Monday night.
It is late.
And once again I sit to write after a busy day.
Stuff has happened.
Good stuff and not so good stuff.
Deadlines are looming. Some are being missed. But some are being met.
And there are some victories. There are defeats.
We are slipping and sliding into early winter. It can be scary.
Lots of things can be scary.
As I wrote in a comment to another website, we think of ourselves as young in our dreams– until something happens to remind us that the years have passed.
A close friend dies; we attend a reunion; we attend the wedding of a young man or woman we knew as a child; a Dear Grandchild calls on the phone and says, “Grampi, we found our piano books.”
Or another war starts or a crisis of some sort looms and we watch some of our leaders behaving like idiots or scoundrels or worse – and we know it – and we can do so very little about it – and we remember that there was a time we believed that we could change the world and make it better.
Well, we know more of the world now.
Our two Grandkids are the second pair of kids we helped to raise, if only for a few years.
We’re not raising them now, but we are blessed in that we see a lot of them.
What a terrible world it would be without Grandkids!
I remember hearing and playing that ballad It Was a Very Good Year a lifetime ago –
But now the days grow short
Im in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
>from fine old kegs
>from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
Hearing it now makes me feel both ways – young and then…older.
And the memories – lots of memories.
What a terrible thing it would be to lose the good memories.
I am wondering tonight if it is inevitable that a great nation, as it ages, even if it is not really old as nations go, will lose its edge, will find that the virtues and the values that made it great and dynamic and resourceful and irresistible and yes, even exceptional, will fade – and the dark side of reality will move irresistibly into the forefront.
I stood behind Robert Frost a lifetime ago [really behind and off to the side] as he read from his The Road Not Taken:
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Rarely, if ever, can a person go back.
I am wondering tonight if a nation can go back once it has taken wrong turns, really wrong turns.
May it be so.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
FIRST PACIFIC PRESIDENT?
The link below will take you to a post in Powerline.
It really says it all.
We have quite a fella for ceo of the United States.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/11/024959.php
It really says it all.
We have quite a fella for ceo of the United States.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/11/024959.php
PRESTIGE
Talk about the snow falling on the b.o. snowplow train.
The numbers are being crunched and the numbers are exposing, dare we say, the lies of the b.o. Administration regarding the impossible costs of the intended wholesale replacement of the American health care system.
It would appear that the costs are prohibitive, politically and economically unachievable.
So much for b.o.’s promises to change all, fix all – to lead us helpless and incapable citizens into broad, sunlit uplands.
Yes, the stuff is falling.
There are also of course the costs of the economic bailouts – the success of which is yet to be seen.
And there are the upcoming show trials in New York of the Gitmo folk, especially the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, ksm, as the msm is calling him.
And the Copenhagen gathering has collapsed.
And the tour of Asia is off and running. b.o. will bow and scrape and talk the talk and accomplish nothing except the further erosion of US prestige.
We attended a lecture last week wherein an Asia expert explained/defined something of the rationale of national power. He discussed the obvious power factors: economic; military; and intellectual, etc.
He left one out which I used to share with my students. It is the ingredient of power known as prestige.
Prestige is that which makes it possible to exert persuasive, sometimes even coercive influence, without having to do anything but communicate desire or intention.
It is that quality which impresses target audiences with the assurance that what one says will occur will actually occur.
Prestige makes proof of credibility generally unnecessary.
It is what makes it possible for nations to have their way without having to resort to less than subtle action.
b.o. is setting about to absolutely destroy US prestige.
He is renouncing to the world the assumption by the Government and people of the United States that American policies are worth pursuing for the greater good and that the United States expects to prevail and indeed will prevail in areas significantly affecting US national interests.
In a few words, he is giving away the farm.
Ronald Reagan built up the farm.
Harry Truman built up the farm before him.
George Bush and Dick Cheney, in spite of mistakes made, did not give away any of the farm.
The world believed they meant what they said, even if the world did not like what they said and did.
And more of what they said and did was liked by much of the world than the msm would have you believe.
b.o. is giving it away and the farm will have to be rebought .
For the US is not the equal nation among other equal nations that b.o. is saying it is.
The peoples’ republic of china is not only a brother or sister nation, it is also a long-term enemy.
n. korea is an enemy.
iran is an enemy.
russia is an enemy.
The 9/11 terrorists and those they represent are enemies.
Those who support and abet them are enemies.
It is one thing for b.o. to attend to domestic American politics and appease interest groups and supporters, it is quite another for him to allow foreign enemies to lose respect for the American will to prevail in the world.
As someone once said, it is better to be respected and feared if one cannot be loved.
Our enemies will never love the United States.
It is important that they respect and fear an enemy United States.
Finally, I would conclude by saying that this post is incomplete in that I have not defined enemy.
There are enemies and there are enemies.
Russia is not the same kind of enemy that nazi germany or imperial japan was.
I know that.
But they are enemies just the same.
The word deserves a definition.
Perhaps I will do so later.
The numbers are being crunched and the numbers are exposing, dare we say, the lies of the b.o. Administration regarding the impossible costs of the intended wholesale replacement of the American health care system.
It would appear that the costs are prohibitive, politically and economically unachievable.
So much for b.o.’s promises to change all, fix all – to lead us helpless and incapable citizens into broad, sunlit uplands.
Yes, the stuff is falling.
There are also of course the costs of the economic bailouts – the success of which is yet to be seen.
And there are the upcoming show trials in New York of the Gitmo folk, especially the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, ksm, as the msm is calling him.
And the Copenhagen gathering has collapsed.
And the tour of Asia is off and running. b.o. will bow and scrape and talk the talk and accomplish nothing except the further erosion of US prestige.
We attended a lecture last week wherein an Asia expert explained/defined something of the rationale of national power. He discussed the obvious power factors: economic; military; and intellectual, etc.
He left one out which I used to share with my students. It is the ingredient of power known as prestige.
Prestige is that which makes it possible to exert persuasive, sometimes even coercive influence, without having to do anything but communicate desire or intention.
It is that quality which impresses target audiences with the assurance that what one says will occur will actually occur.
Prestige makes proof of credibility generally unnecessary.
It is what makes it possible for nations to have their way without having to resort to less than subtle action.
b.o. is setting about to absolutely destroy US prestige.
He is renouncing to the world the assumption by the Government and people of the United States that American policies are worth pursuing for the greater good and that the United States expects to prevail and indeed will prevail in areas significantly affecting US national interests.
In a few words, he is giving away the farm.
Ronald Reagan built up the farm.
Harry Truman built up the farm before him.
George Bush and Dick Cheney, in spite of mistakes made, did not give away any of the farm.
The world believed they meant what they said, even if the world did not like what they said and did.
And more of what they said and did was liked by much of the world than the msm would have you believe.
b.o. is giving it away and the farm will have to be rebought .
For the US is not the equal nation among other equal nations that b.o. is saying it is.
The peoples’ republic of china is not only a brother or sister nation, it is also a long-term enemy.
n. korea is an enemy.
iran is an enemy.
russia is an enemy.
The 9/11 terrorists and those they represent are enemies.
Those who support and abet them are enemies.
It is one thing for b.o. to attend to domestic American politics and appease interest groups and supporters, it is quite another for him to allow foreign enemies to lose respect for the American will to prevail in the world.
As someone once said, it is better to be respected and feared if one cannot be loved.
Our enemies will never love the United States.
It is important that they respect and fear an enemy United States.
Finally, I would conclude by saying that this post is incomplete in that I have not defined enemy.
There are enemies and there are enemies.
Russia is not the same kind of enemy that nazi germany or imperial japan was.
I know that.
But they are enemies just the same.
The word deserves a definition.
Perhaps I will do so later.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
MUSINGS
b.o has gone to Asia, bowing to the Emperor of Japan, apologizing for US misdeeds, weakening the United States, and signaling a reorientation of US international priorities.
And the Europeans did not like President Bush.
Gitmo prisoners will soon be in New York, preliminary to the beginning of the show trial of the year, of the decade, or of heaven knows how long.
What will b.o. do if they get off?
During WW2, captured nazis, out of uniform, who landed in New England from a u-boat were executed within a few months of their capture.
No civilian trial.
Nazi military captured on the battlefield were detained until the end of the war. No trials.
Nazi war criminals, civilian and military, were tried by military tribunals, not in the US, but in places near or where they did their evil deeds.
But those days were the dumb old days.
Now we have the good new days, the CHANGED DAYS OF b.o.
It appears the Ft. Hood shooter was a terrorist.
What a shock to the msm!!
And what is pre-traumatic stress syndrom?
Troop morale is apparently down in Afghanistan.
Couldn’t have anything to do with b.o. Naaaaahh.
b.o. declares the world has nothing to worry about in the meteoric rise of chinese national power: military; intellectual; economic.
b.o. always says it like it is.
Remember when folks only had to worry about funding Social Security and Medicare?
Now we have to worry about funding the United States.
Good thing b.o. is at the helm.
I remember when I thought bill Clinton was a pretty poor President of the United States.
He looks a lot better to me now.
And the Europeans did not like President Bush.
Gitmo prisoners will soon be in New York, preliminary to the beginning of the show trial of the year, of the decade, or of heaven knows how long.
What will b.o. do if they get off?
During WW2, captured nazis, out of uniform, who landed in New England from a u-boat were executed within a few months of their capture.
No civilian trial.
Nazi military captured on the battlefield were detained until the end of the war. No trials.
Nazi war criminals, civilian and military, were tried by military tribunals, not in the US, but in places near or where they did their evil deeds.
But those days were the dumb old days.
Now we have the good new days, the CHANGED DAYS OF b.o.
It appears the Ft. Hood shooter was a terrorist.
What a shock to the msm!!
And what is pre-traumatic stress syndrom?
Troop morale is apparently down in Afghanistan.
Couldn’t have anything to do with b.o. Naaaaahh.
b.o. declares the world has nothing to worry about in the meteoric rise of chinese national power: military; intellectual; economic.
b.o. always says it like it is.
Remember when folks only had to worry about funding Social Security and Medicare?
Now we have to worry about funding the United States.
Good thing b.o. is at the helm.
I remember when I thought bill Clinton was a pretty poor President of the United States.
He looks a lot better to me now.
SARAH PALIN - SHOWTIME
It starts with an interview on Monday.
And then the book is released on Tuesday.
And then the three-week book tour begins in Grand Rapids.
Dear Wife wanted to go to the signing.
I think I warned her off with the time factor, 7 pm, and what is sure to be huge crowds in Grand Rapids.
We’ll watch from afar.
We’ll buy our book and start reading it on Tuesday.
We’ll each have our own bookmark.
Sarah Palin is returning to the national scene, big time.
As someone once said about someone, “You go, Girl!”
The McCain staffers are firing volleys, as are the libs/dems.
Good for them.
They are not totally stupid.
The intensity of their vitriol and derision are perhaps measures of the respect, or rather the concern they feel for what she may be able to accomplish and do, for herself; for her nation; and to them.
Check out the article in the Wall Street Journal on her comeback:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529770560352200.html#printMode
As a teaching colleague used to say as he entered his class room at the beginning of each day, “Showtime.”
And then the book is released on Tuesday.
And then the three-week book tour begins in Grand Rapids.
Dear Wife wanted to go to the signing.
I think I warned her off with the time factor, 7 pm, and what is sure to be huge crowds in Grand Rapids.
We’ll watch from afar.
We’ll buy our book and start reading it on Tuesday.
We’ll each have our own bookmark.
Sarah Palin is returning to the national scene, big time.
As someone once said about someone, “You go, Girl!”
The McCain staffers are firing volleys, as are the libs/dems.
Good for them.
They are not totally stupid.
The intensity of their vitriol and derision are perhaps measures of the respect, or rather the concern they feel for what she may be able to accomplish and do, for herself; for her nation; and to them.
Check out the article in the Wall Street Journal on her comeback:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574529770560352200.html#printMode
As a teaching colleague used to say as he entered his class room at the beginning of each day, “Showtime.”
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
TRADITIONS – A BAPTISM AND VETERANS DAY
Nine years ago three children were baptized in our church. Our eldest Dear Granddaughter was one of them.
I wrote about the event at the time and the church newsletter was kind enough to publish the article.
It went something like this:
Relatives and friends had eagerly responded to our announcement of the upcoming event [the baptism] and were present with us to witness and share in the proceedings. Sunday morning was the culmination of much preparation. Announcements had been sent out. Lists of things to do had been drawn up. Shopping trips to all sorts of places had been planned and carried out. All things were in their places and in good order.
Well, almost everything.
Sunday morning before church was busy and hectic and exciting.
Folks took turns at the bathrooms and the toaster and the coffee pots.
There was laughter and the helping of each other and the losing and finding of all sorts of things.
And then it was time to go.
Parents and Granddaughter arrived at the church in their vehicle.
Grandparents and Aunt and visiting relatives and sponsors arrived in their vehicles.
One of us found her way to the choir stall.
The rest of us found our way to our pew.
Not all of us were Episcopalians. All of us, however, were family that morning.
Those of us who ‘knew the ropes’ helped those who did not.
There was nervousness. There was laughter. There was seriousness. There was wonder.
And there was beauty. God was present that morning for all of us. You could feel it, as we usually do in our Church of a Sunday morning. But on that day, for us, it was special.
We were privileged that morning to participate in one of the great traditions of our Church.
It occurred to me that this is the sort of thing that makes the world go around.
Traditions such as this one, and others, such as anniversaries and birthdays and holidays of various sorts fill our calendars, if we are fortunate enough to observe them, and give meaning and joy to our lives.
Traditions help us to know who we are and what we have done.
Traditions help us through difficult times and help us to celebrate the good times.
Traditions give us strength.
Traditions suggest that our lives have meaning; that we have inherited a legacy; that we are part of the transition of that legacy.
We may modify and add nuances, but we are in a line of succession.
Traditions remind us, in a most comforting way, that we are not alone.
And so it is with nations.
And here is where I write of Veterans Day; of Armistice Day; Poppy Day; or of Remembrance Day.
I submit that a nation can be thought of as a collective person, for it is conceived and born, often with a certain amount of suffering and joy.
It grows and matures. It wins and loses. It rejoices and it grieves.
Those nations, those people that have traditions; that have a sense of the meaning of what they are doing, are nations that will most willingly bear the burdens which life can and will impose.
The leaders of our families and of our communities and of our nation will most deserve our thanks if they do all that is humanly possible to promote and to preserve the best of our American traditions.
One of those best traditions is to set aside as special the eleventh day of November, known by one of the above four names or simply by the three numbers 11-11-11, signifying the date and time, 11 am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, when the fighting of World War One came to an end.
It has become traditional to pause on Veterans Day, perhaps at 11:00 am, for a minute or two, and to think about the millions and millions of Veterans who have risked and sacrificed and who are risking and sacrificing so much for their comrades, for their country, and for us.
It is appropriate to wear a poppy on lapel or blouse if you can find one to signify your awareness of the day.
It is especially appropriate to thank a Veteran if you can identify him or her as you go about your daily affairs, to thank him or her for what they did; for what they are doing; for what they may do in the future.
For what Veterans have done and are doing and will be doing in the future is to provide an essential part of the national power, prestige, and security of our nation, for military power is the sine qua non of national power.
It is not everything, but it is essential.
Veterans Day is an especially good day to thank God for those who have served and who are serving.
And it is an especially good day to pray that God will watch over those now serving and safeguard them while they achieve a just and a lasting peace wherever they are called to duty.
I offer this post as a friendly reminder to myself and to all that we are part of a reality that is bigger than ourselves –that we can both receive and transmit strength if we participate in that reality.
Lest we forget.
I wrote about the event at the time and the church newsletter was kind enough to publish the article.
It went something like this:
Relatives and friends had eagerly responded to our announcement of the upcoming event [the baptism] and were present with us to witness and share in the proceedings. Sunday morning was the culmination of much preparation. Announcements had been sent out. Lists of things to do had been drawn up. Shopping trips to all sorts of places had been planned and carried out. All things were in their places and in good order.
Well, almost everything.
Sunday morning before church was busy and hectic and exciting.
Folks took turns at the bathrooms and the toaster and the coffee pots.
There was laughter and the helping of each other and the losing and finding of all sorts of things.
And then it was time to go.
Parents and Granddaughter arrived at the church in their vehicle.
Grandparents and Aunt and visiting relatives and sponsors arrived in their vehicles.
One of us found her way to the choir stall.
The rest of us found our way to our pew.
Not all of us were Episcopalians. All of us, however, were family that morning.
Those of us who ‘knew the ropes’ helped those who did not.
There was nervousness. There was laughter. There was seriousness. There was wonder.
And there was beauty. God was present that morning for all of us. You could feel it, as we usually do in our Church of a Sunday morning. But on that day, for us, it was special.
We were privileged that morning to participate in one of the great traditions of our Church.
It occurred to me that this is the sort of thing that makes the world go around.
Traditions such as this one, and others, such as anniversaries and birthdays and holidays of various sorts fill our calendars, if we are fortunate enough to observe them, and give meaning and joy to our lives.
Traditions help us to know who we are and what we have done.
Traditions help us through difficult times and help us to celebrate the good times.
Traditions give us strength.
Traditions suggest that our lives have meaning; that we have inherited a legacy; that we are part of the transition of that legacy.
We may modify and add nuances, but we are in a line of succession.
Traditions remind us, in a most comforting way, that we are not alone.
And so it is with nations.
And here is where I write of Veterans Day; of Armistice Day; Poppy Day; or of Remembrance Day.
I submit that a nation can be thought of as a collective person, for it is conceived and born, often with a certain amount of suffering and joy.
It grows and matures. It wins and loses. It rejoices and it grieves.
Those nations, those people that have traditions; that have a sense of the meaning of what they are doing, are nations that will most willingly bear the burdens which life can and will impose.
The leaders of our families and of our communities and of our nation will most deserve our thanks if they do all that is humanly possible to promote and to preserve the best of our American traditions.
One of those best traditions is to set aside as special the eleventh day of November, known by one of the above four names or simply by the three numbers 11-11-11, signifying the date and time, 11 am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, when the fighting of World War One came to an end.
It has become traditional to pause on Veterans Day, perhaps at 11:00 am, for a minute or two, and to think about the millions and millions of Veterans who have risked and sacrificed and who are risking and sacrificing so much for their comrades, for their country, and for us.
It is appropriate to wear a poppy on lapel or blouse if you can find one to signify your awareness of the day.
It is especially appropriate to thank a Veteran if you can identify him or her as you go about your daily affairs, to thank him or her for what they did; for what they are doing; for what they may do in the future.
For what Veterans have done and are doing and will be doing in the future is to provide an essential part of the national power, prestige, and security of our nation, for military power is the sine qua non of national power.
It is not everything, but it is essential.
Veterans Day is an especially good day to thank God for those who have served and who are serving.
And it is an especially good day to pray that God will watch over those now serving and safeguard them while they achieve a just and a lasting peace wherever they are called to duty.
I offer this post as a friendly reminder to myself and to all that we are part of a reality that is bigger than ourselves –that we can both receive and transmit strength if we participate in that reality.
Lest we forget.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
FOX VIEWERS - A BALANCED GROUP
The Pew Research Center reports that the viewers of Fox consist of:
39% Republican; 33% democratic; and 22% independent.
Daily ‘viewership’ of the cable news networks is described by Nielson as:
2.1 million Fox; 699,000 msnbc; 664,000 cnn; and 513,000 cnn headline news.
Arithmetic tells us that 55% of 2.1 million daily viewers of Fox are either democrats or independents.
b.o. is thus attacking a news organization that seriously interests two groups which are presumably important to the b.o. administration.
One has to wonder at a presidential policy which consists of attacking as ‘unreal news’ a network watched by so many democrat political allies, a ‘viewership’ which has risen by at least 9% since such attacks began.
39% Republican; 33% democratic; and 22% independent.
Daily ‘viewership’ of the cable news networks is described by Nielson as:
2.1 million Fox; 699,000 msnbc; 664,000 cnn; and 513,000 cnn headline news.
Arithmetic tells us that 55% of 2.1 million daily viewers of Fox are either democrats or independents.
b.o. is thus attacking a news organization that seriously interests two groups which are presumably important to the b.o. administration.
One has to wonder at a presidential policy which consists of attacking as ‘unreal news’ a network watched by so many democrat political allies, a ‘viewership’ which has risen by at least 9% since such attacks began.
obama V. FOX
If a sitting US President criticizes the credibility of a news network which is critical of him, is he criticizing the viewers of that network as well? Is he criticizing their intelligence? Their ability to distinguish truth from fiction?
Or is he engaging in a policy of suppression, of attempting to shut down contrary or alternate approaches to public problems, some of which could well be at least as legitimate and/or as effective as the programs he is supporting?
Regardless of one’s answers to the above two questions, one has to wonder at the wisdom of any presidential effort which even appears to be an infringement of First Amendment freedom of speech.
One has to wonder a lot at the policies and behavior of the current US President.
Or is he engaging in a policy of suppression, of attempting to shut down contrary or alternate approaches to public problems, some of which could well be at least as legitimate and/or as effective as the programs he is supporting?
Regardless of one’s answers to the above two questions, one has to wonder at the wisdom of any presidential effort which even appears to be an infringement of First Amendment freedom of speech.
One has to wonder a lot at the policies and behavior of the current US President.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
THE SNOW
Virginia and New Jersey, the day after.
The great articulated wheels have begun to slip, a little at first, but the snow has been falling for some months now and the white stuff is piling up.
There will be more of it coming down and the wheels will slip more and more.
You can count on it.
And the engineer said he would not watch it fall last night.
If he watched, he lied.
If he didn't watch, he should have.
The great articulated wheels have begun to slip, a little at first, but the snow has been falling for some months now and the white stuff is piling up.
There will be more of it coming down and the wheels will slip more and more.
You can count on it.
And the engineer said he would not watch it fall last night.
If he watched, he lied.
If he didn't watch, he should have.
Monday, November 2, 2009
CHANGE
You watch old movies or look at old photos and you notice that men’s fashions change ever so slowly.
Top hats and suits and shoes etc., have looked pretty much the same to the casual observer for many, many decades.
But if you go back far enough, differences do show up.
Top hats were taller and shorter, depending on the occasion. And they were actually worn by most men.
Lapels of suit coats changed in size and pant lengths and creases or whatever changed.
Ties changed in length and width.
And go back far enough, back toward the beginning of the 20th Century or beyond, and the changes become obvious.
Gradual change has also occurred in politics.
Twenty years ago or so I used to maintain with colleagues and friends that there were indeed differences between the Republican and Democrat Parties, that voting for the one was not the same as voting for the other.
But I would also argue that they had tremendous similarities as well, that neither one was really radically different from the other.
Both shared a number of core beliefs or perspectives, as on the importance of preserving this or that in American economics; in the Federal system; in the roles of the three branches of government, etc.
I think that today one could easily argue with assurance that great differences have emerged onto the national scene – but with, as should be expected, considerable complexity.
In some respects, the two national political parties, the Republican and Democrat, have retained similarities.
But the differences have become more pronounced, more significant, so much so that it is now arguable that adjectives must be attached to the two official names: those adjectives being conservative and liberal.
Years ago, the exact number I do not know, it was common to hear people in the political arena referred to as Republican, Democrat, liberal, or conservative. Seemingly intelligent folk would tell me that there were no such people as liberals or conservatives, that they were only Republican or Democrat, that the other two terms were really meaningless or at most , marginal.
Times have changed.
It can now be argued that the names Republican and Democrat are becoming increasingly meaningless, that the formerly allegedly meaningless or marginal terms conservative and liberal are now becoming the truly operative ones.
Indeed, I would argue that in some races at this time that it is more important to know the lib/conservative orientation rather than the Republican/Democrat if one is to vote intelligently.
And I fear that the same is true in another important arena: that of our national church structures.
If all you tell about someone or something is their generic title: Roman Catholic; Episcopalian; Methodist; Lutheran; etc., you don’t really say enough anymore.
One really must continue and attach the adjective, an adjective that is rapidly becoming or which has become a noun in its own right.
Top hats and suits and shoes etc., have looked pretty much the same to the casual observer for many, many decades.
But if you go back far enough, differences do show up.
Top hats were taller and shorter, depending on the occasion. And they were actually worn by most men.
Lapels of suit coats changed in size and pant lengths and creases or whatever changed.
Ties changed in length and width.
And go back far enough, back toward the beginning of the 20th Century or beyond, and the changes become obvious.
Gradual change has also occurred in politics.
Twenty years ago or so I used to maintain with colleagues and friends that there were indeed differences between the Republican and Democrat Parties, that voting for the one was not the same as voting for the other.
But I would also argue that they had tremendous similarities as well, that neither one was really radically different from the other.
Both shared a number of core beliefs or perspectives, as on the importance of preserving this or that in American economics; in the Federal system; in the roles of the three branches of government, etc.
I think that today one could easily argue with assurance that great differences have emerged onto the national scene – but with, as should be expected, considerable complexity.
In some respects, the two national political parties, the Republican and Democrat, have retained similarities.
But the differences have become more pronounced, more significant, so much so that it is now arguable that adjectives must be attached to the two official names: those adjectives being conservative and liberal.
Years ago, the exact number I do not know, it was common to hear people in the political arena referred to as Republican, Democrat, liberal, or conservative. Seemingly intelligent folk would tell me that there were no such people as liberals or conservatives, that they were only Republican or Democrat, that the other two terms were really meaningless or at most , marginal.
Times have changed.
It can now be argued that the names Republican and Democrat are becoming increasingly meaningless, that the formerly allegedly meaningless or marginal terms conservative and liberal are now becoming the truly operative ones.
Indeed, I would argue that in some races at this time that it is more important to know the lib/conservative orientation rather than the Republican/Democrat if one is to vote intelligently.
And I fear that the same is true in another important arena: that of our national church structures.
If all you tell about someone or something is their generic title: Roman Catholic; Episcopalian; Methodist; Lutheran; etc., you don’t really say enough anymore.
One really must continue and attach the adjective, an adjective that is rapidly becoming or which has become a noun in its own right.
THE LADY IN THE POINTY HAT AND THE DETECTIVE
Last Sunday was the day of the last game of our Granddaughters’ soccer league.
It was also the day of the Sunday School Halloween Party at Church.
And it was cold and windy – but not rainy.
The sun was out.
The Dear Granddaughters were a pirate and a little devil – a good pirate and a good little devil.
Their Mom had made the costumes and they were priceless.
We took the girls to Church and then over to the soccer field.
I was wearing my grey raincoat, full length, with a dress hat.
I dress that way in inclement weather.
I don’t dress up for Halloween.
Dear Grandma had dressed up for the day in her witch costume.
She is in the choir and lots of those folks dress up in the spirit of the day.
Dear Grandma, my Dear Wife, dresses up as a good witch, but her outfit is black with a tall pointy hat.
Anyway, there we were on the sidelines, Mr. Raincoat and Mrs. Witch.
Grandkids’ parents arrived and Gramma and I had to leave to attend a brunch.
The next day was piano lesson day at our house and Gramma brought the Dear Girls up to our house for their lesson.
9-year old Dear Granddaughter Elise sat at the table eating her snack before the lesson started and said, “Grandpa, one of my team [she named the player but I have forgotten the name] said look over there, Elise. A detective and a witch are watching our game!”
Elise told her that the detective and the witch were her Gramma and Grampa.
I/we love it!!!
New nicknames have been born.
Never a dull moment, as my Gramma used to say.
It was also the day of the Sunday School Halloween Party at Church.
And it was cold and windy – but not rainy.
The sun was out.
The Dear Granddaughters were a pirate and a little devil – a good pirate and a good little devil.
Their Mom had made the costumes and they were priceless.
We took the girls to Church and then over to the soccer field.
I was wearing my grey raincoat, full length, with a dress hat.
I dress that way in inclement weather.
I don’t dress up for Halloween.
Dear Grandma had dressed up for the day in her witch costume.
She is in the choir and lots of those folks dress up in the spirit of the day.
Dear Grandma, my Dear Wife, dresses up as a good witch, but her outfit is black with a tall pointy hat.
Anyway, there we were on the sidelines, Mr. Raincoat and Mrs. Witch.
Grandkids’ parents arrived and Gramma and I had to leave to attend a brunch.
The next day was piano lesson day at our house and Gramma brought the Dear Girls up to our house for their lesson.
9-year old Dear Granddaughter Elise sat at the table eating her snack before the lesson started and said, “Grandpa, one of my team [she named the player but I have forgotten the name] said look over there, Elise. A detective and a witch are watching our game!”
Elise told her that the detective and the witch were her Gramma and Grampa.
I/we love it!!!
New nicknames have been born.
Never a dull moment, as my Gramma used to say.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
16th CENTURY ALL OVER AGAIN
Here is one now.
Perhaps you only see what you are looking for…but I cannot believe this.
Change a few words or a few names and you could be reading an op-ed piece from the Spanish/Papal authorities of the Sixteenth Century.
Read the link. I cannot believe it is written in a responsible paper.
I admit I am not familiar with the paper.
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/11/01/commentary/op-eds/doc4aed0aaba1b11133063904.txt
The author has Henry VIII roasting in hell.
The English Church will likely be coming home if it agrees to the Papal terms.
The nonsense of the Protestant Reformation is now apparent for all to see.
This is the end of the Anglican Church of England and the Episcopal Church of the USA.
The small blaze will grow into a conflagration. As an aside, this is a particularly unfortunate use of words in this context.
A light has cut through the darkness.
And all of this because of the new Papal initiative.
I know I wrote a few days ago of a sense of being back in my grad school days researching the death plots and impossible dreams of the Roman Catholics laboring to reestablish their church in England as I considered this new papal offer, but to read this article and perhaps others like it being written today is just too much.
I shouldn’t be but I am surprised. To see such blatant ignorance, of the past as well as of the present, is…well, is a mind blower.
I think on this note I will go and read some light and frivolous fiction and congratulate myself on recognizing again the regrettable truth that old errors, old ignorances die hard if they die at all.
Good grief!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps you only see what you are looking for…but I cannot believe this.
Change a few words or a few names and you could be reading an op-ed piece from the Spanish/Papal authorities of the Sixteenth Century.
Read the link. I cannot believe it is written in a responsible paper.
I admit I am not familiar with the paper.
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/11/01/commentary/op-eds/doc4aed0aaba1b11133063904.txt
The author has Henry VIII roasting in hell.
The English Church will likely be coming home if it agrees to the Papal terms.
The nonsense of the Protestant Reformation is now apparent for all to see.
This is the end of the Anglican Church of England and the Episcopal Church of the USA.
The small blaze will grow into a conflagration. As an aside, this is a particularly unfortunate use of words in this context.
A light has cut through the darkness.
And all of this because of the new Papal initiative.
I know I wrote a few days ago of a sense of being back in my grad school days researching the death plots and impossible dreams of the Roman Catholics laboring to reestablish their church in England as I considered this new papal offer, but to read this article and perhaps others like it being written today is just too much.
I shouldn’t be but I am surprised. To see such blatant ignorance, of the past as well as of the present, is…well, is a mind blower.
I think on this note I will go and read some light and frivolous fiction and congratulate myself on recognizing again the regrettable truth that old errors, old ignorances die hard if they die at all.
Good grief!!!!!!!!!!!!
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