Friday, August 10, 2012
www.bremertonpatriot.com | www.centralkitsapreporter.com
Page A5
Gone too soon Staggeringly stumbling trip
Fa mi l ies 2012 drunkEverything ex per ience en driving joy and pain statistics Bremerton as part of because of everyday the loss of life. So, it is their child. to be expectH o w e v e r, ed that the I cannot old will imagine the e ve nt u a l l y pain they leave us and are now livthe new will ing and will be born into continue to Colleen Smidt our families live for the to carry on rest of their another generation. lives because of a foolish As family expands, new decision made by someone branches are added and else and by simply being members spread out geo- in the wrong place at the graphically living their wrong time. own lives and following We often hear the stories their own paths. There are just like this one. We read periods of time that we about them in the newsconnect frequently and paper and see them on times that we drift apart. TV. We all know that we But the core family con- should not drink and drive nection remains. One of and that all too often there the worst situations that a are horrible consequences family can experience is a from doing so. parent having to bury their The man who caused young child. this accident has paid the My extended family on price for his decision and my father’s side became a also died in the accident, horrible statistic this past but there is no comfort in weekend. A cousin and that. It does not bring back her family of four were a little boy, that had his on their way back from a entire life ahead. very average vacation road The hope that someone trip to Montana when they reading this is reminded were hit head-on by an to make the right decialleged drunk driver going sion to not get behind the the wrong way on I-90. My wheel if they have been cousin’s eight-year-old son drinking. That they will was killed instantly. She, think about an entire famalong with her other child, ily whose hearts now have a 5 year old, are both in sta- a gaping hole where a joy ble condition in a Montana filled, smiling little face hospital. Her husband was should be. airlifted to Harborview Don’t drink and drive. Medical Center in Seattle Don’t let others drink and with very serious injuries. drive. This family name will now live for eternity in the
“Proudly serving those who have served our nation.”
Mitt Romney has to be more relieved than an Iowa corn farmer in the middle of a thunderstorm to be back on home soil. Arms wide. Head back. Wet face. Smile. Podium steps. National Anthem. The American electorate may harbor an ambivalent attitude towards the former governor of Massachusetts, but the reaction to his European Vacation from folks across the big pond could only be described as decisively derisive. If diplomacy were a hurdling sport, the guy stumbled over the lane chalk. The plan was for the GOP nominee to embark on a low-risk, three-country jaunt to raise his suspect foreign policy bona fides, but the sevenday charm offensive proved to be light on charm and heavy on offense. Good will hunting transformed into ill will gathering. The first stop was Great Britain, where the Wee Bairne of Bain managed to pretty much insult the whole country. Romney told an interviewer that security problems surrounding the Olympics were disconcerting. And the gates of Hades opened and all sorts of evil tabloid creatures sprung forth.
Q:
(360) 286-0232 Randy Gelhaus
Branch Manager rgelhaus@vu.com
Raging Moderate
Will Durst He only said the same exact thing they had been saying for weeks in Merry Olde, but you know family. Siblings are allowed to call their father a harebrained lovable loser: cousins, not so much. Dav id Ca meron snapped that London was a busy, world-class city and “not in the middle of nowhere,” which some interpreted as a snub targeting the man who famously saved the 2002 Winter Olympics. But the prime minister only demonstrated his own geographic ineptitude. Salt Lake City isn’t in the middle of nowhere; it’s in Utah. Ann Romney traipsed along to offer moral support to her horse Rafalca, competing in Olympic dressage. Dressage being a French word describing an event where horse and rider perform predetermined movements. Like inter-species dancing. Which has to be illegal in at least half of the states Willard leads. The Overseas Gaffe
Express moved to the Middle East where Mr. Romney stuck a prayer in the Wailing Wall, presumably pleading to be struck dumb. Retroactively. Later he gave a speech saying Israel’s financial acumen and culture provided it with a major advantage over Palestine. Sort of ticking off the Palestinians. Not to mention a couple of Israelis who thought he called them thrifty. The trip landed for a final stop in Poland and everyone held their breath. But all that happened on the outskirts of the evil continent of Europe was an aide cautioned a reporter to stop peppering the candidate with questions because they were in a holy site for Poles. And to emphasize the sanctity of the joint, he told the reporter to kiss his butt. Only he didn’t say butt, rather the word that rhymes with class. A quality of which he is obviously bereft. The campaign was hoping to use this journey abroad to muffle the outcry over tax returns and set up the vice-presidential pick, but now even the most partisan Republican has to wonder how many consecutive blows to the head their candidate can take without visible bruising. Need to line up a platoon of makeup artists for Tampa. Britain, Israel and Poland. Not what you
What are the advantages of a VA loan ?
A:
• No down payment required • Very low fixed interest rates • No mortgage insurance premium • Right to pre pay with no penalty • An assumable mortgage • Low closing cost, which seller is allowed to pay
Corporate NMLS: 1907, Personal NMLS 55291
Come Cheer the Field of Players Proud Media Sponsor
13 Year Old
August 13 - 22nd Kitsap County Fairgrounds Proudly Hosted by your
North Kitsap Babe Ruth
call the Group of Death. Those aren’t the tough ones, Mitt. Got to rate their collective degree of difficulty in diplomatic terms at about a negative 2. But one thing you got to give him -- at least he stuck his dismount. The New York Times says 5-time Emmynominated comedian and writer Will Durst “is quite possibly the best political comic working in the country today.” Check out his website: willdurst.com to find out more about standup performances. Also: every Tuesday, Elect to Laugh! @ The Marsh, San Francisco. Only 14 shows left. themarsh.org. Copyright ©2012, Will Durst, distributed by the Cagle Cartoons Inc. syndicate. Call Cari Dawson-Bartley at 800696-7561 or e-mail cari@ cagle.com. Will Durst is a political comedian who has performed around the world. He is a familiar pundit on television and radio. E-mail Will at durst@caglecartoons. com. Check out willandwillie.com for the latest podcast. Will Durst’s book, “The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing,” is available from Amazon and better bookstores all over this great land of ours. Don’t forget to check out his rooftop comedy minutes at: http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/shows/ BurstOfDurst.