Proud To Be A Liberal

The Republicans have done well since the Reagan years to turn "Liberal" into a dirty word. It's interesting to note, however, that in one of his most well-known (and quoted) speeches that Reagan posed to Mikhail Gorbachev:

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

As a matter of trying to reclaim the true meaning of the word, I'd like to cite John F. Kennedy from September of 1960, while accepting the New York Liberal Party Nomination:

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

Speaking of Running... An Update

Eight Gored at Pamplona Bull Run

Eight people have been gored during Pamplona's Festival of San Fermin, better known as the running of the bulls.

One man suffered a series of injuries as he was repeatedly caught a bull's horns at the entrance to the bull ring. His trousers and shirt were ripped to shreds as he tried to crawl away.

A further nine people have been treated for cuts and bruises after being trampled and four people were admitted to hospital on Friday after being gored by bulls.

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Bull Run

I don't know what it is about Pamplona's running of the bulls that attracts people. I suppose that being able to say "I survived it!" is one reason.




Another reason would be...?

When Worlds Collide

Growing up in Toledo, Ohio in the 1960s, I became acquainted with the writings of Chicago columnist/philosopher/critic Sydney J. Harris via his five-day-a-week column Strictly Personal. The Blade ran his columns in the "The Peach" section of the paper, which was (actually) a salmon-colored (usually innermost) section of the paper. The "pink sheet", as we called it, contained Family Circle cartoon, puzzles such as Jumble, news about local people, helpful hints, television and radio listings, L.M. Boyd's Odd Facts and Strictly Personal.

Perhaps what hooked me on reading the column were Sydney's "non-column" stalwarts that appeared once or twice a week: the trivia-laden "Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things" and "Antics With Semantics" -- a word puzzle or quiz usually, intended as a vocabulary builder.

His columns were part of my daily diet once I entered Bowling Green State University at twenty. His essays served as models for me as I struggled to meet the writing standards of my English composition class -- a class which many BG students had failed on the first go 'round; a class which every BG graduate was required to take and pass. More importantly, his wisdom, his careful consideration of issues, and his passion for language inspired this (mostly) closet author.

In those years, I drove a Black 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle. It was the second car I'd owned and quite possibly my favorite. (I drove it for another nine years or so.) At the time I'd purchased it, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel had begun flexing its muscle with regard to the flow of oil into the United States, declaring an embargo on countries supporting Israel in its conflict with Egypt. Fuel efficient automobiles became more and more necessary and therefore more and more visible. I had always had a particular affinity for VW Bugs anyway, so my choice for a vehicle served both practical and aesthetic purposes.

Flashing forward almost thirty years, I pulled out the lone Sydney J. Harris book I own today, The Best Of Sydney J. Harris, to see what I might be able to glean from Sydney's words that would remain applicable to today's world events. I had read Michael Moore's recent message posted at another blog and felt compelled to add something to the discussion. I found something, posted it and moved on.

I then wondered why so few people have heard of Harris or his writing. I wondered if there was much information about him on the web. I found that most of the Google results were quote respositories. I did manage to find a site dedicated to Harris and his writing comprised of fifty or so of his essays. A good start, but far from what I was looking for. I was hoping to find biographical information.

Further search yielded very little.

I did find a link, however, to an excerpt from Small Wonder -- The Amazing Story of the Volkswagen by Walter Henry Nelson.

The kind of people who drive Volkswagens strike syndicated columnist Sydney J. Harris of the Chicago Daily News "as having what traffic officers call 'the right attitude' on the road... They seem sensible people, with decent values, and I would wager a sizable amount that the accident rate is quite low among them." Harris is right; insurance rates are often lower for Volkswagen owners than for owners of big cars. As for their being people with "decent values," Harris seems right too, as the "Police Blotter" column in the Sudbury, Massachusetts, Citizen shows. "On Saturday night," it reported, "a VW sedan struck a stone wall on the Haynes property on Morse Road. The next day a young man returned and rebuilt the wall."

The things you learn while looking up other things!