Here are to topics for this week's blog. 1965 revisited; conversation at the dinner table; "winter" in Denver; Capitol rules

"A country trapped in 1965's ambitions." This the title of an informative op ed piece by Charles Lane (Washington Post, Jan 14). Indeed, the unforeseen fiscal consequences of the 89th Congress's  Great Society legislation are coming home to roost fifty years later as the 114th Congress convenes. These well meant programs have, like Harriet Beecher Stowe's fictional Topsy (Uncle Tom's Cabin), just "growed" and are now straining the nation's budget.
     Lane writes that "[i]n 1970, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote that the true 'test of a program . . . is not input but output. [For example, he said,] it is interesting, and at times important, to know how much money is spent on schools in a particular neighborhood or city. But the crucial question is how much do the children learn.' ” These sorts of unknown consequences now haunt our budget.

War and peace at the dinner table. In a recent column, liberal columnist Mark Shields talked about the desire of all presidents to have unfettered ability to use the military and Congress's corresponding hesitancy to declare war. There has been no formal, nationally-unifying declaration of war since December 8, 1941, when Americans instantly identified the enemy, President Roosevelt ask for, and one day later the Congress declared war on Japan. FYI: There was only one dissenting (pacifist) vote against that declaration and all subsequent WW II-related declarations were unanimous. Our overseas involvements since then have been far less black and white.
     Shields goes on to note a fundamental consequence of ending the draft in favor of a professional military. "Without the draft and every family's potentially having a son, nephew, cousin or niece who could be put in harm's way by military service, national foreign policy has been less and less a topic at the American dinner table. Citizenship has ceased to involve an individual's responsibilities but emphasized instead our personal rights. Self-sacrifice is out, and self-absorption and self-fulfillment are very much in."

Winter. Here in Denver much of the last week has been delightfully warm in the day, sometimes barely below freezing at night, all with no snow. Even our north facing driveway is clear. Many imagine Denver winters to be quite cold and snowy. Actually, the average temperatures in January 2014 hovered between 31F and 46F, with a high of 62F and a low of 5F.

Capitol rules.  New regulations went into effect this week regarding who may/may not be on the grounds of the US Capitol, new ride-sharing services, and the use/parking rules for bicycles. The new rules are all very up to date and take into account current security concerns.
     A very long time ago I remember driving onto the Capitol grounds with a local photographer on the night of a full moon. We parked to photograph the Capitol dome, beautifully back-lit by the moon. We were approached by a Capitol policeman, who politely told us that without a permit from the office of the Speaker of the House,  we could not use a tripod on the grounds. We obviously looked perplexed, so he gently suggested a folded coat on the car's roof might work just fine! Duh....

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the long MLK, Jr., holiday weekend.