and back (stitched as a full moon memory of seeing Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus strung across the evening sky) ...
Plus the endpapers, front ...
and back ...
are done at last. Now all that remains is putting it all into Blurb which involves rescanning and reformatting all 18 pages ... piece of cake, right?
So, while you're waiting to see the final end product, here's a bit I wrote to amuse myself last month. Feel free to add your own bullet points in the comments if you feel so inclined.
What if? A modern day fairy tale
What if Bill Clinton had done the right thing and resigned from the Presidency? Imagine a world where …
- Al Gore takes over the presidency in 1998
- Climate change is given priority attention and the process of reversing global warming begins
- The Republican-led Congress, without Bill Clinton as a whipping horse, has no one to blame but themselves when things go wrong
- The country, satisfied overall with the progress of the new administration, elects Al Gore in 2000 and returns control of Congress to the Democrats
- Hillary Rodham (after divorcing Bill Clinton in 1999) wins a NY Senate seat in 2000
- With no contested election to call, the Supreme Court continues to be trusted and respected
- President Gore reads a daily briefing warning of a potential attack by Al Queda and takes action, preventing 9/11
- There is no war in Afghanistan or Iraq
- Trillions of dollars are invested in infrastructure … unemployment decreases, GDP increases
- Al Gore declines to run in 2004, and endorses Hillary Rodham for president
- Barack Obama gives an impassioned speech on the floor of the Democratic convention and ends up as Hillary’s running mate
- Rodham and Obama win in 2004 and proceed to serve two terms; Al Gore become Sec. of Energy
- Universal health care becomes law
- Wind and solar energy begin to dominate the marketplace
- There is no recession in 2008 and record low unemployment leads to tax cuts for all
- Evidence mounts that ten years of climate control is making a positive difference in reducing the frequency and severity of weather events
- With no major crises abroad, attention turns to addressing issues of gender bias and sexual assault, as well as prejudices against minorities and LGBQT communities
- Obama runs for president in 2012 and serves one term with Joe Biden, and wins a second term in 2016 with (fill in the blank with your favorite Democrat)
- Former reality TV star Donald Trump is a contestant on Dancing with the Stars shortly after his divorce from Melania
- Social media is closely regulated and becomes a strong advocate for progressive causes
- Several moderate justices are nominated to the Supreme Court and Merrick Garland becomes Chief Justice in 2016
- The “issue” of immigration becomes the “opportunity” of immigration as illegal aliens are encouraged to become contributing citizens
- The US is a leader in successfully mediating global conflicts, which reduce in number
- US security agencies pick up on cyber-hacking in the UK and work with their allies to defuse threats in a series of European elections
- The slogan “Brexit” disappears after the initiative is soundly defeated at the polls
- In a brief article on page 6 of the NYT it is noted that failed real estate developer and former dance contestant Donald Trump was found guilty of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to 10 years in prison along with his many co-conspirators
- We all live happily ever after …
