Until President Kennedy, I didn't give a damn about politics. After all, I was a high school student who had more important things to think about.... like falling in love every few months, making good grades while working at the A&W and..... falling in love every few months, like wondering if my face would ever grow out to meet the end of what I imagined to be the biggest nose ever bestowed upon any human being. Like the latest fashion to wear, where to go to have fun, who was who, in the world of high school students, like getting permission to attend the Friday night movies or games so that I could find someone to fall in love with every few months.
Then it happened.........John Kennedy came along, charming even a busy high school girl like me. He was wealthy, young, handsome, had a beautiful wife and the Boston accent was sooooo appealing. I would read about him in the newspaper, watch him on television and listen to every word he said as if he were some kind of god who wanted to save the world. Of course, I wasn't sophisticated or educated enough to truly understand the implications of his speeches, but he gave birth to my interest in the political world. Not understanding the stigmas he carried with him, of being a Roman Catholic and "too young", in the opinion of many, I had no doubt in my heart or mind that he would be the next President of these United States of America.
In those days, it was non -stop coverage on Election Day and as soon as I was home from school, I was seated in front of the TV, waiting for the thrill of victory for this charismatic man. And thrilling it was, my only disappointment being that I was too young to cast my own vote for him.
I can't honestly say that politics was at the forefront of my life after this election, but the seed was sewn in me to have an opinion on various issues or candidates. Over the next forty years, I formed a lot of opinions and was never afraid to express them. Living life and getting the education forced upon me by that very living, caused me to change my opinions at times but my belief in this country and pride at being an American kept me interested enough it her political system to lend my hand at stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, or placing campaign signs for various candidates or issues. And, I've never missed my right, and privilege to vote.
Unfortunately, the system has become more and more corrupt and unbelievable with each passing year. We are no longer "One Nation, Under God" ( the "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance when I was in grade school) but one nation under the influence of greedy, corrupt, immoral politicians who don't give a damn about his or her constituents, but only his/her "what's in it for me" mentality.
I love this country. All three of my brothers served Her in the Armed Forces. (One resulting in a 100% disability, service related) My oldest brother, now gone, and my baby sister both served terms in the Idaho State House and Senate. It is heartbreaking to see today's so-called "leaders", fighting like high-school girls, trying to win the heart of the football Captain. WHAT ABOUT AMERICA AND HER PEOPLE? Where do we fit in with their name-calling and mud slinging, along with their ass-kissing of foreign nations and global Corporate Giants.
And, what is this African, Mexican, Asian, Hispanic-American bullshit? Let's see.......am I Scotch American or Scotch/English American or Scotch/English/Germain-American? I do have the blood of all three running through my veins and, my kids......add some Swedish and Norwegian. Then there is the Portugese in the Grandkids. Imagine them having to say all of that when asked about their nationality. Ridiculous, huh? I don't give a rat's ass where our roots came from, we are plain and simply Americans. Unless we accept this fact with great pride and patriotism, forgetting this hyphenated crap, Conservative/Liberal crap, Democrat/Republican crap and Left/Right crap, we will not have "One Nation, Under God, Indivisable", we will end up like poor old Humpty, Dumpty and the fall will be so great that we might as well bend over and kiss our butts goodbye.
Remember what John Kennedy said many years ago. "Ask not what your Country can do for you", but ask, "What can I do for my Country?". Let us all demand that we get our Country back by starting in the voting booth, changing the face of Congress and the lifelong careers so many have come to enjoy. Let us start with "fresh" and get rid of the "rot" that is threatening the very freedoms we still enjoy. Let us make the news "good" again by refusing to buy into the sensationalism shoved down our throats by so-called news anchors who are just another version of Jerry Springer journalism.
There are still real Statesmen and Walter Cronkite journalists out there in this country. We CAN make them fashionable again...................but we, the people, have to insist!
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Midlife Gals-A Real Hoot
If you like having your funny bone tickled, go to Midlife Gals blog. These two sisters are funny, irreverent, and full of life. Enjoy!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Breakfast at the Green T
Mary Hell (baby sister) called me a few nights ago just to chat and, to have me read my latest blog (she does not do computers, but I will change that!) which happened to be my "Ain't Love Grand" tale. Of course this brought back memories of old school mates who became "True Loves" and our ability or inability to attract these studs in our youth. This chatting led us to a time, much later in our lives, when we were in our mid to late thirties.
Mary Hell was married (still) to Bill, while Dolores and I had reverted back to the single life. I was living in Boise at that time.......Mary and Dolores in Pocatello. This particular week I had a four-day weekend off so I decided to make the drive to Poky to see my Mom and siblings.
On Saturday, the Clone, Mary, Bill and I were sitting at Mary's table visiting, laughing, and reminiscing about various and sundry things in our lives, when Bill made some smart-ass remark about us women being "over-the-hill". This instantly made our hackles stand on end as we reminded him that our charm, wit and personalities were just beginning to bloom! Bill, not willing to hear any good reasoning in what we were trying to convince him of, made a challenging statement, leaving us with no choice but to prove him wrong..............."If you girls can't go out, do a little dancing, have a few drinks and hustle up a free breakfast at closing time, you aren't worth a damn." I said, "I take umbrage at that remark", as the Clone and Mary Hell joined in to defend our honor and femininity. "OK", he said, "I'll bet you can't do it."
"Girls, we're going to the Green T", Mary said. "We'll show this MCP, that we are still bee-u-ti-if-amous!" None of us was willing to take this abuse, so we headed for the bathroom to put on our most gorgeous faces, perfect our "do's", change clothes , and put on our dancin' shoes. The bet was on!
A couple of hours later, we arrived at the Green T, the local hot-spot for dancing, drinking and trolling. Now mind you, this was a challenge! Here we were, the Sistys Ugler, competing with twenty -year -olds, flaunting the bodies that go with their glorious youth. Even so, we were determined to hustle-up that "after-the-bar-closes" breakfast, which the restaurant side of the T was famous for. The T had been around for as long as I could remember, nothing ever changing but the music of the current generation, which happened to be country-western at that time. While the three of us were among the "elders" in the crowd (and it was a big crowd), we were not ignored. Since we all love to dance, our charm, wit, and personality kept us going, swinging around the floor for the next three hours. We were beyond the stage of life when the gorgeous girls, stand around with that "I'm too sexy for my pants" attitude, waiting for the perfect 10 to sweep them off their feet. We were there to have fun and it showed. Boys, young enough to be our sons, or men, old enough to be our father, were leading us onto that floor, offering to buy us drinks, or just stopping at our table to chat. All that fun we were enjoying had almost made us forget our goal for the evening.............the breakfast.
Then it happened, the right one came along! We had seen him standing at the bar most of the evening, sipping on a tall Bud. Dressed in the required skin-tight Wranglers, western shirt and boots, he wasn't painful to observe, but didn't appear to a fun-seeker like most of the boys in attendance that night. About 45 minutes before closing time, we were sitting back at our table, winding down, when this creature walked over, asking if he could join us. Remembering our goal, we all agreed..........then started pouring on the charm! We flirted, we made coy conversation, we created hsyterical remarks which kept us all laughing. Between the three of us, we made this cowboy feel like the only man existing in this universe. Finally, it happened....he asked if we would like to have breakfast with him! In unison, we told him, "We would love to!"
So off we went to the restaurant, triumphant in our success. Oh, we could hardly wait to get home to rub this in Bill's face. We didn't have to wait long...........Bill was sitting in a booth across from us, eager to see the result of his big bet. We ignored him, smiling our most radiant smiles as the Cowboy sat down with us to order. The waitress came, bringing hot coffee along, and asked if we wanted to order now, or wait a few. The Cowboy, taking charge, spoke up and said, "How does ham and eggs sound?" "Perfect", we said, not really caring. Bill, who could obviously hear us, was sitting there in silence, showing no emotion one way or the other. The Sistys Ugler were smug in our triumph until.........................the Cowboy turned to the waitress, as she was leaving, and said, "Put that on one ticket and would you bring three extra plates?"
Bill was laughing out loud (people just thought he was drunk) at the prospect of us getting one breakfast and four plates, but still, we ignored him as we went into one our own hysterical laughing fits. We were NOT losers..........we got breakfast, didn't we? I don't think Cowboy ever figured out what was so funny even as we thanked him for the "bite" of breakfast and graciously said our good-nights as we departed arm-in-arm.
Bill still thinks he won the bet.................................................
Mary Hell was married (still) to Bill, while Dolores and I had reverted back to the single life. I was living in Boise at that time.......Mary and Dolores in Pocatello. This particular week I had a four-day weekend off so I decided to make the drive to Poky to see my Mom and siblings.
On Saturday, the Clone, Mary, Bill and I were sitting at Mary's table visiting, laughing, and reminiscing about various and sundry things in our lives, when Bill made some smart-ass remark about us women being "over-the-hill". This instantly made our hackles stand on end as we reminded him that our charm, wit and personalities were just beginning to bloom! Bill, not willing to hear any good reasoning in what we were trying to convince him of, made a challenging statement, leaving us with no choice but to prove him wrong..............."If you girls can't go out, do a little dancing, have a few drinks and hustle up a free breakfast at closing time, you aren't worth a damn." I said, "I take umbrage at that remark", as the Clone and Mary Hell joined in to defend our honor and femininity. "OK", he said, "I'll bet you can't do it."
"Girls, we're going to the Green T", Mary said. "We'll show this MCP, that we are still bee-u-ti-if-amous!" None of us was willing to take this abuse, so we headed for the bathroom to put on our most gorgeous faces, perfect our "do's", change clothes , and put on our dancin' shoes. The bet was on!
A couple of hours later, we arrived at the Green T, the local hot-spot for dancing, drinking and trolling. Now mind you, this was a challenge! Here we were, the Sistys Ugler, competing with twenty -year -olds, flaunting the bodies that go with their glorious youth. Even so, we were determined to hustle-up that "after-the-bar-closes" breakfast, which the restaurant side of the T was famous for. The T had been around for as long as I could remember, nothing ever changing but the music of the current generation, which happened to be country-western at that time. While the three of us were among the "elders" in the crowd (and it was a big crowd), we were not ignored. Since we all love to dance, our charm, wit, and personality kept us going, swinging around the floor for the next three hours. We were beyond the stage of life when the gorgeous girls, stand around with that "I'm too sexy for my pants" attitude, waiting for the perfect 10 to sweep them off their feet. We were there to have fun and it showed. Boys, young enough to be our sons, or men, old enough to be our father, were leading us onto that floor, offering to buy us drinks, or just stopping at our table to chat. All that fun we were enjoying had almost made us forget our goal for the evening.............the breakfast.
Then it happened, the right one came along! We had seen him standing at the bar most of the evening, sipping on a tall Bud. Dressed in the required skin-tight Wranglers, western shirt and boots, he wasn't painful to observe, but didn't appear to a fun-seeker like most of the boys in attendance that night. About 45 minutes before closing time, we were sitting back at our table, winding down, when this creature walked over, asking if he could join us. Remembering our goal, we all agreed..........then started pouring on the charm! We flirted, we made coy conversation, we created hsyterical remarks which kept us all laughing. Between the three of us, we made this cowboy feel like the only man existing in this universe. Finally, it happened....he asked if we would like to have breakfast with him! In unison, we told him, "We would love to!"
So off we went to the restaurant, triumphant in our success. Oh, we could hardly wait to get home to rub this in Bill's face. We didn't have to wait long...........Bill was sitting in a booth across from us, eager to see the result of his big bet. We ignored him, smiling our most radiant smiles as the Cowboy sat down with us to order. The waitress came, bringing hot coffee along, and asked if we wanted to order now, or wait a few. The Cowboy, taking charge, spoke up and said, "How does ham and eggs sound?" "Perfect", we said, not really caring. Bill, who could obviously hear us, was sitting there in silence, showing no emotion one way or the other. The Sistys Ugler were smug in our triumph until.........................the Cowboy turned to the waitress, as she was leaving, and said, "Put that on one ticket and would you bring three extra plates?"
Bill was laughing out loud (people just thought he was drunk) at the prospect of us getting one breakfast and four plates, but still, we ignored him as we went into one our own hysterical laughing fits. We were NOT losers..........we got breakfast, didn't we? I don't think Cowboy ever figured out what was so funny even as we thanked him for the "bite" of breakfast and graciously said our good-nights as we departed arm-in-arm.
Bill still thinks he won the bet.................................................
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
For Women Only -On the Vanity of the Male Creature
I have to admit to the world that I am the possessor of latent, blatant irreverance. So, if you are easily offended by the realness of life..................skip this post you cowards.
My regular routine of getting up every morning........... taking a shower, brushing & flossing, blow-drying my hair and finally, performing my daily ritual of creating a half-way decent looking face from the secret ingredients contained, in what I call my "Miracle" kit......... was rudely interrupted by the Fireman. I was deep in thought, contemplating the tasks I would be attending to at work that day. Looking in the mirror, I saw the Fireman walk-in behind me, wearing nothing......... except a somber face, his eyes wide, and full of what appeared to be disappointed disbelief.
I turned slightly to ask the obligatory, "Are you OK?", but before I could get a word out of my freshly painted lips, he said to me............."I'm not middle-aged anymore!" continuing with, "I must be getting old, I have silver b***s!" "Would the fact that you are old have anything to do with this dilemma?", I asked, as that old demon, hysterical laughter, was welling up in the depths of my being. Now mind you, I really intended to soothe his tender ego but the irreverent me just couldn't do it! The laughter erupted to the point where I was bending over, holding my mouth, as I unsuccessfully tried to articulate some kind of profound wisdom that would make him feel loved, adored and totally virile. My failure was obvious as he turned on his heel and left the room, muttering, "Well...ah, well....ah, well.....ah." Seems I was unbelievable to him. Imagine that!
I re-applied my mascara, got myself dressed and left for work, leaving him with a peck on the lips and a sparkle in my eye, as I walked out the door. I was feelin' good! I'm telling you, laughter is, indeed, the best medicine! When I got to work, I was chuckling to myself as I walked into my office. Of course, my Secretary followed me in and wanted to know what was so damn funny. I just couldn't keep this secret from her so.... I repeated the incident, giggling as I was telling her the story. She related very well, getting that "good" feeling going in her soul too. It seems that I couldn't leave well enough alone, so as she turned to leave, I started singing......."Silver B***s, Silver B***s...." to the tune of "Silver Bells", the Christmas song. She stopped, dead in her tracks, turned to me and said, with exasperation, "DOROTHYMAE!! Why did you do that? Now I will have that tune and your words, in my head all day and I will never be able to see Mike come in the store again without it going through my mind. You are such a brat!" "Whadda ya mean.....I'm a GOOD girl!", I said, as she left the room, shaking her head.
Well..... I had to repeat the story several times that day, to a select few women have lived long enough to appreciate the humor in this tale. Some of the men there wanted to know what all the merriment was about, but it was our little secret and we were keeping it to ourselves. (To this day) And yes, the next time the Fireman was in the store shopping for groceries, Sherry found me and cursed me for the tune that was running rampantly through her head.
I just smiled innocently................................. :)
My regular routine of getting up every morning........... taking a shower, brushing & flossing, blow-drying my hair and finally, performing my daily ritual of creating a half-way decent looking face from the secret ingredients contained, in what I call my "Miracle" kit......... was rudely interrupted by the Fireman. I was deep in thought, contemplating the tasks I would be attending to at work that day. Looking in the mirror, I saw the Fireman walk-in behind me, wearing nothing......... except a somber face, his eyes wide, and full of what appeared to be disappointed disbelief.
I turned slightly to ask the obligatory, "Are you OK?", but before I could get a word out of my freshly painted lips, he said to me............."I'm not middle-aged anymore!" continuing with, "I must be getting old, I have silver b***s!" "Would the fact that you are old have anything to do with this dilemma?", I asked, as that old demon, hysterical laughter, was welling up in the depths of my being. Now mind you, I really intended to soothe his tender ego but the irreverent me just couldn't do it! The laughter erupted to the point where I was bending over, holding my mouth, as I unsuccessfully tried to articulate some kind of profound wisdom that would make him feel loved, adored and totally virile. My failure was obvious as he turned on his heel and left the room, muttering, "Well...ah, well....ah, well.....ah." Seems I was unbelievable to him. Imagine that!
I re-applied my mascara, got myself dressed and left for work, leaving him with a peck on the lips and a sparkle in my eye, as I walked out the door. I was feelin' good! I'm telling you, laughter is, indeed, the best medicine! When I got to work, I was chuckling to myself as I walked into my office. Of course, my Secretary followed me in and wanted to know what was so damn funny. I just couldn't keep this secret from her so.... I repeated the incident, giggling as I was telling her the story. She related very well, getting that "good" feeling going in her soul too. It seems that I couldn't leave well enough alone, so as she turned to leave, I started singing......."Silver B***s, Silver B***s...." to the tune of "Silver Bells", the Christmas song. She stopped, dead in her tracks, turned to me and said, with exasperation, "DOROTHYMAE!! Why did you do that? Now I will have that tune and your words, in my head all day and I will never be able to see Mike come in the store again without it going through my mind. You are such a brat!" "Whadda ya mean.....I'm a GOOD girl!", I said, as she left the room, shaking her head.
Well..... I had to repeat the story several times that day, to a select few women have lived long enough to appreciate the humor in this tale. Some of the men there wanted to know what all the merriment was about, but it was our little secret and we were keeping it to ourselves. (To this day) And yes, the next time the Fireman was in the store shopping for groceries, Sherry found me and cursed me for the tune that was running rampantly through her head.
I just smiled innocently................................. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)