Scandal!

 My lesser angels wish I could live long enough to give a snide ITYS to my right wing friends when their "conservative" posterity praise the very measures the current right wing so vehemently opposes, as the current right wing celebrates an end to segregation, the passage of Social Securty, the sanctity of Medicare. etc.

Peter King's tan suit comments are emblematic of the IOKIYAR attitude of many of my hard right friends. It's OK for Romney, Carson, Bush, etc. and many others on the right to support all sorts of positions - immigration reform or health insurance reform, for example - but President Obama in the eyes of the hard right is wrong regardless of what he proposes or does. He can't even get a pass on his wardrobe. "The president in jeans? Outrageous. What's with the tan suit? Disgraceful!"

John Paul Schulz

 This is just so totally disgraceful. Our country is going to the Dogs. Would Washington, Jefferson, or John Adams have worn such as this?

Terrell Shaw

Next thing you know we'll have presidents in powdered wigs! What frou-frou!

Sam Burnham

I'm with my friend Alan from Pinstripe Pulpit on this one. Really, the only thing remotely wrong with that suit was perhaps the occasion it was chosen for. 

I don't understand the uproar over the suit. We get too caught up in surface issues. People should focus on policy. There are plenty of disasters that are seriously driving our country in the wrong direction in the hands of this failed president. Picking at his suit is silly and superficial. 

John Paul Schulz

It was not polite to trash Mr.Shaw's post. 

Sam Burnham

I think the powdered wig thing might be pretty cool. LOL 

John Paul Schulz

That's better, Sam. 

Terrell Shaw

Facebook needs to add a "line Item 'Like'" so I can respond appropriately to Sam. 

There were some things good about the Confederacy. 

Sam Burnham

I was thinking similarly about your post here.

We have got to learn to deal with politicians based on policy. Not suits, skin tones, birth certificates, type of pets owned, beard or no beard, speaking style, etc. 

What is the substance of their policy? That's what matters. 

John Paul Schulz

Agreed. And I think history will show Mr. Obama to have been one of the most perceptive, caring, and careful presidents ever.

Sam Burnham

I couldn't disagree more, but I do so on my perceptions of policy, decisions, and incompetence, not his choice of suits. 

John Carlin

It should be like NASCAR. They should have all their corporate sponsors displayed on their clothes. 

 

Blame the Poor?

 

Amen. Amen. Amen.

I taught school during six decades. I observed wealthy, middle class, and poor parents. There were among all three groups ne'er-do-wells and kind/generous folk, disciplined workers and undisciplined sloths, entitled jerks and humble saints. I agree with Mailer's assessment. I'll take the the median poor citizen's ethics over the median millionaire's any day. I believe the free enterprise system, with safeguards for workers and progressive taxation, is the best economic system, but I have no patience for self-satisfied, entitled capitalists who believed it is possible for any one man to truly "earn" millions of dollars in a single year. While I accept that the the wealthy should have incentives for further economic entrepreneurship (I've had my own efforts at capitalism and revere my freedom to pursue those dreams) I believe any thoughtful wealthy person should realize that his success is dependent on much more than just his own labor, his own smarts, his own creativity.

No man is an island. It does take a village. Unless you are a hunter/gatherer hermit you depend on others as well as yourself. You did not build it by your self. Our founders were wise to base our republic on a balance of great personal liberty with attention to the common welfare. And, especially in a post agrarian society, extreme wealth disparity results in the loss of personal liberty and a deterioration of the common welfare.

Speakcheesy!

 My daughter Lillian is involved with some of her friends in launching a new business -- a food truck called Speakcheesy that will serve gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches! Here's their flyer for their "pop-up" events:

Gleaning Facebook: Baby Gators at Arrowhead

 

Our babies arrived, with little umbilicals still attached, on Friday.

Step-Mommy Viv holds a new baby

Gleaning Facebook: Macmillan Sunflowers

The Maxmillian Sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) are coming into their full glory at our house now. Ain't they pretty?! They are really tall --some of these must be 8 ft or more and they bloom profusely from late August through October. Gorgeous. They are native to the midwest, but are included sometimes in wildflower seed mixes.

Gleaning Facebook: Robin Williams' Doppelgänger?

Well, shoot, I gotta save this! These words are surely exaggerated but they certainly make this old retired teacher feel ggod.

Gina Richardson was my student when she was in elementary school and I was teaching classes for gifted students at McHenry (and Pepperell) School. 

Here's a picture I took of her way back when:

Gina Richardson and Matthew Smart at McHenry School. Mid-eighties?

Today she posted this on my Facebook page:

You have always been MY Robin Williams... a never-ending source of inspiration, good will, and dedication. You are an undeniable example of what is good and admirable. You taught me to believe in myself, my talent, and my intelligence at a very young age. When I denied any existence of imagination in my mind, you pushed me to explore! I cannot say one bad thing about you. The impact you have had on the lives of sooo many young people as students and so many adults through you valiant efforts and fights for good causes is far-reaching and still remains to be seen. I just want to tell you this now, because I've always compared you in my mind to Mr. Robin Williams, that you are revered and I enjoy always the adventures you seek out to affect our world. Much love to you, 'Mr. Shaw'.

I replied to her:

Gina, I am so touched by your extravagant words. 

I know my foibles well. I am, in truth, a rank sinner. I am capable of great sloth and, as much as the next guy, I can be spiteful and mean when I get my back in a hump. 

But I have always loved my students and tried to put their well-being --- short- and long-term --- first. It is very rewarding to know that some of you felt that. What joy it is to reconnect, electronically at least, with so many younguns from way back. I think I have posted on Facebook a picture or two of little Gina Nicholson from your days in my Kaleidoscope classes.

Of course my oft-stated rule "Always laugh at Mr. Shaw's jokes." would have been unnecessary if I had had Robin Williams's comic genius. 

Georgia Democratic Convention 1946 and 2014

It'll be fun to be a part of our state Democratic Convention this year. It's been a long time since my last turn as a delegate. I'm excited that in 2014, though we face tough races, we have two competitive candidates in Jason Carter (Governor) and Michelle Nunn (US Senate).

One of my prized political items (I collect them) is this ribbon and letter that were my "Daddy Shaw's" credentials for the Georgia Democratic Convention a few months before I was born. Of course, as the letter indicates, Talmadge evidently was pretty generous with credentials for the 1946 convention, and used them to drum up votes to defeat a measure he opposed. Talmadge would die in December and the next year would prove very entertaining as Georgia witnessed its famous Three Governors Controversy.

I suspect this document indicates that my beloved Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I've ever known, would have, unfortunately, sided with ol' Red Suspenders' faction.