R e - E l e c t

K a t i e H u g h e s

If you need a handicapped person's hanger here in Chemung County, you already know why.

Ms. Hughes is in the curious habit of calling people just before their hanger expires, so they can renew in plenty of time.

Ms. Hughes seems to be in the habit of going above and beyond her duties, just as a matter of course.

Ms. Hughes' self-effacing, sweetly personal manner simplifies what could otherwise be a difficult, very trying jaunt through the local bureaucracy.

If you need a handicapped person's hanger here in Chemung County, you already know that.

Re-elect Katie Hughes.

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Little Pond

Sarah Palin: Not just another dress-up doll.

It wasn't enough that the Dems had to dredge up the wardrobe costs. As if they don't carefully watch each and every tide of opinion on that. After all, Ms. Obama went on TV in a cheap dress to prove a point. Big, hairy deal. Bet she's dressed to the 9's (like $900) any other time.

No, it was so important to bring up the Palins kids' travel, too. Alaska is a big country, so people travel by plane. Ergo the Palin kids will often go by air.

Ahh, as pointed out by Husband RJ, the other candidates don't waste government money on their kids.

Bam! Right about there she won my vote. All those men treat their kids as props for election purposes, barring none. But they can't be bothered to fly them around enough to stay with Daddy and Mommy the rest of the time.

Sarah may be a finagler, somewhat shady at times, in her role as Governor of Alaska. She may have allowed the GOP to dress her like a paper-doll Barbie, her kids and all. She may even shoot moose from an airplane (not nuts about that one, especially, although I'm pro-hunting).

But her kids come first. Outside of politics, there are few women who leave their kids on the back burner, a habitual sin on the mens' parts, incumbent included. My kids come first; her kids come first.

Let's see. Who would be a perfect ally of mothers to daily influence our next president, and perhaps eventually become the president?

Sarah Palin has my vote.

Sorry, RJ. (Actually, I'm not sorry at all!)

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Little Pond

The Great Cat/Squirrel/Dog Standoff

You will probably need to double-click this one. The cat, left, saw me first, at a huge distance. I began taking photos much farther back, just to zoom in and identify the animal on the fence.

The squirrel, coming in on the right barrier, was running up to the cat--Lord knows why--and suddenly backtracked. Wonder what it thought the cat was? Ellie saw the squirrel and began to run to the fence. Ellie never saw the cat, and the cat never seemed bothered by the dog. The cat watched me the entire time.

Eventually the squirrel jumped into the brush and trees. Ellie, still ignoring the cat, headed for the Tracker, just behind the levee to the left. The cat finally could stand it no longer and ran down to the river, out of sight at right.

I seem to have been the only one aware of all three critters.

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Little Pond

Am I the only one?

I feel so disappointed in the GOP vice presidential candidate.

She's not a bad person, but surely we could have found someone more seasoned than Palin.

And it isn't such a bad thing that she's been found to have abused her power, albeit not illegally. We really need someone willing to push the limits, something that I think Cheney does rather well.

I don't even mind her hauling around the baby in the belly pack, although I don't imagine all that close contact with the crowds is good for the kid.

It just seems to me that she was chosen simply for being a conservative woman. She reminds me of some of the fluffy males that have been offered in earlier elections. Dan Quayle comes to mind. John Edwards, another, only for the Democrats.

How serious is she? And why is it so difficult to find a tough, no-nonsense person for Vice President?

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Little Pond

Our parents know these things.

My mother celebrated her 78th birthday Friday. A very nasty head cold was settling in my chest and kept me from making my usual pilgrimage to Cappy's for a card. It was better to call and just talk.

A little into the conversation we began to discuss the economic downturn and the ever-impending newspaper-business's demise. We frequently update one another on the the journalistic misfortunes of our respective local areas.

I don't have a wonderfully paying job at the paper. In Prepress we have humble Production positions that are lately being culled out, pared down and replaced by either new technology or cheaper, overseas labor. In advertising, however, there is no substitute for a sharp eye and a commonsense command of everyday printed English. That is what I have and what keeps me working.

When advertising drops, as it has--off and on-- for the last few years, then my job is less secure. When I mentioned this to my mother, she countered with the fear regarding the pension that funds their retirement. Pensions are being cut right and left, and mine will likely also disappear before I can tap it.

Then she said something that was very characteristic of her, and at the same time quite unexpected:

"Well, we'll all manage through this. We are tough."

The last time I heard this, I was going through a abysmally painful depression, haunted by thoughts of ending it all. My mother jacked me up with "We don't do that sort of thing. We are tough." At the time I responded that I most certainly was not.

You see, I was mentally ill--clinically depressed--and feeling quite fragile. Seemed a mean thing to say to someone who felt like the world was ending.

The world did not end. I found a wonderful psychiatrist who healed me with the proper antidepressants and entered a no-nonsense self-help program that seemed tailor-made for me.

These day, I am emotionally well, productive, and usually fairly happy. The crisis was overcome and the awful times passed into the realm of memory and experience.

We are all facing difficult times. The very worst could actually happen: loss of job, home and face, and that feels untenable and almost like the end of the world.

I know better now. It might be awful, difficult and soul-searing, but it won't be the end of the world. We will do what we have to do, and we will survive.

We will all manage, or stumble our way, through this.

We are tough.

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Little Pond