As Election Day Approacheth...

Not sure about you, but I'm a little afraid to turn on the TV or visit my own mailbox these days. The political ads are taking over...

In the tri-state area, there are not only ads about the two gubernatorial candidates but about the US senate and various state representative races. We also have NJ and Connecticut ads, too. Almost every other TV commercial and/or piece of mail that arrives is about why we should or shouldn't vote a particular way. It's quite overwhelming...

But it doesn't end there. Between the political analysts who have already got the US House won by the Republicans and the pundits spouting off about what the American people want, I'm seriously about ready to scream.

My 17-yr-old son seems to be feeling the pressure, too. He asked me today if once he turns 18 next year, he will HAVE TO vote - meaning will anyone really force him to head to the polling place and make some choices. It's just too confusing, he said. Hard to know what anyone will do once they get into office, true, but once I reminded him that he's only two generations removed from living in an era where folks who looked like he does were denied the right to register, he resigned himself to vote as soon as he's able to do so.

So, whether you plan on marking your paper ballot for the donkeys or the elephants, do get out and cast your ballot. Don't prove the pundits, radicals and nay-sayers talking about low turnout - particularly among African-Americans - right. Use your voice on Tuesday - or you'll have no right to complain on Wednesday.

The Call That Probably Shouldn't Have Been Made

Remember back in October 1991, when Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas was on blast via congressional hearings for alleged sexual harassment in the workplace? One of his accusers, Anita Hill, gave some very descriptive and vivid testimony about things Thomas said and did when he was her supervisor at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission years before. The hearings ended, Thomas was confirmed by a vote of 52-48 and Anita Hill faded into obscurity to all but her Brandeis University law students. But, thankfully, the conversation - and eventual litigation - about workplace sexual harassment had begun.

Cut to October 2010, when Thomas' wife, Virginia, called Hill and left a voicemail requesting an apology. Hill kept the message for two weeks (because she said she initially thought it was a joke) before calling campus police who eventually called the FBI to report it. Hill said there would be no apology coming because as she put it "I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony."

My advice to Ginni: Just. Let. It. Go.

Believe what you want to believe about your hubby. Think Anita Hill is the worse thing since the Bubonic Plague - who cares? But seriously - it's been 19 years already. It's time to move on.

And really - on what planet is it OK to call up someone that you passed on life's vector almost two decades ago to have them offer restitution for what happened way back then? Did you discuss it with your husband or act on your own? What would you have done if Anita would have actually answered?

Pinch yourself already. It wasn't a dream and it's time to wake the heck up.