It's that time of year again — and they are out there. Oh, they've dressed themselves up so we won't recognize them when they come begging this time around. There they go promising not to trick us if we'll only give them what they want. But no matter what we do, they'll turn around and pelt us with rotten eggs in the end. No, I'm not talking about trick-or-treaters. I'm talking about politicians at election time. 

Ah election time — that wonderful time of year that forces Americans to take a good look at their political system and ask themselves "where are we going and why are we in this hand-basket?" Frankly, I think the whole system stinks. And since the crooks are in charge, I don’t have a whole lot of faith that it’s going to get fixed anytime soon.

But I will still go out and vote on election day — for a couple of reasons. I love those quaint paper ballots and the ballot box that goes ‘ding’ when you turn the handle. And if you’re really sly about it, you can pocket a pencil or two. Oh, and if I don’t vote my husband says I can’t complain. And I do love to complain.

So who will I be voting for? Well, anybody but Kerry for Senator. He turned his back on his constituents and his conscience when he voted for war in Iraq and in doing so he lost my support forever. Paul Wellstone thought he had doomed his political career when he voted against the war. And as it turned out, sadly and ironically, his decision didn’t effect his political future one bit. But I believe his choice to remain true to what he believed in did matter a great deal in the end. John Kerry proved that when the chips are down, he’ll vote his career and not his conscience. And he’s not getting my support again to do it. I‘ll be writing in Randall Forsberg, a Democrat, a long-time anti-nuclear activist and recipient of a "genius award." For more information on her write-in campaign for Senate, go to www.forsbergforsenate.org

Now here is my take on the candidates for Governor:

Mitt Romney:
– His hair is too shiny.
– He’s from Utah — which as anyone can tell you is a waste of two perfectly good vowels.

Shannon O’Brien:
– A Democratic buffoon is still a buffoon.
– She does NOT play nicely with the other candidates in the playground.
– The memory of Tom Finneran’s sinister and self-satisfied smile leering over O’Brien’s shoulder after her primary victory says it all.

Carla Howell:
– I’m a-scared of her.
– She would abolish the income tax (which like a pair of wax lips, looks good but leave much to be desired once you bite into them) and gun control. Now I can at least understand the reasoning behind giving people more money. But giving people more guns? Let’s see — we’ve had a sniper killing people from the trunk of a car in D.C., pissed-off students killing their teachers in high schools and colleges throughout the nation, and a teenager in Oklahoma shooting four of his neighbors who complained about his driving (and then he drove his truck into a tree). Hmmm…do you we really need more guns?

Barbara Johnson:
– She thinks the solution to Western Massachusetts’ fiscal problems is to put some four year colleges in the area. According to Johnson, we don’t have any!

Jill Stein: She gets my vote — and not just by default. I like Jill. And here’s why:
– She is the most intelligent, well-reasoned candidate running. (She’s got an M.D. from Harvard, for goodness sakes!)
– She is not beholden to anybody and as governor would be willing and able to make decisions based on the right thing to do and not on who she owes favors to
– She won all the debates that they let her into.
– Jill gets the big picture. A few weeks back as our federal government pushed us ever closer to the brink of war, I lamented to Jill that the gubernatorial race seemed pointless in the midst of this much bigger battle. "But it is part of the bigger battle. It’s just going to be one war after the other until we take our government back from big business and corporate greed," Jill told me. "Let us start here in Massachusetts. Let’s take our government back for the people."

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of voting against what I don’t want. In this governor’s race I am voting for what I do want. And that’s why I’m voting for Jill Stein.

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