Sassy Has Merged

She's actually merged with herself. Susan has decided to combine the inner child, the giant squid, the sassy alter ego and the baby boomer all into one blog.

It's called Susan52 dot com.

Hope you'll join the sassy side of Susan, as well as the rest of her split personalities, there.

Thanks for your support.

Cash or Credit for Christmas?

It's clear that retailers are working very hard - already - to get their fair share of holiday shoppers. But don't the offers of "No payments until 2010" or "10% off when you use your store credit card" just compound the credit problem that has gotten people into the economic mess they're in today? Am I the only one who pays cash (well plastic, as in debit card) for Christmas? I'm sure I'm not.

How about "10% discount when you pay with cash" as an incentive? Does that sound too absurd? Would there be any takers? I do most of my shopping online, so I can't hand crisp, green bills through cyberspace, but I won't be taking advantage of those credit offers, either. In fact, if I knew a store was offering a discount for cash, I might actually fill up my gas tank (gas is below $2 a gallon now so that wouldn't be so bad), drive through the take-out lane at the bank to stock up on old-fashioned folding money, and hit the mall. And I hate the mall.

I want the retailers to make sales and stay in business, I really do, but not at the expense of hard-working Americans who are bombarded with temptation to "Charge it!" Next thing you know, we'll be hearing about a consumer holiday bailout plan. Will government be paying for your next Christmas?

Forget letters to Santa. "Dear Uncle Sam. All I want for Christmas is a zero balance on my credit card bill, and a lot of expensive presents that I can't afford, too." Sheesh.

Trading Places

Imagine that Barack Obama's past associates had, instead, been John McCain's past associates. I'm talking about Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, ACORN, and others you've probably heard of.

Hadn't thought about that? Diana West, columnist with the Washington Times, thought about it and wrote about what might be different if John McCain's adult background resembled Obama's.

Read her thought-provoking column here. Every American voter should read it before election day.

Joe the Plumber - Instant Celebrity, October Surprise?

I heard someone on the radio this morning say that Joe the Plumber may end up being the "October surprise" in this year's presidential campaign. If you don't know who or what I'm talking about, then you must have skipped last night's presidential debate and slept all day today.

Joe the Plumber was the hit of the debate last night and could end up turning the tide for John McCain, who used Barack Obama's conversation with Joe - Obama's own words - to educate the viewing public about what Obama's tax plan for small businesses really means.

Who is Joe the Plumber? What did Obama say that demonstrates his socialistic point of view? What's this about spreading around the wealth? Listen to the actual conversation between Obama and Joe, then watch the exchange about that conversation during last night's debate, all right here. And if you're a Joe the Plumber fan, grab a t-shirt while you're at it.

Watching the Debate

First presidential debate tonight is winding down. My impression: Barack Obama is very smart, has studied well, was quite prepared on the topics, as a good student would be prepared for a test. Senator McCain is equally prepared on the topics but brings to the platform a clear, much more clear, understanding of the issues based on experience, not just life experience but experience as a lawmaker who is much less affected by public opinion than by what he knows, by personal observation, to be true.

That experience, which can be equally defined as "wisdom," is the difference that should make the difference for those undecided voters when choosing between the two candidates. This world moves much too fast for a student to become the spokesperson for the most powerful and important nation on earth. Instead, the wise, experienced man has the characteristics of the leader that this country needs.

If I had any doubt before (though I didn't), I have none now.

She's a Winner!

Wow! I stayed up and watched Sarah Palin's speech last night then went to sleep with a big grin on my face. I said she was going to knock it out of the park, and I was right. I didn't say that the bases would be loaded, but they certainly were; Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani did a great job warming up the crowd. Since when have you seen even a convention center full of Republicans so happy?! Ronald Reagan has to be smiling down from heaven.

I've heard some commentary this morning and, naturally, it's all either on one end of the spectrum or the other, nothing in between. I suppose the ones on the negative end have to say something, but you'd think they could be more creative than calling her statements lies as some have. Of course those on the positive end just couldn't be happier. In fact, I made sure I had the radio on to hear Rush Limbaugh's opening words this morning; he said he didn't want it to end, didn't want Sarah's speech to end, didn't want Rudy Giuliani's speech to end. We knew he'd be excited, but the language needs more superlatives to describe his elation over the speech and everything surrounding it. He even mentioned little daughter Piper's loving gesture of wetting her hand (she licked her whole palm, folks, and it was adorable) and smoothing down her baby brother's hair. Speech writers can't invent "real people" gestures like that, and don't underestimate the importance of those things.

There's much more to say, but I'm still grinning so wide I can barely see to type, so for now I'm just going to savor the lingering positive vibes of the moment and look forward to the weeks to come. John McCain, no matter what happens now, you picked a winner.

Get Back on Topic, Already!

Sarah Palin is going to knock it out of the park tonight with her speech, I just know it. Think it will shut up the critics? Golly, I hope so. The Palin family issues talk dominating the press the past few days is already old, old, old and just plain wrong, wrong, wrong.

Hopefully they'll get back on topic soon; we only have two months (and a day) of election talk to go. How about discussing an issue a day, a real one. I like that idea.

Voting for a Woman

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I said I couldn't imagine ever feeling comfortable voting for a woman for president. Then along came Hillary. Now, I want to make it clear that I don't agree with Hillary Clinton's outlook on life and politics, don't agree with her wanting to put big government in charge of me and my money, but I have a huge amount of respect for the woman. She was a class act at the Democrats' convention last week and I actually almost wanted to cry when she submitted Obama's name as the nominee by acclimation; that had to be hard. Over the past six months, Hillary Clinton has changed my outlook of women in politics. Good thing because of what happened on Friday. On Friday, along came Sarah Palin.

The only two things I can think of that Hillary and Sarah have in common are that they are of the female gender and they are both in politics. Actually, I'm not even sure about that second observation. Hillary is in politics; Sarah Palin is in government leadership. Having accepted John McCain's invitation to run as his vice presidential choice, though, I suppose now she really is in politics. And I think she can handle it. Not only that, I think I'm going to feel comfortable voting for her.

Having been a stay-at-home mom myself, I have to admit to a bias toward women who choose that job. But I know that there are stay-at-home moms that don't do a bit of good for their children, just as there are employed moms who are wonderful parents. I know that being a working mom doesn't automatically curse a family, that many well-grounded families can pull off raising their children while both parents work outside the home. I know that being a mom isn't an easy job no matter what. Sarah Palin and her family appear to be well grounded, down-to-earth, nice people with nice kids. I hope that's true because Sarah already has a lot of stressors in her life and has just taken on another huge one. I want to see her succeed.

Being a heartbeat away from the presidency is an important job, far more important than most people recognize, and I have to think that Sarah Palin, already serving as chief executive of a state, considered more ramifications of that position than I could even think of before she said yes to John McCain. I'm excited for Sarah and for her family. I'm even more excited for our country. Putting country first is part of John McCain's campaign slogan. I'll be praying for strength for Sarah Palin's family, that they can stand up to that competition.

The Irreverent Jesse Jackson Speaks Again

The "Reverend" Jesse Jackson opened his mouth again. Unfortunately for him, the microphone was on.

The tape will be played exclusively on Fox News tonight, but if the "bleeped" version that I just saw on Drudge was even close, certainly the "Reverend" was far less than reverent towards Barack Obama, the candidate he supposedly supports. In fact, Jesse's quickly issued apology alone demonstrates that. Per The Drudge Report, here is Jesse Jackson's statement of apology:

For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama_s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment.

_My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.

_That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms._

Typical Jesse Speak in my opinion. I'm not sure that addresses what he said about what he'd like to do to Obama's male anatomy.

My rule, and I think Jesse should adopt it (but I won't be holding my breath) is this: If you wouldn't say it to their face, don't say it behind their back. For Jesse I might add, and always do a mike check before you open your big, irreverent mouth.

I may be sassy, but I don't cuss.

Why do people who otherwise have perfectly wonderful vocabularies feel a need to cuss? That word "cuss" may be a bit outdated, but you probably know what I mean. Call them curse words, vulgarities, profanities, obscenities, or even four-letter words (since many of them are), I don't like them, don't use them, and don't see a need for them.

The people I've noticed recently using what I consider foul language are using those words on forums such as Twitter. They're mostly "mild" profanities, but they leave me with a bad impression of the person who chose them. Thing is, most of those people are bloggers and write very good blog posts, so I know they have a probably better-than-average command of the English language.

It bothers me even more that many of the people I'm referring to are women. Profanity is bad enough from a man, but there's something even worse about it coming from a woman.

Call me old fashioned, call me sassy, but if you want me to read your blog, leave out the %&@*.