It’s August, right?
Finally.
Recently people have
asked me if I was still blogging about things in Big Animal Grove.
But of course.
Sometimes, however,
things get chaotic and not everything gets done. Like a blog.
For the past six weeks I
have been traveling around the country for either vacation or journalism
workshops (mostly the latter) and since July 7 I have been in the town of the
Bison for maybe seven days. It has been
a busy time.
So it was a welcome
relief when I had a chance to start getting some personal stuff done, like
doctor’s appointments. But I’m not going
to take up time about inane personal stuff; I’ll leave that for soccer mommies
who like to take up time and space writing about that.
I had the opportunity for
some badly needed R & R, which was, unfortunately interrupted by Cong. Brad
Schneider (D-10) – not once, not twice, but three times in the course of 24
hours; twice by robo calls and once by an seemingly ill-trained volunteer
equipped with a bad cell connection asking me if I was going to support him.
No. I’m not.
Not yet anyway. It’s three months
to the election and I prefer to weigh my decision on how well our lawmakers
(why do I cringe when I write that) handle key issues. In the month I have been on the road (with
apologies to Charles Kuralt) a passenger jet has been shot down, the
immigration of children from central America has escalated and the mid East has
become a hotbed of conflict. Again. So it seems likely that unless the world does
a group hug in the next 90 days, there will be lots of opportunities for politicos
to show us what they’re made of.
How exciting.
It appears that
Schneider is going through a phase of low esteem because at some point this
summer I was approached by another volunteer asking me if I was going to
support Schneider. I haven’t thought
about it now and I certainly had not thought about it then.
But I decided to play
along. “He’s running against (Robert)
Dold, right?” I asked. His answer?
“Yeah, his family owns a
bug company.” Really? They’re refugees from the Nixon
administration? (In actuality his family owns Northfield-based Rose
Exterminators.)
But he’s not alone. It’s
that time when lawmakers, many whom resemble the White Sox bullpen – they exist
but are in effective -- begin waging campaigns in which the vow to change the
world.
It’s likely that this
campaign will bring out the worse of both parties. Schneider’s gang of henchmen have done little
to address issues and even less to boost our image around the world, while the
party that Dold hangs his hat on is more interested in suing or impeaching
President Obama. Really? That’s good use of our tax dollars?
This summer version of
hi-how-are-you-will-you-vote-for-me has spilled over to state races as
well. I’m waiting for a news story that
Bruce Rauner was hospitalized after he cut himself shaving and bled green while
Gov. Quinn will make news when he announces he’s undergoing a personality
transplant. Yawn.
State Rep. Carol Sente
has jumped on the bandwagon as well. In
addition to an assortment of leaves, weeds and other growth in my yard, I found
a soggy Sente flyer, which goes along with the ones I’ve gotten in the mail. But at least she’s communicating. Her opponent, Leslie Munger, according to her
web site, will be attending a series of barbecues and meet-and-greets at Metra
station. How nice. Issues please?
But now it’s the dawn of
the campaign season – robo calls, grip and grin flyers, etc.
How about addressing
issues – something that would be a novel idea to be sure.
As time going on,
however, candidates will push the panic button and let you think the sky is
falling.
Wait…sky falling?
There is one candidate
who may be able to help.
And with medical
marijuana looming, he’ll give new meaning to the term potted chicken.
In the meantime, brace
yourself for an onslaught of robo calls, flyers and social media messages from
folks who otherwise have had limited communication with their constituencies.
Stay tuned; the
excitement continues to build.
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