Senator John Ensign (R) Nevada, just keeps the information flowing, now, doesn’t he?

I suppose not too many of us raise eyebrows at affairs any more. Frankly, they don’t interest me much, and they probably have little to do with whether or not one can govern well. But I must admit that this one does raise the hair on the back of my neck a little. Seems that the affair was with the wife of Ensign’s administrative assistant, and she worked on his election campaign. Now he reports that his mom and dad gave the two staffers a total of $96,000 because they were long-time friends, after Ensign admitted to the affair. Wow! That I had friends such as that!

Wouldn’t it be better to just come clean? OK, Ensign and the man’s wife had an affair. Something transpired after that, and the Senator’s mommy and daddy came riding to the rescue to shell out nearly $100,000 to the family–$12,000 each to the the adults and to two of their children, given on on two different occasions to fall under the tax laws for gifts–and everyone now accepts the explanation that mommy and daddy are just really wonderful to all of their friends.

Right.

A new USA Today/Gallup poll tells us that 7 out of 10 Republicans would vote for Sarah Palin for President if she runs in 2012. I wish I knew how to shake my head on line.

Apparently, 7 out of 10 Republicans paid no attention to her utter lack of anything remotely resembling an understanding of government, foreign relations, domestic relations, budget issues, or anything else that people asked her about. How can anyone who thinks at all believe that she brings qualifications for the highest office in America? What, exactly, might those qualifications be, if one believes that she brings them?

One reason that I teach is to help people learn to think. Oh, well. If Republicans continue down this road, at least the future for continued Democratic leadership looks bright.

How do I know that Sarah Palin, soon to be ex-governor of Alaska and former VP hopeful, is not a quitter?  Why, she said so!  There, that should settle it.

Now, most of think of quitting as stopping before your job is completed, leaving something unfinished. , etc.  But, according to the Republican dictionary now professed by the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, and Palin, quitting means that you’re a hero, a wunderkind, a person of overarching principle!  My, how all we must do is say that something means something else, and these people expect us to just follow right along.

Like her or not, the people of Alaska elected Palin to serve as the Governor of Alaska for 4 years.  Now, she says, knowing that she won’t seek a 2nd term, she will bail out of the job and leave it to someone whom the people didn’t elect.  Yep, that sure sounds like a principled, hero, wunderkind to me.

Let’s start working on some other definitions so that the banks, the stockbrokers, the automobile companies, and Bernie Madoff can all be heroes, too!

I can really think of nothing else that tells a more humorous story than the swearing in today of Al Franken as a United States Senator. Now, that’s not so much a comment on Franken as on the US Senate!

For a group that takes itself so seriously and often seems to believe that they are some steps above everyone else, Franken’s entry into the ranks should provide both some comic relief and some levity to the Senators.

Will Franken serve well? Who can know? If nothing else, however, he should provide some fodder for the late night comedians. Ohhh, where is Jay Leno when we need him?

By the thousands, people will pour into Staple’s Center in Los Angeles and millions more around the world will, no doubt, glue themselves to television’s broadcast of the biggest spectacle since the death of Princess Di. Yes, today is Michael Jackson’s funeral.

While I don’t mean to diminish the loss of any family member to other family members and close friends, what does all this mourning really say about us–especially about all the people whose only connection to Jackson is his recordings?

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recently reported that 25,000 children around the world die every night–one child every 3.5 seconds–yet I see little concern or desire to spend tens of thousands of dollars to help save them, even when we see people clamoring for “tickets” to the Jackson funeral and offering amazing sums for the privilege.

Even among our churches and our government, we hear the call for war rise above the call for helping the millions of people who need help the most.

Yes, today is The Big Day. 25,001 will be buried. Oh, but we would care about those other 25,000.

I could say, good riddance, but that wouldn’t seem nice or professional. Still, it does seem appropriate.

As the man who spearheaded sending thousands upon thousands of Americans to Vietnam for no reasonable or justifiable purpose, many in the US will not morn the loss of Robert McNamara.

McNamara tried to bring corporate management both to the Pentagon and to the Vietnam war. He succeeded at home, but he lost miserably in Vietnam. He lived life as a bean counter, and he transferred that mentality to become a “body counter.” Once involved in the war, he escalated the number of soldiers from about 1000 to almost 500,000, and he watched as so many returned in body bags, with lost limbs, and addicted to the drugs necessary to deal with the living hell.

In 2003, he admitted to some terrible things that he knew about the war and the misjudgments made by his people and him. I think that he must have known of his responsibility for the thousands of lives lost.

No mourning in my house today, as I remember the friends who died in the jungles of Vietnam.

Clearly, in a media feeding frenzy concerning the death of Michael Jackson, NBC News’s Michael Okwu alerted viewers to what surely shocked them all: Michael Jackson will only die once.

That’s right, lest anyone think that the dubbed King of Pop might parlay the tremendous outpouring of adoration for his checkered life, Okwu plainly sent that hope down in flames as he chilled wakes everywhere with that startling news. Of course, I’m certain that someone, somewhere will find a way to sell the idea of some sort of “final comeback,” but I wouldn’t recommend purchasing tickets for that final show.

Hopefully, the idiocy of actions following Jackson’s death will calm down soon, and we will know that other, more pressing events really do cloud the horizon.

Wow, I found plenty to do while I disappeared from blogging for a while. A new grandson arrived, I taught a zillion classes, and I worlked on papers to deliver at conferences. But, time seems a little more available now, so I’ll see just who I can make mad with my thoughts!

Welcome to my students who find my blog, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Although many people don’t recognize Russo’s name, he helped spread the word about the lies America’s government told her people during the Vietnam war. Along with Daniel Ellsberg, Russo provided information the government wanted hidden from her people, and the people reacted violently to the government’s deception.

I remember the Pentagon Papers, and I remember the havoc wreaked on our country.  I also remember thinking how grateful I was that someone exhibited the courage necessary to stand up and challenge the status quo.  Over the years, how I longed for others of such courage.

We could do well if some insiders now would stand up as Ellsberg and Russo did.  If we could find those who would say “Enough!” and provide the information needed to bring down this administration’s house of lying cards.  Some might demur and say that our country couldn’t stand it, but our country grew stronger because of the battles that ensued after the Ellsberg/Russo revelations.

The culture that Ellsberg/Russo ushered in allowed for people to comprehend that government lie, cheat, and steal because people run governments.  We learned that we should consider carefully the people that we elect to pubic office.  Unfortunately, we forgot many of those lessons over the years.

We face an opportunity to elect new leaders in just a few months.  We should weigh carefully what the candidates say and do, and we should vote to change the current course of our nation.

Wow.  I could hardly believe it.  30 minutes of prime-time television devoted to John Edwards explaining why he decided to enjoy sex with a woman other than his wife.  He actually received more free airtime for discussing his affair than he received to talk about his thoughts on running the country.

Could the United States of America be any more preoccupied with sex that it is?  I don’t think so.

OK, let’s look at the real problem.  What this pointed out is that John Edwards is a liar.  With that knowledge, he falls into the same camp as about 6 billion other people on the planet.  Really, now.  Had this been about Edwards lying about speeding, for example, would he receive 30 minutes of prime-time television to talk about why he denied driving 70 miles per hour in a 40 MPH zone?  Of course not.  The special wasn’t about lying.  It was about sex, and it focused on sex because ABC News knows that Americans are absolutely preoccupied with sex.

Does it matter that Edwards enjoyed sex with a woman other than his wife?  Well, it does to Edwards, his wife and a few others.  Does it matter to me?  No.  It matters far more to me that George W. Bush lied about WMDs in order to drag America into a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.  Would I care if Bush engaged in sex with someone other than his wife and denied it?  No.  I’m certain that Mrs. Bush and a few others might care, but I’m wholly disinterested.

Let’s face it.  We’re so uptight about sex in America that we watch aghast as people appear on television to “confess their sins and claim the Lord’s forgiveness.”  Give me a break.  Let’s keep our noses out of others’ personal lives and demand that our leaders and those who would like to lead us operate in the best interests of our country.

Can someone who would lie about having sex outside of marriage to a people who state their abhorrence of it while knowing that millions do it lead our country effectively?  Of course.  I would much rather think that our leader found some personal satisfaction in sexual activity and didn’t want me to know than to imagine a leader who claims some moral high ground yet leads us into wars based on fabrication.