Here are the topics for this week's blog: an unlikely champion; cost overruns; the Bard's day; higher education; the disease of corruption; a CO presidential primary; Baltimore.


Newt Gingrich. In a recent column, E.J. Dionne noted that the often bombastic Gingrich had hit the nail on the head when the latter's op-ed in the New York Times called for doubling the budget of the National Institutes of Health. “It’s irresponsible and shortsighted, not prudent, to let financing for basic research dwindle,” he wrote, noting that government investments in preventing and curing disease could save the government money in direct health-care costs. This written in a week when there was a huge recall was issued because of listeria-tainted ice cream.
     Gingrich quoted President John Quincy Adams who, in 1825, explained how energetic federal action could advance the common good. “Roads and canals, by multiplying and facilitating the communications and intercourse between distant regions and multitudes of men, are among the most important means of improvement." In later days, Adams might well have added medical research to the list of important endeavors.

Cost Overruns. The "cup runneth over" -- and not just for military airplanes and naval ships. Denver's much-needed new Veterans Administration hospital in soon approaching a whopping $1B overrun. A bipartisan congressional delegation was in town this past week to access the situation. And, with much fanfare it was announced that the investigation team would even include a construction "expert!" Will wonders never cease? Though, it seems safe to conclude that no one's head will roll. Tax payers will simple "pay up;" hopefully area vets will benefit, if they do not die before the new hospital opens.

Shakespeare downtown. To celebrate the Bard's 451st birthday, the Denver Pubic Schools again took student actors and musicians to the Denver Center for the Performing arts where they perform in the nation's oldest and largest student Shakespeare festival (31st year). Passersby and usual the lunch time crowd are always surprised and delighted by the enthusiasm and expertise of the kindergarten through 12th grade performers.

 Coach vs. Professor. If you have ever wondered about the condition of higher education and your state's budget, you were no doubt appalled to learn that yet another SEC league football coach has signed a $4M+ contract. This his time it is the university of Missouri that will pay its head football coach far, far more than it pays its most outstanding professors. Though his contract was also extended through 2021, it is a safe bet that if the Tigers start losing, the coach will be on the next bus out of town, huge remuneration in hand.

Perceptions about politics abound. This National Journal article lays out what is now known to the general public about the Clinton campaign. Undoubtedly, there will be more "evidence" to come -- pro- and con. As the author notes, "You don't have to be a political scientist to know that [the Clintons's] behavior contributes to the public's declining trust in its leaders." Amen, though the same can said for the obfuscations by the increasing number of Republican candidates.


Kathmandu and earthquakes. The recent Himalayan disaster has served to remind us that if there is a particular historic site/area you want to visit, you might want to go now rather than later. Mother nature is a fickle creature. Many of the spectacular sights in the Nepalese capital have been crushed, perhaps forever lost. A coffee table book may be all that remains.
     For the mountain climbing world, Everest may well be a totally "new" experience -- the usual route through the relatively low Khumbu icefall (perhaps the most dangerous portion of the entire climb) may have been irredeemably closed. Future ascents may well have to be made up the more remote, difficult routes from the Chinese side -- the approach used by those first westerners who tackled Everest, the "Goddess Mother of the Earth," aka Sagarmāthā (Nepalese) or Chomolungma (Tibetan). Those ubiquitous Himalayan prayer flags now flutter with a new meaning.
     After the Chinese consolidated their conquest of Tibet in 1950, they closed their Himalayan  borders to climbers, thus providing Nepal access to the largess of the climbing community. With its current unrest in both Tibet and its far western Xinjiang region, the Chinese may be reluctant to re-open their borders to climbers.

Political clout. With November 2016 not far distant, 'tis the season for the political professionals and, especially, the those wizards of finance to renew their drive for political conquests. Here in CO that quest has convinced many that since CO has become purple, i.e. a "swing state," more attention (and money) can be brought into the state by having an early presidential primary contest rather than, or in addition its present (later) caucus; something to draw in the various candidates, their entourages, the press, and their money into the state.

An empty stadium. Were you aware that before this Wednesday, the lowest attendance at a MLB game was 6 on September 28, 1882, Troy vs. Worster. On this April 29th, given the rioting in Baltimore, MLB banned fans from Camden Yard for the Baltimore vs. Chicago White Sox game. This link details what might be called "the other side" of the Baltimore story. Just why was the National Guard was deployed to the downtown high end tourist area, not to North and Pennsylvania in the troubled Sandtown area?
     A bail bondsman who twice freed Quintin Reid from jail said, “The well-to-do whites and blacks, they wanted [the National Guard] to be in the city...We have black leadership, and look what they’ve done. Politics is a study of power, and that’s exactly what this is.” Sadly, one has to wonder how many other American cities are as yet unexploded powder kegs.

Thank you for reading; enjoy one of the Pulitzer winners.