Neville Chamberlain and Obama

There’s a lot of fuss right now about Obama being compared to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who caved into and appeased Hitler in 1938.  Chamberlain proved he was an idiot by treating Hitler as a rational compassionate man.  Hopefully, Obama won’t do the same with the non-rational, non-compassionate leaders currently wielding power in Iran.

Most folks miss the point in the comparison.  Both appear to be appeasers, but Chamberlain was a seasoned, professional statesman.  Obama is nothing but a political neophyte with no experience in international diplomacy.  Apparently, as evidenced by his 20 year following of the Rev. Dr. Wright, Obama can’t tell a crazy demagogue from a fireplug.  Unless, of course, Obama could have just been following someone who shaped his basic belief structure.

What America needs are leaders and statesmen, and I’m afraid the Congress is not the place to train them.

Politics and Sex, Vito and Laura

I haven’t written many blogs, and haven’t been on the net very long, but it is amazing how many hits I’ve gotten on Vito and Laura.  What is our fascination with another politico’s sex life.  I bet most have liaisons sometime, so why are we so enamored with their dalliances?

Bob Barr, a Reasonable Choice?

Former Republican Bob Barr has announced his candidacy for President under the Libertarian Party.  He says he is disillusioned by Republican failure to curb spending and big government.  Well, who isn’t?  I’ve always thought we need a “None of the Above” vote on the ballot.  Bob is not the alternative for me, although I’m looking for a viable alternative to the three crazies running now.

Hillary Clinton’s Fatal Attraction

Just as Glenn Close, the woman stalker in “Fatal Attraction” rose from the from the bathtub one last time before being shot dead, Hillary Clinton is rising from West Virginia one last time. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn, an Obama supporter, made the comparison before later apologizing. He said, “Glenn Close should have stayed in that tub, and Sen. Clinton has had a remarkable career and needs to move to the next step, which is helping elect the Democratic nominee.”

Many other democratic leaders are urging Hillary to step down from the campaign trail and begin the healing process toward a united democratic party.

They don’t know Hillary.

Indiana Jones

Waiting for this probably final episode is like stepping back in a time machine to all those 10 cent matinees I attended when my dad was away in the Korean War. The title, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is tour de force of teeth on edge, grip your armrest, and prepare to shout. All the Indiana Jones movies take me on a big wave surfin’ ride back to my youth.

The Indiana Jones character and series of movies are perhaps the most endearing of all of the “series” based movies in the last thirty years. The first caught the children of those of us who had watched every Saturday matinee serial we would find and dashed them against the rocks of cinematic mediocrity. The resultant tsunami of fun and adventure recaptured the hearts of the adults and created a fan base from all ages. It was enormous fun! While the “Temple of Doom” didn’t reach the heights of “Raiders”, who can ever forget that great rendition of “Anything Goes” sung in Chinese? The addition of Sean Connery to “the last crusade” was a stroke of genius. The catch phrase, “Choose wisely” helped me raise my kids. They knew that a bad choice was followed by bad happenings.

I can’t wait.

Charles Manson

Why is he still alive? Why are we paying$30,000 or more a year to keep this piece of malevolent evil alive?

Do you know we could support over a thousand third-world orphans with what we pay to sustain this demented ape? Com’on, put the man out of our misery.

Brain Can Change

There’s a newspaper article out written by some guy in Oxford that explains research has shown that the brain will actually physically change depending on the activity involved.  Example, a group of non-piano guys were sent to a room to practice for five days.  Another group sent to a room to imagine practicing for five days.  Incredibly, their brains both change to nearly the same extent as to finger manipulation.  So, what does that hold for us?

The violent game players, the first shooter types may be training themselves to be super soldiers in the future.  Also, violent race drivers may be programming themselves to be terrible drivers.  More research needs to be done.

Big question, can we begin to develop classes of people by assigning types of games to youngsters based on physical and mental proclivities?

Where’s the Beef?

British Airways has taken beef off of its in-flight menus to avoid offending its non-beefing eating passengers, presumably based on religious bans.  Of course, pork is unclean to Muslim and Jewish passengers, and it seems beef is taboo to Indians.  Since a large portion of British Airways service is to India, it only makes sense to take it off the menu.

Must be nice to have a menu, though.  I fly frequently from Florida to Washington or Oregon and never get a real meal on a plane anymore.  Can’t even get peanuts.  I do have a memory of rubber chicken served on several flights of yesteryear.  My first flight from San Francisco to Eugene, Oregon in 1952 served an excellent shrimp cocktail.  These are memories of a bygone era.  Gone but not forgotten.  Hope my grandchildren don’t laugh when I tell them about it.

Bikini Wearing Teacher Fired!

A second grade teacher was fired after photos of her wearing a bikini on the Howard Stern show were published.  She says she had no choice after receiving pressure from the school board.  First, let’s disregard the legal aspects because historically, teachers are held to a higher standard that the rest because of the influence they have on young children.  There was a long period of time when teachers were not permitted to marry.  I am sure that the contract I signed when I was a teacher had a “moral turpitude” clause and that most teachers have the same.  What appalls me is that she thought she could appear on a show that is “controversial” to say the least, and then dress in a bikini and suffer no adverse fallout from the parents and administration.  How stupid can she be?  School boards always have a very narrow view of the actions of teachers under contract.  That narrow view is nearly always puritanical or something very close to that.  All school boards have a secret collection of “scarlet letters” still packed away in a back room somewhere.  Obviously, she was not thinking of her career, just that she could be considered hot!  How trivial!

Sandwich Island Interlude

Back in the early 1800’s, my great-great grandfather was first mate on a whaling ship out of Martha’s Vinyard.  While in the Pacific, he got into a fight on ship and was given a skull fracture.  Not being fit to sail, he was marooned on one of the Sandwich Islands.  During his stay, he started a family and adapted quite well.  Three or four years later, he was picked up by a passing ship and taken back to Martha’s Vinyard, regrettably leaving his family behind.  Done with the sea, he took a flock of sheep down the National Road and settled on the banks of the Muskingum River in Ohio.  There he married and raised a large family.