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Health & Fitness

Minding Your Ds and Rs

How is Pete Aguilar going to garner support in the 31st District election from disillusioned Redlands' residents? Simple, he'll get support from those who don't want the other guys.

Been spending time thinking about the political machinations in this country, and something dawned on me.

It seems more and more to me that the name on the ballot doesn't matter as much as the single letter that follows it.

It's been a topic that's been floating around in my head because of the battle that is underway to replace Rep. Jerry Lewis as the area's representative. And the uphill climb that Mayor Pete Aguilar might face from his own hometown consitituents.

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See, there are people of all walks of life -- and both political parties -- who aren't fans of the mayor. But I can almost guarantee that he will still get his share of votes in June's primary election thanks to the letter D next to his name.

(OK, I realize that's not how it appears on the ballot -- just go wtih it.)

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You see, the issues we're running into in politics these days is that we're so concerned about nothing but the parties. Not the people. Not their ideas. Not if they can get the job done. But if they're on the same side as you.

And maybe that's just what the TV media wants us to believe, but it happens probably a lot more that any of us want to admit. Which leads us back to the current divide our country is facing. Blue or Red. Never Purple.

Hate to continue banging the same drum, but we need a lot more purple in our politics (and not just because it's one of the colors of the LA Kings -- more on them in a minute). It felt ironic that the Tea Party had an appearance Thursday night by an Abraham Lincoln impersonator. Lincoln, the great Republican president, was famous for working together with his political rivals, something that I haven't seen out of some members of the Tea Party.

Of course, the other deciding factor these days in the voting booth isn't necessarily which party the candidate is from, but is he's not the other guy.

That I think will be a deciding factor in favor of Aguilar, especially in the primary. As much as some people in Redlands are unsure of Aguilar's credentials for higher office, they sure as heck don't want the likes of a west-ender like Bob Dutton or a millionaire from LA County in Gary Miller representing them.

Of course, there's a long way to go before we'll know how it shakes out. But I don't have high hopes for things changing any time soon.

* * *

OK, so if you'll indulge a little, I have a little hockey to talk about.

Splurged and headed out to Staples Center on Wednesday night, and nearly lost my voice as the Kings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets with a goal at the end of the game.

Not until we got home did I find out that the Kings were the recipients of a break, as the game clock stalled for about a second with 1.8 seconds remaining. The puck crossed the goal line 0.4 seconds left.

So, all day Thursday, the Kings were a part of the national sports discussion -- a nice little victory. But the calls of it somehow being cheating drove me nuts.

Cheating? How would someone adding about a second know that the Kings would score in that time? How, out of all the games that are played in the NHL in a year, would they they know this was the time and place to do something like that?

It was a mistake, plain and simple -- and a serious one at that. Whether it was human error at the timekeeper's hand (maybe, but doubtful) or a clock issue (likely), the league is doing the right thing by checking into what happened.

(And for the record, I'm in the camp that the clock recalibrated itself midstream as the Kings' general manager explained.)

But to the folks who are calling for their to be retribution for the Blue Jackets because of a mistake, I gotta say no. Because if you start making up for mistakes in games, then games will never be finished.

Does it look wrong? Yes. Does it need to treated seriously for the integrity of the game? Oh, heck yeah. Did Columbus get hosed? Eh, I don't see it. It was the same as any other missed or blown call that happens in games every day.

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