Tea and Parties with Grandmother Hughes and Josh Hamilton

Every summer I take my 81-year-old grandmother to Books-A-Million. Armed with her list of about 20 books from Glenn Beck’s recommended reading archive, I spend the next 2 or 3 hours looking for each book. I pace down aisle after aisle, checking off books from her wish list, but only if they are the paperback edition- she refuses to pay the extra, “outrageous” costs of hardback books.

            Many of the books deal a lot with America’s past and our history as a nation. While I’m here in Austin Grandmother calls every time she finishes a book to let me know her big epiphanies and interesting facts she took away. She recently finished A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. Grandmother climbed right up on her soapbox and let‘er rip! She started with a good introduction to the book and then promptly skipped over Christopher Columbus saying, “You know the 1492, ocean blue rhyme and that’s all that really matters.” She then laid into one of her favorite topics, the American Tea Party movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dale_Robertson_Racist_Sign.jpg

            The basic principals of these Lipton lovers are; 1) cutting back the size of government, 2) lowering taxes, 3) reducing wasteful spending and the national debt and federal budget deficit, and 4) adherence to the United States Constitution.

            This describes my Grandmother to a tee. It sounds fine and dandy to me, but then I started looking at some of the controversial moments regarding the party and movement. Most striking was Dale Robertson’s infamous sign at a Tea Party event on February 27, 2009.

            There are really two tragedies in this photo- the fact that a movement, which could do great things for America, has lowered itself to using racial slurs and the shirt that man is wearing. Wearing and saying tacky, disrespectful things does nothing for America.

            After Grandmother Hughes stops freaking out over the Texas Rangers and Josh Hamilton, I’m sure we’ll finish our conversation about the Tea Party movement. I will be interested to hear how she feels about that delightful little sign.   

She’s a Witch?? Thank You Hocus Pocus

http://gapolitico.com/?p=14883

This week all eyes are on the election races in the swing states. One of the big races to watch is found in the small state of Delaware.

The shoe needing filling here is Vice President’s vacant Senate seat. The two candidates up for this spot are Republican Christine O’Donnell and Democrat Chris Coons. The pair faced off in a heated debate at the University of Delaware in Newark last Wednesday.

The campus had many political activists roaming its premises on the day of the debate. Some were students, but the vast majority was way past college graduation. Students of the university could be seen not far off from the debate’s location; however, many of them admitted that they had not been following their state’s election race.

This is pretty strange since the uncovering of O’Donnell’s past of “dabbling in witchcraft” has been parody on shows like the Daily Show and Saturday Night Live.

With so many students clearly uninterested in the race, the elusive solution to getting the youth to vote still remains unanswered.

I got me thinking about my own life. I’m going to vote this year for the first time- I finally reached the big-one-eight in time. With so many students remaining idle in their political opinions, the trap here is to either vote for whom your parents would vote for or just not vote at all.

I realize that I can’t just focus on the candidate I feel like I identify with most. I have to look at both opponents thoroughly and then, make my decision. For those who remain idle during this election and DON’T vote, I don’t want to hear any lip about higher taxes, crappier education systems, or government overspending.

http://joshhaley.com/2007/10/25/comment-or-die/

I don’t want the University of Texas at Austin to follow in Delaware’s footsteps. I also hope that no one in class is so disinterested by politics that they are counting ceiling tiles during our presentations either. Try to find the facts and in the words of Puff Daddy, VOTE OR DIE… or just don’t complain if things start falling apart. 

My Mom Loves George Clooney

            My family is absolutely ridiculous and so are the things they say, but I love them. I’m very close to all of them and they call everyday. They don’t talk politics on every call, but at least once a week I will get some “political words of wisdom”.  Like today…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2560116/George-Clooney-denies-texting-Barack-Obama-advice.html

            My mother called at 5 pm. I could hear the familiar sound of Fox News in the background, which meant Judge Judy had just ended. Mom asked if I had heard the big news of the day…

            “Oh my gawwwd my man George Clooney met with Obama today! Maybe he bring peace to the White House.”

            I finished up talking to my mom and wondered why George Clooney was at the White House, so I did a little investigating. Clooney is a big supporter of the Enough Project, whose goal is to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity especially in African countries like Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.

            Obama wanted to meet with Clooney to discuss his recent trip to the Sudan.

            "I think we're very impressed with how involved, at the highest level, this administration is,” said Clooney. “Now our job is to try and continue to keep it in the press…”

            George Clooney’s quote really shows how diverse PR can be. It ties public relations into politics, human rights, non-profit, and even entertainment and celebrity. 

The Intro Entry: My Family Is Politically Folked-Up

          When it comes to politics, my family is an interesting background. I have a loud-mouth, know-it-all dad who, to put it nicely, "doesn’t care for" Obama. My mother is a self-described “reserved moderate”, meaning she’s shy and just wants everyone in Washington to get along. My Father loving calls her D.C.'s Miss America since all she wants is "world peace". 

         My paternal grandmother is pretty much in love with Obama and every other democratic president the U.S. has ever had. My step-grandfather once said he would rather be “a plucked chicken in the rain than a republican.” 

        My 88-year-old great-grandmother is famous for saying that if only she were a few years younger she would have been the first lady when Bush was in office- she also calls President Obama “that mean 'ole colored man”.  And my maternal grandmother doesn’t own a book that hasn’t been recommended by Glen Beck. 

         This blog is dedicated to their political "words of wisdom" and the stories that they find newsworthy-enough to call and tell me about.