(I am currently taking education class at the local community college and one of the assignments was to manipulate an image and then write a story about it. The image is that of the instructor and he’s featured in the lower right of the attached image. Enjoy!)

The light was so bright that it woke me as it seeped through my eyelids. Just as the searing light dazzled me I felt the heavy shackles slam home, restraining my movement and preventing me from cover my dilating pupils adding frustration to the eye strain. Then almost as suddenly my legs were bound and straps seemingly with a life of their own floated across my chest, pinching off any possible movement I should effort.

“Let me up, let me outta here damnit. Where the hell am I?” My shouts echo in the small room I’m in. I know it is small, the echo is fast. It had to be a metal or concrete room too; the sound had that sharp return. “Come on, let be up.”

A soft groan to my left told me there was someone else in the room. I turned my head and there she was, just barely visible to my maladjusted eyes. Adorned in a rose pink flowing silk gown, she had golden blonde hair and slender long gams, the kind that could stop traffic or make a sot drop his drink. She stirred and sat up slowly, stretching, displaying her feminine beauty.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She looked at me with the face of a goddess smiled and said not a word.

“Who are you?” I asked again.

She smiled at me again and said in a dulcet voice, “I am Whitley Schreiber. Are you a smart human?” Slowly and before my eyes her features changed and were becoming those of a recluse writer. “Have you met my friends, Clatoo, Nictow, and Baradas? They’re hungry…”

I looked around. Left. Right. I realized that they must be above my head and I heard faint rustling from there. Looking up slowly a huge green forehead came into view. The smooth green skin was riddled with pulsating veins. Slowly I became aware of the alien hand, it was about to touch my head with it’s clawed finger tip. My heart was pounding; I knew they meant me harm. I squirmed against my bindings but it was no good, I could not lash out against the monstrosity as it approached my head. They were going to suck my brains out and I would be one of the zombie hoard left on earth, just another brainless hulk lumbering around searching for my own brains to suck on from some other unsuspecting victim.

The clawed appendage touched my pate and I screamed…

“MERRRROW” hissed my cat Jake as I awoke suddenly and sat bolt upright in bed. Jake was sitting on my pillow now purring and licking his paw. He must have licked my head. Still, I was breathing hard and disoriented. My wife Wendy touched my arm and I jumped again. I felt my head; it was still in one piece.

“Honey, those old SF movies are giving you bad dreams. Turn off the TV and go back to sleep…”

I reached for the remote and as I did I could hear the British Announcer say “Reports are coming in from all over the Empire—from all over the world. The Government has not yet issued a statement, but there seems to be no question that there actually is a large, unidentified object circling the earth at incredible speed.” The start of The Day the Earth Stood Still was showing, continuing the SF marathon. I shut off the TV and flopped back onto bed, Jake scurried away.

As I looked at the dark ceiling above I had to wonder if when I awoke next it would be as a brain sucking zombie. I decided against it and rolled over, making the sure my blanket was all the way over my head.

The first thing I would love to have removed from all candidates talking points is that they would be ready from day one to take over the Presidency.

I know television is not a substitute for reality, but if even the novelized reality as presented in “West Wing” is even fractionally true, there is no way that anyone coming into the role of President is going to be up and running from day one. From what I understand there is no “Presidential Handbook” and each has to learn the role for themselves. Isn’t this why we have the “Presidential Honeymoon” or “First 100 Days” as the President learns the role and grows the cabinet?

When I hear Hilary Clinton say that she will be ready from day one (and remember Bill will not be there, he is not our elected President) and that the terrorists will not attack us because she will be ready from day one, I get scared. No, she will not be ready, and Yes, they will attack us if they get the chance. What deluded notion makes her think she is that special. If anything, the terrorist are going to try to attack hard because in their eyes she will be a weak woman in the highest office.

The office of the President is never the same twice, and the person assuming the office is never prepared for the stress and the routine at the time of assuming the office. We have all seen the interviews with ex-Presidents, to the man they say they were not prepared and to the man the stress changed them.

Please all, let’s accept that the office of the President is not as easy as any other temp job.

“When I am elected I am going to fix the budget, lower taxes, fix the schools, change health care for everyone, raise the minimum wage, deal with the immigration problem and see too it every baby has a lollipop.”

My response… “Yeah, but what are you going to do?”

The devil is in the details isn’t it? But from the above statement (the kind that we hear incessantly during the campaigns) all I get is the same old line and no real details on how any candidate plans to accomplish such goals. In fact when American start to hear the details it strike a chord and draws attention.

It occurred to me that the winning candidate over the last 20 years are the ones that presented details on the plans for change. We hear “Change, change, change” so much but rarely do we hear how change will be accomplished.

Traditionally it has been the republicans giving us the details. In the last campaign is was George Bush’s education details that helped him. He had a vision of what was to happen in Iraq. No other candidate knew what they would do should they become president, all they said was they would bring the troops home and never really considered what that may entail.

So, who should we be looking at in this campaign. Tradition carries the day here and John McCain is the man talking specifics. Ron Paul, for all the “revolution” hype and, let’s face it, lack of personality, is talking specifics. Barack Obama sometimes talks specifics, but he does it so rarely that we forget about that.

So, I am going to keep an eye on the three above and cast my vote for the most unlike of the three (Ron Paul) and watch the fur fly.

You know that occasionally I do get political in my blog, and if you have not figured it out I lean to the Republican side of the ticket. I will seriously consider the Independent and Green Candidate and can happily say that the last elected President I voted for was Ronald Reagan. But this comment comes from the Democratic side of the aisle, and it is the self destruction of Hilary Clinton.

It all started with her lose in Iowa and the sudden rise of Barack Obama. She is now so desperate that her whole tempo and style is thrown out the window. In fact she has appeared tired and weepy and to be honest she appears very un-Presidential. I once thought she may be something in the political world, but one setback seems to have shaken her and shown what she may be like in office. This person we definitely do not need in our highest office when things get tough.

But why did she loose, and why is she tumbling in the polls? Simple, the Independents and Fence Sitters finally realized that Barak was more than just an upstart contended and broke for him. The problem is there are a lot of these Independents and Fence Sitters and they are enough to turn the tide.

Let’s face it though; Iowa and New Hampshire are not the whole country. The problem here is she has now shown a personal strip that really is at odds to being the President. I for one do not want an emotional and confused President when things get rough.

Advice: Buck up Hilary. Take the licks. Stop being an emotional person. Oh, and your coy humor, stop it, it comes across as disingenuous. Believe it or not you still have a chance but get back to where you were before the elections. Start talking about specifics of what you are likely to do if you are elected. Finally, stop using historic figures as comparators to your opponents, you are not good at it and are offending large groups of people.

Sorry Hilary, if I have to vote Democratic I would vote Obama at this point.