The Circus Is In Town

"Everyone is makin' loveOr else expecting rain."Bob Dylan"Desolation Row"The Republican presidential field for 2012 is taking shape, like it or not. I'm already hearing the mutterings from Republicans who don't like any of their choices.In the nascent days of the campaign — when no one had actually entered the race yet — a premium was being placed on maturity and experience, someone who had dealt with budgets and had to forge compromises, a governor,...

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The Carnage in Joplin

I went to college about 70 miles south–southeast of Joplin, Mo.I didn't spend much time there. I went there a few times, and I knew people who came from there, but I couldn't rightfully claim to have an intimate relationship with the place.Nevertheless, it is heart–breaking to see what has happened there in recent days. I have needed little more than to see images of the devastation or to hear reports that the twister that ripped through Joplin on...

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America's First Serial Killer

Monday was the sesquicentennial of the birth of the man known to history as America's first documented serial killer — H.H. Holmes.Serial killing was not a new thing when Holmes (whose real name was Herman Webster Mudgett) started killing people in the second half of the 19th century so I must conclude that he was not this country's first serial killer — and I'm reasonably sure he wasn't the first to confess to killing someone.But he did confess...

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Who Will Win in Wisconsin?

Things could get pretty exciting in next year's elections.The Democrats really don't need for things to get too exciting. They already have their work cut out for them in 2012, what with a president and a reduced majority in the Senate to defend.Holding on to that advantage in the Senate could be a Herculean challenge.About one–third of the seats are on the ballot in each election cycle — unless there are vacancies that make additional special elections...

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The Pause That Refreshes

Several years ago, I was spending a weekend at an old friend's home, and I happened to notice that one of my favorite films was scheduled to be shown on TV."Have you ever seen 'One Two Three?' " I asked my friend."No," he replied, "but I've seen its sequel — 'Four Five Six.' "We got a good laugh out of that one, but, unfortunately, we didn't watch the movie — and I regret that because I would have liked to share it with him. Perhaps one day I will.Anyway,...

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Tributes

It never occurred to me before.Last summer, as you may recall, my practically lifelong friend Phyllis died. She had been living with cancer for a few years, but then she was stricken with pneumonia, and it was too much for her body to withstand.A mutual friend of ours participated in the funeral planning. He returns to our hometown at the end of each semester to participate in commencement ceremonies at the university there, and Phyllis' death came...

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Some Random Thoughts About Mom and Freedom 7

I have mixed emotions today.Today is the 16th anniversary of my mother's death in a flash flood. It is always a grim anniversary for me, and I am always glad when it is behind me.But today is a milestone anniversary of another sort. May 5 will always be a grim day for me, but it is less grim than usual today because of that other anniversary, the milestone.Half a century ago today, I guess you could say that America really entered the space race.There had been other events in man's reach for the stars — slightly more than three weeks earlier, Russia's...

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Riding For Freedom

It was on this day half a century ago that the "Freedom Riders," civil rights activists of all races and faiths, embarked on bus rides into the segregated American South.The intention was to test the Supreme Court's decision the previous year in the Boynton v. Virginia case. The details of that case are not all that important; what is important is that the ruling essentially declared that segregation in public transportation was against the law.I am no legal scholar, and someone who remembers those times might have a different take on it, but I...

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Satisfaction

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."Mark TwainThe announcement yesterday of Osama bin Laden's death was a unique moment in contemporary history — unifying, in fact, and I felt compelled to share it with people so I stayed up later than I normally would on a Sunday night and listened to a few conversations on Facebook — even contributed to a couple.When I went to bed, I was experiencing mixed, even conflicting,...

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Bin Laden Is Dead

It occurred to me this evening, as I watched the news reports of Osama bin Laden's death, that this must be how Americans felt in the spring of 1945 when they heard that Hitler had died.I've been watching the spontaneous gathering of jubilant Americans outside the White House, chanting "U–S–A" and singing the national anthem.It's appropriate, considering that the 9–11 attacks were widely compared to the attacks on Pearl Harbor, that bin Laden should...

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The Deficit Debate

Christiane Amanpour just might have heard it all in her career as a journalist.She was primarily a foreign correspondent in nearly 20 years with CNN, doing most of her work in the Middle East. She had to dodge a lot of bullets and bombs.Thus, I would think that a tour of Wisconsin town hall meetings with Rep. Paul Ryan would be relatively tame by comparison.But it wasn't. Not when Ryan told Amanpour that the deficit will be "the greatest topic of the 2012 election."Excuse me?I'm inclined to agree with Jonathan Cohn, who writes in The New Republic...

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The Beatification of John Paul II

"The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish."John Paul II(1920–2005)I'm not Catholic so I suppose today's beatification of the late John Paul II really shouldn't mean anything to me.And, for the most part, I guess, it doesn't.I was raised in a Protestant church. The only times I have attended a Catholic church...

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