My mind is not closed entirely

Okay, so I heard some of the things Obama said to House Republicans as he met with them on Friday, and I liked them.

For instance, I know it's true, as he said, that we tend to demonize one another--each side against the other. I know it's true that such characterizations make true bi-partisanship nearly impossible.

I had a sense that he loves this country.

I still don't want his health care bill.

Nobama

You know, I can't help how this sounds, but I could not watch him last night. I tried for a few minutes, but I couldn't do it.

Well, it was mostly I could not listen to him, that signature clipped way of saying words, the actual things he was saying, which, by the way, we all knew in advance, thanks to the "pundits" who couldn't wait to let us know how wonderful this State of the Union, "his first," would be, and of his wise and wonderful (politically motivated, obviously) shift in focus to the forgotten middle class and middle of the road folks.

It made me tired.

Mudslides and Such

My Aunt Allie, 90 next month, lives in La Cañada, California, where the mudslides have forced many to evacuate. Last summer, when the fires ripped through there, her street was evacuated, but she didn't go, choosing to sit it out rather than sleep on the high school gymnasium floor. She told me then, when the fires were finally out and she was fine, that the next challenge would be when it rained, because, with all the trees and other ground cover burned away, mud would race down those mountains right behind her.

She was right.

However, I have just now spoken with her. She's in her home and reported that her street was not evacuated. Happy news for me, and, of course, for her.

Part of our conversation dealt with her health and mine. I told her I have cataracts beginning in my eyes but that they are nothing to worry about yet. She said she had cataracts, had to wait, finally had the surgeries, and all went well. Then she said, "Maybe by the time you have to have your surgeries, Carol, Obummer will have his health care plan in place . . . and you won't be covered."

We then spoke of the Massachusetts election, the hope it brings to those of us who do not want the president's health care plan. And we spoke of other things.

This post exists so that I could use the name she has given to our president, one I had not heard before, one I like.

Thanks, Allie, for it and for being there and still fine.

Hmph!

If I notified Delta Airlines that I needed to change my flight schedule, they would charge me, like $100, I think.

But they have notified me, via email, that they have changed my flight schedule, and the change will almost surely make me miss my connecting flight to New York City.

Shouldn't they pay me something for that?

The down side . . .

of having an email address, or having one that people know, and, after all, that's the reason for having an email address.

But to the point, the down side: all those forwarded bunches of junk. I do believe some I saw years ago are making the rounds again.

My View

To put it mildly, I am sick of Obama.

Airline Security

No doubt I'm not the only one with thoughts about airline security. I will fly to the east coast in April, then to Europe with Alyce and Ben. And, of course, we'll come back.

I don't know if my thoughts should concern Delta/NW or TSA. Both have been in the news lately--and it has not been good.

NW pilots so involved with their laptops that they fly 110 miles beyond the airport where they're supposed to put the plane down. They don't have enough to do in the cockpit. No excuse.

And just last week, on Christmas Day, the Nigerian passenger on NW manages to get through all security in The Netherlands and US with an incendiary device on his person (I don't know what security measures exist in Nigeria, where he began his flight/mission) and sets it off as they land in Detroit. Fortunately, and I choose the word willfully, he was the only one burned.

Oh yeah, this guy, and the other one from Nigeria they "caught" the next day--they were both released from Guantánamo Bay and soon ended up in Yemen, today's terror/terrorist hot spot and Al Queda's protectorate, so to speak. For that I look to Obama and his policy to release all those people. I hold him responsible. Doesn't he know anything?

Yes, I have thoughts about it all. Don't you?