Category Archives: Uncategorized

national news, political news, Uncategorized

Little to fear from Trump? Here’s why

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I’ll admit to being one of those millions of Americans who is horrified at the notion of a President Donald J. Trump.

The horror comes not so much from whether he can achieve all the idiotic policy goals he’s set out. It comes from the idea of this guy speaking his mind in public, of having his words heard around the world by people who expect high-minded rhetoric from the head of state of the world’s greatest nation.

Yep, by golly, we’re still the top dog on Planet Earth — and whatever Trump says to the contrary is just so much horse manure.

I’m going to offer, though, a view that might put your mind to rest at least a little bit over what makes some of us afraid … very afraid.

That stuff about building the wall and making Mexico pay for it? How about the notion of banning Muslims from entering the country because of their religious faith? How about the idiotic tax plan that economists say simply will not work? Or the idea that he’ll single-handedly bring jobs back that have been lost to Japan, China and Mexico?

Trump’s not going to get any of that done without help from Congress. Who controls the legislative branch of government? Republicans, that’s who.

Yes, the very Republicans who at this very moment are working overtime, behind closed doors, sweating bullets … trying like holy hell to deny Trump the presidential nomination of their party.

Imagine what might happen, thus, if they fail in their bid to deny him the nomination. Now imagine — and this is the real stretch — Trump actually defeating the Democratic nominee to become the 45th president of the United States.

The Democrats are almost certain to nominate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Sure, she’s got baggage of her own. However, she possesses a formidable political machine.

If hell freezes over and lightning strikes multiple times in the same spot — and the sun starts rising in the west — Trump could be elected.

If that happens, do you really think he’s going to have any easier of a time getting anything done in a Congress dominated by Republicans — presuming the GOP even manages to maintain control of the Senate? And that seems like a potentially tall order in any event, given the electoral matchups involving many potentially vulnerable GOP senators.

And if Democrats take back control of the Senate competing fiercely against a Republican ballot led by Donald J. Trump, well, then Trump’s myriad cockamamie ideas become even more remotely doable.

There. Do you feel better now?

 

 

Uncategorized

Who’s left of The Who?

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 24: Pete Townshend (R) and Roger Daltrey of The Who perform on stage at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on March 24, 2009 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

I just saw something that forces me to veer sharply away from politics for a moment.

The Who is going to play on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” later this week.

The Who? Yes … or what’s left of The Who.

Two of them are deceased. Keith Moon was the wild-man drummer; John Entwistle was the smooth bassist. Zack Starkey, Ringo’s son, has replaced Moon on the drums and from what I understand he does a creditable job with the sticks; don’t know who’s thumping out the bass notes these days.

I guess my point is this: How can a band that has lost two of its four distinct personalities still be called a band by the same name?

Roger Daltrey still sings and screams; Pete Townshend still rips the guitar with that famous “whirlwind move.” They’re great, man.

Keith and John aren’t there any longer.

Other bands have sort of stayed together while key members have been MIA. The Beach Boys without Dennis, Carl and Brian Wilson tried to hang together; Brian came back and then got into a serious spat with Mike Love. Creedence Clearwater Revival has a new name because their front man, John Fogerty, got mad at his bandmates and won’t have anything to do with them.

Think of The Beatles “reuniting” without John Lennon and George Harrison. Can’t imagine it? Neither can I.

Nor can I imagine The Who without Keith Moon and John Entwistle.

I’m out.

Back to the other stuff …

 

Uncategorized

A mystery of life needs solving

eggs

Life is full of mysteries.

There are too many of them to list, but given that one of this blog’s stated missions is to discuss “life experience,” I am going to veer far, far away for a moment from politics, policy and the future of American jurisprudence in the wake of a Supreme Court justice’s death to discuss one of those mysteries.

Perhaps you’ve tuned in to one of cooking shows that tells you the secret of peeling an egg.

Here’s what just happened to me.

I boiled two eggs this morning for breakfast. I left both of ’em in the water for exactly the same length of time. I peeled the first egg and tore it ribbons. Half of the egg white stuck to the shell as I struggled to remove the shell.

Then I turned to the second one. The shell came off almost in a single piece. Slick is a whistle, man. No sweat.

I’ve never bought into this theories one hears from the likes of Racheal Ray or Martha Stewart about how to perform this simple, mindless task. Put salt in the water? Put cooking oil in it. Heat the water that’s already warm? Heat it when it’s cold? Mutter some ancient Native-American chant? Cross my eyes, stick out my tongue and stand on one leg?

These eggs came from the same carton. For all I know they might have come from the same damn chicken!

It’s a bloody mystery, I’m telling ya.

Whoever can solve this mystery — definitively! — is my candidate for a Nobel Prize of some kind. I’m willing to make up a category.

 

 

 

national news, political news, Uncategorized

What’s in a name?

Obama-Cruz

Social media provide a wonderful — but occasionally maddening — forum for passing around silly quips and observations.

This one came across my Facebook feed the other day.

It noted that President Obama’s critics have been fond of referring to him as “Barack Hussein Obama.” Yet one of those critics doesn’t get the same treatment by his foes who could refer to him as “Rafael Eduardo Cruz.”

To be fair, I don’t recall hearing Texas Republican U.S. senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz use the president’s full, given name when referring to him. Maybe he did. Whatever …

I have heard the president make plenty of fun of his own name.

During two appearances with Republican rivals at the Al Smith Dinner in New York City — which is a political ritual of sorts, bringing opponents together for a night of fun and bipartisan fellowship — Obama cracked jokes about his name.

In 2008, he said he got his name from “someone who never thought I’d run for president.” Referring to a line that Republican nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain had used in a debate with Sen. Obama, he joked, “Barack is actually Swahili for ‘that one.'”

In 2012, while running for re-election, the president noted something in common with his GOP foe, Mitt Romney. “We both have unusual names,” he said, noting that “Mitt” is Romney’s middle name. “I wish I could use my middle name,” the president quipped with feigned wistfulness, again to huge laughter.

What’s the connection between Obama and Cruz? They both have faced — and are facing — equally ridiculous questions about their eligibility to seek the presidency.

What’s the lesson here?

It might rest in that old saying about something being “sauce for the goose … and the gander.”

 

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Muslims are killing Muslims in Middle East

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The U.S. presidential campaigners keep bringing up the threat that Islamic terrorists pose to Americans, mainly Christians and Jews.

What none of them seems able or willing to acknowledge publicly — very much — is what those terrorists are doing to fellow Muslims.

Did you see the story the other day about the mosque in Damascus, Syria, that was attacked by Islamic State ghouls? Dozens of Muslims, mainly Shiites, were killed in the attack.

It was only the latest in a long and miserable string of such attacks that have been occurring throughout the Middle East — and in other primarily Muslim countries — since, oh, forever.

The Islamic State’s campaign against anyone who disagrees with their perverted philosophy has been aimed primarily against those within the Islamic faith. How many Muslims do you suppose have died at the hands of the ISIL monsters? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

And that brings me to my point.

The world war against ISIL must include a broad range of military action launched and coordinated by the people who (a) face the most direct threat from these terrorists and (b) have been the terrorists’ most frequent victims.

I saw the other day that Saudi Arabia is inching toward committing ground troops to the fight against ISIL in Syria. Do you know what’s so fascinating about that development, were it to come to fruition?

Saudi Arabia is a mainly Sunni Muslim nation, made up of people ISIL claims to represent.

I do not have the answer for how any world leader — whether it’s the president of the United States, the head of the European Union or a potentate in some tiny sheikdom — can muster the forces needed to fight these hideous religious perverts.

The Damascus mosque attack, though, does drive home the point that some U.S. politicians have recognized already.

It is that this country has shed enough blood already. Yes, we should continue our air campaign along with our allies who’ve also been wounded by terrorist attacks — and we should prosecute that campaign with all the vigor possible. The real fight on the ground must include those who are closest to the enemy and who stand most directly in harm’s way.

There can be no doubt ISIL has designs on spreading its terror far beyond the Middle East. That is why the countries in the region need to step up even more aggressively to take on the terrorists.

It is their fight to win.

 

military news, Uncategorized

Indeed, women should register for the draft

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This almost seems like an oversight on the part of the Pentagon brass.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter declared a year ago that women should be able to serve in the combat arms of all military services.

But wait! They don’t yet have to register for the draft the way their male colleagues have to do.

The Marine Corps commandant and the Army chief of staff have testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that, yes, women should be required to register with Selective Service.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the panel, agreed.

Generals testify

So, didn’t they think of this earlier, when they were deliberating in the Pentagon about allowing women to serve in direct combat? Women now are able to serve in the infantry, armor and artillery branches — the three combat arms — of the armed forces.

However, if we’re going to extend full equality to both genders, then we need to go all the way.

We don’t have a draft any longer. It ended in the early 1970s during the last years of the Vietnam War. Despite having an all-volunteer military force, young men have had to register for Selective Service in case there would be a need to call them into military duty.

With women now joining men on the battlefield as soldiers and Marines, it’s time to sign them up, too.

 

Uncategorized

Puppy Tales, Part 16

puppy

We’re more than a year now into dog ownership and we’ve learned plenty about the emotional and mental differences between dogs and cats.

My wife and I have been lifelong cat owners/lovers. We’ve understood during our many years together that cats can be at the same time lovable while not caring one little bit about anything or anyone else.

Not so with Toby the Dog.

Our puppy possesses a serious streak of jealousy.

You see, my wife takes care of a couple of little boys; one of them just turned 3, the other one is not quite six months of age. The brothers are sweet little boys but as you can imagine, the younger one requires quite a bit of attention.

So does Toby.

My wife has become expert at multi-tasking as it regards the kids and the puppy.

And with Toby following her around like a little four-legged shadow, she needs to be an expert.

Toby does not snap at the little guy. He doesn’t growl at him. He doesn’t make any gestures toward him that are remotely hostile.

Oh, no. Instead, he just insists — relentlessly! — that his “mother” pay him at least as much attention as she pays the little boy.

He demands she throw his toys around the house. He loves to fetch ’em and bring ’em back. He jumps on her lap whenever she is tending to the little guy’s needs. Toby puts his paws on her leg, demanding that she look at him, talk to him, do something — anything — with him to keep him busy.

Our kitty, Mittens? Oh, she keeps a low profile while the boys are here. She might venture out to grab a bite of food or a drink of water — but only when they’re both napping. She’ll look at us as the tiptoes through a room en route to whatever she intends to do. And the look usually is one of “OK, folks, you do what you’re going to do; I’m just going about my business.”

Toby the Dog is another matter. Completely and entirely.

How does he know we love him? We tell him so. Repeatedly.

Why? Because he demands it.

 

 

business news, national news, Uncategorized

Landline = lifeline . . . still

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Modern black business office telephone with the receiver off the hook isolated on a white background

Another friend of mine has announced he’s cutting himself loose.

He’s my age. A peer. A former colleague. A friend to this day.

He and his wife are cutting the cord, so to speak, by ending their landline telephone service. I guess they’re going to be a cell phone family.

My wife and I have wrestled with that issue for nearly as long as we’ve owned cell phones, which isn’t as long as most of our peers. We’ve waffled and wavered. We just cannot cut the cord ourselves.

Our sons are cell phone-only telecommunications consumers. They like it that way. They take their phones with them wherever they happen to be.

Us? We remain tethered to the landline.

We’ve had them our entire lives. They have become part of who we are, I reckon.

Do we intend to stay tied to the home phone, the landline for the rest of our lives? I doubt it, strongly.

I’ve noted on this blog about our upcoming retirement plans. They include significant amounts of time on the road. We’ll, quite obviously, be spending less time “at home” and more time in our “home away from home,” our fifth wheel.

Thus, it makes little sense for us to keep the landline. Correct?

I get it. My wife gets it. Our sons no doubt snicker at us for being so, oh, wedded to the old way.

Too bad.

For now and for the foreseeable future, we’re going to stay hooked to the landline. I cannot explain precisely why we want it that way. We just do.

When the moment presents itself, when it’s time to cut ourselves free of the telephone line, we’ll know it when it arrives.

 

 

 

 

Uncategorized

MLK Jr.’s dream still unfulfilled

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Banks are closed today. We won’t get any mail. The nation is observing the birthday of one of our greatest Americans.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be 87 if he were alive today.

His life came to a violent end on April 4, 1968. Yet we remember him today for the message he left behind, which was to seek change through peaceful means.

His greatest moment during his brief time among us? It had to be that speech on Aug. 28, 1963, at the Washington Mall, under the shadow of Abraham Lincoln’s Memorial.

We know it as the “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s been reported before but I want to mention it once again here.

The guts of the speech — the part of it that resonates to this very day — was delivered extemporaneously.

The first two-thirds of Dr. King’s address was fine. It flowed nicely.

Then came the rhetorical riff that stands for all time. The part where he told us of his dream that black children and white children can play together, how the world could sing out “Free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!”

Watch it here.

The improvisation came reportedly at the urging of legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was on the podium with Dr. King and others that day. “Tell them about your dream, Martin,” she urged the great man.

And he did. He delivered. The world cheered at that moment.

Yes, we’ve made great strides since then. Congress has passed laws guaranteeing all Americans their basic civil rights and the right to vote. We’ve witnessed symbols of racial oppressions taken down from public squares. We have blended public school systems that had been separated by the race of students.

More work remains. Perhaps there will always be work to do.

However, today we remember a young Baptist preacher whose soaring rhetoric took a nation a huge step forward to the day when our dreams indeed will come true.

Happy birthday, Dr. King.

 

Sports news, Uncategorized

Many lessons bigger than a game

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The sting from that football game last night is lingering.

The University of Oregon blew a 31-point lead to lose to Texas Christian University in triple overtime 47-41. No need to revisit the second-half collapse of my Ducks.

Instead, I want to say something good about TCU head coach Gary Patterson, who made a decision two days before the game that was both difficult and easy at the same time.

His all-Universe quarterback Trevone Boykin got into a bar fight in San Antonio and then took a swing at a police officer. He was arrested, taken to jail and then released on bail.

Patterson had a decision to make: let the kid play or suspend him from the game. He chose the latter. On one hand, he could have let the kid play the game pending a “full review” of the incident; on the other hand, he had set down a set of principles and rules of conduct for his players to obey and he couldn’t possibly let any of them — including his star quarterback — abide by a different set of rules.

The outcome of the Alamo Bowl contest has little to do with this commentary here. Patterson made the correct call and in the process, it is my hope that he taught his young quarterback a life lesson that he’ll take with him as he proceeds farther into adulthood.

Someone said  prior to the game that Boykin blew it by night-clubbing and then swinging at the cop just two days before the big game. No, the timing of the incident had nothing to do with anything. Boykin should have behaved like a responsible adult regardless of his standing as a star quarterback for a nationally ranked college football team.

Boykin issued what I believe is a heartfelt apology to his teammates, to the university and to the Horned Frogs’ fans who — I am quite certain — thought it would be curtains for their team as they took the field against the Ducks.

It didn’t turn out that way.

My hope now for Boykin is that he’s learned his lesson. And my hat goes off to Coach Patterson for making a decision that well might save a young man from further shame.