And I will make mere lads their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,
And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The youth will storm against the elder
And the inferior against the honorable.
Isaiah 3:4-5

As if it wasn't already obvious to everyone, already, Pennsylvania needs to move to open primaries.

In most states, you walk into the polling place on the day of the primary election, and you specify the ballot you want. You don't have to change your registration a month or more ahead of the election.

Not Much Happening

There's not much happening on the GOP ballot this year. Many of us who are registered as Republicans would, if given the opportunity, vote in the Democratic primary instead, in order to guarantee that there's going to be someone acceptable to vote for this fall.

Instead, we get to cast meaningless votes on races that aren't, by any stretch of the imagination, close. Meanwhile, the race between the Democratic candidates for Senator is being decided on the basis of who's more acceptable to Democrats instead of who's more acceptable to Pennsylvanians. It's independent voters who determine the winners in the fall, but half the time, they have to vote in the wrong primary in the spring, resulting in lackluster candidates running against outright objectionable candidates in the general election.

I was thinking to myself that I'd really like to have a few slices of potato bread like I had, every once in a while, when I was growing up.

This ain't it. The potato bread I remember stank when you toasted it, was fairly coarse, and had a strong flavor. This bread is soft and creamy, flavorless, structureless, not much different than Wonderbread except for the color. It's not exactly bad, but that's damnation by faint praise.

It turns out that Schmidt's potato bread, and Martin's, are almost identical, and it seems to be a good seller, judging from the space the stores give it in the stores. I suppose that means that this bread is what passes for potato bread in this neck of the woods.

And if it sells well, that means it's what a lot of people want to buy. Voting with their wallets, I suppose, makes this - and Wonderbread - winners. But it doesn't make it old-fashioned potato bread where I come from.

Next: Salt-Rising Bread

Muhlenberg has Spector and Sestak tied, with 12% undecided. Quinnipiac has Sestak leading 42-41, with 17% undecided.

Blondie predicts Spector is going to win. She thinks primary elections are decided by voters that actually turn out, and that means older voters, who have been calling Spector a Democrat running on the Republican ticket for decades - which isn't a bad position to be in, come November.

I'm not sure. Shouldn't the polls already by capturing that? They're polling people who voted Democratic in the 2006 primaries, which would be the same people that are likely to turn out this time.

In The Last Week

In the last week or so, Spector has been regaining ground lost to Sestak when he started running the "so I can be re-elected" ad. I think that ad had a lot of initial impact - but that people are starting to say, "Well, he changed parties, but he's still Arlen."

“The Internet has a lot of nasty things on it about me and I didn’t mean any harm. I’m no home wrecker. I was just trying to be funny, and I almost regret that now. [My teenage daughter] yelled at me. She said I embarrassed her. I was just being funny.”
-- Luann Haley

When Obama stopped for wings in Buffalo, Chaffee resident Luann Haley initiated a conversation with him by asking for a hug and saying, “You’re a hottie with a smokin’ little body.”

Country singer Toby Keith sings “She’s a Hottie,” with a refrain that goes, “Hottie, she’s a hottie, got a smokin’ little body.” Not everyone would be delighted to be compared to the hard-partying slut of the song. On the other hand, Toby Keith supported Obama in 2008.

In any case, for that, Luann Haley has been called the "Buffalo Cougar". For heaven's sake, Haley is 45, and Obama is 48. Aren't cougars defined as older women who approach younger men?

It's Armed Forces Day.

I remember, half a century ago, going to Wright-Patterson AFB every AFD. We'd walk around, slack-jawed, admiring the silvery airplanes, walking through the cargo planes, climbing up and looking into the cockpit of an F-104 fighter.

Not The Blue Angels

A decade ago, Blondie had a nephew flying in the Blue Angels, but since Wright-Pat was Air Force, I was more familiar with the Thunderbirds. As they arrived to do a pass only a few feet over our heads, the announcer would say, "Ladies and gentlemen, the sound of freedom" and then the roar of the jets would rattle our teeth.

It was so modern. So high-tech. I never thought about the fact that I was scared of heights and would eventually come to really hate air travel. Although part of that might not have anything to do with airplanes. I hate any form of travel where I'm not the one doing the driving. And I have to admit that having a pilot cruise around in a Cessna while I took pictures was OK.