It ain't all pizzas and cream

Easy as pie

With the Christmas holiday past, and the New Year (with its many early state primary elections) quickly approaching, I've been thinking about our political process, and the state of the races in each party.

• First things first... I'm getting a little tired of every state trying to nudge its primary election closer to January 1st.  Bad enough we've had a half dozen televised debates for each of the two major parties a full year before the Presidential election.  Now we have to start digesting primary results before we're done eating our Christmas leftovers!  So, how about this... we have ONE NATIONAL PRIMARY DAY.  Pick a day in May, after taxes are paid and before we start our summer vacations, and have ALL the primaries on that day.  Candidates would be welcome to hopscotch the country between January 2 and National Primary Day, visiting whatever states they feel would do them the most good.  But then it would come down to one day...no state would be able to trump another, and pundits would stop saying silly things like, "If McCain doesn't how well in Iowa, it's over for him"...or... "An Obama win in New Hampshire puts Hillary on the run."

• Second things second.  No campaigning, debates, or campaign advertisements until January 2nd of the election year.   None.  Nada.  Zippo.

• Third things third. Watching the jostling among the Republican candidates, I'm actually starting to feel a little bad for them.  They can't seem to decide whom we should hate/fear more...Al Qaida, illegal immigrants, gays?  It's quite a debacle.  So I'm going to break with personal tradition  and help you Red Staters out.  All you have to do is to invent a group that all conservatives can hate equally.  I propose: the Gay-Al-Qaida-Nistas.  They're poor gay Mexican immigrats who sympathize with Islamic radicals...and they want to turn all America's straight young employed men into gay Islamic activists on welfare!  Problem solved.  Let Hate Fest '08 begin!  Where is the Republican Convention this year anyway...Thunderdome?

Now that's solved, I think I'll go have some pie.

Happy New Year!

...if the Fates allow

I always liked the song "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (words & music by Hugh Martin & Ralph Blaine, 1943), probably because its perspective is almost, well, Pagan.   The song talks mostly about  how the holiday draws us all closer to  those we love, and at the moment when it could mention God or Jesus or the seasonally overworked Virgin, it instead takes a different course and calls upon, of all entities, the Fates.  Now I'm one of those non-Christians who loves Christmas.  No, not for the gifts.  But precisely for the things that the song extols...family, friends, and remaining ever conscious of our fragile good fortune in ever-more-troubled times.

This song gives those of us who believe that Christmas falls somewhere between the redemption of man's collective soul (way too lofty) and the latest gadget Nintendo can seduce us into buying (way too petty), a place to hang our hats and scarves, and a cozy fire to sit beside.

So to all who read this entry, I wish a safe, joyous, and healthy Christmas...and if the Fates allow...may good fortune find us all in the New Year.