Resting

Live simply.  Love generously.  Care deeply.  Speak kindly.  And leave the rest to God…
—    President Ronald Reagan
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On This Day In:
2021	Are We Talking About Health Insurance / Oil Companies, Facebook Or Faux News?
	When MTV Was Young (And Fun)
2020	Resting
	A New Day Just Means We Continue The Struggle (With A Smile)
2019	One For Two
	Why Trump Insults Pelosi and Schiff
2018	The Worst
2017	#DonTheCon In The Oval Office
2016	Are You Like #AmnestyDon And Sarah Palin?
2015	Begin Today
2014	Look Again (At Life’s Illusions)
2013	None Knows
2012	Yet
2011	No End In Sight
2010	Back At It…

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Public Ridicule For Office Holder

Why Trump Only Goes Out In Public To His Own Rallies
Last night (27 October 2019), President Trump attended Game 5 of the World Series in Washington, D.C. between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.  When introduced, the President was first booed by the crowd and then while pointing in his direction, the crowd began chanting “Lock him up!” repeatedly.  While politicians getting booed at baseball games (and other sports events) is nothing particularly newsworthy, it is notable (and a bit saddening) that Trump has so shamed the office that a crowd would chant to have him incarcerated on a televised event being seen around the world.
We can draw a line from Reagan’s line:  “Government is the problem!” to Joe Wilson’s:  “You lie!” at President Obama’s 2009 State of the Union Speech to a crowd shouting to “lock up” a sitting President.  When the general public is encouraged to disrespect the government and our elected officials, “We the People” all become a little less civil and a little less secure in our own liberties.
While I personally believe candidate Trump did conspire / collude with the Russians to influence the 2016 election and while I believe President Trump has continued to commit crimes (obstruct justice) and violate his Oath of Office, I am more dismayed “the Office” has been brought down in public opinion this way and is now subject to ridicule in front of the world.  If Trump is not impeached and subsequently removed from Office between now and November 2020, I hope the next election provides our nation with a President who can both bring respect back for the Office and (more importantly) give us “a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.“
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On This Day In:
2021	Why We Have So Few Personal Favorites
	I Would Have Liked You Anyway
2020	Why We Must Vote #45 Out
	If You Believe
2019	Sometimes I Still Have Trouble Sleeping
	Public Ridicule For Office Holder
2018	And Flights Of Fancy
	Dodgers Lose 2nd Consecutive World Series!!
2017	By Their Acts Thy Shall Know Them
2016	Remembering
2015	One
2014	Sure Experiments And Demonstrated Arguments
2013	Irrational Complacency
2012	Why Criticize?
	Giants Sweep 2012 World Series With Game 4 Win (4 To 3)!!!
2011	Saying Just Enough
2010	Giants Win Game 2 Shutout of Rangers – 9 to 0!!!

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It Is A Start…

Below you will find the U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 489 condemning #45 for his racist remarks (on Twitter and in public speech)…   The Resolution appears as 1)  individual images (click on them to enlarge them in your image viewer), 2)  a link to the full PDF file (click on it to read the PDF in your viewer), and, finally, 3)  the text of the Resolution…
Click on the following link to read the full pdf file in your reader:  BILLS-116hres489ih
116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 489
Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. MALINOWSKI submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
RESOLUTION
Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.
Whereas the Founders conceived America as a haven of refuge for people fleeing from religious and political persecution, and Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison all emphasized that the Nation gained as it attracted new people in search of freedom and livelihood for their families;
Whereas the Declaration of Independence defined America as a covenant based on equality, the unalienable Rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and government by the consent of the people;
Whereas Benjamin Franklin said at the Constitutional convention, ‘‘When foreigners after looking about for some other Country in which they can obtain more happiness, give a preference to ours, it is a proof of attachment which ought to excite our confidence and affection’’;
Whereas President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, ‘‘Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists’’;
Whereas immigration of people from all over the Earth has defined every stage of American history and propelled our social, economic, political, scientific, cultural, artistic and technological progress as a people, and all Americans, except for the descendants of Native people and enslaved African-Americans, are immigrants or descendants of immigrants;
Whereas the commitment to immigration and asylum has been not a partisan cause but a powerful national value that has infused the work of many Presidents;
Whereas American patriotism is defined not by race or ethnicity but by devotion to the Constitutional ideals of equality, liberty, inclusion, and democracy and by service to our communities and struggle for the common good;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy, whose family came to the United States from Ireland, stated in his 1958 book ‘‘A Nation of Immigrants’’ that ‘‘The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life.  We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and entertainment.  There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background.  Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.’’;
Whereas President Ronald Reagan in his last speech as President conveyed ‘‘An observation about a country which I love’’;
Whereas as President Reagan observed, the torch of Lady Liberty symbolizes our freedom and represents our heritage, the compact with our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors, and it is the Statue of Liberty and its values that give us our great and special place in the world;
Whereas other countries may seek to compete with us, but in one vital area, as ‘‘a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on Earth comes close’’;
Whereas it is the great life force of ‘‘each generation of new Americans that guarantees that America’s triumph shall continue unsurpassed’’ through the 21st century and beyond and is part of the ‘‘magical, intoxicating power of America’’;
Whereas this is ‘‘one of the most important sources of America’s greatness:  we lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world, and by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation’’;
Whereas ‘‘thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge’’, always leading the world to the next frontier;
Whereas this openness is vital to our future as a Nation, and ‘‘if we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost’’;  and
Whereas President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color:  Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives —
1	(1) believes that immigrants and their descend-
2	ants have made America stronger, and that those
3	who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as
4	American as those whose families have lived in the
5	United States for many generations;
6	(2) is committed to keeping America open to
7	those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from vio-
8	lence and oppression, and those who are willing to
9	work hard to live the American Dream, no matter
10	their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin;  and
11	(3) strongly condemns President Donald
12	Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and
13	increased fear and hatred of new Americans and
14	people of color by saying that our fellow Americans
15	who are immigrants, and those who may look to the
16	President like immigrants, should ‘‘go back’’ to
17	other countries, by referring to immigrants and asy-
18	lum seekers as ‘‘invaders,’’ and by saying that Mem-
19	bers of Congress who are immigrants (or those of
20	our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immi-
21	grants) do not belong in Congress or in the United
22	States of America.
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On This Day In:
2018	Young, Fun And Playing Well
2017	Earning Your Blessings
2016	A Suggestion…
	Capable Of Being
2015	Looking For The Needles In The Haystacks
2014	The Definition Of A Gentleman
2013	Thar She Blows (Not)!
2012	Naturally
2011	Been Here, Done That
	Remember
2010	Timeless Classics

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Why Don’t You Tell Us What You Really Think?

Trump Is Woody Allen Without the Humor
Half his tweets show utter weakness.  They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn.
By Peggy Noonan
(Former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan)
July 27, 2017 6:06 p.m. ET
This opinion piece originally appeared in:  The Wall Street Journal
The president’s primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive.  It’s not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider.  It is that he is weak and sniveling.  It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity.
He’s not strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined;  he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying.  He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic.  He’s a drama queen.  It was once said, sarcastically, of George H.W. Bush that he reminded everyone of her first husband.  Trump must remind people of their first wife.  Actually his wife, Melania, is tougher than he is with her stoicism and grace, her self-discipline and desire to show the world respect by presenting herself with dignity.
Half the president’s tweets show utter weakness.  They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn.  “It’s very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their president.”  The brutes.  Actually they’ve been laboring to be loyal to him since Inauguration Day.  “The Republicans never discuss how good their health care bill is.”  True, but neither does Mr. Trump, who seems unsure of its content.  In just the past two weeks, of the press, he complained:  “Every story / opinion, even if should be positive, is bad!”  Journalists produce “highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting.”  They are “DISTORTING DEMOCRACY.”  They “fabricate the facts.”
It’s all whimpering accusation and finger-pointing:  Nobody’s nice to me.  Why don’t they appreciate me?
His public brutalizing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t strong, cool and deadly;  it’s limp, lame and blubbery.  “Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes,” he tweeted this week.  Talk about projection.
He told the Journal’s Michael C. Bender he is disappointed in Mr. Sessions and doesn’t feel any particular loyalty toward him.  “He was a senator, he looks at 40,000 people and he probably says, ‘What do I have to lose?’  And he endorsed me.  So it’s not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement.”  Actually, Mr. Sessions supported him early and put his personal credibility on the line.  In Politico, John J. Pitney Jr. of Claremont McKenna College writes:  “Loyalty is about strength.  It is about sticking with a person, a cause, an idea or a country even when it is costly, difficult or unpopular.”  A strong man does that.  A weak one would unleash his resentments and derive sadistic pleasure from their unleashing.
The way American men used to like seeing themselves, the template they most admired, was the strong silent type celebrated in classic mid-20th century films — Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Henry Fonda.  In time the style shifted, and we wound up with the nervous and chattery.  More than a decade ago the producer and writer David Chase had his Tony Soprano mourn the disappearance of the old style:  “What they didn’t know is once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings they wouldn’t be able to shut him up!”  The new style was more like that of Woody Allen.  His characters couldn’t stop talking about their emotions, their resentments and needs.  They were self-justifying as they acted out their cowardice and anger.
But he was a comic.  It was funny.  He wasn’t putting it out as a new template for maleness.  Donald Trump now is like an unfunny Woody Allen.
Who needs a template for how to be a man?  A lot of boys and young men, who’ve grown up in a culture confused about what men are and do.  Who teaches them the real dignity and meaning of being a man?  Mostly good fathers and teachers.  Luckily Mr. Trump this week addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, where he represented to them masculinity and the moral life.
“Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts, right?”  But he overcame his natural reticence.  We should change how we refer to Washington, he said:  “We ought to change it from the word ‘swamp’ to perhaps ‘cesspool’ or perhaps to the word ‘sewer.’ ”  Washington is not nice to him and is full of bad people.  “As the Scout Law says, ‘A Scout is trustworthy, loyal — we could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that.”  He then told them the apparently tragic story of a man who was once successful.  “And in the end he failed, and he failed badly.”
Why should he inspire them, show personal height, weight and dignity, support our frail institutions?  He has needs and wants — he is angry! — which supersede pesky, long-term objectives.  Why put the amorphous hopes of the audience ahead of his own, more urgent needs?
His inability — not his refusal, but his inability — to embrace the public and rhetorical role of the presidency consistently and constructively is weak.
“It’s so easy to act presidential but that’s not gonna get it done,” Mr. Trump said the other night at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio.  That is the opposite of the truth.  The truth, six months in, is that he is not presidential and is not getting it done.  His mad, blubbery petulance isn’t working for him but against him.  If he were presidential he’d be getting it done — building momentum, gaining support.  He’d be over 50%, not under 40%.  He’d have health care, and more.
We close with the observation that it’s all nonstop drama and queen-for-a-day inside this hothouse of a White House.  Staffers speak in their common yet somehow colorful language of their wants, their complaints.  The new communications chief, Anthony Scaramucci, who in his debut came across as affable and in control of himself, went on CNN Thursday to show he’ll fit right in.  He’s surrounded by “nefarious, backstabbing” leakers.  “The fish stinks from the head down.  But I can tell you two fish that don’t stink, and that’s me and the president.”  He’s strong and well connected:  “I’ve got buddies of mine in the FBI”;  “Sean Hannity is one of my closest friends.”  He is constantly with the president, at dinner, on the phone, in the sauna snapping towels.  I made that up.  “The president and I would like to tell everybody we have a very, very good idea of who the leakers are.”  Chief of Staff Reince Priebus better watch it.  There are people in the White House who “think it is their job to save America from this president, okay?”  So they leak.  But we know who they are.
He seemed to think this diarrheic diatribe was professional, the kind of thing the big boys do with their media bros.  But he came across as just another drama queen for this warring, riven, incontinent White House.  As Scaramucci spoke, the historian Joshua Zeitz observed wonderingly, on Twitter:  “It’s Team of Rivals but for morons.”
It is.  And it stinks from the top.
Meanwhile the whole world is watching, a world that contains predators.  How could they not be seeing this weakness, confusion and chaos and thinking it’s a good time to cause some trouble?
[I found this on her site at:  http://www.peggynoonan.com/trump-is-woody-allen-without-the-humor/
I apologize to any who are offended by my posting this editorial without prior permission.  Hopefully my full attribution to both Ms. Noonan and the WSJ mollifies you somewhat…    —     kmab]
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On This Day In:
2016	Discontent
2015	Do You Know Me?
	Appetite For Life Update
2014	Tough Journalism
2013	Things I’ve Learned
2012	Abstainer, n.
2011	Rain, Rain, Rain
	Test Your Strength
2009	End the mistakes…

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I Ought To Be A Little Careful

Early on, I had an experience that, if you’re interested, made me aware that I ought to be a little careful about what I said or did.
We were invited down to James J. Kilpatrick’s – Jack Kilpatrick’s – home down in Virginia for the Sunday lunch.  And the helicopter took us off the lawn here and in about 35 minutes or so, we were at his farm, landed.  And in walking to the house, Jack was telling me about how they’d been there for a few days, putting in the phones.
Well, this was a surprise to me.  And I said, “Wait – phones?”  And then he told me that I could reach anyone in the world from there.  And I said, “Well, you mean just to have lunch away from the White House, they have to put … Well, I guess it’s true, they do it for whatever might happen.”
But he was telling me that he didn’t believe them when they were putting in the phones, that they could reach anyone in the world.  And they said, “Well, name someone.”  Well, he had a son who was on guard in an embassy in the military in Africa.  And they got the son on the phone, and his mother got to talk to him and so forth.  So, he had another son that was an enlisted man and a quartermaster on the USS Pratt.
And he asked, “Well, okay, what about him?”  The Pratt was in the Mediterranean.  And they had to say to him no, they couldn’t get him because the fleet was on maneuvers.  And when the fleet was on maneuvers, only the White House could reach them.
When we got inside, I met the young man’s wife, the one that was on the destroyer – very lovely young lady and hadn’t seen her husband for months.
I went back out, said to these fellows, “Is this true, that I could reach someone on the USS Pratt?”  And they said, “Oh, yes, Sir.”  And I said, “Well, get him.”  And I went back in and got her.  And she got to talk to her husband.
I hadn’t really thought the thing through very much until I got a letter from him, the young man, and he told me what it was like when the fleet was on maneuvers.  I hadn’t even thought that the last part of the call has to go by air, and that the air is full of radio traffic – ships talking to ships, admirals talking to admirals.  And then a voice on the air said, “White House calling.”   And he said, “Someone said, ‘What code is that?’ ” And someone else says to him, “maybe it is the White House.”
And he said, “Even Hollywood couldn’t have silenced the air as quickly as it was silenced.”  And so the phone call went through.  And, of course, it must have been pretty public with the whole fleet listening in.
And in his letter, he then said this line, he said, “It was as if God had called the Vatican and asked for an altar boy by name.”
…  Suddenly – believe me, it sobered me a little bit to discover that I could just say this and then all of this could happen.  And I was almost scared to death of what I might have done to the fleet maneuvers.
—    President Ronald Reagan
In a interview with Susan Watters of “M” magazine
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On This Day In:
2022	Dreading The Slide Towards War
2021	Joyous Incompatibility
	My Heart Will Be Waiting
2020	My Gift To You
2019	Two Guarantee Freedom
2018	Less Mouth And More Back
2017	I Ought To Be A Little Careful
2016	Rising From The Ashes
2015	Honor
2014	Disappointment
2013	Seeing Heart
2012	On Success
2011	What This Place Needs Is Another Theory

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Who And When

Can anyone here say that if we can’t do it, someone down the road can do it?  And if no one does it, what happens to the country?  All of us here know the economy would face an eventual collapse.  I know it’s a hell of a challenge, but ask yourselves:  If not us, who?  If not now, when?
—    President Ronald Reagan
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On This Day In:
2015	Change Process
2014	What Is Still Possible
2013	Strength Is There
2012	Beyond Reasonable Doubt
2011	Celebrating Values
2010	Is it just me, or is it suddenly dark around here?
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Now Or Ever

Peace is the highest aspiration of the American people.  We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.  Our forbearance should never be misunderstood.  Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.  When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act.  We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.  Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
—    President Ronald Reagan
From his 1981 Inaugural Address
[Once again, I don’t have to agree with someone’s politics or administration to acknowledge his speechwriters could really string some words…   —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	By Any Other Name (Or Description)
2021	Democracy, Pandemic, Economy And Climate Change
	Heaven Is…
2020	Hoping For #46 In January 2021
2019	Interesting, But Not Fascinating
	But Try To Eat The Low-Hanging First
2018	Me, Too
2017	Apt Enough?
2016	Now Or Ever
	21, Pause, Restart
2015	I Am Shocked, Sir, Shocked…
	Lucy & FSND-2
2014	Less Difficult
2013	The Spirit Of Liberty
2012	The Essential Freedom Of Aloneness
2011	A Problem Of Scale
	Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2010	Another Book, Another Jog…

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What Reagan Really Cared About

The leaders of the [conservative] backlash may talk Christ, but they walk corporate.  Values may “matter most” to voters, but they always take a backseat to the needs of money once the elections are won.  This is a basic earmark of the phenomenon, absolutely consistent across its decades-long history.  Abortion is never halted.  Affirmative action is never abolished.  The culture industry is never forced to clean up its act.  Even the greatest culture warrior of them all was a notorious cop-out once it came time to deliver.  “Reagan made himself the champion of ‘traditional values,’ but there is no evidence he regarded their restoration as a high priority,” wrote Christopher Lasch, one of the most astute analysts of the backlash sensibility.  “What he really cared about was the revival of the unregulated capitalism of the twenties:  the repeal of the New Deal.”
—    Thomas Frank
From his book:  “What’s The Matter With Kansas?“
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On This Day In:
2021	I Think They Mean It
	An Endless Stream
2020	ITF (365) – Update
	Word Up!
	My Fear: A Second More Tyrannous Term
2019	Reality And Imperfection
	Day 8: One Stone
2018	Pity The Nation (Part 1)
	Day 41: Hiccup Or End Of Days?
2017	Sharp-Edged Beauty
2016	Start, Keep, Finish
2015	Lifetime Friends
2014	Acknowledgement
2013	Longevity, Tenacity and Diversity
2012	What Reagan Really Cared About
2011	Seeming Sane (Or Not)

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He Said What?!?

We are for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we have accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem.
—    Ronald Reagan
October 27, 1964
[I guess these days, Republicans (Perry, Paul and others) running for President in 2012 feel they can kill Social Security because poverty is not the same thing as destitution and retirement is not the same as unemployment by reason of old age…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Buying Time In A Fixed Game
	Dedicated To: Messrs. Rubio And Pompeo
2020	What It Takes
	Every Sign Was A Northern Star
2019	Stuff Happens
	Whistleblower Complaint Regarding President Trump And Ukraine
2018	Looking Into Golf
	Goin’ Yard
2017	Improvise
2016	Got Leisure?
2015	It’s Been Hurtin’ For Quite A While Now
2014	Curious Talent
2013	Eureka
2012	Slow Me
2011	He Said What?!?
2010	Gritty
	3 and 3
	Just A Hunch
	Wall Street – Movie Review
	2nd Pair – Shoe Review (Aborted and Final)

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Who Did You Say Signed Off On This Treason, Pat?

The Republican Party, which had presided over America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence, has acquiesced in the deindustrialization of the nation to gratify transnational corporations whose oligarchs are the party financiers.  U.S. corporations are shutting factories here, opening them in China, “outsourcing” back-office work to India, importing Asians to take white-collar jobs from Americans, and hiring illegal aliens for their service jobs.  The Republican Party has signed off on economic treason.
—  Patrick J. Buchanan
From his book:  “Where The Right Went Wrong“
[While I agree with Pat that the Republican party has committed the equivalent of economic treason, I must disagree with the statement Republicans “presided over America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence“.
America rose to manufacturing preeminence during and because of World War II while FDR was President and the Democrats controlled both houses in Congress.  The economy stalled under Eisenhower and was revived by the Kennedy / Johnson period.  We started to falter at the end of Johnson and began our descent under Nixon, mostly because of the gas crisis (72-73) and the long term effects of government spending from Vietnam (Johnson and Nixon).  Both Reagan and Bush (the first) had recessions and it was Clinton’s Administration which brought growth.  Reagan, a “true” conservative, proposed there was no damage to the economy by going into debt (mostly to increase government spending on big ticket military purchases “star-wars” and new aircraft carriers) and then signed off on the largest tax increases in history (actually mostly closing business loopholes) to reduce the debt he had sponsored – although he was NEVER able to come up with a balanced budget let alone get Congress to pass one.  Bush II practically drove the whole planet into bankruptcy and global depression with a combination of deregulation and unpaid for wars.  Granted not all of the deregulation was actually passed into law during “W’s” administration.  His administration merely encouraged the abuses inherent in an unregulated market.
No, Pat.  Sorry.  The Republican Party has not presided over an America’s rise to manufacturing preeminence since the Civil War, and again, the manufacturing increase was because a war effort stimulated the economy and government spending – not because Republican political or economic theories are correct.
It just so happens I DO believe in small government which stays out of the way of the people and in capitalism.  But government must be big enough to defend us from modern day threats: foreign and domestic, terrorist and corporate.  At the moment, the U.S. has more to fear from multinational and “too big to fail” domestic corporations than it does from 200 to 500 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It used to be said the two biggest threats to democracy are an overly efficient tax system and an overly efficient military.  It seems we should now recognize the BIGGEST threat to democracy is an unregulated capitalist economy.  And on this, at least, we can agree – the Republican Party are economic traitors!     —    kmab]
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