Well, let's see. So far I've had no comments on writing, no comments on politics, no comments on the environment. From that my agile mind deduces that either no one reads my blog, or no one cares what I think. Cool. I'll just continue entertaining myself then.

My friend Eric Burton at www.elburton.com said in today's blog that 4,000 people in France accessed his blog yesterday. Eric is a typical American conservative and an active blogger despite advancing retinitis pigmentosa. His thoughts are always interesting and thought provoking, whether readers agree with him or not. Today I'm taking a lesson from him and telling the world what I want from a president and our elected senators and congressmen. By the way, I am the opposite of Eric. I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Now, on to what I want:

I want our elected officials to have the same health care and retirement fund as the working stiffs. They've sneakily voted themselves free health care and a killer retirement for life, perks that will continue ad infititum whether they are in or out of office. Term limits for politicians will be meaningless unless voters strip them of all their self endowed entitlements. (Read more about entitlements later.) Since I doubt the congress and senate will willingly give up their perks, then I want all citizens to have the same health care and retirement as our politicians. Good luck on that, right?

I want our elected government officials to give the same importance to our nation's infrastructure, education, health care, and any program benefiting citizens as they do to fighting wars around the globe. Why is it that politicians are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on war, yet they scream bloody murder when the needs of citizens is discussed. They throw up the "entitlements" smoke screen whenever any citizen mentions Medicare, Medicaid, VA care or education. OH, the dreaded "entitlements" are bankrupting the country. Of course, the politicians' entitlements are off limits and can't be touched because they've protected their own backsides in a thousand different ways. And a war the citizens did not vote for is NOT bankrupting the country?? Ahem.

I want our government to stop sending money overseas until they get America's budget back in the black. They expect us to save money, subsidize their perks, pay for our own health care, set and stay in a budget, and smile while they shaft us. They make jokes about low income people living in trailers buying lottery tickets, and yet their hopes for an endless stream of gifts and perks is acceptable because they're already rich. They need to live within a seriously limited budget and practice what they preach.

I want all campaigning politicians, whichever office they seek, to be common, everyday citizens instead of millionaires, billionaires, or sons of same. Why should they live a life of status and privilege while the citizens they supposedly serve struggle to survive? I often entertain myself by imagining what good might have been accomplished by the hundreds of millions spent by presidential candidates for this election. If they want us to believe their populist messages, refusing to waste that much money on an election might convince us that they're sincere.

I've talked too long and I'm not even halfway through my list. Maybe I'll continue at another time.

What should I stimu-late?

Has your personal economy been stimulated yet? Is your check in the mail or the bank? Will you do your part and give the flagging economy a boost?

My husband and I discussed whether to be good citizens and run out to buy something. Our cookware is in serious condition in its ancient state. Our old TV is slowly fading away. We took a tour of Walmart recently to price said cookware and TVs but went away empty-handed. Prices have doubled or tripled since the last time we purchased either cookware or a TV. Hubby had his heart set on a new TV so he could indulge his addiction in hi-def splendor. Alas, the ones with screens big enough for our aging eyes to actually SEE were far more money than our "stimulus" check will be. The last TV we bought was under $300 for a 27" Sanyo. A similar size Sanyo now has one of those newfangled flat screens and costs close to $700. I'd like for my TV addict to have his new TV but.....we need to think about it for awhile. Cookware is a higher priority, but granted, not as romantic a purchase as television would be. Halfway decent cookware isn't cheap at Walmart anymore either. Nothing is cheap at America's largest chain store anymore, and there's the rub.

We're wondering if the economy will be stimulated if we just pay bills? Or maybe we could keep gas in our vehicle for a month? We're grateful that our budget has been stimulated, but with the price of gasoline and groceries, $600 won't do much nowadays for retirees on a fixed income.
Thanks, though, GWB. We've decided to stimulate our electricity provider this summer so we can afford to run the central air instead of gasping in the heat. Does that count?

The Democratic National Committee meeting June 30

I lived in a town once where the ruling body made all its decisions behind closed doors. Citizens sat in council meetings twiddling their thumbs while council members discussed matters of importance out of voters' earshot. Once their decisions had been hammered out, the council proceeded to shove those decisions down the throats of taxpayers. Of course, that council did not even give the pretense of listening to dissenting voices, unlike the DNC members who reluctantly and grudgingly allowed statements that did not agree to their pre-arranged and pre-ordained decisions regarding the Michigan and Florida voters.

When the movers and shakers of the DNC took that "extended" lunch hour on June 30, I was reminded of the helpless, hopeless feelings citizens experienced during city council meetings. We registered voters of that one horse town knew instinctively that our voices did not count and our opinions were not important. Most decisions impacting that town didn't make it to the ballot. Clinton supporters in Florida and Michigan and around the country yesterday had the same sinking feeling.

That DNC meeting yesterday was an eye-opener for me. Now I understand why the Democratic party and our country is in such an awful mess. When the pundits say, "The voters have spoken." those words mean nothing. The voters are not allowed to speak on any level anymore. The decisions are still made in closed sessions, away from prying eyes. Those rooms may not be smoke filled anymore, but the results are the same -- shutting common folk and voters out of the process because the political hierarchy doesn't trust us to make the decision they want us to make.

Obama has no reason to be happy with this outcome despite it being in his favor. His party is a mess and all the "healing" and "coming together" in the world won't change what we saw yesterday on TV. I hope the DNC committee enjoyed their "long lunch hour" because, in this voter's opinion, it was an expensive one for the party. I'm probably not the only registered democrat who feels that way. The Democratic committee used the same bully tactics they so resent in the current administration. The only ones with any reason to rejoice over what happened yesterday are the Republicans.