Here's Another Fine Mess

God wants politics
God wants a good laugh
What God wants
God gets God help us all

                                -- Roger Waters, What God Wants-Pt.2



The crowd at IUS last night for the senatorial debate between top contenders Joe Donnelly and Richard Mourdock was treated to a bit of God's words being run through the man-filter, just to add that speck of imperfection the deity finds so amusing. My wife gasped and audibly said "Oh, my God." I was thinking about furnace pipes at the time, I believe, but the candidate's comment entered my brain nonetheless.

The whole affair was dismal by any measure. The moderator read questions, but did little else. His participation, now that I think about it, could have actually been taped and the fellow at the  podium may have only been punching buttons on a recorder, which really makes more sense. The candidates were on hand to chime in on cue with rehearsed lines. I truly believe Donnelly mentioned his support for a balanced budget amendment and his participation in cutting $2.4 trillion dollars of government spending no less than three times. Joe D wants nothing to come between him and the antsy, still-discomfited Lugar supporters who are too embarrassed to sign on with an embarrassment like Mourdock.

Donnelly should heed Harry Truman's words that (paraphrasing here), "given a choice between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican and a true Republican, the voters will choose the real thing every time." Luckily, Truman didn't widen the choice to include a face off between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican, and a full-blown lunatic.

Also, luckily for Donnelly, and incidentally for Obama as well, the full-blown lunatic showed up last night while the cameras were running. If we Hoosiers are muttering to ourselves in some distant time about that idiot senator Mourdock, if we are embarrassed by yet another  Mourdockism played back to national derision in, say, the year 2015, if we wonder then, "how in the world did President Romney get the votes to attack Belgium?" We'll be able to answer, honestly, we were warned about this fruitcake, but we did nothing. Maybe we thought, "he's just one vote, and anyway, he'll probably never run into Rand Paul, James Inhofe or any of the many Dunces of the Confederacy, so, he'll be a harmless little statement about Hoosier values."   

Or, we can be adults, hold our noses and vote for Joe Donnelly, truly the lesser of two evils. Or, ignore the evidence and vote for Mourdock the evil of two lessers.

God Speed

It is sad to read the story that George McGovern is nearing death.

I voted for the first time in 1972. I actually engaged in an internal debate of whether I should vote for Nixon or McGovern.

I believe while choosing the road less traveled I chose wisely. I only regret the many wrong turns our country has taken in subsequent years. The single most under-used, or mis-used, verb in our electoral process is "think". Had we done more of that I believe we would have been in a different, and better, place today. That is what George McGovern asked of us.

Tree Planting October 20, 2012

With the week ahead still a clean slate, as people plan what to do for next weekend, I'll offer the following suggestion. The suggestion is one which can truly and positively change our little plot of earth for decades to come.

The Tree Board will plant 150 Chestnut trees at Binford Park. These starts are cross-bred, disease resistant trees ( American Chestnuts with Chinese). The trees have been secured by Bryan Slade of EcoTech as part of that company's plan to plant 10,000 trees, 1,000 a year for 10 years to celebrate the company's anniversary.

The trees planted Saturday will not be the last Chestnuts the Tree Board plants. By making this initial planting we are committing to follow with care and maintenance of these trees as well as bringing more Chestnuts to New Albany. With other groups around the country doing the same thing, we may again see the Chestnut as a major species in our eastern woodlands.

Chestnut trees were decimated in the early half of the Twentieth Century by a blight. The trees had once covered much of the eastern United States. They were a towering, stately tree that contributed immensely to the prosperity of early settlers, they provided abundant habitat for wildlife, they provided a verdant cover for woodlands, and did what trees do, providing clean, fresh oxygen.

Modern cities are plagued by problems of our own construction, bad air-quality, sprawling loss of habitat, heat islands of radiant pavement, to name a few. The simple act of planting a tree can begin to balance out some of these assaults on nature.

Come to Binford Park Saturday October 20 at 9:00 AM and plant a tree. It's a wave to the future.


“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit"
                                                                                    --Nelson Henderson

The Big Boys

Pictured from some time in his callow,impetuous youth, Willard "Mitt" Romney exhibits what's really important to him and the other Big Boys at Bain.

As The Boss prepares to visit Ohio this coming Thursday, in support of the President, perhaps Bain's Big Boys will be getting their song requests together to serenade the Mitt's populist supporters. After all, Mitt wants his populist appeal to reach some of the laggards in the 47% he disdains.

Here's  a suggested request Mitt might scribble on the back of a cocktail napkin  to pass up to The Boss after he finishes "Born in the USA".