Ho Ho Ho,



Hello out there all people of the world.



This is Santa and I just wanted to let you know that Christmas may be a little late this year.



See after checking all the boxes and tallying them up, I found some problems with the results.



The first result showed:

428,534,120 Good

428,523,119 Bad



The second result showed:

428,534,118 Good

428,523,121 Bad



So you see, I can't, with good faith, go out and deliver presents while knowing I could have made a mistake. Maybe Little Johnny was good for once, then again, maybe not.



So, I have enlisted the help of all my elves and the Mrs. to

help do a recount. We hope to have this finished up by 5pm on the 24th of December, but there is a possibility that it might take longer. You see the tally cards were not quite  clear to me, although I made them my-self, I forgot what they meant.



You know, Good...and Bad??? And the check marks I used were not all the same, some went left, some right, some were just a mark. some went through both boxes, and some didn't even have much of a mark on them. I leave it up to them to decide what I meant.



So if you wake up on Christmas morning, and there are no presents under your tree, at least you can tell the kids the story. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these times,



Santa

This election was so exciting! The entire country was excited and eagerly watched the outcome. Who would have though it would be such a close race?



I feel, however, that the way it is ending displays candidates and our country in a bad light. Al Gore, had he won through one of the recounts, would have looked bad for the next four years. I think if he had conceded the election and run again in 4 years, he probably would have won by a landslide.



I believe either candidate would do a fabulous job as president. I voted Democrat, because I thought Al Gore could run the country the way I think it should be run.  I believe the government should be more responsible for the citizens. I believe that there are certain HUMAN rights, such as the right to survive, the right to medical care, the right to food and shelter. If the government does not get involved in the lives of her people, how can the people be expected to get involved?



I'm ashamed that our country, once held in such high esteem, has fallen so far. I'm ashamed that Yoko Ono describes living here similar to living in a war zone. I'm ashamed that there are people living on the streets, without warm clothes, a dry bed, or a full stomach, while men and women convicted of horrific crimes are "entitled" by the Constitution to these same HUMAN rights.



And I am ashamed that the problems are so deep and so ingrained into our collective psyche that we take it for granted. We have become a cynical people, jaded by our own desire to be aware of everything. How many of us had to have a wake-up-call about the horrors going on? I know I did. It's a terrible thing to think that if the children of this generation are already so jaded and careless, that they are our future.



A call put out into cyberspace: which candidate, Al Gore or George Bush, which one do YOU think would do the best job? Who can help BEGIN solving the problems of the world?

What happens when a president gets elected in years ending with zero (which of course happens only every 20 years)?



1840: William Henry Harrison (Died in Office)

1860: Abraham Lincoln (Assassinated)

1880: James A. Garfield (Assassinated)

1900: William McKinley (Assassinated)

1920: Warren G. Harding (Died in Office)

1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Died in Office)

1960: John F. Kennedy (Assassinated)

1980: Ronald Reagan (Barely Survived Assassination Attempt and left suffering from Alzheimer's)



Perhaps, whoever loses Florida shouldn't protest too much.

I would agree that prison life is too easy for convicts.  I would argue that it is unfair for someone who  took away the constitutional rights of others to be given 3 meals a day, shelter, and respect, while the people who were wronged have to struggle to support themselves and their families!



Example:  my ex-boyfriend went to prison for nearly a year.  We had broken up, and were only on speaking terms.  We have a son together.  While he was in prison, he was fed, clothed, and sheltered.  He was educated, earned his GED.  He had access to a fully loaded workout facility.  He had free medical treatment.



I was a single mother, making $9.50 an hour trying to support my infant son.  Out of that $9.50, I had to pay rent, car insurance, and health insurance for both of us.  I lived with my brother, so I paid rent on a weekly basis, and it was pretty cheap - $75/week.  Health insurance was about $45/week.  So right off the bat, I had $120 gone from every paycheck.  Then you have to add in food, formula, gas, diapers, wipes.  I can't tell you how many times my mother saved my butt.



 Bring back the chain gang!  Make convicts work for their food - put them on work farms!  Don't let them sit around with better amenities and LUXURIES than we do!  They  took away someone's constitutional rights.  That's why they're in jail.  Make them really pay.



Now, I don't believe in Heaven or Hell, and I respect the opinions of others.  My life has not been a cakewalk, but I've adapted, improvised, and overcome a lot.  If I were a politician, I don't think I'd last long because I'm too opinionated when it comes to real life issues - I can't be wishy-washy like the people in Washington seem to be.



You could argue for the side of the convict - what about the person who is innocent, but is wrongly convicted of a crime?  YOU KNOW WHAT, CHANGE THE SYSTEM AND CRIME RATES WILL GO DOWN.  And personally, I would prefer the system that errs on the side of the people, not the side of crime.

I have no problem with paying my taxes.  Once.



What I have a problem with is paying taxes on the money I make, and then paying taxes on every purchase I make with the money that is already taxed.



Therefore, if one of those steps is eliminated, I'm all for it.



Besides which, our taxes do not pay for nearly enough.  I still have to purchase my own health insurance, even though that part of my income is not taxed.  In other countries there are many more benefits received by the citizens, because they pay taxes.



I pay separately for my water and sewage, it does not come out of my taxes.  The roads I drive on are paid for by the tollway system my state uses.



Until the time that a utopian-mindframe comes to America, people will complain about taxes.



So add my name to the list of complainers and whiners.  The Bill of Rights allows free speech ... and that's my opnion.

It's a great idea, and I'm all for it, but it will never happen.