TEXAS TRASH OFF 2014: "SAVE THE DATE!": SATURDAY, APRIL 5th, 2014!

(☝Official Texas Trash Off web site☝):

Saturday, April 5th, 2014

Start time at 8 a.m.
Please RSVP
(To: Eva or Dora)

2014 marks 11 years that our
family/group has been part of
"Don't Mess With Texas"
&
"Adopt-A-Highway"
Awesome feat, everyone!
Hoping for a huge turn-out.
More details later for possible
post-event gathering.

Dora's Corner: Just Writing to Vent and to Update!

 Well, I have been AWOL for a while in regards to posting anything (mainly what I lovingly refer to as my "poli"-toons) on this blog.  Actual writing has not eluded me for what may seem obvious to most; not been lazy or lackadaisical...in lieu of writing I opted for cartoons.  These days when most are using smart phones, the cloud and social sites to connect, you have to get their attention right away because let's face it, folks, attention spans are in decline and diminutive in  comparison to life before the e-highway and e-gadgets as we now know it.  Maybe we are a lot dumber because we seldom do our own research...we are so quick to pull out the gadgetry and find quick answers.  Then instead of learning what we pulled up via Google, Yahoo, Cha-Cha, or (mon Dieu) Wikipedia, we copy and paste (the good ole C&P) or just quickly recite a couple of lines; never having learned what was pulled up.  That is dumb because we prevent ourselves from actual learning. 

ANYWAY...

That is reason enough for me to give up editorials and such for a nice, clean cartoon or caricature.  I must admit it takes longer to draw than to write but sometimes I get too wordy and go off on a tangent and failed to get to the key point of my post(s)...like now.  LOL as one would write in those awful social sites that seem to enrapture our thoughts and time too much and too often; not many are free of the addiction that these social sites seem to entice us all with and before we know it we are spending valuable time trying to be cool and trendy via a status update or tweet or whatever.

OOOPS - another tangent - my bad!

The reason for this post was to explain or get off my chest why I have been neglecting posting on this blog and my other personal ones...simple: a new computer - a desktop (H/P All-In-One) for us this time instead of the laptops which Sara and I had grown accustomed to for years.  This DT is loaded with many options, features and is impressively streamlined to the nines.  The OS is powered by Windows 8, has the latest, greatest amount of RAM with AMD/Radeon processor; duel core (a mouthful, isn't it?).  The programs are awesome when one starts getting familiar with them, but at the start it is all intimidating.  The Cloud, Skydrive, new versions of Corel Office and Windows Office is good but so high tech; too much to learn at once...the options are varied and IMO too many, but like Mama used to say: 'better to have too much than not enough'!  

Okay, okay...so now to get to the core (pardon my pun) of my recent problem...

The 'painter' program I once used when we (Sara and I) had Vista is absent from this DT so I either need to buy it or try it for free on a trial basis which I have yet to do.  Why?  Most users of the current version via Windows 8 do not like it at all and it seems it comes with glitches.  So for now I perhaps need to fully teach myself the Corel Paint-shop XP9.  The few times I have fooled with it in mere acquaintance, it has done nothing more than just piss me off.  Apologies, folks, for the expletive but it is just how the rotten program makes me feel and for now I truly despise it.  If there was one piece of advice I could offer up to MS is bring back the 'painter' program that you used to provide with earlier versions of Windows!  Until then I am going "cro-magnon" and drawing the old-fashioned way (pen and paper).  I have several cartoons just waiting to be uploaded but I have to wait to scan them since I cannot lug this DT into our office where the printer/scanner is located.  This DT, by-the-way, is a 23" so moving it is so NOT optional.  Our laptops are both currently eligible for disability...really, they are; both stuck in some kind of electronic purgatory from which I cannot save them.  I have tried all I know, but they remain in the electronic "black hole".  I hope we can get them fixed esp the one I was using to draw my e-opus(es) with because I am tiring of trying to get e-savvy with a simple paint issue getting in my way.  Plus, I miss posting the drawings because my writing gets away from me.  Proof: this post which I intended to be quick and to the point just became almost an op-ed page.  LOL!

Gun Control: NRA, Right-Wingers, Neo-Cons, Green Party...What If They Had Their Way For Teachers and School Admin To Carry Weapons During School!

2012 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: WHY OBAMA WON RE-ELECTION: GOP = GRUMPY, OUTDATED PROBLEMS!

It's Too "Randy" To Blame Superstorm Sandy: Pat Robertson And The GOP Daring To Blame Storm In Lieu Of Accepting Blame and Their Out-dated Ways!

Love Them Dems: President Obama Loves The LGBT!

My Fearless Prediction: President Obama and VP Biden Will Win Re-election! Electoral College: POTUS Will Wind Up At About 303!

President Obama 303: In My Fearless Prediction, POTUS Wins Re-election and Reaches 303 In Electoral College.

November 5, 2012 - 10:29 PM (CDT)

NOTE:

In my fearless prediction, I say President Obama wins re-election and at least reaches 303 in the electoral college - the process not an actual place.  LOL! 
If Florida's or Ohio's Republican Governors, Secretary(s) of State, and election officials don't muck things up as they have done in past years and most recently in weeks and days leading up to tomorrow's election, we should know by tomorrow night if President Obama will return to star as our champion in cause.  I say he wins because we are tired of the b/s and the lies spewed by the right and Romney's strong disconnect with the "47%", with women, with Latinos, with college students, with the middle class, with the poor and despondent, with the LGBT community, and with the elderly.  Pretty much the majority of this awesome country does not really like, trust, or understand Romney therefore we cannot support him thus we will not be voting for him.  There's no hate for him (not like the kind the right has for President Obama), we just do not 'get him' and that is his fault for being the biggest flip flopper of all time in politics and such a good liar.
Like I stated, we should-should-should know if POTUS wins re-election by tomorrow night, but everyone needs to get out and vote regardless of long voting lines and such.  We have seen voters in other states have to wait in long lines thanks to representatives and officials whom I referred to above but there they were waiting and in places where the voting places were shut down early for one stupid right-winged/GOP-led reason, the voters remained until the officials re-opened the election place.  Americans are strong and strong-willed and we will not be stifled or denied our rights.
Per the cartoon I drew on my Political Blog on October 6th, 2012...let's not forget Florida 2000.  You know the presidential election when one Gov Jeb Bush (W's brother) and Florida's SOS Katherine Harris purposely screwed up that presidential election which led to things ending badly for Al Gore who won the popular vote but because of the electoral college and Florida's muck-up, the U.S. Supreme Court "selected" George W. Bush as our 43rd president.  We need to vote and "elect" our president and not leave things up to any court to "select" one for us - not again!!!

2012 Presidential Election: Obama's "Last Hurrah"!: POTUS Gives Last Campaign Speech Of His Career In Iowa!

November 5, 2012 - 10:15 PM (CDT)

It was an awesome speech and an awesome event to witness for me if even from thousands of miles away via the television (MSNBC).  It was a somber yet uplifting speech.  Somber for me because it meant it would be the last time we would witness President Obama give a campaign speech but uplifting because he still has another shot at another four years to serve us and to make things way better for us than what the right does.  

I realize that although for the last four years many of his ideas and promises have been thwarted (thanks to the right) and have taken longer to come to fruition and many not yet implemented or enacted, we still have someone like President Obama to champion for us.  Yep, he is our champion, our voice in Washington...for the left, even for the right, for the elderly, for the poor, for the middle class (which is decreasing), whether you support him or not, if you are not wealthy, this man is your champion - your advocate.  The hard-right, the Neo-cons, the wealthy...they have lobbyists and big money on their side to fight for their cause (which usually benefits the wealthy and only the wealthy) and to ensure that their ideologies and voices are heard and brought to fruition of some sort.  The rest of us need representation like that and if Mr. Obama wins re-election as I predict he will (E-303), it gives millions of us something to be uplifted for and another four years to look forward to as Obama will surely be more able to get more positive things done for the sake of our country.

Yes, indeed it was a wonderful speech to witness this late evening as President Obama gave thanks to the millions who have supported him for the last four arduous, difficult years.  But oh so uplifting as we heard him speak so eloquently and honestly about how his work - our work was in need of finishing as he asked for four more years.  At one time he quickly yet gently brushed aside a tear as he appeared to be fighting his emotional side from superseding his words, he reminisced about how it all began back during the primaries when few knew him much less how to pronounce his name.  It all began for him in Iowa in 2007/08 as his newbies to the political arena and himself began the trek at trying to just win the Democratic nomination first which was starting to look stark and all too daunting but his second wind literally and figuratively began thanks to his supporters and voters in Iowa.  Thanks to one supporter in Greenwood, Iowa Edith Childs he and his staff got their second wind through her battle cry known as: “Fired up! Ready to go!”!!!  We all know how things turned out and here we are again four years later ready to re-elect the best person for the job of POTUS!

It was a chilling experience, a good one because it literally gave me chills and inspiration as President Obama gave his final campaign speech of his career, but I reminded myself to keep things in perspective to that one fact because if things go as I believe, we will see President Obama in the Oval Office for four more years.  It was the campaign speeches for himself that has come to an end, his "last hurrah"...his work as POTUS has just begun for the next four years if voters do the best thing for our great nation tomorrow night and vote him back so we can all move "forward"!  Just as he was ending the speech, he did re-invigorate this supporter of his to get as Edith would say: “Fired up! Ready to go!”!!!

NOTE:

In my fearless prediction, I say President Obama wins re-election and at least reaches 303 in the electoral college - the process not an actual place.  LOL!