On Going Rogue

Now there are some clear thoughts.  And I bet he could even see New France from his porch.  (or was it called Canada by then?)

Years after I'd read that the personal memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant were the best ever written by an American president, I FINALLY got around to buying and reading them last year.  They were right!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Memoirs_of_Ulysses_S._Grant .   I might mention that -- though I love history -- I've never been a fan of American history.  (I hope that prompts at least one person to take my praise a bit more seriously than they might otherwise....)

Grant's memoirs are available paper, or if you prefer reading on your computer or Kindle: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4367

I cna say that in at the B&N I work at in GB ~ The attitude towards Sarah Palins book has been 50/50. We pre-ordered a bunch of them & have a sign at the info desk about it also. Some people love her some people hate her. Me I need to keep that god forsaken job there so I'm just playing on both sides of argument.  A co-worked called me out on it. I told her I subscribe to the theory that the customer is always correct.  She jsut gave me a strange look. But WTH it'sbeen working so far.. Even sold 1 or 2 of them along with 1 or 2 of the anti Palin book "Sarah from Alaska".
 
I would love to sit & read some of JQA memoirs but I fear that some of the day to day pieces maybe a bit boring. I guess there is a very fine timeline of his life I would be interested in reading his thoughts on.
 
Does anyone else watch "the History Detectives" on PBS? they had person who thought they owned a JQA book & as it turns out he would read books make notes in them then send them to his children to read. This particular book was a bunch of pamplets bound together & sent to the wayward son kind of as a letter letting him know he should become a more productive member of society.   
   

 Until the year 2000 John Quincy Adams was more often than not remembered as a quirk in United States History being the only son of a President to also hold the Highest Office in the Land and by historians as the author of (one of if not the) the greatest memoir of any President. His Presidency has been deemed the least great of the first ten and it was until the election (or at least the taking office) of George W. Bush and the remarkable similarities the Adams' and the Bushes' that the Sixth President' name started to be discussed and once again enter the American Consciousness. Continuing the theme of similarity, at this point in History when we are collectively exhaling shortly after the term of another unpopular President and beginning to make a proper place in the pantheon for W., what a unique opportunity this would be to also take a closer look at JQA and perhaps make a more accurate and enlightened assessment of him and his America. After all, how difficult must it be to make a truly fair critique of his Presidency when his contemporaries: Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson et al. make the first ten without question the greatest series of Presidents ever? It is hardly mentioned that Adams was the princple writer of the Monroe Doctrine while serving as Sec. of State or that he was the founder of the Republican Party with House Speaker Henry Clay during his single term as President. He was a staunch proponent of emerging nations in South America and foretold of a growing dissodent movement in the Southern States almost 40 years before the beginning of the Civil War.
 
Many of the critical views of John Quincy Adams evolved from the very bitter and personal fight for the Presidency between the incumbant and the eventual winner, Andrew Jackson. At the lowest point of the campaign, supporters of Adams without his knowledge or consent accused Jackson's wife of bigamy. Rachel Jackson was at the time gravely ill and died 3 weeks after the election. Jackson was a widower before he was even inaugurated and is said to have forgiven Adams who apologized and never had a real hand in the attacks, but his image was still permanently scarred from the battle and loss. Even so, Adams subsequently ran for Congress and become to this day the only President to serve in the House after his Presidency, eventually served eight terms.
 
Even among his unquestioningly great contemporaries JQA was a remarkable man. His successes as a diplomat, progressive leader and legislator before, during and after his Presidency are very and great, few would argue that without him the world would be a quite different place.  

And the time cannot come soon enough when Sarah Palin's name joins the great political clowns and failures of her time: Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Spiro Agnew and Newt Gingrich. Please Sarah, fall into obscurity and go away. Your 15 minutes has passed.

OR if you want a touch screen book reader don't buy the Kindle & get B&N"s  Nook. Designed by Apple engineers ~ it's smaller than a Kindle & has a color touch screen. Just in case anyone is considering an e-reader as a christmas gift, please compare them both then decide which one to get. I had no idea about the Nook until I started working there...I'm not big on E-books but even I will admit its kind of cool. 
 
I think JQA get lost in history also because his presidency didn't too much i mena the war of 1812 & the burning of the white house is the most I significant thing I can remeber being taught about his presidency. unllike Washington being the first & Jefferson buying most of the Midwest, & southwest for America & the Monroe Doctrine... His administration seems to get a tiny bit lost in the shuffle...

One of the other sources of JQA's critique was in itself the newness of the Nation and the fears by many that the President could eventually become a king. Any sort of political dynasty such as was the case of the Adams caught much wrath by opponents and was used in rhetoric to their own ends by falsely saying that in JQA'a time that he and his family were trying to establish a Monarchy when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.

NEVER GIVE UP ... BERT .............................

Less I think an appreciation for the subject at hand but more a lessening of those who can even put it into proper context or even realize its existance. As our educational system continues to deteriorate how many students today ever read anything which isn't required? In fact how many read what IS required? In the morning when I get to campus I'm going to the library and check to see if there is a copy of either JQA's or Grant's Memoirs. I give it 50/50 for each and if they are there I highly doubt either has been checked out in 10 yrs. But the kids all have iphones and 50 in flat screens in their dorms.

Bert, great post very inspiring. May I quote you  the next time I need to defend the need to put American History back in the classroom?
 
 

Sarah Palin's book will be a flash in the pan.  Some people will buy it because they believe in her political future and others because they are hoping to find comic relief.  But the bulk of her book sales this holiday season may result from people purchasing it as a  gag gift. 
 
 

For anyone interested in reading JQA's memoirs, I can also recommend the autobiography of his nephew, Henry Adams. One of the greatest works of non-fiction produced in this country.

I'm now writing my own self/tell book entitled..."Going Rogaine"

Lecoeurdevie:   Nice  post,  the  2:14  AM  longer  one.     Someone  smarter  that  me  said  that  ignorance  of  our  history  condemns  us  to  repeating  our  mistakes.   John  Quincy  Adams  methodically  documented  his  thoughts,  and  those  thoughts  involved  America's  survival,  and  proper  role  in  the  world.
 
Jalopkin:  Too  cantankerous  to  quit,  virtual  friend!
 
Yakrider:  Henry  Adams....good  you  remembered  what  I  had  forgotten.  I  need  to  get  extra  memory  chips  for  my  brain.....

thay was a good 'notable' on Adams. Originally couldn't figure out how Palin could segway into Adams, but that may be the only good thing to come out of her 'going rogue'. Other than the fact that the more she stays in the public eye, the more & quicker people will see her for the empty shell she is.

I'm beginning to get concerned about 'kid-bashing' here (almost entirely by non-kids ;-) .  They may not know much about history, but I suspect my son isn't the only one who has taught me oodles about computers over the years.  AND we might compare ourselves to John Quincy Adams himself.  Here's 'dad's' letter to Harvard about his son, asking they admit him...  

It is rare to find a youth possessed of so much knowledge. He has translated Virgil's Aeneid, Suetonius, the whole of Sallust, and Tacitus's Agricola, his Germany, and several books of his Annals, a great part of Horace, some of Ovid, and some of Caesar's commentaries, in writing, besides a number of Tully's orations. These he may show you; and although you will find the translations in many places inaccurate in point of style, as must be expected at his age, you will see abundant proof that it is impossible to make those translations without understanding his authors and their language very well.

In Greek his progress has not been equal; yet he has studied morsels in Aristotle's Poetics, in Plutarch' Lives, and Lucian's Dialogues, the choice of Hercules, in Xenophon, and lately he has gone through several books in Homer's Iliad.

In mathematics I hope he will pass muster. In the course of the last year, instead of playing cards like the fashionable world, I have spent my evenings with him. We went with some accuracy through the geometry in the Preceptor, the eight books of Simpson's Euclid in Latin, and compared it, problem by problem and theorem by theorem, with le père de Chales in French; we went through plane trigonometry and plain sailing, Fenning's Algebra, and the decimal fractions, arithmetical and geometrical proportions, and the conic sections in Ward's mathematics

Each generation forgets some of what their parents knew, and learn other things their parents never imagined..... I think this is called progress.  Let's give the kids a break.  Oh, and a word of warning: NEVER go up against your kids in computer gaming!!!!!!!!!

As for Sarah Palin, I suspect she'd make a heck of a fishing or hunting companion.  But I don't think the board of directors of Exxon/Mobil will ever ask her to take over as their CEO.... Americans of all political stripes might do well to remember that when picking the CEO of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Federal Government.... after she does her first gig as CEO of a major corporation, I'll be happy to reconsider her qualifications for a higher post.....

DN unfortunately this is not bashing, I am an undergraduate professor of anthropology and have two boys 12 and 16, so I think I know something about it. You can call me a bitter old man just as soon as you explain to my youngest how he is supposed to succeed in his math class when his teacher doesn't speak English and cannot allow textbooks to go home because there aren't enough for the whole class. In fact I'll fly you out. We are dealing with real problems that :-) doesn't quite fix. I am ashamed and disgusted by the things I see in my home and University and have few if any answers.

And while you are here maybe you can tell my elder boy that it's no problem that the entire music program is the district was eliminated last year and he had to give his trumpet, his prized possesion back after 3 years in band. How about the letter we received informing us that the school no longer provides insurance for any sports and that all uniforms have to be purchased at retail and that a referendum if passed will charge each student up to $475 per season per sport? C'est le vie, right?

When you come up against a mountain, it's time to either go around it, over it, or under it.... I have a lot of customers (mostly but not all 'born-agains'...) who home school.  If one teacher sucks find another... if one school sucks find another.... and (as an adult) if you find yourself employed by a firm that sucks, find another.... the race doesn't go to the fastest, but to the son of a gun who keeps running after everyone else quits... 

Today may not be the day to tell the story of how my son came to live in Tokyo and got to the point of becoming a Japanese-English translator, but then again it may.... If not, I'll save the tale for another day (he doesn't know about PE).  Now, off to work!  See ya'll later :-) 

Julia  Masi:   Thanks  so  much  for  the  kind  words.   Some  are  cynics,  and  assume  I  "don't  understand  the  REAL  world,"  or  think  that  I  just  used  canned  metaphors   to  manipulate  juries  &  impress  friends.  The  reality  is  that  I  actually  believe  that  the  founding  fathers  created  something  very  very  special  here,  something  fragile,  something  under  frontal   assault  by  those  who  would  prefer  to  run  roughshod  over  the  Consititution   &  Bill  of  Rights.    .
I'm  going  back  downstairs,  and  I  have  a  few   choice  words  for  a  few  in  the  compulsory  certification/recertification  capital  defenders  seminar......put  away  the  laptops,  the  crossword  puzzles,  and  stop  handicaping  the  OSU -vs-  Michigan  game.....or  you  will  not  see  a  certification  of  attendance  certificate.   Those  that  have  should  give  back  to  those  that  haven't.   We  screw  with  people's  lives.  Julia,  you  have  no  biographical  sketch,  but  I  think  you  are  a  teacher.  If  you  are,  god  bless  you,  you  actually  give  a  rat's  arse  about  issues  that  matter.  Without  family,  friends,  values  that  matter,  and  personal  integrity,  what's  the  point  of  getting  out  of  bed?  We  would  just  be  any  other  mammal.

Seems to me that even mentioning Sarah Palin in the same paragraph or article as any of the founding fathers or the founding offspring is a gigantic insult to all those fine men (and women who supported them). 
 
No matter what side of the spectrum you are on, you cannot deny that Sarah Palin has quit most of her jobs in the pursuit of bigger glory - left city council to run for mayor, left mayorship to run for governorship, would have left governorship to be vice president, and then did leave governorship to be media, ahem, hound. 
 
What I want to know is how on earth this prepares her for the enormous responsibility of being president, which I'm pretty sure she aspires to?  How is she anything but a quitter?  My parents did not teach me that quitting was the path to success.  How sad if it really works for her.
 
Everyone in America ought to be required to read certain works of American history before getting a driver's license or a voting card.

I am belatedly trying to complete a classical education some thirty years after graduating high school. Mathematics is my bugbear, so I had to chuckle at the line "In mathematics I hope he will pass muster." in the excerpt that Doc Nolan posted because it's awfully close to what was written in one of the letters of reference that was written on my behalf when I applied to college. However, it seems that I have a talent for Latin (I haven't started learning classical Greek yet).
 
To get on topic (sort of, anyway), I'd like to recommend the book Nineteen Weeks: America, Britain, and the Fateful Summer of 1940 by Norman Moss. I found it quite interesting to read the correspondence between Winston Churchill and Woodrow Wilson as the former tried to convince the U.S. to provide military, material and financial aid to Great Britain. Seeing what both men were doing to push their agenda through despite the obstacles put in place by Parliment and Congress made be decide that both men (though in office rather than attempting ot get into office) "went rogue". In this case it was a good thing, because had Wilson not finagled the transfer of ships and munitions and the U.S. not finally actively entered the European War when it did, Britain would have had to surrender to Germany as it would have been bankrupt and unable to pursue the war within 6 months.
 
I hope it's not as cold or rainy where you are as it is here. I think when I get off work and leave my niece's 12th birthday party I'm going to put on my Magical Caftan, claim a comfy seat in the club car along with an Irish Hot Chocolate, and my copy of Caesar's Bello Gallico I and work on my translations in comfort and in the company of good friends. Valete!

Oh, before I forget... Thank you Mr. Petersen, for providing inseam length adjustments for ladies trousers and the wish list option. I went to the storefront this morning and discovered them.

 It's about 40° light rain and gray. There was sporadic gunfire at dawn from the late season waterfowlers on Asylum Bay. It is like morning music to these old ears.

The year that I was born, 1944, a man in our town died who was one at the time of John Quincy Adam's death. I wouldn't have thought that they'd had much of a relationship or even crossed paths.

The student with whom I work has provided me with excerpts from Adam's writings as examples to strive for. It is his opinion that I: "Talk in ripples, think in squares and write in circles."

I know, who's advising whom? But I dare say it is impossible not to admire Adam's devotion to his wife.

From yesterday:

mary ellen,

If you were a guy I would have thrown you into a headlock and administered painful noogies for your thorny and presumptuous entrance to the village.

I'm guessing that you are not so, I will advise spending a bit of time in our midst before rendering judgements. Some of us are in the same boat as you are and will suffer the same rationing.

Thesepia train serving this place, has marshmallow wheels anyway... would hardly muss your hair.

fairviewfarm,

Listen, I would like a flat of brown eggs, three pounds of lean ground lamb for the shepherd's pie and a bag of sweet yellow onions.

On a day of unprecedented and unexplained newness around here, your name stands out as a gem. 

To Doc Nolan: last week I attended a massive city wide garage sale.  In the "old books" section I picked up a copy of Grant's memoirs.  It was published in 1885 and signed by "U.S.Grant".  For some reason, (not the cost as that was just a few dollars) I didn't buy it.  When I decided that I should buy it, it was gone.  I'm pleased to learn that I can get it on line.  There was also a large copy of a similar book about Jefferson Davis, written by his wife.  I didn't buy that one either.    I'm a slow learner (or decider).

I agree:

Julia Masi: 'Sarah Palin's book will be a flash in the pan...

and Bert refering one of my favorite - all too often, used by me more so lately - quotes:
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

Oh and Shandonista:
Seems to me that even mentioning Sarah Palin in the same paragraph or article as any of the founding fathers or the founding offspring is a gigantic insult to all those fine men (and women who supported them).

Amen and amen.

This book is nothing more than publicity to keep her name active in the "press". (Like Bert and others before him have said: its all good.)

Just spent the last little while reading Grant's memoirs (nice tip, Doc - I read the Gutenburg Project's online PDF, very handy). Now I'm hooked. I've never been much of a memoir reader, either, but I think that may have just changed.

Perhaps we will be treated to some of Palin's "wisdom" and accuracy by the media and press.  I have mixed feelings beween ignoring her completely and exposing the fraud that she is and represents.

Continuing from my note above... My son is hanging out with me now, playing on my iPhone (aside: NEVER give your iPhone to a child if you have the slightest inkling that you might like to use it as a phone again, at some point in the future).

U.S. Grant writes that he got his appointment to the US Military Academy because the son of a local fellow was dismissed - twice - and apparently the boys father took it badly. So much so, that Grant reports the dismissed boy was forbidden by his own father to return home! I can't imagine. Here's my son, at my elbow right now, and I wouldn't allow him to return home because he flunked out of school? What the hell, it would be MY FAULT if that happened.

Always interesting to get a look into the lives of others. But not their underwear. Unless it's Olivia's. Upon which revelation I must now duck and run...

Palin had her first signing last night in my humble little burg...the thought of her in a bookstore seems a little incongruous.
 
I wonder what the last book she read was...

 
There are only two things about Sarah Palin that I don't understand:

1) Her improbable prominence:  it was reported that fifteen hundred people had queued up for her outside a Grand Rapids bookstore in the cold and at 7:00AM.

2) And the even more improbable contempt that she generates among people I thought had more self-assurance than to let her under their skins. 

While attempting to be a "rogue" can work in incredibly rare situations, it is for naught for a large number people who do so, as it takes a very specific type of individual which, in these days and times, is a small number decreasing still. (P.S.  Mrs. Palin is failing at it so far.)

There is plenty of room for Sarah Palin - right next to the Octomom and Paris Hilton.
 
 (paraphrasing her repugnant comment in "her" book that "I always remind people from outside our state that there is plenty of room for all Alaska's animals - right next to the mashed potatoes.")

I'm not sure it's fair to compare the memoirs of dingbat Sarah Palin to those of great statesmen and Presidents of the past. 

speaking of panties and contempt.....why do their panties get in such a wad...buy the book, or don't...
 
 

Doc Nolan re Lecoiurdevie:  Not eveyone can home school their children and his are part of his new family.  I remember when Prop 13 past in California.  My stepson's homework stopped for the same reason.  No texts to take home.  That was when there was money in California... you don't want to know what what the schools are like now...or the universities.
 
Kids are being "taught to the test."  instead of being taught to think anaylitically.  That is relly scary.
 
I am happy to report that my son does read and actually has a buddy that trades books back and forth.  ...of course he is special :)  A professor at Butler U told me that he is getting papers written as if the student was texting...
 
Stoney:  I think the contempt that Sarah generates is really the fear or the feeling of terror that she got so "far."

 
Quickly... what was the Bush Doctrine? Anybody?

If you had to google, you are not smarter than Sarah. So, now what?

American history was my downfall in high school.
 
I do read some of it now and find it very interesting.
 
I also like to watch the TV history programs on PBS and the history channels.
 
 

As far as Sarah Palin goes I think DOC NOLAN has it right.
 
She'd make a good camping, hunting,fishing partner.

Now what's up with the mailbag full of cash link.

? mark, ?.

Damnselfly: I thought you knew . . . according to Palin, she's read all of the books, right after she got done reading all the magazines and newspapers.  Ignore the fact that she can't name any of them.  Just take her word for it.
 
I am not hoping for it, but part of me wonders how long it will be before we see a headline: "Sarah Palin Has Public Meltdown, Sets Fire to Mall Pretzel Stand"

 
 
 
Stoney.... the Bush doctrine....
 
 
 
 
a Bush in the hand is worth two Byrds?

I teach in a two-year community college. Life's heart has the right of it, only a bit too reserved considering what I'd have to say about our rates of remediation. We essentially have to re-do high school for these kids before they can take real college classes.
 
*Fires a stale, hard twinkie at Isles*

Olivia: I have decided to stop coddling my writing students.  They are in college.  It is time for them to have a college education, not a rehash of 4 years of high school.  Yes, students, I'm afraid you do have to read, and think, and write, and look beyond the shallow facade of life.  Yes, there will be papers, and tests, and yes I am holding class on the day before Thanksgiving Break.  Yes, you will have to share your ideas, debate what you think, lose arguments, and start over on projects at the last minute.
 
And if you can't, I suggest you turn around and go home.

Excellent point, Stoney. 
 
I, like many others, first heard of the Bush Doctrine after Palin's disastrous interview.  I can't blame her for not knowing if I don't know it either.  In my defense, and hers, too, the 2002 Security Council document that describes the ideas of the Doctrine does not actually use the words "Bush Doctrine."  Further, other ideas subscribed to in his administration were also referred to as his 'doctrines.'  Numerous journalists who had made their living by ripping on Bush were also caught flat-footed by Gibson's question.
 
All of us who allow her to irritate us should probably lighten up a little.  The irritation, at least for me, stems from the knowledge that there is a very vocal percentage of the population that thinks she's articulate and capable.  This is what irritates and frightens me.
Maybe I need to move on to more frightening problems.....
 
 

For a brief period, there was some buzz in my home state of Montana that our governor, Brian Schweitzer (who I've met), was being considered as a possible candidate for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Of course, as we all know, that didn't come through, but my father and I discussed the brilliance that would have been the Schweitzer-Palin debate. Alaska and Montana are similar states, with similar governors. Schweitzer, however, is a gifted orator (The Economist magazine once described him as "superbly loquacious"), and can equally claim the hunting experience that Gov. Palin so proudly trumpets. Also, if she can see Russia, I must not have looked in the right place out my front window or I would have been staring at Alberta. I have no intention of buying her book, but I'll probably end up reading it out of horrified fascination when I visit my grandmother, an ardent Sarah fan, over the holidays. Some of the others mentioned above, however, sound like books I could consider. I've always found JQA interesting. I tried to telegraph my enthusiasm in the eighth grade by crouching behind the lectern and delivering my report via homemade sock puppet... I'm proud to say that I already have more foreign policy experience than Governor Palin, given that I have traveled to China, twice to Italy, and Austria, with plans to spend a semester studying abroad in Russia. Maybe I can give her a wave.

Olivia, I was just updating the directory on our departmental website because I was told to change the name of a particular individual's job description from Remedial Math Programs Coordinator to Retention Programs Coordinator. I guess the university thinks having the word remedial in a job title would make them look bad. Of course, I don't think the developmental (another name for remedial) math program works very well. It's self-paced and self-study with student test proctors and a textbook/workbook that does a very poor job of explaining the fundementals to a scarily large number of freshmen students who have no math background to speak of. I've lost count of the times I've run across students sitting in the hallway outsode the classroom in tears as they try to do the assigned problems. THe students who need this material are the ones who can suceed without face time with a teacher so the average freshman enrolled ends up taking the course two or three times before they can even take intermediate algebra (which is a remedial level, too). But some consultant somewhere made a bunch of money by telling the university board that this is the most ewffective way to bring these students up to college level math.
 
I think it's just a way to wring more tuition money out of the students and their parents since the nominally four-year degree now takes five or six years because the kid takes a year or more to make the pre-requisite for the class they should be taking as a first term freshman.
 
This is the same university board that whines they need more tuition dollars coming in but won't run evening classes that start after 5 p.m. (evening classes start at 4:10 p.m.) so the thousands of people with incomplete bachelor degrees can't get the courses they need to finsih them because they have to work full time.
 
I need to figure out how to get involved with changing this situation without losing my job.
 
(and yes, I know this is off-topic, sorry.)

Palin might make a good fishing companion, Doc.  She'd know where the fish are, anyway, but she'd take it personally if anyone made mention that the black flies are annoying.
 
And she talks so darned much, forget her politics, but how does anyone catch a fish with all that jabbering going on?
 
She's not one of those people who appreciate the beauty of silence.  I imagine she'd always have to hum or tap a pencil, or a fingernail on a hard surface.

To be vaguely on topic. The thing I don't like about most politicians--including Ms. Palin--is the number of times they open their mouths and what comes out is the ninth letter of the alphabet (or an ad hominem attack on another person). I am more inclined to listen to what a politician has to say when he or she can use the word "we".
 
Show me that you can build coallitions that are not party dependent. Don't just tell me what needs to be done and that you are going to do something about it (refer back to yesterday's healthcare discussion, for example) but explain how you are going to make it happen. Do you have a group of people with a viable plan? Do you know what needs to be changed or done first to get the ball rolling on initiating your Great Solution? Don't just say "we have to change the way X is done before we can do y" but tell me what specifically needs to change about X and how those changes are going to be implemented.
 
Now someone doing that--walking the walk before even talking the talk--would be definitely going rogue.
 
And yes, I know I'm very foolish to hope that such a person would make it far enough along the cursus honoris to reach an office where they had the power to actually accomplish the kind of thing I'm talking about. The current system does a very good job of preventing that from happening, though it's very good at putting people in positions where they don't accomplish anything except to prepare themselves to attempt to move to the next higher position (glad hand, move the money around, smile for the cameras). It hasn't changed since ancient Rome (except for the cameras).

PARK4: Thanks for noting that about Ms. Palin. If I ever end up in her company, I'll be sure to have a roll of duct tape and a canvas sack on hand.
 
BTW, I am not nearly as voluable in person as I am when I have a keyboard under my fingers, so I wouldn't scare the fish or interrupt your concentration while you cast.

Bush Doctrine? Er, which one are you talking about. WEren't they all called that?

 
Miss Blue,

A bush in the hand... er, where was I and who... if you know?

Just popped over to say Hi back to Nachista (and hope you're feeling better, girl), and reply to a very thoughtful note from Shandonista.

I'm a little blown away, though, frankly, by the Palin stoning, especially in juxtaposition of celebrating another politician for being so wise as to foresee:

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

I honestly know very little about Palin. All I know is what I saw through edited clips in the media, speeches she gave that were written by other people and Tina Fey (whom I adore).

Why do people hate her, exactly? Because she's a living, breathing example of true democracy in living and believing differently than them?

She brought out the ire of this country, and I think it's important to ask why. If it was just that she lacked experience and said the wrong things, would the climate around her be this vitriolic?

I know this—when I find myself wanting to mock someone publicly whom I have never even met (rather than just opting to cast my vote elsewhere), the reason is in me, not in them.

Adams said, "All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse."

I have to add that to be dishonest with ourselves is worse yet. What epidemic has caused our country to be so caddy? And to be very clear here, disliking someone or what they stand for is very different than choosing to ridicule them.

I fear for our democracy. I fear that we have forgotten that the core of democracy IS difference. Does that mean that anyone vastly left or right of center is necessarily worthy of leadership? Hell no. Does that mean that Palin is worthy of leadership? I have no idea. But does it mean that she has every right to wear a bikini, wield a gun, attend hockey games, oppose abortion, hold her minor children to the rules of her household, say things on camera without properly foreseeing the reaction they might cause, run for vice presidency when she may not be prepared? Hell yes she does. Don't we love that she does have that right? Don't you get excited when you see someone so outside of the political paradigm in that spot? I do, even if I'm not voting for them.

It makes me sad to see our country turn into a cliche clique of prep school girls. It's not that we don't have the right to become that, cuz we absolutely do. It's just ironic, that as Adams said, with freedom comes the right to kill that freedom.

Bummer.

Meanwhile and faraway,....... a familiar double-thump can be heard as yet another either misguided or misunderstood political figure is tossed under the bus and the mob slowly disburses while extinguishing their torches and wondering who's next. If someone doesn't really matter then why are there so many angry people?  I'm content in not knowing the answer to that one.

To get a clearer picture of any particular person, especially historically prominent individuals, I often find it helpful to supplement the reading of their memoirs with those accounts written by some of the people closest to them - i.e. family members, close friends, associates, etc...

"The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant" (wife of Ulysses S. Grant), "The Diary of Charles Francis Adams, Vols. 1-2" (son of John Quincy Adams), "General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence" by John S. D. Eisenhower (son of President Dwight Eisenhower), "Present at the Creation: My Years In The State Department" by Dean Acheson (Truman's Secretary of State), and so many more titles, are valuable resources to explore.

Unedited, original papers and correspondence can make for an even more fascinating and revealing read: especially in the case of those who have died before being able to state his/her own case in the form of a political memoir; and, also, in cases of artistic license (shall I call it?) found in numerous self-written chronicles of the life and times of an author, as he/she chooses to remember and record those circumstances.

Just as one cannot get the full picture on any topic from reading only one newspaper or listening to only one reporter, it is vitally important to gather information from a variety of places and of differing points of view...especially before we begin passing judgment on any one person or event.

Doc,

Loved your post. I'm with you, too. After doing a close study of Detroit's mayors, both during its rise and during its fall, I will never again vote for anyone who has not personally grown a successful business. The direct correlation to success in office is fairly striking. Geesh.

Jen

And one last thing to all, on a much more playful note, you HAVE to admit that once the media decides something sells, that's ALL you get to see. And witch hunts sell as good now as they did in Salem a few years back.

I'm not dumb, but being in front of a camera for the past year and hearing myself (under far less pressure than presidential candidates) has made me realize it's pretty easy say dumb things that will haunt you.

It's unbelievably easy to spin a story. Just look at Adams. Don't you think if someone was properly motivated they could paint the picture of a daddy's boy who got by on connections and some questionably OCD tendencies? I mean, 4AM? Every morning? EXACTLY one full sheet of paper, never more, never less? Yuh HUH!

(Obviously no disrespect intended; only trying to make a point that we never know anymore.)

 Michael,

And about time too. I didn't get cooking in school until it got harder and nobody knew me or cared how I did.

Which is not to say that I ever covered myself in academic glory but a kick in the pants is sometimes just the ticket.

Kinda strange, wouldn't one think ... That with all the Bad Rap Sarah Palin is getting currently, even the Liberal Media and other Obama Sycophants, have today released a New Poll that shows her approval Rating at, 70% .......  I guess it goes to show that the Pollsters and obviously a lot of the Public don't have a Clue what's Good for them .......
 
Imagine That ..............

 
Jalopkin on wry with a cup of tea. Can it get any better?

Dancingkatz:  Don't you worry about scaring off any fish that gets onto my hook.  I never catch fish, I don't know why, but people all around me can be pulling in all these panfish but not me.  I'm a kind of Typhoid Annie when it comes to fish, and they know it, and they stay away.
 
Which is why any worm that I tie (yes, in a kind of worm knot) onto my hook goes down into the water with a big grin on his face, because he knows no fish will threaten him, since he's on my hook.
 
So talk all you want: it won't matter one whit.
 

ah, yes.  That would be Typhoid Mary. Annie was her sister.  j/k

I just had a very international moment: I was sitting in a cafe (French word), drinking Ethiopian coffee, listening to a Canadian band play a Scottish melody on my Chinese made i-pod when I spied a very small Hispanic woman walking a full-sized Irish Wolfhound.  It made me feel cozy.

Kindlee:  Do you recommend Julia Dent Grant's Memoirs?  I think I'd be interested in reading it, if it's well done.

Michael!
 
hysterically funny.  I'm glad it made you feel cozy. 
 
I was going to ask if you felt in need of immediate medical/psychological attention.
 
 
 

Park4: I just wanted to go play with the dog.  How often am I going to see a dog that can look me in the eye?

Jalopkin - I wear a button sometimes at work for casual Fridays - "40% of all statistics are wrong."  Drives the statisticians crazy.
 
I thank you all for making such wonderful arguments and helping me see the error of my ways.  Now, can you all send me a rubber band to keep on my wrist to remind me?

Michael: I adore Irish wolfhounds. I've never met one that wasn't a sweetheart. And Scottish deerhounds are almost as big and just as sweet.
 
hmmm. Have I had any international moments lately? Nope. Not for some time. I'll need to remedy that sometime soon.

PARK4: Tell you what. Why don't we let the other people fish while we go pick out a good wine to go with what they catch?

I'm sorry if I have offended anyone with my "Palin Bashing".  I detest her politics, but I shouldn't let that make me forget that she is a person and deserving of basic respect.

There you go, dancingkatz.  And some good bread.  Fresh butter. 
 
Oh no, but here comes *food* talk again.
 
 
I never ever used to talk about food the way I talk about food since I joined this Merrie Bunch of Mayhems.  Never.
 
Odd: from fishing to bread and Sarah Palin and butter and worms and fish stories; Ulysses S. and tea with Stoney and Jalopkin and "wry" and Michael's Ethopian schnauzer <wink> -- it all makes a sort of pleasant sense. 
 
It must be magic.
 
Wine it is, then.
 

DancingKatz - Do you have room for one more on the trip to the wine store?  I just enjoyed your wonderful pictures.  Nice work!
 
Where's Trask when we're starting to talk about food??
 
 

PARK4~ Yes, I would recommend the book. I found it interesting and entertaining, as well as significant from an historical perspective. Mrs. Grant writes in a very open and refreshing manner. I felt as though she was telling me about her life, with the President, over a hot cup of tea.

Stoney and Shandonista-I have to disagree about the Bush Doctrine. I fully expect someone who is RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT to be able to answer questions related to politics, whether I can or not. She had no game to bring, and she still doesn't. She doesn't irritate me-she doesn't even register.
 
She has a book out?
 
DK-My school does algebra remediation ONLINE, and I have railed against that from day one. These people need real classroom-based teaching to be helped to learn to THINK.
 
Michael-Part of the problem is that we keep lowering the bar, we keep insisting that a kid with CP, drooling, babbling and wearing a diaper, should be in the same class with 4-pointers for their self-esteem, for grid's sake-ineffective for everyone. We have no discipline policy and won't back the teachers who discipline the bullies and disrupters and crazies. I have a direct line to Security, and I've had them remove a disruptive student-once. That was all it took. My classroom is NOT a democracy. They are fortunate that I am a benevolent despot, but they will do the work and make the grade or they will FAIL. See, my program thoroughly vets incoming students, and we take applicants who have proven that they can do the work and succeed. I don't want to set anyone up for failure-they have to do that themselves-I just process the paperwork. But I KNOW they can do it, so I cut them no slack. When they start to complain that it's 'too hard', I increase the quizzes, the assignments, the tests. My favourite phrase is "make a decision". They knew it would be tough coming in, but they're all so used to teachers lightening up when they complain, that they will always give it a try. Of course, if I did that, they would fail their National Boards, and guess who they'd blame?
Not gonna happen...

On the subject of kid-bashing (and I am a kid) heres an article that showed up in the paper the other day...a junior in high school complaining about Obama trying to extend the school year.

He later apologized for the terrible grammar and spelling in a beautifully written essay. Apparently he was just incredibly angry when he wrote it. Unfortunately he managed to prove the opposite of what he was trying to.

Sorry the link didn't come through. Just google "st pete times pasco student letter" it's the first one.

Stoney, well said (each entry). Same of you, PeterLake.

Because I'd been given the role of Abigail, John Quincy Adams' wife, in "1776" a few years back, I read all their letters to each other in preparation. I've not yet read the memoir to which Our Host refers -- in general I agree with a writer friend who says, "For fact, read non-fiction; TRUTH is found in fiction. Hand me a memoir, and I begin it with a negative turn of mind, ready not to believe anything in it." A similar or related (and very fine) point is made by Our PAM.

Reading John's and Abigail's letters did more than prepare me for the role; it revealed more than ever I'd known or imagined about Adams-the-President, Adams-the-man, perhaps because they weren't written for publication.

I highly recommend the letters, especially to any who read Adams' memoirs, which Our Host has persuaded me to do despite my feeling about memoirs...

In fairness I must admit I had no such suspicions about John Updike's slim volume, "Self-Consciousness," which he says in the foreword he undertook only because many had approached him about a biography, and the prospect terrified him, private as he was. (Parts of that memoir first appeared in The New Yorker.) Perhaps, he wrote, "Self-Consciousness" would keep them at bay and let him work, which he did diligently every day, even managing to leave us a book and a collection of poems, published posthumously. I'd guess he worked as long as he could hold a pencil.

...and, I forgot to say, what a strong woman John chose as wife. Abigail is remarkable for her time, even for times later.

I think Ms Palin does a nice Tina Fay. In ,my mind she is a quitter, she had a job it got toughand so she quit.

IT'S  NOT  FAIR.    Two  consecutive  days  of  a  "To  Die  For"  topic,  and  I  get  stuck  under  circumstances  that  render  it  impossible  to  access  my  laptop,  or  even  peruse  the  thoughtful  posts.  
 
Georgia:   Behind  every  great  woman  is  a  good  little  man...lol
 
>>>1940  may  likely  have  been  as  pivotal  of  a  year  as  ever  transpired,  in  the  20th  century<<<
 
I  am  skipping  dinner  tonight,  the  rubber  chicken  that  they  served  for  lunch  nearly  did  us  all  in.    Rare  is  the  time  that  I  am  confronted  with  a  meal  and  I  categorically  assert  that  I  could  have  done  a  better  job  myself.....lol 
 
Park4:  Next  year  we  plan  to  lower  our  lake  5  feet,  so  that  the  coves  may  be  dredged  of  accumulated  silt  that  enters  via  feeder  streams.    If  we  go  out  in  waders,  we  can  scoop  up  bass  and  even  an  occasional  walleye.   So  don't  donate  your  skillet  to  charity.

Shandonista:
 
Sure, plenty of room in the car. Come along. I also need to pick up a bottle of champagne as my sweetheart is coming home from Washington D.C. in the early hours of tomorrow and I want to celebrate tomorrow after work. What's a celebration without champagne?
 
Anyone else want to come along? There's no point in discussing politics unless you're well lubricated. I find to to be far less painful that way.
 
Olivia:
 
ONLINE! *jaw hits the floor* Talk about setting people up for failure! It's obvious that the schools don't care about academic success so long as they can keep those tuition dollars rolling in.
 
re: the "mainstreaming" of disabled students. There are some students with disabilities that can do very well in the regular classroom environment (not disrupting the class, being able to actively participate in group work, etc.) but far too many have been put into the regular classroom  when it is to their and their classmates detriment in the name of inclusion.
 
I have 3 nephews with varying degrees of autism. Luckily they all live in school districts that are sensible about how they handled disabled students in regards to mainstreaming. One is fully mainstreamed and is thriving (his classmates and teacher love him), another goes to regular classes for science, math and art but is in the special-needs classroom for all the others, and the third, who also has hemi-spastic CP with speech difficulties, goes to a solely special-needs school.
 
Three cheers to you for sticking ot your guns and making your students work for their grades.

Oh, and what I said about my students? That goes DOUBLE for politicians! We should cut them NO slack at all, especially when it comes to the tenets of their own party. We have too many bloody posers in the public realm as it is...

BERT:
 
Sending sympathetic thoughts your way. Did you have to carry through on your threat to not give the attorneys who weren't paying attention the CE certificate for the session?
 
You know, there must be a natural law that guarantees that the food served at CE sessions is always ruined. One I went to had caterers that even managed to ruin the unsweetened instant ice tea.
 
 

ah, Georgia:  you said the magic name:  John Updike.  50 books, I believe.  There was a man who loved to write, I have to believe he took with him a pencil and yellow pad with him when he died.  That was almost a year ago, I think, in January.
 
When I heard of his death, the first thing I remember thinking was "I am so glad he decided to tp become a writer."
 
Know what I mean? 
 
So many gifts he gave us.
He put the "angst" in Angstrom.
 
A year already...Rabbit rests.

 
Olivia,

Well put, ignoring someone annoying leaves no scar on either party.

If condescension were attractive, photographers would say: "Ready? Look down."

Georgia,

Thanks and it's a regular treat to see you again.

I love it when Olivia gets going...
 
seriously.  I do.
You're good, lady.
I'm happily in your corner.

STONEY: ... PARK4 ... SHANDONISTA:
 
GOOD  ON  YOU !!! All three of you .......
 
 
Stoney,   I had just come in from a Store Run, and with a fresh Loaf of Rye, when I sat down and read your Post !!!   I HAD to laugh !!!
 
Shandonista, have you ever seen the Towing Museum in Chattanooga ???   I haven't seen it in 30 years, but am thinking about making  dogleg on my next trip to Nashville ... Seems your old Home Town is having a little trouble of late ... Rockslides, Fires, and some kind of trouble with, Ringer's Field ???  Is that it ???  I just barely saw the blurb in the paper...  Seems that Obamanomics has depleted the City's Reserves and they are experiencing Shortfall on their commitments ... All my friends n family in Nashville are hurting too ... Even in Peaceful Tennesee, it seems that there will be some serious electoral shake-ups purdy soon .......

bert:  I'm laughing, I can't believe you of all people -- what bad luck, to be "off" this site, yesterday and today.  I can't help but laugh, only you.
 
And tomorrow's Friday so it's probably a softie, and then there's the weekend, and Bert, do you believe in Conspiracy Theories?
 
 
hang in there.
remember:  you never give up, no matter waht.
 
what, i mean.
it's hard to type while laughing...
 
and they're pulling the plug on your lake?
for cryin out loud, bert.
 
You better have your hororscope read or your palms looked at or something!
 
hang tough guy!
 

i meant horoscope, but hororscope might do just as well?

P4 ... Talking about Food in this Village is about the only thing that doesn't raise someones' ire, or get me in trouble ... and it is, something that I know somewhat about, considering that I am still buying Orson Welles' old clothes .......

Park4, we've suspected we were3 related; now I know we are. I wept for days in January when JU did; even opened myself enough to express sadness, misery even, on The Eye, and was glad, for I received as warm support as if a family member had died.

The magic word, oh, yes. I do read many other writers, but waited with breath abated when he was working on a new one, and put down whatever I was reading to grab it. His short stories are pluperfect, and that's the hardest form; his novels readable over and over (I've done it); his essays and criticism pique the mind, open it, make it ask questions. I had the privilege of driving to Atlanta to hear him read, and he was as brilliant, courteous, witty as I'd hoped -- it's risky to hear someone you idolize. He clearly loved language; chose words perspicuously, caressing them as a lover would caress his beloved. I imagine him auditioning words, setting aside one in favor of another, 'til he found the aBSOLUTELY oops right one. Shunning the spotlight, he stayed, as he put it, in "his small corner" and wrote. His intense intense interest in domestic situations and America's middle class means our descendants will turn to his work when they wonder what we sought, struggle for, believed...for spirituality was another thing his protagonists worried about, sought. His male characters tried hard to understand women, failing often. How a reader could NOT warm to his work I don't know. The beauty of the prose alone -- but beneath, always there was the meat of the nut. A serious, much-loved writer. I'm still grateful to the friend who introduced me to his work via the first Angstrom book, after which I found his earlier ones, then kept pace with Rabbit, with all his characters. I loved it when characters I'd met in a story showed up years later; like all readers, I wrote my own version mentally, of what happened after the book ended, and it was fascinating when he checked in with those characters to see what they';d been up to. Well, I did go on, but what a joy to find another appreciator!

Y'all, I really returned because earlier when I commented I had nothing to say at ll about Sarah palin. But My Word! I'm watching the news., and returned to tell you

...don't know what happened, unless Sarah has gremlins. Suddenly my words were above, there.

...the end of the sentence is "she's all over the place! Thousands are standing in line to see her! Several tv-type enormous trailers are parked (on tv) in front of a bookstore where she's signing her book!"

I still have nothing to offer about Sarah Palin. Just dropped back in to tell y'all what's happening beyond our Eye-world. Amazing.

JALOPKIN: re: Orson Welles' old clothes. That just proves you have a lot of class.

PARK4: Hororscope. *snicker* actually I think you had the correct spelling there, Park.

Georgia:  what you wrote, brought tears to my eyes.  I know just what you're saying.  We'll have to raise a glass to him in thanks, come January.  We lost him, but we still have him -- when he can be summoned up the way you just did, Rabbit lives still.
 
 
 
DK:  Ivan's one classy guy.  I can see him in his bib 'alls and wrapped in Orson's red lined black cape.  And his Texan Ten Gallon.  Actually, I don't know what kind of hat he wears, but I bet it's stunning.  And brilliant.  Like the man himself.
 
How's that for a compliment, Mr. Ivan Jalopkin?

 
Wow, cleanup in aisle 4! Get that woman a cold compress or beverage. Maybe both.

MISSIVE-  You somehow managed to say exactly what I have been feeling about Palin, but could not put into words. I would never vote for her, but the smirking & condescension she is served by other women is appalling. Super catty to me. You said it so brilliantly! Thanks!
 
OLIVIA- do you mean that children who run thru the halls screaming like an outtake (how do you spell this word??) from ,"Last House on the Left", ruining entire class periods, spitting on other children, pulling a teacher to the floor in the cafeteria, acting like they just escaped from an insane asylum- you mean to say they shouldn't be mainstreamed?? How dare you say that!!! Oh wait, YOU'RE COMPLETELY CORRECT- THEY SHOULD BE ISOLATED FROM OTHER CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!! I'm talking K-2- every word I said is true. Our director is an idiot. The school district is run like the mafia- speak out, sleep w/ fishes. Sad, sad, beyond sad. True , true, true.
 
Taking the babies for their evening ramble- then COCKTAIL TIME- really boxed burgundy time. Join me...

Eve-Georgia Peach ............ its a grand pleasure to be readin' your words of wisdom and sincereity again.  How could I not take action to rediscover the wealth of words woven into stories by John Updike after your great praise of him.  Be well

GEORGIA- I have only read a few JU short stories. I always drifted more towards John Cheever, but after your passionate words I will definitely be reading some JU books. you have sparked several fires I'm sure. I did keep the New Yorker w/ his last work.
Looking forward to this new reading experience!

Thanks stoney.
 
I needed that.
 
Must have been that wine tasting over in Aisle 2 that did it.  I couldn't make up my mind, and felt it my obligation to drink until I could. I just hate to be wishy washy about things like that...
 
 
Nonetheless, I maintain that Ivan's one cool guy.
I know you agree with me.
How could anyone not?
 

Even if Sarah Palin's book sinks without a rippple she'll still be around for a while.  What I admire about Palin is that she chose to have a special needs child and still work in a demanding, high profile career.  People may not agree with her pro-life stance or personal choices but she seems to have no regrets.
 
She could easily have a career speaking to women's group and parenting organizations. 

Lecoeurdevie,
 
Welcome to the Peterman's Eye forum......please continue to offer your wisdom.
 
DreadPirateRoberts,
 
You were right in your observation yesterday. Examination and action are sometimes synomymous. I believe the Japanese say "to think and act is the same thing".
 
I can't add anything to today's discussion concerning John Adams other than he was an astute observer of his times and knew the future challenges to this country quite well.
 
As to Sarah Palin, since I don't hunt or fish and rarely camp I guess I have no use for her at all. I, too, wonder how she slipped by, considering she did not know Africa was a continent. I had also heard that as mayor in Alaska she had rape victims pay for their own rape evidence gathering kit at the time of the initial examination.  This was, and still is, in my opinion a person out of touch with reality.
 
And before anyone says I'm being a left-wing democrat.........consider that most of my friends (and enemies) would think of me as a "capitalist pig"!
 

THanks, Stoney and John, for the welcome-back. I'm sorry I went on, just as I did in January, but finding Park4 a fan, and after her/his comments, I just couldn't help myself.

I commented earlier on both of you, but should do it more fully: I LOVE Stoney's Jalopkin on wrye with a cup of tea; I'll join you anytime. Not just for the tea and sandwich, but for Stopney-philosophy. Where's Derek now? Is the person you mentioned the "new Derek"?

John, you have a (magical, of course) wonderful way of hitting the nail gently on the head, and in few words, always fewer than I can manage. You're my other philosopher, and how apt that y'all are different. I'll bet you appreciate silence, though, and Stoney too....

Stoney

I wish to apologize. My play on Bush and Byrd didn't go over very well. I was referring to the third member of the Democrat trifecta, Biden- Pelosi- Byrd. ( you know ,the former KKK member who has now morphed into a liberal.)

bebe, I too like John Cheever's work, though some of it gets a little bit surreal for me; in general, though, I really APPRECIATE HIM, AND OUR DESCENDANTS oops (font trouble) will look to him, too.

Did you happen to read his journals when New Yorker published them? Thoss I enjoyed. His daughter Susan Cheever is a fair writer, too.

John Updike's greater gift is for the story, in my view, yet I can't put down his novels, either. I'm a mix, a mess when it comes to him.

Maybe this is the time to admit, to share a vignette with all: When I learned on the day of his reading that a friend had an extra ticket, I grabbed an armful of his books and took off for Atlanta, leaving a house guest. When I got there, though, I was embarrassed to appear the middle-aged groupie I was, so put in my pocketbook one small book I could hide, in case he signed. Graciously, he did, behind the curtain and with no announcement, so I joined the line. People around me had arm loads like that in my car.

When it was my turn, he signed my one book, said, "Everybody seems to have many books; is this all you have? smiling and twinkling. I: "Well, I have a huge pile in my car. but I was embarrassed to bring them in." He: "Why don't we go out to your car, then, and I'll sign them all?"

He was bookended by Agnes Scott sentinel-ladies waiting to take him to the after-reading party, and they looked serious, so I knew that couldn't happen, but was so stunned by the offer, I couldn't speak a word, not a word to this man whose work had marked my adult life. I just backed away, with him watching and smiling at me, 'til I stumbled over a chair on the stage.

Talk about roads not taken.

"Man wants but little here below, 
Nor wants that little long." 
'Tis not with me exactly so; 
But 'tis so in the song. 
My wants are many and, if told, 
Would muster many a score; 
And were each wish a mint of gold, 
I still should long for more. 

What first I want is daily bread -- 
And canvas-backs, -- and wine -- 
And all the realms of nature spread 
Before me, when I dine. 
Four courses scarcely can provide 
My appetite to quell; 
With four choice cooks from France beside, 
To dress my dinner well.

What next I want, at princely cost, 
Is elegant attire : 
Black sable furs for winter's frost, 
And silks for summer's fire, 
And Cashmere shawls, and Brussels lace 
My bosom's front to deck, -- 
And diamond rings my hands to grace, 
And rubies for my neck.

I want (who does not want?) a wife, -- 
Affectionate and fair; 
To solace all the woes of life, 
And all its joys to share. 
Of temper sweet, of yielding will, 
Of firm, yet placid mind, -- 
With all my faults to love me still 
With sentiment refined.

And as Time's car incessant runs, 
And Fortune fills my store, 
I want of daughters and of sons 
From eight to half a score. 
I want (alas! can mortal dare 
Such bliss on earth to crave?) 
That all the girls be chaste and fair, -- 
The boys all wise and brave.

I want a warm and faithful friend, 
To cheer the adverse hour, 
Who ne'er to flatter will descend, 
Nor bend the knee to power, -- 
A friend to chide me when I'm wrong, 
My inmost soul to see; 
And that my friendship prove as strong 
For him as his for me.

I want the seals of power and place, 
The ensigns of command; 
Charged by the People's unbought grace 
To rule my native land. 
Nor crown nor sceptre would I ask 
But from my country's will, 
By day, by night, to ply the task 
Her cup of bliss to fill.

I want the voice of honest praise 
To follow me behind, 
And to be thought in future days 
The friend of human-kind, 
That after ages, as they rise, 
Exulting may proclaim 
In choral union to the skies 
Their blessings on my name.

These are the Wants of mortal Man, -- 
I cannot want them long, 
For life itself is but a span, 
And earthly bliss -- a song. 
My last great Want -- absorbing all -- 
Is, when beneath the sod, 
And summoned to my final call, 
The Mercy of my God. 

GEORGIA- That's a wonderful story! It makes me appreciate him even more. I live in a town w/ a famous bookstore & you would be surprised at the very famous authors who will come & they hand out lottery numbers- don't even think about asking for a personal dedication! Do these authors realize that the people who show up are fans ( a bad word I know, but it fits) & THEY pay for your luxurious lifestyle because they buy your books??? Call me crazy, but I would be so grateful & thrilled that I had touched people that I would stay at that bookstore until I had been gracious to every person who showed up in MY honour. It's called being gracious & it sounds like Mr. Updike had it in spades! 
 
Also- I happened upon the movie "The Swimmer" from a John Cheever book on a dreary, rainy day at my in-laws. It has the beautiful Burt Lancaster & it is extraordinary! It is strange, heartbreaking, and just beautiful. Made more so by Lancaster's really unbelieveable performance. It knocked me out.

[Get ready for a mish-mash...]

(1) FOR GUYS ONLY: Am I the only male who thinks that Sara Palin, as poorly suited for leadership position as she obviously is, could have done very, very well in the errrrr 'erotic film industry'? (Man, is THAT statement going to bring a sh*tstorm down on my head!!!!!!!!!) I'm not sure if it's the glasses or the 'attitude'....

(2) I really feel sorry for folks who work in the education industry. It makes me think we should go back to tutors. (I am a bit surprised we don't have any 'homeschoolers' here, since I run into them all the time in my real life, aka job. Maybe it's just because I live in Texas???) Much of what I've learned myself has been because I got interested in something and decided to teach myself stuff. Most of what teachers thought I should learn and which I found boring I simply didn't learn. (And in some cases, my brain wasn't ready to 'wrap around it' yet, e.g. statistics.)

(3) Most folks who 'got into something' in my experience were inspired not by a 'course of study', or by a requirement, or by a syllabus, or whatever, but by a fellow student, friend, teacher, or parent who was enthusiastic about something. Kids love adventure, and will walk through fields of glass barefoot if they think it's 'cool'.

(4) My own educational regrets: Dropping out of a shorthand class (Gregg); letting the horrible noises coming out of my trumpet dissuade me from practicing; believing the incredibly stupid saying, "If you can't do something right, don't do it at all"; thinking that 'extra-cirricular activities' were a waste of time.

(5) Things I'm happiest about regarding my education: Sneaking books into really boring classes and reading in the back seat where the teacher couldn't tell I was ignoring her; having friends who told me that -- despite my crummy grades -- I could be successful in college; going back after failing statistics once and getting 'mercy D's' twice and teaching myself stat out of a really good textbook; getting a totally useless graduate degree mostly because I was pissed off and refused to quit -- just to prove to myself I could finish, mostly; blowing off folks who told me knowledge had to be useful (like, 'why don't you study something useful like accounting'); learning that you could master stuff mostly by simply ignoring teachers, lectures, and all that time-wasting overhead, and simply CONCENTRATE on a book or books incessantly until it gradually began to 'come together'; refusing to believe folks who told me I couldn't do stuff and simply going ahead and screwing up long enough so that I eventually COULD do stuff....

I could go on and on, but I'll stop now. I know I've upset a few folks with my comments about 'education' but I really DO believe that one is not 'doomed' to ignorance just because school sucks. If you want to learn, you'll find a way. Educators have a higher opinion of their importance than they realistically should. Curiousity and determination count. It's only the quitters who let schools get in the way of their education...

If I were to list my 'tutors' it would be a long list.... I'm so tempted to list them, but just a few for now:  John Leon Moore, who introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut and got me into the newspaper business (for awile); Rudy Daniels, who talked me into going to college after high school and got his own PhD at age 25 though EVERYONE told him he was 'stupid', including his own father; Fr. Armand Baldwin, who was a drill sergeant of a professor and accepted nothing less than your best; Dr. Jack Thelin, who loved his kids (and their friends like me) so much he taught them everything about chemistry and oil painting.... oh, geez, I could go on and on... the teachers came and went... the MENTORS, they made a mark!

 
Miss Blue,

No sweat pal. It gave me a chance at cheap adolescent humor and there are never enough of those.

Doc~ I'll bring the umbrellas and raincoats for that sh*tstorm. Palin indeed is a great example of not assuming the position.
 
Michael & Olivia~ If I ever am half the educators you two are, I'll be thankful. Here's to fighting the good fight, and encouraging the shy, smart kids (who write great papers and excel on the exams) to participating more in class, instead of joining the blank stare masses.
 

It is not that I want to be better than Sarah Palin, but I think if Sara Palin wants to be president, she should be better than me. The President of the United States is an important position. I do not want an "average Joe" to fill it. I want someone exceptional in it.

After listening complaints of how incompetent our government is, it seems that it is reasonable to raise the bar.

I did not know what the Bush doctrine was, but I am an artist. I can tell you about color and line, Van Gogh and Picasso, a politician aspiring to the Vice Presidential position should be able to tell me about the Bush Doctrine and what the Vice President does.

As for wondering about what the last book she read...She wants me to buy and read her book, I don't know that it is out of line to know what she reads.

And if her Spin Doctors are worth their salary, they will be ALL OVER this blog. Tomorrows meeting will start out "This is what REGISTERED voters see you."

DOC- answered your query of the 5 food tastes- might as well address Palin. Yes- for some men ( the ones who admit it & probably a giant chunk who deny it- the "secret pervs") she is the ultimate dream. Actually understandable too. You are right on the money on that one.

As far as educators thinking they are more important than they really are- I'm an educator- I have no delusions of granduer. I do my job w/ love in the best way that I can. I screw up sometimes. Don't slag off the true teachers- save it for the truly pitiful ones- and there are plenty of those. For some kids we are their only light. That's not being self important. It's life and it's truly sad if you think on it for awhile. 

D-Zev: There is no sitting quietly in the back in my classrooms.  We sit in a circle, and anyone who doesn't participate has to read from their writing journal.

Doc: I read the guys only thing, and there is a Larry Flynt "Palin" tape involving a couple of Russians and the Oval Office that was REALLY popular during the final weeks of the campaign. (and every man I have talked to says she's "hot"...maybe that is why the women are so catty.)

 
 
 
 
Doc... I would love to see Mrs Palin tie you up and beat your arse....does that qualify as erotica?
 

.....just kidding.

Georgia, I have a neat autograph line moment myself. Charleton Heston was visiting bookstores right after his autobiography "In the Arena" was published. My then father-in-law was a big fan of his and I decided to get the book and a DVD of the special anniversary edition of Ben Hur for him. I didn't even know Mr. Heston was going to be at the bookstore when I decided to go in and get the book. I ended up being twelfth in line. There was a limit of two items for signature because he wanted to be able to write dedications. He woman behind me in line ignored that and had two bags of film memorabilia as well as five copies of the book. The bookstore staff spent more time arguing with her about the number of things she had than it would have taken for Mr. Heston to sign them. The result was that I ended up having a wonderful 10-minute conversation with him about photography and target shooting once he signed and dedicated dad-in-law's book after I mentioned that dad coached a youth target shooting team in Brooklyn, New York and commented on one of the photos in the book that was taken by his wife. He was perfectly charming, and well, that Voice was to die for.

I would have given anything to have met Mr. Updike in person. He was one of the people on my list of guests if I could invite anyone from the twentieth century to a dinner party.

MISS BLUE- All I can say is panty shields do come in handy for urine leakage due to excessive laughter. Oh my g*d...

Sorry, Doc, but I don't find Palin physically attractive at all.  Probably because I don't find her mentally attractive.  I may be the odd man out, but she just doesn't do it for me.
 
Now, Margaret Truman . . .
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MargaretTruman.jpg
 
hmmmm . . .

DK- That is a very charming story about Charleton Heston- he always seemed like a true gentleman- whether or not you agreed w/ his politics. A class act.

Twinkies never, ever get hard. Unless a Twinkie hardens in proximity to the rare individual around whom everything, uhhh, hardens.

And Twinkies positively NEVER get stale. There's one in the Smithsonian that's been there for 24 years. It's as fresh as a daisy.

DAMSELFLY- I am always creeped out by women who cannot acknowledge another woman's appeal- it is a sign of a woman truly not comfortable in her own skin.

DANCINGKATZ:  I Thank You sincerely ....... but In Re: Orson ... You could have left off the C L .......
 
PARK4:  I am stunned Madam ... Did you lose an Election Bet ???   I was born with a Hat on, and wear a different Hat depending upon what I am dress in and what I am Dressed FOR ... The Ten Gallon Stetson, is the Stetson I wear when my head swells from so many unwarrantred Compliments ... I Thank You for your Kindness ... Usually, when I'm in BibAlls, I'm wearing a Ball Cap or a Newspaper Boy's Cap ....... What I think Peterman calls the Thug Chapeaux ... or words to that effect .......  My Second Mother-in-Law gave me fits about my BibAlls for a couple of years ... and sarcastically asked me what I liked so much about them, and that in front of a bevy of her equally starched and pucilanimous Harpies, who had come with her to see the new Baby Boy in the House ... I told her I liked them cuz they reminded me of a Grand Hotel ... "Howz That?" she snapped back ....... Lots of Ball Room , I said ....... Lots of Ball Room ....... The Subject never came up again .......

Jalopkin: My grandfather wore bib overalls for most of his life.  Nearly all of his (roughly) 30 grandchildren and quite a few of his great-grandchildren are featured in photographs, trying to dig into the chest pockets of those bib-ies.  There was always a pocket-watch and a pack of gum, both of which were of intense interest to small children. 
 
We contemplated burying him in a pair.  He didn't look right in a suit.

Jalopkin: Grand Hotel...Lots of Ball room...HILARIOUS!!!
 
And bebe: Don't get me wrong, I can see Sarah's appeal. She is physically beautiful...Hell I  wish I looked as good as her...and she has this tenacious persistance...I guess you can say I apprciate her, but I do not like her, for much the same reason as Michael: I do not find her mentally attactive.

DAMSELFLY- agree on the last point & oh, by the way- you seem very comfortable in your skin...

There are so many excellent contributions and different perspectives being posted today. It's been a very good read as well as being very provocative. Another good day in the neighborhood. 

In Regard to today's topic, I would find value in the memoirs or biographies of anyone who has a lifetime of accomplishments, be they great or infamous (cos that's a painless way of learning what not to do).

In regard to Sarah Palin's accomplishments; on a national scale, I think she's still at the starting gate. Yes, she did become the governor of Alaska, but that is kinda like being the world's tallest midget and I mean no offense to Alaskans nor to short people.

She certainly has demonstrated she has more than a fair share of "sand" in her to be willing to put herself on such a public stage but I don't know if that very wise at this point in her abruptly ended career. She seems to have become a "shihte lightening rod", a product of the media, meaning those who wish to bury Sarah as well as those who wish to praise her. Maybe twenty or thirty years from now she will have accomplished something worth reading about, but until then I feel most of her pages are still "left intentionally blank".

Until then, in the words of Douglas Adams..... ‘DON'T PANICK" ‘cos I think she's "mostly harmless"

Peace out

MICHAEL- there's an "erotic" painting featuring Hillary Clinton & Nancy Pelosi in their underwear. Don't eat before you gaze on it...

Finally a little time to breathe, I stopped at the main library this morning and the largest university in the state has two copies of the U.S. Grant memoir last checked out on 3/8/2002 and 11/29/1996 and no JQA, if that tells anyone anything. I just finished reading the days posts and boy would I like to meet this doc nolan guy in a dark alley and explain a few things. If in life the thing I disdain most is aggressive ignorance, a very close second is condescending (I'm not gonna say it but y'all know what word goes here) who go around spewing toxic meaningless parables out of their holes which are somehow meant to be profound (I'll run in the kintchen and lobotomize myself with a lemon juicer and then everything will be great). I had two lectures today, 220 students enrolled in the 10a and 285 in the 1p.  I'm guessing maybe 150 total showed up and I'm supposed to do what, drag every one of them into the lecture hall by the ear? Not really. The reality is that by every measurable comparison, the American Society is spiraling downward. The height and power of a society is not neccesarily measured by money or military power, it is rather by the social importance and respect paid to children, the elderly, educators, and the disenfranchised. After that the sense of community and pride shown by the citizens to each other, so y'all tell me how we are really doing.
 
Getting on to the topic at hand, Adams had it exactly right. Democracy does devour itself. In the bigger scope it is neccasary. To hell with it. Human beings with all their high minded ideals and technology and creature comforts are still basic animals governed by fear, greed and ignorance. Everything else is a facade. Call me fatalistic or what you will, the rose colored glasses don't fit me very well. Every day I'm a little more ready for whatever the next incarnation of civilization is going to be. Maybe better, maybe worse, at least it will be interesting. And for doc nolan is he doesn't understand any of this: When life gives ya lemons....I know you can sing along with that.

lecoeurdevie~ Making hypothetical idle threats against fellow Eyelanders is no way to win respect or friends. I seriously hope and pray that you do not treat your students that way. I'm guessing your students didn't show up because you most likely come off as arrogant and pompous, two qualities that an educator should have only in small doses.

Enerybody's at some time or another been in a discusiion about what the founding fathers would say if they saw America today. How bout this: 'You gotta be kidding me, in all this time you fools haven't been able to think of anything better?!? This was only supposed to last for twenty years!'

Whatever, if you want to call me pompous because I speak my mind then go right ahead. If you are not helping the situation then... I devote every waking hour toward the enrichment and furhter enlighenment of the world around me. What else should I do?

I'm trying to figure out what exactly Doc Nolan said that has sparked such venom.  All he really said was "People learn in different ways" and that the traditional methods don't always work.  As an educator, I happen to agree.  I certainly learned more from my own private studies than I did in some of my classes. 
 
The most important thing I teach my students is that they need to ask questions.  I try to get them out of the mindset of taking things at face value, accpeting "authority", of seeing the world in black and white.  I try to get them to realize that, if you cannot think your way through a problem, think your way around it. 
 
I accept challenges to what I am teaching.  Whenever I pass out my teacher evaluations, I ask my students to make suggestions of what I can do to improve the class.  Many of them I dismiss as being impractical, or beyond the scope of the specific things I do need to do for a class, but once in awhile I get a good idea and have made ajustments based on those ideas.

lecoeurdevie- I don't think you threatened anyone, but your tone is wrong. There is a way to disagree w/ someone -& a way to not. We are not solving the world's problems- just talking & hopefully respecting everyone. yes- people go off the rails at times, we are human- but you attitude is not kosher.
 
Also- No one- not even the most devoted, kind nun spends every waking hour illuminating the world. A physical impossibility. Do you eat, pay bills make love, read for pleasure, go to the movies, etc,etc, etc...? My husband is a professor & he manages to love sports, me, our animals, friends, and family- he takes illumination breaks.

on going rogue....
 
my 84, so to be 85, year old mother went rogue today.  a private pay "villager" with a room mate of same age.  mom with a stroke, leaving her left side invisable to her mind, multiple natural age complications.  room mate with alzheimers, yet very mobile, is in perpetual r.n. mode, never off the clock.......mom, decided she'd just stand up.  it didn't work out so well.....pump knot, looking knarly(?) from blood thinners, yet iced down constantly by the r.n(roomy).......spend some time in any extended care nursing facility, oops, village...and you'll be able to look into the future.....rogue may not be so bad...in most cases you won't even remember....some are happy, some are not...i believe it's your basic attitude...be a happy camper...the journey is short, the destination....?