Voting and an interesting non-partisan way to decide

ABC news has created a little test for voters, to see who you most agree with. This is non-partisan and uses quotes from each candidate. It's an interesting way to approach a decision and removes any outside factors like race or party from the process. It's a way to just choose based on what they've said and if you agree with it or not.

My friend, Tom, sent this, and I thought it was quite interesting. I took it and agreed with Obama on all but one question. But, I really couldn't tell which candidate had said which quote except on one or two of them. Very, very interesting.

http://abcnews.go.com/politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

This was up a few days ago, so it doesn't include anything from the most recent debate.

Deadlines for registering to vote are fast approaching in many places. If you need to register, go to http://www.register-vote.com/. Make sure you can participate in the process.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

Some Girls Want Diamonds... I Want... Juice

Some Girls Want Diamonds... I want... JUICE.

From about October 15 until December 1, I run around my house, Christmas lights in hand, muttering, "Juice, I need juice... more juice... I need more juice..." It reaches a climax when, at some point in the freezing cold, I'm trotting down my icy back steps to go throw the circuit breaker that has overloaded from the Christmas tree lights.

This is Dennis from Zenor Electric. He is one of the keepers of the juice.



I do not understand why I cannot have all the juice I want. It's not like I'm asking people to give it to me. I'm willing to pay for it. I just want lots of it. For years it has been an issue to get enough. I'm hoping this addressed that. I hope, finally, I have all the juice I want to run the tree. I like a tree that sparkles.

Exhibit A - last year's tree


Soon after taking up residence here, I had an electrician over to install an outlet with nothing on the whole circuit except that one outlet to run the tree. Last year, I accessed another outlet in the dining room that was on another circuit, as well as another outlet in the same corner to keep the tree running off three different circuits. I vowed I would address that problem before this holiday season.

So, today Dennis came and installed yet another outlet on its own circuit in this corner. I now have three outlets in a row - no doubt something the next owner will puzzle over why in the world that was done.

I love Dennis. He doesn't question my weirdness. He just accepts it. And then he disappears into the basement and the the back yard and then - voila - I have more juice. It's some sort of alchemy, I tell you.

I realize this may seem ridiculous to you, and I have no defense other than to say it makes me really, really happy and I think we should all get all the happiness we can at any given moment if it's not hurting anyone else. The sparkling tree thrills me and hurts no one. So, there you go. We only get so many Christmases in a lifetime and I want to enjoy each one as fully as possible.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

Book Titles

I have been puzzling over a book title for the past few months. When author Max McCoy critiqued a few pages he pointed out the title is part of marketing the novel to editors and agents.

That was the end of June. I've been thinking about it ever since. I've thought about using "river," or the name of the town where it's set, "Walnut Ridge," or a dozen other things.

Yesterday on our trip to Quivira I came up with something I like. At least I think I like it. I'm still mulling it over.

It's in the first sentence of the book. Yes, the first sentence. I'm not going to mention it here until I see if I can buy the domain name and such.

Did I mention it's in the first sentence of the book? Less than 20 words in? Did I mention that? Been thinking since the end of June - a good three and a half months. Yep. First sentence.


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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

Quivira with Friends

Greg, his girlfriend Mia, Mark and I went to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. Mia likes to birdwatch. I just like to be there. Mark hadn't ever been and Greg is almost always open to anything that might generate more photos.

I've been thinking lately that I need to get more photos of Greg. Of course, I forget on a regular basis - like last night when we were with Mark Russell. I didn't even have my camera with me. But, I've gotten a few nice pix of him lately. I love this one. It's quintessential Greg, as are some others I got today.





I'm glad tomorrow is the Columbus Day holiday. It has been a nice weekend, but I've spent a lot of time working.



I have some things I have to do tomorrow, but it's going to be a busy week so I think I'm going to take it easy tomorrow as much as possible.





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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

Mark Russell at the Fox

Tonight we went to see political comedian Mark Russell at the Fox Theatre. He was fabulous, as you might expect. Greg, Mark, Teresa and I went.

Greg, Mark and I were in the second row, which was good and bad. We were very close, but when he was sitting down at the piano, it was positioned such that we couldn't really see him well. But, he stood up and moved around the stage a large part of the time.

It was a really nice evening - the kick off to the Fox season. They bring some great events to town. Mary Hemmings, the Executive Director, is a dynamo. I really like her.

And it's always great to be in this amazing place. It's an Art Deco masterpiece. We are so fortunate to have it. We owe a great debt to Martha Slater and Greg Payton who spearheaded saving it a few years ago, and Andrea Springer who was its first Executive Director.



Mark Russell was hilarious. At the end he did a poll and was surprised to find a lot of Obama support in the audience. I think  it was about half and half. He joked, "In Kansas? Did they ship you all in from the east coast?"

I asked him afterwards if he was genuinely surprised by the Obama support and he said he was. He was very personable and signed autographs and took photos with the few people who stayed around.



He also posed for a photo with Ace Jackalope. I'm sure we'll soon be able to read more about that on www.thelope.com.



Thanks to Greg, as usual, for all the photos!
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

A Day of Ups and Downs

I've had a day of ups and downs. I guess lots of people feel that today with the market going up and down all day.

Last night I went for my nearly daily check of Goodwill to see if they had any glassware I needed to bring home. I was talking to Teresa on the phone when I pulled up and noticed my hood was steaming a bit, as if it were hot. So, I walked around and saw - yes, you guessed it - antifreeze pouring out onto the ground. I ended up having the car towed to my mechanic. It didn't really make sense to bring it home since I couldn't do a thing for it here.

But, early in the day, Steve called to tell me it was just a loose hose - nothing major. He tightened them all up and checked over a couple of other things at no charge. When I took the car in for an oil change a month or so ago, I had intended to take the guys some baked goods, but just ran out of time. So, today seemed like an occasion for celebration. I whipped up a lemon cake to take down to them when I picked up the car.

This is Patsy's Tip for Making Nice with People. Baked Goods. Baked Goods involving butter, cream or sugar - all three when possible. I love to bake and sometimes just need to find someone to eat the stuff. Fortunately, I have a few people in my world who are always willing to take things off my hands.

I have a somewhat unnatural love of bundt cakes. I'm not sure why, but I love them, particularly when they turn out perfectly, without even a dimple, like this one did. Of course, when they don't turn out so well I glaze them so it's less noticeable.

This afternoon the MHA was hosting a depression screening as part of National Depression Screening Day so I was pretty occupied. Afterwards, Greg and I met at Carl's Bar for a sandwich. I hadn't been to the new Carl's location. It will be nice to sit in there and look out onto Main Street when there are Christmas decorations up.

I'm not really a bar person, however. There's just not much about the environment that appeals to me. It never did - not when I was in college, not when I was in my 20s, not in my 30s, and not now. Just not much there I find fun. It's hard to talk to people. I don't like beer. TVs everywhere. Ultimately, the very things other people love just don't attract me. But Carl's is a nice mix of people and the sandwiches are good. I'm sure I'll be back.

After a quick sandwich I went over to the Art Center for the Gail Gallagher concert. She put on a really fun show - a musical journey from the 20s through the 40s.



Sharon and Jocelyn were there, and it was fun to talk with them. Mark did his usual superb job of pulling things together. David is doing a great job with the Art Center, too.

I'll have more to say about the concert but for tonight it's time for me to go to bed. It has been a long day. Mark is here for the weekend. He has already gone to bed. I hadn't even moved things in the sunporch to make room for him until after the concert tonight. I think Mia is coming tomorrow since she had Monday off. We have five cultural events going on in town tomorrow so we're deciding what to do. I know Mark, Greg and I are going to the Fox to see Mark Russell tomorrow night. I'm planning to see Gail before she leaves town. Other than that, we're not sure yet. We'll see how the day progresses.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!

Panic from Republican Voters

I hope the secret service is providing extra protection for Obama and his family. Republican rallies are becoming filled with hate speech toward Obama - not from the candidate or the official campaign, but from those attending. To McCain's credit, his campaign has shown some decorum in these matters, just as Obama's has with regard to issues such as Palin's daughter's pregnancy.

The last group that Republicans whipped into a frenzy for their political gain were the anti-abortionists. The fringes of that group took matters into their own hands and started maiming and killing doctors they didn't happen to agree with. Who knows what the fringes of this group will do? And of course there are more of them. And they're the same people who want guns in everyone's hands. Great combo.

Politics is a dirty business - for all parties. But when democrats get disheartened - as we have been for years now - we take a different approach. I can honestly say I have never heard a democrat do/say anything regarding Bush or any other republican that I thought could escalate into physical violence. I'm not saying it has never happened, but I think it's very rare. And democrats don't indulge in this sort of mob mentality described in the article below.

Why is it that the right wing has to get so hateful when they don't get their way? It's like a spoiled brat stomping his/her foot and throwing themselves down kicking and screaming in the middle of the store aisle. I wouldn't even mind so much if we could stick to actual facts, but instead it's the sort of the garbage that gets passed around online with no facts to back it up. Real facts, not just things someone has repeated enough that people THINK they're facts, real facts. Instead they're content to spread lies (knowingly or unknowingly), plead for someone to "get him," and wallow in their fear that's based on nothing but the fact that someone has told them to fear it.

It's like this foolishness over Obama's middle name. People fear it just because they fear it. They have no real  reason to fear it other than someone told them to and because their brains are hardwired to respond to fear they're eager to fear something.

My life experience is such that I've met a number of people who had the same name and not a one of them has treated me with anything but the utmost respect and kindness. Why would I hate everyone who shares that name because one bad guy had that name? Or even a dozen bad guys had that name? Or a hundred bad guys?

I daresay we could make an argument that serial killer John Wayne Gacy was a bad guy, and there are thousands - maybe tens of thousands - of other people named "John" that have done bad things. Should we eschew every single person named "John" because some people with that name did something bad?

If we're going to apply this logic to our world at large it's going to be very difficult to choose a name for a baby. We'll have to rule out Jeffrey, Ted and David just to encompass some of the famous serial killers. No more Jacks because of  Jack the Ripper and however many other Jacks have ever done bad things. No more Elizabeths after those 600 young girls Elizabeth Bathory tortured and murdered. We would have to fear anyone named Michael, because Michael John Devlin is a convicted child molester. There's that "John" again - obviously, anyone named John is incredibly dangerous. All people named Ken are likely to be corrupt and take away our life savings because Ken Lay was convicted in the Enron scandal. And you know who else? Jeffrey Skilling. See... there's that Jeffrey name again.  I could go on and on. But surely I have illustrated the idiocy of this.

I really encourage everyone to look at www.factcheck.org, which is non-partisan and fact checks BOTH candidates. Very enlightening.

I just hope, hope, hope the Secret Service is providing more protection for Obama and his family.

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from Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081010/pl_politico/14445

Panic attacks: Voters unload at GOP rallies

Jonathan Martin
Fri Oct 10, 5:44 AM ET

The unmistakable momentum behind Barack Obama's campaign, combined with worry that John McCain is not doing enough to stop it, is ratcheting up fears and frustrations among conservatives.

And nowhere is this emotion on plainer display than at Republican rallies, where voters this week have shouted out insults at the mention of Obama, pleaded with McCain to get more aggressive with the Democrat and generally demonstrated the sort of visceral anger and unease that reflects a party on the precipice of panic.

The calendar is closing and the polls, at least right now, are not.

With McCain passing up the opportunity to level any tough personal shots in his first two debates and the very real prospect of an Obama presidency setting in, the sort of hard-core partisan activists who turn out for campaign events are venting in unusually personal terms.

"Terrorist!” one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign’s new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: “Who is the real Barack Obama?”

"He's a damn liar!” yelled a woman Wednesday in Pennsylvania. "Get him. He's bad for our country."

At both stops, there were cries of, “Nobama,” picking up on a phrase that has appeared on yard signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers.

And Thursday, at a campaign town hall in Wisconsin, one Republican brought the crowd to its feet when he used his turn at the microphone to offer a soliloquy so impassioned it made the network news and earned extended play on Rush Limbaugh’s program.

“I’m mad; I’m really mad!” the voter bellowed. “And what’s going to surprise ya, is it’s not the economy — it’s the socialists taking over our country.”

After the crowd settled down he was back at it. “When you have an Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there gonna run this country, we gotta have our head examined!”

Such contempt for Democrats is, of course, nothing new from conservative activists. But in 2000 and 2004, the Republican rank and file was more apt to ridicule Gore as a stiff fabulist or Kerry as an effete weather vane of a politician.

“Flip-flop, flip-flop,” went the cry at Republican rallies four years ago, often with footwear to match the chant.

Now, though, the emotion on display is unadulterated anger rather than mocking.

Activists outside rallies openly talk about Obama as a terrorist, citing his name and purported ties to Islam in the fashion of the viral e-mails that have rocketed around the Internet for over a year now.

Some of this activity is finding its way into the events, too.

On Thursday, as one man in the audience asked a question about Obama’s associations, the crowd erupted in name-calling.

"Obama Osama!" one woman called out.

And twice this week, local officials have warmed up the crowd by railing against “Barack Hussein Obama.”

Both times, McCain’s campaign has issued statements disavowing the use of the Democrat’s full name.
A McCain aide said they tell individuals speaking before every event not to do so. “Sometimes people just do what they want,” explained the aide.

The raw emotions worry some in the party who believe the broader swath of swing voters are far more focused on their dwindling retirement accounts than on Obama’s background and associations and will be turned off by footage of the McCain events.

John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.” 

“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”

But, if it were up to them, such hard-edged tactics are clearly what many in the party base would like to use against Obama.

That McCain has so far seemed reluctant to do so has frustrated Republicans.

“It's time that you two are representing us, and we are mad,” reiterated the boisterous Republican at McCain’s town hall in Wisconsin Thursday. “So go get 'em!”

"I am begging you, sir, I am begging you — take it to him," pleaded James T. Harris, a local talk radio host at the same event, earning an extended standing ovation.

“Yosemite Sam is having the law laid down to him today in Waukesha, Wis.,” quipped Limbaugh on his show Thursday, referring to the GOP nominee. “This guy, this audience member, is exactly right,” the conservative talk show host said of the first individual.

“You are running for president. You have a right to defend this country. You have a responsibility to defend this country and not just fulfill some dream you had eight years ago running for president against Bush. It's time to start naming names and explain what's actually going on, because, Sen. McCain, the people of this country are dead scared about what we face if you lose.”

John J. Pitney Jr., a political science professor at California’s Claremont McKenna College and former Republican operative, suggested core Republicans were acting out their longstanding frustrations with their self-proclaimed maverick nominee.

“McCain has always frustrated the Republican base,” Pitney said. “In this campaign, he has alternated between partisan attacks and calls for bipartisan cooperation. It’s nice that he thinks he can round up congressional votes the way a border collie rounds up sheep. But you can’t be a border collie and a pit bull at the same time. The crowds want a pit bull.”

There is also the belief that taking out Obama is the only way to win.

“They know that when McCain has taken off the Senate mantle and put the stick to Obama (celebrity ad, as a case in point), we get movement in the polls,” said Rick Wilson, a GOP consultant not working on the presidential race. “They want McCain to call out Obama — on the Fannie/Freddie mess, on Wright, on Ayers, on guns, on [the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now] — because they know that if McCain says it, it penetrates the MSM filter. ... Only McCain and Palin can really drive that message.”

The two have begun to get more aggressive on many of these topics, with both discussing Ayers in multiple venues Thursday. The RNC is also going up for the first time with an ad featuring the former domestic terrorist.

It was enough to stir hope that McCain may stay on the offensive, even in Limbaugh, who has often criticized the Arizona senator for working with Democrats more than attacking them. The radio host praised his sometimes-nemesis for singling out Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) as partly responsible for the credit crisis.

“McCain/Palin fired back today in Waukesha, and 15 years of frustration is coming out joyously in the voices of GOP supporters at these rallies,” Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail, arguing that Republicans were fed up with having been portrayed as the bogeyman for myriad issues since the Clinton years.

But to the exasperation of many in the party, Obama’s pastor, the most damning of all his associations, remains off-limits, at the express desire of McCain. Palin ignored Wright and focused on Ayers when she was asked about the two in an interview Thursday with conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham. And McCain focused on Ayers only when he was asked an open-ended question at the town hall about Obama's “associations.”

“It is a shame McCain took Wright off the table,” lamented one prominent Republican operative not working on the race. “He is a legitimate issue, and we may look back and realize he was the issue that could have changed the race.”

For now, though, party members don't seem to be looking back with regret as much as fearing what lies ahead.

“McCain is behind in the polls, and the Republicans have no chance of regaining control of Congress,” Pitney noted. “Republicans are facing the prospect of unified Democratic control of the government for the first time since the first two Clinton years. And even then, Clinton’s agenda had moderate elements (e.g., [the North American Free Trade Agreement] and deficit reduction). With Obama, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi in power, Republicans worry about a hard push for a hard-left agenda.”

Amie Parnes contributed to this story.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more. Friend me on Facebook.com, Follow me at Twitter.com.

I am looking for book clubs willing to read and critique my novel when it's completed. If your book club is interested, please email me at patsyterrell@gmail.com. Thanks!