Buzz Words and hello Ohio and Texas!*

Maybe I read too many papers; maybe I listen to too much politics on TV, but I am on overload because of certain words and phrases that get repeated over and over again.

Like vetted. Why is this one of the new words you hear over and over again lately? Hillary is vetted; the article has been vetted; the sick cat has been vetted...kidding.

Drank the Koolaid - another very common line that's heard all over the news channels. Sometimes lately it seems to be drank their own Koolaid - (I always wondered why it wasn't Koolade as in ade which refers to a cool drink.)

It's a Shame. Shame is all over the place lately. Ever since the debate where Hillary and Obama smiled and cooed at each other, the tide has turned. Hillary or her surrogates used the word at Obama for misleading literature sent out. Then Obama or his surrogates used it back at her for saying shame on you to him. Then Obama used it when a picture of himself wearing traditional African garb surfaced on the net. Then Clinton et al used it again for blaming them for the picture he willingly posed for as would any political figure traveling to another country or culture out of respect. Oh yes along with shame on you, or shame, shame, shame let's not forget Surrogate. When it was said before in the news, it usually meant someone having a baby for someone else. Now it means anyone who supports the candidate but isn't the candidate.

Message of Hope is another sound bite... (sound bite itself is over used...look, even I'm using it )-- it still puts my teeth on edge.

Hope means to desire, to wish, to dream...all good. But it isn't a platform to run a campaign on in my mind. Anyone can hope. Even my dogs hope they'll get a cookie when I let them in from their morning squirt and dump. I usually give them one...they hope that I will, but sometimes I don't. So much for hope.

You can't elect hope as it has to be your own hope and not someone else's hope. And if you really, really hope, then action is the only thing that can turn your hope into something concrete. Like the joke I heard which I'll share:

There is this guy who's always been poor, and one day he decides to pray to God could he please win the lottery. He prays and prays, but doesn't win. Every day, he prays to God please oh please let me win the lottery, and it never happens.

One day, when he's very old and frustrated, he gets on his knees and says, "Look, God. This is the last time I'm going to pray. For Crissakes! let me win the lottery, or at least tell me why you aren't letting me win."

Suddenly, an angel appears before the man and says, "Look, sir, could you do God a favor and at least BUY A LOTTERY TICKET???!!!"

(Ha, bet you never thought you'd see a religious joke on my blog!)

It does though stress my point that you can't elect hope or buy hope or even hope for hope - you gotta go out an get it by doing something to reach your goal, whether it's world peace or bidding on an eBay auction. If you want world peace you have to work at it; if you want to win that auction, put in a real high bid. No matter how much you hype hope, it is not a commodity to purchase or elect or faint over either.

Ok, I'm going to have another cup of coffee and turn on CNN - there'll probably be a million buzz words that I'll wish I wrote down here...Please add your own if you care to.

*Oh, and Texas and Ohio folks have been coming to Tchotchkes like crazy. Robo calling must be making them nuts. I have sent letters to all major candidates warning them that people freaking hate robo calls, but they just don't listen.

And, I have no hope that they will. I think they all drank their own Koolaid. It really is a shame that they and their surrogates don't listen to people who have been around for a while, vetted and whose opinions should count.

When the phone rings, and you have to stop what you're doing and run to pick it up and see Angel Voice Net and think god's calling and then listen to a scratchy sounding replica of a politician's voice...it's maddening. When it happens I want to give them a sound bite in the ass.

So what's on your mind this fine morning?

An Italian Jewel

You can keep your jewelry stores.

Just let me in to an Italian Importing store and I'll be much happier.

Yesterday we found a gem right by my dentist's office. What a great little corner of the world to be the home of a super dentist, Dr. Kozinn, and a fantastic Italian Importing store, Nick and Sal's.

Nic and Sal's is both a deli and a catering service, and the store is filled with so many wonderful smells, meats, cheeses and breads you won't be able to leave without a big bag of delicacies to take home and enjoy.

We bought delicious provolone cut from a big round and parmigiana regiano cheese for eating and for grating over pasta dishes. A long baguette of crunchy sesame bread and a stick of pepperoni and we raced home to open up some wine and enjoy. (I should have bought some olives dammit!)

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou is pretty good, but a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and CHEESE is even better, especially when the "thou" hangs around too.

Linda, who is the store manager, is a doll and I met Nick but not Sal yet. Nice, nice people in an impeccably clean store filled with the freshest and most authentic Italian food I've seen in a long time -- well who could ask for more?

Try to eat a diamond.

Thoughts

My dear old computer decides to flip out and I lost my address book and email yet again. I don't know why it likes to do this but obviously, Outlook Express doesn't like me too much. With some tinkering I got my address book back but my emails went to that happy hunting ground in the sky. I sure hope I didn't get an offer to give my bank account information to a Nigerian prince who will repay me with millions. You know I'd jump right on that if I had my emails restored.

Water Boarding. I hear it on TV all the time; it's in the headlines in today's local paper. Every time I hear the word (words?) I think they are talking about a new sport. I can see a new popular sport that is a cross between snow boarding and water skiing. I picture myself searching the net for the latest water boarding gear from Nike. Water torture would be more appropriate and seem less sporty and fun, but water boarding is the term they use, much less offensive to hear or read while drinking your morning coffee.

The talking heads hate Hillary and give Obama a free pass. I translate that to talking heads hate smart successful older women but really, really like any man and scared to death to say anything negative about a man of color.

I've heard so many people say they hate Hillary and when pressed to give a reason they fall back upon...I don't know why I hate her I just do. Some people say she wants the presidency too much...like McCain and Obama don't want it?

She is ambitious...hmmmm I thought that was a good trait. Or "Bill will be advising her if she becomes president." So having an adviser that held that office for 8 years is a bad thing? I'd love him to advise her on balancing the budget -- it was nice when we were financially secure as a nation and I wouldn't mind having that again. Just having other countries feel neutral about us would be better than having other countries hate us because of our arrogant, inept and stupid male president.

I find it amazing that we reward politicians who can act like Reagan or the Guvernator - geesh how many more actors made it to political positions? Since when did thespian excellence become important to the electorate?

I feel we're being cheated when it comes to Obama. So much is made of his oratory and so little about his ideas and abilities to make things happen. I don't know the guy or what he stands for because his message has been reduced to sound bites about hope, alliterative speeches with MLK overtones and gaga-eyed fans with an almost religious adoration for the guy.

Yes, he's attractive and he can be funny; he seems comfortable in front of the camera; but I also think his eloquence is over stated. He should be saying you not yuh and he can when he isn't orating. I do not like his switch to preacher-like sermons complete with some speech writer's idea of what he should be saying or sounding like. I do like his normal voice when he's talking and not giving a speech. I think you can be inspirational without being theatrical; I think you can use your normal way of speaking even in front of large, rowdy crowds.

That said, of course I will repeat myself over and over on this matter, if he gets the nomination he will certainly and gleefully get my vote.

I just am tired of the Hillary bashing and sad that women don't support women like blacks support blacks almost universally. Why is it that gender takes a back seat to race? Race is an issue in this election just as gender is. And how racist is it to always describe Obama as an African American with few nods to his white genes, his mother, Stanley Ann who raised him and was described as "the original feminist" by one of her high school friends. (Having the first name of Stanley must have been a cross to bear for Obama's mother, but I wonder how it formed her character and views as she grew up with girls who were named Debbie and Lisa?)

I think rather than treat race as something dirty to sweep under the rug, or select one race out of two to identify yourself is wrong. Just as wrong as those people that see women as less than men; the people who find ambition great in a male and horrid in a female; the white men who detest Hillary because deep down inside they don't want their white, male world shook up in any manner that would make a woman a true equal and beyond an equal: President of the United States.

Okay, off that soap box and onto the next issue.

My cat is too long and his ass is too big for his litter box. Yet he insists on pooping in his kitten box which is the size of a tissue box. Help...how do I transition him from the tiny pooping box into the bigger all purpose litter box? Now this is a real issue that hits home.

Thoughts on Super Duper Stupendous Tuesday:

I wonder if Clinton lost CT because of the plethora of robo calls that annoys the crap out of people?

I was happy to see her win Mass and Cal. I think that tells people that celebrity endorsements don't affect the voter.

I haven't been this excited about an election in a long, long time.

Even though Obama says he is not the black candidate, blacks voted for him overwhelmingly. Women split their vote between Clinton and Obama and white men preferred Obama. (Maybe the white men are afraid their wives are going to run for president some day and they'll have to do all the household chores.)

I never like it when Obama acquires the cadence of Martin Luther King Jr. in his speeches. There was only one MLK jr. Sometimes I feel like he's at a Baptist revival meeting when he changes his natural speech to include the praise-the-lord type of quavery voice.

Clinton rushed through her speech, but she is not known as a super orator, though I think she's getting better.

McCain looked so happy he made me smile.

Romney, well when I look at him I think of him strapping his dog onto the top of his car in an open crate.

Hucka be gone!

What are your thoughts?

I stopped cutting off my nose to spite my face and I voted....

I like to vote and want to vote so I don't know why I take such stands. I did feel awed by voting for the first woman ever to run for the presidency.

We've had men and more men and more men. Tall men, short men, bald men, men with great hair, rich men, poor men, blue-eyed men and brown-eyed men...but never before have we had a chance to vote for a woman president.

It was a good feeling.

Super Duper Stupendous Tuesday is Coming

As Bradley said in comments, Hillary will be hounded and hunted if she gets the nomination. But, think of it this way, Ken Starr and millions of dollars were spent attempting to dig up dirt on the Clintons but he came away with nothing.

It's really funny to have a choice. Obama or Clinton? One will win-- and for me, I will be happy with either candidate.

Right now I continue to favor Hillary but want her to know, robo calls make people angry and more than one person said: If I get one more robo call from her camp I'm voting for Obama.

I wish someone who runs her campaign would read this blog and realize, at least in Connecticut, these calls make people crazy -- especially to people who've taken the time to sign up for the "no call" list.

Obama has sent out 3 pieces of campaign literature to my home, and I want to tell his camp that normally if you are trying to promote a candidate, you don't have a huge (and nice) picture of your opponent in your material. Especially when the picture (small) of Obama is not a good one. There's a shadow that runs over his face and onto his shirt. Awful picture.

Hillary, right now you have my vote but it's yours to lose if you keep on robo calling. Barack - if you get the nomination you will have my vote, but spiff up your campaign literature. Most people will never meet you in person so the mailings you send are one of ways we can judge your abilities. Get a graphic artist on board and a new photographer!!

What do you think, on the Republican side, do you think Pastor Huckabee has a wide stance? Just wondering....