Category: Uncategorized

Washington Post has a must read for anyone interested in politics. It’s a story about President Reagan’s “”pen pal”” he had during his time in the White House, a seven-year-old elementary student from SouthEast Washington DC. The two exchanged dozens of letters over the years, ranging from Reagan talking about his first trip to a communist country (China) to the student’s desire to ask his parents for karate lessons. The reason this is a must read for any politician is that people all too often think politics is about grander and greater things than the feelings and thoughts of one person. There are people in Washington who read only the national, international and editorial pages of the paper, skipping over the Metro section which deals with how people really live and throwing away the Style section (which isn’t that bad of a thing to do since it is all DC “”glam”” sometimes). I remember flying into Chicago a number of years ago following a vote on aid to the Contras in Nicaragua. I had had a particularly tough week at work on Capitol Hill dealing with all the phone calls and political debates on Contra aid (in the end my boss voted for it because Reagan twisted her arm). As we were on final approach to O’Hare, we flew over the grid rows of homes, each separated from the other by a fence or a pool and a boat or RV in about half of the yards. As I looked down, I did a little math. “”10% have been arrested, 30% have tried drugs, XX% have aids, XX% have cancer, XX% have no jobs. Do these people really care about what we do in Washington? Can they even relate to the world where C-Span is on in bars and people read Roll Call newspaper cover to cover each week. Which brings me back to Reagan’s pen pal. Here was a voice from a regular kid talking directly to the most powerful person on the planet. The day to day things that affected this kid were brought to the table of the West Wing. Oh so many in Washington compartmentalize out that part of their life (i.e. the living part) so they can perform their duties more professionally. That’s why (thankfully) most bureaucrats and political appointees will never become elected officials. Which isn’t a bad thing I guess….]]>

The Moscow Times has an article today, with a slight Russian bent, that explains why this is not only has major economic ripples to the US economy (especially if others follow suit) but also has political connotations with the EU (like giving Russians visa free travel). At present, the world’s oil is traded in dollars. This means that other oil producing nations have a huge pool of US dollars available to handle the oil transactions. If this was switched to Euros, or if even the #2 player in oil (Russia) switched to Euros, this would require the oil import-export crowd to stock up on Euros at the expense of the dollar. There would be an immediate impact of dollar dumping and a longer term impact of the Euro being needed and the dollar losing its importance. Of course, this may be a few years away, but this is a story that needs to be watched far closer than it is in the US media.]]>

Whack job busts through Bush’s Presidential security and then is rammed by two airport operations trucks. Wish there was video of this.]]>

Teacher and teacher’s aide arrested for taping young kids who got out of line. Guess duct tape has some educational value.]]>

]]>

MSNBC story today. Despite helicopters and F-16’s and the occasional Stinger missile battery that pops up on my drive to work, there are still gaps in coverage. Perhaps it’s time to resurrect a new time of aircraft. A propeller-driven fighter. Maybe some P-51s rearmed. They could handle the low and slow Cessnas that are frightening Washington defense officials. Maybe some old World War II planes buzzing over these guys would really be more effective than a $35 million mach-2 powered F-16 (which has a problem in combat at <150 mph). It would at least look cool to have some old planes guarding DC. Doubt they’ll do it as it would cost too much.]]>

The New York Times is reporting that Westchester county, hip and together and cool, has decided to enlist the “”Archies”” in a new comic book to fight teenage drinking. The Archies. The cartoon that was too stupid for me even as a youth 20 years ago! The comic book that no kid would read unless forced or stuck in a really boring barber shop with no option. The Archies are going to stop teenage drinking? My god some parents don’t have a clue. What’s really frightening is that these parents are nearly my age. Does something happen when you have children such that you lose touch with what’s hip and what’s not. I was actually looking forward to having kids so they would keep me in touch with new things (thank god I have a nephew or the whole SpongeBob thing would have passed me by). Sometimes adults are too confident that they know best. Liquor stores in Westchester County rejoice. A whole new crop of teenagers will continue to present false ids and bribes to grab a six-pack.]]>