Ohio primary day

Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic nomination isn't quite dead yet. Yesterday she scored three primary victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island (Obama did manage to score a victory in Vermont), which to me comes as a huge surprise. Unfortunately, it seems that she had to stoop to using fear tactics as a way to vanquish her foe in these elections by airing an ad featuring kids sleeping in bed and the red phone ringing in the White House at 3 a.m. signaling a national crisis and asking who you'd want to be answering that phone in just such an event, implying that only Hillary is equipped to do so and keep our nation safe from terrorists. It's the same old tactic used by the Bush administration for the past 7 years to keep us afraid and to keep the Republicans firmly in power, and anybody who does that is not worthy of my respect. This election should not be about fear or any other negative emotions, it should be about turning the page and restoring hope to our battered country that has had to deal with the sheer incompetence of the Bush administration for the past 8 years. And if Hillary insists on moving her campaign forward using national security as her trump card, then I can't say that I would ever change my mind about her as a candidate. It even more firmly cements my place in the Obama camp as one of his ardent supporters. I'm tired of fearmongering and being afraid and color coded alerts and all that crap. Yes, we should be afraid of terrorists, I don't dispute that, but we as a country are purely responsible for creating them. There was no al-Qaida in Iraq before the invasion. Now it's become one of their primary recruiting bases. The wave of anti-American sentiment around the world is even greater than it was before 9/11. So if anything, we've been responsible for making the world less safe than before. And if Hillary insists on stumping on national security instead of focusing on our pressing domestic needs here at home, then I'm sorry, I can't support her candidacy at the time being. We have too many things here at home that have suffered neglect under the Bush administration that have reached a crisis level and must be fixed now. So, it's on to this continued primary race and an ultimate winner, but I sure hope that Obama can score more knockout punches to Hillary and put her away once and for all. Either that, or they can run as candidate and running mate, and I'm sure that such a thing would more firmly cement the Democratic Party and build enough unity to win in November against McCain.

WOMEN'S FITNESS CLASS

Last night was our women's fitness class at Breakaway. Our normal trainer, Jason, was sick, down with the flu, so his brother Jon took over as our trainer last night. I really like him and wouldn't mind his being our trainer if Jason decided to stop teaching this class for some reason. He's really funny and a terrific trainer. He came up with some pretty tough things for us to do, working the total package - upper body, lower body and abs, which is what I need. My "core", that being my abs and back, are really weak and need to be strengthened. I'm also surprised at how weak my upper body is, given how much lifting I've been required to do on the job. But this is precisely the kind of workout that I really want, one that will work all areas of my body and will be a well balanced workout that focuses on where women need it the most. I really don't care about speed and agility, as I'm not an athlete bent on fast footwork and explosiveness. Oh, it's good for the cardio aspect of the workout, but mostly, I need to focus more on strength training as I enter my middle years and face the fight against osteoporosis when I begin the entry into menopause. Weight and strength training are your best weapon against that and I hope that we do a lot more of that in our women's class. It's also nice to be working out with people who are closer to my own age instead of working out with a bunch of little kids who make me feel like an old woman and reinforce how much I have lost with age in the way of speed and agility. I'm never going to be 20 again and I'm never going to have what I did at that age. For a 50 year old, I do pretty well, all things considered, but still, a class that focuses more on women's needs is a lot more my speed, and I am glad that Breakaway now offers that. It's exactly what I need at this stage of my life.