Swickard: That One Moment of a Mobster President

© 2013 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “You don’t understand, I could have had class. I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.” Marlon Brando in the 1964 movie, On the Waterfront.
     Some think too little about it while others think too much. At some point most people consider their legacy. “How will I be remembered?” Most people are born relatively anonymously. They live and die such that only friends and family know them, but the world does not unless they have “That One Moment.”
     Almost everyone famous has had That One Moment when they went above themselves, or below. Some are branded by events that define their entire life. Former President Richard Nixon is best remembered from the aircraft door waving as he left his tarnished presidency. Harry Truman is remembered holding up an incorrect newspaper headline: Dewey Wins. President Gerald Ford will forever be stumbling down stairs.
     President Bill Clinton is remembered for his believable denial, “… I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky…” It was a great performance ruined later when he confessed he was lying the whole time. Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller had a heart attack possibly in the intimate embrace of a woman who was not his wife.
      First President George Washington was afraid he was going to be impeached before he could finish his second term. History instead remembers his best moments. History gave a moral pass to Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon Johnson, James Garfield, perhaps Eisenhower and certainly Franklin Roosevelt.
     Last week there was a moment which may become the legacy of President Barack Obama. It was the placing of an unnecessary fence around the World War Two Memorial. No other government shutdown resulted in the closing of Memorials.
     The core issue is that President Barack Obama was trying to make the partial government shutdown worse than it needed to be for ordinary Americans. There was no reason to hold 90 year-old veterans hostage other than the spitefulness of a Chicago style Mobster President.
     To many Americans this action was an indecent exposure of the Mobster President’s soul. This evil will be his legacy. It erases all of the good he did in other things because history will remember him for That One Moment. Read full column

Swickard: That One Moment of a Mobster President

Contaminated gas in 3 states, refinery admits mistake

From KOB-TV.com - By: Ryan Luby, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Roughly 100 people believe they pumped diluted gasoline into their vehicles earlier this week at a half dozen Giant convenience stores, according to the company tied to the problem. A spokesperson for Western Refining, which owns Giant, told 4 On Your Side that a gasket failed on a large petroleum storage tank near Gallup.
     "We have a number of safety processes and quality control processes in place, but one of the seals failed and allowed some water to leak into that tank, and it once it did, it got into a couple loads of our gasoline," spokesperson Gary Hanson said.
     Hanson said company workers did not realize the leak occurred until a customer called to complain on Tuesday. He said customers would not have been able to determine if the gas was contaminated.
     About a half dozen Giant convenience stores were affected -- including one in Rio Rancho on Route 528, and one in Albuquerque on Paradise and Universe Boulevards. The remaining stations are in: Show Low and Springerville, Arizona; Cortez and Durango, Colorado.
     Hanson said drivers who believe their vehicles have damage from the contaminated should callthe company's claims line at 1-877-511-1012.. He said they should have a receipt as proof of purchase and a damage estimate from a mechanic.
     "The process will probably take a couple of days. Once they get the repairs, our intent is to collect the receipts and get them a check as soon as we possibly can," he said. Dealers across the Albuquerque metro said they're working with more and more customers who have the same type of damage.
     Meanwhile, workers at the refinery are still trying to figure out what failed. "I don't have all the answers just yet, but obviously you try to learn from your mistakes and this is something that we want to make sure that doesn't happen again," Hanson said. More

Contaminated gas in 3 states, refinery admits mistake