IN PRAISE OF THE ELECTRONIC AGE

I talked to a guy the other day who told me has no computer, because he thinks they "suck the soul right outta people's bodies" (or words to that effect). I told him he should consider moving into the Smithsonian, because he had to be the only living human being without a computer.

It got me to thinking, though, about the array of electronics that my husband and I own, even though I suspect we're pretty much "average" among American households in this respect. We have televisions, telephones, cell phones, IPODS, computers, printers, and a fax machine. We have DVD players, CD players, and one dinosaur of a boom box that I still actually play cassette tapes on when I'm washing dishes. We even have a doohickey that "burns" the music from vinyl "records" (remember those?) onto CD's.

Would you believe that we two people use every single one of the above-mentioned items on a regular basis? Is it any wonder that my poor brain is barely functioning, due to EAAO (Electronic Appliance/Accessory Overload)? I'm surprised I have time to go to the bathroom these days, much less make any kind of noticeable contribution to society. And yet, I still seem to find time to read, watch TV, talk to my friends and family by phone on a regular basis, and generally enjoy life. Amazing.

What's really amazing is that with the exception of telephones and televisions, my grandparents could never have even imagined what to do with any of the electronics listed above. Not even my parents, who both passed away in the 90's, would know what to do with most of those things.

What an age we live in. And yet I wouldn't have it any other way.

WORDS OF WISDOM BY SIGNIFICANT VOICES FROM THE PAST

I was perusing craigslist recently in search of a good, preowned piano, when I ran across a forum on politics. I was struck not only by the present-day relevancy of the words I found in the following quotes, but also by the names of those who had spoken them:

"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." [Hermann Goering]

"The unwilling, led by the incompetent, to do the unnecessary, for the ungrateful" [found inscribed on a vietnam-era coffin]

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." [ Theodore Roosevelt ]

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." [ Dwight Eisenhower ]

"History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap." [ Ronald Reagan ]

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." [ Benjamin Franklin ]

"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." [Big Brother]

MY DAY AT THE TEXAS DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

If in the fall I were given an assignment to write about “What I Did Over the Summer”, I’d surely have to include an accounting of my trip to Austin for the Texas Democratic Party Convention. I’ve been a Democrat my entire adult life, and yet this was my first convention. Go figure.

For all you people-watchers out there, have I got a venue for YOU!! At the Texas Democratic Party Convention, there are people of every race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, hair color, skin color and body type imaginable. As a big-tent kind of person, that makes me extremely proud.

I was allowed into the convention for just one day on a “Guest Pass” which I won in a lottery (probably jinxing my chances to win in all the big money lotteries that I never play). A Democratic activist who writes a REAL blog told me I was extremely fortunate to have won that pass, because her sen­ate district, which consists of 19 counties, had been given only 18 guest passes.

As guests, we weren’t allowed to be in the same room with the delegates and alternate delegates, so we were ushered into an “overflow” room. Imagine my surprise when I saw hundreds of empty chairs in a room that was sup­posed to be filled to capacity by lucky guests such as yours truly!

The speeches (which were broadcast on a big-screen closed-circuit television) were WAY more interesting than I expected. In fact, I found myself on the edge of my seat, clapping every bit as enthusiastically as I would have had I been an actual delegate. I resolved to go home and do whatever I could not only to help Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency, but also to help other Democrats win theirs.

Of course, since I live in a blood-red county in an even bloodier-red state, I doubt that my efforts will help much. But I’ll still do what I can, because as I said in an earlier blog, I want to do everything I can to make this country a better place to live for my kids and grandkids. They deserve nothing less.