Elections among us, smear campaigns and a look back to yesteryear

I finally received a flier from the County Supervisor, Van Wangaard, who is running against State Senator John Lehman. Its kind of odd, that after going into my local paper's discussion, that after stating several times that I won't vote for anyone who I know nothing about, and that I'd like to know more about where this Wangaard stands for. Most of the events occur in the mornings, before noon. Working the later half of 2nd shift as a home care aid, I get home around midnight, and I eat a light supper and relax before retiring at around 4am. Anything that happens before noon, I will end up missing.

Back to the point. I get my first flier on Van Wangaard, and rather than telling us about what he stands for, it was a complete smear campaign. I was not impressed, and one of the smears was vague. This is what I think is disturbing about the new way of campaigning. Rather than tooting their own horn, and saying what they DO stand for, why they SHOULD get voted in, they talk about why the other guy (gal) is wrong for the constituents and why we SHOULDN'T vote for the other candidate. Van Wangaard did exactly that. In the one and only flier I got. I'm still wondering where the other candidates for my district are, with their information, as I am getting a lot of fliers from the incumbents, whom I already know, and already have my support. While on one hand, I don't need all of these fliers because I'm part of the choir, it's interesting to look at from that standpoint.

One candidate that I am fully impressed with, is Representative Cory Mason, who I got his flier today, and the whole thing was all about who he is, what he stands for, and how he's is (and continue to) fighting for Racine, and Wisconsin. He is one person that proves, in my book that Mason is all about government FOR the people, BY the people. YVI is fully impressed, and for co-authoring April's Law, and is truly a concerned politician about our children. For running a fully positive campaign, I'd like to encourage people in the district to vote for incumbent Representative Cory Mason (D) to the state assembly.

Senator Lehman has been running a clean campaign also, and brings out facts of what his opponent stands for. I just think it's pretty bad from the opponent that I'm finding out more information that is backed up with his own words, from his opponent. Senator John Lehman (D-Racine) gets kudos for pumping information out to the people, and giving a balanced campaign of who is for what. Senator Lehman has also co-authored April's Law Wisconsin to promote the safety of children from sex predators. YVI's second recommendation is to Lehman, who also stands for equal pay and accessibility for health care.

For being supporters of April's Law, YVI also supports Representative Robin Vos (R-Racine) and Representative Bob Beers (R-LV). If you live in their districts, please vote for them, as they are crucial to get April's Law passed in their respective states, and also help with bringing about the federal version, also. If they are unopposed, please vote for them anyway, to let them know that you are voting for them to support April's Law.

I hope more politicians will take heed, and do more positive campaigns. The best way for us to vote for the candidate is to do such. Don't want our support? Do negative campaigns.

Now, some nostalgia... Enjoy.

Older than dirt:

...
THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS ...

'Someone
asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food
when you were growing up?'

'We
didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed
him.

'All
the food was slow.'

'C'mon,
seriously. Where did you eat?'

'It
was a place called 'at home,'' I explained.
!

'Mom
cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we
sat
down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't
like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there
until I did like it.'

By
this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he
was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't
tell him the part about how I had to have permission to
leave the table.

But
here are some other things I would have told him about my
childhood if I figured his system could have handled it
:

Some
parents NEVER owned their own house, never
wore Levis, never
set foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the
country or had a credit card.

In
their later years they had something called a revolving
charge card. The card was good only at Sears
Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears &
Roebuck.

Either
way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he
died.

My
parents never drove me to soccer practice.. This was
mostly because we never had heard of soccer... I had a
bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one
speed, (slow)

We
didn't have a television in our house until I was
16.

It
was, of course, black and white, and the station went off
the air at midnight, after playing the national
anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at
about 6 a..m. and there was usually a locally produced
news and farm show on, featuring local
people.

I
was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called
'pizza pie.'

When
I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the
cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my
chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I
ever had.

I
never had a telephone in my room.

The
only phone in the house was in the living room and it was
on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen
and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already
using the line.

Pizzas
were not delivered to our home But milk
was.

All
newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered
newspapers -- It
cost 7 cents a paper, and they got to keep 2
cents. They had to get up at 6AM every
morning.

On
Saturday, they
had to collect the 42 cents from their
customers. Their favorite customers were the ones who
gave them 50 cents and told them to keep the
change. Their least favorite customers were the ones
who seemed to never be home on collection
day.

Movie
stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in
the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies
were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing,
without profanity or violence or most anything
offensive.

If
you grew up in a generation before there was fast food,
you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut
laughing.

Growing
up isn't what it used to be, is it?

MEMORIES
from a friend :

My
Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in
December)
and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the
bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I
knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea.
She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or
something. I knew it as the bottle that
sat
on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with
because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am
old.

How
many do you remember?

Head
lights dimmer switches on the
floor.
Ignition
switches on the dashboard.
Heaters
mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real
ice boxes.
Pant
leg clips for bicycles without chain
guards.
Soldering
irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using
hand signals for cars without turn
signals.

Older
Than Dirt Quiz :

Count
all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told
about.

Ratings
at the bottom.

1. Blackjack chewing
gum
2.Wax
Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar
water

3.
Candy cigarettes
4.
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass
bottles
5.
Coffee shops or diners with tableside
juke
boxes
6.
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard
stoppers
7.
Party lines on
the telephone
8
Newsreels before the movie
9.
P.F. Flyers
10.
Butch wax
11..
TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show
and were there until TV shows started again in the
morning. (there were only 3
channels... [if
you were fortunate])
12.
Peashooters
13. Howdy
Doody
14.
45 RPM records
15. S& H
greenstamps
16.
Hi-fi's
17.
Metal ice trays with lever
18.
Mimeograph paper
19.
Blue flashbulb
20.
Packards
21.
Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23.
Drive-ins
24.
Studebakers
25.
Wash tub wringers

If
you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you
remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If
you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
If you
remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

I
might be older than dirt but those memories are some of
the best parts
of my life.

Don't forget to pass this
along!!
Especially to all your
really OLD friends......