Today's the big day here in the States - Election Day. The day we get to choose our next president. I hope everyone gets out to vote. Even though the system is skewed in so many ways, it is still the best system we have at the moment, and we all should be proud that we have the freedom to make so many choices.

Since I am out of town, I already made arrangements for absentee voting.

No matter who wins, I am hoping that partisan politics can be put aside as the government in Washington gears up for the next year.

Michael Engle from Arlington Texas wrote a recent letter to the editor in The Dallas Morning News asking that whatever political party wins the highest office in the county, that we not just keep replaying the same show in Washington. He doesn't want the "We hate Romney and will not work with him" Democrat show or the "We hate Obama and we're still not going to work him him" Republican show.

Engle proposes that this show plays out:  "You know, even though you're not a member of our party, for the sake of the unwashed masses we are going to work with [whichever candidate wins] to actually help the people."

What a concept. Politicians, are you listening?

Monday Morning Musings

ACK! How could it happen. Just two days into the new year and already I have forgotten that I was going to be more organized this year. I did clear some things off my desk by adding address's to my holiday card labels. I had these envelopes for two weeks or more waiting for me to get this chore done. But did I really need to do that before taking care of any other business - like updating the blog?

First things, first, Maryann......

The editorial page of The Dallas Morning News yesterday had a few memorable quotes from 2011, and I thought a few were worth mentioning here.

"I think the people who are protesting break into two groups.... and you can tell which group is which. The people who are decent, responsible citizens pick up after themselves. The people who are just out there as activists trash the place and walk off and are proud of having trashed it." Newt Gingrich talking about the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

It's not just on Wall Street. Driving down my county road the other day, I saw three places where people obviously stopped their vehicles and dumped a pile of trash out. Did they even stop to wonder who would pick it up? They could at least have made it easier by putting it all in a bag first. Geesh!


"The next election is 14 months away and the people who sent us here... don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months."  President Obama speaking about the Jobs Bill.

That goes for every piece of pending legislation that our country needs. Stop making it about politics and power and the next election. Make it about the people. And stop going on national television to support your position and saying it is about the people unless you really mean it. As Leslie Stahl pointed out in and interview with Republican Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, 91 percent of us have no confidence in Congress and don't trust what is being said. Congress has an approval rating of only 9%. When asked about the perception people have that government is just playing games, this was Cantor's response, "Cantor: There's not.. there's no games. What we're trying to do is trying to do what's good for this country."

Right. And I'm the Queen of England. No, wait, that's Elizabeth. Sorry, Liz.

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Today is the last day of the special promotional offer from my publisher for The Wisdom of Ages, a short story collection free for Kindle.

Three stories; four  men whose lives take unexpected turns. Meet Samson who wonders what is down that country road that draws people so. Should he get in that old truck and go see? Mel and Rube have been having dinner at the Leavenworth Grill every Wednesday for years. One day the menu changes and so does life for Mel. Tom would give anything for his life to change. Can he beat back the effects of a crippling stroke by sheer force of determination? Growing old is not for the faint of heart.

Monday Morning Musings

Actually, this is Monday afternoon musings. We have been having a lot of work done on our house - a new deck and sun room - and the workers came this morning to finish it up. Just when I thought I could come back to my office to get some work done, there would be a knock at the door - another question needed an answer.

The work is all done now and the men are gone, so I thought I would get to this an hour ago, but I had to take the cats out to the new room and introduce them. Then I decided it would be a good idea to sweep out there... and....

Plus it's Cyber-Monday. While I don't participate in Black Friday sales, unless they are online, I do like to see what kind of deals can be made on Cyber-Monday. That ate up another hour, but I did get a nice chair at a good price.

Then my husband came into my office with a cat on his shoulder. Had to get this picture when the cat decided to play with the pulls on the ceiling fan. 

So here I am finally, well after noon, with only one rant to share. I read an interview with Robert Mann, author of a new book Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater and the Ad That Changed American Politics. He was asked about the ad that some people think scuttled Goldwater's run for the presidency and was the root of negative ads on TV, and he said the ad was "almost entirely about exploiting fear."

He went on to explain that the firm that developed the ad had a reputation for developing ads that were sometimes humorous and "generated emotion more than rational thinking."

While that may be a sound approach for marketing cars and computers and Cheerios, I hardly think it appropriate for marketing the next leader of the U.S. - or any other politician for that matter. I want people to use rational thinking when they consider casting a vote. Forget the spin, the good looks, the eloquent oratory, and focus on the issues and a candidate's plan to address those issues.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Since I resigned as Managing Editor for WinnsboroToday.com, I am not as connected to the news as I used to be. Part of my daily updates at the online magazine included the latest news blurbs from several sources. Now I don't check those sources daily, and I don't watch very much broadcast news, either. In some ways it's nice to be disconnected, but that also means I am not finding those absurd news bits I like to comment on every Friday.

I did hear that the Federal Government is on the verge of shutting down because the elephants and the donkeys can't agree on a budget. Apparently on the pachyderm side it is the newly elected representatives that won with Tea Party support. And here I thought they had promised to put partisan politics aside if they got into office.

I guess you can't trust an elephant.

Doing a quick Internet search for bizarre news, I came across this from  Bizarre News.org . A 13-year-old Norwegian boy avoided being attacked by wolves by playing a heavy metal song on his mobile phone. I knew there had to be one good use for heavy metal music.

I also found this on NewsBizarre.com  The new official worlds tallest man is Sultan Kosen of Turkey. Standing at a giant 8ft 1 or 2.5 meters, Sultan Kosen is the newly crowned Guinness World Records worlds tallest man. With money he can make with special appearances, he hopes to be able to buy a car. “The first thing I want is a car I can fit into,” Sultan Kosen said. “More than that, I want to get married. It’s really difficult to find a girlfriend. They are usually scared of me.”

I'm reading The General and Monaville Texas by Joe G. Bax. So far, it is a good read and last night this line had me cracking up: "It was so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on a cotton ball."

Too bad my husband was already asleep when I started laughing.

That's it for me today. Did you run across any absurd or funny news stories this week?