The
Science of Politics and a Wounded Dog
There were a couple things
that attracted my interest recently that I thought I might share with
you. They were things that affected me in a couple different ways.
See what you think.
The first was that I
attended the movie “Lincoln” on Sunday and was totally blown away
by it. The acting was nothing but incredible and I'll be dumbfounded
if there won't be multiple Academy Awards resulting from it. Just
off the top of my head I'd say Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field and
Daniel Day Lewis were as good as I've ever seen them in any film. Or
maybe anybody else in any other film. Stellar work and they most
definitely deserve the utmost kudos from everyone.
But what drew my attention
beyond the superb acting in this fine film was the fact that the
United States Congress was just as contentious, just as
starkly partisan and just as mule-headed back in 1865 as it is
in today's version. Nay, if the film portrayed events even close to
accurately, I'd say they were even more so, if you can
possibly believe it. As you may recall from your history books, the
country was still divided during the period portrayed, North and
South, and the bloody Civil War was just winding down. Then, as now,
the Senate had passed a bill which was being held up in the House.
This one, however, was the 13th Amendment which would
outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a
crime. This was a very contentious issue in those days as you
might imagine. Lincoln knew, that when he had freed the slaves with
his Emancipation Proclamation back on the first day of 1863, it was
only “good” for the duration of the war. After peace had been
achieved, the proclamation would probably no longer be in effect. He
further postulated that the proclamation might even be illegal and,
if so, would be quickly overturned in the courts. The only way he
could guarantee the abolishing of slavery was with an
amendment to the Constitution.
During the course of the
movie we see Lincoln using every ounce of his power and his political
savvy to change the minds of a certain number of Representatives to
his way of thinking, to make sure that they had enough numbers to
pass the bill when it came up to a vote.
I smiled as I saw the way
each “nay” vote was changed to an “aye” and realized that the
science (or is it a craft?) of politics has changed not one iota in
the last 150 years. People are persuaded, cajoled, shamed,
flattered, given political favors, intimidated, indirectly (or
directly) bribed and emotionally hijacked to gain a favorable vote.
You can see this process continuing even to this day. And, to be
honest, I don't condemn or condone any of these practices. It is
what it is. It's just politics. At least in the time of Lincoln and
according to the movie, he was a master at his trade and was able to
skillfully obtain the results that he needed.
If the portrayal of
Lincoln which I watched yesterday was anything close to accurate, he
would have been a man I'd have liked to know personally. He was
shown to be an extremely likeable man and a great president.
So why are you just
sitting there? Go see the movie!
&&&
The second thing was this:
About a week ago there was
a ghastly story running on our local television news. In a park in
Cleveland Heights, a good Samaritan out walking her dogs had found a
dog which had been tied to a tree and shot twice. He was then,
apparently, left for dead. The Samaritan phoned the police and when
they arrived they found the animal was still alive. He was bundled
off to a veterinary clinic and cared for and his life was saved. As
of November 30, the dog, named Forest for the place he was found, was
doing much better but was still in a lot of pain and still had a long
way to go before he would arrive at a full recovery. The video that
was aired showed a beautiful mastiff that was extremely underweight
for what he should have weighed. The television news report goes on
to state:
“He was neglected,
malnourished and tied up; forced to eat concrete or gravel.
He
is eating now, but still limping because of the gunshot wound to his
chest.
He was also shot in the
face.
Cleveland Heights police
are analyzing the bullet for fingerprints and DNA, to find out who
shot the dog.”
He's the most
lovable-looking pooch, sort of a brindle black and brown Mastiff with
the most calm, trusting eyes you've ever seen. Once he's back to his
normal health I'm positive he'll find his forever home almost
immediately.
But just think:
Someone tied this poor dog
to a tree and shot him.
And shot him again.
And botched the killing.
I'm a dog lover. Let's
get that stated up front. When I see stories like this I get so
angry that I could just spit. I want to find the sub-human who did
those horrific acts to a trusting, loving pet and have him punished
in the exact same manner as he punished the dog. But before
tying him to a tree and shooting him I want to beat him and beat him
some more. Then make him eat some concrete and gravel!
But I know that won't
happen.
He'll probably just get a
fine and maybe, just maybe, will be forbidden to own a pet.
For a couple years.
And. That's. Just. Not.
Right.
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