Is It This Looooooooong Election Season?

The first real rain of the season drizzled on, I presume the just and the unjust. Let’s not get into an argument over who is which.  The signal is clear—winter, darkness, chilly, wet weather are coming. As are Thanksgiving and Christmas, not to mention Halloween. When I was a kid, we did all the traditional things on Halloween. Knocking over outhouses was easier then. Hard to find one now. Some of those same people now say it is a pagan holiday. Don’t go near! Could just be fun, which someone is going to outlaw if only they could find a way.

While you’re at it, Google Christmas. It has a mixture of origins, both pagan and Christian.

I remembered this when, Linda, our yoga teacher at Benicia Fitness on First Street said that when a school in Encinitas, California started teaching yoga, protests erupted, claiming that yoga is a religion. I’ve been doing yoga for years. It hasn’t altered my spiritual outlook, though it may have taught me how to be calm and meditative, which can’t be bad for anyone.

It seems that some people are in a mood to snarl at most anything. I try not to hang out around those people.

The singer, Elizabeth Edwards was at Vino Palidini (Inn at Benicia Bay) Saturday, with her warm tones and upbeat music. Then I went to Antioch for a concert by The Diamonds, a 60s rock group-- Lots of white hair in the audience. Left me feeling mellow, but maybe that’s the opiate intended to keep us quiet and in chains.

People—citizens should pay attention to politics. It’s called self-governance, though even that seems to be getting a bit long in the tooth lately. Is this the longest campaign in history?

In regard to the Propositions, I always find the League of Women Voters of California a good source to turn to for advice. So, in case you’re interested, these are the League’s positions:

* Vote Yes on 30, 34 and 40.

* Vote No on 31 and 32

* Neutral on 38 & 39

* No position on 33, 35, 36, and 37

Yes, there is a difference between no position and neutral. The League never makes a recommendation on anything it hasn’t studied, hence the no position. Neutral positions are on matters the League has studied, but find these particular measures a mixture of things they like and don’t, so they remain neutral.

If you want more specifics on League positions, go to their website.

Finally, to leave you on a lighter note, the title of my book, Rving Solo Across America…without a cat, dog, man, or gun sometimes brings comment. A woman from San Diego wrote me recently. About the title, she said, “If you’re traveling without a man…why would you even need a gun?”