Duty and Honor

From the Paperback Version

Jack Ryan Jr appears once again in this novel that partially owes its success to the fame of Tom Clancy, but which was penned by Grant Blackwood following Clancy’s death in 2013.

It was The Hunt for Red October that propelled Clancy to the best-seller lists, especially after Ronald Reagan’s endorsement of that book as being “my kind of yarn.”

In this more current tale, Jack Ryan Jr, son of President Ryan, finds himself being tracked for assassination.  He doesn’t know who is attempting to find and eliminate him; nor does he know why.

And he doesn’t want his famous dad’s help.

Somewhere Safe . . .

. . . With Somebody Good is the title of Jan Karon’s book, one her latest in the life of small-town Mitford.  Karon is a prolific and easy to read author. 

Nonetheless, her series of tales about the mythical town of Mitford has grown into at least nine books, all of which are better read in sequence.

I discovered this when I purchased Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good at a Barnes & Noble book store in Washington, D.C. during one of my visits there.

It’s much more enjoyable to have read Karon’s books about life in Mitford in the order in which they were written.

The plot lines in Somewhere Safe . . .  resolve around the servant leadership of an Episcopal parish priest, Tim Cavanagh and his wife Cynthia, both of whom become the center of life in their little corner of the world. 

 

Father Tim evokes a time when residing in  and participating with the activities and rituals of a Christian parish was at the core of life for many people. 

The Upcoming Insipid New Jersey Primaries?

Jack Ciattarelli at an April, 2013 Town Hall Meeting

According to an article in Sunday’s The New York Times, the interest being demonstrated by Garden State voters to the gubernatorial primary elections which will be held on June 6, are of little interest.

That’s too bad, but not unanticipated given that rarely do primaries garner much attention.

Moreover, the Times story used up most of its ink naming and discussing the Democrat candidates, giving negligible attention to the other side of the aisle.

The only reference to the GOP was that of Democrat front runner Phil Murphy’s criticism of “the transportation plans of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, one of two main candidates running in the Republican primary,” according to Nick Corasaniti, writer of the Times report.

The Virus Infecting Political Discourse

In the aftermath of the national elections, rancor continues to rise in a crescendo of ill-will.  It’s happening on a daily basis, hour-by-hour. The civility and mutual courtesy which once existed between and within the Congressional and Executive branches seem to have melted away in the last three decades.

Lately, I’ve recused myself from publicly sharing my views and commentaries on this blog, refusing to wade into the muck.  Yet the Public Square will not go away, and there are no rocks to hide under.

But don’t expect my blog to justify one side of the political argument or the other during your reading of this essay.  Very few people are listening these days except to the sound of their own voices, insisting that they are correct and, therefore, that all others are wrong.  I hope you are different.

Good for Jack!

In one of today’s newspapers, New Jersey State Assemblyman, Jack Ciattarelli said, “I have heard that there’s conversations about linking staff salary increases to the legal ads bill.  It’s disturbing and the legislative leadership should be doing everything possible to get that genie back in the bottle . . .. It’s the worst kind of horse trading, and I want nothing of it.”

How refreshing it is that this man has remained true to the same solid ethics that he had when I first came across him years ago when he was a Somerset County Freeholder.