Yesterday saw a fairly important milestone take
place when the articles of impeachment finally made it over to the Senate. I
got the distinct impression the house leadership didn’t want to let go of them
because of the press they basked in during the past couple months. The Senate
proceedings were appropriately a lot more solemn than the House circus. I remember
in college during a political science class the professor emphasized that
impeachment was a huge deal and had only been invoked once in our entire
history. This marks the second impeachment in recent history. It was supposed
to be a measure of last resort and not a political game; well, we’re now three
for three on that count.
 |
| Senate Swearing In Yesterday |
The advent of the information age has trivialized a
wide range of formerly semi-sacred traditions and this needs to be added to the
list. I blame the republicans who first invoked it for Clinton for something
that didn’t rise to the founders’ concept of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Clinton was certainly morally contemptible on a wide variety of levels but the republican’s
hatred of him drove that impeachment effort. The same can certainly be said of
the current situation. Trump is at least as contemptible (much more so
actually) as Clinton and for me that’s saying a lot. The democrats are driven
by hatred of Trump and his certifiably disgraceful personality. They were
calling for his impeachment before he was even inaugurated. Being a self-important
gas bag isn’t a crime, otherwise three quarters of the congress would have to
be unseated along with the Twitterer in Chief.
My biggest concern is the distraction this will
cause from both governing the country and keeping an eye on world events. US election
years are always looked at as an opportunity by the lurking wolves out and
about in the world as we devolve into our customary election year chaos. In the
end though I have confidence in the intrinsic worth of this country that we can
survive a Trump presidency which I guess qualifies as an acid test of our political
system.
 |
| Wingman (r) and the Band at NASA |
No contact with the granddaughters last night as I hunkered
down in the Man Cave emptying out the DVR backlog along with Christmas gifted
movies. A serious cold snap manifested itself accompanied by some serious winds
which made the empty house seem a little spookier than usual. I should have
stayed away from the scary fare. Morale maintenance responsibilities during this
weekend’s geographic bachelor malaise fall upon the New Jersey bunch. I’m
heading down there tomorrow hopefully ahead of the incoming snow storm to spend
the long weekend with the redoubtable FBR and my daughter (also in geographical
bachelorhood). Wingman continues his nationwide tour with the band and they
were at Cape Kennedy this week and received a VIP tour of the space agency,
extremely cool.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECURRING
CHARACTERS
BR3
– inbound
granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel
- second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog
Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA –
Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since
grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to
attract women; Pittsburgh College
Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the
BRS; PanaGals – female
relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood
Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); First Friday – celebrations
to mark the First Friday of the Week; Deckzilla
Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every
Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with
demeanor issues
No comments:
Post a Comment