Support Texas Secession

There’s a movement in Texas to secede from the union.  This is a cause I can fully support.

No more will Dallas be able to call itself “America’s Team.”

No longer will we have to listen to tales about the brave defenders of the Alamo, whose basic goal was to change the laws of Mexico that forbade slavery.

No more will Texas drain off federal dollars.  That’s right.  Unlike Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, Texas receives more federal dollars than it contributes.

We’ll lose a “red state.”  That’s ok with me.  I’m tired of those blowhards.  I will miss Austin and El Paso and San Antonio, but it sure will be nice to say goodbye to Waco and Midland and Lubbock and Dallas.

The downside is that we’ll have to redo the flag, but perhaps we can replace Texas with Puerto Rico.  That strikes me as a really good trade-off.

Pork chops with a side of bacteria

For years pork and beef producers have been lacing their animal feed with antibiotics.  The antibiotics improve weight gain which translates into increased profits.  For years warnings have been issued that the antibiotics in the feed would have negative consequences.  Agribusiness scoffed and also resisted any effort to label meat that came from animals fed antibiotics.

Buried at the bottom of page 23 of the Morning Call today was an article entitled ”Report:  Bacteria prevalent in pork.”  The article stated that the magazine Consumer Reports tested 148 samples of pork chops and 50 samples of ground pork from a variety of stores in six American cities.  

The bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica was found in 69% of the samples.  I never heard of it, but it is said to make 100,000 Americans, many of them children, sick each year.  And 69% of the bacteria samples discovered were resistant to at least one of the commonly prescribed antibiotics.

My best advice, since we aren’t going to overcome the pork and beef lobbyists, is to buy your pork and beef from local butchers.  Ask them if their products come from animals fed with antibiotics.  If they don’t know, don’t buy the meat.  

Not a scientist, man

The best estimate of the earth’s age, based on the latest scientific research, is about 4.5 billion years old.  The figure is based on radiometric dating of meteorites.  

Marco Rubio, possible Republican presidential candidate, was asked by a GQ magazine interviewer:  “How old do you think the earth is.?”

I will now quote Rubio’s answer as found in the Science section of the New York Times yesterday.  

     I’m not a scientist, man.  I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians.

     At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created, and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all.  I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says.
     Whether the earth was created in seven days, or seven actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that.  It’s one of the great mysteries.

The great mystery is why an intelligent (?) man would equate a Biblical story of creation with the latest scientific evidence.  Why do Republican leaders continue to degrade scientific research relating to global climate change, human reproduction, evolution, and pollution?  It really is the stupid party.

The power of gerrymandering

Billy O’Gurek, Chairman of the Carbon County Democratic Party, spoke about the November election at the CCDC meeting tonight in Jim Thorpe.  In the course of his analysis, he noted that in all the races for seats in the House of Representatives, the Democrats received hundreds of thousands more votes than the Republicans but only won 200 of the 435 seats.

In Pennsylvania the cumulative total for Democratic candidates was approximately 75,000 higher than the total for their Republican opponents, yet the Republicans won 13 seats; the Democrats won 5.  That is what a gerrymander does.  The next time you hear some Republican go on about voter fraud, mention the gerrymander.  That’s real fraud.   

Republican Lesbians

Today’s New York Times ran an article by Sarah Wheaton entitled “Republican and Lesbian, and Fighting for Acceptance of Both Identities.”  The article discussed the efforts of Sarah Longwell, a Log Cabin Republican, to win acceptance of gays by the Republican Party. 

The article notes that many of the conservative gays came out late in life.  Some of them are religious.  They want the party to be more accepting. 

Here’s my message to gay Republicans.  The Republican Party doesn’t want you.  They think you are evil.  The Democrats do want you.  We think your sexual orientation is not a government issue.  If you want to marry your significant other, we think you should have that right.  We like you.  Forget those right-wing creeps who degrade you, demean you, and castigate you.  Come on over to the party that welcomes you.  Re-register as a Democrat.  It’s an easy choice to make. 

President Morsi and George Washington

It is so difficult for a country to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy.  There are no examples to follow, no guidelines, no traditions.  The give and take, the necessary compromises, the willingness to accept one’s opponents as a loyal opposition rather than enemies--that doesn’t come easy to people in power. I had great hopes for President Morsi of Egypt.  He seemed like a reasonable man.  Now he has gutted the Egyptian court system, and Egypt is on the verge of civil war.  

He says he is doing this to insure democracy in Egypt.  I’m dubious.  Once again I appreciate what an amazing man George Washington was.  He could have been a king.  He could have been a dictator. Instead, he retired to his plantation, giving up his power voluntarily.  The United States was so fortunate to have him as our first President.

The Democratic Information Center

It is difficult for me to imagine how the Democratic campaigns would have functioned in Carbon County without the Headquarters on First Street in Lehighton.  Adam, the Rabenold campaign manager, had a portion of the headquarters all to himself, and he was there almost every day.  Matt Cartwright, our new congressman from this area, ran phone banks out of the office.  Voter registration drives used the office as the staging area.  Robin, our Obama campaign honcho, was in the office on a daily basis, and over a hundred Obama volunteers worked out of the office, making phone calls, canvassing, and running a major GOTV operation.

Some of us couldn’t bear to let the lease on the office lapse.  A group of Carbon County Democrats decided to fund the office for the next year.  Since the County Party is no longer the responsible tenant, we had to make some adjustments.  The office will be rented by the Community Outreach Association.  It will be called the Democratic Information Center.  It will serve as the county headquarters for volunteer recruitment, voter registration, and staging area for direct action.  

Romney won this county.  So did Heffley.  That will be the last time a Republican wins Carbon County.  We will turn this county around.

The Wal-Mart Demonstration

I’m not sure why we had to start at 8 a.m.  Why not from 10 a.m. to noon?  It is difficult for me to get up when it’s dark outside.

Anyway we did it, meeting at the Stroudsburg Wal-Mart.  The man in charge was from the Monroe-Pike Labor Chapter.  Linda and I represented the Carbon County Labor Chapter.  In all, about 15 demonstrators showed up, mostly from SEIU and UFCW.

We decided to stand at the entrance of Wal-Mart until we were asked to leave.  We were there about 20 minutes when a cop showed up and told us that if we didn’t leave we would be arrested.  We were holding signs and passing out fliers asking the customers to tell management they wanted better treatment for Wal-Mart employees, and we were getting positive response.  Since none of us wanted to get arrested, we moved to the sidewalk.  While we got a lot of good feedback (honking horns, fists in the air, thumbs up), we were not able to pass out the explanatory leaflets.

I was expecting a large crowd, given that it was “Black Friday,” but I was surprised to find only about 1/4 of the parking lot was full.  Perhaps everyone went out on Thursday evening.

About 9:30 I really had to pee, so I went into the store and found the toilet.  My record of never having bought anything from a Wal-Mart still stands, but now I have peed in one.

What did we accomplish?  I think just about everyone in America knows that Wal-Mart is a lousy employer.  Our chant said it all:  “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Corporate greed has got to go!”  

Black Thursday

One of the disturbing trends in the U.S. today is the willingness of the companies to sacrifice their employees in the pursuit of ever higher profits.  

I am very much aware that Thanksgiving is a day when families join together.  They eat, drink, and probably watch too much television, but it is a family holiday.

Now we have stores, especially large chain stores, opening on Thanksgiving.  Who staffs those stores?  I can tell you that it isn’t the stockholders or the bosses.  The sales people who must work today are among the lowest paid employees in America.  They are usually non-union, lack good health care plans, have little if any retirement plans, often are part-time, and have no job security.  And now they can’t celebrate this holiday with their families.

If nobody shopped on Thanksgiving, the practice of “Black Thursday” would end.  But, as Linda pointed out to me, Americans seem to be concerned with one thing only--the price.  If they can get a lower price on an item, they don’t care if it is made in China, or is bad for the environment, or hurts small businesses, or harms workers.  Price seems to be everything, and I will bet that the stores that opened on Thursday were full of shoppers.  Just don’t expect to see me there.

Lincoln

Tonight we saw "Lincoln," and I give it four stars and two thumbs up.  The acting is superb, and the story of how the 13th Amendment came to be adopted was a nail biter.  It's one of those films where you know how it will end, but you are fascinated by how we get to that point.

The viewer also realizes that principled politicians can temporize their principles in the name of the greater good, and that it is sometimes necessary to do sleazy things to achieve a worthy goal.  Occasionally the ends really do justify the means.  The trick is to know when that's the case. 

Whoops

Last night I noted that the NLRB usually takes weeks, if not months, to rule on a complaint.  Today, in an article in the Business Section of the Times, reporter Steven Greenhouse said that the NLRB will be ruling in a FEW DAYS on whether the picketing planned for various Wal-Marts on Friday is legal. 

Last night I also made a crack about readers coming up with bail money in case Linda and I are arrested on Friday morning.  If the NLRB does rule that the action is illegal, my glib attempt at humor doesn't seem so funny.

On the other hand, I am also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  I believe that I have a First Amendment right to hold up a sign in front of a store criticizing that store's labor policies.  We'll see.

Wal-Mart Action

On Friday, November 23, Linda and I are driving to Stroudsburg to participate in an informational picket in front of the Stroudsburg Wal-Mart. “Black Friday” seems like an excellent time to tell people just how Wal-Mart mistreats its employees.

The informational picket is being organized by a group called OUR Wal-Mart.  In the past Wal-Mart has strongly resisted any efforts to unionize any store (except in China).  Usually the company, the largest employer in the U.S., has brushed off any union action, but this time Wal-Mart has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, which I see as a indicator that Wal-Mart is concerned.  

Wal-Mart knows that the NLRB takes months to rule on complaints, but this is the company’s way to warn any “associates” (Wal-Mart speak for underpaid workers) that they will be in trouble if they participate in actions not approved by the company.  Wal-Mart has also threatened arrests of people in front of its stores.  If Linda and I are arrested, I expect my readers to start a bail fund.

OUR Wal-Mart stands for Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart. I probably mentioned this before, but I have NEVER bought anything at a Wal-Mart. 

Local farm subsidies

The Environmental Working Group, using the Freedom of Information Act, has developed a list of farmers and the federal subsidies they received.  Among its findings were that 23 members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, received $6.1 million in federal farm subsidies from 1995 to 2011.  [Note to budget cutters:  this might be a good place to start.]

If you’d like to see the amount of subsidies to your local farmers, go to <www.ewg.org/farmsubsidies>.  Click on “U.S. Farm Subsidy Database” on the right side menu.  Then type in your zip code and be prepared to be amazed.

A surprising thing about the gay vote

In a close election almost any group can claim to have put the candidate over the top.  Without the black vote, or the women’s vote, or the labor union vote, or the youth vote, or the Latino vote, Obama would have lost.  Here’s another group to thank.  Straight people split their vote about 50-50.  However, according to an article by Micah Cohen in today’s Times, voters who identified themselves as gay, went for Obama 76% to 22%.

Here’s the surprising thing.  Why would 22% of self-identified gays vote for Romney?  Don’t they read the papers?  Don’t they have internet access?  Over one-fifth of the gay vote makes no damn sense whatsoever.  

While I’m on the subject, why would 7% of the black vote go for Romney?  Why would 45% of the voters in Weissport vote for a candidate who obviously holds them in contempt?  People, people--wise up.

Emails

I refuse to read or watch anything about General Petraeus, but I do know that the “scandal” began with emails sent by his biographer to another woman.  

Today I read in the Morning Call (page 9) about emails from Jesse White, a Washington County Democratic state legislator who supported the natural gas industry.  He solicited funds and even a ride to the Superbowl from Range Resources, a Marcellus Shale drilling company.  Evidently Rep. White, disappointed in the lack of funding from the Range Resources, then became a critic of the the gas industry.  Irritated by the turnaround, the company released the earlier emails, much to White’s embarrassment.

When you send an email, think to yourself:  How would this look on the front page of my local newspaper?  How would this look on the 6 p.m news?  

In my own case, I sent what I thought was a private email to the editor of the Times News, only to see it in print the following week in the Letters to the Editor column.  Lesson learned.

Obama's academic "dream team"

Canvassers for Obama were supposed to ask supporters to sign a “Commit to Vote” card.  The card, the size of a postcard, had space for the address and a statement that the person would be voting for Obama in November.  Obama’s picture was on the front of the card.

I didn’t like the cards at all.  I did have some voters sign them, but it was awkward for me.  The voter had just told me he or she would be voting for Obama, and asking him or her to sign the card felt like I was saying I didn’t quite believe them--would they sign this pledge reaffirming what they had just told me. 

Since then I have learned (in an article in the Science section of yesterday’s Times) that the Obama campaign had a “dream team” of social scientists giving advice on ads and scripts.  The purpose of the commitment card was to firm up the person’s decision to vote for Obama.  

When we asked people what time they planned to vote on election day, that too was a psychological push to get them thinking about a plan to vote.  People are more likely to do something when they have a plan.  The team originated all sorts of similar ideas and strategies.

The team included economists and social science professors from UCLA, Princeton, UC San Diego, Arizona State, University of Chicago Business School, and Columbia.  

Romney had no similar group, although he did have Billy Graham.

Why Obama won Pennsylvania

You sometimes here that Pennsylvania was not a swing state, and neither campaign paid any attention to Pennsylvania.  I checked my diary, and Sarah, our first Obama organizer, moved in with Linda and me on March 20.  She was responsible for Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne counties.  She later was assigned to Monroe and Pike only, and Emilio, our new organizer, was responsible for Carbon and Luzerne.  When he in turn was tasked with Luzerne only, Carbon received its very own organizer, Robin from Illinois.

After the campaign was over, Robin asked if I could burn the records from Carbon and Monroe counties.  There were two pickup truckloads of canvass lists, call lists, turf maps, lit drop material, scripts for phase one, phase two, persuasion call scripts, commitment cards, recruitment scripts, GOTV scripts, door hangers--and thousands and thousands of names with little check-marks and circles, all which had been entered into the data bank.

It wasn’t by chance that Romney lost this state.  The Obama campaign made it happen.

Participatory democracy

In an article on the presidential campaigns in The New York Times before the election, the Obama campaign organization was said to be “militaristic.”  Orders came down and we followed them.  Occasionally those orders did not fit the local conditions and caused some grousing, but overall the campaign was brilliant.  

Unfortunately, much of the organization may be dismantled.  The lists of phone bankers and canvassers and the voter data are dumped. The volunteers, who have what sociologists call “weak ties,” may drift off and lose contact with one another.

In a recent book entitled Taking Our Country Back, which details how the Dean and Kerry campaigns and Dean as national chair revolutionized the use of the internet and social media, the author wrote that the new media campaigns:

“...are not designed for the ends of psychological growth, the development of civic skills, discovery of the public interest, achieving democratic legitimacy, or community building--claims historically made for increased participation in civic life.”   

“Despite predictions to the contrary, the book shows that the use of new media in campaigning has seemingly not brought about fundamental changes in...forms of political representation, quality of democratic conversation, or distribution of power in the American polity.” 

That’s something we will have to work on at the local level.

Mormons and Democrats

The founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith, received from the Angel Moroni a golden tablet with an incomprehensible script, which Smith was able to  translate with the help of a “Seek Stone.”  The tablet then disappeared.  The translation is now known as the Book of Mormon.  Smith, who had earlier been arrested for fraud, learned that American Indians were descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel which arrived here from the Middle East by ship.  He wrote down details of a great battle in upstate New York between two groups of descendants of the lost tribe.  He also learned that the Garden of Eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri.

Brigham Young, who led the Mormons to Utah, had further revelations, and, if I am not mistaken, over 50 wives.  Mitt Romney’s grandfather, who had a number of wives, moved to Mexico, which at that time was more receptive to polygamy than the American authorities. 

I may be shaky on a few of the details, but I think I am generally correct so far.

None of this was raised in the campaign.  President Obama and the Democrats never questioned whether Romney’s beliefs would affect his style of governing or impinge on his decision-making process.

Now, imagine if the Democrats had nominated a Mormon to run for President.  Do you think the Republicans would have raised the specter of a Mormon president in the White House?  Would Super Pacs have saturated the airwaves with discussions of weird Mormon theology?  Would the strange history of Mormonism been front and center in the Republican campaign?  Of course it would have.  We really are the good guys.

Maybe Pennsylvania isn't so bad

Earlier this week I criticized Pennsylvania’s election laws.  I placed the state on the very bottom.  Perhaps I was too hasty.  

It took days for Florida to decide that Obama had won the state, and a congressional race is not yet decided.

Arizona may be even worse.  As of today, in a state with fewer than 4 million voters, approximately 500,000 votes have yet to be counted.  That is 1/8 of the state’s voters.

Why is this so difficult?  Other democracies do this.  Why can’t we?

Election report for Carbon County

In 2008 Carbon County was one of 13 counties in Pennsylvania to go for Obama.  This year we weren’t so fortunate, but we did have a number of blue areas in our red county.  The county has 51 precincts, and 20 of them voted for Obama.  For you political junkies, here are the 20:

East Side Borough

Jim Thorpe--4 of 5 precincts

Lansford--all 3 precincts

Lehighton--2 of 3 precincts, and the precinct that Obama lost was 318 to 320

Mahoning Township--the Packerton/Jamestown precinct

Nesquehoning--both precincts

Palmerton--the middle and west precincts

Penn Forest--1 of 5

Summit Hill--3 of 4 precincts

Weissport Borough

The precincts won by Obama were all canvassed, some a few times.  We need to find a way to get to the rural areas in the county.  The five precincts in Penn Forest are especially a problem, since some of them are in gated communities.  The part of the county (Beaver Meadows, Weatherly) that is near Hazleton was also heavily Romney.

County Democratic activists and Obama volunteers will be meeting over the next two months to discuss how to increase Democratic registration and turnout.  In 2014 and 2016 this county will be dark blue.  

Dick and Judy's excellent campaign adventure--the last installment

One of the best things about Tuesday’s election was the defeat of Joe Walsh, Tea Party advocate and all-around troglodyte.  Our correspondents from Illinois played a role in his defeat and Tammy Duckworth’s win.  Here is their take on the election.

We definitely felt the love last night as we experienced the culmination of a grass-roots campaign for Tammy Duckworth.   She took the election with 55% of the vote compared to Walsh’s 45%.  

We have spent the last weeks on phone banks and canvassing, especially this last weekend, when it was seemingly non-stop.  

The election night party was an exceptional experience, celebrating with other volunteers, interns, staff and Tammy’s family.   The press was there in abundance and both Richard and I were interviewed by newspaper reporters.   The cameras were clicking constantly and almost blinding, if you got in their path.   

Tammy’s acceptance speech was absolutely inspiring, and I know she will work very hard for the District.   She understands that her job is to serve us and not her own interests.   We feel we have come to know her personally and that she will not let us down.

It was also fun to cheer with fellow Democrats as we watched the election results come in for President Obama and other Senate and Congressional seats.  Loud cheering and much jumping up and down accompanied every announcement that President Obama had won another state and the crowd went wild after it was noted that he won Ohio and, then, the Presidency.   Being originally from Ohio, I made a fool of myself doing a happy dance when I heard this news!  

All in all, it was a very good experience.  I highly recommend getting involved in a political campaign.   If we want to keep the Government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” we need to be part of the process.

We will never forget or regret this experience.

Four More Years!

Reality is hard for Republicans.  This is the party that said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics lied about the unemployment numbers last month.  And Republican congress members demanded the withdrawal of a report by the Congressional Research Service that said tax cuts for the wealthy didn’t create jobs.  And global warming is a hoax. 

But reality intrudes.  303 electoral college votes are a reality.  Four more years is a reality.  Senate victories in Massachusetts, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Missouri are a reality.  The Tammy Duckworth victory is a reality, as is the approval of gay marriage in Maine and Maryland.  

I know there are difficult issues facing this country, and gridlock and Republican intransigence will be major problems.  Nonetheless, for at least a few days let’s savor the election results.  We did it--again.

Door hanger day

I love door hanger day.  You don’t have to talk to anyone; you just put the door hanger on the door and go to the next house on your list.  In Carbon County we covered all of our priority turfs and almost all of the second and third tier turfs.  The Obama campaign is amazing--each door hanger listed the address of the polling place.  

I worked two turfs in Lansford Middle in the early part of the afternoon.  Lansford is a town with lots of foreclosures and many vacant storefronts.  Quite a few of my targeted residences were empty or had a different name on the mailbox.  Three people came to the door while I was placing the hangers, and all of them thanked me.  

After Lansford I worked a turf with two high school students in the section of Lehighton known as the Heights.  We zipped through that one in less than half an hour; a new record for me.  Neither of the girls had knee or hip replacements, and those girls could run.  That one was fun.

Tomorrow is the big day.  In Pennsylvania poll watchers can challenge any voter without giving a reason, and we are afraid Republican poll watchers will do that.  Challenged voters can find another voter to explain that they are known, and they can also vote a “provisional ballot.”  The problem is that the voting process will be hindered, and people may be impatient and give up.  It is sad, but Pennsylvania has an election system which is less fair and less efficient than almost all Third World countries.

City upon a hill

I have written about John Winthrop in the past, but I think before an election in which one party has nominated a candidate who made millions of dollars by putting people out of work, Winthrop is worth another look.  

Winthrop was the leader of the Puritan migration to America.  In 1630 he preached a sermon aboard the Arbella before landing in New England.  Republicans often quote from this sermon, adding the word “shining,” as in “shining city upon a hill.”  Reagan even used it in his inaugural address.  

It is a great sermon, but here is the part Republicans leave out.  I have simplified the original spelling.

Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God, for this end we must be knit together in this work as one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection, we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities, we must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality, we must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor, and suffer together, always having before our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body....

Incidentally, Winthrop used the phrase “city upon a hill” not as self-congratulation, but as a warning, noting that “...the eyes of all people are upon us...,” and if we fail, “...we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”

Amen.

By less than one vote per precinct

Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles, ran for governor of California against Republican candidate George Deukmejian in 1986.  I was a precinct volunteer in San Jose for the Bradley campaign.  I had identified supporters in my precinct and was doing my best to get them to the polls.  About 7:45 I realized that one of the women on my list still had not voted.  I thought about blowing it off; I wasn’t even sure if I could get her to our polling location by 8 o’clock.  I decided to try, and she voted with about two minutes to spare.

The election was close.  How close?  Deukmejian beat Bradley by less than one vote per precinct.  I was disappointed that Bradley had lost, but I got that one vote in my precinct.  

I thought of that today when we were canvassing in Franklin Township and knocked on the door of a woman in her eighties who didn’t realize she was still registered.  She said her son would take her to vote.  That’s how you win elections. One more vote.

If you haven’t volunteered to help in the Obama campaign, there’s still work to be done.  Call your local headquarters.  We need your help.

The final push

We spent all day Friday at the Obama headquarters getting ready for two days of canvassing, one day of door hanger activity, and ther election day trying to keep the Republicans from messing up the vote.  We heard that the Republicans put in a request for a poll watcher in each of the 51 precincts in Carbon County.  If those watchers cross the line into illegal activity, we have lawyers standing by to take action.   

At a campaign seminar years ago I heard a consultant say that when you lose big, you shrug it off.  You say to yourself, there’s nothing I could have done to change that result.  On the other hand, if you lose by a handful of votes, you stay awake at night thinking about all the ways you could have won.  If only this..., if only that.... He said because of that, you do everything you can to win--everything.  That way, if you do lose, you won’t feel guilty.  

Planned last words

Yesterday Sandra and I were canvassing in Lehighton on Bankway and South First.  I was puffing as we walked up the hill, and Sandra asked, “You aren’t going to have a heart attack, are you?”

I told her, “If I do, I want you to tell everyone that my last words were ‘Vote for Obama.’”

Today we were canvassing on Franklin Avenue in Palmerton, and my heart started skipping beats.  I told Sandra I would drive to the hospital in Lehighton, but she insisted on taking me.  The hospital did an EKG, a chest X-ray, and various blood tests, and told me I was fine.  The irregular heart rate was probably a result of stress, but I will have to wear a “holter monitor” for two days to check things out.  

If it is more than stress, remember my last words.