Rant #2,106: Bits and Pieces

I dodged a bullet yesterday.

I did not have to go to the dentist to get my teeth looked at.

As I reported yesterday, as the morning went on, the pain went away, and I was even able to eat on that side of my mouth without any discomfort.

I have had this problem before, and although this appeared to be the worst of the incidences, I am OK.

My eyes are bothering me today, but that will also go away by the time I leave for work.

So, without further ado, here is today's Bits and Pieces entry, looking at some stories that don't live up to getting a full Rant examination, but should be spoken about anyway.

Here goes ...

Cynthia Nixon Runs For Governor of New York State: Hey, why not?

With talk of Oprah Winfrey running for president, and with a former celebrity real estate magnate already in the top spot, why shouldn't a popular actress declare her candidacy for governor of the Empire State?

Look, she has absolutely nothing to lose by doing so ... other than the post she is running for, which she certainly will lose, and lose big.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, love him or hate him, is firmly ensconced in that job, and has been for a few terms.

The Cuomo name in New York State is a golden one, following the run of his father, who was extremely popular in the state during his multi-year reign as governor.

Nixon, like most openly gay candidates, is a one-issue candidate, whether she wants to be or not.

The only reason that this situation is getting the coverage that it is is that the former "Sex In the City" star is high profile.

She has as much of a chance as winning this post as I do.

The one hope that she has is that Cuomo runs for president, or more to the point, openly runs for president, because he has been running for that spot for probably the last four years, at least.

New York voters, and in particular New York City voters, are some of the most ignorant voters on the planet. They vote for those who they then complain fiercely about, like Michael Bloomberg and Bill deBlasio, forgetting that they were the ones to vote these people into office.

Nixon is keying a mix of Cuomo openly running for president and the ignorance shown in the past by New York voters to make a dent in the upcoming race.

Oh no, she won't admit to this, but anybody can see that without these two elements going her way, she doesn't stand a chance at winning this competitition.

No way, no how.

California Horror House Kids Move Into New Digs: Well, at least the older ones have.

Remember the family of 13 kids who were treated so poorly by their own parents that they were found shackled and nearly starving to death?

That story has kind of faded from view over the past month, when we have had to deal with other abuse of children--the Florida school shooting--but these kids made news yesterday.

It came out that seven of the kids have been moved to an undisclosed location to live their lives as normally has possible.

Since they were so sheltered by their parents--abused to the nth degree--they never knew the joys of being kids, like watching movies, eating ice cream, and just enjoying themselves.

The seven oldest are now getting that chance, and the descriptions of their current situation is eerie to me.

They have been described as wide-eyed innocents, charming in their naivete.

They love to watch movies on TV, and they speak about becoming doctors and nurses.

Of course, all the years of abuse that they endured is not mentioned.

What is their true mental capacity after being abused and deprived of good food, medication, and a healthy environment?

The descriptions make them into "simpletons." I don't know any other way to describe it, other than to say that they appear to be mentally "challenged."

So it is great that they are moving into society, but I will bet in the long run, the older children will be the ones most scarred from this lifestyle that they had, and while they might want to be doctors and nurses, the actuality of the whole thing is that most, if not all of them, will probably be wards of the state for the rest of their lives.

And with such a sick set of parents, and with an extended family that also seems a bit strange, I hope California does the first right thing it has done in their entire case and bar any relation of theirs from having even a brief encounter with any of them.

Today Is the First Day of Spring: My goodness, you wouldn't know it by the weather forecast.

We are supposed to get my neck of the woods' fourth nor'easter in the past month beginning today, and if it follows the pattern of these things, it will look pretty nasty outside for a while, and then pretty much burn off later on.

So it is almost the perfect storm ... here today, gone tomorrow.

February was the warmest February on record, and March has come in like a lion, and has proceeded as such, but then whatever it has brought us has pretty much fizzled out.

So as we move into spring, quite frankly, we have about a month more of possible snow horrors to go.

By about April 10 or so, the worry should be over.

April is the strangest month on the calendar. Besides being my birthday month--which makes it strange to me in a good way--it is a month where early on, we can get snow, and later, around my birthday, we can get 90 degree temperatures.

I have had it with snow. Let's get to those nice temperatures, leading into a really nice summer.

My Job Situation:

Speak to you again tomorrow. Maybe, just maybe, both my teeth and my eyes will be working right for the first time this week on that day.