Craig's Corner

President Truman (D) had a sign on his desk that said “The Buck Stops Here.”   According to his Presidential library the saying “derives from the slang expression 'pass the buck' which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.”   Truman often referred to the sign, so much so that in his final address to the nation he said:   “The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can't pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That's his job.”   President George W. Bush (43) took that to the extreme dubbing himself “The Decider.”   President Obama on the other hand is more likely to say:   “What buck?”   ...

I’m about to celebrate six smoke free years.   The November after my Dad’s stroke I quit my pack a day habit cold turkey.   I had stopped before, many times.   I was introduced to the habit around age 8 by my brother and then kept it up.   My grandmother, in an effort that failed miserably, let me smoke with her under the hopes that the rebellion would end.   It didn’t, legitimizing it instead, so much so that for years we sat smoking and chatting together.   After college I took a 7 or 8 year hiatus, my longest smoke-free stint ever, before being sucked back in.     I was never a reluctant smoker – I enjoyed the taste, the habit and the various accoutrements that went with it.   I had a collection of lighters, and cigarette cases – selecting them for a day as carefully as some select ties and shoes.   I was a Marlboro Man – at my most addictive two packs of red per day – the soft-pack of course because the hard pack had b...

Amazon Video recommended I watch “ The Manor ” the other day, probably as a result of my affection for “Downton Abbey,” “Upstairs Downstairs” and an embarrassingly high number of whodunnits from the other side of the pond.  This “reality show” was filmed in 2001 and put everyday 21 st Century people in the various household roles – from the Butler down to the Hallboy and the Housekeeper to the Scullery Maid.   None of them had ever done any work like it before.   The “family” was a real well-to-do family from who were elevated to the role of Lord and Lady of the House.   Nobody was voted off or eliminated – the point of the “project” was to see how 19 volunteers from the modern world would adapt to life in 1905.   It was a fascinating and entertaining look at how order and chaos came out of a rigorous set of mores and rules of the time and the difficulties – both Upstairs and Downstairs – in applying them.   Adapting to an Edwardian lifestyle broug...

With a week or so before the “deadline” to raise the debt ceiling, the rhetoric has reached epidemic levels.   President “No Drama” Obama said earlier this week that not raising the debt ceiling would “be like a nuclear bomb” going off economically .   Total annihilation and an inability to sustain life for centuries is what will happen if the credit card limit isn’t raised?   Some Republican leaders are saying it doesn’t matter if the U.S. pays its bills, and, in fact might be a good thing to “default” on America’s obligations.   Once again the “leadership” of the country froths and spews, but doesn’t solve problems. Congress – Republicans and Democrats – voted for certain spending levels that exceeded the income that would be coming into the US Government as part of the budget process.   Much angst and drum went about those negotiations, but ultimately there was an agreement, though nobody was happy.   Costs were incurred and spending followed...

Each week for the past 3 plus years I’ve aimed to headline each blog in a way that both captured the essence of the subject I would be addressing, while being an ironic or wry twist on a well known phrase or idea.   It’s not particularly unique approach and sometimes it’s more successful than others – but my goal is to grab the reader’s attention and describe what is to follow.   The first paragraph usually is a more personal hook that ends with an interesting or provocative statement, designed to have people click through or continue reading.   “Read this Blog!” is different – much more direct, no salesmanship, no gimmicks, it’s exactly what I want the reader to do.   This week I’m totally over the trickery – and that’s because the “Government Shutdown” is anything but, and that each side of the political spectrum and the major media has bought hook, line and sinker into this faux description, it’s time to deal in facts.   The history of calli...