The Blaisdell Blog

I am sure that Regina , “Gina” McCarthy is a nice person, but she is also everything that goes wrong when you mistake a resume for talent and a bureaucrat for a leader.   A bureaucrat is always a follower, and the party line that McCarthy is following is a land grab of preposterous, dangerous proportions.   What irritates me is that this presumably nice person sees absolutely nothing wrong with proposing legislation that would take your backyard carp pond and put it under governmental ownership.               First, there are a few things you need to know about McCarthy.   She is the kind of person that the Obama administration both seeks out and loves at first sight.   This woman has never held a real job in her life!   Her college credentials are in soft sciences—social anthropology, environmental health engineering and public policy.   Geez-oh-man, with degrees this mushy, this woman hasn...

Not all governmental bodies are created equal.   One need only compare the current Congress (15% approval rating) with the Congresses of 1986-2005 (40% or above approval rating).   For that matter, the, “Do Nothing” Congress of 1947 (Truman administration) passed 906 bills.   This year’s 113 th Congress passed 22!   Of course we set records in other ways.   We had 43 African American members, 100 women and 8 members who class themselves as LGBT.   [I will never understand why one’s sexual orientation somehow clothes one in political gravitas.   Frankly, if you could show me someone with a sound understanding of economics, a realistic foreign policy and a sense of social justice I wouldn’t care if they screwed sheep .]   Only 19% of our Congress have had active duty military service (compared to 80% in 1977).   I will leave it to you to decide if any of this data is part of a cause and effect relationship, but I do believe that people sho...

Good wine, good scotch, good cheese and a good cup of tea can all be enjoyed for the same reasons: bouquet, flavor on the tongue, and the after taste.   If you are in to gustatory fore play and after glow, these are the items you are going for.   Closet hedonists that I am, I love all four.             When I made it known that we were going to Australia , a member of the Blaisdell Family Association reminded me that there is a Bleasdale Winery in South Australia .   Whether you spell the name Bleasdale, Blaisdell, or any of its other configurations, you are all part of my mother’s tribe from the Lancashire area of England .   While we undoubtedly started out as pagans (there is a Stonehenge type circle made of logs near the town of Bleas Dale ) the family managed to acquire the predominant religion(s) of England .   Several of my ancestors became involved in the Puritan movement and were recruited by...

My husband is a pilot.   He flies single engine planes and has logged hundreds of hours.   Tom is an excellent pilot and on the one occasion when our plane was in serious trouble he was exactly the person I wanted at the controls.               Once we were in contact with Air Force One!   It was a one-sided conversation, but it illustrates what I need you to know about air traffic.   Tom and I had taken off from Spirit of St. Louis airport in Chesterfield , MO , heading for St. Paul , MN and the Winter Carnival.   It was Super Bowl weekend, a cold January day.   As our Cherokee Six approached Quincy , Illinois , a call came over the radio.   “This is Air Force One at Quincy , taxiing for take off.”   Tom and I looked at each other.   Could that really have been what we heard?               Tom answered the call, “T...

I once taught with a great woman who was Irish to the core.   She had asked me when I was going to put up my St. Patrick’s Day decorations and, was appalled when I asked her when St. Patrick’s Day was.   I knew it was coming up in March, but could never remember the date.   Everyone agreed that not being Irish didn’t make up for my blatant ignorance.               This brings to mind a much larger question.   Why does the whole country celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, as it turns out) but nobody celebrates St. Olaf’s Day (July 29)?   I am mostly Norwegian (though on St. Patrick’s Day I am allowed to be Irish through the use of large amounts of green and/or beer).   I know a little about St. Patrick, and a great deal more about St. Olaf and I can think of no reason for the lack of celebration for one and too much celebration for another except, maybe, good press.    ...

In 2011 Rutgers student association paid Snooki (a person on some reality television show called, “ Jersey Shore”) $32,000 to appear on campus.   She did two one-hour question and answer gigs.   That is $2000 more than they paid the Nobel prize winning author, Toni Morrison, as Rutgers ’ commencement speaker.   The University saw nothing wrong in this, the students get to make their own choices; after all, we all know how intelligent and responsible college undergrads are.   The 2012 speaker was Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions and an Obama appointee.   The 2013 commencement duties went to Virginia Long, a Democrat and considered one of the most Liberal justices on the New Jersey Supreme Court.   Prior to the watershed year of 2011, when Rutgers started paying its commencement speakers another speaker was Tavis Smiley, a radio talk show host, political commentator and aide to Mayor Tom Bradley.   If you are keeping score, this means we ha...

Alexander Hamilton is frequently mistaken for a President because his face appears on the $10 bill.   Of course, Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill and he isn’t a President either.   The fact that these two very illustrious and important Americans are confused with Presidents is a serious indictment of our lacks attitude toward teaching American history in this country but that is subject for another blog.   Hamilton is my focus now because of our bloated national debt, Obamacare and some interesting observations from New Zealand and Australia .   There is noting like looking at our national experiment in a socialized welfare state from the perspective of countries that have already stumbled down that sorry path and are reaping the rewards thereof.     As a founding father, Hamilton is a flamboyant, colorful, controversial character.   He would make good television material.   He was a member of the Constitutional Convention, our f...