Sunday Morning Coming Down

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and degenerates into a racket according to Eric Hoffer. This is why we have  regular elections and is a serious reason for democracy.  Unfortunately electing folks is becoming much more of a business than it should   Over this last electoral cycle I have heard it said  that the function of political parties is to win.  I guess politics and jobs are joined at the hip. If everyone is so dissatisfied why are incumbents reelected often with no opposition. Eric Hoffer was on to something.

Open carry of guns is now allowed at the University of Texas.  I remember the Day of Charley Whitman in the Bell Tower.  August 1, 1966 , he killed his mother wife and fourteen others.  A former Marine sharpshooter's rampage ended as he was killed by police. I doubt that Charles Whitman is the reason open carry of guns is allowed on campus. Fifty years is a long time ago.  Today a lot of undergrads are carrying around large sex toys.  The chant is "cocks not glocks". It will be interesting to see how this goes.

The Republican Party was anti slavery during the Civil War.  I'm not sure what the current Republican Party in the State of Mississippi thinks about slavery these days.  It's not that important because slavery was outlawed by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.  During the Civil War it was the Democrats that wanted to protect slavery in the Confederate States.  The State of Kentucky ratified the 13th Amendment in 1976, while the State of Mississippi waited until 1995. The Republican candidate for president may be changing his positions on immigration and lots of other policy issues.  In what may be just more political expedience which is almost a given in general elections, it is almost impossible to reconcile the positions taken during the primary contests and the latest speeches given by Republican candidate. Winning or losing this election may be less important than another realignment by the political parties.  The last eight years have been mor...

I am really having a difficult time trying to connect small government Republicans and their presidential candidate's outreach to African Americans,and the candidates dog whistle about law and order and rigged elections. If it is reaching outreach to college educated Republican women, I don't get that connection either, same small government issues again.

Riding buses in Miami during the summer can be a very sweaty experience. The buses are air conditioned and it is a relief to finally get on one that isn't very crowded.  Ridership goes down during the summer.  MDTA in an effort to make the bus riding more pleasant has installed an air conditioned bus shelter  in Hialeah.  It has bench space that accomodates four and standing room for 11.  MDTA leadership calls it prototype.  The cost is about $65,000. I hopes this works but I have my doubts.  For the same reasons that there is a need for guards at Metrorail stations and trains, the transit police will need to patrol that bus shelter.  I can only imagine the issues with folks sleeping at that bus shelter.  In the short term it is difficult to believe that it will get people out of there cars to increase ridership enough to make a profit on that route and the way things are accounted for more riders means the transit system loses more money...

J.D. Vance wrote Hillbilly Elegy and I just finished reading it.  The reviews for the book have been positive and it is #3 on Amazon's List of Best Sellers.  Mr. Vance's writing is interesting and timely for those trying to explain aspects of American life.  I lived for about one year in Morgantown, WV and that experience was enough to make me cough up cash to buy the book. A memoir at age 31 is probably a little bit early in the game for anybody but I have to admit the guy's story is interesting.  His family story is confused(probably an understatement by me) as most single parent families are and he was fortunate to have grandparents to pick up the pieces as necessary.  Four years as a marine were another form of institutional support that happened at the right time  The proverbial fork in the  road and he seems to have made the most of it. A bright ambitious kid can finish college in less than four years.  The jump from The Ohio State Uni...

I've lived through Hurricane Andrew and I believe it is time for President Obama to visit Louisiana to see the damage done by the recent floods.  If that means he has to cut short his vacation, as a 7th grade teacher said: "Tough toenails, you grew em, you chew em." The golf games, summer play lists, and the rest of the stuff you might want to do might need to be put on the shelf. My limited experience with FEMA tells me they will never have enough oversight and this disaster warrants a Presidential visit.   

In the forty sum years I've lived in Miami Florida the Miami Hurricanes, Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins have played in two stadiums, The Orange Bowl and the Stadium Joe Robbie built from some donated land and some subsidies from the tax payers for road improvements and some other miscellaneous tax abatements The Orange Bowl has been replaced by Marlin's Park on the site of the old Orange Bowl. Joe Robbie Stadium has been variously known as Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, Sun Life Stadium, and now Hard Rock Stadium. Only 84 days till the election.

Utah Journalist, Robert Gehrke characterized this year's Presidential Race in Utah as the Zika Virus vs. Ebola, and Zika is leading.  Colorful.

When I lived in London at the age of eight, my sister and I walked past a newsstand on the way home from the bus stop that took us to school at Bushy Park Air Force Base in the morning and dropped us off in the afternoon.  We were "yanks" in King Arthur's Court. My sister developed a slightly British accent in our short time in England as needed, my Mid-West Chicago accent labeled me a foreigner. One afternoon while walking home we stopped to buy some Cadbury Chocolates at the newsstand.  The guy at the counter asked what kind I wanted.  Do you have a chocolate and mint bar?  "No", do he have a chocolate and caramel bar?  "No", Do you have a plain milk chocolate bar?  Before he could say anything. I answered "probably not" for him, what do you have? His answer was: "Sony, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and not very funny either." Lesson learned.

Today the draft exists on paper only.  Males between the ages of 18 and 26 are required to register if the draft is reinstated and to be eligible to receive student loans or other government benefits like job training. The idea of universal public service meaning everybody between the ages of 18-26 doesn't exist. The country took a turn when the draft ended.  The current military is certainly as professional and polished as it has ever been but going all volunteer has been an early driver of many the political divisions in this country.  Military service used to be something more folks experienced, not necessarily as a job or career but as part of being a citizen.   President Obama and his wife have tried to be respectful and supportive of today's veterans and their families.  The Commander in Chief should do no less. Service and sacrifice are related and they should be recognized but to be used as means to divide is a problem. By 1973 the United State...

You line up your guys and complain about the other guys.  And the other team lines up their guys for the other side of complaints.  Partisanship is rewarded and precious little gets done and both sides look for even more devious ways to make compromise more difficult and accomplishing anything of value almost an illusion.  This seems to be the current legislative plan. Will it be any different after the election in November? A President nominates somebody to fill a Supreme Court vacancy and no hearings have been held.  The nominee is already a Federal Court Judge and has been voted on by the Senate and approved by the Senate for his current position.  There is a looming public health threat from a mosquito bourn illness and the legislative branch is having problems passing an emergency appropriation to help states and localities fight the spread of mosquitoes that spread the Zika Disease.  Public Health Officials are not collecting blood in Miami Dade C...

Nixon said simply: I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States. He might have continued fighting impeachment but Republicans: Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Hugh Scott. and Representative John Rhodes met with him to deliver their opinion that he had precious little support to continue the fight against impeachment. I believe the Republican Party is in a similar situation regarding its current nominee.  Somebody in the leadership of the party needs to have that kind of conversation with Donald Trump.  If they will or can do such a thing is an open question.  Donald Trump's response is also problematic. This kind of train wreck is preferable to the possibility of a Trump presidency but it might it be something that would be the electro-shock therapy the collective Republican Party needs.