Rebuttal

Fiorella remembers when black people weren't allowed to walk through the doors of "nice" stores in downtown Waco--unless they were part of the clean-up crew, of course. She remembers when the president of her church youth group and another girl got on the office phone and, just for kicks, called phone numbers in the black area of town and told whoever answered that he had won a million dollar prize and where to pick it up. She remembers a high school guy she knew telling her how much fun it was to go down to South Waco and pretend he was about to run down old black women because they'd screech and drop whatever they were carrying all over the street.

Don't tell Fio that racism didn't exist before Obama took office.

Who, What, Why, When, Where

(1) Why is the Easter chocolate put out on the supermarket shelves the second the Valentine's chocolate has sold out? Can't Fio's diet be given a sporting chance?

(2) Who will show Fiorella how to move photos onto her blog again? She has a beautiful baby photo she wants to show off.

(3) How did the Austin American-Statesman screw up its comic section two weeks in a row, once last week by not including it in the paper, and again this last Sunday, by reprinting the previous Sunday's comics? Please--inquiring minds NEED funny papers.

(4) What is it about these people who are still posting nasty stuff on Facebook about the Obamas? Why aren't the hoeing their own political gardens? When will Trump's fans finally figure him out? What will it take for them to realize they've been taken?

(5) Where does all Fiorella's time go?  Why is she writing this post at 11:30 at night when she's half-asleep and feeling blue?

Eew

This is sorta awful. An old high school friend of Fio's whom she has been trying to get in touch with for years suddenly put a hate-filled, racist anti-Obama poster up on FB which, of course, endorses Trump. Fiorella is shocked, startled, dismayed, and wondering. Could her friend, who once had a steel-trap brain, have slipped over the edge?

Speaking of slipping over the edge, what's going on with Trump? Encouraging his fans to assassinate Hillary?  Claiming that Obama and Hillary founded Isis? Where's all this coming from? Advanced syphilis?  (Just sayin').

Actually, Fio thinks it's a bad case of vampiric narcissism. Trump lives off the roar of the crowd, and the more outrageous he gets, the more the crowd roars. How sad for Trump, his fans, and America,

Glass Houses

This is hilarious.  Remember the hullabaloo about Obama's father being born in Kenya?  Well, it turns out that not only was Trump's mother born in Scotland, but Cruz's father was born in Cuba and Ted hmself was born in Canada!

Birthers, heal thyselves!

Selective Prayer

Fiorella has something she wants to get off her chest, which is that she doesn't like hateful messages on Facebook.  You, know, nasty stuff about Obama or about another religion or nationality.  The postings makes her uncomfortable, especially if they're sent by people who label themselves as Christian.

People, if you don't like what others have said or done, PRAY FOR THEM.  The wicked need your prayers much more than the saints do.

Con

People not only allow themselves to be conned, but they fully cooperate.  Yes, JJ is at it again.

Fio has a friend caught in JJ's clutches.  Fio wants to rescue her, but Friend refuses to cooperate.  Despite the information about JJ's shady past Fio has sent her, despite the more reliable alternatives Fio has offered her, she is steadfast because JJ's always telling her that he has a great deal for her just around the corner.  Besides, Friend has got a yearlong contract and she's paying him.

As sure as she believes Obama is a secret Muslim, Friend swallows every lie out of JJ's silver-tongued mouth.

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Importance of Electoral College Vote

And Fio repeats: the election wasn't even close. LOOK AT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. Obama's campaign, which concentrated on the electoral college numbers, was just plain smarter than Romney's, which was built around the popular vote.

Fio first ran up against the Obama campaign savvy four years ago when she backed Hillary at her precinct convention.  Obama folks were not only in the majority, but were in take-charge mode.  The only conclusion Fiorella could draw from the situation was that Hillary's people didn't know how important the precinct conventions were in Texas--and Obama's did.

It's that same savvy that re-elected Obama.  His people looked at every state through an electoral college lens--and they won.

 

Fio Likes Chris Christie

It wasn't that long ago that Chris Christie, Republican governor of New Jersey, was a party favorite.  He was popular, tough talking, and ran a tight ship.  Not only was he considered for the vice-presidential slot, but he also was a prominent speaker at the convention in Tampa.

Then came Sandy, the hurricane that devastated New Jersey, and Christie worked closely with President Obama and FEMA to clean up the mess, supply displaced families with food, clothing and shelter, and reestablish some degree of normalcy. The GOP demonized him.  He's even been accused of losing the election for Romney by expressing his gratitude to Obama and FEMA.   So now Christie's future with the Republican party is cooked, and all for doing the right thing--taking care of the people he was elected to take care of.  What was he supposed to have done?  Spit in Obama's face?  Refuse all federal aid? 

Fio didn't know much about Chris Christie except that he was a Republican up-and-comer, but she'd liked what she'd seen, and she likes him even more because of the pragmatic way he handled the Sandy crisis.  It was nice to see someone who could work together with the federal government and someone on the other side of the aisle.   Here's a Republican she could vote for in four years.

If he ever gets the chance to run.

Election Elation!

Not a good night for sleeping, but a great night for politics!  Bronco Bamma--FOUR MORE YEARS!

LOOKIN' GOOD FOR OBAMA

Fiorella and Husband are voting today so Fio thought she'd better gussie it up. Last night, with Husband's help, she made it up the stairs to the big bathroom, chose clothes for the big day, then took a hot bath to wash off the skank smell and shampooed her hair.  Nothing but the best for the democratic process.

Impressive Show.

Whatever you have to say about Romney and Obama, their stamina is phenomenal. Here are two guys who've been at it tooth and and toenail for months, yet still have enough physical energy--and vocal power-- to last through a final no-holds-barred mano-a-mano.  To remember facts and figures that raddled the brains of many a second-rate wannabe, who managed to look congenial even as they battered each other like Roman gladiators.

Fio's vote goes to Obama, but thumbs up to both you guys. 

Employment

Like everyone else, Fiorella is glad that our soldiers are coming home from Iraq, and you know they'll be greeted with welcoming accolades. But after the confetti has been swept up, where will they find jobs? The country's employment situation is dire, and it will only get worse when Johnny comes marching home again.

Jobs always go down the tubes when technological advances are made--think of the Luddite rebellion when mechanical looms were introduced in 1800s. And the outcome of the computer revolution was that jobs were flushed or outsourced. replacement of workers electronic devices. Of course, the downturn in the economy, brought on by tossing money into the bottomless money pit of war in the Near East, didn't help.

Obama's trying to get us going again, but Congress has even voted down plans to strengthen the nation's physical infrastructure, for apparently no other reason than to oppose Obama. In logic parlance, it's called an ad hominem argument: the GOP is against anything Obama proposes just because he's the one who proposed it.

But there's a historic danger when so many people are unemployed--especially if they're former military. The Occupy Wall Street movement may be a harbinger of more violent things to come.

News Updates

Fio would like to be part of the forty-seven percent who don't have to pony up to IRS, but, except for the lean student years just after she and Husband got married, they've always had to pay the piper.  Now that they are more comfortably fixed, she'd still rather not pay--like the millionaires who've figured out ways to get around taxes.  Um--does that mean they support Obama?
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Fiorella is amused that people have finally realized we've probably contaminated the moon and Mars with our landings, that minute microbes could have made it through the sterilization process and are seeding the universe.  She figured that out  some time ago, but her postulation goes even further.  Microbe or not, she thinks the capsules and payload themselves are contaminants because they cut the time/space continuum.

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Lindsay Lohan has been arrested again.  But what's new?

Rhetoric Alert

The hallmark of a false prophet is speaking in the cadences of the King James translation of the bible.  Those "Lo and beholds" were faky even in the 1400's, designed to roll off the tongue and resound in the ear like, well, the voice of God.

Fiorella suspects the true voice of God is quieter--and more intelligent.  The psychotic rant against Obama she recently read accused him of everything from the steeple on down and predicted God's wrath on the populace and the planet because of him. Actually, Fio thinks God is not that interested in what happens regarding American politics, and she doubts if He considers the United States the linchpin of the world. 

Come on, people--put your thinking caps on.  If someone talks crazy, he is.  Forward.

Campaign Mail

Fiorella is sick and tired of the letters and emails she's getting from candidates--and their wives--begging for campaign funds.  It makes them sound pathetic, and she does not want her candidate or any other candidate to sound that way.  Whoever is the next president, she wants him to be strong and stalwart, with at least a modicum of dignity.  Pack away that tin cup and start acting like a man!

Far Flung Snippets

At the same time that Romney is sucking up to the tea party by speaking against gay marriage , he lambastes Obama for proffering amnesty to foreign-born children who've grown up in the United States, saying it was done out of political motives.  Let's face  it. In an election year, they're both pulling out the heavy artillery,  But are they saying/doing these things in order to get elected/re-elected?  Or are they trying to get elected/re-elected to further these causes?  As Shakespeare would say, that is the question.
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The phone that's supposed to be in the den is missing.  So is one of my beige, soft-soled Mary Janes.  I think they eloped.
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Sonya is sound asleep at my feet.  That won't last long when Husband discovers she's munched on his mouse.

Upcoming Politics

 Is it already four years since Fio wrote about the last presidential election?
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Of course, Romney nixed his minions' plan to slam Obama with his past relationship with the raving Reverend Wright.  If he hadn't, the gate would have been left open for Obama's people to snap the elastic on his Mormon underwear.
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It amuses Fiorella that the newscaster and pundits yammer on and on about issues. Fio's theory is that the only use voters have for issues is to justify supporting the candidate whom they've already decided they like best--image is the thing.

SecondThoughts

Fiorella just hung up an invitation to participate in a telephone survey "pertaining to the nation's debt crisis." Sorry, Fio appreciates the fact that she was "carefully selected," but she also recognizes the right-wing vocabulary and knows this is a biased poll loaded with "do you support Obama putting our nation on the brink of bankruptcy" questions.

A second after Fio hung up, she realized the error of her ways. Anyone who is of the more liberal stripe hangs up on the "survey," which thus gives the pollster the desired results, like "according to a recent survey, ninety percent of Americans are dissatisfied with Obama's handling of the debt crisis."

Next time, she'll stay on the line and throw a monkey wrench in the works.

It's A New Day! Hooray!

Brad has his job back! All's right with the world and there's hope for the rest of us.

Fiorella is a faithful follower of Luann, the popular newspaper comic strip, and she's been quite downhearted about Luann's brother, Brad, losing his firefighter job, then his fast food job. But if Brad can get his firefighter job back, with an even better relationship with his girlfriend as lagniappe, that means Younger Son will find work, Older Son's knee operation will proceed satisfactorily, and Fio's romances will get published.

And Obama will be re-elected.