12/3/2008 – Editorials

President-elect Obama is having a "honeymoon" with the media giving him good marks for his cabinet picks, for instance. This will last for a short period of time and then the media will subject him to the intense scrutiny it has given to all presidents, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, who got a free pass from the media. He was never subjected to intense scrutiny of some of his more preposterous statements, such as saying trees cause pollution.

When Bill Clinton was president the media had a feeding frenzy with the Monica Lewinsky affair. George W. Bush’s many failures have been highlighted by the media.

Conservatives are certain the "liberal media" is to blame for Bush’s failed presidency. They are also certain that the so-called "liberal media" is totally pro-Obama. Now a credible source has come forward to bolster that argument.

Recently, al-Qaida spokesman Ayman al-Zawahiri called President-elect Obama a "House Slave," aka "Yard Negro." Much to his surprise, media outlets, forums and other activist groups that are normally quite anti-American were critical of the al-Qaida comments. Even top jihad networks used by al-Qaida to disseminate propaganda slammed al-Zawahiri’s remarks.

So how did al-Qaida leadership respond? It attacked the media for its "unfair" pro-Obama bias.

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Here’s an e-mail which tells of the perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading toward 70!

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

3. No one expects you to run anywhere.

4. People don’t call after 9 p.m. because they know you’re asleep.

5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

7. Things you buy now won’t wear out.

8. You can eat supper at 4 p.m.

9. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

10. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

11. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

12. You sing along with elevator music.

13. Your eyes won’t get much worse.

14. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

15. Your joints are more accurate than the meteorologists at the National Weather Service.

16. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.

17. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

18. You can’t remember who sent you this list.

19. You find out a laugh or a cough is connected to the bladder.

20. And you can’t read the nonsense in this column because it isn’t in large print.

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A young couple had just moved into a new neighborhood. As they sat eating breakfast one morning, the young woman noticed her neighbor hanging her laundry outside.

"Those clothes are not very clean," she said. "Either she doesn’t know how to wash correctly or she needs better laundry soap." Her husband just sat there quietly and watched.

Every time the neighbor hung her laundry out to dry, the young woman made the same comment.

About a month later the young woman was surprised to see a nice, clean wash on the line and said to her husband, "Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her?"

"Nobody," said her husband. "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

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Here’s another item that came by e-mail:

Yesterday I was buying a two large bags of Purina Dog Chow at Wal-Mart for my dogs, Winston, Chief, Gus and Maximus. I was about to check out when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think, that I had an elephant?

Since I had little else to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn’t because I ended up in the hospital last time. On the bright side though, I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of every hole in my body and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete, so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was enthralled with my story by now.) Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food had poisoned me. I told her no. I had stopped in the middle of the parking lot to lick my butt and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

Wal-Mart won’t let me shop there anymore.

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Wind power is coming. We’re seeing more and more wind towers being erected and we may even get some in our area.

Landowners should not sign easements across their land for transmission lines or towers before joining with their neighbors to present a united front. They’ll get a better price that way and individual landowners won’t be suckered into signing for a lower price than everyone else.

There’s no big rush to sign these easements. Take the time to talk to your neighbors. The developers also need their signatures before they can proceed.