HOLIDAYS-3 STORIES IN ONE

Yes, it is that time of the year.
I spent thanksgiving at Bill and Debbie's in San Francisco with family and friends. It had been a few years since I had been up there because of work but, it is time to continue with the tradition.
FIRST STORY - DRIVE UP.
Not a bad drive from Vegas, but it is a bit boring when you go from Vegas to Barstow on your way to L.A. as often as we do. Since we were going further North, we took the road that Goes from Barstow and to Bakersfield. Probably as boring if you drove it more than three times a year, but not for me. It is a road that traverses the high desert and goes over a mountain pass but, not before passing by an airplane graveyard. There is a lot of 18 wheelers on this two lane road which makes it a bit dangerous. It is not even a major road, since it curves and dips like waves. Of course you also want to fill up your tank before you venture into any of these roads. Gas prices are steep in small desolate towns. You also don't want to get into an accident-we saw a bad one on our way up there-cops, paramedics or fire trucks take a long while to get there from the closest town.
Next stretch of road is over the Tehachapi Mountains and down into Bakersfield. The town of Tehachapi is quite picturesque. It sits atop the pass of the same name. mostly farmers. There was this huge building all lit up at night. Not quite sure what it was. It looked like a huge power plant, probably the biggest structure up there. It doesn't take away from the beauty up there.
Once you get into Bakersfield, it is more of the same, particularly if you are driving on highway 99. Nothing but farmland and huge complexes that deal with anything that is is vegetable and edible and can be canned or boxed and shipped to major grocery stores.
We stayed in Hanford at a Best Western. Not a bad place except that there are a few trains going through blaring their horns "throughout" the night. The hotel just happened to be by a freeway and about half a mile from the train tracks. Next morning we drove from Hanford over to the "I-5" and up into San Jose. Passing through Gilroy and more California Landscape, quite unique I may add.

STORY 2-- LATER

FOX CORP HAS BIGGER COJONES!

OK.
I think I am overusing the word, "cojones" hopefully you know what it means and I promise it was the last time I typed or used it.
HOWEVER!!!!
Unbelievable but true. They are pulling out of the Murderer's plot. Now why is that?
Answer the following survey....

News media does have a:
a. heart.
b. fear of the American TV Viewer.
c. something else will come up where we can make a gazillion dollars from.
d. fear of the American TV Viewer.

If you picked b,c or d, you may be taking way too many on-line surveys. If you picked a.

You are wrong.

OJ SIMPSON

This guy has some big cojones!
If you didn't already know, he is telling you how he would have done it
Unbelievable that someone would agree to "publish" a so called story.
Unbelievable that Fox would agree to air his interview. What is he going to write or say that we don't already know? I wonder if all the people that cheered and applauded when he was declared -Not Guilty- will be buying his book. As far as I am concerned, I consider it worse than National Enquirer or anything like it and I do not even read those. Will I be watching the interview?.. Hell No!
I have to see if there is a re-run of "The Worst Movie Ever" or something bad before I watch his interview.

US ELECTIONS

By the looks of it, the Democrats got their wish. As of right now, they seem to have won the house of representatives while the senate still seems to be up for grabs. Though the Republicans may very well keep control of the senate for more "Divided Government."
Now what!
If you remember when the Republicans took controll of Congress in 1994, they were put into ofiice by an electorate that was leaning a bit to the right and fairly conservative. They basically supported Gingrich and his "Republican Revolution" based on an actual belief that the party they were voting in, espoused and believed in the same issues.
This time though, aside from the Iraq issue, the Democrats really have no base to stand on or to lead from. That is the sad part. This was an election or a vote "Against" the Republican administration as opposed to a vote "for" the Democrats.
This is truly another historical point in American politics as big as when the Republicans came to power in 1994. I believe that this is the turning point in the Iraq quagmire. There will be more pressure on the White House to come to its senses and end this mess.
There are still a couple more years left for Bush to stand his ground against a Democratic house. It will not be much more different from the previous years, since much of his Republican support in Congress and throughout the country has diminished, again due to to the Iraq issue. However, with a House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats, many skelletons will be dragged out of closets and it will be interesting to see how far they are willing to take the fight and really show that they have a back bone and a real plan for leading this country into a better place than it is right now. The Gingrich Revolution is over and lets see if the Democrats can be as revolutionary.

ELECTION

Over the weekend Olivia and I attended a "Hispanic Day Parade" that my employer and its "Diversity Council" supported.
I guess this parade was supposed to happen last month (Columbus Day, etc) but due to bad weather, the parade was re-scheduled. Of course most of the majority attending the parade were; Latin American, Hispanic or however you may refer to anyone south of the border. The parade was well intentioned becuase the theme was to celebrate "diversity."
This was quickly taken advantage of by some of the candidates running for office here in Southern Nevada. Of course, if you were a candidate for office, you would use any and every available gathering of people to get your face and name out.
The main culprit here was Jim Gibbons. He showed up in a big blue mobile home with a large entourage of his staff. They were also part of the parade and were lined up behind us.
It was funny to hear them cheering in Spanish with a "Viva Gibbons" chant. I say funny because of the stance of the candidate on immigration and the English language as the "official language of the U.S. (Nothing wrong with that) etc. It was obvious that they were just there pandering to the public. Shelley Berkley was there as well though I am also a bit surprised that none of the other candidates were not there as well. Particularly the Democratic candidates, you would have thought they would be there to show that they are concerned and wanting to be part of the "diverse" crowd. I gotta hand it to Gibbons for at least being there.