Empty Gesture/and I saved a life

It was 101 weeks on Saturday-and I will stop counting when I get to 104-two years to the day since my life changed forever.

I was going to write something else, but I will probably do a two-parter today. That is due to the slaughter of 12 people in Colorado the other day. It really upset me-as it upset so many other people.

I said that I don't like-or trust-Barack Obama, and I am sticking to that. He hasn't done a decent job since he took office-and when he looked into the cameras and took sole credit for getting Bin Laden-something that wasn't his accomplishment at all, but for which he took responsibility-I decided that he doesn't deserve my vote. In fact, he doesn't deserve any thinking American's vote. After all, he didn't take responsibility for the banking disasters, or any other disasters in the last four years, for that matter. He pats himself on the back for all the good things (most of which have absolutely nothing to do with him), but neatly avoids taking responsibility for any of the bad things. Typical politician: a low-life to the end!!

Obama took himself to Colorado to meet the families of the victims of the lunatic's slaughter-and his gesture was so empty, it was pathetic. Oh, as a father and a husband, his heart went out to the families. Of course, it went out during an election year. Empty gesture, indeed. Empty and completely meaningless.

It would have meant something if Obama had pushed hard for the gun control that the United States needs so badly. Gun control: very, very strict gun control, in all 50 states. Screw the NRA, there needs to be something very strict when it comes to carrying and using weapons. And the law needs to be airtight and strictly enforced; anyone caught using weapons should be locked up without the possibility of parole until they are, say, 75 years old. If they kill anyone, bring back capital punishment.

Slaughters, as we know, have happened in this country-and on the Continent. The only way to stop this from happening again is to throw the perpetrators into a cell, lock them up, and throw away the key. Until the peanuts like Obama actually take some kind of decisive action (which he won't do-we all know what a weenie he is, after all), slaughters will keep happening.

I've been a Democrat for years-but I'm not voting Democratic this time. And the only way people can take a stand is to vote: force the weenies in charge to do what WE want them to do. After all, we are the ones who are paying them to serve us; it isn't the other way around.

So, part two of this two-parter is to say that I saved a life on Sunday. No, it wasn't something heroic, like stopping someone from being run over by a bus, or from throwing themselves out of a window. Actually-it was a spider. Yep-you read it correctly: a spider. Now, those of you who are scared spitless (notice how I cleaned that up!!) of anything with multiple legs will understand that, when I see a spider, I immediately get a can of Raid and blast the hell out of it. I nearly asphyxiate myself in the process, but I keep spraying until the thing is on the floor-then I stomp on it just to make sure it is dead as a dodo.  Of course, I do gas myself in the process, but I then can rest assured that the thing is deceased.

So I bought this thing called a spider catcher. It consists of a solid(ish) handle which encloses a battery, and an on/off switch to activate some suction. It isn't strong enough to take the skin off a rice pudding, but should (in theory) pull the spider into a plastic tube (of about 12 inches long), without harming it. Then there is a plastic cover-and you are supposed to take the thing outside and chuck the spider into the garden.

Well, I saw a spider that was about the size of a penny. I decided to test the spider catcher-and I had a can of Raid with me (just in case). Well, that sucker didn't want to leave the wall-but I persevered, and the thing went into the plastic tube (a clear tube, so you could see exactly where it was), I put the lid on, and took it outside and shook it (holding it well away from me), and there it went, into the garden. I was very pleased with myself.

I have to say that this will only work with really small spiders. The big ones (and by "big" I mean anything larger than a penny), and the ones that are the size of dinner plates, require some more drastic action. Even Raid will gas me, but not hurt them. So they need a brick, or a rolled up newspaper (a thick one). Or, better still, a flame thrower.

Meanwhile, I am going to buy another few cans of Raid-just in case!