Elizabeth Ross's Blog (8)

Last year, when the field of Democrat candidates for the presidency thinned to Obama and Clinton, I immediately went into panic mode. "It is too soon!" kept running through my head like a manic mantra. Like Edwin Yoder - Pulitzer Prize winning columnist from the now defunct Washington Star - pointed out in his memoirs, it is never a good thing when significant social change is forced before its time. He and I are in agreement that the civil rights movement pushed the issue of racial equ… Continue

...as far as our military and homeland security personnel are concerned? Seriously, the media (and everyone else) really needs to think about what they're doing and saying when it comes to condemning training missions, on this day in particular. WAKE UP!!! Now pay close attention, there may be a quiz after this: You really think that potential terrorists will keep this day sacred for the sake of the men and women who were killed in 2001? Sure, the USCG is learning some new lessons today. Th… Continue

The blogosphere and Twitterverse are still buzzing with complaints about Congressman Joe Wilson shouting out during President Obama's speech tonight. It's been observed that this situation is higher on the trends list than health care. That alone should point out the problem, but unfortunately I doubt that it does. As a long-time veteran of political shenanigans (often the perpetrator, if only through digging in the dirt on behalf of politicians), I am happy to say that I have never been in a… Continue

Normally it would be a no-brainer to understand why a GOP member from Pennsylvania would be sticking up for former Governor Tom Ridge. Honestly, it would take pages to explain why this is bizarre in my case, but suffice to say that anyone who has known me since the late-nineties through 2001 would definitely catch the irony on this one. In spite of any differences I had with the man when he was our governor, I've recently learned a new respect for him. Ridge is one of the "outside-insiders" of… Continue

Countdown is on to the release of Michael Moore's next film, and yet again I'm sitting here trying to decide whether or not I'm going to blow the cash to see it. I don't tend to agree with him very much, but hate to admit that I like his style. Simplifying the complexities of government is something I enjoy doing, and Moore tends to do just that with his films. Of course this can be a liability when it comes to dealing with most conservatives (as… Continue

It's the hot issue of the moment, and is being touted as the "make or break" point for Obama, but what isn't being said? Primarily, the truth. As usual, there are rumblings in the blogosphere about the lack of substantive coverage on health care, and claims that big media is keeping the public from becoming honestly educated on the issues. Reporters may refer to the real story as the "shiny… Continue

I addressed this briefly before with the foolish hope that it wouldn't gain much momentum, but apparently the level of stupidity in today's political climate is much greater than I thought. Today, it is meriting multi-interviewee spots on MSNBC, and has exploded in the blogosphere. Normally, I am loathe to trivialize parental concerns about their children's educations, but on this one, I am concerned about the negative lesson it is teaching. If… Continue

For most of my life, I watched my mother put a pretty little embroidered red rose on her coat each year. It was given to her by the Christian Mothers organization at our town's Catholic Church. I didn't understand until I was much older what the rose was about, and I wonder today if my mother would ever put one on her coat if it was offered now. There is a great deal of hypocrisy involved in the supposed battle against a culture of death, and I think that is why my mother wouldn't put herself i… Continue