Daily Archives: October 24, 2021

It was such a pleasure to watch an adult interview last night between Anderson Cooper and Robert Gates as part of the 60 Minutes program. I then watched the entire interview on 60 minutes overtime. There was no screaming and talking over one another and trying to elicit salacious comments.

You have to respect someone who served eight presidents from both parties and is rightly knowledgeable about the most important issue that is facing our nation and that is our national security and where we stand in the world in competition with China and Russia and the threat of terrorism. He didnt waffle and was willing to take his share of the blame for mistakes that were made. How refreshing.

When asked about comments he had made about President Trump and President Biden, he simply said he stands by his comments which is refreshing in itself. When pushed on the hot topic politically correct issues that are tearing apart our country his only comment was he had never seen so much hatred and if we are not careful that hatred will be our downfall.

Robert Gates is one of my heroes. I remember well in October of 2000 when I was the associate director of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute and we held one of our periodic Leadership Forums, this one on Domestic Terrorism. He was a panelist.

At that time over 800 domestic terror groups had been identified and the discussion centered on how to stop their efforts as well as those of foreign terrorist. I will never forget in his closing comments, he said.

It is not a matter of if but simply a matter of when a major terrorist attack will occur on American soil and how we respond will define the American character. Eleven months later, 9/11 happened. The question I have for the America of today, what is our character and how does it reflect on us as a people?

I think most Americans are tired of the political correctness, the social media bullying, and our elected officials being more interested in the party than the Americans they were elected to represent. A recent poll showed 29 % identified as Democrat, 29% as Republican, but 41% as independent. The independents have the power to reshape this country to once again make it the great melting pot and the shining example of what is possible to the world. That is my prayer.

Charles Cotten

Odessa

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Respectful conversation easy to watch - Odessa American

Lawrence Brown| Columnist

Before Halloween comes, we have King Richard'sFaire just across the bridge in Carver.

If youve never been (and shame on you if you havent) the Faire runs from early to late fall.The grounds are spacious with medieval and Renaissance buildings, staged musical productions, animal and acrobatic acts, a jousting field and places to throw an ax.You can even devour a huge leg of meat like Henry VIII.

At least a third of the visiting public shows up in costume as well and nobody gets too particular about authenticity.Fantasy and historicity casually blend here. Fairy elves pass you on tiptoe, making way for medieval executioners in black hoods with broadaxes as big as desktops.There are lots of women bulging out of their lace-up bodices, which suggests that more women enjoy being weekend wenches than you might guess.(Political correctness has no place in the 1600s.)

Meanwhile, professional troops of performers do musical skits with lusty singing and ribald humor.The slapstick has the children in giggles while the other half of the humor goes right past the kids to you.The amazing stunt men who joust for your entertainment will make sure you have clear heroes to scream for and villains to boo at.

So much humor and passion goes into the place that you can only conclude there are more neighbors than youd think whose daily lives just dont cut it, that they are more alive at King Richards Faire than they feel at homeor God bless em, at work.Its Halloween on steroids.

Meanwhile, the full free-for-all of Halloween is around the corner.We live in a more fearful age.Back in the day, children roamed the neighborhood from house to house unsupervised, just as they did in daylight. I remember a lonely old man with a fiddle. Halloween was his big chance every year to throw his door open and serenade everyone who came in.Its a lot more organized now and a lot more commercialized. Americans will spend over $10 billion this year.Only Christmas gets more.

Inflatable ghouls and monsters inhabit our front lawns, but we havent had kids work the neighborhood in years.All Hallows Eve may provide some slight historical grounding but unlike Christmas, we cant really argue that all the meaning has been drained from something that at least in this country had so little meaning in it to start with.

When we were kids, there was a frisson of real spookiness about being out after dark.More recently, the kids I taught were far more apt to believe in ghosts than in, say, angels.Whats the difference?None really, only angels have heaven to live in while ghosts seem to be stuck down here with us and none too happy about it.

Nobodys afraid of ghosts anymore; were too afraid of each other.Mamma herds the kids into tight packs, and pores over the treats for the pins and razor blades that are never there.You cant be too careful.Whats still fun?Dressing up.And why is dressing up fun?Because we get to be somebody else.

Kids get to be superheroes with capes.Or pirates. Or nurses, the real superheroes of our age.(In the real world, though, nobody sees nurses with the mesh stockings and little bitty outfits they sell at CVS for 20 bucks.)

Maybe it would be a more honest world if everybody had to wear a costume all the time, something that reflected their true nature.Then you could go to work and see who the court jesters, inquisitors and executioners reallywere. That might be a more honest reflection of who we are than the plain clothes costumes we wear every day.

Meanwhile, in my old school, the little kids will get into their costumes and parade through the hallways.Some will giggle.Monsters will go, Aaarrrghhh!Superheroes will be stern and heroic.The older kids and faculty will have their costume contest in the Commons.

At the Faire, the late afternoons have gotten chilly and darker.Still, the executioner offers a courtly bow in passing.Good afternoon, MLord, he says. Good day MLady. I offer my camera and a buxom wench behind a table adjusts the slant of her hat, drops her chin a bit and flashes a sly smile.Whatever youre selling, says the smile, I aint buying it.Little twin girls prance by twirling long streamers in spiraling rings.Finally, Im worn out.

If I have any complaint about King Richards Faire its that, as the sun goes down, they make us all go home.

Lawrence Brown is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times. Email him atcolumnresponse@gmail.com.

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Costumes, masks and things that go bump in the night - Cape Cod Times

To the editor: One thing you can always count on from John McClaughry is his uncanny ability to spout the most tone deaf nonsense under the guise of some other seemingly valid concern. The other is that he is the print version of Fox News. Let me add a third; I would wager that he hasn't set foot in a public school in the past 3 or more decades. No matter, that makes him an expert on threats to our American way of life by way of public schools teaching a "radical curriculum" to our innocent, impressionable young minds ("Public school democracy: Voice vs. choice," Oct. 19). And, oh, by the way, there's nothing wrong with public education that a simple school choice for all won't fix.

As usual with McClaughry mistruths and half truths, where does one even begin?

Be very suspect whenever someone with a media pulpit, especially John McClaughry and his ilk, tries to convince you that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the latest invasion of "political correctness" in the public school curriculum. Talk to any teacher or administrator in Vermont and other public schools and they will tell you that the best they hope to achieve in school is the teaching of respect, the fostering of an open-minded spirit that accepts difference and celebrates diversity. They will have the "lived experience" of working day to day with the challenges of achieving this when the culture at large doesn't celebrate it enough. The far-right drum beating and fear mongering on CRT is just another smokescreen to erase and deny the deep-seated history of racism in this country and the long-overdue work to reconcile Americans to the truth of a shameful past.

Bill Conley

Dummerston, Oct. 20

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Letter: McClaughry: Editor of The Tone Deaf Times - Brattleboro Reformer

The trolley arguments

[Monday] night, the City Council majority, consisting of Councilors Erik Brechnitz, Joe Rola, Greg Folley and Claire Babrowski, acknowledged residents opinions and voted to stop trolley/transient expansion on Marco Island.Congratulations and thank you!

Councilors Jared Grifoni, Rich Blonna and Becky Irwin dissented. If I were to (hypothetically) award prizes for their dissenting arguments, heres how they might go:

Third prize to Councilor Grifoni whose interest in a brand-new Marco restaurant might have inspired him to favor increasing our islands visitor numbers.

Second prize to Councilor Blonna, who lectured that Marco residents had a moral duty (?) to grow Marco businesses because some are owned by Marco residents.

First and grand prize to Councilor Becky Irwin who proudly stated having received five emails supporting trolley/transient expansion plus about 230 emails opposing it.However, Ms. Irwin insisted that these impressive numbers did not really represent an opposing majority opinion because, (ready?), many, maybe most of the opposing emails, each from different people, contained exact or similar rationales.

The grand prize would be Beveridges Basic Math for Dummies with addendum: majority a number or percentage equaling more than half of a total (Webster).

Russ Colombo, Marco Island

I read the article on school board member Chris Patricca, wherein she shared some of the challenges of educating children arriving from Guatemala. Such students were an example of difficulties faced by educators here, where the system must acknowledge both the difficulties and the expectations for success. Unfortunately, rather than addressing the facts, certainboard members focused on investigating her for offending a community. That is simply nonsense! If we followed their rhetoric, we would move further from the truth and a potential solution set.

When are we going to stop making excuses and start implementing a solution to move such immigrants forward. Guatemalans have a proud heritage that doesnt want sympathy. Help them find the educational and cultural tools necessary and their value to the entire community will only increase. I look forward to a time when those that spend time pandering to a misguided political correctness argument that is hollow; change to implementing programmatic improvements and deliverables. The only offending being done here is to Chris Patricca.

John Tomlinson, Bonita Springs

There is a cure to Senator Joe Manchin's obstruction on meaningful infrastructure spending to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and alleviate some of the human factor in climate change. She is Val Demings, Democratic candidate for Florida's Senate seat up for election in 2022. Manchin is doing what he thinks the people in his state and the coal companies that finance his campaign want him to do. The only way to change that is to send more Democrats to the Senate so one senator cannot deny the whole country what it needs to prepare for the weather and economy of the future. Maybe we Floridians are more aware of the threats of rising sea levels and more powerful hurricanes, but the people of West Virginia will feel its effects as well the next time they get a few days of 100-year rains or a crippling blizzard and deep freeze. Until then, we will have to let Senator Manchin bury his head in the coal, and elect senators who understand the problems and want to work on solutions.

Karen Wentzel, Naples

Constant wildfires in the West; I call my relatives in California.The smoke often keeps them inside, but so far the fires are not on their doorstep.My granddaughters family in Brooklyn, N.Y., suffered a foot of water in the first floor of their building during the recent post-hurricane flooding; fortunately they live on an upper floor.Here, we have the seasonal worry about hurricanes, but now we are told they will likely be much worse.

Report targets economic risks from climate change was the heading on an Oct.16 report in the Naples Daily News.The report tells of potential changes in the mortgage process, stock market, retirement plans, federal procurement and budgeting.This problem is huge!

What can I do? I like to search for the root of the problem.Global warming causes these extremes in weather, and carbon emissions contribute to this warming.This planet has gone through climate change before, but never before at such a rapid pace. Industrial operations must stop feeding the atmosphere with carbon.

The government should place a fee on every ton of carbon emitted, and that fee should be increased each year.Companies would increase innovative ways to reduce carbon and global warming could be slowed.The net fees collected should be distributed to U.S. citizens.

Jean Prokopow, Naples

More: Letters to the Editor, Oct. 1

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Letters to the Editor, Oct. 22 - Marco News