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Randon thoughts
Today, using a little baseball terminology here, I'm going to throw you a bit of a change up and deal you a random thought column. Seems painfully appropriate since most of my thinking is done in an unorganized, helter skelter, brain in the blender manner anyway. My condition can be directly traced to the consumption of too much transfat. Or it could be allergies. Or maybe global warming. You pick the malady. I'll just type. It seems a little early to me but I've had several folks ask me about the Presidential race. They want to know which candidate will get my vote come November. They ask if I trust Barack Obama, what with him having a raving maniac for a spiritual guru (whatever that is). Some want to know if I think John McCain is too old to cut the mustard (whatever that means) and if Hillary should maybe shed her pant suits and get down with some cool, age appropriate skirts and dresses. Really. That's been asked one who wants to use my opinion on the candidates as a tool in helping them decide who to vote for has a serious political knowledge deficiency and our electorate is in deeper Kimchi than I ever imagined. Oh what the hey, I'll help Mrs. Clinton out here. Yes, Hillary should don a bright, breezy spring pastel floral print for the remainder of her campaign appearances. On the other hand, she should avoid any and all A-line dresses or anything sleeveless that would put her at risk of revealing the “Go # 3- I Love Earnhardt” tattoo she got on sale back in Little Rock in 1982. I turned 55 last week and I couldn't be happier about it. Now I've reached the age that I can get some pretty “groovy” discounts at restaurants. Not only that, it's outasight that my eye doctor says that I now qualify for his 10 percent senior citizen discount. There was a lovely birthday card in the mail the other day. It was from my urologist. On the outside fold were the words, “We Are Tickled Pink That We'll Be Seeing Much More of You Now.” There's another big positive about reaching the latter years of my middle age. Now when I tell my family I feel bad, or that my back hurts, or that my legs pang something terrible, or that I'm experiencing some slight chest pains, By George, they take me seriously. Speaking of failing health, I'm leery of the government getting involved in our health care system. Surely you remember the bang up job they did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina down in New Orleans, (You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie!) . What scares me about the government paying for our health care is that the payout will grant them too much say in other areas of our lives. If Uncle Sam has to pay for your heart by-pass surgery then why can't they make the argument that placing a hefty tax on double cheeseburgers is actually saving the taxpayers money, not to mention your life? As the old saying goes, it's a slippery slope folks. Give politicians an inch and they'll tax your Twinkies. I recently had cause to deal with the Internal Revenue Service. Did you know that no one whatsoever works there? Not a soul. Just a bunch of machines serving up a nearly impossible to understand phone menu. The voice on the recordings is that of a lady who stops by to dust and vacuum the offices and, if she has time, she updates the menus. God Bless the I.R.S. and all the people who don't work there. Again, do you really want the government to get involved with your health care, and even more importantly, your child's health care? Benjie Watts of Gamewell is a columnist for the News-Topic. If you want to leave a message for him him call the TopicLine, 757-4300, category number 4335.
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