I’ve seen silly emails circulated with this title.  I always delete them as I’ve felt the stories are so farfetched as to be unbelievable.   Until Monday. 

Scout’s Honor. I was on the train on Monday. Heading home after a long day.  The train was crowded with a few folks standing in the aisles.  This 30’ish woman sits down next to me. She takes an orange VISA credit card from her purse and – holding it in her hand – pulls out her cell phone and dials a number. And then in a voice loud enough to be heard 3 or 4 rows away, she says she has a question on her credit card.   She needs detail on the last dozen or so transactions.  And she repeats the card number into the receiver. THEN (as if that’s not enough) after a pause, she repeats a family name and a calendar date (presumably security codes). Then (of course) she read off the three digit security code on the back of the card (“uhmm lemme see. . . two three eight . . . no THREE eight“). For the next 15 minutes, with phone shouldered to her ear, she proceeded to dialogue on the telephone in this highly public place about questioned purchases (one charge was – I kid you not – 9 cents).  She’s writing them down.

I do not believe we should have educational tests or intelligence tests or any other criteria (than citizenship) for a person to vote.  But maybe there is something to having a “Stupid” test.  This woman would be the poster girl.  Not that it would matter with the characters we have in our government. 

By the way, I bought a great bunch of new books on line, some shoes for Donna, a new Martin guitar, I booked us a trip to Europe and I . . . . . OOOOPS  . . . never mind. . . .