I fail to see what exactly the mouse did that was heroic. Why do we call everybody and every thing a hero for nothing more than proximity to a situation?
Isn't there a difference between a political organizer and a community organizer?
The Keystones Tar Sands Pipeline is not a job creator. Middle class workers are job creators.
Bob Dold is so disingenuous about payroll tax vote that even Crains cannot stand it. He forgot to mention why the Democrats would not vote for the Republican payroll tax cut bill, it contained several "poison pills". Apparently, Bob is a bit confused about the pipeline, the Keystone Oil pipeline will not bring oil to the US for US use. It's for refining and delivery overseas. Poor confused Bob. He's now admitting to the media that he's not up for the job.
Mark Kirk tweets: "US long ago desig Taliban terrorists. Now Admin is negotiating with terrorists. How valuable are Taliban "promises"? I respond: "
Joe Cirincione tweets: "This is a very important point. "
Don't believe the Ayn Rand Institute backstory on how she came to the USA. They would have you believe she walked from Russia after fighting the Bolsheviks single-handedly at the age of 12 while starving. The story I was told by people with some personal knowledge is that she did spend some dicey months in Russia in the early stages of the Bolshevik part of the Revolution, but she was never alone. First, she had her parents and sisters, and then she had her Chicago family, my family. Her parents had participated in the earlier White Revolution, happy to be rid of the Tsar as were most Jewish families in Russia at the time. They fled with their children to the Crimea when the Bolsheviks marched into St. Petersburg, their home town, but returned shortly thereafter, probably due to lack of food and housing. When they got back, they found that her father's business was taken from him by the Bolsheviks. He was crushed and never recovered from it. The Revolution somewhat benefited the daughter, Alissa (later Alice and eventually Ayn), however, as it was her only chance to go to college, something that would have been forbidden to a female and a Jew before the Revolution. She adopted the Revolution's atheism and went to college in St. Petersburg, but she ultimately saw that there was no future to be had in Soviet Russia and told her parents she wanted out. She ultimately came over the same way thousands of Jewish refugees came over--though sponsorship by relatives already in the USA. Her parents wrote to my mom's great-grantparents asking if they would please take her in and take care of her. Being nice people and good liberals, they said sure. They housed, fed and clothed her and gave her money to make her way to California. Here's a little oral history as told by Fern Brown, my grandfather's first cousin. My mom's grandfather was the "Ike" referred to in Brown's story. I remember him well although he was very old when I was still a small child. I have no reason to doubt Brown, she was one of my mom's favorite cousins, but my grandmother told a slightly different story--that Rand lived with different parts of the family at different times and the family didn't really like her much because she kept them up all night. The point is that Rand did not make it out of Russia and to California on her own steam. The family was happy to help her out and she was happy to take their help and kindness. Isn't that what Americans generally gladly do for each other, and a far cry from the selfishness Rand later promoted?
On the Gill side of the family, we're busy with long-distance Internet book club. The book is Flowers for Algernon. Algernon is a real heroic mouse, well, the fictional version at least. So far here is my favorite quote: Now I understand one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be.
I have absolutely no problem with this holiday message from the President and I like my card with the Bo paw print signature:
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