VOTERS BEWARE!!! Be certain you receive and read your voters’ guide sent to you recently by the County Clerk’s Elections Depart- ment. You will be appalled and amazed by the contents. Do not wait until you give it a quick glance just before going to the polling place, or just quickly mark it before dropping it off for the mail-ln. It’s a doozie!!
This old moderate has real concerns about the several languages in the ballot. People talk about being discouraged about voting, “my vote doesn’t really count”; “too far to the polling place”; “have to vote by mail”, and other lame excuses to avoid being a good citizen who really cares about his/her nation. Is one of the excuses just plain laziness, or “I just don’t believe my vote counts with all the crooked politicians doing their thing.”?
If, dear readers, you fall into one of the above groups who don’t vote, I hope you can avoid going down with the ship of state when it sinks due to a lack of participation by Mr/Ms USA Citizen who were too busy, lacked interest, could not decide on a candidate or issue, or just plain forgot it was November 6th, 2018, ELECTION DAY!!!
Please, help keep our wonderful nation viable and getting better!!
Meanwhile, the election mailings from candidates and their committees are piling up in our patio room. If all the promises on the mailings made by all the candidates for the many offices came to pass, we would live in a utopia…..(or state of shock!) but over our heads in debt, much higher than we are already. Thus, the challenges are for the voters as we try to sort out who best would be able to lead us, or which bond issues will solve our problems, or do we need to change daylight saving time. Guess it would be wise to take a headache remedy and dig in.
OH, YES! Postage for mail-in ballots is 92 cents. Or, they can be dropped off at a number of places listed in the voters’ guide which was sent to each registered voters’ residence. The county anticipates it will be on the hook for about $150,000 to the Post Office for ballots sent in without postage. How’s your conscience???
MEANWHILE, one of ‘The Donald’s’ most sleazy appointed henchmen, Stephen Miller, the creep who has provided the Oval Office with advice on the issues with the Mexican border and how to deal with the immigrants, has come forth with a newer plan on how to separate parents and children, some forever. How sleazy and creepy can one get?? However, remember, this young man is a White House advisor and just one of the ‘wonderful’ people advising the White House Occupant who have bailed out; been kicked out, plead guilty, on trial, in custody, and still spending hours and hours with the Mueller group.
Man, can Mr. Terrific Billionaire pick his closest friends/advisors!?!?
Interesting sidelight to Stephen Miller. An elementary grade teacher, during an interview regarding the sleaze person, mentioned that he ‘ate paste in her classroom’. When the story appeared in print somewhere, the teacher was suspended by her principal. At least she was not incarcerated for such a gross disclosure! (Columnist’s comment: Name one kid who never ‘sampled’ the white paste in the classroom.) Right!!
IF IT IS appropriate, Dear God, may we ask for your forgiveness for the transgressions of our one-of-a kind nation and guide us back to where we were as a leader of nations looked up to not too long ago?? (It may be too much to ask?) Perhaps the November 6th election will do some of the ‘heavy lifting’ for you. We, who cannot tolerate the current tyrant in the White House, certainly are hoping for a ‘sign’ of hope. His supporters certainly have their hopes as well. That’s what makes this a great nation. We all have our ‘say’ on what we want our nation to be.
HOW PROUD can supporters of a president be, who, during another rally in one of the places which seem to go ga-ga over his antics and obvious lies, congratulate a candidate who body-slammed a member of the media because he asked a question the candidate, up in Montana, one of the wild west states, objected to? And the Oval Office Guy’s adoring crowd cheered as he provided a mock example of a body slam. Disgusting, yes, but worse is the fact that the whole world is watching and wondering, “what the hell is going on in the United States”? Anyone have an answer?
IT APPEARS that the vicious vitriol spewed out at rallies across the nation by the Oval Office Guy is causing some serious and scary situations. Take the latest: pipe bombs sent to Clintons, Obamas, Biden, Holder and CNN. Suppose the continued bombastic language he uses to pump up his rabid crowds has anything to do with such terrorist acts?
BY THE WAY, who is paying for all the trips in Air Force One for the GOP fund-raising marathon? There was a time when it was made known that the national political party’s organization picked up the tab. Is that still the case? And, how much for a roundtrip ticket to a Trump resort for the weekend? Do family members get a good rate?
WARRIORS BASKETBALL for 2018-19 is underway. And, guess what? In an almost magical beginning to the season, the first basket of the new season was a three-pointer by guess who…Stephen Curry?!! Second basket of the new season was for two points by Kevin Durant. New season, great game, great score. More to come as the team begins preparations for its big move to the new arena in SF.
WHILE WE ARE TALKING sports, let’s talk a bit about Raiders and 49ers. We hear too much about coaches calling bad plays in crucial moments; “we are building for the future”; a lot of injuries (true!), etc. Let us hope that our local favorites can do much better the rest of the season. For what a ticket costs to attend an NFL game, fans will be chomping at the bit for better outcomes. A game ticket, parking fee, way over-priced hot dogs and beer, and maybe a baby sitter, there are a lot of faithful supporters who must bust budgets trying to enjoy a football game; but winning has to be part of the experience.
Many years ago, at Candlestick, we used our daughter Cindy’s season ticket for a Raider/49er game. We had two seats (good seats) in the end zone area. When we arrived, one of the seats did not have a seat in it. A call to the usher brought a so-called maintenance person to the scene. He advised that he could not fix the seat at the time, but suggested we go to ‘the office’ which was at the far end of the stadium. We opted to remain where we were and use seats of fans who did not show up. The result? Jeanne volunteered to be the seat-hopper. She did many moves as fans showed up to claim their seats. At the end of the game, a great couple next to our assigned seats, both covered with 49er ‘stuff’ on their caps and jackets, commented to me that, “Your wife has made more moves and yardage than the 49ers”.
Irony, however, was that the only touchdown play in our end zone was missed because stadium security personnel were dealing with a drunk down in front of us who was being obnoxious. Thus, being so-called fair-weather fans, we have never been to an NFL game since that day. We provide all our support and cheering from the comfort of our recliners in our patio room, rain or shine, with ‘inexpensive’ drinks, snacks and lunch. Parking is free! Go ‘Niners and Raiders…..from a comfortable distance.
HOPE everyone is looking favorably at Measure X on the ballot. Will help with many issues in Martinez.
CHEERS for the citizens who send in letters to the editor expressing their thoughts, concerns and ideas. Our editor has provided interview opportunities to candidates to express their ideas and plans. However, all our community members have the opportunity to send letters. Hope the letters will come in. Time is running out as November 6 gets closer.