• Another great weekend

    Beth and Adam at Ft Desoto

    In some ways I wish I had something bad to tell you, so I wouldn’t have to worry about balance taking a whack at me later this week. As it stands, I’m a little afraid about court tomorrow. Something really bad is bound to happen.

    Saturday we went down to Ft Desoto. I can’t believe Adam’s three and we’ve never taken him. The kids liked the fort (what there is of it – really just a couple of old 12 inch gun batteries are left), but the beach was the real attraction – again.

    Workin hard

    Sunday we went back over to Honeymoon for a picnic. All we packed was a couple sandwiches, yogurt, crackers and some water… but you pack that stuff up and eat it on the beach, and suddenly it’s the best darn lunch in recent memory.

    We also got a good Beth story out of the weekend. Well, I think it’s good. Well, maybe not good in the classic sense; but typical Beth (which often accompanies a spike in blood pressure).

    Cheryl, Beth, the Friday night shopping horde, and a Target employee were waiting at the front of the store on Friday night. All of the registers were tied up with long lines and the Target employee was calling in reinforcements – in vain. After a few minutes Beth took matters into her own hands.

    “Excuse me sir, we’ve been waiting for a while. Could you check us out?” She asked.

    “No, I’m sorry. I can’t”

    “Why not?”

    “I’m not supposed open a register because I’m supposed to supervise the front of the store to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

    “That sounds like a dumb reason, especially since no one seems to be listening to you.”

    This is the point in this story when Cheryl wishes she’d left Beth home. Well, sort of… the thing is, shame can be a powerful motivator. The guy opened up a register and checked them out after all.

    I’m not entirely sure I wanted Beth to learn this lesson – the one about the squeaky wheel. One thing’s for sure, Beth is not shy.

  • What I wanted to say today in person

    (Based on a conversation I couldn’t help but overhear today.)

    Not voting is a choice… a kind of vote itself.

    It’s a vote to take whatever you’re given. It’s a vote to give up one of your rights. It’s a vote to abdicate your responsibility. It’s a vote to give up permission to complain. It’s a vote to enable money and corruption. It’s a vote to say we’re not capable of better. It’s a vote to be a living, breathing stereotype of western decadence. It’s a vote to muzzle yourself, to give up your say… to give up your freedom. It’s a vote to give up hope.

    It’s not something to brag about. It’s not something you can justify. It’s a choice to become part of the problem.

    I don’t blame money, corruption, or intolerant values-voters for our problems as much as I blame you. The difference between a close election and a crushing landslide is sometimes as little as 15-20 percent. Look at 1984. Reagan crushed Mondale – and he did it with 59 percent of the popular vote. Granted, the popular vote doesn’t elect Presidents, the Electoral College does… but they usually correlate (in terms of who wins or loses)… and it does have a direct effect on every other election. Consider that depending on the kind of election (Presidential or mid-term), you (and people like you) represent between fifty and seventy percentage points (people who don’t vote). The next time you think you can’t make a difference, do THAT math.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad at you. I can even understand a little. When you see the money involved in elections it can make you feel a little small, even powerless. When you see the corruption that’s involved politics it can make you feel discouraged, even hopeless. When you see the results of polls taken in advance of elections it can seem like a foregone conclusion, even pointless.

    But unless you’ve personally been bought off, or you physically can’t get to the polls (or a mail box), you’re not powerless. As long as you’re not alone, it’s not hopeless. As long as the polls are open, it’s not pointless.

    Say there’s even just 40 percent of you out there not voting. That’s enough to start a viable third party in this country. Considering the number of independents already in this country, with those kind of numbers it wouldn’t just be viable… it would be successful.

    When you don’t vote you’re not letting yourself down, you’re letting all of us down.

    Maybe I should have said something.

  • You’ve asked and we listened

    Who says government isn’t responsive to the needs of it’s people? The Osceola County Medical Examiner is ordering autopsy tables that can hold up to one thousand pounds, due to the steadily increasing size of Floridians.

    The old ones could only hold 300.