Onward Upward

Political stories, ideas, thoughts finally put on paper

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There’s a lot of political news taking place right now as we all approach the Nov. 3 election and I seem to have a lot of thoughts running through my head. . . here are a few that I just had to get off my chest:

– The mute button on my television remote control gets a great workout these days every time a political commercial comes up. Just get tired of all the bickering and it seems to be worst than ever this year between candidates – especially between US. Senate candidates Joni Ernst and Theresa Greenfield.

– Not sure there’s a senator or congressman alive that hasn’t taken money from special interest groups. This is how these people come out of office with a big bank account (some call it a foundation), but just shows there’s little honesty in Washington and the system is more broken now than ever. Funny that they all promise they’ll never take money from special interests to get into office.

– With billions of dollars being spent on political advertising this year (estimated to be a record that will approach $10 billion) it just seems a shame that at the same time, we have people suffering – losing jobs and businesses because of the COVID-19 pandemic, not being able to feed or provide necessities for their families, businesses closing and families suffering – including losing their place to live. Personally, I think there should be a new law – for every dollar candidates spend on political advertising, it should be matched to the non-profit, non-political charity of their choice – maybe even more than one. Boy, wouldn’t that change things!

– Seems like every year for as long as I can remember, there’s always a threat to shut down or change Social

Security, Medicare and other benefits so many of us have worked long and hard to earn, paying toward those every payroll period while our government uses OUR money. This isn’t an entitlement. It was earned. Nothing ever changes, but they sure like to tug at our wallets, don’t they?

– For a time there I was actually thinking of not casting a vote for president of the United States, possibly even writing in a name if one could figure out how to do that. Oh, I’m still going to vote because there’s a lot of other issues out there that deserve my vote, but seems that for the last two presidential elections, we really haven’t had anyone to vote for on either side of the aisle – really, we’re going to elect the oldest president in history no matter who wins this year? With 325 million citizens, we can’t find SOMEONE who would make a great president and lead this country?

– I love the comment by comedian Chris

Rock a few weeks ago when “Saturday Night Live” came back to television, saying, “they really don’t want you to vote.” Never thought about that before – but, yes, why do they set the first TUESDAY in November as election day? Seems as if a Saturday or Sunday might provide an opportunity for a few more voters.

– One thing that seemed to be placed on the back burner this political year is term

limits. You don’t hear anyone campaigning for that this year. Did you know the average age of the current members of the House of Representatives is 57.8 and the Senate is 61.8? But why would they vote for something like term limits when they get the best health insurance in the world and can live a life of luxury? Always surprises me that any president would want a second term after all the scrutiny that person has to endure.

– Was talking to a good friend last month upset over all the racial riots and looting taking place in so many of our big cities. An American who once lived in a South American country, he said that’s why Latinos want to come to America – to get away from that kind of thing. Defunding the police would put America in an extremely chaotic state (one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard). If you’re going to do that, heck, let’s defund the military while we’re at it and see how many of us live through that mess.

– If you’ve never been to a military funeral on Rock Island’s Arsenal Island, don’t ever pass on the opportunity. Buried my wife’s uncle there a few years ago and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life – a lot of respect provided. Even the soldiers at the gate stood in salute as the procession drove past.

– I was talking to another friend (ya, I have more than one) the other day about wearing

masks. He said a young teen was complaining about the fact he had to go to school all day in a mask. He told the young man to think about his grandparents and great grandparents who not only struggled through the Great Depression for 10 years, but also battled through World War II and other wars. Seems like wearing a mask for a year or so might not be quite as tough. Just think about what some of your ancestors had to go through just to get to America and create a life here.

Fox caught

If you think you might have seen a fox roaming the town, well, you were right. Ed Moreno says he discovered there was one living in the crawl space of the Dream Catcher’s House next to his family’s Gentle Dentistry practice on Route 6. He set live traps and actually captured the critter. He said it has to be euthanized as the trapper said it was very weak and mange.

Halloween coverage

Was thinking about Halloween coverage this year and not being able to cover the city park department’s annual trail event because of the COVID-19 crisis.

So please, parents, if you get a chance take some pictures of your kids dressed up for the holiday and send them to us. We may not be able to use them all, but we will use the best photos. Don’t forget to include their names and faces, please.

Onward, upward.

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