Exercises in Futility

Since it's election day, it's as good a time as any for me to tilt at a few windmills. I've been feeling a rant coming on for a while now. And it's better for me to get it out and not let it fester. Hopefully, you'll agree that these things should be said. If not, well, it's a free country. Go grab a soapbox and go for it.

• It's only a couple of days past Halloween and at least 4 weeks to Thanksgiving. Plus it was in the 80s yesterday here in Houston. Please, please, please take down the Christmas decorations. All it does is annoy me to see them up this early.
• John McCain, I want an apology from you for unleashing Sarah Palin on an unsuspecting nation. What were you thinking? Oh, wait, you weren't. You stupid, stupid man. The worst of it is, I strongly suspect our long national nightmare won't be over for a long, long time as it seems Ms. Palin has no intentions of going away quietly any time soon.
• And now, speaking directly to Ms. Palin: If your idea of the kind of values America needs is our teen-aged children having babies before they graduate from high school, then skipping out on college to go on reality TV shows, then you are even more out of touch with America than I thought. Do not go portraying yourself as Ms. American Mom when you've got a family situation that is totally and utterly out of control. America, you go ahead and trash Mr. Obama. But if I'm looking for a public servant with family values, I'm going to go with him. I can guarantee you his daughters won't end up on a reality TV show after having a child with an idiot who decides posing nude and hanging out with pornographers is a better way to further his career than going to college.
• It's time to get serious about gun control. This past weekend, one of the seniors at the school where I work was the victim of a drive-by shooting. She was at a Halloween party, just another teenager on a Friday night. A good kid, looking forward to all the events of her final year of high school and going on to college. And she was killed by an idiot with a grudge and access to a gun. Don't anyone give me that crap about how if someone nearby had had a gun, they could have shot the guy who did it or prevented this tragedy. The only way this tragedy could have been prevented is if the guy who did it had not been able to get his hands on a gun. How many time do I have to say this: No one needs a handgun or an automatic weapon of any kind.