Remembering Tony Snow

Aside from the usual media blunders, these past few weeks have been particularly rough for journalism. The shock of Tim Russert's death in June still lingers, and today I awoke to the news of the passing of Tony Snow. Although deeply saddened, I was not surprised. As a physician, I knew that with metastatic colon cancer his life expectancy was short. The last time I saw him - gaunt with thin, white hair - he reminded me of the last time I saw Peter Jennings. When he disappeared from the public eye, I feared the worst was near. Unfortunately, I was right.

I remember Tony Snow as a brilliant and evocative speech writer, as well as a skilled journalist and TV/radio host. Repeatedly, he deftly kept the White House press team in check, but did so with a grin. He was respected (and actually liked) by many of his peers, regardless of their politics. Perhaps more important than his command of his profession, he was also blessed with a healthy sense of humor that kept him smiling even when the foaming-at-the-mouth leftists called for his head. From what I know, he was a man of fine character as well as a devoted husband and father of three.

As someone far away from the beltway, I would probably never have had the opportunity to meet Tony. But if I had, I would have thanked him for contributing so richly to meaningful, civil, thought-provoking public discourse.

Tony was one of the nice ones, and I will miss him.

The "Whiner" Factor

I freely admit that I occasionally watch Fox News Channel. Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Watch, and The O'Reilly Factor are my most frequent takes from their offerings. I leave the rest to those who enjoy Shepard Smith and his apparently limitless goofiness. The other day, I just happened to catch a special hosted by Heather Nauert entitled, "The Y Factor." It was a report exploring the expected heavy influence of the youth vote on the upcoming presidential election. The first question Ms. Nauert posed was to a young woman, a student I presume, and although I don't recall the exact question or her exact response, her answer was to similar to this, "Well, being a young person today is soooo difficult..."

Excuse me?

As a member of the so-called Generation X, I'm not that much older than this dimwit. I'm sure she may feel the pressure of having a cell phone with only a 2 megapixel camera, or the anxiety caused by the possibility that college classes like "Border Crossings, Borderlands: Transnational Feminist Perspectives on Immigration" or "'Mail Order Brides?' Understanding the Philippines in Southeast Asian Context" might fill up too quickly. But perhaps she should open a history book and look at what real hardship, real challenge really is.

Whining coming from those who have nothing to whine about is distasteful to some, infuriating to a few, and not a big deal to more and more...but it's mostly depressing to me. To think that the culmination of the collective work of generations of Americans is the creation of a generation largely populated by spoiled ingrates who have zero perspective really gets me down. I'm encouraged, though, when I see some of these "millennials" rise to face colossal challenges and succeed - such as the case of our soldiers in post-surge Iraq.

Gee...I wonder who that coed will be voting for in November?

Introduction, etc.

Hello everyone in the blogosphere and beyond. My name is Ron Workman, and welcome to my blog. After being a faithful and frequent user of the internet since the mid 90s, I've decided to take the plunge and create an online presence. A place where I can observe, muse, propose, analyze, criticize, and occasionally rant...hopefully without much repercussion. My plan with this blog is to post my thoughts from time to time about anything and everything with an emphasis on current events or events not so current but still of interest to me. Politics, science, pseudo-science, pop culture, history...these and more are fair game here.

Enjoy.