The View From Here: Lions Go Off Script; Election Ads Going Off Air

By Ken DeLaat

Truth, Lion Fans.
You were ready for Aaron Freakin’ Rodgers to steal another one in the closing seconds, right?
Just as you knew they would, the Lions were about to fold in the final mile.
But Rodgers proved more than human as he had the whole game, tossing a trio of picks to a Lion secondary that has resembled a sieve in recent weeks.
Ok it might mean nothing in the standings other than a possible escape from the very bottom of the league and the playoffs remain a dream broken before the bye week, but it was the Packers. To Detroit fans the Guys of Green Bay are like the football version of the Yankees so yeah, not a lot of love going in that direction.
But I’m telling you it was like a scripted outcome gone awry. The table was set with a drive that had its share of controversy, the crowd had readied itself for the collective sigh of disappointment, Rodgers was poised to toss a last second dagger into the hearts of Lion fans…
Then he didn’t and the Lions managed to double their win total for the season.
And entice their diehard fans such as yours truly to continue to follow the team who remains first in our hearts…
And last in the Central Division.

Ready for the election?
Or more accurately, ready to stop seeing what has to be the most ruthless and truthless TV advertising yet? And we all know how high, or rather how low, that bar has been set.
Tired of filling the recycle bin with those postcards that extoll the wonderfulness of the always honest, upright and working for you candidates? Including some with a reference to their uber-evil and puppy killing opponents?
Well, now after enough money has been spent on such things to put a severe dent in the national debt we get to find out who will be representing us in Lansing and D.C.
Otherwise known as the reality based anti-climax.
Because if any of the candidates could truly accomplish what they are promising?
By February at the latest we should have inflation deflated, crime eliminated, gas prices under 2 bucks a gallon and our guy/gal working across the aisle to make these things happen, right?
I think the chances are better that  the Lions will win out and enter the playoffs with an 11-6 mark on their way to a Super Bowl title.

If you haven’t already voted, please make it to the polls Tuesday. 
Democracy needs you.

And here are a few random election-related quotes to ponder:

“Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.”-H.L. Mencken

“Every election is determined by the people who show up.”- Larry Sabato, Pendulum Swing

“A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”- Theodore Roosevelt
 
“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”- Abraham Lincoln
 
“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”- Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
 
“When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, it becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues.”- Thomas Friedman

“The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”-Thomas Sowell

“The job facing American voters… in the days and years to come is to determine which hearts, minds and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknowing fear.”-Aberjhani, Illuminated Corners


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