Since the founding of our republic, we’ve had 46 chief executives (presidents). Ranking them has been something of a parlor game among historians since our founding. Although “rankings” can fluctuate over the decades as new information is unearthed, most rank the top 4 or so fairly consistently: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas …
Author Archives: rfcan
Life is Not Fair
This is a partial quote from John F. Kennedy (did he actually say this? who knows). There is, however, much evidence to support this thesis. Since this is going to concern driving, I really should start at the beginning. As readers of this blog know, only too well, I was brought up in Queens NY …
Lapsed
Those of you who read my stuff have probably heard me describe myself as a “lapsed” Catholic. My wife and I were practicing Roman Catholics for most of our long lives. Our two adult children are observant Catholics. Flo and I believe in God as the only rational answer to the wonders of nature which …
Euphenisms
Although cruelty seems to be the hallmark of this century (or maybe we’ve just become more aware of it) it is increasingly avoided in communications, both oral and written. We have become abusers of euphemisms (hope I’m spelling it right). Euphemisms are, shall we say, nicer ways to describe things. For example, “senior citizens” is …
Outerboro
Plus ca change……. We continue to hear and talk about school shootings (it is, after all, part of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms). I feel so sorry for parents, not to mention kids, who go to school wondering whether something like this is going to happen today. Just this month, a teacher, a …
Catholic School
On my 55th birthday, my wife congratulated me, and the next thing she said.to me was, “When are you retiring”? I did so about five months later. I got, immediately, a job teaching science in a catholic high school. My wife, Flo, had by this time become a grizzled veteran catholic educator. This was the …
Miscellany (stuff that keeps me awake at night)
Did the Founders ever contemplate the wide disparities in population between the states of our union? They were probably not that great among the 13 originals. While there had to be compromises to protect the smaller ones (the Senate and the Electoral College) it seems unlikely that anyone could have forseen the California/Wyoming population disparity …
Continue reading “Miscellany (stuff that keeps me awake at night)”
Infrastructure (Planes, Trains and…..)
One of several items the Biden Administration has been able to pass is a big infrastructure package, decades overdue. (His predecessor held Infrastructure Weeks, but got nothing done). Perhaps Mitch McConnell supported it because of a crumbling bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky which is slated to be rebuilt. Doesn’t matter. Recently, we needed …
Treason, Bribery (and other High Crimes and Misdememors)
POTUS #45 has been in the news lately (when hasn’t he been)? If I may cherrypick a single area, namely, his recent travails concerning stewardship of documents, I kinda wonder what his motives were, and perhaps still are. Many of us who failed to get draft exemptions for fallen arches (or whatever got him out …
Continue reading “Treason, Bribery (and other High Crimes and Misdememors)”
QA and QC (Your FDA in Peace and War)
Earlier in my illlustrious career with Uncle Sam, I was a chemist with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This was in the ’60s, back when everything seemed possible. I worked for the New York office, which encompassed the New Jersey pharmaceutical industry. Some bright people far above my pay grade started a new program, …
Rogernarc 