tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55850160123483867802024-03-12T22:51:30.118-04:00Bruce Morton's Column for FriendsBruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.comBlogger780125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-69336098882047575152014-09-01T13:38:00.001-04:002014-09-01T13:38:55.922-04:00AUGUST 28, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We're having an election this year, not the big important one that picks a president (that's in 2016) but the state oriented ones that pick a third of the 100 member Senate for six year terms and of all of the 435 member House of Representatives for two year ones. It's not the White House, but it matters.</span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> One of the worst things that can happen to a legislative party is a split. They depend on numbers for their strength. When they split, as Republicans did over civil rights bills years ago, the party is hurt.<br><br> You can argue--I would--that the bills were good for the country, but the split hurt the party. The Republicans have a split this year too--generally between its moderates and its Tea Party members, its conservative core.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <br> We don't know yet what effects the split will have. But it's there.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-49787964567493612542014-08-24T15:53:00.003-04:002014-08-24T15:53:29.941-04:00AUGUST 24, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Low income families struggle everywhere in America. A story in the Washington Post notes that those who live here in Washington have we the second easiest time of those in any major city. Only San Francisco beats DC in comfort for the poor.</span></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> This is of course a story with all sorts of different implications. Do we want poor visitors because they'll like it here and want to stay? But then won't it be even poorer so we'll like it less and maybe leave? And if we leave will the newly arrived poor maybe leave too? And then could we come back? And then....Pretty silly pretty quickly, huh?<br><br> I don't know. I like San Fran but I'm probably not poor enough to go there. Besides, I live right next to a big old stall market with fishmongers and cheesemongers and, well, you get the idea.<br><br> So come grocery shopping, just don't move here, okay? Unless you want to be president, of course. Then you have to. <br> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-82485129753736301042014-08-24T15:53:00.001-04:002014-08-24T15:53:03.770-04:00AUGUST 22, 2014<div></div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><div id="AOLMsgPart_1_255b4e78-8888-4d97-9c54-d6eefdd470b5"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> We have off-year elections this year. That means elections for the Senate--a third of its hundred seats up for six year terms and all of the the House's 435 seats, for two year terms. The District of Columbia won't vote; we have no representation in the Congress.<br><br> In a lot of districts the issues will be local--a bridge, an allegedly crooked pol. It will be harder, I think, for Republicans to make President Obama's person or policies be issues because he and they have been moderate,<br><br> I can remember when public anger was so strong here--during the Vietnam War or the Nixon impeachment--when perfect strangers would yell on the street at those of us who covered the news.<br><br> There's none of that now. It looks like a clean battle for November, followed by the big shootout two years later.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-88147777825232987742014-08-24T15:52:00.001-04:002014-08-24T15:52:45.050-04:00AUGUST 20, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> This city, Washington, is in its August daze--hot, humid and helpless, It maybe because I'm old now, but it seems a little more bearable. Baseball is an example. In the olden times, when this city's team was in the American League, its slogan was, "Washington: first in war, first in peace, last in the American League." Today the team, the Nationals, leads its division and may well make the playoffs. Imagine!</span><br><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> If you want an enduring image of lousiness in baseball, try the team I grew up with, the Chicago Cubs. Last won the pennant in1945, though even back then they had an outfielder whose nickname was "Swish" for the sound his bat made when it missed the ball. My Cubs last won the World Series--none of us was born then--in 1908.<br><br> I worried a little when this year's Chicago team was in last place, okay, but only ten games out of first. Shouldn't have, they started playing down to standard and were sixteen games out the last time I looked.<br><br> Lose, Cubs. It's what you do really well. And I'll pull for you no matter what. That is something I'm used to doing well.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-22421278723075805662014-08-18T13:05:00.001-04:002014-08-18T13:05:52.079-04:00AUGUST 17, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Years ago the championship of the National Football League was settled by a single game between the winners of its Eastern and Western divisions. In 1940, this elderly Chicago kid still remembers, his Bears humiliated the Washington Redskins, 73--0. Yes, that's correct. Yes, it's more than a point a minute. Yes, it is hard to believe. And yes, it really did happen.</span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><div id="AOLMsgPart_1_9e4834ed-4c45-42bc-a977-28baeb8a64c7"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> Nothing like that happens any more, of course. Basketball deals in high digits; baseball, in shutouts. But nothing in sports offers both.<br><br> It's not that it's impossible now just unlikely and one of the reasons why our stogy lives can sometimes be a lot of fun. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle19 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle20 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-1483942629189840272014-08-13T13:30:00.001-04:002014-08-13T13:30:07.895-04:00AUGUST 12, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> "Obama vows limits as US airstrikes continue." That Washington Post headline explains why peacekeeping is harder now that so many countries can blow others off the map.</span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> Once upon a time a powerful country could say to a weaker one, let us in or we'll beat you up. Many countries, to survive, would submit. Now even smaller countries may have some nuclear weapons and be tempted to to say no.<br>Negotiating has never been easy and is surely harder now.<br><br> The only solution may be truly massive peacekeeping forces and even they may be truly at risk.<br> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-67229058425900228882014-08-09T14:38:00.001-04:002014-08-09T14:38:53.322-04:00AUGUST 1, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> It's happened. Republicans lost a vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday even though they have a majority there. They lost because their majority split in two--moderates versus more conservative, Tea Party types.</span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> This will make Republican politics more fun to watch, though probably less fun for actual, role-playing Republicans. "Got an ID card? No, not those ugly orange ones. Ours are bright red," and so on.<br><br> And if the GOP vote splits in the primaries, won't the Democrats have a better chance of winning back the House, which the GOP now controls? And in 2016? Three national candidates instead of two? <br><br> On a good day, politics can be more fun than cards.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-9058258024874645872014-08-09T14:36:00.001-04:002014-08-09T14:36:20.558-04:00AUGUST 8, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> I wrote the the other day about how difficult, maybe impossible, it is for the great powers to make or keep the peace. I didn't need new proof, but the headline in today's Washington Post is, "Obama authorizes possible Iraq strikes." Please, sir, not again.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> The story says the U.S. is already dropping food and other good things there and that's fine. But please, nothing lethal. That's how these blood feuds start. You got us out of Iraq once, please don't make an encore necessary. <br><br> Enforcing our ideas of law and order in other peoples' countries seldom works well. Please know this. </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-4054938266314036062014-08-09T14:34:00.001-04:002014-08-09T14:34:54.801-04:00AUGUST 7, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Yes, the Middle East is a war zone again--Arabs and Israelis shooting at one another with the Israelis seeming, to this amateur eye, better trained for the job though outnumbered.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> You want to think this can be settled but the odds are certainly against that. If two peoples are willing to kill for a territory, the odds on peace seem slender.<br><br> The odds against some kind of international peacekeeping force seem equally long. The warmakers would do awful, barbarous things the peacemakers simply couldn't.<br><br> I've been reading about the Middle East all my adult life. I may not have much time left, but I"m afraid it does. </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-51046082153644950672014-07-25T17:45:00.001-04:002014-07-25T17:45:13.454-04:00Fwd: JULY 24, 2014<div dir="ltr"></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-58542530923983872292014-07-23T11:49:00.002-04:002014-07-23T11:50:00.214-04:00JULY 23, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> Quivers in Ukraine. A passenger jet was shot down mysteriously. Today there are reports of two military jets downed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> These are reasons for worry, of course. We always have those, but these are not enough, I think, to fear that World War III will break out next Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> Vladimir Putin, and whoever succeeds him in his job, will presumably worry more about keeping Russia dominant in what used to be the Soviet Union than about scuffing with the United States. Barack Obama seems a moderate with no haste for a World War III. Let's hope his successor shares that view.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">History courses emphasize wars; they're dramatic, but we have had times of peace and enjoyed them. Let's work to have more.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-40165369373227909422014-07-23T11:49:00.001-04:002014-07-23T11:49:23.634-04:00JULY 22, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The headline in today's Washington Post is straightforward "Obama makes his most unequivocal remarks yet in favor of D.C. statehood." Now as an experienced Washingtonian--lived here more than forty years--let me tell you what that presidential endorsement actually mean--zip, zero, squat.</span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> Londoners vote in British elections; Parisians, in French ones. Washingtonians? Our betters, as they must see themselves, allow us to elect a mayor and to vote for president--we are too few to matter much there. <br><br> But in the legislative branch, nothing. The District is allowed no senators--states have two apiece--and no Congressmen--states have from one to dozens depending on their population. The District has one token delegate who is not allowed to vote. Fair, hunh?<br><br> Efforts to change this require Congressional approval and Congress has always refused, jealous of its power and unwilling to amend the Constitution so as to share its power with us.<br><br> I do not exepect this to change in my lifetime.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-77352280630621546612014-07-10T10:06:00.001-04:002014-07-10T10:06:09.128-04:00Fwd: JULY 9, 2014<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US" vlink="purple" link="blue"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt"> It's been kind of a quiet, lazy summer so far, which if fine with this quiet, lazy reporter. <u></u><u></u></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-size:11pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt"> My childhood baseball team--grownups aren't allowed to support them, they're too awful--are in last place in their division by, I think, nineteen games. Only recently they had closed to within ten, but they've gone back to work. Need to ask which team?<br> <br> And it has nothing to do with work, but strawberries are coming back! Formerly wonderful, they changed to beautiful but tasteless. In recent years they've <u></u><u></u></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"> <span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt">started tasting like the real thing again. <br><br> So life goes on and getting old is sometimes even kind of fun.<u></u><u></u></span></p> </div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:13.5pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p></div></div></div></div><br></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-33538485234073915212014-07-03T12:47:00.001-04:002014-07-03T12:47:24.955-04:00Fwd: JULY 3, 2014<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US"><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> I saw a political column about Hillary Clinton's unofficial presidential campaign. One struck me as about right. Many more and we'd all be saying, "Why is she running so hard?" The job she seeks, after all--president, we assume--isn't available to the voters until the year after next.<br> <br> In the meantime she wants, I assume, to look like the right woman for the job. She would be the first woman president, of course. Barack Obama was the first black eight years ago. If he could break one barrier, you can presuably break the other.<br> <br> Avoid overconfidence is my advice. Remember that the Democrats had a sure frontrunner once before, Edmund Muskie. He disappeared and never saw the White House. Neither did the man who beat him, George McGovern. <br> <br> Buy hey, go for it. It's a fun ride mostly. Ask your husband. And if you win, Lord knows what lies ahead.<u></u><u></u></span></p></div></div></div></div><br></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-63018445303264983172014-06-26T15:57:00.003-04:002014-06-26T15:57:35.200-04:00Fwd: JUNE 25, 2014<div dir="ltr"><br><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt"> We had elections Tuesday, primary elections, so you learned which Republican Republicans liked, which Democrat Democrats, but not which candidate would win a real election. Still, there were hints.<br> <br> An incumbent Republican senator beat off a Tea Party challenger in Mississippi; good news for GOP incumbents elsewhere? A Democratic Lt. Gov. won his party's gubernatorial nomination in Maryland but must face a GOP cabinet member in the fall. <br> <br> Democrat Charlie Rangel of New York, who's been in Congress about since they invented it--no, only forty years or so--is expected to win another term.<br><br>Straws in the wind. Easy to catch. Hard to read. November will tell all. Well, mostly all.<u></u><u></u></span><br> </div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-19213302219477140942014-06-26T15:57:00.001-04:002014-06-26T15:57:01.051-04:00Fwd: JUNE 26, 2014<div dir="ltr"></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-34057262556527134942014-06-17T10:53:00.001-04:002014-06-17T10:53:08.124-04:00Fwd: JUNE 14, 2014<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US" vlink="purple" link="blue"><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:13.5pt"> </span><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt">There's something unsettling in the air when the world's two strongest countries threaten each other with war, especially when they have enough nuclear weapons, as the U.S. and Russia do, to destroy the planet. We got through several of those; if you're old enough, you remember Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev telling American president John Kennedy, "We will bury you."<br> <br> Nobody buried anybody but the talk was certainly warlike. This time it seems a little more civilized. Maybe we're just lucky. I hope I'm right.<u></u><u></u></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div> <br></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-84606193386309743962014-06-11T19:00:00.001-04:002014-06-11T19:00:43.912-04:00JUNE 11, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Republican Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Majority Leader in the Republican-controlled House, has lost a primary in Virginia and therefore lost his seat in Congress when the new one meets next year. People are talking.</span></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> Traditional, moderate Republicans always travel these days looking behind them to see if ultraconservatives are after them. With Cantor, they were. The Washington Post reports he lost to "an obscure professor with tea party backing."<br><br> The ultra-right poses several questions for the rest of the party. Can they beat you, as they did Cantor? Can they force you to join the Democrats to survive? Are they the GOP's wave of the future, and so on?<br><br> Party activists on both sides will try to answer these and other questions this election year, which will make it more interesting than it would otherwise have been.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-78476429471852730472014-06-09T09:47:00.001-04:002014-06-09T09:47:04.357-04:00Fwd: june 6, 2014<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US" vlink="purple" link="blue"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";font-size:11pt"> People are being very picky about this prisoner swap--what was it, five of theirs for one of ours? Unfair, the critics say, dangerous, racist even.<br> <br> Well, maybe, but wars, cold or hot or whatever this one is supposed to be, are not widely seen as a fair fight among equals. We are good, of course; they are evil-minded thugs. And why not return some bad guys? We save all sorts of things like patrol guard time, food and soap.<br> <br> And we knew we'd treat their guys fairly; what did we know about how they'd treat ours?<br><br> C'mon...we got one of our own back alive and well. Let's cheer some, huh? </span><span style="font-size:11pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p> </div></div></div><br></div> Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-49661456702274410672014-05-30T19:31:00.001-04:002014-05-30T19:31:15.878-04:00MAY 30, 2014<div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> I think moderation is probably the wisest principle on which to run a democracy like ours. I think President Obama knows this, which is why he's a pretty good president. </span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> There are times when moderation won't work, of course. When Lincoln said, "This country cannot exist half slave and half free," he may have known he was invoking our bloodiest war.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> The trajectory of putting a man on the moon or all men into the voting booth would have been different with out the extraordinary measures of Kennedy and Johnson. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> When Franklin Roosevelt promised to heal "a third of a nation, ill-clad, ill-housed, ill-fed," he knew moderation wouldn't do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> But mostly it will. We have problems with gun violence because have so much of it. Fewer with knife or hammer assaults. Moderate laws work there. <br><br> So I think we can look on Obama as a moderate, successful president with one of our two wars over; the other, ending; and the economy recovering – moderately. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> I have no idea who our next president will be. But I think our national fondness for moderation is one reason the Tea Party won't score big gains this fall.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-38541766616398546522014-05-30T19:30:00.001-04:002014-05-30T19:30:09.155-04:00MAY 27, 2014<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> The Washington Post reported the following developments in same sex marriage law in one recent edition.</span><br><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> In Michigan, the ruling was delivered by a judge who took office when Ronald Reagan was president. Another, in Utah, from someone who had just recently celebrated his first anniversary as a judge. Both rulings allow same sex marriage. In Pennsylvania, where the ban was just struck down, the judge had all the previously disagreeing opinions in front of him when he ruled. <br><br> The Post pieces are longer than mine and probably better, but these few make the the point. <br><br> The next time anybody asks you if there's a trend going on in this legal area, feel free to answer, good griief of course there is. It 's as plain as the nose on your face--or docket or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle20 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-75003116100200783772014-05-26T14:40:00.001-04:002014-05-26T14:40:21.462-04:00MAY 26, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Memorial Day honors our country's dead in all its wars, surely a fine idea, especially if the wars were worth fighting, as most of ours have been. </span></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> The Revolution? Of course, it gave us birth. The War of 1812 kept us alive. The Civil War? Surely Lincoln was right when he said we could not continue half slave and half free.<br><br> World War I, I don't know, all those kings fussing at each other, but the other side did sink a lot of our ships. World War II? No question. And Korea? Not much either though one scholar insisted the South struck first.<br><br> Vietnam? I never did figure out why we were there. Afghanistan? Iraq?<br><br> But there's a better reason for the Day. The men and women who fought for us believed in us and our cause and they therefore deserve all the honor we can give them.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle19 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle20 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-21335749418478692192014-05-21T16:40:00.001-04:002014-05-21T16:40:23.271-04:00MAY 16, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">With Hillary Clinton looking more and more like the probable Democratic presidential candidate it may be time to knock off the old cliche, can women lead in wars? The answer is, sure, and win too.</span></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> History? Queen Elizabeth I: "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too." She proved it by sending the Spanish Armada back to Madrid as damp kindling.<br> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> There are others--Amazon warriors beating up the boys; Joan of Arc; Catherine the Great; Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir. Mary I of England is another, but she may not be the best model with the nickname Bloody Mary.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> And a second cliché comes to mind when we mention Hillary. Chasing has been a problem for Bill, but put that to rest by giving him a well-armed security detail. All-woman, maybe?<br><br></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-23163112179335640812014-05-21T16:39:00.001-04:002014-05-21T16:39:42.511-04:00MAY 21, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> I don't write about history very often, but there's a story today I can't resist. It's about one of my favorite presidents, Harry Truman, and it says they are thinking about renaming Washington's railroad station in honor of Mr. Truman. This is a fine idea.</span></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br> Mr. Truman liked Washington and visited often as an ex-president, riding the train, staying always at the same hotel, leaving The Mayflower every morning for a short walk. Reporters joined him and tourists, of course, surrounded him. <br><br> "Mr. President," a tourist would ask, "tell us about your nickname, Give 'Em Hell, Harry." Truman would grin, he had a fine one, and say, "I never gave anybody hell, I just told the truth and they thought it was hell." We'd all laugh.<br><br> Come on, guys, rename that train station.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5585016012348386780.post-54398131531577116642014-05-17T10:16:00.001-04:002014-05-17T10:16:16.612-04:00MAY 14, 2014<blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> I don't write about tourist attractions very often but one reopened this week that is surely worth some space: the Washington Monument.</span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> No, it hasn't been missing--can you imagine carting it away?-- but the earthquake we had some three years ago cracked enough stones and interior supports that they had to close it-- no visitors, just viewers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.5pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> Now it's open again offering some of the best views in town of our capitol which is, in case you need reminding, one of the prettiest around</span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></blockquote><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.EmailStyle18 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal;} span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style>Bruce Mortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15025496956516267525noreply@blogger.com0