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Happy Independence Day

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
Erma Bombeck

got to walk it by yourself

congressional option for all of us

I agree with Eric Wattree's assessment of the healthcare "debate" in congress and wonder why can't we get the congressional option?

There's at least one thing that Republicans do much better than Democrats, and that's marketing their initiatives. It doesn't matter how regressive the idea, Republicans manage to frame it in a way that if you oppose it you look like you're either degenerate, or at the very least, un-American. For example, instead of accurately calling themselves "The Order of Religious Bigots Dedicated to Shoving Our Version of God Down America's Throat," they market their insanity as "The Moral Majority," and instead of being honest and calling themselves "The Public Vagina Brigade," they call themselves "The Right to Life" proponents (even though they're willing to let that very same life starve to death after it's born). Conservatives get a lot of milage out of their creativity in this area, and progressives would do well to follow suit.

lessons of compassion

First, let me say that I do not automatically rejoice at the news that some human error has caused a dose of public embarrassment upon one of the moral leaders in our society - in this case, Cardinal O’Hara High School President William J. McCusker in Springfield, PA. Any past pomposity or public sneering at lesser souls raises the meter to "automatic rejoicing." I know no such thing in this unfortunate case. Second, let me also admit that a hope always arises in my mind (perhaps in my heart) that there is a lesson of compassion learned for others mixed within the bitter dregs of the resulting humiliation and possible loss of paid position.

SPRINGFIELD — Cardinal O’Hara High School President William J. McCusker said he is “deeply distraught, embarrassed and ashamed” of his recent arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Peter Ludwin poetry

Peter Ludwin’s new book of poems, A Guest in All Your Houses, is now available from Word Walker Press and, shortly, from Amazon.com.

A good review of the book is online here.

I've just finished reading the book and expect to do a review shortly. Clue to review: it's a terrific collection of poems covering the geography of much of my own earlier peripatetic nosings about.

If you'll be in the Seattle area, I see online that Peter will be reading from his book on Thursday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Open Books, 2414 N 45th St., Seattle.

a listing of all medal of honor recipients.