Election Gripe Shots

Election day has come and gone and the vote is is. Yes, I voted yesterday so now I can throw down a few GRIPE SHOTS. I always say, if you don't vote, don't complain about politics. Words to live by in my book. Now that the dust has settled and the party candidates are set, here goes.

If you voted, you were hit in the face with a Mack truck when you saw the actual ballot. There were more candidates on the ballot than fish in the sea. The race for Luzerne County Council actually had two pages of candidates. This was a first in my 34 years of voting. I had to keep toggling back and forth to make sure I could find and then cast my vote for my favorite candidates. When I was done, I left the voting machine wondering if I really cast my ballots correctly. It was somewhat confusing to me, a seasoned voter.

Speaking of confusion, the senior citizens at my polling place were totally baffled. Many of them spent 15 to 20 minutes trying to cast their votes and left the machines in bewilderment. This type of election was way beyond the scope of our elderly. They get confused when 4 or 5 people run for the same office let alone 15 to 20. Many of them probably thought they were counting their pills. My guess would be that many of our seniors actually didn't cast the votes that they wanted to. It was total bedlam at the polls. Even some of the poll workers were confused.

What really surprised my the most about this election was the fact that only 33% of the voting population had cast their ballots at my polling place at 6:00 pm. That is abysmal. With such an important election at hand, you would think more people would come out to vote for the future of our county. I guess the majority of people really don't give a rats ass about their government. If they did, they would have voted. It is somewhat depressing. Of course, these are the people that bitch the loudest when taxes go up. To them I say, "SHUT THE HELL UP"! If you don't vote, don't bitch! Anyway, the workers at my polling place claimed that 33% was a high number and voter turnout was good. WHAT! Voter turnout good! I say that sucks! I just don't understand why more people don't vote.

Several of our faithful Gripers have come up with a few ideas to take the R2G to another level. One of these ideas was to add a video Gripe to the web site. Every week I would toss up my Gripe cookies in a 5 to 10 minute Gripe Session right here for you viewing pleasure. What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know Personally, I LOVE IT!

Also, if you get a chance, visit the blog No News Is Good News. A former mentor of mine in the radio business, David DeCosmo writes daily about things he encounters in a lighter fashion. It is a great blog so check it out at
www.no-news-is.blogspot.com.