Vernon Windsor's Blog (40)

After a day of fine, dry snow and the horrendous wind gusts that blow it around, the park was empty of walkers as I stood on the banks of the Mississippi and observed the texture of its frozen waters. Any slightly raised surface had captured a tuft of snow as the wind carved across the ice. With the light coming from the side, each tiny snowy hillock was illuminated as a white dot or curve marking the surface topography against the gray of the ice. I stood silently taking it in before I…

(This is a letter to the editor of a local paper that I just had published. I'd written it in response to another letter claiming liberals were exploiting the tragedy of Sandy Hook. Although I used some of the arguments in the original letter, I think mine is self-explanatory enough to be posted here.)



I read Mr. Niggemeyer's letter entitled "Liberals are exploiting this tragedy" with astonishment. Mr. Niggemeyer tells us in his letter what he believes. I have no doubt that he…

Watched (or listened to) Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" with everyone from Patrick Stewart to Jonathan Winter in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Having followed politics the past year, the resonances and parallels to current times were undeniable. I've come to the conclusion that we have way too many people playing that Scrooge role in real life.

History is what happens, or more likely, what we tell ourselves happens. Some events are easy to look up, document and analyze. Others, not so much. As I have lived my own life, I've often mused on why I seem to forget some things, or some truths that I really should remember. Why do humans have to learn so many things "the hard way?" Here we are, once again, as a nation, shaking our heads and trying to deal with the aftermath of yet another mass shooting. After all the similar incidents…

Republicans failed to ratify the United Nations treaty to protect the disabled around the world. A majority of Republican senators voted against Americans and others with disabilities, including US veterans by failing to ratify the measure which was based on US law. Bob Dole, who came to the senate floor after a recent hospital stay, was present in the chamber to watch the majority of his own party fail to ratify a treaty which would support Senator Dole's dignity and that of others with…

Dear Senator McCain,

We need to talk. Why the unwarranted attack on Susan Rice, our UN ambassador? You have served in the US Senate long enough to know how the CIA handles matters of national security. I know, too, that you have been involved with investigations about the FBI. You were even a subject of one, if I recall. Yet, by threatening to block the yet-to-be-made appointment of Rice to be Secretary of State, you embody the very dysfunction and lack of statesmanship that has…

I worked on the Obama campaign. I put myself in a self-imposed media vacuum for the last four days of the election. I just figuratively put myself in the harness, put my head down and pulled. Once the objective had been reached, I crashed like a salmon after spawning. After finally waking up, I decided I needed some light-hearted entertainment—so I turned on Fox News.

Oh my goodness! I must admit it was somewhat satisfying to see the Fox News universe running around, banging into each…

Just saw this on a friend's facebook page. It is from the Daily Kos. These are not my words, but they pretty much align with my feelings. Note, there is some strong language. Be advised.

I meet you all the time. You hate Obama. You hate gay people. You hate black people, immigrants, Muslims, labor unions, women who want the right to make choices concerning their bodies, you hate em all. You hate being called racist. You hate being called a bigot.…

The weather was unseasonably warm. After a relatively cool spring, the rising temps and unstable air had ramifications. As I drove south, my nose was assaulted by the rapidly decaying carcasses hidden in the growing grasses of the ditch by the side of the road. The stench was incongruent with the verdant green grasses waving in the wind.

A mated pair of giant Canada geese, flying side by side, just managed to clear the tall sleeper cab of a tractor-trailer rig barreling north…

Although Rush Limbaugh's verbal assault on Sandra Fluke is both hideous and in keeping with the war on women being waged by his political party, even more disturbing is the silence by leading Republicans that seems to indicate tacit approval of his comments. Props to the president for supporting her.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief comes gliding past the old ATSF depot, sounding only after the locomotives clear the building. I look away for a moment or two, thinking about traveling. When I look out the window again, the sun is glinting off the stainless steel of the coaches as the last of the train cross the trestles toward Illinois. I'm reminded of the silvery sides of a fish flashing as it leaves the water. only to disappear once again beneath the murky depths.

I can't shake…

I have real sympathy for the choice facing Iowa Republicans as the caucus nears. It's got to be a tough time to be a Republican. They're on the ropes as the public realizes they have done nothing but obstruct and take symbolic votes since taking office. They ended up on the wrong side of the tax issue with extending the payroll tax cut. They want to make the election about the poor economy and lack of jobs, while the economy is improving and the only thing they've done about jobs is pay…

The man looked into the mirror and saw staring back at him a handsome, youthful gentleman with flowing black hair, flawless skin, broad shoulders, and washboard abs. This was notable, especially in light of the fact that the man was way past his prime, graying and balding, with liver spots, toothpick arms and legs and a belly that almost reached his knees. Still, his image of himself continued to favorably embellish what his eyes saw in the mirror, and he smiled…

The river lies resting beneath the ice. Whether that rest is peaceful or anxious, I cannot say. Is there resentment in the old watery heart at having been "tamed into a series of navigation pools, locked punitively between dams? Does it rest quietly, dreaming of spring and fresh snow melt, or does it wait like an ambush predator beneath its brilliant blanket of snow and ice, waiting for the inevitable fool to try to walk across it's vast width, only to disappear into its icy, ancient…

Both president Obama and vice-president Biden have been taken to task in the media for comments urging their political base (questionable assumption) to get to the polls…