Just a Rant or two.

Blogger was "down" this morning. I was going to write a rant about politicians who use Robo calls but I couldn't so I put it on Facebook. That got me into a discussion with one of the politicians on Facebook. I actually like her and will vote for her. She is my state Representative and does a good job. I will also vote for the person who used the robo call in tomorrow's primary.

I have blogged about the telephone before. I find it annoying. I particularly do not like to be interrupted when I am doing something important....like getting dressed. I have to wear a brace on my left foot because I had ankle fusion surgery and need the extra support. It is a pain to put on and when the phone rings and I am in the middle of that I have to put the brace on and hobble to the next room where the phone is (I refuse to keep one in my bedroom but that is another story) to answer it. When I get there and answer it and it is a robo call it gets my blood pressure up. Now I have a machine that announces who is calling and I sometimes do not answer if the phone is blocked or if I don't know the person calling. I usually answer but today I got two Robo calls. One from a Credit Card company telling me "there is no problem but if you want to reduce your....." I utter an expletive and hang up the phone. So I got that one and then the politician called. So I needed to rant.

I recognize that politicians need to campaign. They do need to get their name out there but to me there is something wrong about using Facebook. I have a couple of friends who are in politics and I like them but I have been watching their posts on Facebook and for the most part they just say things like " I ate a corn dog at the ________county fair." They don't get their views out there, nor is their any dialogue. They seem to collect as many friends as they can. but are these people really friends?

One of these politicians and I had a personal friendship at one time. We went out to dinner and were actual friends. Then he cancelled a planned event (my birthday) at the last minute to go to a party with a large donor. I was hurt. I guess I might lump most politicians into the "they will do and say anything to get elected and then ignore you and that is certainly the case with our current president. I would still vote for him over ANY Republican candidate currently running. But I no longer expect him to keep his word.

My Rep wrote this in response to my FB rant. She makes some good points.

Perhaps I could answer. I am a candidate who goes door-to-door to talk to voters. Many of my voters live in dorms and security apartments, so the door-to-door campaign gets stalled. I know I can't be personal friends to all the people I friend on FB, but I it is an opportunity to learn about their struggles and concerns and priorities.

I am able to ask a large number of people how they feel about a public policy. I had great response on a family-friendly issue I asked about last week. My responsibility as a state legislator is to represent you and your concerns. The more opportunities I have to communicate with you, the better.

As a candidate, I also need to get a message out. Again, some people are on FB or Twitter, some might read mail, some might read a newspaper ad, some might hear a radio/TV ad. Some might be paying attention to it all and wish I would stop and/or that the election would come to an end.

I am personally not a fan of robo calls. I have thought about using them during the day, when most people are at work so they would just get a message on their answering machine and not be interrupted by a call. That wouldn't help my retired voters : )

BTW, I got the same call. I know how you feel. But I support a candidate based on positions not based on how annoying he or she is. Just my 2 cents

I will cease and desist from ranting about politicians. I will go tomorrow and vote in the Primary and I hope you will also. These folks are in the main hard working and need our support. As far as her comment about Twitter the things I have seen on shows that show Tweets just affirm my decision NOT to have anything to do with it. Short terse notes that communicate little or nothing just do not appeal to me. In fact, Facebook is only a little bit better. What even drives me more nuts is the poor grammar and misspelled words on Facebook posts. The misuse of their, there, they're and other such words as well as poor spelling ...I usually get frustrated and "hide" those posts. And all the requests from people who are playing games.... Don't get me started.

I also want to rant about some of the people who were driving yesterday. At one point a little red pickup started out in the merge ramp of a three lane road, skimmed across into the right hand lane and then to the middle lane and started to move into my lane. I was going just over 70 (yes I know) and had to lay on the horn - I imagine there was about 1/2 inch between our cars and oh yes, the person was accelerating the entire time. I thought for a moment I was going to have to get a new car. There were several people who were driving like that. The worst problems on the road are the ones who are going along about 5 or 10 miles below the speed limit. Forcing everybody to pass them. My drivers ed teacher taught me to "go with the flow" - I think they are worse than the speeders.

Did I tell you Miles tore up the linoleum in the kitchen? That is why he is not getting his picture up today. He has to chew everything. And I do love him and I know he is still young and just being a puppy but I am a little pissed.

Now I think I have most everything I want to bitch about off my mind. I call these my "whine and jeeze party." Thanks for listening. Hugs, j