if only we had pumpkins,...

...for sure there'd've been frost on 'em this morning.  (love those double contractions.)  28º out there according to TV's weather brain trust and the light glaze of white on the back deck as well as the sadly wilted basil plants didn't contradict that.  I'm patting myself on the back for not having gone onto the deck to risk ending up on my tail end with another recurrence of a ruptured quad muscle.  Perhaps age is imparting wisdom.

Nah, I still do plenty of god-awful dumb stuff worthy of someone 45 years younger than me.  Proof of that is that I can't even remember any of the dumb stuff I've done recently to list here.  It's just become second nature for me; I can no longer distinguish between the spectacularly stupid and the mundane..  Sort of like my proposed tag line for the insultingly ludicrous Michele Bachmann commercials (read: lies) that are running nonstop on every network and radio station.  "I'm Michele Bachmann and I've approved these paranoid delusions because they seem real to me."  I've got to get that copyrighted.

Yeah, summer's probably over and that's bad.  But at least the colder weather and earlier sunsets suggest that this painfully abrasive political campaign season is in sight of being over.  That can't come soon enough.  The spots from the purportedly smart ad guys on the red side of the ballot do nothing for me other than to elevate my blood pressure.  That's maybe cheaper than a third cup of coffee in the morning but I suspect that it's taking a toll on my mental health and, consequently, those in contact with me.  Poor Miz Susan.

I listened to the first half of the debate until the stream from MSNBC froze up and then went upstairs to watch.  That was all pretty unsatisfying.  I hate the way that Mutt is being credited for a resurgence in his campaign based on a strong showing on Tuesday night.  I think that he comes off as a rude, smirking blowhard but I would think that.  Wonder how many cups of coffee he threw back on Tuesday to come out as hyper as he was.  I met one of the neighbors in the street on Wednesday morning and we both had the same reaction.  The debate and its deconstruction by the pundits afterwards left us badly unsettled.  Neither one of us was all that comfortable with Mitt being credited for lies and bullshit and condescension based solely on having delivered them with panache.

I don't know what to think of the Dems' spin on the President's perceived poor showing as the product of being dumbstruck at what a blatant liar and smug snake-oil salesman the other guy is.  What's this?  Mitt's a pathetic flip-flopper who talks out of only two sides of his mouth because that's all he has?  I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.  This guy would crawl into bed with anybody to get elected.  Look at who he's already crawled into bed with (I know, bad syntax.).  Some of the most heinous cockroaches in the history of American politics:  Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Michele Bachmann, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum.  These are politicians who are happy to see American citizens fail as a tool to deny Barack Obama a second term.  I'm looking forward to the Thursday debate between the Veep candidates if only to see if Biden gives Paul Ryan and his lies (so far, even more blatant than Romney's) the same free pass.

How long are the Republicans going to be allowed to call an affordable health care measure "Obamacare" with it's palpable schoolyard, racist overtones?  How long are the Republicans going to be allowed to accuse the Dems of dismantling Medicare for seniors?  How long are the Republicans going to be allowed to blame the Dems for the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts and the stimulus program as bad things when, in fact, those measures pulled this country back from the brink of another Great Depression?  How long are the Republicans going to be allowed to pin the costs of two wars (entered into by their guy) on Obama?  How long are they going to be allowed to spin good economic news as bad economic news?  Oh yeah, I forgot, these are the same cockroaches who are happy to see American citizens fail as an acceptable cost to denying Barack Obama another term in the White House.  And they might get away with it.  Thank heavens that Florida has cleaned up some of its more easily recognizable disenfranchisement tools since 2000.

We'll have at least one night of respite from the obscene election wars before Election Day.  Halloween comes less than a week before the polls open on November 6th.  Whatever the fright factor Halloween might normally bring to your front door, that's gonna be pretty tame in comparison to the horror show that's being played out against the truth by the millionaires' and corporate America's toadies and lickspittles of the GOP.

And by the way, if you're one of those people who contend that there's not really much difference between the Republicans and the Democrats and that your vote for a third-party candidate is a viable option then consider Florida 2000 and Ralph Nader's effect on this country's next 12 years.  And who knows how many more down the road?