It was an honor.
Some friends and I held flags at a funeral for a man lost in Vietnam. His plane went down in enemy territory in 1967; his remains were just recently identified, and he’s now buried in Le Mars. (You can read an article about it HERE.) It was a cold morning, but no one complained…
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Calendars for Charity
A buddy of mine had a photo selected to be in a calendar. The profits (about $5) from each calendar sale go to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Feel free to click on the link below and check ’em out…
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Governor Bill Richardson
I had the opportunity to see Governor Bill Richardson speak today. I was suitably impressed… I’m horribly rushed for time, so I can’t give a full rundown of the governor’s visit at the moment (I will later, I promise), but here are a few things that stuck out to me:
Education — Governor Richardson had concrete ideas on how to improve education, not the least of which was increasing teachers’ salary as he did in New Mexico. $40,000 a year was the number he mentioned as a starting wage. He talked about national standards vs. “No Child Left Behind.” The cost of higher education was discussed as well.
Jobs — Again, there were some very concrete and viable ideas on how to spur the economy.
Veterans’ Rights — This one really stuck out. The Governor spoke of instituting a “Hero’s Card,” a card issued to each veteran that would allow the vet to get medical care at any hospital or clinic instead of having to travel to a VA hospital. (I looked at Richardson’s web site a few days ago. He has a LOT of good ideas and plans regarding veterans’ rights — soldiers are exempt from income tax the first year after their service to ease transformation into civilian society, veterans receive a 5% break on income tax for life, etc.)
I’ll write more on this later. In the meantime, here are some photos…
What have we been doing?
Lots… Dagmar had a birthday, our niece had a birthday, the Independent Riders for Children and Charities gave toys to the local Head Start, and our friend got a new T-shirt.
And the winner is…
Not that this is a rural area or anything, but I just ran across this in one of the local papers:
On Tuesday, a total of 26 people voted in the special election. [Candidate A] received 12 votes to [Candidate B]’s 11 votes.
According to [County Official], there was one write-in vote along with the two provisional ballots.
“The official final results will not be known,” she says, “until the provisional ballots are reviewed.”
The ballots will be reviewed at 1 p.m., Thursday, in the County Auditor’s Office.
That there were only 26 people who voted in this special election is a fact that doesn’t surprise me as this story comes from a very small town (population 102). What I find interesting, and honorable, is that they take the election seriously enough to take the two provisional ballots in to the Auditor’s Office, fifteen miles away, to open them during a special ceremony days later, whereupon the two ballots will be duly counted. This makes me proud of America and democracy. It would have been very easy for the election officials to say, “Ah, the hell with it, Earl, just open the damned envelope and let’s go have a beer.” But they’re following proper procedure, and that makes me happy.
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Correction
In my last post I mentioned that Senator Pete Domenici quit his post in mid-term. That was incorrect — he has a pretty nasty disease, but is finishing his term nonetheless. Either my source was wrong, or (more likely) I read the facts incorrectly or misunderstood the statement I read. That makes the sentence I wrote based on that information suspect, so I am removing that particular statement. Apologies to Senator Domenici!
In any case, I still think it’s wrong of Senator Trent Lott to resign his seat in the Senate in the first year of a six-year-term for financial reasons, causing his state the expense of holding another election to replace him. It may turn out that he has other reasons for quitting, but at the moment he’s offered no explanation.
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The Price of Fickleness
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how much it costs to hold a statewide election? What does it cost to get the ballots printed, how many man-hours are spent? What does each election cost the taxpayers?
I’m asking this simply because I’ve seen a dramatic increase in elected officials leave office lately in the middle of their terms, Republican Trent Lott being the latest.
Since 1940 there have been 35 senators who have quit in the middle of their term, but only two quit for reasons other than seeking another office, a judicial or diplomatic appointment, ill health, scandal or joining the military. One of those two took a position as a university president, and the other quit to take the job as Baseball Commissioner (he was quite blunt, too — stating that he made $10,000 a year as Senator, but he could make $50,000 a year as baseball commissioner). But this is changing. Senators (as well as Representatives) seem to be quitting in droves these days.
Senator Lott is in his first year of a six-year term. He was just elected last year, and now he wants to quit. Why? Well, he can make millions and millions of dollars working for a friend of his who just started a lobbying company in Washington, D.C.
This is fine ‘n dandy. I have no problems with people leaving a job they don’t like. But with elected officials it is rather different… We elect our officials, putting them under social contract to fulfill their obligations for a set period of time. If they leave before that time is up, the taxpayer has to shell out more moolah to hold another election… It’s not like we can just put an ad in the paper and hire the first qualified candidate to walk in the door.
It costs money. The only numbers I could find in my extensive three-minute Google search were of a couple Florida counties that had to pay $200,000 each to elect someone to replace Republican Representative Bob Allen. That’s nearly half a million dollars spent in just two counties…
Talk about cut and run tactics.
Think we should make a law that if a Senator or Representative leaves before his term is up to enter the private sector they should have to pay for the resultant election?
Climate Change? Real? Doesn’t Matter
Hey, watch this video…
My Vunderful Vife
Not only did she refrain from kneeing me in the groinal crotchy region for posting the funny picture of her a few days ago, but she laughed at it… I am therefore unscathed from the incident. No bruising at all!
Kudos!
Democrat Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania has introduced a bill guaranteeing soldiers get their full enlistment bonuses even if the soldier is injured while on duty. A person might ask why such legislation might be necessary… Turns out the Pentagon is demanding that 23-year-old Jordan Fox, who was blinded in his right eye and has back injuries from being hit with a roadside bomb in Iraq pay back part of his $10,000 enlistment bonus because he can’t finish his term of enlistment. Normally I’m a big proponent of fulfilling one’s obligation (as mentioned above in my rant about Republican Trent Lott quitting his job in mid-term), but it seems to me that getting hit by a bomb is a fairly good reason why one can’t. Give the injured soldier his money back. Kudos to those standing up for Mr. Fox.
Bill Richardson, Democratic presidential candidate, has been working with the Korean government to bring back the remains of U.S. soldiers lost in the Korean conflict. An Iowa soldier is being returned shortly. This has to mean a lot for the family of the missing soldier… I’m really pretty impressed by Governor Richardson. Of all the presidential candidates on the market today, he’s the one that really seems to be the most level-headed.
Teeny Tiny Little Bubbles
I’ve been enjoying the occasional Black and Blue (a combination of Guinness and Blue Moon) lately. I’ve always found Guinness to be a little bitter, and Blue Moon Belgian Ale to be a little too sweet, so when I discovered that you can put the two of them together I had to try it.
Deliciousness… Oh, the beer gods do smile!
This happy happenstance has led me to re-evaluate Guinness as it occurs solo. Somehow I’d never noticed that when I would order Guinness they invariably brought me a can of Guinness Extra Stout, and I invariably thought it was terrible, nasty, bitter beer and I’d hate it, but when I’d order a Black and Blue, they’d use Guinness Draught, and I liked it. For some reason it never occurred to me to simply order a Guinness Draught by itself instead of a bitter nasty Guinness Stout.
Turns out Guinness Draught is pretty good stuff!
The most fun part of drinking a glass of Guinness is watching the bubbles. Never seen anything like it. You can see what I’m talking about at www.guinness.com if you want. It’s as much fun to watch as it is to drink!
See! I told you she’s beautiful!
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Yes…
Yes, Honey, it’s your birthday today. Sorry.
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Crises of Voluminous Magnitude
“Do you vant me to help you pack?” asked my beloved Austrian wife, Dagmar. “I can help you pack.”
Eyes glued to the game, I thumbed the “mute” button on the remote. “What?” I replied. “Pack? Where am I going?” I truly hoped that if I was going somewhere, it would be somewhere that would let me sit on the couch in my jammies and watch the game.
“You’re goink to leave, I can tell,” she said, her voice quivering just a bit. “I vill help you pack. You’ll need to take extra tummy pills…”
I looked up at her. “I don’t have to go anywhere,” I said. I looked at her, standing there in her little gray nightshirt, the one with the kitty-cats on it. Her eyes were tearing up. “Why do you think I’m going somewhere?”
“Because I’m old!” she wailed. “You’re going to leave me because I’m old!” She turned and ran into the bedroom. The cat, Fruitloop, who had been, until just a few seconds ago, happily napping on the couch right next to the happily napping me, looked up at me with a “wow, dude” look on his face.
“Hey, fuzzy little buddy, what’s the date today?” I asked, scratching him on the head. He didn’t answer. I looked around, wondering if we had a calendar. Yep, right there on the wall by the door. Ahhhh… I see.
Dagmar’s birthday is this Thursday. Ahhhh…
I hoisted my carcass to an upright position and staggered to the bedroom. I tapped on the door. “Honey? You okay in there?” I opened the door. All I could see was a Dagmar-sized bump under the blankets. “Are you okay, Snookums?”
“You’re going to leave me und find a younger vife,” she sniffled. “I’m going to be OLD!” I sat on the bed and politely waited for her to continue. She did. “Everyting’s moving south. I’m getting saggy. I’m old.”
I reassured my beloved bride best I could that aging is a natural process and of course I’m not going to move away and find another wife. We talked for a while about how we’re both more comfortable with ourselves than we were when we were young, and how it’s nice to be taken seriously. There’s a calmness that comes with age that’s reassuring and comfortable. She eventually sat up and quit sniffling. “You’re right,” she said. “There’s a certain grace and power in aging. Ve should embrace it rather than fight it.” She perked up, crisis over. Everything’s back to normal again. “Can you get me a glass of vater?” she asked.
I got up and made my way to the kitchen to get her water. I paused in the bathroom to wash my hands because I’d only washed them 240 times that day and needed to get to 300 by supper time (hey, we all have our demons). As I wiped my hands off on the towel, I met my reflection in the mirror. We stared at each other for a moment, he and I. You know, I’m getting awfully gray in the beard. And those laugh lines are starting to sag a bit. Mister Reflection didn’t look nearly as vibrant as I remembered. Is that a hair growing out of my ear? What the…? Mister Reflection there sorta looks kinda pudgy around the edges. This is Not Good.
You know, my birthday’s coming up pretty quickly, too. I made a strangled little meeping noise.
“Vhat?” hollered Dagmar from the other room. “Vhat did you say?”
Still staring my reflection down, I hollered, “I said, ‘Do you want me to help you pack?'”
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