The ORE heard from
A few weeks ago, the Lady Editor remarked in her column that she got weary, sometimes, coming up with something interesting every week, and she sort of asked if anybody else wanted to write a guest column. Of course your Old Retired Editor does, so here is my offering, in the inimitable Krause vein.
INTERNATIONAL SCENE: The democritics of G..W. Bush are crying long and loud because we haven't yet found that huge stash of "Weapons of Mass Destruction," that the president said that Saddam had. Well, of course, they are hard to find. After all, Saddam had a couple of months when he knew he was going to be attacked, but the weaker-kneed of good folks here and abroad, didn't think there was any rush. So old Saddam either hid them away, probably in a foreign country, or else he had them destroyed so he wouldn't get caught with them. Either way, the delaying tactics of those who opposed the war are responsible for the WMD being hard to find.
While on the subject of George W. Bush, we wish those democritics would get off that cry of "Bush didn't really win in Florida." I saw at least two reports from press groups and college groups that undertook to recount the Florida ballots, and in both cases they said Bush would have won, no matter how they counted the ballots. The reports were on about the 12th page of the Wichita Eagle, in about a three-inch item, and I never heard them mention it on TV. But they were real and true and those democritics need to get over it.
NOW THOSE TAX CUTS that the GOP is trying to push through: I can't believe that Americans don't want a tax cut, and any politician who believes that can't understand why they will be defeated in November. I am not enough of an economist to understand all the figures in the tax cut to stimulate the economy plan, (I don't have a master's degree in economics from Yale) but it makes sense. Just as it makes sense that more taxes will further erode the public's willingness to buy products and stimulate the economy.
Anyway, we are of those who won't get any direct benefit from any tax cuts, because our income is such that we don't pay federal taxes. Am I insulted that there is nothing in it for me? Not at all. A tax cut should go to the folks who are paying taxes, not be a handout to everyone who votes. If the rich get a bigger end of the pie, they deserve it for paying 85 percent of the taxes in this nation.
PUBLIC BEHAVIOR. I have been disgusted for a long time with the practice of yelling instead of applause at public performances. It all started in the old Paramount Theater in New York it the fall of 1943. Whether or not the young girls were truly all that hysterical over Sinatra, or were just following directions for money, is an open question, but scream they did — enough to spoil his rather outstanding performance by screaming at every high note.
Since that time it has been common practice to yell and scream at performances on TV — even for performers that few of us ever heard about. A group of young females were present at a recent awards show, and from their section in the balcony, they screamed and yelled at inappropriate times all through the evening, to the open disgust of the listeners, and some of the performers.
Yelling is for ball games and perhaps rock concerts, and not for musical performances or dramas. Of course, the old time theater buffs did cry "Bravo" from time to time, but not constantly throughout the performance.
ONE LAST MATTER: Now comes old Bubba, that former misbehaving president, with a suggestion that the laws be changed so that a president can serve more than two terms. Wonder who he has in mind?
Those who remember old Roosevelt, can immediately remember why the law was passed. FDR got to the point where he considered it his right to be president and continued to run despite poor health and other problems.
Bubba is still young enough that he probably won't collapse physically for many years and feels that he could be re-elected time and again. It is my opinion that the office of president is too important to allow one man to hold it for more than eight years. It needs fresh blood and fresh ideas every few years. And the office takes such a toll on the health of the best of men, (even Clinton turned gray), it is not reasonable to expect anyone to be allowed to serve in that post for more than eight years. He rally can't do it justice after that period.
Bill Krause, of course
