Some Simple Advice To Campaign Volunteers

Lost In The Weeds: Is this the message Zach Wamp wants to send?

It’s that time of year, when campaign signs spring up like sunflowers. I’m sure we’ll hear the usual stories about campaign signs getting stolen and I’m sure some blogger will post the usual photo of a dog peeing or pooping on some candidate's sign. Ha ha hilarious.

Anyway, here’s my pet peeve: I really really hate it when people put campaign signs in the public right-of-way. It looks tacky and trashy and it tells me that you couldn’t find a real person who wanted to show their support for your candidate. On top of which, they end up getting trashed by mowers, traffic and the sun; they always end up looking pretty battered over time and let’s face it, no one ever picks these things up. I mean cripes, I’m still seeing “Who Is Ron Paul” signs on utility poles from two years ago.

So just some friendly advice. If you can't find a real person who's proud to support your candidate by putting a campaign sign on their property, maybe you should volunteer for another candidate.

Pet Peeve Thursday

I’ve been sick for four days now and am royally pissed off. So I’m thinking a pet peeve blog post would help, since nothing else has.

Pet Peeve #1
Why do I have to risk severing an artery to take cold medication? I know pharmaceutical manufacturers are scared of wrongful death lawsuits, but putting those caplets in inaccessible packaging armed with razor-sharp edges seems to be trading one problem for another.

Whatever happened to bottles? This is one plank in the “personal responsibility” argument that I buy. If everyone would keep their pills and poisons away from their children maybe the rest of us wouldn’t have to struggle to access the dang TheraFlu caplets. At the very least give those of us without children the option of buying this stuff in a package slightly easier to get into than Fort Knox.

And yes, I blame Ralph Nader for this.

Pet Peeve #2
I will never attend any church that spends its money on direct mail efforts. Somehow I don’t think Jesus said “go forth and buy thee a mailing list.” Call me a cynic, but as a resident of Green Hills I have the sneaking suspicion that I’m receiving these mailings because of assumptions about my bank account, not the state of my soul. I wonder how many folks in North Nashville get these things?

Pet Peeve #3
To the mainstream media: what doese it take for you to go off script and quit referring to John McCain as a “maverick”? He hasn’t been a maverick since he swallowed George W. Bush in a giant “I Wuff You” bear hug.

And I know conservatives like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity are saying John McCain is a closet commie liberal, which is just hilariously funny to those of us who really are closet commie liberals (OK, that commie part was a joke, people). I suspect they are trying to set the stage for a “there’s no difference between the two parties” narrative in the hopes of breeding disillusionment and suppressing voter turnout (remember: when voter turnout is low, Republicans win).

But just remember this: John McCain is the one who said staying in Iraq for 100 years “would be fine with me.” No Democratic candidate, not even Hillary, takes that position.