This afternoon I attended a gathering at the Tulare County Democratic Party’s office in Visalia. The event was hosted by Otto Lee, who ran against Devin Nunes for the office of Congressional Representative for the 22nd District of California. Nunes won, but Otto made a respectable showing, even with Nunes refusing all offers to debate or appear together to discuss issues.
I spent two hours at the event, meeting a few people, talking with Otto and others, and came away hopeful for the future. In a very red area, there’s real potential for putting a bluer hue on the picture. The future may surprise Nunes, especially if he continues to discount competition for his seat. Nothing in politics is guaranteed, and taking your constituents for granted is never wise. Next election, Nunes will have been in office for 12 years, and his district has next to nothing to show for it. It’s still one of the poorest in California, with some of the highest unemployment, and that has not changed during his tenure.
I don’t know if Otto Lee will run again in two years, but I hope he does. This district could use new ideas, and a fresh perspective. Sometimes, it’s possible to be to close to a problem to see a solution, and having the viewpoint of someone new to the area might just be the fresh air we need. Regardless of whether the next election sees Otto run again, or some other Democrat steps up, the demographics of the region are rapidly changing, and the GOP has been doing everything in it’s power to run from the very groups that will dominate the future. If they don’t change, their party faces a future of marginalization and irrelevance.
Otto Lee 2014! 😉
Sometimes you just can’t tell who will be able to convey information to you and who will not. Disregarding folks who are new to an area, or just visiting, there’s still a huge number of people, or so it seems sometimes, who simply don’t know the basics about where they are, and which way is up.
Can you believe that shit? The unmitigated gall it takes to put something like that out on the Internet is just mind boggling. And they expect people to believe it! It must be that whole “Bronze Age superstition with the 19th Century con man update” mindset at work.
The fingers have been flying recently, writing letters to the editor. Our local paper, The 
I was in my handy-dandy nearby Walgreen’s today, to pick up a couple of prescriptions at the pharmacy. This was the first time I had used a new app on my iPhone, that lets me simply scan my bottle or package and order refills. How cool is that? It’s not as fast as simply going in and doing it in person, the app sends you a note back letting you know when you can pick it up, and for my order it was more than 24 hours later, but it does allow you to order things in advance of your actual drive, if you want. All in all, a neat feature, and a real convenience.
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
Sheer unadulterated bragging
November 21, 2012
Jim Reeves commentary, geek, Personal barbara boxer, diane feinstein, jeff merkley, Twitter followers, us senator Leave a comment
How’s this for self-importance?? I’m being followed on Twitter by a United States Senator! I wonder if he can get Boxer and Feinstein to follow me, too??
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