Disqus - Latest Comments for gjlau

Re: My Stephen King Problem: A Snob’s Notes

gjlau — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 06:26:40 -0000

Stephen King is a great story teller. Novels like The Green Mile and 11/22/63 satisfy a basic need to be lifted out of our daily lives and transported into a different time and place where we can link our imagination to that of the author and come away the better for it. It's been said that simple pleasures are for simple minds, but if this essay is an example of life in the complex lane, I'll stick with the simple pleasure of a good yarn well told.

Re: Every Man A Giant: It Is Always About Race

gjlau — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:28:43 -0000

And you probably would have understood that it was not unreasonable for the officer to ask for ID proving you were a resident, which Gates seemed to have trouble doing. I think this is a case where two otherwise decent guys just got to woofing in each others face. Gates acted like an elitist "do you know who I am" kind of guy and the cop did what comes naturally to a cop which is to preserve their authority in all situations. Be interesting to see if either or both men take up Obama's offer to come down to the White House for a beer.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Health Care Reform: To Be Or Not To Be

gjlau — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:08:25 -0000

The experts say the votes are there for passage. It will be emotional when Teddy Kennedy comes back for the vote, especially if he makes a floor speech. Could be the tide turner.

Re: Every Man A Giant: There Are No Secrets

gjlau — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:11:48 -0000

Yes, it was tough. He was a sweet kid for an assassin and I hope he found his way home.

Re: Every Man A Giant: There Are No Secrets

gjlau — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:07:13 -0000

I did say that the CIA never went ahead with the plan and that Cheney may have technically been in compliance and that Congress probably would have been okay with it anyway. (Think DA's, grand juries, and han sandwiches.) I think my bottom line on this is that we all prisoners of our own devices and that Cheney so profoundly distrusted the Congress that he made unnecessary mistakes. I also think that to pursue things like this in hopes of somehow making Cheney look bad is not all that smart and that nobody comes out looking good on this. My only exception to your comment is that I don't think anyone is attacking Panetta per se, who is more than wily enough to handle himself against this crowd.

Re: Every Man A Giant: There Are No Secrets

gjlau — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:21:42 -0000

Not sure what facts you refer to. All I have read is reportage, although the Wall Street Journal is hardly a left-wing rag so if they are reporting that Cheney withheld information it carries more weight than if the Huffington Post said it, which they did. Still, reportage is not fact. Thank heavens those helpful Democrats in Congress are going to help us get to the bottom of this latest summertime tempest in a teapot with their thorough and complete investigation.

Re: Every Man A Giant: There Are No Secrets

gjlau — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:52:45 -0000

You say that like the Republicans would never stoop to such things. Of course politics is involved. Politics is involved in everything. It is what these guys do. Still, that doesn't mean that even a politician can't lurch uncontrollably into a principle every once in a while and Congresssional oversight is a big one for those guys. The Constitution's system of checks and balances was intended to be a dynamic process. Cheney had his theory but he is gone now so guess what, there will be push back.

As to Pelosi, I don't like her any more than you do. She and Cheney are two of a kind in some ways, both very hard-edged in times that cry out for bipartisanship. But, as Don Rumsfeld so eloquently put it, you go to war with the army you have not the army you want.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Two Lost Souls

gjlau — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:29:04 -0000

It is bittersweet to say the least to know that part of the reason America honors its men in uniform is due to a belated recognition of how poorly the American people treated us returning Vietnam vets. The real tragedy is that vets became uncomfortable talking with each other for a long time, instead just locking it all up inside. If you read some of my older pieces on Vietnam it isn't hard to see the strong feelings that persisted in me for a decade or two afterward.

I still feel as though I lost something that will never be gotten back, that simple uncomplicated patriotism so common in my father's generation. It can never that way for me. And that does make me sad.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Two Women

gjlau — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:34:19 -0000

Okay. I think she is a shrewd ambitious woman who knows she can't get what
she wants following conventional standards and she is willing to roll the
dice and see what happens. There is a certain spunk that is admirable but
that is a long way from saying she is ready to assume any kind of higher
office. Hey, I wish her well, I just don't want her as my president.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Two Women

gjlau — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:51:09 -0000

Sarah doesn't concern herself with mundane things like politics? Get real,. why else would she vet her decision with Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani and Charlie Crist before making her announcement?

I never said Hillary was perfect, just tough. Politics is a very rough game that requires a very thick skin. It is also a lot of very hard work. Palin needs to put in her time and prove she can handle the pressure and do the work. This isn't helping. But hey, I'm not the one she has to worry about. It is her fellow Republicans who she needs to reassure.

Re: Every Man A Giant: The Week That Was

gjlau — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:05:59 -0000

I'll match your certitude and double it. Tell you what, meet me in 20 years and we will see what we see.

Re: Every Man A Giant: The Week That Was

gjlau — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:34:34 -0000

Like that never happened under the Bush administration. That said, it is wrong no matter who does it; better to publish and let the force of the arguments carry the day. They never seem to get that encouraging dissent conveys strength not weakness.

As for you and me, we both agree I think that the current legislative proposals are half measures at best, worse than useless maybe, and certain to please no one. The only difference between you and I (at least on this issue) is the consequences of that failure.

Re: Every Man A Giant: The Week That Was

gjlau — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:43:08 -0000

Actually I'm pretty sure I do know why, anthropogenic change due to the injection of CO2 from industrial processes into the atmosphere. And yes, that is something that could have been ameliorated, more so if we hadn't spent the last 8 years in denial. Now -- as I said in the piece -- it is probably too little too late so all us Chicken Littles will get to see bad dreams really do come true.

As for your other point, climate changes do indeed come and go but this one is on us and unlike hundreds of thousands of years ago when there were only hundreds of thousands of us we are now 6.7 billion strong. If I'm right and you are wrong, the cost asked today will seem like peanuts compared to what it will be in 20 years. But hey, our kids can worry about it just like every other mess we have left them.

Re: Every Man A Giant: The Week That Was

gjlau — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:50:05 -0000

Let me quote from a book called The Hot Topic: “There is already so much water vapor in the atmosphere that human activities make hardly any difference to the total; rather they are like adding bucketfuls of water to the ocean. But because there’s relatively little carbon dioxide and methane, you don’t have to add much to make a big proportional difference; adding a small amount is like putting a few extra bucketfuls of water in the bath. Thus, humans have already almost managed to double the amount of greenhouse gases in the air. … if you heat the air by adding extra carbon dioxide it then takes up much more water vapor. This new water acts as a greenhouse gas in its own right and heats up the air even more, roughly doubling the effect the greenhouse gases would have had if they’d acted alone”

You might also find this link to the work of John Tyndall interesting: http://www.newscientist.com...

Re: Every Man A Giant: Fathers and Sons

gjlau — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:24:53 -0000

Well, he didn't exactly play golf with JFK. When Dad was a kid he and the other townies would have fun by grabbing the skinny little rich kid and holding him under the water. I guess you could call that playing, at least for them.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Fathers and Sons

gjlau — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:56:56 -0000

Westerns! Who knew. I too often have wondered about the "early" days. The last stage of adulthood is to think of your parents not as parents but as people. When that happens, you think of all those questions you wish you had asked but never thought to. So we mine memory for whatever little snippets we can find, always too few.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Who Are You?

gjlau — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:57:38 -0000

Maryland is phasing in their requirements to be fully implemented in 2012. Several states just blew off the whole thing. Maybe Pass ID will fare better.

Re: Every Man A Giant: Who Are You?

gjlau — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:52:37 -0000

Yeah, Europe and the rest of the world is just a wee bit ahead of us on this. I live in Maryland where getting a driver's license has been ridiculously easy for non-citizens. That is changing, though.

I think that knowing who you are and where you came from is more important than ever and I support any reasonable efforts aimed at achieving that goal.

I do notice that the fervor over illegal immigration seems to have abated slightly. One of the side effects of the recession is fewer "guest" workers.

Re: Every Man A Giant: We The People

gjlau — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:58:40 -0000

The "old" downtown Washington I knew from the 1960's is mostly gone now, the one that Kennedy described as having all the charm of a Northern city and all the efficicency of a Southern city.

Two things I remember form that time is that downtown D.C. on a Sunday was a ghost town. The other thing that left a vivid memory is all the cleaning ladies getting on the D2 for Trinidad; no matter how hot the weather they wore dresses and heavy coats and were always carrying at least tow bags stuffed with who knows what.

As for my main point, the government is us. Those wrong priorities are usually due to elections that the other side won. Certainly I have endured many years of Republican rule where I felt the polticians had their priorities wrong but I always accepted the fact that for they were just doing what they felt the voters wanted. Vox populi, Vox Dei.