Random thoughts on a Sunday morning

* Why is it that polls showing President Barack Obama up are given so much credence by media and the Democratic Party, but polls that show a vast majority of Americans are opposed to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and gay marriage are discounted and ignored?

Regardless of which candidate you support and your position on the two controversial issues, it's the hypocrisy of touting one type of poll while demonizing the other that should disturb you.

* Recently, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell said that passing the city's Parks levy would help alleviate gun violence among youth. How, exactly, will giving the city more money for playground equipment and mowing the grass have any impact whatsoever on stopping teenagers from shooting people?

* Don't kids in school have better things to do than become energy police? Shouldn't the schools be emphasizing math, science, reading and grammar instead? Do all the schools implementing these patrols have 100% scores on their achievement tests and other measures?

Is this just the beginning? What's next - food patrols where students keep track of the food their classmates are eating and report anything that might be considered unhealthy? And then reporting their parents who feed them junk food at home? And then what? Will we have conditioned kids to be informants to the government?

* Has President Obama ever accepted blame for anything? He blames the economy on his predecessor. He blames Congress, specifically Republicans, for his lack of legislative achievements. He blames big (insert favorite 'enemy' here) for a host of ills. And now he blames his staff and even his debate partner for his poor performance in last week's debate.

So I ask: has he accepted blame for anything? I may have missed something, but I cannot recall where he has said anything like 'it's my fault,' or 'I'm to blame.' Let me know if you have any examples I missed.