March 22, 1996
Dear Everyone:
If you can believe
it, I’ve caught another cold!
This makes four since last March.
Those little beasties must be working overtime to come up with so
many mutations intended solely to make me miserable.
Hey, fellas, take a break!
I’m going through
Kleenexes like they were...well, Kleenexes.
I even stayed home
sick on Wednesday. After one
helping of daytime television, I decided I didn’t feel crummy enough to
stay home another day.
And somebody remind
me next autumn to go in and get a
flu vaccine.
In the meantime, one
of the disadvantages of holding the California
Presidential primary elections the last Monday in March is that your
choices start to become limited (much like the candidates).
Of the nine names on my Sample Ballot, 33% have already dropped
out.
Of the six
remaining, I only recognize 33%.
That narrows it down to
Bob (Boring) Dole or
Anybody-But-Pat (“Let’s drag American women back into the Stone Age”)
Buchanan.
Not much of a choice.
That leaves some
locals: (one choice for
each: Senate, House and
State), a court bench (memo to “Jeannie”, which judge should I elect?)
and some county thing. And,
of course, the all-important responsibility to vote down a bunch of
stone silly propositions.
(The degree of silliness in a proposition can be easily determined by
the shrillness, as evidenced by the number of words typed in ALL CAPS
and the number of
EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! at the end of each sentence, in the arguments for
and against.) The biggest
(you would think from the hype) is whether or not to build a new stadium
in San Francisco. But you
can only vote on that one if you actually
live in San Francisco.
That leaves the
state propositions.
Including one (are you ready for this?) to make it legal for “sportsmen”
to go out and gun down mountain lions (or anything they
perceive as a mountain lion)
in the name of Wildlife Preservation.
This one is so odious that the non-partisan voting guide skips
right over it.
Then there are three
(3) different propositions dubbed the “terrible 200’s”.
These are Props 200, 201 and 202.
All are blatant attempts by the insurance industry to cut back on
“frivolous” lawsuits, the definition of “frivolous” being anything that
costs the insurance companies money.
And, of course, they blame the “slap-happy” lawyers who slap
insurance companies with lawsuits.
Only, naturally, there’s no mention of insurance companies in any
of the ad campaigns, just a lot of general lawyer-bashing.
While I enjoy lawyer-bashing as well as the next malcontent, it’s
up to the judge to decide if a suit is “frivolous” and throw it, and the
plaintiffs, out as appropriate.
This is one of those
elections where voting “Yes” on odd and “No” on even just won’t work.
Common sense is required.
Still no movies and
still no word from “Jeannie’s” tax accountant.
And I’m fast running out of Kleenexes.
Love, as always,
Pete
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