Deja vu, all over again

I occasionally despair at what American politics has become, especially all the current fawning over and kowtowing to the tea party movement. According to U.S. media, they can do no wrong and they will eventually wipe all the Establishment away and will provide us with an era of Prosperity and Happiness to last at least as long as that of the Third Reich (wasn't it supposed to last a thousand years?). I used the Nazi analogy since the tea partiers tend to liken President Obama to Adolf Hitler so I thought turnabout was fair play. The only real consolation I have now is that "this too shall pass." The tea party is only the latest in a long line of such movements. I am currently reading a biography of Robert A. Heinlein, a popular science fiction writer who was required reading for boys in my teenage years. We were all caught up in the Space Race after the great Sputnik debacle and probably all thought we would some day be living on the moon. What most of us didn't know at the time was that Heinlein had a previous life of activity in liberal Democratic politics in California. He eventually moved over to the Libertarian side, but when he was a California Democrat, he had to continually fight against various leftwing movements (socialist, communist, etc.) that were attempting to take over that party just as the tea partiers are attempting to take over the Republican Party today. But the politics of the era was very reminiscent of today. A Democratic president was attempting by any means necessary to pull the country out of a Depression and was being branded a socialist, communist, etc., by those powerful interests who didn't like the direction the country was going. The party in power saw its approval ratings go down, down, down. The GOP was preaching "trickle down" economics. Lies and slander were abundant in the political talk of the day and the Republicans did everything they could to try to keep Democratic voters from being able to vote by challenging their qualifications at the polls. It all sounds vaguely familiar.

An Apology to Summer

Back on August 24, I foolishly wrote that summer was on the wane. Summer, it seems, read my words and was not happy at being shoved aside so easily. Although the remainder of that particular week saw only one more day in the 90 and above category, September has been almost as warm and toasty as August, with 14 of the first 19 days reaching 90 degrees or above. A couple of those days that didn't make 90 just barely missed it, by only a degree. So here we are, two days from the beginning of autumn and the temperature today will be 95. Sorry for dismissing you so quickly, Summer. Honestly, it was nothing personal. But really, isn't it about time you left the stage? Autumn is in the wings, awaiting your departure. Please, don't make a scene. Just go. Please.