Election Thoughts from Abroad

     While we were waiting for the results from the Presidential election on Tuesday, so was the rest of the world.  It is never just about us here in the United States.  As Margaret Copland of New Zealand once told me, "When the United States sneezes, we catch a cold."  It is no secret that the populations in most countries preferred President Obama to Mitt Romney who somehow had the knack of insulting everyone.  The British were offended when he expressed doubts about the 2012 Olympics and their readiness.  The Russians were upset when he called them our number 1 geopolitical enemy.  

     It seems only the Iranians preferred Romney. 

     I heard from friends from Iceland to Australia who were partying and listening to the results very late that night. 

     From France the next day, Helene Machetot wrote (and I'm translating here): "The public reaction is very positive. According to polls, the French were overwhelmingly for Obama, and in the Franco-American Paris, I know few people slept that night (with offset time) and partied in the cafes of the capital. Personally, I was happy, too, to see the TV from Chicago. We had many reporters in the U.S. (lucky for them!) and even our journalists were featured, and it was all very exciting.

       "Some, however, criticize the fact that so much airtime has been taken to comment on American elections, while the Europeans are struggling to manage the crisis ... and French factories are shutting down or relocated to Asia or North Africa. It is true that the problem of unemployment worries us a lot.  

       "Finally ... Congratulations to you and all the best!"

       Margaret wrote from New Zealand:   "Well done Wisconsin for their part in electing Obama. We were all watching the election with interest and relieved at the Democrat victory. It is rather hard for us to understand the attraction of what seems to us a rather weird Republican party agenda. We didn't much like your last Republican president, we didn't like our troops being involved in wars that we didn't believe in. I don't understand how putting people out of work benefits the economy (We have that nonsense in NZ as well ) We care about America and want to see a strong American economy, fair taxation and wouldn't it be wonderful if the worlds greatest country could lead the world in democracy,which to me involves making it easy for people to vote, in equality, (great wealth and great poverty in one country is not a good look) and justice.

       "To those who fear socialised medicine let me tell you my story. I have no health insurance - Having grown up in NZ, health insurance seems to me a bit like queue jumping. In New Zealand we have the same doctors in both the public and private hospitals. Anyway I believe that good medical care is a right - and I have never grudged my taxes for that purpose especially when I compare them to the horrendous premiums that my sister pays in Hawaii for Health Care. Socialised medicine is a bargain - my American sister pays a lot more in Insurance Premiums than I do in total taxation.

     "Here's how it works. A couple of weeks ago I had a heart attack. An artery was blocked. I was having lunch in Christchurch with my friend, Dianne at the time - we went for a walk after lunch and weI realised something was wrong so Dianne rang the nurse at her doctors surgery (my doctor was thirty miles away in Darfield). The nurse said the symptoms added up to a heart problem and sent an ambulance - No charge. The ambulance arrived and the guys did some tests and took me into Christchurch hospital (Ambulance is partly funded by charity - I later received a voluntary bill for $80 which I intend to pay) I spent 5 days in hospital - they gave me medication and tests and got onto my blocked artery immediately. They put in a stent. Tests showed that there was almost no damage to my heart and two weeks later I am feeling pretty good, Cost to me - zero.

       "I came home with 3 months medication: Cost to me: Zero.

       "Yesterday I went to my doctors surgery so they could check on my blood pressure. That was done by the nurse - cost to me: zero.

       "In six weeks I have a hospital appointment and there is follow up classes on lifestyle issues. Cost to me: Zero.

       "When I am no longer under the hospital my doctors appointments will cost $30 - $40.

       "Because cost was not an issue I got excellent care, immediately and was spared anxiety - I will continue to pay my taxes cheerfully.

       "Last election I had such a lot of your good citizens worrying their hearts out about Obama and medical insurance -(Margaret performed for American tourists in Christchurch.) they were all paying more in medical insurance than the average person would pay in taxes and they were terrified that the undeserving poor would get decent treatment - it made me sad especially when it was prefaced with Christianity. And it does nothing good for your health system!

       "I'm fine - just one small stent - my heart is strong and because there were no delays there is almost no damage. My wrist sported a bruise that disappeared in a week. If my mother had had a blocked artery she would have got an operation with months of healing, a scar and she would have been weakened by the experience. My grandmother would probably have died. It is something of a miracle - my surgeon said when I thanked him - 'this is happening every day, all day, all over the world - well most of it.'  Isn't this a great time to be alive?"

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Today Gary turned 69.  He said not to buy him a present and I agreed, mostly because the only thing he would really like are toys that would cost me around $200 or more, things like a trail camera or a new camper. Nothing I can afford.

Yesterday I stopped at the Dollar Tree and was surprised to find metallic helium balloons. I talked to the sales woman and asked how they could afford to sell them for a dollar when the cost of helium had gone up so much. She said she had been told that they wouldn't be selling them much longer. I bought four balloons and hid them in my closet.

I woke up early this morning to get the house ready before Gary woke up.

I put the balloons around the house then located three "Happy Birthday" banners I bought at the hardware store last year for 25 cents each and hung them at windows.

Then I set to work and baked a spice cake and made a cream cheese frosting, using sale items.  I think the entire cake cost me less than $2.00.

Finally, I took him out to eat lunch at the China Garden downtown.  The lunch was half the price of a dinner, more in line with my budget, and still the restaurant gave us so much to eat we had to ask for takeout cartons.

I worked within my budget and I think Gary still enjoyed his birthday.  He certainly liked that cake!

The Book and the Future

This afternoon I met Nikki and Wade at the Copper Rock Downtown coffee shop.  We were there to talk writing and plan for the future.

Wade had our first order of our short story anthology, a box with ten books. Nikki immediately bought two of them and I began to obsess about whether or not we'd have enough for our first two book signings. Wade and I signed her copies, and realized we have to start thinking of pithy remark.

Wade  made up a poster for the signing on the 17th.  I put a copy on the coffee shop bulletin board. Nikki took two to put up in the building where she works.

Then it was time to talk about the future.

Wade and his family will be moving to Arkansas at the end of the year. We will keep the blog going long distance. After all, Betty is part of our trilogy and she is in Colorado, so we know it can be done.  But I will miss our weekly meetings. Writing is difficult enough without losing our support system. I will be driving through Arkansas in January or February on my way to the Gulf so may drop in to see him and his family.

Nikki may be gone next year, too, either to Washington State or Ireland, she thinks, though neither is certain. If it is Ireland, I'll go visit her there, too.

Nikki sold a short story which was exciting news.  The short story Wade sold a while back is yet to be published.  No matter, our short stories are in print, we're published authors who are re-working novels during what Nikki calls PseudoNaNoWriMo. We're awesome people.

Change, change, change.  I always survive it, and I will survive this, too. But Lord, I will miss these people.

The Nursing Home

Today I went to a Lutheran nursing home in Green Bay that I had performed at before. Each time I go to this home, it brings back a memory from 15 years ago.

It was a warm spring day.  I was heading to Green Bay for the performance.  My mother wondered if she could come along so that we could go shopping later.  Fine, I said.

But when we got to the nursing home, my mother was surprised, because she thought I would be telling stories at a school.  Come on in, I said.  You can watch.

But she refused.  She said she would prefer to sit in a gazebo on the grounds.  Come on, I said, it's going to be an hour and a half.  You don't want to be out here all that time.  But she sat down and refused to come in.  She simply was not going to budge.

I did the performance, came out and she was still there, fanning herself because of the hot day.

It wasn't until we were shopping that I began to understand that she was afraid of nursing homes, and especially a Lutheran nursing home. She was a Lutheran and she thought that I might be planning on leaving her there.  Paranoia, plain and simple.

In fact, she died suddenly and never had to live in such a facility.  I think about that every time I perform at Woodside.  

Election Night

We stayed at home.  I worked at this and that and now I have the television on watching the election news.  I am not the only one because friends from all over the world, from New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, the Netherlands, tell me they are watching, too.  What happens here in America does matter around the world and Romney, according to a BBC poll, is not considered to be someone the world wants in power.

My predictions are pretty much being proved right and that is due to very, very big voter turnout, even in the East Coast states that were hit by Hurricane Sandy.  It was inspirational to see those people lining up in rubble to take their turns in the hastily erected tents to cast their votes.

It was true all over the nation. This is one of the biggest turnouts we've had. The Republicans tried to push voter ID legislation that they said was to stem voter fraud, but since in the past decade there were only nine instances in the entire United States, this was voter suppression and nothing more.  This brought about a reaction from the targeted minority voters.  They came out in droves.  Hispanic voters supported Obama by 69 percent, the Asian voters by 74 percent and of course the African-American voters by 93 percent.

Women are supporting Obama by 54 percent.  Senator Lindsey Graham said at the Republican convention that you can't win an election with angry white men.  He was right.

The Republicans will hold the House of Representatives, the Democrats will hold the Senate, Barack Obama  will have a second term.  What it means is that we will have at least for the next two years, we will continue to have Congressional gridlock.  Billions of dollars spent on this election and we'll be back where we started.

But here's the good news:
Should there be an opening in the Supreme Court, it will be President Obama who nominates the next justice. The voters showed that they weren't swayed by the super PACs funded by billionaires. It looks like Wisconsin will elect the first openly lesbian woman to the United States Senate. And it is very possible that this is the beginning of the end of the Tea Party.

Or as Abraham Lincoln said,"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time."

Election Day

Gary and I have a standing date to spend Election Day together somewhere far from the telephone, computer and television.  We've voted so there is no point in listening to an all day, all evening rehash. How much better would be a day with nature, perhaps some bird watching or hiking a trail.  

In 2008, we went for a drive and wound up in Marquette, Michigan, and stayed the night.  

It isn't only elections we like to avoid.  When Princess Diana died, we went camping in a remote place and were the only people I know that missed the funeral.  During the aftermath of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, while others were glued to their televisions, I spent days at various nature centers enjoying the quiet and clear blue skies that were the result of aircraft being grounded.

If that sounds strange, I can only say I don't live vicariously. If I were in the middle of a tragedy, I like to think I would be right in there helping people out, but watching tragedy on television strikes me as a bit macabre.

Unfortunately, the forecast for tomorrow is snow and at this time of year, that could mean drizzle and ice on the roads. If it gets bad, we'll go nowhere. Instead we'll select some DVDs and stay home watching those.  I should make good progress on my novel, too.  Gary has some projects in the basement. I might even get around to doing some baking.

It will be over by Wednesday morning, or so we hope.  In an election this close, who knows when it will be over. The 2000 election took days and a final Supreme Court decision to end the agony.

But meanwhile, we don't need to obsess about it.

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days that leads to other days just as confusing and interesting.

Today, Black Coffee Fiction, the collection of short stories Wade Peterson and I wrote this past year became available on Amazon.com and we could see our listing here:
 http://www.amazon.com/Black-Coffee-Fiction-Short-Stories/dp/1480131571/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352075387&sr=1-4&keywords=black+coffee+fiction

I spent an hour getting the word out to friends and family and doing some announcing on various internet websites. I was feeling euphoric.  

Chris and Tisha arrived with Evan to take me out to eat.  I was just climbing into their car when Donna and Pat from Sissy's pulled up in their little red car and flagged me down. They came to tell me that the ceiling at Sissy's fell in and that it will be some time before they can reopen.  This means I have to find a new place to hold our book signing on the 14th, get posters replaced and send out new press releases with the changes, all by Friday.  

Oh well, I always say it's not that things go wrong, they do.  It's how you react when things go wrong.  I am making my lists, contacting people and figuring it all out. We'll have the book signing on the 14th, one way or another. 

So Chris, Tisha, Evan and I went on to Gallaghers for great pizza, while we went through the photos from their trip to Disney World/Epcot Center. Evan got to duel with light sabers with Darth Vader but thought the best part of the trip was the motel swimming pool.  He loves water.

So of course we went to the Seymour aquatic center next where we splashed and played for two hours.  I hadn't been in the swimming pool since my nose bleeds began in July. I didn't want to have an episode that would close the pool. I discovered my pool card had expired. I have to buy a new one, a bargain at $35 a year.

When we came home, my computer tech son went over our computers to get them running smoothly. Evan played the keyboard. Tisha and I made plans for Thanksgiving.  

Now I am at my computer eating the Snickers bars provided by Evan from his trick or treat bag and making lists of everything I have to do next week.  

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Yesterday, I talked about the electoral college and how I expected it to turn out.  There is one outcome that could really be interesting from a historical standpoint:  a tie in the electoral college something that has happened before. The election would then be sent to Congress.  The House of Representatives would decide the outcome and since it is a Republican House, the winner would be Romney.  However, the Senate is controlled by Democrats so the Vice President would be Joe Biden.  

I don't expect that to happen, however. Here's my prediction:  President Obama may not win the popular vote, especially since the heavily Democratic East Coast may have a difficult time finding polling places that aren't under water. He will win the electoral vote and will have a second term.

The Senate will be about the same, with a small Democratic majority, not big enough to overcome a filibuster. The Democrats will gain a few seats in the House of Representatives, but the GOP will have the majority.

In other words, after candidates spent billions of dollars, we'll have exactly the same government we had before.

This is not the way to run a country.

The Electoral College

I am writing this for my foreign readers but also for those Americans who don't understand our Constitution. (I'm afraid there are far too many of them.)  On Tuesday Americans go to the polls to elect our next President.  It is possible that Mitt Romney will get more votes than President Obama and at the same time lose the election, all because of our odd little process, the Electoral College.  

The first thing you must understand that the United States is not and never has been a democracy.  We are a Republic.  Each time we pledge allegiance to the flag we also pledge allegiance to "the republic for which it stands". Our funding fathers did not trust the masses, who were likely to become excitable rabble.  (Think Tea Party.) They felt they must put another step between the election and the outcome.

The College consists of 538 electors, who are elected by the states.  Each state is granted electors in a number equal to the members of Congress. Wyoming, with its low population, has only one member in the House of Representatives, but two senators, so it has three electors. There are 435 members of the house and 100 senators.  Add to that three electors given to the District of Columbia and that gives us 538 electoral votes.  

To win the Presidency, a candidate must win 270 Electoral College votes.  Presently, polls show that Mitt Romney can count on 191 votes, whereas President Obama has between 259 and 277 votes.  Most of the states are either in the Republican or Democratic column.  The President never goes to places like Wyoming or Texas to campaign because there is absolutely no chance he will win those votes. Romney never campaigns in New York or California.  There are ten states that could swing either way, most of them in the Midwest.  At this point in the election, states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are pretty much going to the Democrats.  There are currently six states to watch:  New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado.

North Carolina's fifteen votes will almost certainly go to Romney, who now would have 206.  Add Florida. Polls show Obama slightly ahead there, but Governor Perry has been doing his utmost to purge minorities from the voter rolls, GOP has been caught throwing out registration forms, the machines are known to be wonky, and just this week, some 1000 early votes were "lost", and to the surprise of no one, they were in African American neighborhoods.  Add 29 to Romney's total and you get 235.

Colorado has 9 votes.  It is trending toward Obama, but it turns out that Romney and his family own an interest in the voting machines and that is 244 votes.

New Hampshire will almost certainly go to Barack Obama and that leave Ohio.  Mitt Romney cannot win the Electoral College without it.  Polls show he is behind there, and most expectations are it will go to the President.  However, just in Colorado, the Romney family owns an interest in the machines. Win it and Romney has 262, still not enough to win the election.  He would also need Virginia's 13, bringing him to 275 and the Presidency.

President Obama has about five routes to win.  Romney has only one and everything must fall into place.

If the election is honest, it is likely the President will have a second term, provided that all the electors vote the way they are supposed to, but some states give their electors the discretion to change their votes and that, too, could happen.

And it could be that Romney will win the popular vote and still lose.  It has happened before, the last time in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore.

Tomorrow:  what if there is a tie?  

NaNoWriMo

November is NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.  I've done this twice successfully, coming up with two rough drafts.  It's a great exercise for a writer, but this year, instead of starting something new, I will be completing the third and I hope final edit of one of those novels.

But that isn't the only thing I am working on.  I am doing the publicity for Black Coffee Fiction, the collection of short stories Wade and I wrote.  This means press releases, book signings, and using various blogs to get the word out.

I am planning two separate storytelling tours, one in January/February and another in July.  That means contacting libraries and nursing homes.  

Wade and I will be doing at least one writing workshop in 2013. I have to write up our biographies and a course description.

All of that can get confusing and when I look at it all, I get exasperated, anxious, and ready to quit.

Finally, I decided to give myself an hour for each of these projects every day.  I pick one of them, set my oven timer and get started. I ignore everything. I don't move from this desk until the timer dings and that hour is over.  

It's worked for the first two days.  I've already edited two chapters of the novel, wrote a press release for the newspapers, contacted twenty libraries (and had four responses!) and joined three writing blogs. It's only taken five hours out of my day.

My goals are set.  November 30, here I come.

Skyping with Evan

Tonight I Skyped with my grandson.  I haven't seen him in over a month. For a while I was having a health issue so I wasn't going far from home and then Evan went to Disney World with "Those People He Lives With, as Gary calls Chris and Tisha."  He is in Appleton now, a mere sixteen miles away, but these days he is busy with school. I've missed him.  It was great to see that sweet little face, even on a computer screen.

So when Evan Skyped me, what did he have to show me?  Loot.  He had trick or treated in Disney World where he got almost 200 pieces of candy.  Then last night he went out again with his mother and scored 93 more bits.  I think he showed me every piece of candy especially the bag of Snickers bars he put aside for me.  Then he asked me what kind of candy Gary wanted.  We settled on Kit Kat bars. Tisha and Chris plan  on taking much of the candy to share with workers but Evan had a very red tongue so he seems to be dipping into his stash.

He showed me his Halloween costume.  He had a complete Captain America suit, including boots and gloves and his pride, the biceps.  I asked him if he was speedy and he said he was. Tisha said he's been doing a lot of running around.

We'll probably see Evan this weekend and in December he's all mine for an evening while his parents go to a party.  Meanwhile, we Skype.