The Blaisdell Blog

I don’t know when I set reading Presidential biographies as a life goal, but my first book was about Woodrow Wilson and I have been hooked ever since.   Smart has always been my sexy.   I don’t cover the Presidents in any particular order.   When I visit a Presidential library or home, I will frequently pick up a biography.   Sometimes one biography leads to another.   After reading the spectacular book, Truman , by David McCullough, I was eager to read a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.   There was an interesting contrast between those two contemporaries.   The more you read about Harry S Truman, the more you like him.   The more you find out about FDR the less you like him.   They were both effective and admirable Presidents, but Truman was clearly the better human being.               Sometimes you find a person that history tells you was a great man, but not a good man. ...

The quiet of a sweet night’s sleep was suddenly broken by the sounds of screeching metal, sirens, shouts and the crash of a fast moving truck roaring through the gates of our park in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.   In that instant, a world that existed in news reports, jokes and political commentary became our world.   A world made up of pounding feet, panicked cries in foreign tongues, and the uncertainty of who would fire the first shot.    That night illegal immigration became a threat, not an issue.   We live in a gated community along a major highway running from the Mexican border through McAllen , Texas toward San Antonio .   A truck carrying 20 illegal aliens left a staging area on an isolated ranch located not five miles from where we live.   The aliens in that truck were from Mexico and Central America, mostly Guatemala .     Immigration intercepted the truck near the small town of Falfurrias on US Highway 281.   The...

If I ever get on JEOPARDY, and trust me I keep trying, I hope that one of the categories is Broadway musicals.   I’m solid on musicals, and one of my favorites is Fiddler on the Roof.   So I frequently find myself mumbling the words to, “If I Where a Rich Man” at odd moments. I have the kind of voice that zips right past bad, solidly into offensive.   So if you ever hear me singing to myself, either keep walking or ask me to stop.   It won’t bother me.               What does bother me, are people who assume that if I am a Republican that I already am a rich man.   One of the favorite myths of the Democrats is that they are just a bunch of working stiffs and the Republicans are all bankers who look suspiciously like the logo on the monopoly game.   Though, if you are in the media, there is a subtle variation of this.   News men like to portray Democrats as intellectually superior and Republic...

I am a Barry Goldwater Republican.   That means I think the accumulation of money and power in Washington is my business, but private matters of religion and morality are not.   While I would like to have my political leaders be paragons of virtue, I consider this an add-on, not a prerequisite.   As I have said before, show me a person who has a sound understanding of economics, a realistic foreign policy and a sense of social justice, and I won’t care if they screw sheep.   I like Republicans who are fiscal conservatives and social moderates.   I like Republicans who are smart.   They don’t have to be formally educated but I do want them to be well read.   I want them to be politically savvy, to enjoy playing the game, but still have ethical lines they won’t cross.    Most of all, I want them to win!   I must tell you that Gov. Rick Perry is not my dog in the nomination race, but I still don’t like how he has been used either by the m...

On August 19, 1989, off-duty Police Officer Mark McPhail was working a part-time security job.   He saw a homeless man, Larry Young, being pistol whipped by Troy Davis.   McPhail went to the man’s aid, and Davis shot McPhail to death, once in the chest, and a second time in the face.   The shells that killed McPhail were linked by ballistics to a gun Troy Davis used in a previous shooting.   Now, 23 years later people have come forward to say Davis didn’t fire the shot, or they aren’t sure he fired the shot, or maybe he did but shouldn’t die anyway.   It is worth a little examination. First, Davis was convicted by a jury of seven blacks and five whites in less than two hours.   These are the people who heard the original and timely evidence.   They are the first responders to the state’s attempt at justice for both McPhail and Davis.   The trial was automatically appealed because of the death penalty.   No matter which court has heard the...

I lived in the best baseball town in America , St. Louis , Missouri , for over thirty years.   That means I am a Cardinals fan.   Our strength has been in smart managers, great fielders, some extraordinary base runners and a few good hitters.   There is something about seeing Mark McGwyer or Albert Pujols tee up on a fast ball coming into their wheelhouse.   Every muscle in their body tenses, their feet drive into the ground like stone pillars.    Their swing is a full, strong arc that extends like a ballet dancer in its grace and beauty.   But the best part is the crack of the bat as it connects with the ball.   You can hear a home run.   It has a special sound, and when you hear it the question is not if the ball will leave the park, it is how far it will leave the park.     I mention this because, while there is no end of things I am not very good at, by virtue of natural talent, careful training, strict discipline, hard w...

The Blaisdell Blog: Celebrate Constitution Day With a Look at the Nort... : If you live in Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Michigan , Wisconsin or Minnesota , the date July 13, 1787 is very important to you. If you ar...

If you live in Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Michigan , Wisconsin or Minnesota , the date July 13, 1787 is very important to you.   If you are an American, that date is very important to you.   In fact, if you are a foreigner, thinking of creating a, “more perfect Union ” that date is vital to you.   It was on this date, that the Congress of the Confederation of the United States signed the Northwest Ordinance.    Since today is Constitution Day, I thought I would use it to slide slightly off course to my second favorite federal document.   I love the Northwest Ordinance because it shows how our body of laws began early on to perfect this land.   Actually, since this country existed for 8 years under the Articles of Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance began its life before our Constitution did, but was quickly added with only minor adjustments.   In 1787, for the first time since its creation, the United States was going to add territory to i...

Men won’t be able to relate to this, but women will.   A month ago I was walking through a high end department story and stopped to look at a makeup display.   The saleswoman asked me if I would like a complimentary facial and makeover.   Since I was on a lark that day I said I’d love one and plopped myself down.   She then started working on me, both physically and figuratively.    All the time the saleswoman was cleansing, massaging and moisturizing my face she was also busy making me feel good about myself, my goals for eternal youth [Let’s be honest, that train isn’t returning to the station any time soon!] , and the quality of her makeup.   She hit all of the notes one is supposed to (all natural ingredients, no animal testing, skin care—not makeup!!!!) and when she was done I was sure I looked better than when she started.    All of this kept scrolling through my mind when I watched President Obama’s speech on the jobs plan.   Yup,...

I had slept in, taken my morning walk late and was just making my first cup of coffee when my daughter called me.   “Mom,” her urgent voice said, “I saw the plane fly into the tower.   I saw it, Mom!   I was watching the television in the break room and that plane just flew into the second tower.”   That is how I learned that our country was under attack.   America began its emotionally tumultuous day— Pearl Harbor laid out before our eyes.   My husband and I are in the habit of having a glass of wine with dinner and toasting to any small, significant or touching thing that happens during our day.   That night, as I raised my glass, we both quietly spoke the words that were uppermost in our minds, “To the United States of America.”               Of all the lessons that can be taken from that day, one of the least discussed and most poignant is what happened to St. Paul ’s Episcopal Chapel, ...

As I have said before, I am a political creature who has learned not to be surprised or scandalized by any manifestations of election posturing.   But unions can still make my teeth itch.   Outside of the fact that they seem to attract corruption like dogs attract fleas, it is the arrogant ignorance of them that gets me going.    Labor Day brings them out of the woodwork.             First there was Maxine Waters wanting a trillion dollar stimulus package.   Never mind that Maxine couldn’t write $1,000,000,000,000 if you spotted her the 1 and half the zeros.   Never mind that if the government said they would actually spend that much money to rebuild our sadly neglected space program, acquire energy from space, go to Mars, and employ hundreds of scientists, engineers, skilled technicians and support staff, that she would vote against it.   She doesn’t want jobs, she wants government dole for peopl...

I do not believe that there is any such thing as an unselfish interest in the welfare of others commonly called “altruism.”   I do believe that people behave in ways that most humans would define as altruistic, but that these acts are, consciously or unconsciously, egocentric. And that is fine with me.               This does not mean I have a jaded or pessimistic look at the world.   On the contrary, knowing that altruism is a natural and irresistible human impulse, motivated by hardwired self interest is amazingly reassuring to me.   I am a happier person, knowing that a significant number of humans will eventually find altruism a desirable avenue of expression.   Strength of character, it seems, is in our self interest.               I believe in the reliable and entirely positive phenomenon of self interest because of my understanding of economics....