Michelle Obama and The Bomb

There are two* things on my nerves as of late:

1. The sound of the AMBER Alert. This sounds eerily like the nuclear bomb siren on Sid Meier's Civilization II, except now it emanates from television sets, the stereo in my car and anywhere else with a screen and a speaker. It's my own little red scare every so often, even though I know if there was an impending nuclear attack, there'd probably be precious little time to be occupied with worrying as the missiles head toward their eventual targets. We'll meet again / don't know where, don't know when...


2. "First Lady-elect." I know a lot of you took a long, hard look at your ballot to see where to mark your vote for Michelle Obama, but alas, she was not an official candidate during the 2008 elections. It's even a bit tenuous to suggest the first lady is anything more than an unofficial ambassador for the country, even though an entire branch of the Executive Office of the President is devoted to helping the spouse of the president play host to all sorts of foreign leaders and dignitaries. Still, no first lady has ever been elected to that post. Nothing is officially expected or demanded of the first lady in our Constitution. Admire her (and question her fashion choices) as much as you will, but for now can she just be "Michelle" and let us do away with the ridiculous (and wrong) "First Lady-elect"?

* - There are only two I care to share with you at this present time, on this blog. Dare I say, the number of things bothering me right now is far too high to expound upon without taking a few days off to detail them properly. Ain't I a cheerful fella?