Politicians make for great entertainment at public expense. Is democracy the most curious form of government? Or, is it publicly sponsored, state sanctioned entertainment? The answer? Yes.

Personally, I’m something of a monarchist. Make that a benevolent monarch and all is well with me. Why not democracy?

Most of us just don’t have the proper training and qualifications to elect our representatives. How can I say that?

Look at our representatives. What else can I say?

All seriousness aside, the give and take of politics in American manages to muddle through the day. We’re probably no worse off than if we drew straws.

One problem I have with politics is the ability to influence politicians, yet I’m not convinced that having the public pay for election campaigns is an appropriate response.

Politicians are usually their own worst enemy, despite managing to make plenty of the same through years of so-called public service.

Without question, those of us who follow politics in the US have a form of entertainment with a broad scope.

From local politics to state politics to national politics, every human foible gets uncovered, sooner or later.

I do not question that some who seek and obtain public office do so for the greater good of their constituents.

I do not questtion that some who seek and obtain public office do so for their own greater good, public be damned.

How can you tell which is which? I don’t think you can.

I’ve watched video of President John Kennedy handling news conferences. He was an extraordinarily gifted speaker, not to mention a babe magnet.

He would provide wonderful media fodder if he were president today.

Comparing a Kennedy speech or news conference with a similar George W. Bush event is also entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons.

It should be apparent that voters can be successfully entertained with both high brow and low brow comedy.

It was Will Rogers who said, “There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

How can you argue with that?

Democracy varies substantially from a monarchy when it comes time to change leaders. Overthrowing a monarchy can be messy.

A mature democracy simply reaches a tipping point when nearly everyone agrees that it’s time to “throw the bums out.”

That acts is a cleansing effort for the subsidized entertainment provided by our government.

Do we live in interesting times, or what?

Editor’s Note: Before her death, Tera passed along her personal journal. It is filled with hundreds of comments, essays, observations, and perspectives on every subject matter. As time permits, I will edit and publish select journal entries for Tera Talks. —Alexis Kayhill

Does television news give you an accurate view of real news? Sorry, I channel surf, bouncing from TV show to news to sports to movies. Sometimes within minutes. Guess what I landed on? Immigration.

Rather, the immigration problem. Protesters in Washington and elsewhere were protesting, for lack of anything constructive, any immigration policy which did not give full amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Who was doing the protesting? Illegal immigrants.

Perhaps I don’t recognize all the social ramifications of immigration, or even illegal immigration.

At a simple level, life in the US is sufficiently attractive that many people from other countries, mostly poor countries, want to live here.

In fact, many are willing to die to get here, while others are willing to sneak in and break laws to live here.

Once they’re here, most illegal (and legal) immigrants find work of some kind or another and try to live their lives as the rest of us. In debt.

Through the decades of porous border policy, the US has plenty of illegal immigrants. So many, in fact, that they’re willing to make some public noise about their rights to stay in the US.

My mom gave me a clipping from the newspaper which seems, on the surface, to explain the situation better than anything I’ve heard on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox, or wherever.

The clipping said, in part:

That’s an attractive analogy, right? What’s wrong with this picture? Am I missing something?

Editor’s Note: Before her death, Tera passed along her personal journal. It is filled with hundreds of comments, essays, observations, and perspectives on every subject matter. As time permits, I will edit and publish select journal entries for Tera Talks—Alexis Kayhill

“Nothing improves without change.” But let history be our guide. People come and go, but life goes on. So it is with a heavy heart that I bring you sad news from Tera’s family.

Saturday afternoon, I received a phone call from Tera’s parents. She was staying at their home near Los Angeles. Tera Jean, our friend and the Divine Missy T, passed away early Saturday morning following a long bout with cancer.

Tera was 46.

We first met over 20 years ago. Tera taught a business seminar that I attended while still in college. I was attraced to her thoughtful, energetic, no nonsense approach to life and business.

Tera was a teacher, a writer, a business partner, and a kind and gifted friend to many.

Through the years of our friendship, sad times, good times, prosperous and poor times, Tera instilled in me a practical view of life, and a desire to learn, examine, and challenge.

Though severely ill for the past few years, even while dying, Tera somehow managed to teach me more about living than I would have imagined possible.

Last weekend, a number of her friends traveled to LA and visited with Tera.

She smiled and talked fondly, not of the past, but of her friends and family. Tera held Alexis Kayhill’s new baby and smiled. Then the baby smiled. Tera said it was gas. They both napped together.

At times, Tera’s voice and grasp was strong. Other times, she spoke barely more than a whisper, with only enough strength for a touch.

Regardless, for our Sunday afternoon visit, that glittering light in Tera’s eyes never left. While she was awake that day, we snacked, laughed, and talked on the phone with a few old friends.

Before we left, Tera gave me her diary—and firm instructions to continue publishing her journal, TeraTalks, with past, unpublished entries.

Tera wished the best for everyone, especially those less fortunate. We’ll miss her.

Remember, “Nothing improves without change.” Tera told me to remember it. I won’t forget.

Is life a race, or a destination? Starting now, it is both. A person’s life often is measured in years and accomplishments. Seldom is a person’s life measured in days. Here is my race to add a few days to life.

“Two, maybe three months.” Solemn, soft spoken, yet surprisingly cool and distant words with an edge of finality; the end result of dozens of tests and medicines and therapy, spanning years and months and weeks. And days.

What is that? 60 days? 90 days? If so, if there are no alternatives, my simple desire is to see the prognostication wrong, extend those days; starting now.

101 days.

Granted, that’s not much, not even much of an extension, but it’s a start.

What can be done in 101 days? Eat right? Exercise? Visit with family and friends? I’ve done all that many times over and the Bell Curve still tolls for me.

What can be done in one day?

Thoughts. Mine and those shared by others.

Food. What I want that tastes good and what my body needs. They’re not always the same.

Family. Just to be there. That’s what they’re for, right?

Friends. To talk about yesterday and share hopes for tomorrow.

Beach. Sand between the toes, wind through the hair; the way God intended.

Sleep and dreams. There are times I want this one higher on the list.

Sex. Easier said than done but, hey, it’s on the list, too. Maybe it just a part of the dream.

I promise not to measure my life by years and accomplishments. There’s too many of the former, too few of the latter, so I’ll just keep busy on the other items.

101 days. That has a nice ring to it.

Politics is free entertainment that we pay for in taxes. Is there a more entertaining or more expensive or more dangerous form of entertainment than politics? Look at the political landscape. You can’t make this stuff up.

From weapons of mass destruction that can’t be found, to lawyers being shot, to letting Arabs control major US shipping ports, American politics provides the poplulace with entertainment beyond imagination.

Almost overnight, President Geoge Bush has become the lamest of ducks. Can you hear that sound? Forget the midterm elections, it’s cattle call time for Republicans and Democrats in 2008.

Let the show begin.

Who’s on the firing line for the Republicans? Is it still Senator John McCain? How about another good old boy from Arkansas, Governor Mike Huckabee?

American’s need a good cure for political insomnia. Who else but a doctor; Doctor Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader?

George Allen? Mitt Romney? One thing is for sure, they’re running on their own and not running to the White House for assistance. They’ll save their toughest anti-Bush talk for small meetings, but not say anything to alienate Republican money.

It’s always the front runner who has the most to lose. Just ask Arnie Vinnick. And John McCain.

As of today, the Republican nomination in 2008 is McCain’s to lose. Except, it’s 2006 and all the riders are jockeying their horses for position two years ahead of primaries, and conventions.

Or, is it the horses are positioning the jockeys? Whatever. It’s too early to tell what will happen. Just ask John Dean.

As the candidates often say in public, “Polls are meaningless.” Privately, they’re all running daily polls, searching for meaning.

Something strange happened a few years ago. It wasn’t former President Clinton’s sex scandals. Those are to be expected. Somehow, the Republicans came into office and started a war and ran up huge budget deficits.

In previous administrations and days gone by, those were both tried and true features of the Democratic Party. Of course, they weren’t in character, either. Just witness the balanced budgets under Democrats Clinton and Gore.

You can’t make this stuff up. We live in a Bizarro World of sorts, where the old rules don’t apply, or, if they do, they apply to the wrong groups.

Democrats are the minority, but behave like Republicans. Republicans are in control of everything and can’t control anything, including money and spin.

Who’s the top cow in the field, Democrat or Republican? Unfortunately, the smart cows are what we need in a political cattle call. But they’re smart, and won’t go into the field.

The information age gives us both at the speed of light. We’ve all heard stories that were hard to believe, but ended up true. Others were believeable, but ended up as fiction. How do you know for sure?

The smell test is one method I use to tell Fact from Fiction. For example, there was the Olympic Torch virus.

The half dozen or see emails I received from less-than-experienced family members warning me of this virus indicated that, still today, many don’t know how their computers work.

The Olympic Torch virus was supposed to “burn” your computer’s hard drive; as in catch on fire. Don’t worry. It won’t. And it didn’t.

Computers are machines, just like automobiles and appliances. All have distinct characteristics but still require a little understanding.

I suspect the refrigerator light goes off when the door is closed. I don’t know for sure, as finding out isn’t really worth the effort. Putting a wet puppy in the microwave won’t dry it out.

Computers in the home haven’t been around as long as refrigerators, washers and dryers, or even the microwave, so there’s bound to be some things many users don’t know.

Fact or Fiction? I deleted all the files on my PC and I’m ready to give it away to a family down the street. That’s safe, right? My files were deleted.

Fiction. Deleting files from a computer has many levels. Click ‘delete’ doesn’t really delete, and many PC applications are available to find what you thought was deleted.

Fact or Fiction? My PC doesn’t have spyware because I ran a spyware utility? That question works the same for viruses, too. Answer? Fiction. Anti-virus utilities may not catch everything, often ignore the latest malware.

Fact or Fiction? Macs are better than PCs? That’s fiction. Macs are much better than PCs—for some tasks, not necessarily for others, so it depends on what you need, what you’ve got, and how you use it.