Something To Think About Archive

Congress and their endless stream of spending should remember Calvin Coolidge who claimed that “Economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government.”

The Reverand Billy Graham rightly noted that “Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.” And these days especially, …

Outright ownership of Greenland will turn into a frozen version of Puerto Rico where U.S. taxpayers send $10-15 billion annually. Admittedly, while both have strategic positions in their respective regions, Greenland will play a greater role in the future given the expansionist threat of Russia and China; and it has many rare earth minerals the world increasingly needs. But is outright ownership really necessary or even desirable? The Greenlanders don’t want it, and we certainly don’t need another population rejecting Washington’s authority. Plus, the Danes and NATO had already agreed to an expanded U.S. presence, both military and industrial. We don’t need to own it to accomplish our goals.

Author and psychologist Wayne Oates, who coined the term “Workaholic,” believed that “Maintaining your integrity in a world of sham is no small accomplishment.”

Early retailer John Wanamaker believed that “People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.”

“I never did give anybody hell.” said Harry Truman. “I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.”

We think it’s time to say “enough” to the ICE tactics in Minneapolis. While Governor Tim Walz was clearly wrong to urge citizens to go out and film ICE operations, putting people at risk, the deaths of two anti-ICE activists is too much. Masked ICE Agents and masked demonstrators doesn’t belong in America. While we object to hysterical comparisons to the Gestapo, we will say that it’s gone too far and time to step back and take another approach to the deportment of violent, criminal, illegal immigrants as was the original intent of the mission.

Author Mario Puzio advised us to “Earn respect from everyone by deeds, not words.”

With all the hoopla in Minnesota over defrauded taxpayers, costing the federal government billions, let’s not forget California with its own problems where Unemployment Insurance reportedly lost $30 billion to fraud during COVID and continues to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The Electronic Benefit Transfer program of CalFresh and CalWORKS has been losing $251 million annually to fraud while MediCal made $1.9 billion in overpayments to providers. And let’s not forget the high-speed rail to nowhere now estimated to cost up to $128 billion versus the original budget in 2008 of $33 billion. And there’s no end in sight.

Poet James Russell Lowell once observed that “The misfortunes hardest to bear are those that never come.”

Painter Edward Hopper believed that “No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.”

As baseball great Hank Aaron once noted, “Playing in the big leagues wasn’t nearly as hard as getting there.”

Thomas Jefferson called “Honesty” “…the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”

Still thinking about the proposed and ill-conceived ”Billionaire’s Tax”, we recall Calvin Coolidge’s belief that “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”

It’s interesting to watch Democrats and some Republicans fret over the recent arrest of Nicolas Maduro who has been indicted in a New York court on drug trafficking charges. It’s worth noting that Democrats criticized the first Trump Administration for not doing enough to get Maduro out of power and Biden even increased the bounty on Maduro for information leading to his arrest. But, regime change, no matter how oppressive or illegal a government is; and nation building, no matter how well-intended; has never ended well or with an improved outcome for that country. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell once observed, “You break it, you own it.”

Self-made steel magnate Andrew Carnegie advised us to “Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.”

Poet Samuel Coleridge claimed that “The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions.”

Writer Ann Patchett says that “…the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again.

According to author and ethicist Gus Lee “Courage is addressing wrongs in the face of fear regardless of consequences of risk to self or of potential practical gains.”

Novelist and photographer Eudora Welty said: “Never think you’ve seen the last of anything.”