Elections are like job interviews. As voters, that’s how we should be evaluating House and Senate candidates for political office. They want the job representing us on some serious issues like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s an attractive opportunity. Starting salary, $174,000, free airport parking, free gym, up to 239 days off a year, you can earn up to an additional $15,000 a year from outside income, a cost of living raise every January 1st, $3,000 annual tax deduction for living expenses while away from home, health insurance, vesting after five years, generous pension and retirement benefits, you have to be 30 years old to become a US Senator, and 25 to be a Representative, and finally, no experience necessary. Representatives get job evaluations every two years, but senators don’t get reviewed for six years. Where else can you get jobs like these?

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The Beatles famously sang, “Here comes the sun, It’s alright, Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter,…it feels like years since it’s been here.”  January and February are the darkest, coldest months of the year. But, we always hold out hope for March. The clocks get turned ahead the first weekend of the month, and we get that extra daylight at the end of the day. Spring looms only three weeks ahead. We know it’s slowly going to get warmer. But, March can be cruel. Just when you think we are out of the clutches of winter, we get slammed with four nor’easters. The promise of the smiles of spring turn to the grimaces of ice and snow for one last jolt. The temperatures for almost every day this March have been below average. This followed a February when it rained more than half of the days. While the first day of spring was a week ago, the real first day of spring is March 29th.

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It’s overwhelming inside the sports betting parlor of the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on the the first weekend of the NCAA college basketball national championship tournament. Eighteen giant TV screens are on a two story curved wall. Across from that wall is the wall with all the teams playing, and the various point spreads and odds in yellow, orange and red lights. There are dozens of low slung black arm chairs in a semi circle where bettors pay to sit, order drinks and watch every game simultaneously. They are surrounded by hundreds of standing bettors. Most everyone had a drink in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and a betting sheet. The room is pulsing with testosterone. The crowd seemed to be 98 per cent male. The few females included the waitresses who tried to navigate the crowd with small trays loaded with beers and cocktails. The men were all ages. Twenty and Thirtysomethings wearing backward baseball caps and college tee shirts, and middle aged men looking over their reading glasses at the betting sheets. You are at the center of the American sports betting world.

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The parking lot of the middle school was packed. I found a spot around in the back after moving some pallets to clear a space. It was the meeting of the Bucks County Democratic Committee which was to vote on whether or not to endorse a candidate for congress from the 1st district and other offices. I was there as an advisor to Rachel Reddick, one of three first time candidates running for the nomination. There were tables set up in the hallway by the candidates recruiting people to work on their campaigns. Rachel still wasn’t told if the candidates would be permitted to address the committee members before they voted.

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It’s been among the top news stories for weeks. Thousands of people are sick, and flooding emergency rooms. Children are dying from severe cases. It’s one of the worst seasons in the last ten years. Doctors are repeatedly advising people to get the flu vaccine, even though the latest CDC study says the vaccine is only 36% per cent effective against the most common strain called H3N2. It sounds like a robot character out of Star Wars. I got vaccinated, as I have for the last several years, and hoped for the best. Three years ago, hope wasn’t good enough. I got the flu. Okay, one year of bad luck. Won’t happen again. No so fast.

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I first saw Rachel Reddick on Facebook when she was announcing her candidacy to run for the 8th Congressional District seat in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I was concerned about the direction of the country, and the dangerous and daily madness of the Trump Administration. The wave of women deciding to run for public office to stand up against both political and sexual harassment was rising, and thousands of women were jumping in. According to Emily’s List, which trains pro-choice women to run for office, the number of Democratic women running for the US House of Representatives is up 350% from 41 women in 2016. More than 26,000 have contacted Emily’s List about running this year. So, who was this Rachel Reddick? (more…)

It’s like escaping a fridge prison. The winter in the northeast is cold and dark. Even days that are lit by bright sunshine are a tease. It looks so inviting when you look outside, until you open the door. So, when you get a chance to break out, you make a run for it.  We had a chance this week to spend time on vacation in Arizona. It was in the corner of the country that wasn’t gripped by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and thousands of sliding vehicle accidents that reached into the Deep South. There is no better feeling than sitting at a pool in the sunshine and 75 degrees, and checking your phone to see it’s 28 in Philadelphia.

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This is the time of year when Hollywood releases the serious movies the studios believe will be in the running for the Academy Awards. Two of them, “The Darkest Hour” and “The Post” resonate vividly today when we could all use a reminder of what political and journalistic courage really looks and feels like. The movies examine critical weeks when the free world was on the brink of a catastrophic defeat, and one of the pillars of American democracy was threatened by the very people we elected to defend our most basic freedoms. They tell the stories of individuals who found themselves at a place and time when they had to make decisions under tremedous pressure that would change the course of history.

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As a year ends, it’s the time to look back on what’s happened during that last 12 months. Much will be written about 2017 as one of the most traumatic years in recent history. But as we look forward to 2018, we will be remembering the anniversary of the year that shook and changed the country and the world forever, 1968. Fifty year anniversaries are always a big deal, for marriages, birthdays, class reunions, and historically significant events. 1968 was full of such events, and a very significant personal one.

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Now we have the “word police”. It would be laughable, if it weren’t so frightening.  The Washington Post reports that the Centers for Disease Control has banned seven words for use in any future budget proposals. “Vulnerable”, “entitlement”, “diversity”, “transgender”, “fetus”, “science-based”, and “evidence-based.” The Department of Health and Human Services spokesman says, “The assertion that HHS has “banned words” is a complete mischaracterization of the discussions regarding the budget formulations process.” The Post also reports similar guidance has been issued at the State Department. Employees there have been told to call sex education “sexual risk avoidance”. That phrasing usually refers to abstinence-only education. Comedian George Carlin listed the seven dirty words you couldn’t say on television or radio back in 1972. Just think of how much fun he would have with this list.

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