The Blaisdell Blog

Poor John Tyler is generally considered one of the 10 worst presidents in the United States.   Of course, that only puts him in the bottom quartile, a section that is rapidly filling up with much more worthy participants.   But for right now we do know that Tyler gets an almighty poor score by all but one historian.               Tyler holds the dubious distinction of being the first of those unhappy souls who landed the job of President after the death of their predecessor.   While eight Presidents have died in office (four from assassination, four from natural causes) only a few of the Vice Presidents who succeeded to office had any real desire to be President.   Tyler was not one of those men.             In 1841 William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia which “begat” John Tyler.   A scant nine years later, in 1850, Zachary Taylor died of...

If you were told that your pet spaniel needed an operation to correct a badly damaged rear leg, and that operation would cost you $126 would you spend the money?    What if the choices involved were fixing the leg for that price, amputating the leg for $75, or doing nothing and letting the dog live in lame and painful conditions, or euthanizing the dog for $25?   Obviously, your choices would be dictated by three conflicting considerations: affection for the dog, compassion for his pain and the realities of your budget.               Now, suppose that the cost of repairing the leg was not $126, but $65,646.   In a way, this decision is easier, isn’t it?   That amount of money represents such an obvious difference in choices for the family that, while you may not want your dog to suffer, you know that you are going to make a hard choice that does NOT include repairing the leg.   That choice h...

Sen. John McCain stands with his arms at an odd angle.   He moves them only by moving his whole shoulder.   His arms reach for objects by moving outward and then forward instead of in a normal forward flow.    On October 26, 1967 a 31 year old John McCain was flying his 23 rd bombing mission over North Vietnam.   He was shot down and ejected from the cockpit, but that is a violent act and he broke both arms and a leg upon impact with the ocean.   Those were not the wounds he suffers from today.    The North Vietnamese who pulled him from the water deliberately crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and then bayoneted him.   He was transported to the Hanoi Hilton, the North’s primary prisoner of war camp.   There he was refused medical attention until it was discovered that his father was an Admiral in the United States Navy, and commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam.          ...

June 10 th is the anniversary of the famous trial, Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes.   It put the small town of Dayton, Tennessee on the map and gave us a great movie, Inherit the Wind .   Setting that aside, there was plenty of theatrics in the trial itself.               In March of 1925 the state of Tennessee had passed the “Butler” act (no relation as far as I can tell or that my husband will attest to) which outlawed the teaching of evolution.   The only story of creation allowed in the God-fearin’ state of Tennessee was what came out of the King James Bible.               John Scopes, a substitute science teacher, was recruited by a local businessman, George Rappalyea, to challenge the law.   Scopes later admitted that he couldn’t remember if he ever taught any evolution or not, but the trial had to have a defendant.   What was...