Friday's Odds and Ends

Today on Friday's Odds and Ends we start with a quote from President Obama, "This administration has no interest in leaking classified information."

But does that mean that they didn't?

This comment was in response to allegations that the White House disclosed sensitive information to mold Obama's image as tough on terror.

Memo to Obama: Stop letting advisers "mold" you into anything. We the people sure would like a president, or any government servant, to be real, not some statue that only becomes what someone else thinks he or she should be.

In a recent economic speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Mitt Romney promised that the Keystone Pipeline would be approved on day one of his administration. "It will be built if I have to do it myself."

David Daniel, an East Texas resident who started STOP Tarsands Oil  and has been fighting to stop the Keystone Pipeline from coming through his property and destroying his natural springs and much of his timber, had this response. "I found that quite interesting from a man who probably has never lifted anything heavier than a silver spoon."

Daniel was also a bit surprised that this has become such a hot political issue, and he wishes folks would spend less time and effort blasting the other party and work together to find an alternative to fossil fuels. "The Republican's try to get mileage from supporting the pipeline because of lobbyists wno support them and the oil industry. And the Democrats are appealing to all the environmentalists who are concerned for the future of our planet. Once the election is over, will any of the politicians care?"

Ruptured pipe in the pipeline in Michigan. It dumped toxins into the Kalamazoo River.

That's an interesting question. Candidates rally around issues to garner votes, but what happens to those issues after the elections?

While our democracy works so well on so many levels, it is stuck in a political quagmire. We desperately need to have political reform: Do away with lobbyists and the two-party system.

To end on a lighter note. I can really relate to a recent Garfield cartoon. Jon is out mowing the lawn and when he finishes he smiles and says, "Finally."

In the next panel, there is a large BOOM, and the clouds open up to dump rain on him and the newly mowed grass. Then the sun comes out and there is a loud SPOING.

The next panel has Jon peeking out of grass that has grown to his nose. "That's not fair," he says.

Garfield says, "Suck it up mow boy."

Friday's Odds and Ends

Good morning East Texas. On tap today is a warm spring day. Some clouds and lots of humidity, with a chance of rain. So if you've planted your garden, everything should get a good drink today.

In national news we have Mitt Romney still trying to get out from under the negative impact of having his dog ride on the roof of his car back in 1983.  A story about the incident was first reported in 1997 in the Boston Globe and was brought to light again yesterday. Brent Budowski wrote an article for The Hill poking fun at Romney for wanting to build an elevator in his mansion "so his various cars can ride painlessly to his penthouse, or whatever one calls it, and the Romneys can painlessly enter the car without the burden of walking down the stairs."

Yes, folks, that's right. You read it here second.

In fairness to Romney, he is not the only wealthy man who squanders money on extreme luxuries, but does that make it the smart or wise thing to do? You can have a lot of money and live very comfortably without creating an image of lavish overkill. Think of Warren Buffett. I still remember seeing him sitting in the general admission seats at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska watching the Omaha Royals play ball. Other than the fact that he drove there in a nicer car than my husband and I did, there was little to distinguish us from each other. And he didn't need an elevator to take his car anywhere. He parked it in a nice garage at his nice house in the city.

On the subject of great wealth, the Mega Millions  lottery has the biggest jackpot ever and it could be won tonight by some lucky person.  It currently stands at $540 million and could go higher throughout the day. What are the odds of winning? About one in 175 million. Despite those odds, I'll plunk down a dollar today. I don't do that very often at all, but, hey, if you don't play the odds are even greater that you won't win.

What about you? Do you ever take a chance on the lottery? What would you do with the money?

Friday's Odds and Ends

So Santorum won three states this past week and now his campaign has new life. Does that mean that Mitt and Newt will stop throwing barbs at each other and throw some at Santorum? Oh, wait, they already did. Shortly after Santorum's three-state win, Mitt said "Republicans spent too much money, borrowed too much money, earmarked too much, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have to be held accountable."

 A $26 billion mortgage settlement agreement was announced on Thursday that would bring relief to millions of homeowners who are struggling to hang on to homes that have lost value. Homes that are no longer valued at the mortgage price are termed "underwater".  According to mortgage bankers there are an estimated 11 million underwater homeowners and nearly 3.5 million homeowners who are either 90 days or more late in making payments or are in foreclosure. As a result of the settlement, up to 1 million homeowners could see their principle reduced, while another 750,000 could refinance.

It's about time the focus of recovery was on the homeowners and not the financial institutions. What do you think? Was this a good move?

Taking a different approach, banks in  New York are paying some struggling homeowners as much as $35,000 to sell their homes before they end up in foreclosure. The deals are aimed at giving and incentive to homeowners who owe more on their home than it is worth and who are seriously delinquent on their payments to sell their homes in a short sale. Full story HERE 

I'm not sure I like this one, but maybe I would think differently if I was facing foreclosure. Opinions can change drastically when one is in the midst of financial difficulties.

Cars of the future are going to be considerably different. Several automakers are moving toward small, shared electric cars that will radically change the way people drive in big cities. Full story HERE

The idea of sharing a car with a neighbor has some appeal if one is in the city with the neighbor right next door. But out here in the country, we have to drive to our neighbor's house. That would seriously impact our ability to share a car, unless we all saddled up our horses.

For those who like short stories, my publisher is offering my collection,  The Wisdom of Ages,  for free today. It is only the e-book version that is free today, but it is also available in paper for those who prefer that.  http://tiny.cc/qmigv

Friday's Odds and Ends

Tonight we open The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts. I directed the show, with the help of my assistant, Cindy Sanders, and a host of other Theatre Moms who shared their kids with us, as well as helped with costumes, props, etc. What a joy it has been to "play" with these kids for six weeks. This is a fun show and the community is all abuzz about it.

Now on to the news.

Much has been said about Emma Sullivan, the student in Kansas whose Tweet about Governor Sam Brownback went from obscurity to national news after an aide in Brownback's office saw the Tweet and contacted the youth organization that arranged the school trip to meet the governor to report it. That organization contacted Emma's principal, who told her she had to apologize for the Tweet, which read "Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot."

Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald columnist, defended Sullivan's refusal to apologize, saying that she had the right to Tweet that, even though it was rude.

That is true. The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, but I don't think that right should excuse the crude and sometimes vile things that are written just because we can. Emma's mother defended her daughter saying, "I raised my kids to be independent, to be strong, to be free thinkers. If she wants to Tweet her opinions about Gov. Brownback, I say for her to go for it, and I stand totally behind her."

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus suggests that Mrs. Sullivan also teach her daughter about civil discourse and what is considered crass language. The fact that this is the way kids communicate with each other does not make it acceptable. Marcus wrote, "If you were my daughter you'd be writing that letter apologizing to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownbeck for the smart-alecky, potty-mouthed Tweet you wrote...."

Marcus does uphold Sullivan's right to free speech, she just wishes that parents would teach their children how to express their views without resorting to trash talk.

What do you think?

Mitt Romney is being maligned in political ads for flip-flopping on issues, primarily abortion. He went from Pro-Choice to Pro-Life and some see that as a weakness. Kathleen Parker points out in a recent column that Romney's switch was not a flip-flop, but a well-thought out decision based on research and information he learned from William Hurlbut, a physician and professor of biomedical ethics at Stanford University Medical School.

Parker suggest that ideology often changes as we mature and perhaps Romney's changes were not just done out of political expediency, but rather a new maturity.

I am not necessarily a Romney fan, nor am I endorsing him for the Republican candidacy, but I do think the ad is misleading and we need to be aware of the reality as we consider who to vote for.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Heaven help us, we have twelve more months of campaigning that brings out such wonderful points for voters to consider such as this from the recent GOP debate:

Rick Santorum: Mitt, you're a lying hypocrite and I'm the only one here who cars about family.

Herman Cain: Nine apples, nine oranges, nine lives, whatever.

Mitt Romney: Shut up. I won already.

Rick Perry: I hate your guts, Mr. Vitalis, and I'm gonna take you down.

Newt Gingrich: Yadda-yadda-yadda. You're all stupid.

Michelle Bachman: I will hunt Mexicans with predator drones and Barack Obama's cake is cooked.

Before people start objecting because I took these out of context, of course, you are right. It's not fair to just pull out the gaffes. Every great once in a while the candidates did say something related to an actual issue facing our country, but the fact that these candidates would reduce so much of the debate to snark should make us pause.

Why do we have to be so stridently divided?

And would somebody remind the candidates what the definition of "debate" is.

And would one candidate actually give a direct answer to a question instead of a sound-bite.

Texas Ranger's fans, don't beat up on Nelson Cruz for the mistake he made in not playing deep enough to catch that ball in the bottom of the 11th inning. I'm sure he has plenty of self-inflicted lashes, and he needs to know the team and the fans are okay with him. It was a mistake, let's get over it and go into game seven with a positive attitude.

After being missing for three months a little Jack Russell Terrier was reunited Thursday with owner Jim Arrighi in Erin, TN. The dog had disappeared from the owners yard and was found 500 miles north in a suburb of Detroit. A homeowner in Rochester Hills, about 20 miles north of Detroit, saw Petey last week in his backyard and took him to a Humane Society animal care center. Arrighi was identified as the owner when the dog was scanned for an implanted microchip. Story and photo HERE