Monday, February 22, 2010

Washington Reflections After Presidents' Day

Another Presidents' Day has ended; to celebrate, I reread Flexner's excellent biography of George Washington. I came away, as I had earlier, with profound gratitude that Washington had been the father of our country, that no other could have so served. It grates on my sensibilities that Jefferson is usually more widely extolled, his intellect, his tastes, his "hatred" of slavery, etc., etc. But delve more deeply and you will find that Washington, despite few years of formal education, had a far-ranging and practical mentality, a continuing eye and attention to the rectitude of his character, and little inclination to stoop to the petty political posturings and calumnies which Jefferson routinely employed, even against Washington who had trusted and promoted him. Jefferson did NOT free his slaves, but Washington did, some before his death, the rest in his will.

An always amazing aspect of Washington's character was his constant consciousness of how his every act as President would create precedent; he continually strove to do what he considered in the nation's future interest. History has validated his judgments and actions for the most part.

Many, when polled, no longer list Washington as one of the best Presidents of the United States.
That is a great oversight: he was the best.

Friday, February 19, 2010

2012: A Democratic Primary Presidential Challenge, Anyone?

Mr. Obama has had a surprising and disappointing year. On the positive side, along with his advisers, he DID stave off a potential depression . He has also improved our image abroad. He should have kept his focus on the economy, and only when a recovery was obvious to one and all, then taken on the thorny issue of health care reform. But his priorities and positions have, regrettably, become skewed. He has turned his back on many of the campaign positions and promises which got him into the White House. So why would I vote for him again? Instead, I plan to be part of any movement to challenge his reelection plans. Specifically, any credible challenger
in the upcoming Democratic presidential primary will get my encouragement.

His "green" energy policies leave a great deal to be desired-what's with his new, pro-nuke stance? $54 billion to promote new nuclear power plants? Has he discovered a safe way to store toxic radwaste, a substance that remains deadly for 250,000 years? What about the very real danger of giving terrorists more "fuel" for their attacks? There were ample reasons for the 33 year U.S. moratorium on new nuke construction projects; how ironic that a liberal democrat has now authorized eight billion for new plants in Georgia.

Even George Bush didn't dare to enact such a foolhardy energy plan.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Edwards' scandal saga not newsworthy

Why all the interest in FORMER senator Edwards' personal life? He has long been out of office, will
likely never run for another, so taxpayers' monies and interests are no longer at issue. Admittedly
the scandalously salacious details of his sex life are usual fodder for the tabloids, but the mainstream media have also given a lot of space to this "story"; aren't there other stories of greater import they should be covering? And why should anyone other than the principals be interested? The one item worthy of serious news outlets is whether a crime was committed regarding improper use of campaign funds.

Then there is the judge in the sex tapes imbroglio: hello, judge, why do you even want to render
a decision on such a tawdry matter? Does it really matter who actually can claim ownership of such
a thing?

Time for the "serious" media and certain judges to grow up and attend to more relevant matters.