Wet & Smelly

Mitch has been peeing on us for so long he's forgotten where the bathroom is...

NOTE - 11 Mar 2016 - I discovered this article today and thought it might give my enraged friends some comforting rationale for my "outrageous art" of Sen. McConnell:
Shun a President’s Supreme Court Nominee? Alexander Hamilton Would Not Be Pleased,
Dorothy Samuels and Alicia Bannon, 9 Mar 2016, Moyers & Co.

"Alexander Hamilton, that visionary Founding Father and hip-hop phenomenon, thanks to Hamilton, the musical, has been celebrated of late on Broadway and at the Grammys. His face adorns the $10 bill. If only his thoughts about choosing Supreme Court justices were getting remotely as much respect from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and most other GOP senators."

"We can discern from Hamilton’s owns words what he probably would have thought of Senate Republicans’ vow not to consider any Supreme Court nomination President Obama puts forward for Justice Antonin Scalia’s successor. The best guess, based on the historical evidence, is that Hamilton and other of the Constitution’s Framers would have been appalled by the confirmation antics of McConnell & Co."
...

"To be sure, much has changed since the Founding era. But the Founders’ basic belief in an American government carefully designed to actually work remains a bulwark of the nation’s democracy. In Alexander Hamilton’s words, “the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration.” Keeping a Supreme Court seat vacant for a needlessly extended period, as Republican leaders favor, would do the exact opposite, provoking 4-4 ties and damaging legal uncertainty while badly undermining the Constitution."

"Our constitutional system only works if the institutional players adhere in good faith to the Constitution’s basic rules. Our strong hunch is Hamilton and other Framers, were they alive today, would not hesitate to call out Republican leaders for their pre-announced departure."

Please go here for the complete article.

$10 Misunderstanding

For me the lights came on when I took a required class at the University of Akron. Dr. David Riede taught Western Cultural Traditions for a bazillion years to thousands of students. He was the master at overcoming years of mind numbing high school history classes. In fact, right with the first hour of his class he had me hooked. That was no small accomplishment because Western Cult was one of those pre-recorded video class which were delivered to hundreds of students sitting in lecture halls around campus watching TV screens.

One of the ways Dr. Riede made history exciting was his ability to weave the personalities of historical figures into his lectures. Because of Dr. Riede, winter semester 1967 was the “ignition and liftoff” of my never-ending learning quest.

Dr. Riede passed a few years ago, so you’ll have to settle for looking at a few of his old videos, if the U of A still has them.

In the meantime, you can check out a version of Dr. Riede’s approach to making history come alive and throwaway your $10 misunderstanding of our Founding Fathers, too. (Hamilton's likeness appears on the $10 bill.)

Take a couple of days off and visit NYC. While you are there, see Hamilton, the smash hit Broadway musical.

Perhaps you'll free your "young, scrappy and hungry" self and make "your best shot". You still have time.
Go here for more.