"__MN"

I have to give my dear sister credit for this post. I so desperately wanted a topic other than politics and she handed this one to me on a silver platter.

I received a phone call around 3:00 pm this afternoon. Obviously, it was the above mentioned sister. She started to relay a story to me and asked if I remembered the coloring/activity pad belonging to my niece that has the lion on the cover. Off-handedly, I replied that I may not have seen it. "I think you have," she said.

"Oh, that's right," I corrected myself, "she had it at that '50s style restaurant we went to." It has been several months and it slipped my mind.

"We just pulled it out of the cabinet," she said, "and were going through it."

My niece, well on her way to six years old, has been putting sounds together and is in the beginning stages of reading. There was a page, my sister pointed out, that had the alphabet written out with letters missing at certain intervals. The reader was to fill these letters in.

Apparently, there were two spaces left out right before the letters M and N.




Now, let's be honest. What would you have written in the spaces?

It took me a second to realize what she was getting at, and to realize what Uncle Elgarf had, in fact, written. I had no stop-watch at the time, but am willing to bet that it was a good 60 seconds worth of gut wrenching laughter.

"Mommy," my niece said, "I think that spells something." Apparently my sister turned the page or jumped to the next set of letters to avoid a controversy. It took her some time to figure out who, in fact, filled in the missing letters. She was pretty sure it was not herself, knew it was not her husband, didn't think it was Grandma A or Grandma B. Then she came to me. Who else could it have been?

That's why I was laughing so hard.

Who would have thought?

I wrote a message in the activity book of a non-reader.

Less than a year later it could have been read.

I guess Uncle Elgarf will have to be more careful in the future.

National Obama Radio

Hillary won West Virginia in a landslide. That doesn't matter. Those people are nothing but ignorant racists, at least that was the impression I got from NPR and Ed Schultz. Now I can accept that, but what does it say about those proud, hard-working, open-minded people from South Carolina? That must make them ignorant... No, I shudder to think.

When I got home from work today there was an envelope from my local NPR station in the mail box. I was first turned on to NPR by a Jewish, lesbian professor I worked with in the mid-90s. So, if you think I am narrow-minded, I would love to prove you wrong. Anyway, this envelope was asking me for a pledge during the Spring Fundraiser. Now, normally I would just throw the thing away and pledge in my own sweet time. This time, however, I decided to act. I called the station.

"W---," came the voice on the other end. I told the female that I was calling about the fundraising envelope I received in the mail. I have been a loyal listener for 10 years but WOULD NOT be making a contribution in 2008. I was disappointed in how NPR had crowned Obama king without due process. She asked if I would like to comment to the station. I thought she wanted me to come in. No, she said, I can transfer you. "Yes, please do," was my reply.

"W---," said a second voice, "can I take your donation?"

Well, no.

I said the same thing I said to the first person. She said, "I'm just a volunteer so..."

"Pass it on," I said.

-Post Script- A wonderful suggestion was made to me since this happened. The money that I am not sending to the Obama campaign (care of NPR) would make an excellent campaign contribution to Senator McCain.

Mickey Kantor

Have you seen this? There is a big stink about a You Tube video which shows James Carville, George Stephanopolous, and the aforementioned Mr. Kantor on the camaign trail in 1992 with then Governor Clinton. They are reviewing polls for the state of Indiana and Kantor may or may not have said that the state was nothing but "shit." He then goes on to say something that is in dispute. Did he really say this, "How would you like to be a worthless white nigger?" ? Some say yes. Others say the video was doctored. I guess my question is this: How many hours did it take you people to scour through 16 plus years of audio/ video footage to find something nowhere near as damning as the Jeremiah Wright clips, and, was it really worth it? What has been proven? A white man said something he should not have said behind the scenes on a campaign. Was he proclaiming hatred to hundreds of people in his congregation? No, clearly not. So, the Clintons are in association with someone who may or may not be a racist but certainly has said some offensive things.

What does this change?

Senator Obama only "earned" that title when the Republican Senator Ryan resigned his post after a scandal involving himself, his wife, and others in acts of consentual adult activities. I have no comment on that. The guy resigned. Anyway, how did "Senator" Obama keep his seat? By running unopposed for re-election. Well, not really unopposed but against Alan Keyes. Do you remember this clown? He is the Ultra-Conservative African-American political commentator. He has not held office, although he has tried. Cast your mind back to 1996. President Clinton was running for re-election. As the Republicans began to whittle away their field of candidates they, of course, held a number of debates. Unfortunately, not all of these debates were equal opportunity events. Mr. Keyes was not permitted to debate with the other candidates. I can't recall for certain if he was driven around in circles or if he couldn't pass security at the event, but he DID NOT debate.

Now, I will not cast aspersions on Alan Keyes. I will, however, point out the facts. This was done by the party. The same party that wanted a black candidate to take race off the table when Senator Obama ran to retain his seat.

Say what you will about his speeches. Say what you will about Hillary spending the last 20 years fighting with Republicans. Say what you will about "HOPE" and "CHANGE" and all the naive voters who never gave a damn about politics until their favorite book-club leader told them who to vote for. I understand that the Clintons are no good, shady, cut-throat, evil, greedy, bastards. Rush Limbaugh has made that point clear for the past 16 years and in better ways than any of you charlatan, so-called "democrats" are doing these days out of one side of your Dick Cheney mouth while calling for reconciliation of the party out of the other side. Reconciliation on your terms, behind Senator Obama is what you mean.

Hillary Clinton and John McCain have a record of service to the nation, whether you like it or not. They do.

I, for one, feel that Obama's record is rather thin. I don't give a damn what Kantor may or may not have said. Obama began to believe the press ages ago and feels he is untouchable. He is NOT the Stones, nor Zeppelin, nor Floyd. He is a Chicago politician who was given a great opportunity by a terrible loser at the 2004 Democratic convention (see the post "John Kerry will burn in hell"). Since then he has been at the right place at the right time.

I am tired of everyone giving this guy a free pass. Let him earn something for a "CHANGE"!