public unions

Mike Wallace veteran newscaster

After 9/11 and the billions if not trillions of dollars that we spent in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world, one would figure that we would not support terrorism of any kind. I guess that’s not true. A new article by Seymour Hersh clearly suggests that not only are we training terrorists, we are exporting those terrorist other countries. I urge everyone to read this thoughtful and compelling article. (By the way, I deplore the foreign-policy axiom – the enemy of my enemy is my friend.)

Veteran journalist Mike Wallace has died at the age of 93. There are only a handful of journalists that I can name off the top my head who’ve actually changed the way news is delivered. Mike Wallace did that. Whether you liked him or not, he developed an “in-your-face” style of journalism that became extremely popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a cornerstone of 60 Minutes for more than four decades. He interviewed Malcolm X shortly before he died. He was everywhere and interviewed everyone. 60 Minutes was must-watch TV. Throughout the late 1970s and throughout the ’80s, on Sunday evenings America watched Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Morey Safer and the gang delve into some problem or issue which affected most if not all Americans. There’s no show on television that has ever done it any better. My condolences to his family.

The gift that is Scott Walker continues to give. As you know, Scott Walker is the governor of Wisconsin who’s about to be recalled in a special election. Scott Walker’s done more than restrict public workers’ ability to collective bargaining (you should read this as destroying public unions). He is a full spectrum ultraconservative. Therefore, he does not believe that everyone who is an American citizen and is an adult should vote. Therefore, we should have the voter ID laws. Finally, to round out the picture, we should not have women who can think for themselves and choose for themselves. Instead, the reproductive rights of women should be decided at the government level. If you’re looking around and trying to figure out why things are so discombobulated, you have to look no further than this new crop of ultraconservative legislators like Scott Walker.

The final round of the Masters is today. It should be some compelling golf. Tiger Woods has struggled. For all practical purposes, he’s out of contention. Peter Hansen and Phil Mickelson pulled away from the pack late yesterday. They are the ones to watch. Yet, there are a few other people who are still in the hunt. Among them are Lee Westwood (who had a heartbreaking lip out yesterday), Matt Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson, Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson and Hunter Mahan. For some reason, I really like the way that Louis Oostuizen has been playing. He’s been consistently making shots the last several weeks. He has been hitting fairways, he’s been hitting greens in regulation and he’s been hitting putts. He is the one that I’m watching today.

Have a safe and happy Easter.