Wednesday's This and That - Not Golf Related

Recently I had a visitor to this blog, a good man, who sent me an email and suggested that I can the comments on the politicians and to leave political matters to politicians. He goes on to say:

Some of us get tired of you constantly downing our president or submitting articles that do. Sure he has made mistakes, but who hasn't. The thing that is going to hurt our country is people like you who continually criticize our government.

Hmmmm. Me bad. My apologies to all those who come to this blog and expect (or want) to see only items about golf or the golf course. For the moment, I'm not going to do that as the whole intent of this blog was to invite those who want to to come on in and see what's going on in my head not only in the golfing arena but also in several other areas of my life. Books, movies, family, politics, sports are some of those areas and I often react to something and share that reaction. As for politics, and especially presidential politics, that is of particular interest and especially these last several years when our current administration, those people whom we have hired to steer this ship of state of ours, have made such a mess of governing. Be quiet?! Egads! too many of us have been way too quiet; too many of us stood along the side of the road and pretended that that new suit of clothes was dazzling, was oh so beautiful. And now we pay the price, in blood and treasury, in denial of constitutional rights, in the degradation of government agencies and departments. Being quiet, for me, is not an option. I am sorry, rather, that it has taken me so long to speak up and out. Me bad, or mea culpa for the latin lovers out there.

With that said, I very much appreciate the email that this good man sent to me (and yes I do know him and golf with him and he really is a good man and a gentle man). He in his own way is speaking up, speaking out, expressing his view on something that he did not agree with nor appreciate. And that of course is part of what we consider our birthright, the freedom to speak, the freedom of speech.

With all that said, a warning: the following is not only a non golfing item but one having to do with politics at least in the sense that there is an organization out there interested in checking the truthiness of what politicians are saying.

With presidential politics starting to heat up, the WAPO has started it's own fact checker. The first of four in today's item has to do with a statement made by Fred Thompson that America has shed more blood for other people's liberty than any other country or combination of countries ever. WAPO's fact checker says no way and gives Fred a four Pinocchio award. The things we say... Hey, WAPO invites us to be part of the process (good for them):

Contact the Fact Checker

We rely on our readers to send us suggestions on topics to fact check and tips on erroneous claims by political candidates, interest groups and the media. If you have facts or documents that shed more light on a subject under discussion, or if you think we have made a mistake, let us know.

I know that there is lots of other stuff out there worth finding out about and commenting on, but for now that's it. I'm heading back to the golf course. Let the world turn as it may.