Election Day at Last

Thank heaven this is election day. I sincerely hope this is the end of negative political commercials for a while, but probably someone will begin campaigning for 2012 soon, attacking any and all probable opposition. I've never in my life seen so much negativity. How is the average person supposed to know what anyone really believes or wants to accomplish in office when they all spend their money and time bashing everyone else?

I hate it that we've become so hateful toward anyone who belongs to a different party. Isn't one of the best things about the U.S. the fact that we can disagree and even criticize our government without fear of punishment? Well, no more. Now we need to keep our mouths shut unless we're in the current majority.

Well, it's a beautiful day here in northeast PA. The sun is shining, it feels warm - the cold wind of yesterday is gone - and hopefully everyone is going to the polls.

I've been trying to make friends with a stray cat who had been hanging around here since sometime last summer but I'm not having much luck. It is black and white, long, and has a tail that looks like a transplant from a raccoon. I can't get close enough to tell if it's male or female even though I've been feeding it for almost six weeks now. All I've accomplished is to get it to come to the patio for its food. When I left the food near the shed, the crows ate it. I'm watching for crows who say "Meow" instead of "Caw." Those are the culprits. Meanwhile my girlfriend is warning me about fleas, and I see that big tail is getting full of burrs.

That reminds me, I saw my first pileated woodpecker the other day. As long as we've lived in the country and I had never seen one, but it was a sight to behold. Beautiful red head.

I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible which is long but engrossing so it'll be a while before I have a book review to post. Meanwhile, wish me luck with the cat. Any suggestions how to subdue a very frightened cat?

Negative Campaign Ads Drive America Totally Loony!

It's that season again when no one dares to turn on their television because they will be inundated with negative campaign ads. I simply don't understand this. The only winners are the local channels who must make tons of money from the campaign treasuries.

I'm sure we aren't the only ones who are sick of this. It must be the same in every household in America. Well, it proves one thing - politicians do not listen to us - at all!

The channel we watch for news has a "Talkback" segment where people call in or e-mail their complaints (mostly) or compliments (a few) about the channel's programming and news. All year people call in to complain about someone's haircut, or that they only air bad news, or that the morning weatherman is a complete idiot, or to congratulate one of them on the birth of a child. Now most of those calls are overrun by complaints about negative campaign ads, and quite a few of those callers have concluded that since all of the candidates are apparently crooks, they just won't vote at all. This is especially true in a county south of ours where a widespread corruption scandal involving comissioners, judges, etc. has been in the news for the past year.

So far only one candidate in northeast Pennsylvania has a positive commercial in which he thanks the people who voted for him in the primary, thanks his primary opponents for now supporting him, and saying what he would stand for if elected in November. He has only that one ad. Good for him! If only the others would follow suit rather than slinging mud.

I'm not condemning any party or any candidate here. Both parties and all candidates are equally guilty. We seem to have reverted to the supposedly "good old days" of our early history when mud slinging like this was very common. It isn't new at all, but why candidates and their staff people think this type of thing is effective is beyond my powers of understanding. I will vote because I think it's my privilege and my duty as a citizen, but I won't have that good feeling I used to have when leaving the polling place. I'll just be relieved to leave the stink behind.