the American Way being exploited for financial gain and publicity by some rich white guys having temper tantrums when they don't get their way.

Oh, didn't you know?
Most of the Congress is lawyers, judges, etc.
They make up their own laws and collect their fees.
At your (and my) expense.

If you don't like this president, get off your duff and vote for someone you do like.
THAT is within your power.

In fact, that IS your power.

Just do it.

JUST Do Your Job

Another government shutdown looms.
Why?

Well, many will tell you it's the president's fault.
Or the Speaker's.
Or the guy who talked for hours without saying anything.
Or -- someone else.

First of all -- who cares? Fix it NOW, fix the blame later.

We elect people to govern this country.
And THAT is their job: to govern the country.

So what if the president doesn't agree with their plans and doesn't sign?
Don't they know that that is covered in their job description?
They have the power to do their job without the president's approval.

How?

By going ahead and doing their job.
 Again.
Day after day, hour by hour.
Just like you and I when we go to work (or went to work, in the days when employment existed.)

Had they been DOING THEIR JOB all along, things would not have got down to this -- again. They would have learned from the last debacle, and the one before that, and the one before that.
Instead, they are either placing blame or throwing their hands in the air saying "What's the use? It's not going to be signed anyway."

Presidential vetoes can be overrode by a united Congress that is doing its job. (Not signing IS a veto. A/k/a  a pocket veto.)


If these people worked in the private sector, they would have been fired after the last time this happened.
Many of these people have fired employees for less.

I think they should be fired.

Remember, when election time comes, that it's not their fault, it's someone else's, that they are NOT doing their jobs, and you -- Yes, YOU -- decide whether or not they get fired, or if you will allow them to give themselves a raise and blame it on the figurehead.

The Great American Temper Tantrum.

Or how to look more of a fool to the rest of the world.

The election is over! One man won, a lot of others (not just Mr. Moneybags) lost. Time for life to get back to normal, or at least head in that direction, right?

Nope. Not right.

Now that the election is over and approximately (an ironic) 47% of people were on the losing side, it's time to show the world that we are populated by whiny ass crybabies who, when they lose, throw down their tools and holler "I Quit" while the world laughs.

This is, of course, the members of the moneybags teams doing this. The first rumbles of the secession story came from Texas and Louisiana. Now, what does Texas and Louisiana have that's so special?
Oh yeah! That's where the OIL is! And the oilmen! I suppose I should say oil barons, or perhaps oil profiteers, because MEN do not quit when they have a setback. They stand up, shake the dust off the seat of their pants and their hands, and get right back to work. (oh but these people don't get their hands dirty, and they can't reach the seat of their pants because their big fat wallets are in the way!)

And work there is for all of us. The NorthEast is still lights-out in many places -- they could use a whole lot more of that oil that Louisiana and Texas are wanting to hold hostage until they get their way. There are homes and no homes, food spoiling, damaged factories, stores, streets. There's work for each and every person who can get there to do it. There are many who would be doing it if they could get there. There is even work for leaders in the field, because the Corporate Chairs are fighting like preschool siblings over who is in charge of what, while friends and neighbors are opening their houses and cupboards to their neighbors. Some of them are even feeding people with no ID, no proof of address. "When I was hungry, You gave me food."
Not a ticket to go somewhere else and get it from someone else because that's just not your job.

It surprises me how many people are jumping onto this secession bandwagon. Yeah, we'd all like to be our own country, especially when we don't like public policies. Yeah, when we have to pay the piper in April, we wish we were our own realm.

Most of us outgrow this by the time we reach double digits. It's hard work making rules and enforcing them and trying to make other people abide by OUR rules because it's our country. If they don't like it, they can go make one of their own.

I have to wonder if these people have thought this through. Who will repair and maintain their roads? Their schools? I suppose with agreements like the once-famous NAFTA  they won't have to worry about tarrifs on foodstuffs, or factory-built parts. But who will pay the governing bodies? How?

There will still be taxes; there will still be public policies that displease individuals. There may be even fewer jobs if interstate commerce becomes international..

In the meantime, the public face of America is showing itself to be the "Ugly American" in truth.
The real Americans are in New Jersey, working.

Discussing "THE" Debate

from Dictionary.com

de·bate  (d-bt)

v. de·bat·ed, de·bat·ing, de·bates

v.intr.

1. To consider something; deliberate.

2. To engage in argument by discussing opposing points.

3. To engage in a formal discussion or argument. See Synonyms atdiscuss.

4. Obsolete To fight or quarrel.

v.tr.

1. To deliberate on; consider.

2. To dispute or argue about.

3. To discuss or argue (a question, for example) formally.

4. Obsolete To fight or argue for or over.

n.

1. A discussion involving opposing points; an argument.

2. Deliberation; consideration: passed the motion with little debate.

3. A formal contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a given proposition.

4. Obsolete Conflict; strife.

I'm beginning with the formal definition of debate here. Seems like there are many who have no comprehension of what the word means. Sadly,it is supposedly intelligent people who lack this understanding of the definition. Newscasters, reporters, editors.

There was a Presidential Debate the other night.

Not, as the name implies, a debate between presidents. Nor was it a debate about presidents, except tangentially. It is a pre-election debate for presidential candidates. One of the candidates is the current president.

A debate, as you can see from the definition, is basically a discussion -- just like the one we're having here. (Not exactly, since you lack the ability to respond as I'm speaking.)

Discussion of this, of that -- it can even be considered an argument, but that usage has, until now, meant in a formal sense. Not petty kindergarten squabbling.

This is important, at least to me, because there was very little attention paid to or reported on any actual debate topics. The debates had barely started when the media morons began trumpeting "Romney is winning!"


How the Blankety-blank blank does anyone win a discussion?

How do they win a discussion when that discussion has barely begun?


It didn't get any better, folks. I don't know what the debates were about. I don't know what subjects were introduced, what answers either candidate had, or whether either had a solution that was markedly different from the other guys.

As a matter of fact, I don't know if there were any other candidates present or if it was just the two Mr. BigBucks BigMouths running. They were the only two mentioned. There are other candidates, voters. Some of them have great ideas and reasonable policies. Look them up.


I don't know because no one reported on this. No one cared to do straight reporting for those who couldn't/didn't watch the live event.

And if it were a matter of winning -- so what? If winning a discussion means anything at all, I'm pretty sure it does NOT mean winning the election, although Mainstream Media would like you to think it's in the bag now for their guy.

Mitt Romney won the primaries because he could beat Obama -- not on issues, performance, promises, or politics -- just because he breathes higher class air, I suppose. I have yet to figure that logic. See previous blog:http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7971544013891065437#editor/target=post;postID=8130718494167114723

Now he has 'won' a debate -- what does that mean?

It means he talks faster ?

There's the solution to our problems! A slick fast-talker. He must be made to be President! He out-talked the man who was actually working at running the country (possibly badly, but trying) while he was rehearsing his party lines and preening in his mirror.

I'm saving my vote for the election. That's the only WIN that counts.

Chaos in Colorado & the Right to Know

Last week, there was a shooting in Colorado. No doubt everyone has heard of it by now, and they've heard misleading quotes, incomplete assessments, rumors, outright lies, and everywhere the young man's name all over the news. We've seen it and him and he knows he's going down in the history books, so now he's going to act or claim crazy. (As if a sane person would shoot up a theater and booby trap his own home.)

I'm not naming him. There are enough people and mechanisms doing that, and that is what this young man is eating up. He's FAMOUS! He's INFAMOUS! He's on the Front Page, he's the LEAD Story, he's on YouTube, he's shared and reshared on Facebook and other social media.

Everyone knows his name. He can sit back and wallow now. And that's exactly what he's going to do.

To most of the public, especially the politically attuned, the Horrible Happening is a new reason to scream and open debates about gun control. It is somehow the fault of the guns that they were amassed and misused in this fashion.
To me, the issue should be about the media. The Fourth Estate.
We have freedom of the press. That's a good and wonderful thing.
Until something like this happens.

The  media is helpful when there is a question of locating a perpetrator or suspect. The media is at its best when reporting events as they unfold. The media is a force to be reckoned with when someone in the public eye is trying to hide secrets. The media tells us we have a right to know, and they will inform us. They can keep us informed of all rumors and speculations as long as they say they are rumors and speculation. Reporting of the booby traps may have saved lives.

But what, exactly, do we have a right to know about? What is needful and/or entertaining and informative? Do we need to know, on a national level, speculation and gossip?
 Is it right to be shoving their microphones into the faces of families waiting for someone to come outside from the scene of a massacre? Is it our right to know when they finally accept the unbelievable unacceptable fact that their loved one is not coming away from the scene?
Is it our right to know what a mother thinks when her son has admitted to this type of horror? Has she no right to the privacy of thought?
Do we have a right to know about every clipped toenail or late bedwetting incident ever in the guilty person's history?
Do we have the right to decide -- believe -- he's guilty before there is any sort of due process?
Does the media have the right to claim our right to know gives them the right to lionize punks and publicity hogs?

There are no easy answers, which is why the problems have been unresolved for so many years. There is a right to know, but who can or should decide what anyone else has the right to know?  Is there, or should there be, a time that it's right to know.

Difficult questions that need to be looked at and discussed and worked on as intently as gun control or defining insanity. It's no wonder that policing authorities try to conceal identities and evidence from the press. Irresponsible reporting compromises deaf, dumb, and blind justice.

And then, there  are young men like this "joker" who do the deed, then, when the media is fully present, walks up to the police and says "Yeah, I did it," then spends the next three days -- or three months, three years, three decades -- smirking and preening and posing for the cameras.


He has the right to know how important he is

Save Our (Healthy) Trees.

Monday July 2, 2012  is the last informational meeting about the Asian Longhorned Beetle and the Environmental Assessment.  If you still have questions this is where to go. The  when is Monday 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Grant Career Center in Bethel Ohio,

The Environmental Assessment is a collection of facts. If you haven't yet read it, you can do so here: http://www.bethelalb.com/ALB-OH-ClermontCounty-2012-EA.pdf

Environment is important to everything and everyone. You may feel, as some in Loveland do, that the way to get rid of the beetle is to devastate Tate Townships wooded areas -- which include East Fork State Park eventually.

Already, those who have had trees removed are feeling the effects. Higher energy bills, as the heating and cooling provided by trees has decreased. Flooding, small streams turned into full-bodied creeks, carrying away soil and sewage and litter. Once arable fields that lie in water when it rains, with no trees to soak up the excess. Septic tank fields with no drainage and no absorption, creating a risk of excess sewage rising.

No one is urging officials to stop prevention measures. The truth is, most of the afflicted would like to see the government sponsored agencies comply with their own standards instead of excusing noncompliance.  Very few people object to the removal of infested trees. They want to save the healthy ones, give them a vaccination against infection. The vaccination is less expensive than the removal, the hauling, and the grinding.

That may not be what you think will be best. That decision is up to you, but I urge you, especially if you live in or close to the infested areas, educate yourself. Look at the trees on your property and ask yourself "What if?" Learn what you can do, what they can do, what will happen if this, that, or the other is done.

If you have questions, attend the meeting. If you can't attend the meeting, contact a member of the ALB team: http://www.bethelalb.com/  They will give you what answers they have, or point you in the direction of clear factual sources.

Once you have thought it over and thought it through, speak up and speak out. Tell the USDA what you would want them to do with YOUR trees.

Because someday, in some way, it will be your trees.

The Adams County Informer

I bought my last issue today.

The Informer is a small newspaper in competition with Brown Publishing's  People's Defender here in Adams County. It was a nice paper, understandably small, but full of the small town (county) news. All the car accidents (well, a lot of them), ambulance runs, fire calls -- this information made it to this paper. The thicker, heavier, and more expensive Defender only reported a few, usually the most spectacular -- ones that made the city news broadcasts --  or the ones somehow involving *names* in the county. And  ad nauseum court news (which never really tell anything) and board meetings ad infinitum.

The Informer had  a Picture of the Week from readers, and a few words from the editor Troy Jolly every week. The personal touch.

There wasn't much advertising, which is normal for a little guy competing against an established and many-armed.competitor. There was some kind of political good-buddying going on that kept public service ads from being listed in the Informer. Something about having to reach more people instead of costing less and it really cost less per person to pay more to the bedfellow newspaper. Not fair. Not fair at all. I always thought that those sort of announcements -- sheriff's sales, village and school bids for goods or services, etc -- had to be published  with/in/through all available public media.

I faithfully bought my little Informer every week, because I liked the tone of the paper, and because I love, love, love the idea of a local paper produced locally.  The paper must have been doing okay, because there were new employees being introduced.

Then, in November, Mr. Jolly was elected mayor of Manchester. He's doing a good job, even according to his competition. They are faithfully reporting the changes and improvements happening under Mayor Jolly's watch.

His paper was faithfully reporting the changes, too. So much so that in the last few months the paper could be called the Manchester Informer. That's a natural enough change, so I didn't mind it. Not so happy about it, but I understood.

But now, the car accidents and fire runs have disappeared. The Picture of the Week is missing, and so are the 'Words'.The articles that appear are mostly publicity sent out by the various organizations. Fresh stories are few and far between. When there are fresh stories, they are badly organized and badly written. There are spelling errors and there are grammar errors.

This week there's a glaring grammar error in a Manchester story. AEP has went around and fixed the street lights.... That's exactly what the paper said.

Well, I have went and spent my last fifty cents on the Manchester Braggart's Bulletin. I expect  literacy when I read a newspaper. News would be nice, but literacy is a MUST.

I will have to look farther afield for my Adams County Information.

A Rousing Good Whatchacallit.

I love to debate. I love to argue. I sometimes love to take an opposing view on a topic just to rile someone. Or to try and figure out where I do stand on an issue. Or to find out where the gaps in knowledge are -- mine as well as theirs.

Because I like to learn. I like to know. I like to think, and I like to see others thinking and learning.

Sometimes the same subject will come up again. Sometimes because the person on the other side doesn't leave things alone. More often because something new has come to light and needs to be examined, taken apart, checked out, cleaned up and put back together again. The best way for me to do that is to be arguing (debating) with someone about it.

A debate is a good way to find out where you don't have any answers, or that the answers you have may be inadequate. After all, there is no one like a sibling to say "nyah, nyah, you don't got an answer." Or a friend who will say, "But why not?"

Hyperbole, of a sort, can play into this type of debate. I will sometimes make a grand, broad statement, then sit back to see how people react. I think I know how this one will, or what that one will say, but much more often, I am proven wrong in my expectation. I like that.

Hyperbole can draw attention to a topic, too. Sometimes, saying something wrong can get people talking. To you, asking or telling you about your wrongness. Sometimes to one another, about how wrong you can be, and how you got that way.

So don't be afraid of argument, discussion, debate. It will keep fresh winds blowing through your brains. It will help you see 'old' friends and family in a new way.

It will keep you lively, and alive.

Flow of Family Fun

My brother's wedding Saturday made me think of how we, as a family, handle the ebb and flow of these get-togethers. Summer means there will be a few, and maybe a few more.

I opted out of many family events because I wanted to avoid conflict with my dad, who is gone now. He and I were on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, and he was always outspoken about his beliefs. I don't think he ever meant to start any fuss and bother, he just wanted to convince everyone of how he believed.

Add to his firmness, the fact that he was deaf, and whether one agreed or disagreed, one had to shout and make prolonged eye contact to converse. I don't know how it works for others, but shouting, even over innocuous topics, ends up with me becoming angry. Shouting as a physical function, raises the blood pressure, which causes a flood of other reactions.

Anyway, because of the situation, I avoided. Didn't stop my girls from knowing their grandfather, did prevent them from seeing me act like a shrewish lunatic with him.

Now, I see my own daughter mirroring this behavior. Because of work and also because of some personal issues with family members, she has avoided the family get-togethers. No one wants to be involved in a fight, or to be the person everyone in the family fights with or becomes angry over the fighting.
Anyway, she has chosen to abstain from the possibility of conflict.

But she worries about her child not getting to know this side of her family, and the solution Tam reached was the same one I did. To allow the child to attend in the care of another family member. (In her case. me.)

Maybe it's wrong, but it seems to me the best solution. Not in every situation, not for every event, but in general it's a good thing. It acknowledges the importance of family, it keeps up traditions. even starts a new one -- tradition by proxy.

Like all families, we disagree. Sometimes we take sides against one another, and we'll talk to a third member about how stupid so-and-so is about whatever. We can be vicious or angry, or vicious and angry.
But when we get together as a group, we try to enjoy one another's company without conflict. We aren't perfect, sometimes a forbidden topic slips in and someone feels attacked.

We respect one another. We know we are available to each-and-every in at least some way. Making an effort to keep the young ones connected even when we can't teaches them, by example, that family IS important. The events that Family is Fun. No matter if it's you or they who are the stupid or wrong ones. Family IS.

As the worldly world whirls by, as weather wreaks havoc, as all our institutions are besieged, there can be no stronger message to leave our children.

Draw Deep, Reach High.

To me, there is nothing more beautiful than a tree. It doesn't matter the type, or the season, or the shade, shape or color. I love trees.
Even ugly trees have a beauty, a symmetry (or dis-symmetry) that catches the eye and takes the breath away.
Is there anything more striking to the eye than the deep luscious green of a Scotch Pine or Blue Spruce towering against the pale blue of a December sky?

Trees connect earth and sky, drawing from deep within and reaching for the unreachable. They maintain beauty and grace as they do so, even in unlikely ways from unlikely places. When bare in winter, their bare bones etch  lines on the horizon -- pen-and-ink drawings of starkness.  Fully gowned in summer greens, these bones peek through, offering glimpses of grace and strength. Spring pastels greet the return of the sun, and the colors are muted for eyes no longer accustomed to bright colors. Autumn brings a bright farewell from the deciduous, a blast of color that will fade in our memories -- nothing could really have been that brilliant, could it? -- until spring tiptoes the colors of life back into our lives.

Our trees are under attack.
Now, under Mother Nature's rules, everything is always under attack from something else. It's the way of growing stronger, living longer. What doesn't kill, makes stronger, no matter the species.

The attacks I speak of are not those of Mother Nature, although She started it. She sent an explosion, an excursion, an invasion of tree-eating bugs. We responded, trying to eradicate the bugs, not with insecticides, not with vaccines or medicines. We have responded to this threat to our trees by destroying the trees.

Can you imagine if this logic was applied to people? (It has been, in the past. Now called racism, and no one wants to admit their part in it.) Can you think of any more diseased species than Humans? Can you think of any more destructive force than Humans?  Has any species trampled more ground, destroyed more places, ruined more lives than Humans?

It may be that Mother Nature has had enough of us. She may be getting ready to destroy our habitats, to tear down our homes, to remove the blight of our being from the face of her earth.  Who can blame her?

And the trees will stand tall against the landscape. Their roots will draw deep from the Earth herself. Their arms will lift to the sky, seeking sun and light and fresh air.

 Between earth and sky, the trees will remain.

If we let them.

My Turn: Campaign 2012

At least I waited until it actually has been 2012 for a little while. Damn politicians and the media -- especially the media -- started back in August with the budget hang-up. Which, of course, was the other guy's fault. The other party's fault.

Thank goodness there's no need for a Democrat circus. That would detract sooo much from the Republican's parties. And we, the Great American Public, would have to find other things to worry about, like how to pay the doctors and where to find a job.

The Republican primaries have pretty much amused me. So far, the first one, New Hampshire, has been my favorite. Everyone was voting for Romney.

"Why?" the after-vote pollsters asked. "Is it his politics? His policies? His platform? His personality? His looks?"

"No," the Republican voters answered. "We just voted for him because we think he can beat Obama."

I'm still wondering what he's supposed to beat Obama with.