The New Hampshire primary is in the news as the Republicans continue the process to challenge for the White House in November.
Although I am affiliated with a particular political party, more and more I am feeling the need to advocate to people that we should be electing people based upon their ability to do the business of America and not because they represent one or the other political party.
Partisan politics is not working.
The divide is too wide to allow one or the other party to control our government and system.
I would prefer the ability for truly unaffiliated people to run for office based solely upon their plan and qualifications to do the work of the nation. But, alas, fundraising is very difficult and the best people to run this country are not independently wealthy.
It is clear to me that we are not being well served by many of the people we have elected. Some of the most junior are too idealistic and are unable to work within their convictions and ideology to run the country. Some of those who have been in office for along time are unable to adapt to the changing situation in the country and the new mood of the electorate.
The business of running the country has almost become a secondary task.
Some people have proposed a part time Congress--I am NOT a fan. Living in Maryland where we have a part time legislature, I witness an example of why that concept will not work every year.
No--it is up to "We the People" to elect the right representatives--and in some cases reelect those representatives. I am not a fan of not reelecting any incumbent because we need some experience in Washington to be familiar with how the system works.
Elect a President and then support that person with Representatives and Senators who clearly demonstrate an America first and politics second approach! That is what I am looking to do this election season. People willing to do the work of the nation, regardless of ideology.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday Musings -- January 9, 2012
1. I can hardly believe that the first week of 2012 is in the history books. Where did it go?
2. Football playoff weekends are longer than regular football weekends even though there are fewer games--they are more spread out.
3. The weather this past week went from really cold and winter-like to springtime. I looked in the flower beds to see the daffodils and hyacinths are already planning for an early arrival this year.
4. Is it possible that we will have a winter with no snow accumulation?
5. Through some miracle, I have been a week without a headache. Maybe the grip of NDPH has loosened and I am free!
6. While walking around the grocery store, I noticed they were selling crawfish from China. Why not Louisiana? They also were selling shrimp from Vietnam. Really? Why not Texas? Is it really cheaper to ship these items from Asia?
7. There is almost nothing worse than being awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of a cat hocking up a hairball.
8. I was at memorial service for a friend yesterday who died before his time. It was good to be in the company of so many people who, like me, loved him and were awed by everything he had accomplished.
9. Athough we did not set a record, I enjoyed the unseasonbly warm tempertures this past weekend. I'll take 60's in January while living in Maryland any day.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
2. Football playoff weekends are longer than regular football weekends even though there are fewer games--they are more spread out.
3. The weather this past week went from really cold and winter-like to springtime. I looked in the flower beds to see the daffodils and hyacinths are already planning for an early arrival this year.
4. Is it possible that we will have a winter with no snow accumulation?
5. Through some miracle, I have been a week without a headache. Maybe the grip of NDPH has loosened and I am free!
6. While walking around the grocery store, I noticed they were selling crawfish from China. Why not Louisiana? They also were selling shrimp from Vietnam. Really? Why not Texas? Is it really cheaper to ship these items from Asia?
7. There is almost nothing worse than being awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of a cat hocking up a hairball.
8. I was at memorial service for a friend yesterday who died before his time. It was good to be in the company of so many people who, like me, loved him and were awed by everything he had accomplished.
9. Athough we did not set a record, I enjoyed the unseasonbly warm tempertures this past weekend. I'll take 60's in January while living in Maryland any day.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Grandsons and Basketball
I attended Ethan's basketball game yesterday. A typical sporting event it was not.
The gym was packed with prents and supporters and the players were charged up to play their games. Practices had been completed and the teams were ready. The introductions were accomplished in the best style of the NBA with the players running onto the courts to the sound of flashy music and an announcer calling their names.
It seemed like a normal youth basketball game, similar to many youth events I have attended or coached during my life. But this was different.
Why?
Because the games were played in a gym attached to a large church and they began with a prayer and half time was a devotion for the spectators. They even closed the concession stand during the halftime devotion.
This league is church league and the ministry of this church. It was really an experience see sports and God brought together on the same court, in public, for everyone to see.
I wonder, sometimes, what we are teaching our children about life and sports and good and bad. This church, through this seemingly thriving sports ministry, is truly making a difference and helping to reduce the confict that sometimes occurs in our lives between believing and living what we believe.
I am told there is a devotion at every practice. Wow, that is really powerful. God and sports together.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
The gym was packed with prents and supporters and the players were charged up to play their games. Practices had been completed and the teams were ready. The introductions were accomplished in the best style of the NBA with the players running onto the courts to the sound of flashy music and an announcer calling their names.
It seemed like a normal youth basketball game, similar to many youth events I have attended or coached during my life. But this was different.
Why?
Because the games were played in a gym attached to a large church and they began with a prayer and half time was a devotion for the spectators. They even closed the concession stand during the halftime devotion.
This league is church league and the ministry of this church. It was really an experience see sports and God brought together on the same court, in public, for everyone to see.
I wonder, sometimes, what we are teaching our children about life and sports and good and bad. This church, through this seemingly thriving sports ministry, is truly making a difference and helping to reduce the confict that sometimes occurs in our lives between believing and living what we believe.
I am told there is a devotion at every practice. Wow, that is really powerful. God and sports together.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Saturday, January 7, 2012
War Horse -- Movie Review
I was lucky enough to see this movie last evening. I am a huge softie for dog and horse movies, so I definitely wanted to War Horse.
The movie was much more than I expected. I had expected a sappy tale about a boy (Albert) and his horse (Joey)--and when the Joey was separated from Albert the subsequent journey for them to be reunited.
What I got was a movie about the hard side of life in England and Europe during the early part of the 20th Century and focused mostly on the WWI time period of 1914-1918.
Life was hard and real. Albert is there from Joey's birth, although his family does not own the horse and they come together on a whim of Albert's father who buys the horse at auction--and really buys the wrong horse for what they need--although in the end, Joey is exactly the right horse for what is asked of him.
The characters in the movie are real--it is easy to hate the hard, business-like, buffoon-seeming landlord and his overly privileged son. Even the weather is used to create the sense of hardship and that nothing can go right for life in the period.
The movie is about relationships centered around the horse--Joey, who by the end of the movie has at least four different names. One of the most touching relationships is between Joey and a rival cavalry horse, a big black stallion, who experiences life with Joey during the war. Through the movie, Joey touches the lives of many different people, and almost all of them are a bit better for their contact.
There are some really hard scenes of war--the trench warfare of WWI France is graphic--although not as gruesome as the movie could have made it, the scenes there are truly memorable and hard. The use and abuse of horses in war during the transition from agrarian based life to our current mechanized lifestyle is evident. It is hard for an animal lover like myself to accept how horses were treated--but one scene stands in my mind as Joey is being marched off to war and Albert is allowed one last good-bye, the battle hardened sergeant cuts the good-bye short by saying something about Joey being a horse, not a dog.
This movie is not for children--and it is a hard movie for adults to enjoy, because the hardest realities of life and war are ever present in the movie. I sat through the movie hoping for a happy ending--which seemed impossible. The struggles, the ever present death and destruction, even the interludes of moderate joy were tempered with the knowledge that these too soon must end--and they did.
I am glad I saw the movie on the big screen of a theater to experience the fullness of the movie. I am sure that it will not be nearly as powerful in a TV. The movie gets long in places--it seems that the trials of the war will never end, but then war is like that.
Recommendation: See this movie, but do not expected to feel good about yourself or the world while in the theater. You may even wonder why you went to see a movie that is so hard and real and that seems to highlight the worst of all of us at every turn. But, like other great war movies that depict war at its worst and hardest--this movie deserves to be seen.
The movie was much more than I expected. I had expected a sappy tale about a boy (Albert) and his horse (Joey)--and when the Joey was separated from Albert the subsequent journey for them to be reunited.
What I got was a movie about the hard side of life in England and Europe during the early part of the 20th Century and focused mostly on the WWI time period of 1914-1918.
Life was hard and real. Albert is there from Joey's birth, although his family does not own the horse and they come together on a whim of Albert's father who buys the horse at auction--and really buys the wrong horse for what they need--although in the end, Joey is exactly the right horse for what is asked of him.
The characters in the movie are real--it is easy to hate the hard, business-like, buffoon-seeming landlord and his overly privileged son. Even the weather is used to create the sense of hardship and that nothing can go right for life in the period.
The movie is about relationships centered around the horse--Joey, who by the end of the movie has at least four different names. One of the most touching relationships is between Joey and a rival cavalry horse, a big black stallion, who experiences life with Joey during the war. Through the movie, Joey touches the lives of many different people, and almost all of them are a bit better for their contact.
There are some really hard scenes of war--the trench warfare of WWI France is graphic--although not as gruesome as the movie could have made it, the scenes there are truly memorable and hard. The use and abuse of horses in war during the transition from agrarian based life to our current mechanized lifestyle is evident. It is hard for an animal lover like myself to accept how horses were treated--but one scene stands in my mind as Joey is being marched off to war and Albert is allowed one last good-bye, the battle hardened sergeant cuts the good-bye short by saying something about Joey being a horse, not a dog.
This movie is not for children--and it is a hard movie for adults to enjoy, because the hardest realities of life and war are ever present in the movie. I sat through the movie hoping for a happy ending--which seemed impossible. The struggles, the ever present death and destruction, even the interludes of moderate joy were tempered with the knowledge that these too soon must end--and they did.
I am glad I saw the movie on the big screen of a theater to experience the fullness of the movie. I am sure that it will not be nearly as powerful in a TV. The movie gets long in places--it seems that the trials of the war will never end, but then war is like that.
Recommendation: See this movie, but do not expected to feel good about yourself or the world while in the theater. You may even wonder why you went to see a movie that is so hard and real and that seems to highlight the worst of all of us at every turn. But, like other great war movies that depict war at its worst and hardest--this movie deserves to be seen.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Cats and Computers
Riordin has a need for warmth and he hates it when I am working on my computer, as I was last evening.
Usually, he crawls into my lap, or face, and tries to get between me and the computer screen.
But while I was away for a moment--he decided to take extreme action and placed himself directly on the keyboard.
I was getting some help from a site I was working with and had to step away for some additional information and when I returned, my keyboard was being used--by a feline.
Some days it doesn't seem fair--but when I picked him up, he was definitely very warm.
So I smiled and enjoyed the moment with him.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Usually, he crawls into my lap, or face, and tries to get between me and the computer screen.
But while I was away for a moment--he decided to take extreme action and placed himself directly on the keyboard.
I was getting some help from a site I was working with and had to step away for some additional information and when I returned, my keyboard was being used--by a feline.
Some days it doesn't seem fair--but when I picked him up, he was definitely very warm.
So I smiled and enjoyed the moment with him.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Fault and Responsibility
Our society is missing the boat when it comes to the issue of personal responsibility. That is probably why 40,000 new laws went into effect on January 1st, because we place the responsibility for the actions of an individual on the wrong people.
An article in the Baltimore Sun the other day really got me going and highlighted for me how backwards we have become.
The article is about a local congressman who is facing problems associated with an incident last summer when an underage intern was allowed to have alcohol at a party.
There is a lot of finger pointing in the article about who is to blame and who was reprimanded and how such a travesty could occur--that a 20 year old might get a drink of alcohol at a party. The article goes on to say that the Representative's Chief of Staff was reprimanded and further suggests that one aide was fired for the incident. The firing part was later determined to be untrue.
Here is the problem.
What about the underage drinker? They certainly knew the law and that they should not drink alcohol at functions. Why is the responsibility for wrong doing being deftly shifted away from the responsible party? There was almost no mention of the underage drinker in the entire article and their name was not mentioned at all.
That seems to be the way our society works. Instead of holding the guilty responsible, laws are passed which shift the responsibility to others. In this case, we are dealing with a 20-year old who is able to vote and serve in the military, own property and serve on a jury. Yet, the blame rests on the person holding the party.
That is wrong!
Think about how much better life would be people were responsible for their actions.
Instead of someone suing because the coffee burned their tongue, they would realize that coffee by definition is hot and can burn.
I have tried to read the warnings and labels on many products--the type is too small and all they are really trying to tell me is: Don't be stupid. But still it seems that if I am stupid and hurt myself for some reason, others are responsible.
We need a society where people stand up and say, "I did that and it wasn't very smart." That same society can also allow people to say "I'm sorry and it won't happen again" without threatening dire consequences, unless of course they do it again.
So my response to the article simple is--the writer missed the real culprit and the rose is being pinned on all the wrong people.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
An article in the Baltimore Sun the other day really got me going and highlighted for me how backwards we have become.
The article is about a local congressman who is facing problems associated with an incident last summer when an underage intern was allowed to have alcohol at a party.
There is a lot of finger pointing in the article about who is to blame and who was reprimanded and how such a travesty could occur--that a 20 year old might get a drink of alcohol at a party. The article goes on to say that the Representative's Chief of Staff was reprimanded and further suggests that one aide was fired for the incident. The firing part was later determined to be untrue.
Here is the problem.
What about the underage drinker? They certainly knew the law and that they should not drink alcohol at functions. Why is the responsibility for wrong doing being deftly shifted away from the responsible party? There was almost no mention of the underage drinker in the entire article and their name was not mentioned at all.
That seems to be the way our society works. Instead of holding the guilty responsible, laws are passed which shift the responsibility to others. In this case, we are dealing with a 20-year old who is able to vote and serve in the military, own property and serve on a jury. Yet, the blame rests on the person holding the party.
That is wrong!
Think about how much better life would be people were responsible for their actions.
Instead of someone suing because the coffee burned their tongue, they would realize that coffee by definition is hot and can burn.
I have tried to read the warnings and labels on many products--the type is too small and all they are really trying to tell me is: Don't be stupid. But still it seems that if I am stupid and hurt myself for some reason, others are responsible.
We need a society where people stand up and say, "I did that and it wasn't very smart." That same society can also allow people to say "I'm sorry and it won't happen again" without threatening dire consequences, unless of course they do it again.
So my response to the article simple is--the writer missed the real culprit and the rose is being pinned on all the wrong people.
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD
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