Making sausage and politics.......Monday, the U.S. Congress refused to pass a bill that would “bailout” the lending institutions. The stock market dropped 777 points and the congress, with 12 Jewish members, took the next two days off for a Jewish holiday.

The reason I brought this up, since I usually don’t go into national politics, is that I received a telephone call from a Fort Bend gentleman yesterday who questioned the appropriateness of shutting down county government for the county fair on the heels of Hurricane Ike. I hadn’t really thought of it, but he is absolutely right. Shutting down the county for business due to the fair is silly, especially with all the other Ike-related problems still not solved, I don’t care how many years it’s been done.

When I heard that Fort Bend ISD was still taking Friday off for the Fair, I was surprised. Many of the kids had already missed a week due to the hurricane. What were school officials thinking of by taking another day off only four days after most schools had returned to classes? How many students in FBISD participate in the Fair? Or even go? 5%?

Another national political observation......Have you ever noticed that when one of the news channels get a Democrat representative and Republican representative to comment together, the Republican one is inevitable Afro-American? What’s that about? Hee Hee.

Local political observations.....We sent a questionnaire to both candidates in CD 22--Nick Lampson and Pete Olson. We got Republican Olson’s answers first and almost every question had some tacky remark about Democrat Lampson. I edited out the cutting remarks from Olson’s answers over the objections of some of my staff.

‘Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll edit out Lampson’s tacky remarks about Olson in his answers.”

Guess what? When we received Lampson’s answers, not one word about Olson was in them.

I think this is indicative of the national scene which has been the most vicious, truth-stretching, dishonest, mendacious, deceitful, deceiving, and duplicitous campaign on record. However, the Republicans seem to air the most truth-stretching ads although the Democrats are not entirely innocent. It just seems to me that the Republican campaign is the most guilty of taking things out of context and casting them in a different light than the Democrats.

Both parties play the blame game and I’m pretty tired of that. I don’t even listen to that type of stuff anymore.

Imagine my surprise.....Since I missed both conventions you can imagine my surprise when I started receiving emails from people telling me they didn’t know my daughter-in-law Lisa Fredrickson, publisher of Fort Bend Focus (along with my son Michael Fredrickson) was running for Vice-President.

Lisa does bear an uncanny resemblance to Sarah Palin, AND Tina Fey. This is Lisa:

Not only do they look alike, but Lisa Fredrickson is like Palin in that she is very conservative, and she is ambitious, highly motivated, energetic, and buoyant, much like Sarah Palin. However, I honestly think Lisa Fredrickson is more up on current events than Sarah Palin.

I’m sure we will have a lot of fun with this look-alike anomaly between now and the election.

Are you voting?.....The last day to register to vote for the November 2008 election is Monday, October 6, 2008 5:00 PM.

Voter registration applications (for new registrations or updates) are available at all post offices, city halls, and libraries in Fort Bend County. Or you can download a form at the county election site on the internet at http://www.co.fort-bend.tx.us. You can complete the form online and then print and sign the completed form. The form must be returned to the Elections Administration Department in person or by mail to the address shown on the application form. You can also check to make sure you are registered on the same site.

If you are mailing in your application, please make sure that it is post marked on or before October 6, 2008. Or you may come to the office at 4520 Reading Rd in Rosenberg, Texas to complete an application by October 6, 2008 5:00 PM.