by Ginger Costen

My heart has been writing this column since last Friday morning when I couldn’t stop holding onto my three year-old grandson. My mind has been putting the words to the feelings since he fell asleep in my arms and, after laying him down safely in his room, I could turn on the television that I’d quickly turned off a few hours earlier.

Watching and listening to the Connecticut State Police describe how a man had gone into the Shady Hook Elementary School in Newtown and shot and killed an undetermined number of children and adults, was far beyond my comprehension. I couldn’t understand it as I couldn’t conceive his actions having any purpose or reasoning no matter how many times the officer explained the limited details.

Like millions of other people across America and around the world, I sat frozen in front of the television watching and even hoping it was a mistake. I read the details over and over on my laptop and muttered, “This just can’t be happening.” Soon my feelings of shock turned to anger as I thought of my school-aged grandchildren and cried out, “WHY?”

Now, three days later as the story and more details have come to the surface, it doesn’t seem as easy to find just one bad guy in all of this. It’s no longer about one man; it’s about all of us and much more than the 27 families in Connecticut.

It was easy to focus all of my shock and anger on the shooter. Certainly he was evil and deserved far worse than the opportunity to take his own life. Was there more than one? Did we know who and why? What was he thinking? “Clearly he wasn’t,” was all I could say.

By Saturday morning, “the shooting” took on a different dimension. Our shock and anger was now focused on finding out whom or what was responsible for making this monster and so the finger pointing began. I read a statement by actor Morgan Freeman about the media’s role and he blamed it on how we report the news.

Mr. Freeman wrote:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single “victim” of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up," this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet.  Because they don't sell.  So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a daycare center or a maternity ward next.

You want to know what you can do to help?  You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

Is the media to blame or is it our insatiable hunger for information – both good and bad – that sells the news? It’s the media’s job to give us the news. It’s our responsibility to show that it had merit and meaning and the best way we can do that is with or without our financial support. If we don’t like how or what the media is selling; don’t give them financial support. Don’t take away the news; let the people who buy the ad space know you don’t like how it was presented.

Then it was the shooter’s mother’s fault. “What was she thinking by giving this mentally sick guy a gun?” I heard some people saying at a convenience store in Douglas. “I heard he had something called Asperger’s Syndrome,” the other replied. “He was autistic or something like that,” another added. “People like that need to be locked up,” the first man responded.

As the tears once again began to fill my eyes, I joined into the conversation. “Before you paint all people with a mental illness as horrible killing machines, please know that my precious, loving and wonderful 12 year-old grandson has Asperger's and while he may be different he isn’t a bad person,” I said as the tears fell onto my shirt. “He may not fit into the normal mold we expect the rest of society to the follow, but he gets upset when one of us kills a spider instead of taking it outside where it belongs.” I walked away as their apologies fell to the ground behind me.

On Sunday we started to see the first of the faces and hear the stories of twenty small, happy and perfectly wonderful little children and six very special adults as the two sides of gun control began a new fight.

I believe in the right to bear arms as strongly as I believe in the freedom of speech (and the press), but with both there is an even greater duty of responsibility. Not only did a man in New Jersey lose his mother from his brother’s actions, for several hours Ryan Lanza was also accused of being the shooter. Information was not grounded or verified before it was released and for that, the media was wrong. It’s our duty, no matter how arduous or time consuming it may be to check the facts. 

And now it’s Monday and “The Shooting” has taken on a life of its own. The first of the 26 (28 if you count his mother as well as his own) funerals have begun as the media is there telling us about the victims and showing us the raw pain of the communities and families. It’s still not clear to any of us why Adam Lanza chose to take 28 lives on Friday, December 14. What is clear though is to see who paid the ultimate price…

There are 27 families that will never be whole and a community, if not country, that will never be the same. At least, as a country, I hope not, for there are changes that need to come of this.

I pray that it will lead to an earnest examination of gun laws and why anyone beyond our military and law enforcement officers need semi-automatic assault rifles. Hunting is a sport. Target practice and even shooting is a sport. So just how many rounds of ammunition does it take to kill one animal? Even in Alaska, gun central in America, you can only use a standard rifle to kill a bear.

What parent encourages a mentally ill child, with a history of violence, to find enjoyment in learning to shoot any type of gun? Nancy Lanza, you lived in one of the most beautiful areas in America, couldn’t you have encouraged your son to go hiking or fishing? You were a nurse and for that alone, you knew better than to put any type of dangerous item in your son’s hands.

But as the many different sides begin the usual rhetoric, I’d like to ask anyone if they read about the 23 children in China that also on Friday, were slashed and cut by a knife-yielding man at a elementary school?  

Finally, with one more point to this story. As I wrote this column on Monday I trusted that the Facebook posting by Morgan Freeman was in truth his quote, but now on Tuesday I have learned moments before we go to print, that this was a hoax by a man named Mark from Vancouver. In a statement written by the Huffington Post Tuesday morning, “Mark” is quoted as saying "Couple of us thought it'd be funny, since it was a well written article, to attribute it to Morgan Freeman."

 I guess we’re back to where we started. I just have to keep asking, WHY! What part of the shooting that happened at the Sandy Hook Elementary School of Friday leands itself to being any part of funny? There are families that lives have been forever changed and destroyed.

Christmas, or in at least one case Hanukah, will forever have one meaning and it won’t be about presents, trees or lights. You’re an idiot Mark form Vancouver and I’m a bigger idiot for thinking I could trust anything I found on Facebook.

by Ginger Costen

I love this time of year when this crazy world seems to slow down a little and some members of the human race find a new sense of compassion toward their fellow man – or woman. I love the sparkle in the eyes of a child as they think about Santa Claus and the excitement of Christmas morning. I also love being able to cry during my favorite movie without having to explain why I’m watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” in the middle of July.

Yes, I love that sappy movie and play it whenever I question my purpose on this big blue planet; which seems to be happening on a regular basis these days.  So as I begin my 62nd year kicking up dust on Mother Earth by placing the movie into the machine and reflecting back on a life that may or may not have been all that wonderful.

 While I may have been born in December, there certainly weren’t three wise men rushing to my side with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Which, considering how it worked out for baby Jesus, it was probably a good thing.  Who knows, there might have been a bright star shinning high within the night sky to show them the way.  However, having been born in the middle of the San Fernando Valley in southern California, I doubt it would have been as easy to find amongst the light pollution from Hollywood.  And, since I wasn’t born at night and Mom had a C-section in a clean, sterile hospital I guess we really can’t go any further with the similarities of my birth and those of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

So let’s see how I compare to George Bailey and the story line of the movie.

We weren’t part of a well known family but my father worked hard and my parents owned one of those tract homes that the fictional Bailey Savings and Loan helped to develop.  Dad didn’t like his job and he hated living in a big city. Finally, after twelve years of marriage and two young children, he was just about to grab his chunk of the American Dream when a drunk driver took Wallis Raymond Sprague away from his family and a community of friends that continue to mourn his passing 53 years later.

He was a good and honest man who loved his family and even though his was a short journey, he managed to leave the world a better place because he lived a life that showed the value of responsibility, respect and appreciation for all of mankind.  He also was not afraid to show his love and vulnerability and for that I am forever thankful for if nothing else, I know how wonderful it feels to be loved unconditionally for who and not what you are.  

Being raised by a physically handicapped widow I certainly didn’t live an opulent childhood.  My mother was one of the thousands of children to contract Polio when she was 10 years-old. Although she was given the best medical care, she still never walked again and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Her doctors told her that she’d never have children but that didn’t stop my mother. In fact, there were a lot of “things” my mother was told she’d never do and she proved everyone wrong.

She graduated from college, worked a full-time job and was also active in her community.  She helped at the USO during WWII where she met her first husband.  He survived the Normandy invasion, but couldn’t survive the injuries he sustained when he was killed at the front of the Army base when his vehicle was also hit by a drunk driver. 

Her life was marked by tragedy and physical pain but I never heard her ask for nor expect sympathy from anyone. She was a proud and strong woman when being such was not well received by the rest of the world. She may not have had the legs that would carry her along the path she was meant to live, but she did have more than enough love, compassion and dignity to walk miles around those who could.

Letha Virginia Gates Sprague was a Spirit-filled loving mother that had every right to feel sorry for herself but she lived her life filled with awe and wonder at all that was and not in regret with what was not.  And for that I am forever thankful for my own spiritual strength, joy for living and ability to bloom where I am planted. 

Was  the world a better place because Wallis and Letha were born? I’d have to say yes and not because without them I wouldn’t have December 4th to call a birthday. It’s a better place because both of them touched lives far beyond my own.  While their grandchildren and great-grandchildren may never have known them, they know of their morals, values, love and determination.

They’ve learned to worship God because from Him you find the strength and moral compass to live a life filled with purpose and kindness. They’ve learned to find joy, beauty and appreciation in all that you are given and even when you don’t have enough, you probably have more than you need.

So we’re now at the part in the movie where Jimmy Stewart realizes he had a wonderful life and Clarence the Angel gets his wings… and that’s the part I love the best.  “Listen Daddy,” Zuzu (Stewart’s youngest daughter) says on Christmas Eve as she puts a jingle bell on the tree. “Teacher says every time you hear a bell ring, an Angel gets its wings.” 

It’s time to go and put bells on our Christmas tree while I thank God for giving me all the Angels in my life and for even more importantly, giving this undeserving world one very special baby.

Since it’s the week of Thanksgiving, I think it’s an appropriate time to reflect upon a few of the collective activities that have recently happened in our lives.  And… since most people can relate to food and traveling this time of year, let’s name the positive activity list “homemade pumpkin pie” and the negative list can be called “sitting on the Pike.”   

So let’s start with the number one activity at the top of my “homemade pumpkin pie” list.

Thank God the election is over!

I was beginning to fear that my television was being possessed by the Elizabeth Warren, Scott Brown, Obama and Romney campaigns. I got so tired of watching the truth get twisted to meet both side’s objectives. Did you ever think you could actually miss watching a Bob’s Discount Furniture Store television commercial? Seriously, I missed the annoying woman in the background that makes all those ridiculous movements. Such a sense of relief filled my heart on November 7^th when I heard Bob say “NO WAY, NO HOW” and the woman shook her head back and forth while waving her arms across her chest. 

Did you find yourself watching the Weather Channel before and after the “Local on the Eights” segments just to get a break from the never ending battle between the two opposing parties? We burned up our DVR minutes in just one week recording shows so we could skip the commercials.

But those groups are crafty. They knew we’d turn off television and go to the Internet and sure enough, they were waiting for us right there on every search engine.  I Googled “easy Halloween decorations” and got an ad for Mitt Romney. Every time I checked the news on AOL, Michelle Obama wanted me to wish her husband a Happy Birthday. How many does he have? Maybe Donald Trump is on to something. Don’t even get me started on the emails I got from candidates that weren’t running in our state.

How about your snail-mailbox? I needed a tote bag just to bring in the ads from Warren, Brown, Fattman and Bourque.  I can’t imagine the amount of money this election has cost the postal service in gas and human resources to process and deliver all that extra mail.

Did you think the radio was a safe place to hide? Yeah, we did too until we started counting the ads against the number of songs. Talk radio? I’ve never heard so many different opinions all trying to say the same thing. 

Newspaper? We’d better not go down that road because it could be considered a career limiting gesture.  

Okay, being a firm believer in the democratic process, let’s allow for equal time and see what’s at the top of my “sitting on the Pike” list.

Ahhh, wouldn’t you know - it’s the same thing. Why? Because, I am shocked and disgusted at the amount of money that was spent on two of the most important campaigns in our country.

Again, since it’s Thanksgiving, let’s start right here in Massachusetts where it all began.  (Hold on to your drumsticks as this maybe a real shocker.) Remember all of those Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren ads that we’re now trying to forget?  Well let’s do the math.

Per the NY Times and Fox News, Warren spent $35,694,573 on her campaign and garnered 1,678,408 votes. That’s $21.27 a vote. Brown spent $29,726,635 on his campaign and received 1,449,180 votes for a cost of $20.50 a vote.

President Obama spent $852.9 million (they round it off when the numbers get that big because anything under a million is just small potatoes) and 61,173,730 votes said Yes! to our Commander in Chief. This computes to $13.94 a vote.  His opponent, Mitt Romney spent $752.3 million for 58,167,260 votes at a bargain price of $12.93 per vote.

Since we’re known as “Thrifty New Englanders”  let’s take this hour or two we’re stuck in heavy traffic sitting on the turnpike and think not only about those figures but also about the tidy little sum of $629 million that the 1,063 “Super PACS” spent supporting their candidates.  Since the candidate didn’t buy and or approve the ads, they don’t have to add them into the campaign figures. 

Who or what is a super PAC? Did you forget about the ads from Restore Our Future, a pro-Mitt Romney super PAC that spent more than $143 million? How about American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC that spent $105 million? The biggest Obama supporter, Priorities USA Action, spent $67.4 million.   

So if you combine the approved and unapproved advertising campaigns, it reaches and impressive total of $3.234 billion (billions get rounded off too).

I don’t know about you, but that information ruined my appetite for the parties, their PACS and Thanksgiving dinner. Isn’t it illegal to buy for a vote? Isn’t it equally illegal to sell a vote? Since I’ve worked very hard these past 12 months to lose 86 pounds, I don’t want to go to jail and wear stripes or the color orange. I don’t look good in either one.  So I am objecting to the perception that I’d be agreeable to having either one done on my behalf.

Furthermore, since I neither asked to sell my vote nor wanted someone buy it, I’d like to have a say in how that money should have been spent.   So once again, let’s do the math. I voted for Brown and Obama so that equals to $34.54 for my collective votes.  I’d like to have that money spent on something this American could really believe in and knows it would help us go forward.  I’d like to have that $34.54 spent on educating our children and helping those of us who really want to go to college.   

Look at your choices and decide how much the candidate spent to buy your vote. Then think of all the ways that money could have been better spent to really make a difference in America.  Something that will help all of us all move forward.

I know when the next presidential or state campaign comes around (that’s only 765 days away for the presidential), I’m going to be watching for both the number of ads and whom the super PACS support and vote for the other candidate.

$682,000 and trips to Disneyland, New Orleans and a Disney Cruise?

The wheels on bus 784 of the Greece Central School District in upstate New York have stopped turning for the summer and soon former bus monitor Karen Klein will head off on one of her three vacations. This is, of course, after the 68 year-old mother and grandmother deposits her $682,000 tax-free check from Indiegogo.com on Friday, July 20.

What am I talking about? Ask any school superintendent across the United States and they'll tell you... Karen Klein is the newest chapter of their developing school bullying policy.

From The Today Show on NBC to Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN, we've heard her story this summer and at first I was just as shocked and disgusted as the other 8,272,494 people who watched the "Making the bus monitor cry" video on YouTube.com.

The video is one of three filmed in June 2012 which ultimately focused on a 23-year bus driver and  monitor named Karen Klein who was targeted for bullying by four middle school boys. In the third video the boys taunt and viciously bully Klein for ten minutes about her size, appearance, age and intelligence. They even tell her that if she were their mother they'd commit suicide. Unbeknownst to the bullies, Ms. Klein's eldest son committed suicide ten years ago.

Being a mother and grandmother as well as a person of size, I was brought to tears as I watched the boys poke Klein and call her names. I was angry as I heard them make fun of her appearance and perceived financial abilities. This even moved me to donate to the vacation campaign that was started on her behalf.

Within days after the video went viral, Max Sidorov, a nutritionist, author and Ukrainian immigrant living in Toronto started a campaign at fundraising site Indiegogo.com with a goal of $5,000, to help give Klein a vacation. Soon the fund had surpassed half a million dollars, and by June 29, over $670,000. According to the Indiegogo Website, Klein will be receiving all the money raised until the scheduled end of the fundraiser on July 20, 2012.

On his show the CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper, announced that he and Southwest Airlines are paying for a trip for Klein and nine people of her choice to Disneyland for a three-night visit in August. Country music star Tim McGraw is also flying Klein to New Orleans to see one of his shows while an anonymous donor has paid for a Disney Cruise.

The video prompted an investigation on the part of school officials and local police. Klein stated that she would not press charges against the students, partly because of the flood of death threats and criticism aimed at them.

On June 29, the school district announced that the boys would be suspended for one full academic year. Each boy would be required to complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens and complete a formal program in bullying prevention.

Throughout the past month something else about the video has been bothering me and it wasn't until I started reading some of the 134,914 posted responses on YouTube that I figured out why.

Klein was hired by the school district to monitor the kids on the bus. She has 20 years experience as a bus driver and three as monitor. The job description requires a monitor to maintain order on buses by enforcing district policy governing student behavior and by reporting the disruptive behavior.

If not for her own benefit, but even more so for the safety of the other children on the bus, she had a responsibility to take control of the situation and affirm her authority. Instead, Klein tolerated the abuse, performing none of her duties and leading by the worst kind of example. By ignoring the abuse, she showed the other children that there isn't any hope against the bullies. "If a grown-up can't get them to stop, what makes me think I can?"

Klein sent the wrong message to both the bullies as well as the other children. Her lack of action told the bullies they had the power; it also told the other children that they had none. I don't call that a job performance worthy of a paycheck, let alone a bonus of more than a half million dollars.

Nobody should have to put up with what Klein did... at work, at home or anywhere. It went far beyond teasing. But if she had been doing her job - the first time, the other two videos wouldn't have happened.

She needs to ask herself if she'd want a bus monitor to sit back and let the bullies walk all over an adult on her grandchild's bus? Is that the message she wants her grandchildren to learn? She should take the vacations but donate the majority of the money to a nonprofit that is helping to put an end to bullying.

Knowing how often I poke fun at our crazy communities, I'm sure some of you might be a bit skeptical when I say that I'm so glad to be back home in Websta. But it's true! For all the misgivings we have, we have even more reasons to be glad we live right here in this little corner of the world.

The first one that comes to my mind is... we're not on fire!

Need more? We're not in Colorado Springs, CO, where it's 104 degrees in the shade with 45 mph afternoon winds. Half of our town is not evacuated with no place to go. There's not an extreme fire warning fueled on by an equally problematic two-year severe drought.

Still not convinced?  Contrary to our Masshole reputation we have very friendly and compassionate people living right here in Massachusetts. There's a big beautiful ocean only an hour away and we have fall landscapes that make everyone else wish they could live here too.

Okay that's enough. I don't want anyone to think that I lost my caustic and confounding attitude just because I'd been to hell and back.

Yes, even though a few weeks early, we made it safely back home from Colorado Springs. As of this morning, Colorado Springs fire officials said the Waldo Canyon fire had burned 18,247 acres and was 98 percent contained. The fire has destroyed 347 homes and took two lives. Some neighborhoods are still closed because of the damage to homes and utilities.

On Thursday, the Colorado Springs Police Department announced it will offer a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person or persons who burglarized 22 evacuated homes in the fire area and 60 evacuees' cars while they were staying at nearby hotels.

Authorities say they've pinpointed the fire's origin but haven't released details, including whether it was human-caused. However, the National Weather Service said there were no thunderstorms in that area on June 22 or 23.

I'm not saying we had a bad vacation because, Thank God!, our children, grandkids, grand-dogs and grand-frog are all safe and while they were evacuated for several days from the Air Force Academy, their home was neither damaged or vandalized.

"So how was the trip home," you ask?

Well, since we drove home, we luckily followed the deadly storm that brought 60-95 mph winds and thunderstorms from Kansas to Washington D.C.

Did I mentioned that I'm sure glad to be home in Websta? Maybe next year we'll have the grandkids visit us right here in Massachusetts. I think the two grand-dogs (they're Great Danes) and one grand-frog (not sure where he's from) can come too.

Before I go out and hug my trees and tell them how glad I am to be back home, I've been asked to provide an update on my weight loss.

Having completed all of the required steps of group and individual therapy plus a complex and multi-faceted medical evaluation, I'm still on track for the bariatric surgery. However, I've been able to lose 64 pounds without the surgical update. I've found that the skills I've learned in both group and individual therapy have helped me to face life in the fat lane differently.

I can't help but wonder that if these steps had been part of the process thirty years ago if my journey would have been different.

Hmmm, sounds like that old "could'a - should'a - would'a" thinking is still only a thought process away. I better go check the calendar to see when my next therapy session is before I hug my trees.

Inspired by the 2008 comedy-drama film, The Bucket List, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, I made my own bucket list in 2010. Today I checked my notes to see if I’d added “Spending a Vacation in Hell” on the list. Thankfully I didn’t see it anywhere. However, it then led me to ask… So what am I doing here?

Last summer my visit to Colorado Springs was a true vacation. The weather was just right with average temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees in the day and in the 60’s at night. Afternoon thunderstorms would refresh the air and provide a glimpse into a combination desert / mountainous world that made it easy to see why so many people like living here.

This summer has been anything but a vacation.

I thought Massachusetts was having a drought until I saw the corn crop in Ohio. Last year I was surrounded by eight foot corn stalks, this year in some locations it’s lucky to be twelve inches tall or just plain alive. The drought only got worse the closer we got to Colorado.

We arrived on June 16 in the middle of an ongoing heat wave with temps averaging 90 to 106 degrees in Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas. Collectively they had about six inches of snow over the winter and the only rainstorm happened the day before we arrived. They’ve set records for both high temperatures and lack of precipitation.

Still I wasn’t too concerned as I was raised in Nevada so I’m used to dry winters and even drier hot summers. Plus, having been here before and knowing Colorado Springs is more than 5,000 feet above sea level; I was prepared for the difference in lower oxygen and humidity levels. (They don’t even list dew points in the weather report.)

On Friday we decided the best place to spend the day with our grandchildren would be in an air conditioned car visiting one equally air conditioned museum after another. On Saturday we decided to brave the elements and visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

We’d just finished the tour when we noticed the bright blue sky had turned a strange blackish orange color. The grey smoke made the area smell like everyone was burning a campfire even though it was 102 degrees. Within seconds our vacation took a very serious change in directions.

The park rangers asked everyone to leave immediately as there was a forest fire and the park was closing. The road we’d taken to the dwellings was now closed. The other roads we’d traveled the day before were also closed. Luckily we made it back to Interstate 25 and quickly found our way back to the Air Force Academy, where our son-in-law is based.

It’s been 48 hours since the fire started and it has now consumed more than 4,500 acres. Six communities have been evacuated with 11,000 people leaving their homes behind. No one has been injured nor have there been any structures destroyed, which is to the credit of 600 firefighters and support personnel who are trying to control the fire.

The American Red Cross and American Humane Society have opened shelters. All tourist sites including Pike’s Peak, Cave of the Winds, Garden of the Gods and Manitou Cliff Dwellings are closed. All 4^th of July activities have been canceled.

But wait, it gets better.

The fire is now moving closer to the Air Force Academy and with zero percent containment, it’s only expected to grow overnight as well as the next couple of days. The temperatures are forecasted to reach 100 degrees or higher for the next week with strong changing afternoon winds reaching 25-35 mph. By the time The Patriot newspaper has been delivered on Wednesday, there may be four adults, five children, two dogs (Great Danes of course) and a frog added to the evacuation list.

There goes my career as the family vacation planner.

Each year, an average of more than 75,000 wildfires burn about 7 million acres of land in the United States. Currently the USDA Forest Service is fighting 26 large active wildfires in Alaska, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Indiana, and North Carolina.

Okay, I’ve had enough. Put a fork in me, I’m done! It’s not even November and I’m so tired of the nonsense. Is it asking too much to have just one presidential election without all the drama?

It’s like a reoccurring bad dream and every four years it goes something like this ~~~~~~~~ (Pretend this is a movie so we can cue in the wiggly lines and fade back into the past.)

Two years before the primaries the political party who is currently not in office starts to crank up the drama machine. A group of political big-names, little-names and no-names start making noise about the current president saying he’s the worst thing to happen to America since the invention of the time share vacation rental or he’s (sorry I can’t say she because we’ve never had a woman elected president) to blame for everything including male baldness and the obesity problem.

For the first six months they’re content to play the “Poke the President” game. But as time goes by the group grows weary of this game and cranks it up a notch with the “Jab the Fellow Candidate” game. Within a matter of weeks they’re calling each other names they wouldn’t even think of using to describe the current president. In fact, if you take everything to heart that is said during the debates there isn’t a candidate among the group that is worth the time it takes to vote.

As the no-names fade away and the little-names hang on by a thread to a lost cause, we approach the party primaries. Now an even stronger game begins called “Whack-the-Leader.” It’s played much like the carnival game called “Whack-a-Mole.”  The final I-wish-I’d-never-heard-of-your-name candidates are busy running around in their little holes trying to make the other equally annoying people look like something no party would want. Then, when they poke their heads out of their respective holes, they get WHACKED by one of the we-never-heard-of-you-before groups.

You know the people who have never so much as had a cause worthy of supporting, suddenly find all these other like-minded friends and form a group with these impressive names such as: Our Country Deserves Better PAC and American Crossroads GPS and don’t forget the Earthjustice group. And if that isn’t amazing just in itself, they also somehow manage to find millions of dollars sitting around doing nothing (including helping the people who are negatively affected by the very premise for which they started their group) and spend millions of dollars running negative ads to destroy a person, malign a character or skew the facts to support their previously unknown and unheard of problem and unfortunately, their candidate.

Finally after 18 long arduous months of debates, debates about the debates and news shows discussing the debates we have a primary and the parties nominate their respective candidates.

Now the really confusing part begins.

All of the no-names, little-names and some of the big-names that didn’t get the party vote suddenly become BFFs (that’s text-talk Best Friends Forever) and jump on the campaign trail with a person who six months ago they didn’t think was even qualified to clean the swimming pool at the White House let alone sit in the Oval Office and hold the most powerful position in the free world.

But wait, there’s more! With this election we also get phone calls. OMG (more text stuff) do we get the phone calls. Survey groups and polling companies suddenly want to know our opinions about everything from which candidate would we vote for if the election were held today to what we think is the most important problem facing America.

Well I’ll tell you one thing; it’s not where Obama was born because you’re four years too late for that debate. And I also wouldn’t say the most important problem is jobs and unemployment because there are hundreds and thousands of people now gainfully employed… making phone calls.

If the election were held today I would vote for… no one! Yep, no one. For the first time since I became old enough to vote, I wouldn’t. I can’t believe anything Romney says because next week he’ll change his mind or his position, whichever comes first. Obama had all this energy and great ideas but within two years he sounded just like all the rest: blame it on your predecessor for the first 24 months; the other party in Washington for the next 12 months; and finally for the last 12 months, there just wasn’t enough time to get everything accomplished so re-elect me and I’ll make it happen.

They’ve got five months left to make me change my mind and it better not be on the phone or with negative campaign ads – no matter who pays for them. I may not be a powerful columnist in one of the top ten national newspapers but I do have the power of the black felt tip pen and I’ll be ready to use it one way or another on Election Day.

Oh, there’s a great web site for tracking ads, checking facts and keeping informed: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/track-presidential-campaign-ads-2012/

Let's do the good news first.

Our own Webster selectman Deborah Keefe shows yet again that she is a multi-talented person with a zero tolerance for the usual nonsense that has often become the norm for town meetings.

I appreciate the need for the meetings and fully support the premise for which our country was founded: Freedom of Speech. However when that speech seems to go nowhere and is often adrift  in a sea of befuddling nonsense, it's obvious that the founding principle has gotten lost along the path of making intelligent decisions.

At first it was fun to watch the zoo and see what pearls of wisdom would come forth from some of our most illustrious citizens. But as I got to know those same citizens and realized the mockery they were making of the very process, it became less humorous and more insulting. Sadly, it also became all too obvious as to why it's difficult to get a quorum for the town meetings.

I'd rather sit home after a long day at work and watch anyone of the numerous reality television shows than to go back out and witness the never ending Finamore and Beresik debate. At least in between segments of The Bachelorette or America's Got Talent you can run out to the kitchen and get another beer or a snack. At the high school you can't drink anything stronger than water and at this meeting a good stiff drink would come in handy.

The sad part of all this is that over the years I've come to realize that  while they may have a valid point or idea, the delivery of that point gets lost within the  ranting and continual diatribe, making most of us scratch our collective heads and ask... "What is he trying to say?"

So it's easy to understand why Ms. Keefe is so good at keeping the yelling matches and temper tantrums to a minimum when you factor in the skills that come from having years of experience as the director of a child care center.

Thanks Deb!

Now for the bad news...

No matter how you shake the dice we're going to pay for the new Park Avenue School one way or another.

If we don't pass the June 25 debt-exclusion vote and demolish the school our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to suffer. A quality education and the abilities of future generations are going to suffer.

"Oh please Ginger!," you might say. "It's just elementary school."

But it's much more than that. It's where the entire educational relationship is made for a child and parent. It's where a child either falls in love with learning or looks at school as just another babysitter from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.

For many years the Park Avenue School has been the little school that couldn't. It couldn't get funding for renovations. It couldn't get the funding for temporary additions. It couldn't get any better and continued to decline as the larger school's needs outweighed the smaller school's problems.

Well, it's time to spend the money and give this school the attention it's long deserved. It's time to build a new school and reconfigure the grades into the groupings that will best serve our community and our children. It's an easy decision when you consider the benefits and the financial return for the money spent.

And if we do pass the debt-exclusion?

Yep, the taxes are going up. Even though I'm now old enough to be considered a senior citizen (because I now qualify for a 25 percent discount at the Goodwill store every Tuesday) I'm advocating this school. Why?

Because one day a long time ago, our parents and grandparents felt our education was that important to do the same thing. They believed our education was important enough to increase the taxes so the "small school that couldn't" could be built on Park Avenue. I think we need to make the same decision and make the school everything it can be for the future generations of Webster.

It's a nice quiet Tuesday morning and I sit down at my desk to write my column fully prepared to let my inquiring mind spew forth with great knowledge and insight on any one of a plethora of critical issues that are screaming for my sharp writing skills and keen wit.

First, I like to read the headlines in the daily newspapers so let's see what's hot off the presses today.

America's role in global affairs and the continued conflicts in Afghanistan ...  Rebel forces and  Syrian soldiers exchanging one of the bloodiest conflicts since the uprising began 15 months ago... World leaders to hold emergency talks as the Eurzone crisis flares up...

Hmm, seems like the world is still in chaos.

Next, I turn to the electronic news and check out the headlines on the Internet.

CNN Money reports that wire hangers are driving up dry cleaning prices. It seems that the new trade penalties imposed on Vietnam, the leading manufacturer of wire hangers, is driving up the costs of hangers. Dry cleaners are passing on those costs to customers. The U.S. imported $31 million worth of Vietnamese hangers last year and an average dry cleaner goes through an average of 1,500 hangers every two weeks.

"No more wire hangers," I yell in my best Mommy Dearest/Joan Crawford impersonation as our daughter walks by.

Determined to be fully informed, my inquiring mind stumbles upon an army of venomous spiders invading an Indian town. According to the Huffington Post, droves of eight-legged pests invaded the town of Sadiya in May during a Hindu festival and killed two people. Witnesses said the creepy crawlies latched onto and bit anything that moved or breathed, according to The Times of India.

"Mike, how much Raid bug killer do we have," I ask as my husband is pouring his first cup of coffee.

There has to be something worthy of my mental abilities in the news.

Man dies after being detained at a Southern California Walmart store...  Mitt Romney and Queen Elizabeth share common money issues...

"Do you think Mitt Romney or Queen Elizabeth have ever shopped at a Walmart?," I ask as Mike walks back to the bedroom with his cup of coffee.

Nadya “Octomom” Suleman has booked her first stripping show at a Florida club in West Palm Beach, Florida.  It seems Octomom  needs to promote her solo sex tape, which is scheduled for a mid-June release. "My video is coming out soon and I am very excited to get out there and promote it,” Suleman said. "With 14 children I'd be excited to get out of the house too," I respond to Ms. Suleman.

I've had four children and I can't even watch myself change my clothes let alone have 14 children and expect someone to pay me to take off any part of my clothing. "Honey, if I'd given birth to 14 children would you pay money to watch me be a stripper?" I ask my husband.

"Did you call Mass DOT and update our information for the Fast Pass account?" he replies.

Not sure how one equals the other, I decide to turn my attention back to the news.

"Wow Mikey, according to the news, Cake Boss Buddy Valastro fired his sister Mary on last night's show," I yell as he passes by my doorway again. "I wonder if she forgot to update his Fast Pass account," he answers.

Being a fan of the TLC hit television show Cake Boss, I continued reading the article.

Buddy has been known to have a mouth on him, and the trait runs in the family. But after one too many instances where her mouth got her into trouble, Buddy had little choice but to pull his sister Mary aside and confront her. And, of course, things wound up in a shouting match. During the shouting match, Buddy made it clear that so long as he was alive, Mary would never ever manage Carlo's Bakery.

"I'm driving to Maine today and need to be sure the Fast Pass is working," Mike adds again, walking past the doorway.

Before I can make the call, the other failure to launch daughter yells up from the family room turned bedroom. "Mom, I need you to babysit the baby today and I need you to go to Bellingham right away as I'm going to be late to work," the voice yells through the two-story house. "Did you forget that I asked you to be the backup for this week?"

Quickly trying to find the information for both Fast Pass and my appointments for June 5, I try to explain about mother and child responsibilities. "Was that June 5, 2012?" I ask.

Before she can respond two of the three cats that the other 'grown-up' daughter brought home come running across my desk sending newspapers flying and keyboards falling.

"Killer spiders, stripping and decorating cakes sure seems like an easier way to make a living," I mumble.

With one last attempt to find something good in the world of news I turn back to the Internet.

Heroin vs. Häagen-Dazs: What Food Addiction Looks Like in the Brain... Is Häagen-Dazs ice cream as addictive as heroin?

"I give up," I yell, typing my last words.