Joe the Plumber vs. Bob the Builder. Class War Erupts, Mass Casualties Predicted (Mostly From Chinese Lead-Painted Toys).

Okay here's my confession: I could not finish watching the third and final presidential debate last night. I had a stomach ache, went to bed knowing the pundits and bloggers would have the long knives out to slice and dice the debate for me.

But I did watch enough to hear the phrase "Joe the Plumber" about twenty times. It made me think of the persistent leak under my downstairs sink and the money I owe my real plumber (his name is Matt, not Joe) and, well, that kind of election-cycle stress can be bad for my health. Same image comes up when I think of the Republican mantra phrase, "trickle down."

As I ran and hid from the second half of the debate, the image I could not get out of my head was not of Joe the Plumber, but his spiritual brother and fellow tradesman, Bob the Builder.

Now, I know we're treading into class-warfare territory here, but I'm pretty sure Bob makes a lot more money than Joe, certainly much more than the $250,000 that Obama would set has the threshold for tax increases.

Half of Bob's fortune comes from those dang Chinese-made toys. Let's raise our coffee cup and toast lead-free paint in toys and the man who has the guts to stand up to our largest creditor and say, "no lead, please!" (See, we have to say "please" to the red Chinese now or they'll cut off our line of credit. "Tough talk" on human rights? Not anytime soon.)

I'll have more thoughts on this subject later.

Here's an interactive site that makes me LOL! Enjoy it, you crazy Mavericks! Love to all my fellow humans, even my next-door neighbor with his "McCain/Palin yard sign!