About Facebook

      

       If I were to be honest, I would tell you that although I appreciate blogger, e-mail and Linkedin, that I really don't enjoy Facebook much.  Because my new book "Portsoy Woods" has been released, I committed with the publisher to spending six hours a week on social media in its promotion. Only in Facebook can you arrive, be spammed with hundreds of people you don't know wishing to friend you. I accepted them, because this is how you make connections and sell books. Within minutes, two men claimed to love me (based on my book cover picture), one Middle Eastern man wanted me to deposit money in his account, and one man became angry because "I wasn't spending enough time with him online".  Only on facebook can you lose rating by not responding to your "new friends" quickly enough.  Yesterday, I was signed up to a pornographic group there without my permission.  With twenty minutes twice a day spent there, this is just a chance I will have to take. I don't know if this is translating into books purchased or not. A lot of the people who contact me don't seem to read or respond in English very well. It might be that the book would be too much of an effort for them to read in the first place. I don't really understand how spending time on what seems to be a dating site is going to help my book sales. But then, that's just me. Your own mileage could vary.

           If you are genuinely interested in the book, "Portsoy Woods", these are links which would enable you to read about it or purchase it. I would actually converse with someone who wanted to talk about that !

http://booklocker.com/books/8874.html

www.portsoywoods.blogspot.com

 https://www.facebook.com/Janebecomesanauthor/







 

I Cannot Recollect Such a Contentious Election

          

Photo: Science Daily

   My parents had a rule in that they did not discuss politics or religion in public. Of course, they discussed various aspects of both with friends, but not in public places within the earshot of others.  I used to think their stance was excessive, but now, I am thinking how bright and wise they both, in fact, were.

                This week, in numerous public places people have begun arguing with one another regarding Trump and Hillary Clinton.   Clinton supporters can't believe that others would be in total support of a man they think is a racist and anti-woman, and some Trump supporters can't believe that others would be in support of a woman who sold influence during her tenure as Secretary of State, allowed State Department employees and a diplomat to be killed when no aid was sent to them in Benghazi, and who illegally used a private server to keep her state department e-mails from the prying eyes of government oversight.  In many places such arguments have become insulting, loud and progressed to fist fighting. Police have been called.

               Yes, it's a crucial election.  With the US in 20 trillion dollars in debt, and with Russia actually verbalizing that gearing up for war against us, people are on edge and they are less than rational.

                Do as much research on these people as you can.  Then make your decision. Keep your mouth shut while you are doing it, and this includes pollsters too.  Your choice is a private one, and your car shouldn't be torched for it, and increasingly, it could be.

My Recollections of Tim Kaine

                 

Tim Kaine and his wife Ann Holton, as hosts to Queen Elizabeth in 2007 / AP Photo/Bob Brown, Pool

              This morning I awoke to hear that Hillary Clinton had finally announced her vice presidential running mate. She selected Tim Kaine from Virginia. (She has selected a gun owner who opposes abortion.)

                        Even with the illegal and unethical use of a private server aside for a moment,  Hillary is a particularly unlikable sort to many. Therefore, the selection of someone who is perennially gracious to everyone is a good pick for her side.   Having lived in Virginia now for more than twenty-five years, Tim Kaine is familiar to me. Although I generally identify with Republican objectives, I am friends with a number of Democrats. I consider Governor (Lawrence) Douglas Wilder, for example to be one of the finest people to ever seek political office, and he is a Democrat.

                        For those of you unfamilar with Tim Kaine, those of us who lived for a time in the Richmond area, are very familiar with him.  Tim is a law graduate of Harvard who came to Richmond to work as an attorney.  Tim Kaine is a gun owner and most people who used him felt he served his clients as a fair housing law attorney, well. He is also fluent in Spanish.  He is catholic and he and his wife have attended a catholic church in Richmond which is mostly of African American membership.

                        Tim Kaine is married to the former Ann Holton, who has worked as a juvenile and domestic relations judge. They have three children.  Ann is the daughter of a Virginia governor.   I remember that in the mid nineties, Tim Kaine was elected to the city council of Richmond. This was a bit of a joke to us, since so many of them go on to serve jail time afterward, but Kaine made it work for him.  I remember seeing Kaine one day when I was in the process of parking at the Borders Books store on West Broad Street and Kaine exited walking across my parking space nearly getting hit.  My minivan was full of children and I remember hitting the brakes with all I had.  Tim Kaine turned around, realizing what had happened and was broadly smiling as he mouthed "Sorry !"   I have often wondered what would have happened to him had I not been paying quite such good attention that day.

                    Over time, we raised all four of our biological children and adopted another.  Tim Kaine continued up the political ladder. In 1998, he was elected as Mayor to Richmond.   By all accounts, even those who opposed him, said he was both personable and charismatic.  He speaks easily and gives the impression that he has all sorts of time for you.   In the early 2000s, I remember Kaine being elected as the Lieutenant Governor.  By 2005, two of my kids were in college, and Tim Kaine crossed a parking lot at my eldest son's college, where he was walking alone, simply to shake his hand and ask him for his vote in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Kaine won.

                  A friend of ours had worked for Kaine and done significant work there, and had been promised a position in the new administration, but that position was never offered.

                    I will never forget Kaine and his wife Ann in 2007 as they hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.  Kaine and his wife kept patting the Monarch and Prince Phillip on the shoulder. Each time they did, the Queen and her husband looked shocked, but the Kaines never seemed to catch on.   Seems they did not know that you don't touch the Monarch unless she reaches out to shake your hand.

                    Kaine was the Democratic National Committee chair in 2009, and went on to be a US Senator. All this time, he has taught law part-time at intervals at the University of Richmond.

                    Kaine has done a credible job with whatever the undertaking and even the opposition likes him as a person.  It's unfortunate that his chance to run as a vice-president candidate is marred by running with someone with an overwhelming amount of negative baggage.  Perhaps the Democrats can flip the ticket making Kaine the presidential candidate, as Kaine has no scandals, potential pending indictments, closet skeletons, medical issues which make him unsuitable to run, or impairments to the receipt of a top secret clearance as does his running mate.