I sure do. Especially when I'm driving.
Maybe I talk to Mercy, but that's about the same thing as talking to myself. All she hears is, "blah blah blah blah blah blah pretty girl blah blah blah blah blah blah Mercy blah blah blah blah blah go for a walk? blah blah blah blah..." Amen.
NPR/public radio is my station of choice while in transit, and to say the least politics are front and center for discussion fodder as we fast approach a truly historic election.
Maybe it's because this month has been a go-go-go month for me...maybe because I recently navigated the masses at WalMart...maybe it was because I've just hit certain points where my brain slams on the brakes from overload. With that information in mind, I'm driving and listening to Neal Conan's "Talk of the Nation", and he's reading emails and taking phone calls for his interviewees to answer. Not only was I talking to myself, I was talking to the radio...
You've been in this situation before. Maybe differing circumstances, but the idea is still there. Someone makes a statement, and then the person giving the answer tries to be polite and politically correct...when, in fact, the best answer (the one we'd all love to hear) is to immediately say, "That's the most idiotic thing I've heard in a long time. How stupid."
Tuesday's program was about people who were not going to vote in this election, people who could but were choosing not to exercise their precious right to do so. Most that I heard were abstaining because they don't like either candidate...
--------------------------------------
"ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION" is the inability to become aroused over andy of the choices for President put forth by either party in the 2008 election year."
------------------------------------
It just so happened the cartoon above came in a forwarded email as I was starting to write this post yesterday, literally...ye ol' perfect timing. Listening to the program, I was truly amazed at some of the reasons people were giving for not voting...
I can understand someone having moved; they can't vote in their former state and they're too new of a resident to vote in their new home state...I would like to think we could standardize state rules, but that seems to be a pipe dream...
Then there is the 'convenience' of early voting. For many places (according to people I've heard), if you wrote a list of 100 adjectives to describe their early voting experience, you won't find 'convenience' on the list. I have no doubt it's working in some areas, but I've tried it and the lines/wait are prohibitive. If they opened early voting truly early, like 6am, I'd give it another try; alas, the hours are 11a to 7p, and by 11a I'm deep into my daily 'stuff' and by 7p I'm ready for bed, literally. On Conan's program were stories of multi-hour waits only to have to give up for other appointments, going through this multiple days as they won't be here to vote November 2...
But the ones that got my goat, that led to many of my rants at the radio itself, were the ones like these:
"I don't like McPain's voting record, but I just can't in all good conscience vote for someone named Obama..."
"I'm a christian and I feel something fundamentally wrong with voting for a Muslim..."
"I don't like either one so I'm not voting. Any other candidates don't stand a chance, so I'm not voting for anyone..."
Sadly, the list could go on. It's just that after hearing some of the listener's comments, what scared me most wasn't that they could think, believe, and say such things, but that there's a good chance they've had kids...
NOTE TO ALL Y'ALL: Elections go far, far beyond just the Presdiency....MANY local issues and positions that need leadership are at stake. Just like our government's response to the financial meltdown, a "do-nothing" approach is irresponsible and not a conscionable option in this a monumental election year.
Maybe I talk to Mercy, but that's about the same thing as talking to myself. All she hears is, "blah blah blah blah blah blah pretty girl blah blah blah blah blah blah Mercy blah blah blah blah blah go for a walk? blah blah blah blah..." Amen.
NPR/public radio is my station of choice while in transit, and to say the least politics are front and center for discussion fodder as we fast approach a truly historic election.
Maybe it's because this month has been a go-go-go month for me...maybe because I recently navigated the masses at WalMart...maybe it was because I've just hit certain points where my brain slams on the brakes from overload. With that information in mind, I'm driving and listening to Neal Conan's "Talk of the Nation", and he's reading emails and taking phone calls for his interviewees to answer. Not only was I talking to myself, I was talking to the radio...
You've been in this situation before. Maybe differing circumstances, but the idea is still there. Someone makes a statement, and then the person giving the answer tries to be polite and politically correct...when, in fact, the best answer (the one we'd all love to hear) is to immediately say, "That's the most idiotic thing I've heard in a long time. How stupid."
Tuesday's program was about people who were not going to vote in this election, people who could but were choosing not to exercise their precious right to do so. Most that I heard were abstaining because they don't like either candidate...
--------------------------------------
"ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION" is the inability to become aroused over andy of the choices for President put forth by either party in the 2008 election year."------------------------------------
It just so happened the cartoon above came in a forwarded email as I was starting to write this post yesterday, literally...ye ol' perfect timing. Listening to the program, I was truly amazed at some of the reasons people were giving for not voting...
I can understand someone having moved; they can't vote in their former state and they're too new of a resident to vote in their new home state...I would like to think we could standardize state rules, but that seems to be a pipe dream...
Then there is the 'convenience' of early voting. For many places (according to people I've heard), if you wrote a list of 100 adjectives to describe their early voting experience, you won't find 'convenience' on the list. I have no doubt it's working in some areas, but I've tried it and the lines/wait are prohibitive. If they opened early voting truly early, like 6am, I'd give it another try; alas, the hours are 11a to 7p, and by 11a I'm deep into my daily 'stuff' and by 7p I'm ready for bed, literally. On Conan's program were stories of multi-hour waits only to have to give up for other appointments, going through this multiple days as they won't be here to vote November 2...
But the ones that got my goat, that led to many of my rants at the radio itself, were the ones like these:
"I don't like McPain's voting record, but I just can't in all good conscience vote for someone named Obama..."
"I'm a christian and I feel something fundamentally wrong with voting for a Muslim..."
"I don't like either one so I'm not voting. Any other candidates don't stand a chance, so I'm not voting for anyone..."
Sadly, the list could go on. It's just that after hearing some of the listener's comments, what scared me most wasn't that they could think, believe, and say such things, but that there's a good chance they've had kids...
NOTE TO ALL Y'ALL: Elections go far, far beyond just the Presdiency....MANY local issues and positions that need leadership are at stake. Just like our government's response to the financial meltdown, a "do-nothing" approach is irresponsible and not a conscionable option in this a monumental election year.
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