Random Notes from a Crank

I wish the current President of the United States would be held to the same standard as Jim McElwain, the former U of Florida head coach. McElwain fabricated some story, and he got canned because of it. Moscow Don needs to be held to the same standard. 

So there's going to be all kinds of speculation about who will become the next head coach of the Gators. Here's an early speculative article: "Florida Coaching Candidates: 11 Coaches Who Could Take Over for Jim McElwain."

The attack in New York today sickens me. I'm sure MoscowDon will use this attack as an opportunity to stir up hokum against Muslims. And probably his travel ban crap.

Random Notes from a Crank

This interview, "Faint Sounds, Loud Impact," with Timothy A. Schuler reprinted in Utne reminds me of a number of themes and ideas in Florence Williams' fine book, The Nature Fix. Noise pollution is a problem, and it affecting the environment in various ways, most of them bad. 

In a similar vein, Craig Holdrege's article about Aldo Leopold, "Meeting Nature as Presence," is a fine essay that tracks the progressive nature of Leopold's thinking about environmental matters. "Thinking Like a Mountain" is one of his more famous essays from A Sand County Almanac, which is referenced in the essay, and it was one of my students' favorites when I used to teach an environmental rhetoric course. 

In the same fall issue of Utne, there's an interesting article "Public Banking Goes to Pot,"  which was originally published in High Country News and relates the problems the federal government has created because of their compliance rules about taking money from marijuana dispensaries. Because of these problems, there is some movement afoot for another public bank (North Dakota has the only one in the US), and if it's going to happen, it'll probably happen in Oakland. 

A writer from Politico relates some data analysis about the demographic divisions among America's two major parties: "Both Parties Gripped by Deep Divisions." I was heartened to learn that "Solid Liberals" are the largest group of the nine. Depending on the issue and mood I vacillate among these five groups: Market-Skeptic Republicans, New Era Enterprisers, Disaffected Democrats, Opportunity Democrats, and Solid Liberals. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I detest people who tell me that I "should believe in God" and people who want to insert all kinds of religious-based nonsense into politics and government. Now we have people wanting to put "In God We Trust" on cop cars and governmental buildings. As a curative to this crap, read "The Danger of Claiming That Rights Come from God" from Psychology Today. 

This happening is a bit of a surprise, but The Atlantic has endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency. That current affairs/cultural magazine has only endorsed a presidential candidate twice before with Lincoln and Johnson. Check it out: "Against Donald Trump." 

Here a some juicy quotations from the article: 

• We are impressed by many of the qualities of the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, even as we are exasperated by others, but we are mainly concerned with the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, who might be the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American presidency.
• Donald Trump, on the other hand, has no record of public service and no qualifications for public office. His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read.
• We believe in American democracy, in which individuals from various parties of different ideological stripes can advance their ideas and compete for the affection of voters. But Trump is not a man of ideas. He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent.

In light of Friday's bombshell from the Washington Post about Donald Trump, the Tic Tac company made some comments: "Tic Tac Denounces Donald Trump." 

Stay Positive: Pope Francis on the Environment

I'm not a Catholic. I'm an agnostic who believes in disorganized spirituality. 

But I'm looking forward to the Pope's encyclical letter on the environment due to come out sometime this year. And one of his Cardinals has already taken on, sort of, the climate-change deniers. 

I doubt I've ever written this before, but kudos to the Vatican. 

McCain's VP?

It sounds as though McCain might name his VP candidate quite soon (Click HERE for a recent article). So who do you think it'll be?

Romney

Crist

Pawlenty

Jindal

Portman

Thune 

Ridge

I predict Crist.

Is McCain a Political Don Rickles?

Is his humor emblematic of someone who has a dismissive view of women and someone who is out of touch with a diverse America?

While I'm not a big fan of political correctness because I've had it shoved down my throat for years, some of his jokes make me wince for sure. Wow.

Click HERE for a link to an article by Politico.com, you hockey pucks.

Happy Valentine's Day

Or as some folks like to refer to it: National Single Person Awareness Day.

Link: http://www.politico.com/cartoon/index.html