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WAY TO GO ALBERTO | Meditations – Chapter Six; Verses 1 to 17
When Bill Clinton was the United States president, a suit was filed against the producers of American tobacco products. It was alleged that nicotine is addictive and leads to emphysema and lung cancer among other disabilities. That much is a given. When Bush took the presidency courtesy of Scalia and the Supreme Court, his Attorney…
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FRITZ, JAEGER, MENCKEN AND HERSH
If someone were to ask me who ranks first among all American journalists and authors since we gained our independence 229 years ago, my answer would be prompt and unequivocal. Clearly, it is Henry Louis Mencken who edited the Baltimore Sunpapers as well as “The Smart Set” and “The American Mercury” magazines. For 60 years,…
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DUBIOUS AND DECEITFUL THOUGHTS THAT PASS AS TRUTH
Stretching the truth may well be a common failing among run-of-the-mill mortals as most of us are. When an auto salesman goes to work on a prospect, he says the engine moves the car from zero to sixty in record time while it burns almost no fuel at all. He may say that when there…
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CLEAR THINKING
The Commander in Chief/Chief Executive of these United States claims that he has discerned that Social Security is proceeding to a state he calls “flat bust.” If he were talking about female physiognomy, that would be one thing. But Mr. Chief of Everything is saying that the Social Security Trust Fund will be bankrupt in…
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CUT OUR LOSSES NOW
One of the many delights about working in the Federal City, Washington, D.C., was to read William Raspberry in the Washington Post in the morning and then to read a column by Mary McGrory in the afternoon Washington Star. Mary died last year and we miss her. But Brother Raspberry is still at it. On…
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SO FAR, 801 AMERICAN DEAD IN WAR IN IRAQ
In this short statement or essay, it is proposed to tell the reader what the effect of death in war has on surviving soldiers now and in the years to come. The casualty lists are a poignant reminder that death most often comes to young men who have reached their 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and…
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WHAT WILL THE CHILDREN SAY?
Wars have an interesting way of stirring cynicism as time passes. The entry of the United States in the First World War was described by Woodrow Wilson, the president at the time, as the war to end wars. In other quotes, the war was termed an effort to make the world safe for democracy. It…
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TONY NAVE’S FATHER
This essay about the death of Tony Nave’s father is dedicated to George Bush and to George Nethercutt, a Representative from Washington State who made it all possible. Nearly eight months ago, there was printed in several newspapers and on the Internet, a photograph taken by Steve Perez of the Detroit News Photo Department. It…
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MUSINGS — Volume III
This old essayist thought that one set of musings and ponderings while Ms. Chicka drives the car would be sufficient. Obviously, that is not the case. It appears that several other thoughts have occurred while the Chrysler is not in my control. Try these musings, for example. Is 2004 a rerun of 1928? During the…