• To reiterate: THE FUNDAMENTALS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE WRONG NOW.  And now Tom Friedman agrees with that assessment in today's NYTimes "Anxious In America",WK p10). 
• An endorsement of John McCain, one of many to come in this section: "McCain Is The Clear Choice For Change", by Benjamin Davol, The Day today, pE3. 
• The Connecticut State Government has evidently done something good for a change...addressing the pungent state of ethics in the State.   See articles by Morgan McGinley and by State Representative Diana Urban in The Day today, pE3. 
• Poor Preston, Ct. saddled with an embarassment of riches.  What to do?  Tune in this week. 
• Now the Pentagon's Iraq Follies, well chronicled in the pages of this section since the Summer of 2003, begin to emerge. See the latest Pentagon study in the NYTimes today, pA1.  What happens when military men become politicians...and politicians value "loyalty" over logic.  And, of course, a very special Bronx Cheer for Donald Rumsfeld.

• The "sub-prime mortgage crisis", aka the "stupid and greedy crisis", involves many voters and political contributors.  Thus the push to bail everybody out, especially the politicians who allowed all of this stupid and greedy to flourish.  And what about the rest of us taxpayers who will have to pay for the proposed bailouts?  ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES; both for those that caused the "crisis" and those accessories after the fact.  And today we learned that even massive pension funds, charged with the most conservative and stable investment goals, have been feeding at the trough.  Senator Joseph Lieberman proposed banning pension funds from investing in commodities entirely.  But even he and his rational idea were beaten down.  So, the dismal record of our government beats on.  See George Will's review of the record for 2007, entitled "2007: "Ready, Fire, Aim" (Newsweek, December 31, 2007).
• America's energy problem and the related Mid-East crisis are not being addressed honestly by the politicos, whose only interest this year is "GOTCHA".  Folks, we don't have much time to deal with this...short of WW lll, the usual fall-back position when avoidable national crises get bad enough.
• Bad news for everyone, especially the millions of aborted human beings: Planned Parenthood is reportedly doing very well (WSJ June 23, pA1).  What an abomination.  We were all happy to hear this week that Americans embrace religious tolerance.  That is as it should be...except for abortion.  Slavery was the Original Sin of this country.  Abortion replaced it as America's great national stain. 
• Now, to paraphrase the old motto: MY COUNTRY.  MAY SHE BE ALWAYS RIGHT.  BUT, IF NOT, WE'LL WORK ON A COURSE CORRECTION.  That means Americans, not the cacophony of ill-will from other countries.  For perspective on the latter, see "Anti-Americanism Is Mostly Hype", by Fouad Ajami (WSJ Monday, June 23, pA17. 
• Zimbabwe.  Another abject failure...first for all of Africa, and secondarily for the former colonial powers who owe the African people much more than mere hand-wringing and platitudes.
• Here's a dog-bites-man story: The Day (www.theday.com) is unfurling its liberal colors again in this national election year.  Go ahead.  But could you do all of us just one favor: spare us those inane and asinine "political cartoons" of Lukovitch.  Is he somebody's brother-in-law there?
• Short and sweet:  DON'T COUNT HILLARY OUT UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION.  That's a sobering thought.  See "Hillary's Hidden Hand", Newsweek December 31, 2007, p62.  See also my section on Bill Clinton on my web site (www.asthma-drsprecace.com) for a review of those halcyon years. 
• Tim Russert was a good man.  And something is missing from the story of his demise "while at work".  Could he not have been saved?  Was he given CPR?  Was there an AED available?  I don't have closure here. 
• The Right to Bear Arms is an individual right, decided for the first time since the passage of the Bill of Rights.  Exactly right, with appropriate caveats included.  Could this High Court not even get to this result without a 5-4 decision?  We are told that the 2008 USSC session came to fewer such split decisions than in 2007, when there were 24  5-4 decisions.  Our body politic may be so divided.  Our citizens certainly are not.  And there lies yet another serious symptom of the disease: THE FUNDAMENTALS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE WRONG NOW. 
• Two bits of good news from the Middle East: 1) Pakistani troops attacked Taliban fighters on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border...finally; 2) Turkey may be starting to address its Muslim cancer in its secular governmental and civic body.  And then there is the perennial question: Are We Safer?  See the article of the same name by Reuel Marc Gerecht in the Weekly Standard, June 30, 2008.  The sub-title is: "Yes, George W. Bush has made America more secure since 9/11".

• It bothers me to denigrate substantial numbers of youngsters of a whole generation.  But the facts get worse and worse.  We know how poorly they have done in public schools, even in subjects like Geography, History and English.  We know that they are "groupies" who depend on crowd psychology to shore up the "self-image" that they were given little opportunity to earn...rather than having had it bestowed on them.  We were starkly reminded, in a trio of articles that appeared in The Day this week (www.theday.com) on highschool alcohol and drug use, that even their restricted cognitive capacities are often stunted. And then appear the articles and other media reports this week about the 17 teenaged girls from a town in Massachusetts who reportedly conspired to get pregnant, so that they could all raise their babies together.  CALLING ALL MATURE ADULTS, OF ALL AGES.  As we first learned in typing class: "Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country." 
• The little town of Preston, Ct. just doesn't know what to do with a massive windfall (the former Norwich Hospital property), after years of effort and input.  Is this a failure of leadership...or of followership? My guess is the former. 
• With all the "focal idiopathic idiocy" that continues to spew from Democratic types, still suffering from PTSD following the 2000 election, regarding America's efforts in the Middle East since 2001, no one appears to be paying attention to the rebirth of an old and very serious challenge: Putin's Russia.  Edward Lucas' new book, The New Cold War", is absolutely not bedside reading.  "Is anybody there?  Does anybody care?"
• Meanwhile, our nation is beset with a national election that promises to be the Same Ol', Same Ol', at least from the Democratic side.  See David Brooks' article this week in the NYTimes and in The Day.  See also the following.   GS

MIAMI - With communities in the Midwest still under water, Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday criticized Republican John McCain for opposing federal spending on flood prevention programs and opened a new debate in the White House race.

McCain's campaign said Obama was confusing the facts and engaging in typical political attacks that the Democrat rejects in his speeches.

Both candidates have visited the flood zones in the past two weeks, since tornadoes hit and heavy rains sent rivers surging over their banks. At least 24 people were killed, the majority in Iowa.

Obama, an Illinois senator, canceled a visit to eastern Iowa last week at the request of state officials and instead went to fill sandbags in Quincy, Ill. McCain, an Arizona senator, toured flood damage in Iowa Thursday.

"I know that Sen. McCain felt as strongly as I did," Obama said, "feeling enormous sympathy for the victims of the recent flooding. I'm sure they appreciated the sentiment, but they probably would have appreciated it even more if Sen. McCain hadn't opposed legislation to fund levees and flood control programs, which he considers pork."

The bill that McCain opposed spent $23 billion on water projects. It passed Congress overwhelmingly and was vetoed by President Bush because he said it spent too much on lawmaker's pet projects. Congress voted to override the veto, the first time of Bush's presidency.

The bill funded hundreds of projects — such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration — that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also included money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.

McCain's campaign said Obama opposed an amendment that McCain co-sponsored to prioritize flood control spending. The bipartisan amendment, which failed overwhelmingly on a 69-22 vote, would have made sure "lifesaving levees like those that so tragically failed in Iowa and Missouri are given the highest priority and fixed first," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

"It is beyond the pale that Barack Obama would attack John McCain for actually trying to fix the problem and change the way Washington works," Bounds said. "Barack Obama's willingness to continue the status quo pork-barrel politics in Washington, and then engage in political attacks that entirely disregard the facts, once again fundamentally shows that he's nothing more than a typical politician."

Obama's criticism of McCain came in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He told the city leaders that he would be their partner and appoint the first White House Director of Urban Policy to help them cut through federal bureaucracies. The promise sparked a standing ovation.

He promised money for police, higher-paid teachers, transit, housing and broadband Internet. He said he would create jobs by rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects. "That will be the cause of my presidency," he said.

And he announced a new program to offer matching grants that encourage businesses, government and university leaders to collaborate on regional economic clusters, such as the North Carolina Research Triangle Park and Nashville's entertainment cluster. The campaign said the proposal would cost $200 million a year and would be funded by improving government efficiency.

• Older age is being called an impediment to national service...just as the Depression era generation and even the boomer generation have decades of productive years ahead of them...after having contributed greatly to the nation's welfare.  and this charge is being made by a generation of self-indulgents and by the up - and - coming intoxicated "air-heads".
• The greedy and unprincipled bastards from Wall Street - and now even Ed McMahon - are crying for bailouts from us for their stupidity and misdeeds...and Congress is seriously considering same. 
• Once again, Jay Leno is proven right: Democrats are stupid; Republicans are greedy.  Witness the actions of Congress in recent years. 
• Racism is alive and well...among Black leaders: the vast majority of Blacks vote for Obama, even among avowed Black Conservatives, because he's Black.  And Blacks still demand "Affirmative Action", aka "reverse discrimination", despite the massive gains rightly made by intelligent and prudent Blacks.   
• And the attacks by Democrats and Teachers' Unions against Public Education continue unabated.  See "Putting Children Last", WSJ editorial, Wednesday, June 11; and "Amazing Teacher Facts, WSJ editorial, June 14-15. 
• And, whether facing vital issues in the Middle East or in the nation or in Hollywood, there is no mood for compromise...just warfare.  This fact, and not the difficulties facing us, most ominously herald a period of serious decline in America unless, of course, we are again attacked.  But must it always take that to bring us together?  What a waste.

• Writing as the father of five great kids, ages 48 through 38, every day is Father's (and Mother's) Day.  Congratulations to all. 
• The U.S. Supreme Court, by the narrowest margins and with the most stark differences of opinions, is now on a collision course with our Military Courts over the balance between national security and civil rights (including those rights for aliens).  In my understanding of our American history, as distinguished from foreign history, national security has always trumped some civil liberties for relatively brief periods in times of crisis.  Furthermore, "terrorists", by their own description and within common understanding, are beyond "aliens" and also beyond the scope of the Geneva Conventions.   
• Our current sustenance, as well as our seed bank for the future, are beginning to be jeopardized by the current manipulation of the price of oil and all of its attendant dislocations.  Whether relating to the Gulf of Mexico or the Persian Gulf, we must soon give our "neighbors" a choice: let is reason together, with a 60/40 compromise in their favor; or we will do whatever we have to for our national security.  At home, we must apply even more draconian methods: like rationing, regulation of Wall Street aberrations (hedge funds, derivatives...) and the logical conversion to nuclear energy ASAP. 
• Three articles in The Day (www.theday.com) once again illustrate what a real city - with all its warts - New London, Ct. is.  See Ann Baldelli's column on the quirks of the city throughout its 400+ year history.  See the article by Daniel Moalli, M.D. regarding Historic District designation for the Pequot Colony.  And see Morgan McGinley's column regarding the continuing saga of Fort Trumbull and the progeny of Kelo vs City of New London (USSC).  I'll have more to say about this last soap opera  in a following Rapid Response. 
• Should military veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) receive the Purple Heart, first awarded by George Washington?  I'm not so sure, yet.  I don't question the reality and impact of this disorder / injury.  But it's diagnosis is not verifiable by objective testing...and the Psychiatric community has during the recent decades lost some of its credibility with some of its politicized positions and "diagnoses".  Let's wait a while.  The last thing we would want to do is to demean and diminish the significance of the Purple Heart, especially in the eyes of our veterans themselves. 
• For a clear analysis of the current meaning and politically correct usage of "multi-ethnicity", see the June 15 offering of OPUS in the Sunday Comics.  Delicious. 
• And we end off "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous"...Israel's long-standing method for making peace: tossing Jewish settlements around like weed-seed throughout the land, whether theirs or not.  I have been strongly for a modern (not Biblical) Israel for decades; and I have been against those settlements for as long.  Israelis should continue to read the Old Testament...but should throw in a little world history as well.  "HE WHO SEEKS EQUITY MUST DO EQUITY."  And, given the continuing approach being taken by Israel, disruptive of peace in that vital region...its long-term survival is not a foregone conclusion.  After all, even Yahweh had to start over with the Great Flood.

• Shocking news: Tim Russert is dead, at the age of 58.  A fine journalist.  A good man.  A great loss.  Rest in Peace.  But he would want us to continue with the world's business.
• News Flash.  "Big Powers offer Iran a "generous deal" regarding nuclear power".   Depending upon what that deal is, this is either outrageous...or it is entirely in keeping with the proposal I made several months in this section regarding how to deal with any and all currently non-nuclear nations.  (You can look it up via the search engine).  Executive summary: If you don't try to make nuclear power yourself, the Nuclear Club will give you civilian nuclear power...for free.  If you do try to make it yourself, we will give you one warning...and then will blow all efforts up, with collateral damage as your responsibity.  Is that clear? 
• Zimbabwe, Sudan and the other sites of genocide on that continent.  We are not surprised by the impotence of the U.N.  But what about the "African Union"?  Shameful.
• Here is a non-news item: Obama has declined John McCain's offer to have several combined town-meetings.  McCain is great in these settings.  Obama is tongue-tied without a script, a tele-prompter and a podium.  That tells a lot about the bona fides of each man. 
• The fate of Mustangs on the Western Range.  "Greed, Greed on the Range".  It would be vastly better for Americans' bodies and souls if there were fewer cows and more free-roaming Mustangs.

And the Neville Chamberlain Award for 2008 Goes to . . .
The Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2008; Page A10

Sen. Charles Schumer's June 3 commentary "Russia Can Be Part of the Answer on Iran" offers an excellent illustration of why the Democrats are no longer a party that can be safely entrusted with America's foreign policy.

Sen. Schumer offers three reasons for dismantling the antinuclear missile defenses the U.S. is constructing: (1) the weapons are "ineffective"; (2) the primary threat they are intended to defend against -- an Iranian nuclear attack -- is "hypothetical and remote"; and (3) they drive Vladimir Putin to "apoplexy" because they strengthen "the relationship between Eastern Europe and NATO," thereby mocking "Mr. Putin's dream of eventually restoring Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe."

Sen. Schumer offers no evidence of the missile defenses' ineffectiveness, and if they were known to be ineffective, Mr. Putin would hardly care about them. As for the Iranian nuclear threat, by implausibly dismissing it as "remote," he weakens his own case for taking action to prevent it. In fact, of course, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad has publicly threatened to use nuclear weapons when available to destroy Israel. This is "remote"?

Most remarkable is Sen. Schumer's suggestion that in pursuit of Russian cooperation in a boycott of Iran, we should not only assist in the restoration of Russian hegemony over Central Europe, but even "make Russia whole" for the cost of sanctions by paying its government, currently basking in a sea of oil revenues, some "$2 billion to $3 billion a year" -- a figure Sen. Schumer observes is "about what we spend in Iraq each week."

Less than two decades ago the friends of liberty throughout the world celebrated the fall of the Iron Curtain. Is America now to assist in the reversal of that event in a bootless endeavor to secure Russia's "cooperation" on Iran -- when by the senator's account Russia has no independent interest in such cooperation?

Aside from the removal of Iran's nuclear weapons capacity by military means, antimissile defense offers the only hope of staving off Mr. Ahmadenijad's nuclear blackmail. As for Sen. Schumer's dismissal of the cost of bribing the Russians to cooperate by comparing it to the cost of fighting the Iraq war: What ever happened to the honorable slogan worthy of a great nation, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute"?

Russia Can Be Part of the Answer on Iran

Last month, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran was installing an additional 6,000 centrifuges at Iran's main nuclear enrichment complex. The Bush administration in turn needs to use every diplomatic tool in its arsenal to halt Tehran's development of nuclear weapons.

While the military option can never be taken off the table, most experts admit it would be unlikely to succeed. Because Iran has dispersed its nuclear facilities and buried some deep underground, an air strike will at best slow down, without preventing, its eventual creation of nuclear weapons. A military occupation might do so, but there are less costly solutions available.

Those solutions begin with understanding the fundamental instability of Iran's theocratic dictatorship. Iran is not a homogenous country. It is home to several major and traditionally competitive ethnic groups – Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Arabs. The predominant Iranian culture is mild and secular, not prone to religious fanaticism. Iranians have a great affinity for Western goods and ideas. Satellite TV is illegal in Iran, but there are an estimated five million satellite dishes in Iranian households. The most popular television station is not Al Jazeera nor even CNN, but MTV.

Most importantly, Iran is considerably younger, more educated and more middle class than its neighbors. More than two-thirds of the population is under 30, and the literacy rate is 79%. Women make up half of all incoming university students. Iran's average income far exceeds its neighbors. The growing middle class treasures economic success above political or religious rights, and they measure the success of the current regime on an economic scale.

This dynamic creates an opportunity. Economic sanctions could cause the Iranian government to negotiate seriously with us, and might, over time, topple the theocracy. In fact, the mildest of economic sanctions – a boycott of Iranian banks by U.S. and European central banks – has already produced an economic slowdown, and unrest among Iranians.

Stronger economic sanctions could produce more effective results. To work, these sanctions would require the cooperation of the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The U.S. and Britain have always backed tougher action; Germany and France are also now on board. The Chinese may go along if everyone else will. That leaves Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Thus far, it is Russia that has blocked more effective economic sanctions.

There are three reasons. First, Russia has a longstanding, close relationship with Iran and regards itself as Iran's protector. Second, the Russian economy benefits from its relationship with Iran by several billion dollars a year. Third and most important is leverage. Mr. Putin is an old-fashioned nationalist who seeks to regain the power and greatness Russia had before the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia's relationship with Iran is a key point of leverage over the West that he will not relinquish easily.

To bring Putin's Russia on board we must make it an offer it cannot refuse. The offer has three parts.

First, we must treat Russia as an equal partner when it comes to policy in the Caspian Sea region, recognizing Russia's traditional role in the region. Second, we must offer to make Russia whole if it joins in our Iranian boycott and forgoes trade revenues with Iran. That will cost the U.S. roughly $2 billion to $3 billion a year, about what we spend in Iraq each week. Third, we should tell Mr. Putin we will cease building the ineffective antinuclear missile defense sites in Eastern Europe in return for him joining the boycott.

Two years ago, under NATO auspices, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania agreed to build an antimissile defense site to thwart the threat of a nuclear missile attack by Iran. The threat is hypothetical and remote, and the Bush administration's emphasis on pursuing the antimissile system, without Russia's cooperation, still baffles many national security experts.

It also drives Mr. Putin to apoplexy. The antimissile system strengthens the relationship between Eastern Europe and NATO, with real troops and equipment on the ground. It mocks Mr. Putin's dream of eventually restoring Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe.

Dismantling the antimissile site, economic incentives and creation of a diplomatic partnership in the region – in exchange for joining an economic boycott of Iran – is an offer Mr. Putin would find hard to refuse. It is our best hope to avoid a nuclear Iran, because a successful economic boycott would certainly force the Iranian regime to heed Western demands more than anything attempted so far.

Mr. Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York.

• Hillary has "suspended" her race for the Democratic nomination.  Now let's check Webster's dictionary.  "Suspend": to cease for a time from operation or activity".  For all lawyers including Hillary, words have great specificity and power.  Should we really believe her swansong today in Washington?  Or am I just too suspicious?  In any case, one comic's story is surely apt: "Hillary announced that she would fight on all the way to the August convention...until they detected Bill in one of her pantsuits and in a blond wig". 
• And now, especially after her speech...the first of her new campaign for the Presidency...Obama has a problem.  Should Hillary be his Vice Presidential nominee, or not?  My analysis: If he thinks he can win the Presidency without her, he'll keep her as far away from the White House as possible.  He will choose her...and her Bill-baggage...only if he does not think that he can win without her.  Since I think that he really believes his own Elmer Gantry rhetoric, he will decide that he can win without her...and he will lose!  How's that for a gutsy prediction? 
• Meanwhile, the world is choosing sides.  Yesterday we heard from Kenya (?), whose citizens will work for Obama's victory.  Today, we hear from Kurt Beck, the new leftist Social Democrat leader in Germany, who also chooses Obama.  Let's hear more from the foreign peanut gallery.  With friends like that, how can he lose? 
• Meanwhile, with the oil market being feverishly gamed by all sorts of parties, Russia and other oil-rich countries may be trying to give us a dose of our own medicine.  In the 1980's, President Reagan consciously and successfully worked to bankrupt the USSR with an arms race...luckily before we went bankrupt.  See the following statement by the new President of Russia.  Unfortunately, this time he is not blowing smoke.  GS
  

• The following words may sound hyperbolic: outrageous; depraved; senseless; inhuman.  But they are all apt in referring to the people who watched a man get mauled by hit-and-run bastards on a busy Hartford, Ct. street...and did nothing to help him directly and immediately.  I cannot suitably express my anger.  And increasingly common hit-and-run drivers should henceforth face at least 10 years in jail, and 20 years in the case of death.  Let's see how long it takes for the State Judiciary Committee to consider that. 
• Where did I put my crying towel?  Ed McMahon buys a 6 million dollar house, with a 5 million dollar mortgage.  He gets a 7 million dollar insurance settlement because of toxic mold in that house.  The house is now reportedly completely repaired.  But Ed is facing foreclosure.  What am I missing here?  Do you think that maybe it's time to DOWNSIZE?
• The years-long pinata stage of Bush-bashing has now entered a more virulent stage of demonization.  Today we heard on NPR that "people" are starting to worry and plan about how to stop Bush from going to war with Iran just before he leaves office in the event that McCain loses the election.  Folks, I kid you not.  Therefore, CALLING ALL MATURE ADULTS FOR THE ELECTION.  You are needed to counter the crazies and the lemming generation.  We also read that Kenyans - in Kenya - are going to mount a world-wide effort to elect Obama.  Our 51st State? 
• Zimbabwe and Mugabe: another in the continuing series of U.N. "successes".  And America is supposed to be guided by and to place serious weight on that body.  Right!  The same disconnect of logic pertains to the near abandonment by NATO, our "allies", of efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. 
• Israel has today confirmed that it will attack Iran's nuclear facilities if world efforts fail to stop that activity.  So that's news?  As I have been saying for some time, one of the reasons why we have to maintain a strong presence in the Middle East is to prevent conditions which would prompt Israel to act unilaterally...and then sucking us all in. 
• Locally, the little community of Preston, Ct., home to the former and very valuable Norwich Hospital property, seems to have a bad case of the shakes regarding what to do with it.  Folks, you've spent too long on this.  And no decision is a decision, often the wrong one.  Get a grip!

• The Democratic Party persists in the error of its ways: disenfranchizing large groups of voters over its pique at undemocratic rules flouted.  The Democratic Party leadership: Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid; Howard Dean...Articulate, Arrogant, Asinine.  RUN, HILLARY, RUN!
• A major national adoption advocacy group has recently come out in favor of considering trans-racial adoptions.  It's about time, while tens of thousands of kids miss and distort their formative years in successive foster homes.  "The Best Interests of the Child"...remember?
• As happens every time, another parade in New London, Ct. reminded me of the greatness and spirit of its people.  There they were, in full display on Memorial Day on State Street: all shapes, sizes, races, ages, colors and religions of New London citizens...marching in tribute to this city and its fallen.  Let's see if the many volunteer groups in the city...and especially the City Councilors, each elected to represent the entire city...are deserving of these people by selflessly working together.  Ann Baldelli's column in the Sunday Day is right on target in this regard. 
• Another article in that same issue (Sunday, June1) is also on target:"For The Dying, Less Can Be More" by Carol Mithers (pE1).  My friend Peter Moore, Ph.D and I have for some time been offering our articles on Abortion, Morality and Ethics under the rubric Point and Counterpoint, all available on my web site (www.asthma-drsprecace.com).  Please see the following articles on this and related subjects: #'s 6,8,9,12, and 20.  Yes, you do have ethical choices, when you are the patient and when you are the patient's surrogate. 
• The recent proposal to authorize political appointments to the Coast Guard Academy, in New London, Ct., is "a bad idea"...as well articulated by Morgan McGinley in his column in The Day (Sunday, June 1, pE3).  This is of a piece with efforts at dumbing-down our educational ladder.  It began nearly 50 years ago at a then premier institute of higher learning: City College of New York.  It spread since then like wildfire through our public school system, encouraged by new-age "educators", and by the teachers' unions and their wholly owned subsidiary - the Democratic Party.  Recent efforts include reports that the Military is reducing its entrance requirements, and that some colleges are eliminating reference to SAT results in considering admissions.  Add to that the self-aggrandizing impressions and lemming-like tendencies of many of the "Millennial Generation"...and we old geezers are just going to have to keep active in society, for it's and our own protection. 
• The Day editorial on Route 11 extension.  GIVE IT UP.  For several reasons already expressed in this section, we don't need our own "Big Dig". 
• The more Obama "negatives" John McCain, the more empty is his suit.  McCain has an established track record.  To use a good Yiddish term, Obama has "GURNICHT". 
• And then there are the Libertarians and Bob Barr.  They claim they are not out to be spoilers; but watch out!  That's exactly what they will be unless in November the people vote a clear expression of preference in a new President.  Think clearly, folks...and vote. 
• We read that the U.N. nuclear agency, the IAEA, is getting "serious" with Iran.  Gimme a break!
• We read that the Shiite cleric, "Al-Sadr Wants To Convert From Firebrand To Leader" (by Amit Paley, The Day Sunday, June 1, pE1)...and that he "has been studying in Iran under a system that places clerics as national leaders."  That's just what the Middle East, including Israel need: more Theocracy.  That entire region needs both Freedom of Religion and Freedom from Religion if it is to earn the respect of the rest of the wary world...and especially of the United States, whose self-defense is closely tied to the area.