111 Days To Go

A heat wave. A stalled economy.  A drought. A deadlocked congress.  This is like something of an an ancient mariner's epic.  There was a lot of political jazz to listen to during the Republican primary. It was fun.  Now we're just waiting for something,  anything,  to happen before November.  I know a way to spice it all up!  Tell you at the end of this post. The next pseudo- event I guess is Romney picking a VP.  But the short list isn't really very interesting.  What if Romney picked Chris Christie?  I know, I know, Christie wouldn't do it.  I'm saying what if.  It would then be a great ticket.  All you would have to do then is switch the candidates position so that Christie would be the nominee and Romney the VP.  Then of course Christie would want to pick his own VP and it sure as hell wouldn't be Romney.  Then  Romney would be off the table and Obama would be defeated.  In a piss poor economy the incumbent is pretty easy to beat.  But you simply need a good candidate.  Romney just isn't that good.  He might just win anyway.  But why not play it safe and put a better guy up against Obama?  Is it too late?  I don't know how a "brokered convention" works.  But it would sure be exciting.  Imagine a Republican challenger with the core and the moderates behind him.  With an aura of excitement about him and the wind at his back.  Then you could win.  Not maybe win.

It's amazing to me how polarised the electorate is now.  And more so every year.  I think Obama is a polarizing force.  Because there is a bloc of folks who will never ever ever vote for Obama.  No matter what.  They simply hate Obama.  Part of it is race of course.  But Hillary Clinton as a candidate was the same way.  With conservatives you have an unbending stance.  In a previous blog post I was sniffing around this concept of division and the line drawn in the sand of polarization.  I said things like "haves and have nots".  "Democrat vs Republican" Liberal vs Conservative".  I want to go one little tiny step further.

I want to say: "those that believe everything can be boiled down to "right or wrong"  "Yes or no"....  VS "those who don't know because there are too many variables"

To me,  conservative thinking is religious thinking.  There are no grey areas.

Liberal thinking is making up your mind on a situational basis.

I pick on conservatives.  But I know that one definition of a conservative is "A Liberal who has just been mugged!"

I'm very curious about an issue  in the upcoming election campaign.  My big questions  are:  Will the Democrats play the religion card against Romney?   Is it a cheap shot to do that?  Does a candidate's religion get a free pass?  Exactly how wacky is Mormonism?    If it is really wacky,  could it hurt Romney?  Wacky or not,  could an attack backfire on the Democrats?  Can it be the Dems haven't thought of this?

I think there is a special team in the Obama camp that is working on this Mormon thing.  I think they are holding back.  I think they have recruited disgruntled Mormons who had to escape from the religion and want to tell their bitter tale.  The team is accumulating data that will shock us all.  Maybe they want to explode it in October.

I have a blog post myself about the Mormons.  It's called "Utah" from Sept. 2010.  I was at the "Temple Square" in Salt Lake.

And last night I Googled up the Mormons and found these claims:     Of course I don't know if they are true!

If you get married in a Temple you have to get naked.
God lives at a star called Kolob.
You wear special underwear 24-7.
The underwear has the logo of the Free Masons on it!
Some of the ritual sacrements are the same as the Free Masons.
Joseph Smith was a known con man before he became the prophet.
The Mormans have a living prophet that is exalted as a god.
There are 12 disciples the living prophet is the head of.
When a man dies "sealed" as a Morman he has his own planet in the afterlife with thousands of women at his command  (this is so better than 70 measly virgins)
Joseph Smith dictated the Book of Mormon while reading golden plates which no one ever saw.  He stayed behind a screen when he dictated.  The guy writing it down decided to test J.Smith and claimed to have lost the previous page to see if J.Smith would then be able to dictate the exact same words from the golden plates.  J. Smith got very angry about the page being lost and said that God was angry and that a different place on the plates would substitute because God was omitting the original page!

And there is more and more and more.  Maybe it's a low blow.  But I hope the Dems go for it.  And I thought Romney was boring!

LLITTY     ::::+::::

Friday the 13th

In our day to day lives it seems we rarely step back from ourselves.  And say "hey wow,  this is summer,  and it's a nice day".  I had a really nice day today because I spent some quality time with wife.  Breakfast on the deck with the barn cats.  Later in the day,  upstairs in the office with the window unit running long and hard,  dripping water on the butterfly bush below and keeping us cool.  I had some leftover pizza from Papa Johns and I'm not supposed to have that.  It's a lotta carbs.  I wound up falling asleep for a 90 minute nap.  The nap was more like a hyperglycemic coma.  When I awoke the sun had eased off on the windows and I didn't know where I was or whether it was morning or evening.  I shook off my sore back and went downstairs.  Wife said "I thought you were going to Denton tonight".  I said something like "Yes I am going,  where is it I'm going again?  She said it was maybe too late now,  but there was a car meet I had talked about for Friday the 13th.  I started begging her to go with me,  but alas,  she had things to do,  and didn't want to change out of her grubbies and wanted to visit and feed critters.

It was a bit too late.  I rallied and threw a foldable canvas chair into the VW.  And my decaf and a water.
There was no time to even rinse the car with the hose.  It was dusty from the ramshackle garage it hides in.
Next thing I knew I was rattling along on highway 16 for the remaining 15 miles to Denton.  The windows were down and the summer air was warm,  but not hot.

When I got to main street there was no missing where the cruise-in was.  About 20 street rods, customs and restorations were lined up along the main drag of this little town.  Beautiful.  A big bake sale.  A big inflateable movie screen ready for dark,  all the shops open, an ice cream truck, a hot dog stand.  It's like something from the fifties.  The car guys have greasy hair,  never too long,  and they smoke cigarettes.  The car girls have short shorts and makeup.  The guys and girls are like me.  Not young.

I ease the Beetle into a fine parking place.  Between an Orange Super Bird,  and a black circa 1963 T-Bird.  I wander around and and it's just so nice that I wish wife had come along.  I got to look at all the cars before they started leaving.    I bought a fine salad and set up my chair in front of my car and the outdoor movie was beginning.  Like a drive-in!  It was Tim Allen,  Star Trek,  Star wars...  or something.  Space, Comedy,  Drama.  I didn't stay to the end of the movie.  But I did stay until I was the last classic car.

The Bug seemed to like the cool ride home.  It went along without complaining.  I enjoyed the cool not cold night air and left the windows open.

There was no gate to drive thru. No entry fee.  No trophies given out.  No announcements from a loud speaker. No hot sun.  There was an outdoor movie.  On my empty passenger seat there was placed a dash plaque and a flyer.  Not a flyer for another car show someone is trying to get me to.  A flyer from this  cruise-in, as a souvenir.  My thanks to the Town of Denton.  You guys know how to do summer.

And Friday the 13th.