Thursday, February 18, 2016

Where are All the Real Candidates for President?

Is anyone besides myself wondering where the real candidates for president of the United States of America are hiding? I honestly don’t see any, do you? Are they going to come into the race at the very last minute just when we are totally disheartened by our choices or do we actually have to make a choice from what is out there? I’m one of those people who believe the POTUS should be an extraordinary person. As much as you might not agree with me, President Obama is an extraordinary person. I’m proud to call him President. Bill Clinton is an extraordinary person. Jimmy Carter is an extraordinary person. President-elect Al Gore is an extraordinary person. George W. Bush, probably couldn’t spell extraordinary. I never did get past the monkey when it came to Reagan. Nixon was not even a very good person. I mean, I could easily write an individual blog about all of the aforementioned people but I just wanted to make the point that the POTUS is usually, and should be, an extraordinary person.

The Donald?

The Donald, on the other hand, should probably go back to Disney Land where he belongs because he is not even in the running for extraordinary, nor could he probably spell it. And even if he tried to spell it and spelled it wrong, he’d probably try to convince you that his way of spelling it was the right way. He probably saw it on television at one point. I bet Sesame Street even had something to do with it. I am completely and totally appalled by the man. He is a serial liar, xenophobe, racist, misogynist, and bully. And once again, I wonder if he even knows the definition of xenophobe or misogynist? Regardless, a person who repeatedly spouts comments against so many different groups of people cannot even begin to be the President of the most diverse country on the planet. One in which our very diversity is the biggest reason we are so great. I mean, for the love of this country, Trump shouldn’t even be allowed to run. There should be some kind of candidate enforcement that can revoke their right after a certain number of lies, slanders, racist comments, sexist attacks. I honestly don’t know why this man has so many followers.

Cruz and Rubio?

And please tell me what a Ted Cruz is? What kind of a name is that for president? President Ted Cruz. He sounds more like an actor or a NASCAR driver.   Although I did find out today that Ted Cruz does have quite the education. One of the top three of all the candidates. But is he any better than any of the other Republican candidates? My answer is, well, he certainly isn’t extraordinary. And Marco Rubio? He honestly sounds like a mobster. Marco “The Fish” Rubio. Not that I have anything against the mob. They’re just not extraordinary. Which is why I won’t even go over the other republican candidates. They're just not extraordinary. 

Hillary?

Even though I believe Hilary to be an extraordinary person, I don’t think the rest of the voting public will ever believe her to be. She has the hurdle of her husband’s wrongdoings to overcome, and the recent Republican finger-pointing to overcome. I think she’s done a great job of separating her political career from her husband's. She was a very good Senator for the State of New York and a very good Secretary of State.
I know, I did say that Bill was an extraordinary person, and I stick to my belief. This country of ours was never in better shape in the past 30 years than when President Bill Clinton was running the show. He made mistakes, but he did much more good for the country than his mistakes ever did badly for this country. If you want to talk about mistakes doing badly for this country, then you have to start talking about the Bush’s.

Feel the Bern?

Not considering all of the other candidates, because at this point, they really aren’t in the race anymore, we’re left with Bernie Sanders. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Bernie. He’s had an exemplary career. One in which little dirt can be uncovered about him. He’s been a great Senator, not allowing himself to be affiliated with either side of the aisle. Always fighting for what he believed to be right and not what was politically right for any particular party. And that’s probably one of the things that make him extraordinary. It’s also the one thing that makes him not quite fit the bill. He’s not a Democrat or Republican. The two political factions of this country won’t support him.
So, I’m left with the question I began with, where are the real candidates for president? I just don’t see any one of them getting into the White House. And quite frankly, if Trump finds his way to the White House, I’m leaving this country. Imagine what he will do for the world view of the United States if he were President. They’d hate us more than they did when the little Bush was president. By the way, I’m still ashamed of the fact that American’s voted him into office not once, but twice.

Where is Elizabeth Warren when we need her the most? Now, she’s an extraordinary person. 

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Where Do All the Missing Socks Go?

Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a sock monster living in your dryer gobbling up as many socks as he possibly can before you can quickly match them with each other before he gets more. There isn’t a type of Bermuda triangle in your dryer either that zaps up socks that come close to it. So where do all of those socks go? You know, the ones that seemingly disappear from your laundry inexplicably? My wife and I have a tendency to believe that our teenage son has something to do with some of the disappearances, but we’re pretty sure our dryer is not eating our socks. After all, they really aren’t missing, they are just misplaced.

Misplaced before they even get to the dryer.

In our house, my wife and son take their socks off in other rooms besides the rooms where the hampers are. The teenager, especially, takes his socks off in any number of rooms throughout the house. He has no preference as to what room he takes off his socks. I have actually found socks from the same pair in two different rooms of the house while collecting them for a run in the laundry. I don’t know how that happens but it does. My wife, on the other hand, is more predictable. If she takes her socks off in a room without a hamper, it’s usually the living room and they are usually easy to find. This doesn’t mean that they are always found. We have two dogs, too, which might account for why some of the socks never make it to the wash, but I’ve never actually seen either one of them with a sock. This doesn’t mean that they don’t stick to the bottom of their feet and end up outside. Who really knows? It’s just not the dryer’s fault. Sometimes they never even get to the washer because they sneak away when you are loading it and end up either on the side where you can’t possibly reach it with your arm or behind the freezer, where again, you can’t reach it with your arm.

Misplaced on their way out of the dryer.

After all, they are a pretty small item to keep track of. If you are like most people, you wash and dry your socks with other clothes, not separately. So, you are usually taking big pieces of clothing out of the dryer at the same time you are trying to get to the elusive socks. Sometimes, you don’t get all of the socks. They end up being dried again with the next load, but they aren’t missing, they are just waiting to come out of the dryer because you didn’t see them. Or they might be hiding up on the little shelf the interior of the dryer has when the drum stops just right. Sometimes they want to go for another spin. And, of course, there are those times when they actually try to get to the laundry basket but somehow end up on the floor right next to it and you don’t notice until you go back to the laundry room for your next load.

Hiding in other laundry.

This is where most of the misplaced socks end up, at least in our house. I can’t tell you how many time I have pulled one out of a pillowcase or put on a pair of jeans only to find a sock falling out of the bottom when I pushed my foot through. You know those deep fitted bed sheets? The ones that you can’t possibly successfully fold no matter how hard you try? I purposely run my hand through all corners of those every time I fail to fold one just to make sure there aren't any socks in it. I have found them hiding in the deep pockets. And, I always check the pillowcases. Found one in a pillow case just today as a matter of fact. Static cling, of course, is a wonderful deterrent in your ability to find all of the matching socks. Those suckers stick to just about anything if you’ve got enough static in your bundle of clothes you just took out of the dryer.

End up in another load only to never find each other again.

Because of leaving them in the dryer, or being separated on the way to the washer or dryer, some of the misplaced socks just never find each other again. They are just misplaced, however, not missing. My wife used to have a box in the hall that was full of socks that were just mismatched. I suppose one of the most difficult tasks for a mother of two with two additional stepchildren at the time was to find the time to actually match up socks. I gave the teenager the chance to make a quarter for each pair he could match up in the box a few years ago and he actually made quite a few dollars and had a surprising few socks that were lonely at the end of his task. Which just goes to show you, the majority of them aren’t missing, they are just misplaced.

Last year, I only truly misplaced one sock. The wife lost a couple, and the son lost a few more than a couple, but I have only one lonely sock in my sock drawer patiently waiting for its mate to arrive. I am truly perplexed as to where it went. My only conclusion is that it was a summer sock and sometime between the transition between summer and fall clothing it found a place to hide in something I won’t wear for a couple more months. I know it’s not lost. I know the dryer monster didn’t eat it. I know it wasn’t sucked up into some vortex, and I’ve checked behind the washer and the dryer, so I know it’s not there. It’s just misplaced for now. The others, I couldn’t tell you really. I’m only obsessive about my laundry. On the occasion when I do my son’s laundry, or my wife’s, I have no real knowledge of how the socks went from the foot to the hamper. I usually just keep mine on until I’m ready for bed, then they go straight to the hamper. As I’ve said, my wife and son don’t do that. They’re the ones that open up so many more opportunities for their socks to go missing. I, on the other hand, know where they go, so I take steps to prevent them from disappearing. After all, have you seen the price of a good pair of socks these days?

Why Do You Need a Gun in a Civilized Society in the 21st-Century?

What are they good for?

I live in Wyoming, so I was raised around guns, hunting, and the outdoors adventure type attitude. I know a lot of people who hunt. I know a lot of people who own guns, and every time I raise the question, why do you need them? They usually don’t have any reply other than they have a constitutional right to own them and someone will have to take them from their cold dead fingers if they want them. But that doesn’t answer my question, does it? Why do you need them?

For Protection?

I don’t own any guns. I have a German shepherd. I have some pepper spray for when I go out running just in case I run into an unruly dog. Of which, I have never had to use. And, I have video cameras on the front and back of my house, I put them there after someone lit our front porch swing on fire. I’m pretty sure it was the neighbor that threatened to shoot my son, with his handgun that he keeps near his bed, if he ever saw him in his back yard again. He apparently saw him at 3 am. My son has never been awake at 3 am. And, he doesn’t sleep walk. I sure hope that whoever was running through the neighbor's yard doesn’t do it again. My point is, I don’t need them for protection. Never have, never will, and I’ve lived in Seattle, Phoenix, and San Diego.

For Hunting? 

Sure, if it’s a 30-30 or something along that line, single shot, pump action. What do you hunt with an AK-47? We have a man here in Cheyenne that sits out in front of a nearby Starbucks with an assault rifle slung across his lap, just because he can. I’m not joking. In Wyoming, you are allowed to carry an unconcealed weapon anywhere you want. Well, except for schools, and other places that have a no-carry policy on their premises. Starbucks, apparently has a no carry policy, but refuses to make this person stop sitting on their patio with an assault rifle. I ask again, what purpose does an assault rifle serve in the middle of a city of 50,000 at a Starbucks? And I would also like to point out that I have never seen nor heard of anyone hunting deer, elk, bear, moose, or any other wildlife with a handgun. I ask again, what do you need assault rifles and handguns for?

Just because you can?

That’s the best reason I can come up with that would explain America’s love of guns. People own guns of all shapes and sizes just because they can. It’s America’s love of materialism. The more guns we have, the more we have. Sadly, did you know, according to the Mass ShootingTracker’s data, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are killed or wounded, there were 372 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2015, killing 475 and wounding 1,870? I won’t tell you how many of those killed were children. One child is too many! In the years 2001 through 2013, according to a CNN news article, 406,496 people have been killed by firearms in the US, whereas, during that same period 3380 people were killed by terrorism. This, of course, includes 9/11/2001 (2990 deaths). Granted 406,496 people is only about 1/10 of 1 percent of the population of the US, and more people were killed in automobile accidents in 2013 than were killed by guns, but it’s also 406,496 deaths that could have been prevented. The US has almost twice as many guns per capita as any other country in the world. There are 88.8 guns per 100 people in the US. Why do you need that many guns? Why do you need them at all? I’m not talking about whether you want them or whether it’s your right, or not, I’m simply asking why do you need them and why can’t we as a civilized nation in the 21st-century lead by example and just start saying no and refuse to own them? You really don’t need to own guns, you know? People are just killing people with them. Or haven't you noticed?