Congressional vets since 9/11. A recent Roll Call article highlights how few veterans have been recently elected to Congress and the decreasing number of members of Congress who have served in the military. In 1971, more than seven out of every ten House members was a veteran; almost four out of five in the Senate. Today, the figure is about twenty percent, about 107.
Toll roads. I often travel I-70 between Denver and Breckenridge. There is now a new east-bound "mountain express lane" (read toll lane) for the most congested portion of the road (Empire to Idaho Springs). This new toll section will NOT allow free travel for HOVs or motorcycles and the toll you may pay ranges from $3 (if you have a transponder, otherwise $6.75) to $30 (or $40). Count me out! Being retired, I will just travel on Thursday and Monday (Tuesday for three-day holiday weekends). This is one convenient "up yours" in which I can indulge.
An article in Roll Call "The Truth about Tolls" highlighted the nationwide hodgepodge toll road situation as Congress steadfastly refuses to raise the federal gas tax or devote more tax money to our crumbling infrastructure. Did you miss the information about "Infrastructure Week?" Most probably did! Denver's mayors have steadfastly refused to take my suggestion of advertising Denver as home of the "Mile High Pothole." Travel safely and try to always avoid the curb lane in the Mile High City!
2 June 1953. London's Westminster Abbey was the site for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, now the longest reigning monarch in British history. Coincidentally, another "star" was born on that day. Russell Baker, then a junior correspondent for the New York Times, "lucked out" as they say.
In the US, the Republican presidential convention was scheduled to begin June 7th in Chicago, so naturally all the major NYT correspondents were assigned there. It was a much anticipated event and it was expected that retired US Army general Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower would be chosen as the party's nominee.
Facing big news stories both at home and in London, the NYT editors sent Baker, a relatively new correspondent, "across the pond" to cover the coronation. From his first article, Baker's reporting garnered international attention. Even the staid, conservative London Times admitted that his commentaries were outstanding, far more insightful than theirs. When Baker returned to New York, the Times found itself with a new "star." Baker never looked back, going on to become a senior correspondent, columnist, and satirical essayist at the Times, winning two Pulitzer prizes.
Like many others -- and to use today's parlance -- I eagerly "followed" Baker's columns and essays. While not a radio or stage performer, I always thought him to be the Will Rogers of his time.
What's in a word. Retired national correspondent, Greg Dobbs (who writes in the Denver Post) notes the misuse of several words he finds particularly galling, i.e. hero, credit, claims (verb). If you count yourself a wordsmith, it is worth a read.
Constitution vs. aging. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Lawrence Tribe and Joshua Matz comment on the probability of possible upcoming vacancies on the Supreme Court. The two most senior justices (83 and 80) may well retire during the next president's first term.
Brexit. The debate continues regarding the upcoming vote in Great Britain on 23 June on remaining in or exiting from the EU. Washington Post columnist, George Will, has added yet another column, this time likening the silliness of our very own Republicans to that of Britain's Labourites, Trump to Corbyn, as it were.
Lawrence Summers likens 23 June in Britain to 8 November in the US.
On June 23, Britain will vote on whether to remain in the European Union [Brexit]. On Nov. 8, the United States will vote on whether to elect Donald Trump as president. These elections have much in common. Both could yield outcomes that would have seemed inconceivable not long ago. Both pit angry populists and nationalists against the traditional establishment. And in both cases, polling indicates that the outcome is in doubt, with prediction markets suggesting a probability of between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 of the radical outcome occurring.
Being an economist and former US treasury secretary, Summers goes on to note how the world's financial markets are reacting to these historic upcoming votes. Perhaps it is just be timing, but at present Brexit is the much more sensitive issue; being five months distant, a President Trump seems less worrisome.
What's in a hairdo? For your late night light reading: "The 100 greatest descriptions of Donald Trump's hair ever written."
Robo-calls. Senator Schummer (D-NY) is proposing a bill , the Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phone Act, to deal with the fact that the national Do Not Call list (both land lines and cell phones) does nothing to block robo-calls. Perhaps. But as I have noted earlier, Congress is always under immense pressure to exclude (i.e. allow) calls from their political campaign, political party, or any charity. How Schummer's bill would escape the same exclusionary fate remains to be seen.
Goldwater and "the daisy." From Roll Call, 7 June. In 1964, when Republicans nominated the late Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), he became the "model of a reckless presidential candidate who couldn't be trusted with the nuclear codes." Ah, now it is 2016, Donald Trump, and "it's deja vu, all over again." (Yogi Berra) Do you remember the "Daisy" TV ad that was born? Though the ad was officially aired only once, it was endlessly repeated by the news media, becoming the iconic, most controversial attack ad ever. Daisy was the "bad" side of the coin — "Where's the beef?" was on the flip side.
Speaker Ryan (R-WI) and candidate Trump. George Will suggests that the convoluted path from Ryan's initial negativity to his now cautionary endorsement is worthy of further study. Republicans have made their bed, now.........
The Caligulan malice with which Donald Trump administered Paul Ryan’s degradation is an object lesson in the price of abject capitulation to power. This episode should be studied as a clinical case of a particular Washington myopia — the ability of career politicians to convince themselves that they and their agendas are of supreme importance....The pornographic politics of Trump’s presidential campaign, which was preceded by decades of ignorant bile (about Barack Obama’s birth certificate and much else), have not exhausted Trump’s eagerness to plumb new depths of destructiveness.
Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phone (ROBOCOP) Act, -
See more at:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/robocop-bill-gains-senate-support?utm_name=newsletters&utm_source=rollcallnewsalerts&utm_medium=email#sthash.vi41vJTq.dpuf
Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phone (ROBOCOP) Act, -
See more at:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/robocop-bill-gains-senate-support?utm_name=newsletters&utm_source=rollcallnewsalerts&utm_medium=email#sthash.vi41vJTq.dpuf
God to Noah. Better start now.
Thank you for reading. It's now on to Donald vs Hillary.
The number of veterans in Congress peaked in 1971
. More than seven out of every 10 members of the House had served, and
almost four out of five in the Senate. - See more at:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/fewer-vets-still-big-impact-congress-veterans-tulsi-gabbard-scott-perry-votevets-tammy-duckworth-bob-kerrey-john-kerry-chuck-hagel-vietnam-war-afghanistan-iraq-american-enterprise-institute-norm-ornst?utm_name=newsletters&utm_source=rollcallnewsalerts&utm_medium=email#sthash.ASOrhR1x.dpuf
The number of veterans in Congress peaked in 1971
. More than seven out of every 10 members of the House had served, and
almost four out of five in the Senate. - See more at:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/fewer-vets-still-big-impact-congress-veterans-tulsi-gabbard-scott-perry-votevets-tammy-duckworth-bob-kerrey-john-kerry-chuck-hagel-vietnam-war-afghanistan-iraq-american-enterprise-institute-norm-ornst?utm_name=newsletters&utm_source=rollcallnewsalerts&utm_medium=email#sthash.ASOrhR1x.dpuf
The number of veterans in Congress peaked in 1971
. More than seven out of every 10 members of the House had served, and
almost four out of five in the Senate. - See more at:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/fewer-vets-still-big-impact-congress-veterans-tulsi-gabbard-scott-perry-votevets-tammy-duckworth-bob-kerrey-john-kerry-chuck-hagel-vietnam-war-afghanistan-iraq-american-enterprise-institute-norm-ornst?utm_name=newsletters&utm_source=rollcallnewsalerts&utm_medium=email#sthash.ASOrhR1x.dpuf
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