I’m surprised that only six Democrats, nationally, have hung themselves because of the last election. I’ve heard that psychiatrists across the country are enjoying new cases that walk in almost every day, people in shock, appearing as though struck by lightning. Even John K refuses to admit the Swift Boat Veterans had anything to do with his being torpedoed. The Saturday Night Live fools still lampoon John as often as they do Bush. And I have friends that still tell me &uot;what’s gonna happen in November&uot;. It’s as though that date never came and the election hasn’t occurred. I’m afraid to tell them it’s all over for fear they will go to pieces.

However, never fear, they will be back. Hillary has had a professional attitude change and is working her way to the middle of the road again. She almost agrees, now, with Dick Morris and Zell Miller. Within a month she will conduct herself as though she never heard of a man named Dean. She can’t change her face on her own but you will notice her teeth a lot more even though a genuine smile would fracture her jaw. She has already spent the proceeds of her books on TV spots to counter all those White Water reminders the Republicans have ready for the media.

Now if the courts would try Ted Kennedy for some of his misbehaviors he would have to make his negative speeches from a prison cell. Pelosi will soon become a pain even to her party. It is obvious most Democrats will never forgive Bush for anything they think he has done right or wrong…they don’t even like his dog. And what either party calls non-partisanship is to let the opponent see the knife that will be in his back. We are in for at least four more years of dogfight at home. You young folks better pay attention to the battles over Social Security and Medicare, fix it or lose it. Us old folks don’t care.

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From the net: If you were born anywhere between 1930 and 70 you should not be alive. First, you survived being born to mothers who might have smoked and/or drank while they carried you. They took aspirin, ate bleu cheese dressing and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, your baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints and there was asbestos on the furnace pipes in the basement. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup on a warm day was always a special treat. You drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle.

You ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but weren’t overweight because you were always outside playing. You’d leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as you were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. You would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill to find out you had no brakes. After running into the fence a few times, you solved problem.

You had no Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms…you had friends and you went outside and found them! You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although you were told it would happen, you failed to put out any eyes and the worms did not live in you forever.

You rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the police. Yet in spite of all this, your generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had wars, freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and learned how to deal with it all. If you were born before 1980, good job well done. Born after that, we will keep an eye on you…there is still hope.

Robert Pocklington lives in Suffolk and is a regular News-Herald columnist. You can reach him at robert.pocklington@suffolknewsherald.com