“this time it must be different”

[IrishAyes]

9. Thanks

... for the wonderful though heartrending photos and everything. I sign every petition I can find on this subject.

For the rare few who might not yet know I retired for financial reasons (couldn't afford upper ME anymore) to RedNeckLand: after this I'll just assume, if I may, that everyone knows it by now and quit beating a dead horse already.

But I do want to mention this about the subject at hand: Although the publisher/editor of the local weekly, one of this region's largest, is an arch conservative and in no way fond of the President, even he has run an editorial cartoon showing a crazed yokel with an assault weapon and 'NRA Forever' button, with a balloon saying essentially "I gotta have a big gun to protect myself from the guv'ment etc."

It's the occasional sensible statement from this editor that keeps me from giving up on him entirely. But then he's no teabagger fan either, any more than I am. And he prints every single thing I submit for publication, even though I don't pull punches. Now if I could ever find a way to win back this lapsed Democrat to the fold, my life would be complete in that regard. He's a lot younger than I; maybe he has time to see the light and find his own way back home.