The Associated Press recently printed an article entitled “Positions of the Candidates” , which outlined the opinions of five Emmett Kelly understudies, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, on various campaign issues. (For younger readers, Emmett Kelly, who based his sad faced “Weary Willie” on depression era hobos, was perhaps the most famous clown in circus history.) The issues discussed were Abortion, the Economy, Education, Energy, the Environment, Health Care, Taxes and Terrorism. No mention was made of what is probably the most important of all presidential responsibilities: Foreign Affairs. Why would that be? Here are a few possibilities: Not even one of the greatest group of comedians in history thinks that management of foreign affairs is as important as these other “hot button” issues. Newt understands the meaning of the word “affairs” only when it is not preceded by any modif...
My alarm clock goes off every morning at eight, except for the few times when I have a breakfast date. Usually I wake up about an hour before that, or at least I partly wake up. It is important that I remain in a “not quite awake but not quite asleep” state, because I consider that time as the germination period for whatever seeds happen to have blown into my head.