Louis Roney: War, politics and other recollections

It must be shocking to many straightforward Americans that President Obama resorts to obliquely dishonest euphemisms when referring to "the Global War on Terrorism." How can a man rightly act to protect our country when he curiously refers to “the Global War on Terrorism” as the “war on a far-reaching network of violence and hatred”? The president’s own mind clearly cannot face the fact of “terrorism,” something he has pledged to deal with in our favor.

Soros = trouble?

Cosmopolites have pointed out to me that “Soros” sounds curiously, but coincidentally, like the Yiddish word “tsuris” i.e. “trouble” — in River City maybe?

Wise observation

“What difference does it make whether the women rule or the rulers are ruled by women? The result is the same.” —Aristotle

Politics defined

Politics might well be called “a systematic organization of hatreds.”

Fish and eggs

In the Depression — my Winter Park school days — we lived in Forest Hills near Lake Sue. Often at 6 a.m., I caught a few nice big bream from the lake, scaled them on the spot and took home boneless bream filets to be fried in clean-strained bacon fat. Alongside scrambled eggs those bream made a super breakfast. I can taste them now!

Plain, old treat

I remember from bygone college days, my travels via automobile, and sometimes via my thumb, between Florida and Massachusetts. Along the way were welcome stops at diners for a cup of coffee and a doughnut. The latter cost all of a nickel and was made out of special dough (hence doughnut), and was lightly sprinkled with sugar and, perhaps, a bit of cinnamon. Those doughnuts had a special simple good taste and went with coffee in an inimitable way. I now search in vain for a plain ordinary doughnut of the kind that used to satisfy adequately, but not excessively. Today, even a local well-known doughnut shop sells only doughnuts of a different kind of dough, and “dolled up” with a glaze that converts a simple taste into that of a dessert of sorts. I guess I’m seeking a plain “Tin Lizzie” in these modern days, when the Chevrolet has become a complicated automatic chrome-plated behemoth.

Divorces

You know for sure you are antiquated when you can recall the days when an ordinary divorce caused a scandal in the neighborhood.

Suckers and liars

At this time I’m glad that my two children are grown and that my grandson is 30. I would hate to bring up little kids in today’s beclouded concepts of “right” and “wrong.” When Obama began a recent speech, my b.w. and I begin to count the lies as they slipped lightly off his tongue. How do you get today’s kids to believe the George Washington story about the cherry tree — they would think that George was a sucker because he told the truth, when an “Obama lie” would have so easily put the blame on someone else.

What would you say if the head of your family, without any increase in income, suddenly swelled your family’s spending by 80 percent in the last year? Well, our U.S. “head,” Barack Obama, has done just that! Next time around let’s be sure that our national “head” is screwed on straight, OK?

For a long time I have had the feeling that our president feels no especial love for this unique country.

About Roney:

Harvard’42—Distinguished Prof, Em.—UCF

2004 Fla. Alliance for the Arts award

(Assisted by beautiful wife Joy Roney)