Democracy In Action

Friday I took friend C to Columbus so she could vote absentee-in-person; she's lived in Australia for 17 years but retained her citizenship, and this is the first time she's been here to vote. So we went to Veterans' Memorial where all of Franklin County absentee votes are to be cast and waited in line for 3-1/2 hours with thousands of people.

We stood next to a young lady of 32 who was voting for the first time in her life; she'd persuaded her mother, age 51, to vote for the first time in her life. The time passed pleasantly; both C and I brought knitting, and we saw others in line knitting. I heard no griping about the wait. Everyone was upbeat, and occasionally someone would come by with donuts or water to pass out to people in line.

I'd cast my own vote early in Marion, waiting 25 minutes on Thursday afternoon with phones ringing off the hook in the Board of Elections office. That was surprising enough; what I saw in Columbus was almost overwhelming. After all the years of annoyance about people not turning out to vote - wow, what to say. I'm glad to see it.

We've done a bit of running around but, as both of us have health concerns, we're not pushing it. Thankfully she's here long enough that we can catch up at our leisure! This week I think we're heading off to a couple of yarn shops, big surprise.

Silly Season

Gail Collins laments that she's not getting attention from politicians because she's not in a battleground state. Oh, honey, would I trade places with you. We lucky Ohioans have now been subjected to nearly 2 years of ads, phone calls, mailings, leaflets, candidate visits, television coverage, "man-on-the-street" opinion taking, and on and on. I suppose when it all ends next week with the election, it will all start all over again November 6 for 2012. I'm thankful for caller ID - no phone call with "Out of area" gets answered here. And yes, indeed, we get calls all day, every day. I think the amount of money being thrown around here is appalling - what couldn't we do with that baksheesh if it were being applied to social services, or better roads and bridges, or simply giving everyone in town a dinner out? Sheesh.

I think I've finally shaken the cold/flu/sinus stuff - no more cement in my head, hooray, and very little nausea. It's debilitating and it's frustrating to be laid so low by something so simple. Do we count it a pleasure just to be alive so that we can fall ill to such unpleasantness? I can certainly say I've considered the alternative and found it lacking but jeez, it would be nice to go a month without having something minor turn into something major. Oh well, better to be recovering than not.

My friend C arrives sometime today for a couple of weeks. Let's hope her winter coat that was left behind on her travels appears here before too many days go by - we had a dusting of snow on Monday, not enough to consider a "snowfall" but enough to show up on the newly worked ground in the next field. The old wives' tale about number of snows corresponding to date of first measurable snowfall makes me hope we get it over with early in November or early in December. Brrrrr!!!!

The Cost of War

Some months ago, the New York Times published a cost breakdown of the Iraq war, with details on "what this money would buy." I am always skeptical of such "what-if" proposals; one must accept on face that the funds expended for one cause would be appropriated equally enthusiastically for other causes. Given the legislative paralysis exhibited recently in our fair capitol, I doubt that the yammerers would be happy to provide money, say, for education or healthcare or disaster relief or poverty; all laudable social issues, all fraught with emotions and subject to hot button responses on too many levels. Can you imagine the "my Preznit right or wrong" supporters voting to spend money on social issues? Not bloody likely, I'd say.

However unlikely the tit-for-tat spending scenario might be, it is certain that we're facing a real squeeze on budgets coming up. It will take a long time for us to see how definitively this will affect life as we know it. But the hints are there.

For example, the budget for the National Institutes of Health will be affected as will all others. The NIH budget provides for the National Cancer Institute. The NCI budget for 2009 will be frozen at 2004 levels. We can start expecting cutbacks in research and program support. For some people, I don't suppose this is earth-shattering news. But just try to name an acquaintance whose life hasn't been touched by cancer in some way - I haven't been able to think of anyone.

"Heck of a job, Bushie."