The yammering and blustering is reaching a fevered intensity. Stand near any operating radio or TV tuned locally at your own peril. The blasts of hot wind, mud and that smell of democracy in action will knock you into next month. And next month it will be all over except for the soft sobbing of the losers…us.
It’s general election time in Pennsylvania and airwaves and mailboxes are full of it. Come to think of it the candidates are full of it as well. Full of something, anyway. And it seems they want to spread it on us.
Yesterday would be a good example. I awoke in a pretty good mood. Snapped on the crystal set and heard the first of what seemed like 1200 political ads back to back. Try as I could I did not hear anyone telling me something that convinced me of anything. The counter in front of the radio was turning brown.
I snapped it off and headed for work. The car radio gave me the same barrage of half-truths, innuendos and outright slander. The inside of the car was soon awash in something that smelled like a barnyard. It came from the speakers. I put in a CD and listened to ancient rock and roll instead, driving with the windows down.
Worked passed as it always does. Slowly and with a moderate amount of suffering. When day was done and I was another day older and deeper in debt I headed home. A talk show host on the radio was torturing his adenoids and my ears. A politician had been caught in a lie. Dog bites man. I put ancient rock and roll back on.
The long suffering wife and I like to take the evening meal in the kitchen with the TV on in the living room. Can’t see it but we can hear it, mostly wanting the forecast. We got a sound like jackhammer. Relentless. Pounding. Destructive. The living room was bathed in an overpowering stench. I reached the off button just moments before the gas level killed the canary.
The day’s mail was even worse. I expect bad news and bills from the postman but not the crop of 8 ½†x 11†full color glossy direct mail sewage I received today. Here’s one. An old, old lady with thin grey hair holds her gnarled and wrinkled hand to her furrowed brow. The caption below claims <insert politician here> will take her social security away. It’s heartbreaking.
Here’s a news flash. The mailer was prepared by a company in Durham North Carolina. The old lady? Probably an actress, most likely sad on command for pay. I could be wrong. Can November 2nd come quick enough?
