A Bridge To The Past

When Norman Mailer died I thought of two of his books, Miami and the Siege of Chicago and Armies of the Night. Both of these are about politics, the Vietnam War, and the Age of Protest.

What I like to call My Youth.

In those day people took to the streets to confront their government when their government got bogged down in an ill-conceived war that seemed to have no end in sight. We rallied, we marched, we protested.

"Hell no, we won't go!"

"One, two, three, four! We don't want your fucking war!."

"Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?"

Those were the days.

Today I read about some Bridge Players who were being disciplined because they held up a sign at a tournament reading "We didn't vote for Bush."

"We didn't vote for Bush." Pretty radical.

Now they are being accused of treason and sedition.

So here we are, four and a half years into another ill-conceived war with no end in sight.

And the only people protesting belong not to the Students for a Democratic Society or the Youth International Party, but to the American Contract Bridge League?

What does that say about our country?

Polls say most Americans don't support the war. So where are they?

I guess they decided to pass this hand.

On The Death Of Norman Mailer

He was fugging brilliant!

Ronald Reagan Library Mystery

From the Associated Press:

"The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum can't locate or account for tens of thousands of valuable mementos of Reagan's White House years, according to a published report.
"An audit by the National Archives inspector general concluded that the library in Simi Valley was unable to properly account for more than 80,000 objects out of its collection of some 100,000 artifacts"

I wonder: Has anyone contacted O.J.?

Marathon thoughts

I'm fortunate enough to live in New York City and near enough to First Avenue that each year I can walk on over and watch the Marathoners go by. It's like a big party and a chance for New Yorkers to join together in celebration.

This year, however, I noticed that several runners were carrying signs promoting commercial web sites, and a couple were wearing shirts advertising newly release motion pictures, and one person was even giving out free samples of some protein bar to the onlookers.

I find this trend disturbing.

I just don't feel it is right to commercialize the New York City Marathon

Congressional Math

I was somewhat dismayed to see that the House Of Representatives had not overridden President Bush’s veto of the Children’s Healthcare bill. This was a bill that would have extended child healthcare benefits to families at higher income levels.

Republicans were outraged because they felt that rich families should pay for their own healthcare. As one Republican lawmaker put it “If this passes families making $60,000 a year would qualify for child healthcare.”

My question is this: Is a family making $60,000 a year rich?

I suppose to a family of 4 making $20,650 a year (the official poverty level) $60,000 seems rich. But to a Congressman making $165,200 a year? That's nearly $85 an hour based on a 40 hour work week. Oh, right. This is Congress. Better make that a 4 hour work week. $850 an hour.

When you think about it $60,000 isn’t even enough to buy a house.

$60,000 isn’t enough to put your kid through college.

An for sure $60,000 isn’t enough to buy a Congressman.