This and That

Rummaging around in the dusty attic of my mind I believe my first new car was a 1956 four door Chevrolet. Price: $1800. I bought it off the lot and it came with several options: heater (an option !), radio, vinyl seat upholstery, two-tone green paint. It had manual steering, manual 3 speed shift, one speed windshield wipers, no air conditioning, no power anything. Air conditioning was described as being "460" which meant 4 windows open and driving 60 miles an hour.


At the time of purchase my wife and I thought the two-tone green paint was unique to our little town. In a few days we began to see cars with the same color scheme everywhere. But to us it was a treasure. No subsequent car purchase brought with it the same level of excitement we felt with the first one.


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I see that "whatever" has been voted the current most annoying expression in the English language. I would have voted for the ubiquitous "you know" without which, you know, some people would be unable to converse. You know?


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Another member of Congress has been caught in a scandal that may have far-reaching and negative effects on the Democratic party. Charles Rangel, (Dem.), N.Y. failed to pay some of his income taxes and to report all sources of income. What is it with members of Congress that makes them think they don't have to pay taxes? The IRS, without mercy or second thoughts, would put a widow out on the street if she did something similar but the rich and the powerful escape punishment.


Five will get you ten that Rangel will get out of this with a mild slap on the wrist. The "Ethics"
Commitee" is "investigating." The facts are known so what's to be investigated? They will stretch out their "investigation" because they depend on the American public's shamefully short attention span. That may not work this time.


The danger to the Democratic Party is that the Public's smoldering wrath may finally get fully vented at election time because of Rangel's blatant disregard of integrity and other Democratic mis-steps.


In the meantime, few if any Republican Congresspersons have halos to polish or unblemished records to crow about.

Pray, pray, pray for our country!
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Our President and First Lady recently made a fruitless trip to Copenhagen. Their intention was to charm the socks off the Olympic Committee and secure the Olympics for the city of Chicago. Alas, the OC proved to be immune to the radiant charm of the First Couple and the prize was handed to Rio. Reading the transcripts of the Obama 'I/Me' speeches it seems they were inviting the world the wonderful opportunity to come visit the Obamas.

The "City of the Broad Shoulders" (Walt Whitman's description of Chicago) may now have sagging shoulders but it will survive. My brother suggests it may all be for the best. If 'Chi' had won, it would have been necessary to add a new Olympic event : "Dodging bullets and 2x4's to the head."


I honestly take no satisfaction from the President's failure. He did what he thought best. And I believe that no matter what he did the OC was determined to grant the Olympics to a country other than the USA.


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Miscellany

Josef Stalin: "The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic." Stalin should know. He was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people.

Leo Tolstoy: "Love hinders death. Love is life. Anything at all that I understand, I understand only because I love. All is bound up in love alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a tiny particle of love, shall return to the universal and eternal source."