A Recap of This Past Week

Sometimes, it is a good idea to look back over recent history to see how things are today, how they have developed in light of our own actions. So, what was last week all about?

I read an article saying that global warming, under its more generic term climate change, is still a very real and dangerous threat unless we are willing to immediately commit hundreds of billions of dollars to stopping it. This is no different from the week before and the week before that. Even Chicken Little ought to be able to get over this fear by now.

The dead opossum from under my front porch is still dead. I take that as a positive finding. We have no need of zombie opossums wreaking havoc on downtown Detroit.

President Barack Obama has disappointed many of his supporters for his flip flopping on terrorist issues. But that's what centrist democracy does: forces people to view things differently when they actually hold the reigns of power. When he was a candidate, he was an outsider. Now, all that military power is his to wield. It's like Churchill bashing socialism but promising that Tory home building was better for the Britons (during his post war term as Prime Minister in the early 1950's) because when conservatives are in charge government control of the economy is more efficient. In short, power seduces.

This is not to say that Mr. Obama hasn't, perhaps, had a genuine change of heart. He may have acquired a more decent understanding of his responsibilities as President now that he actually holds office. I'm simply pointing out that circumstances change outlook. That's not automatically bad or good. It just is, seen outside of the big picture.

Sotomayor is still up for the Supreme Court, but I think things will become rougher for her if congressional Republicans take their opposition role seriously. We'll see.

God still comforts us, something we should be very thankful about, and I stand by what I said about Harvey Milk and our schools. All in all, it was a good week.