Jack’s Winning Words 9/14/16
“I praise loudly.  I blame softly.”  (Catherine the Great)  Catherine wasn’t called “the Great” because she was good, kind and likeable, but because she was able to bring Russia into the modern world.  In the USA citizens are talking about who’ll be their next leader.  The problem is that many are focusing in on the negatives, rather comparing the positives.  No wonder voters seem to think that neither candidate is any good.  What’s a great leader in your mind?    ;-)  Jack

FROM BS IN ENGLAND:  One who believes that they can make a difference,  a good listener, has a good sense of humor and doesn't  take themselves  too seriously.====JACK:  Churchill comes to mind...and maybe, Thatcher.

FACEBOOK LIZ:  if a "leader" is not honest, they should be in prison.====JACK:  ...then, we'd have no candidates for President.  Jesus said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." ====LIZ:  we have laws for reason. none of us is above the law... not even jesus. he accepted his "punishment," when he wasn't even guilty of a crime!  no, not all politicians are crooks. but those who are should be made to atone for it. do you agree?====JACK:  Do I agree?  (I think I know what you're getting  at.)  That depends.  Not all laws are just laws.  Some laws are unjust and need to be repealed, or be disobeyed.  Having said that, it seems best, for the sake of an ordered society, to live under the law.  In my WWs commentary I tried to say that "we" spend too much time looking for the negatives rather than emphasizing the positives when choosing our leaders.====LIZ:  oh, brother... ====JACK:  I take that to mean that I was being disingenuous.====LIZ:  which laws are ok to break? by whom? who decides whether it's ok to break them?  many laws do need to be repealed, for sure. i am a libertarian, you may recall. we're the small gov't folks.====JACK:  In Michigan it's illegal for a woman to cut her hair without her husband's permission.  Libertarianism is too drastic for me, but I consider it to be a form of free speech.====LIZ:  absolutely. we all own our bodies.  you are a good discusser!

FROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  And Barack Obama has the best percentage of public support since 2008. Like the song goes.. "You don't know what you've got till it's gone!"====JACK:  Leadership isn't often appreciated until time has passed.  For example. Lincoln and Truman.  "Give time time!" as the saying goes.====PAUL:  It will be very interesting to see what historians will write about Obama. I think it will be quite different than what some people predict.====JACK:  Samuel Butler wrote: "God cannot alter the past, though historians can."  I would venture that most Americans don't realize that they are living during a really significant presidency.

FROM LBP IN PLYMOUTH:  Regarding today's WW: I listened to this last night and found it interesting.   (Check out this cool episode: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?mt=2&i=375236339)  The parenting - politics correlation holds for me. It's integrating to think of others points of view from this perspective too====JACK:  Yes, parenting and politics and a lot of other stuff can be directed by the Hidden Brain. The Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world – and themselves. Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain's host Shankar Vedantam reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, the biases that shape our choices, and the triggers that direct the course of our relationships.

FROM TTARMART REV:  Good point, again this morning, Jack . . . even greater than our candidacies, America's negatives nowadays are broadcast from the Presidency, government officials, the mass media, school rooms, pulpits and even to folk like myself speaking of it today . . . Would be nice hear those positives again from our nation's leadership and media propagating non-bias reporting to the positives of those running . . . maybe some of us could "Amen!" once again what we are hearing.  But, starting with me today, Jack-- Be blessed, basking in God's blessings upon an in your life!! I have plenty as well to be thankful for!!====JACK:  I think that much of our negative thinking is media driven...so, last night I decided not to watch the news.  I didn't miss it.  However, that's not the long term solution.  We need to work at being more discerning, to separate the wheat from the chaff, to be careful not to step in the oompah!  (Google Harry Truman oompah)

FROM TRIHARDER:  A few short hours ago, I lost a hero. My nephew, Scott, was a fighter, a champion. He fought that killer disease, cystic fibrosis, his entire life. He fought into his teen age years to become a star baseball player in high school and then go on to play varsity ball in college. He fought his way into law school and, ironically, with severely diminishing lung capacity, he became a fine disability attorney. He fought his way through a double lung transplant to find the love of his life, Courtney, and, despite his body rejecting those new lungs, exchanged wedding vows with her seven short months ago. And within the last week, he heroically fought his way off of a ventilator to verbally express his love to his bride, his family and several friends who came to see him from around the country. And, surrounded by all of that love and renewed sense of optimism he fought his way to the brink of the transplant list for still another set of lungs.  On Sunday, Scott was sucker punched by CF and 48 brave hours later, he could fight no more. Although Scott was robbed of several decades of happiness and fulfillment, the disease cannot steal from us the heroism we watched him display every day of his life. His memory is truly a blessing to Milt, Wendy.====JACK:  Praise LOUDLY, Scott!  Blame LOUDLY, Cystic Fibrosis!  I'm confident that someday there will be a cure.  A friend of mine who died of tuberculosis said, shortly before his death, "I was born thirty years too soon," meaning that "the cure" came too late for him.  The saying, "Born thirty years too soon" was a regular segment of  Out Our Way, a comic strip, popular at that time.

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  A person who is good and who inspires others to be good. Also someone to be an effective leader would have to have a great understanding of what is best for everyone. ====JACK:  With today's social media it's hard for any candidate to escape mud-slinging.  The problem is....Too many people accept lies as fact, without doing a deeper search.  I wonder if there will ever be a resurrection of bi-partisanship?

FROM CPA BOB:  There are books on this subject, of course.  So, in a nutshell, one who listens and is able to delegate both responsibility and authority.====JACK:  Yes, that would be nice, but the reality is....  Which reminds me of a church that was looking for a new pastor.  They described the requirements that wanted for the candidate.  The bishop went away from the meeting saying, "What they want is Jesus on roller skates."  I suppose it works similarly when a synagogue describes what it is that they want in a rabbi.