IS THE FOLLOWING SUBSTANCE OR TRIVIA? - I VOTE SUBSTANCE!

By Edwin Cooney

President Donald John Trump has done very little to rate even the mildest admiration from me since I first became aware of his existence about a decade ago. However, last Sunday night, October 20th, his decision to attend the fifth game of the World Series at Nationals Park compelled just a bit of, admiration and even a dab of respect from my cold Democratic leftist impeachment-driven otherwise "bleeding heart." Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that "Donnie Johnny" was brave, but one can't suggest that he was in any way a "coward" as he, just hours earlier, pronounced of another man who was facing certain death at his own hand. Fortunately, the President wasn't facing such a fate as was al-Baghdadi, but for the first time since he stood before Congress last January, President Trump was facing a crowd of people he hadn't selected.

What President Trump's appearance at the fifth game of the World Series does do, is to offer some perspective on what’s symbolic and what’s superficial about someone’s status, and brings to mind the fates of previous presidents at opening day, All-Star and World Series games over the years. Before sketching them for you, a word about the worst and the best one can say about anyone else. President Trump is pretty loose when it comes to name calling as have been many of our leaders over the years. President Reagan referred to the suicide bombing  of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon as "an act of cowardice." President George W. Bush called the criminals of 9/11 "cowards," which they clearly weren't if offering one's life for one's political or patriotic cause is what we claim it is every Memorial, Independence and Veterans' Day. To you and to me, ISIS leader  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, represents the epitome of what's evil. However, evil and cowardice aren't the same thing. Even as the Nazi leaders of World War II Germany were wicked men, that doesn't mean that the average German soldier was wicked. (Perhaps members of the German SS were, but the average member of the Wehrmacht wasn't.) General Eisenhower, in the wake of victory, described the status of the average GI as, "an agent of his government." I'm not sure that's an adequate description either, however, how we ultimately view the acts of men, great and small, valiant and timid, good and bad, really and truly represents our degree of humanitarianism. Set against this background one is in a position to analyze President Trump's appearance at the fifth game of the World Series last week.

Presidents have been a bit of a side show at opening day All-Star and World Series games going back to opening day Thursday, April 14th, 1910. All of "Big Bill" Taft's six feet two inches and 330 pounds of him stood up to stretch during the seventh inning of that opening day game and baseball fans have been following his example during every seventh inning ever since. Not every presidential appearance has been as successful as was William Howard Taft's. Herbert Hoover was booed lustily in 1931 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia while attending the World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. It's said that Hoover showed up at the game to demonstrate that the depression wasn't as serious as folks thought it was. Obviously, baseball fans had a different view than did their Chief Executive, thus the boos! President Roosevelt accidentally beaned a newspaper reporter, but wasn't booed on Tuesday, April 16th,  opening day of 1940. George H. W. Bush and "Shrub" were booed at All-Star games in 1992 and 2008 as was President Obama at the 2009 All-Star game in St. Louis. However,  Harry Truman was in "big trouble" and knew it on opening day, Friday, April 20th, 1951 when he visited Griffith Stadium to toss out the first ball of the season. Just nine days earlier he'd fired General Douglas MacArthur. "The General" had delivered a dramatic speech just the day before from the House of Representatives and was America's latest national hero. Republicans, including Senator Robert A. Taft, were screaming for Truman's impeachment. Still, there came Harry to perform his annual presidential baseball duty. As he left in the eighth inning the boos rained down upon him with the announcement asking the fans to stay in their seats until "President Truman and his official party left the stadium.” As Truman was saying goodbye to owner Clark Griffith, a woman was heard to yell, “Where's General MacArthur?" So, was Harry Truman braver than Donald Trump? Trump wasn't at the game to throw out the first pitch - Jose Andres, a prominent Mexican chef who took exception to Mr. Trump's characterization of his countrymen, threw out the first pitch. Still President Trump did show up and he heard the boos and the calls to "lock him up!" President Trump wasn't as physically exposed to the crowd as was President Truman, seated, as he was, in a suite just to the left of home plate. Nor did he sit next to the owner as President Truman had back in 1951. Still, he was there and I think, deserves a dab or a tad of recognition of it.

Last Sunday night's negative reception of President Trump is no forecast of the President's fate official or mortal. Harry Truman more than survived that 1951 Washington Senators opening day crowd, and he survived Congress’s distress as well. However, President Trump’s reception does reflect the temper of the time, and we’re all more than a little foolish when we rudely brush the temper of the time aside!

Keep our current temperament in mind even if it doesn’t provide us the answer to the president’s fate - nor ours!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

THE WORLD SERIES — A "CAPITAL" TIME IN WASHINGTON!

By Edwin Cooney

So that no one will say I've forgotten that old observation regarding baseball in Washington, D.C., I'll offer it here: Throughout the 1950s, the city of Washington was first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League! That's how baseball fans and scribes remember Clark Griffith's 1950s Senators. That was an era when an owner could hire Latin American stars like first baseman Julio Becquer, outfielder Carlos Paula, and even good pitchers such as Camilo Pascual and Pedro Ramos and "pay them peanuts." One Washington fan told me that during the 1950s, if you drove to Griffith Stadium, it only cost you a buck extra to ensure your car would be in one piece after the final out. (Wow! What a bargain!) In 2005, the Montreal Expos became the second version of the Washington Nationals which was the name of the old National League franchise which was booted out of the senior circuit following the 1899 season. Today, when you say Nats, you don't mean gnats, those little bugs most can't tell from mosquitos. You mean first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, pitchers Max Scherzer, and Stephen Strasburg, second baseman Howie Kendrick, third baseman Anthony Rendon and left fielder Juan Soto, among others. 

The Houston Astros, which the late Detroit Tiger announcer Ernie Harwell would have called "the Houstons," also possess more than their share of "superman" names as they enter their second World Series since 2017. They include names such as outfielder George Springer, first baseman Yuli Gurriel, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and especially that little but powerfully built five foot six inch second sacker Jose Altuve.

Fifty-seven hot, sticky, mosquito-biting seasons have passed since the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets joined the National League. When, in 1969, the “Miracle Mets" reached baseball paradise, the Colt .45s (which had by then become the Houston Astros playing in the Astrodome  — which some called the eighth wonder of the world) finished the season behind the Mets who had 100 wins and 62 losses. Finally, in 2005, the "Astros" won the National League pennant, but were swept by the Chicago White Sox even though former Yankee pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens were hurling on their behalf. (Note that in 2013, the Astros joined the American League to make their games with the Texas Rangers more significant in nearby Arlington, Texas, and to create a five team structure in all three divisions of both leagues.)

The history of the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals represents the pathos and drama of baseball and its modern World Series when the Boston Americans (now known as the Red Sox) defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903 in the best five out of nine games. On Friday, October 10th, 1924 (nine days after the birth of little Jimmy Carter in Americus, Georgia), Walter Johnson (by then somewhat physically  diminished from when he was in his prime) came in to relieve in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1924 fall classic. The game was held at Griffith Stadium. In the last of the 12th inning, Giants' catcher Hank Goudy tripped over his tossed catcher's mask as he ran after Harold (Muddy) Ruel's pop foul. Ruel then doubled, after which outfielder Earl McNeely hit a ball over third baseman Fred Lindstrom's head and the winning run was scored. That was, of course, exactly ninety-five years ago. The Senators would lose the 1925 series to the Pirates and the 1933 series to the New York Giants. Names like Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Henry (Heinie) Manush and player manager Joe Cronin would valiantly attempt to recapture 1924 but they'd only last five games against Bill Terry's, Mel Ott's and Carl Hubbell's boys from Gotham.

The Houston Astros represent the American League having defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series and Aaron Boone's and Aaron Judge's mighty Yankees 4 to 2 in a just concluded six game league championship series. At this writing the new Washington Nationals lead the Astros two games to one, but the series is far from over.

Each year's World Series not only offers its own historic drama, but invites us to recall those items of interest which emanate from the history of each team and the community it represents. Only one of these two teams will prevail. However, both squads are rich in history.

Astros fans will always remember the little outfielder Jimmy Wynn known as "The Toy Cannon." They'll never forget that Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan first wore an Astros uniform before going onto Hall of Fame stardom with the Cincinnati "Big Red Machine" of the mid 1970s. They'll always be saddened by the untimely death of pitcher Don Wilson who pitched the Astro's first no hitter against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, June 18th, 1967. They're also saddened by the stroke that ended the career of J. Rodney Richard in 1980 at the tender age of thirty. Judge Roy Hofheinz' Astrodome dream was realized in 1965 and Yankee outfielder Mickey Mantle, then a resident of Dallas, christened the Dome at the close of spring training by hitting the structure's first home run.

Washington fans have much to be proud of, too. First, there's the memory of the Great Walter Johnson who blazed his way to 417 wins between 1907 and 1927. Then there was pitcher Bobo Newsom (who called everyone else “Bobo”), the walking man Eddie Yost who was so fast running from his third base position to field bunted balls that "old Bobo” complained that "Yostie" was beating his fastball to home plate. Then there was slugger Roy Sievers who became a special friend to Vice President Nixon. (Nixon recalled that in July 1959 when he came home from his famous kitchen debate with Nikita Khrushchev, Roy Sievers was among the celebrities at the airport to greet him.) Also, there was the knowledgeable future manager outfielder Jim Lemon and, of course, the mighty Harmon Killebrew who, along with pitchers Pascual and Ramos, would abandon Washington for Minneapolis St. Paul in 1961.

Perhaps the greatest irony in the history of Washington, D.C. is little known to baseball fans! Washington is, of course, the home of national politicians, many of whom are suspected of being some of the biggest thieves in America - even though that, in fact, is questionable. However, there once temporarily resided in Washington a special brand of thief whose crime will never be repeated.

Back in 1976, John Thorn wrote a book called "A Century of Baseball Lore." In it, he told of how Washington Senators’ second baseman Germany Schaefer  became the first and only player to actually steal first base. With a 1911 game tied in the bottom of the ninth and speedy outfielder Clyde Milan on third with two out, Herman (Germany) Schaefer drew a walk. He immediately stole second base, but the White Sox catcher wisely didn't throw to second so that Milan might score from third. So, Germany Schaefer promptly ran back to first using a dramatic hook slide to recapture first base. This, of course, brought the whole White Sox team storming out to protest and the umpires gathered together with the rule book, but they could find nothing in it to say Schaefer couldn't steal first base. Thus, on the very next pitch, Schaefer took off for second and, this time, the White Sox catcher did throw to second. (After all, he'd had enough of Schaefer and his antics! Just my observation!) This time, Schaefer actually beat the throw and Milan scored to end the game.

Thus, don't let anyone ever tell you that no one has ever stolen first base. Remember two realities: Germany Schaefer did live and baseball has really and truly returned to Washington, D.C.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

WOW, WHAT A DEMAND!

By Edwin Cooney

I must repeat myself. Wow, what a demand! George Washington and John Adams never got over it, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison never got over it either. The “it” acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney wants you and me to "get over" is abhorrence of the practice of using foreign governments to do any president's domestic political dirty work! Wow, what an expectation!

One of the aspects of governing which conservatives are constantly urging liberals to respect is political/socio tradition. One of conservatives' most sacred traditions is separation from entanglements with other countries. Of course, post World War II conservatives recognize the need for alliances such as NATO, SEATO, The Organization of American States and reluctantly, much of the time, The United Nations. However, agreements and understandings between nations have had to do with policy — not politics. President Trump could have a "quid pro quo" with a foreign nation having to do with political alliances and international missions, but a quid pro quo encompassing domestic politics is beyond the political pale! You can be sure that had President Barack Obama asked a western European country or, even worse, a friendly African nation such as Kenya to do him a domestic political favor, the GOP House with its Freedom Caucus and its Federalist Society would have had the president's advisors appear before the House Judiciary Committee before the president could have texted Elijah Cummings to "save my tail.”   

Even more significant and revealing is what Chief Mulvaney's admonition to "get over it" implies. That implication is: "After all, we've used political quid pro quos before and we'll have to do it again and again!” If political quid pro quos are something we ought to "get over," there must be a precedent here somewhere. Might Mr. Mulvaney be revealing that there was really and truly something going on between the Trumps and the Russians during the 2016 campaign? (I'm just asking!)

There is a legitimate aspect to Mr. Mulvaney's admonition. As we progressives constantly remind our conservative cousins (and may they always be our political cousins!), as times change so do circumstances. The capacity of both world “do-gooders" and world "troublemakers" to make their marks is much, much greater than it was in 1807 when Thomas Jefferson, much to his reluctance, issued his embargo against both Britain and France. Many vital decisions, both tactical and strategic, must be made within a dangerously short period of time. The days when Congress had sufficient time to debate and deliberate are long past.

Here's another 21st Century circumstance the significance of which is hard to read. When did we become such pals with the Russians? I can remember days when my conservative friends would chide me for being so "buddy buddy" with Mikhail Gorbachev. Today's Republican Party under President Trump appears to be more comfortable with a former member of the Soviet KGB (the Soviet Committee for State Security) than with the director of either the FBI or the CIA. Is Mr. Putin's dislike for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton more significant than his Soviet past or his corrupt and suspiciously murderous present? Beyond that, I'm curious as to why Mr. Putin is tolerant of President Trump's coziness with the new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Of course, no one in their right mind would favor the return of the "cold war," but these changing political motives are invariably hard to swallow!

Millions of Americans are too busy working, raising children, talking and texting on their smartphones, taking that vital fifteen minutes to purchase Geico, eating and watching sports on tv to take much notice of changing international alliances, but it seems to this observer that the leadership of the GOP has some explaining and even educating to do regarding their current tolerance of both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky!

Yes indeed, there may be a lot to "get over,” but President Trump's willingness to use foreign agencies to advance his political career is absolutely not one of them!  As I see it, the utilization of foreign governments and agencies to advance any president's personal political goals is clearly an impeachable offense!

Such a practice is not only unpatriotic, it's just plain unneighborly. Just ask the late Mr. Rogers!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

OUR COMMON BOTTOM LINE

By Edwin Cooney

Before stating what I see as our common bottom line, I'll state my case for it. See if you can identify what it is before I assert it!

It all began on Tuesday, June 16th, 2015, the day Donald John Trump officially announced his presidential candidacy. Since that day, America has been subject to a continuous combination of virulent and tantrum-oriented hatred toward one another. The conductor of this socio/psychological state of affairs is obviously Mr. Trump. However, the cause isn't entirely due to Mr. Trump. He has just exploited an element of our nature, but he didn't create it!

Early on the morning of Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, during his acceptance speech and immediately after Wisconsin had given him its ten electoral votes to put him over the top, the new President-Elect uttered a real rarity: praise for Hillary Clinton. He reminded his supporters that Hillary Clinton had given tireless service to her country for which she should be acknowledged. The following day after visiting President Obama at the White House, he asserted that the president was "a good man." Then, suddenly and permanently, Mr. Trump was clean out of compliments or even friendly acknowledgement of all opponents, whether president or pauper.

Since the night of Sunday, March 12th, 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt sat in a small metal wheelchair before a bank of radio microphones to inform and reassure the American people of the necessity for and the workability of the banking holiday, the effect of a president's communication with the people has been of special interest to political scientists, sociologists, and just plain folks. Presidents have traditionally been very careful regarding how often and for how long they should address the public.

Presidents address the people through various forums and during significant events. They are radio and television addresses, usually from the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, from the halls or the steps of the Capitol Building, from a celebrated gathering place such as Arlington National Cemetery, West Point or Annapolis, or invariably from "the stump" during a political campaign.

Eighty-six plus years have passed since FDR's first "Fireside Chat” and there have also been some memorable presidential addresses. Each president, from FDR through Barack Obama, has, on numerous occasions, spoken to the American people in different moods and with different purposes in mind. All of these communications from the president to the people have been delivered with the dignity and respect worthy of a free and accomplished people. After all, every communication creates an atmosphere in its wake. However, President Trump, so far, invariably addresses us almost exclusively in anger with an inevitable dose of self-braggadocio. His speeches are designed to turn us against one another. Like the movie patron who cries "fire" in a theater, Mr. Trump invariably sets fires even where the grass is green and unparched. His message is clear. To our president, half of us (if not more) are unworthy of his regard, or respect — let alone affection. Nearly every speech is the same old vitriol! is it any wonder why he may well be impeached?

So wearisome has his constant anger become as well as the atmosphere it creates,  that even to write about him has become downright boring! I'm even bored by my own anger with the president. I was raised to respect our president, even a president from the opposition. Thus, my boredom is accompanied by a sense of sadness and even guilt! 

The fault is hardly exclusively his. The question is, can we afford our own misery? If there's an old America to be revived or a new America to be created, can we afford to be angry as we seek to renew or rebuild?

As I've written on countless occasions, fear is the father of anger and, as I see it, our common bottomline is that virulent gripping, self-destroying fear!  America is afraid! Not only is it afraid of its president, it is afraid of its very self.

If you aren't scared, you may not be quite as patriotic as you think you are!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

BAD BOY, ROVER — YOU'VE ACTUALLY CAUGHT THE BUS!

By Edwin Cooney

Most of us understand the satisfaction a dog would get if it caught a boy on a bike. After all, almost any dog would enjoy chewing on a pant’s leg or a hunk of all American boy flesh, but what would happen if he caught a car or, especially, a bus? Dogs, especially American dogs named Rover, chase cars, trucks and even buses, you know! As I see it, that's exactly what Congressional Democrats caught back on Tuesday, September 24th when they announced that they were mounting an impeachment effort in the wake of President Trump's July 25th call to Vladimir Zelensky, the newly minted president of the Ukraine. It isn't that I think it's unfair to pick on President Trump, it's just that I think the risk of failure is too high. Almost as discouraging is the fact that if President Trump is convicted, President Michael Richard Pence will step onto center stage ready for a new president's political honeymoon — which would likely be uncomfortably close to the election day of 2020.

Then there is the history of presidential impeachment to consider. Impeachment charges were brought up against Presidents Andrew Johnson (March through May of 1868), Richard Nixon (January through August 1974), and William Jefferson Clinton (December 19th, 1998 through February 12th, 1999). Historically, the score is presidents: two, Congress: one. The Congress lost the two impeachments (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) that went to the Senate floor, but won the struggle with Richard Nixon who resigned before the House could vote for a bill of impeachment. Thus, technically, Mr. Nixon was never impeached. True, there were only about ten or eleven senators who would have sustained Mr. Nixon instead of the 34 needed. Still, the twists and turns during impeachment hearings can be quite unpredictable — even "rather shocking" as the British might put it.

In 1868, the Republicans had majorities in both houses, yet they couldn't convict President Andrew Johnson because six Republican senators  saw danger to the structure and workability of the government as being more important than anything that would be gained by removing President Johnson from office.  After all, Johnson would be succeeded by Ulysses S. Grant on Thursday, March 4th, 1869 regardless of what Congress did. The leader of the GOP resisters was William Pitt Fessenden, a highly respected senator from Maine. However, a single senator was refusing to disclose to either side in the debate whether he'd vote guilty or not guilty. The hero who ultimately cast the vote that saved President Johnson's bacon was Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas — a man who both politically and personally despised Andrew Johnson. As young  Senator John F. Kennedy dramatically pointed out in his celebrated book "Profiles In Courage," as Ross voted "not guilty" that afternoon of Saturday, May 16th, 1868, he found himself looking down into his political grave. Ross's "not guilty" vote cost him both political supporters and personal friends. He was forever after persona non grata in the GOP. However, in 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed him, as a Democrat, Governor of the New Mexico territory. He died in New Mexico territory at age 80 on Tuesday, May 7th, 1907.

The shocking or amazing twist in the Clinton impeachment is in retrospect. The charges against "Slick Willie" were obstruction of justice and perjury. The underlying issue, however, was the president's treatment of women which today might well be enough to drive him from office.  Not one of the eight women serving in "the world's most deliberative body" voted against the president. This included Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine as well as Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Barbara Mikulski, and Patty Murray. Interestingly, three GOP gentlemen, John Chafee of Rhode Island, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jeffords of Vermont voted Clinton "not guilty" on both obstruction of justice and perjury. Two additional Republicans, Slade Gorton of Washington State and John Warner, voted "not guilty" on perjury. (Note: Edwin E. Cooney of the state of permanent confusion would have convicted "Naughty Billy" on obstruction of justice!)

Thus, several questions:

Would these eight women (only three of whom remain in the Senate) vote "not guilty” for President Trump?

How many senators of both parties could honestly say —  let alone vote for — the proposition that President Trump isn't at least as guilty as Bill Clinton when it comes to the question of the way he treats women?

Third, hasn't one United States Senator (a Democrat from Minnesota named Al Franken) already been forced from public office for a lot less than President Trump's nasties?

What concerns me the most is the possibility that should the president be acquitted in the Senate of charges of unlawfully and unconstitutionally using foreign governments for his advantage in domestic politics, the public may well be successfully manipulated into believing that the president's misbehavior during the upcoming campaign amounts to double jeopardy despite the fact that there exists no double jeopardy in political parlance. (Note: The sometimes uncomfortable truth is that no politician is innocent of much of anything these days.)

Exactly what gang of vipers lives on that bus Rover has just caught is highly uncertain. Therein lies the nature of the impeachment probe as well as the details of the president's deeds or non-deeds. Even more, wouldn't all of America trust the conclusions and judgment of the voting public over those of elected politicians?

"Rover, you bad boy! Get back in your doghouse with your Democratic chewing-bone where you belong!”

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

TITLES — ARE THEY SUBSTANTIAL OR ARE THEY MERELY AN ILLUSION?

By Edwin Cooney

I was riding home from bowling last Wednesday night with a good friend of mine, David. We were discussing newly existing circumstances and their significance within our bowling league. The changes have been both significant and severe. In the last year we've lost three of our sighted assistants, one to death, and the other two to resignation. Additionally, three bowlers who were active through the 2017-2018 season have passed away. We now have a new president, vice president (me), and that's it. Our president also serves as our treasurer owning, as she does, a business.  There exists among us seven bowlers a very limited idea of the value that functional structure brings to a group such as ours. Suddenly, David said to me, "I don't worry about titles and offices and such things as that. To you, everything is political!" "Not so much political," I said, "administrative or organizational perhaps, but not necessarily political.”

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, there was a very high degree of emphasis on titles and positions of all sorts. These titles came from the expectations of parents, preachers, and teachers. We learned the significance of generals, captains, sergeants, and privates. Every police department had its chief. The town or city had its mayor, the state had its governor, and the President of the United States was at the head of America the Beautiful.

All of these titles and expectations of responsibility and accountability are inevitably interrelated in order that they ensure the maximum efficiency and effectiveness of our society or what we later learned to call in college "the body politic."

Still, with all of this historic practice of emotional, spiritual, intellectual, economic and socio/political organizational structure at the close of the second decade of the 21st Century, there seems to be less of a grasp of, or  respect for, vitally essential positions within society and even in life itself!

Not all of this is necessarily bad, either. After all, there are a lot of meaningless titles that have little to do with how well an organization functions. Life is always a bit of a weeding and pruning operation.

However, some stations in life are priceless. I'm thrilled every time one of my boys calls me “dad.” Yet I know of children who lovingly call their parents by their first names. The three I'm thinking about love their parents as much as my wife and best friend who wouldn't dream of addressing their parents so informally and familiarly. Within your family, you are inevitably a brother, sister, uncle, aunt or cousin. You're honored when you become a husband or wife, father or mother. Ultimately, there's that thrill of thrills when you become a grandma or grandpa!  

However, having asserted this, there are those among us who resist the possibility of being subject to a certain title. One of these types of people happens to be me.  A very minor reason I didn't go after a doctorate in education is that I couldn’t imagine being addressed as Dr. Cooney. Perhaps that's because way back in my childhood I wanted to be a medical doctor and was rather severely chided for my lack of realism. (The truth is that emotionally, for whatever reason, I still think that the title “Doctor” ought to be strictly applicable to a medical professional.)

Then, there's the historic reality that although there have been many heroic kings, queens, presidents, medical and other "doctors," no one achieves genuine human greatness through their title, whether inherited or earned.

As of this date, I happen to be president of two worthy organizations. One is merely a chapter of a very wide service club. I am the president of the Syracuse Host Lions Club in Syracuse, New York. My colleagues actually call me "King Lion.” (I'm much, much more comfortable being considered “president” than “King Lion.” The idea of any personal link with royalty is just simply beyond my imagination!) I’m also President of the New York State School for the Blind Alumni Association headquartered in Batavia, New York. This is largely a political position because in order to achieve it, I had to lose to formidable opponents three times. I've held this position since Tuesday, July 1st, 2014. In this position, I'm hardly either a dictator or ruler. I'm subtly deferred to because of my respected responsible accountability to the organization as a whole. I possess no grandeur nor should I. Still, I revere the office because of what it means to the membership which reflects the highest and most memorable achievements and principles of our residential school. 

The idea that the lack of respect for titles seems to be growing is disturbing to me for several reasons. First, with titles come expectations of coordinated responsibilities and accountabilities. Second, without these titles of respect and accountability, there is likely to be an era of chaos. Chaos is anarchy and anarchy invites and even encourages everyone for himself and himself alone. It would recall the period of time which existed between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of our modern era in the mid-seventeenth century which recognized royalty, the church and little else as legitimate. That was the Medieval System throughout European history, one of my eras of study in college.

Try this observation on for size. You and I may be tired and disdainful of titles and privileges, but they are precisely what those who would mold democracy to their own profit cherish the most.

The significance of who we are through what we've achieved and the responsibilities and accountabilities to which we are committed constitute the bulwark of our liberty. It's as simple as that.

Whatever niche of responsibility and accountability you attain in any group in which you are a member, without taking yourself too seriously, do perform it to the hilt for, in the long run, your place and your mission is a vitally important thread in the fiber of your liberty and that of your children. 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

"THE ONLY CURE..."

By Edwin Cooney

Ninety-one years have passed since Alfred (Al) Smith, the 1928 Democratic presidential candidate, uttered that immortal phrase: The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy!

According to a headline I recently saw in the New York Times, some 145 corporate executives have written the United States Senate that this gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable. They're right, of course, but before recommending a solution to the crisis, let's first examine the NRA/GOP/Trumpian solution. It can be summed up in two words: "MORE GUNS!"

The argument goes four-fold. First, more good people than bad people have guns. Second, limit the rights of good people to own guns and you automatically expand the number of bad people who will get guns. Third, as more good people carry guns, the message will go out loud and clear to the bad that it's becoming too dangerous to their well-being to own guns. Finally, the second amendment guarantees the individual's right to own guns. So, let's deal now with these four arguments.

I agree that there are more good people with guns than bad people with guns, but no assessment of the number of people who have guns has ever been a predictor of who will prevail in a gunfight.

Second, gunfights aren't won by numbers, they're usually won or lost by strategies and tactics. Good people, unlike baddies, aren't generally interested in using their guns in any kind of a battle situation. Hence, their mindsets aren't ordered toward aggressiveness nor battle discipline. Additionally, which group, goodies or baddies, are most likely to possess body armor?  

Third, the idea that "the bad" can receive messages is a nearly absolute myth. The bad among us are only different from the good in their perception of their lot in life. As they see it, their well-being, often their very safety, has already been taken from them. Bad people are usually on a mission to avenge their victimhood whether real or imagined. Their violence is not usually a child's dare. It's a mindset or attitude toward society in general. Too often, the outlaw equals the good guy in his or her willingness to kill in defense of their personhood and liberty.

Finally, there is the debatable applicability of the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Here's that amendment in full:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The purpose of this amendment is the assurance that the people will permanently have the right to establish a well regulated militia to protect their liberty. The right to "bear arms" presupposes that guns will always be the most sufficient method available to defend our liberties. The validity of that amendment has been affirmed by the United States Supreme Court going back to 1934. I think it's important to remember three vital factors dating back to the 1790’s when that amendment was passed by Congress and ratified by the states.

First, a gun was more than a weapon during the days of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.  A gun was a vital tool for acquiring food and many of the materials for clothing. Anyone living outside of a city needed a gun for their mere existence. Back in the days of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, guns invariably dispatched more animals than they did people. In 2019, the difference between the number of animals and the number of people killed appears to be growing smaller.  Second, the weapons being developed that could threaten our liberties are invariably much beyond the capacity of any gun to stop them. China or Russia can steal your money and your liberty electronically faster than Jesse James, Billy The Kid, or Matt Dillon could ever draw. 

Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio advocated last Friday in the New York Times for passage of greater background checks and the red flagging of potential gun-toting terrorists. One wonders when Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will catch up to Senator Rubio. Soon, I hope!

I can't avoid the following question! If the right to form a well-regulated militia is the real issue here, might not the black and Hispanic parents of school children be encouraged to form such a militia to protect the liberties of their school children as long as their targets are the powerful men who support the NRA? Couldn't that legitimately be defined as "a well regulated militia”?

So, back to Al Smith: No! The cure for the ills from gun violence is not more guns.

It's time to widen background checks on those who purchase guns, tax the hell out of ammunition making it even higher than the tax on tobacco, and make it legal for local judges to investigate potential gun-toting terrorists.

It's time to bring an end to this gun violence before the persons and families of NRA lovers become someone's legitimate target in defense of their own liberties and that of their children's!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY