By Lynn Saternow
�Now is the winter of our discontent ...� � William Shakespeare in Richard III.
The Bard penned those words in 1594, long before the winter of 2009-10, which is certainly the winter of our discontent.
Except for those people who might enjoy skiing or sledding, this winter has been a miserable stretch of days that never seems to end. We�ve been hit with one snowy blast after another.
Of course we�re not alone. The eastern seaboard has been rocked harder than ever before. In fact, 49 states have recorded appreciable snow this season. Only Hawaii has been spared.
Still, people have been heading for Florida and warmer climates in droves. Then again, my son Joel, who lives in Florida, flew home this weekend to go skiing. I guess what can be fun for two or three days, isn�t so much fun when it lasts for months on end.
On Friday, thousands of people were affected when the heavy snows north of us forced postponement of basketball and wrestling tournament action. It brought about rare Sunday tournament play. That hasn�t happened too many times in the past.
On an artistic note, the winter provided us with some scenic beauty. Snow covers a lot of sins. And how about those icicles. Some on my house extended from the gutters above the second floor almost to the ground.
In 1961, the great American author John Steinbeck wrote his final novel, The Winter of Our Discontent. With the weather as it is, it would be a good time to stay indoors and read it.
� How about that Dick Cheney? Like a Timex watch, he �takes a lickin� and keeps on tickin�.�
He recently suffered his fifth heart attack, which certainly is nothing to joke about. But he bounces back quickly and I�m sure he will again pound on President Obama as being �weak on terrorism.�
Of course, Cheney also was critical of his boss George W. Bush for not wanting to use waterboarding and other methods of torture to try and get information out of possible terrorists.
Actually, it�s a tough call. Are we too easy on terrorist suspects? Yeah, maybe we are. But you can�t say you believe in liberty and laws unless you follow them in all instances. Then again, what the American people don�t know, can�t hurt them!
I believe it was John F. Kennedy who put an end to the CIA being involved in assassinations of foreigners to help preserve our freedom. I hate to say it, but that might not have been such a good idea. If ever there was a time when we needed the phrase, �Don�t ask, don�t tell,� that might have been it.
Think of the thousands of lives and tens of thousands of injuries that might have been saved by removal of a few Middle East problem people years ago. Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein?
It�s a tough call. But these are the kind of quandries they deal with on the TV show �24� or the Jason Bourne movies.
Ironically, we are still trying to figure out who was behind the assassination of JFK. On one hand you have those who believe there were other forces involved besides a �lone gunman� Lee Harvey Oswald.
On the other hand you have idiots!
The Herald�s Lynn Saternow writes this column each week for the Opinion Page. He can be reached at lsaternow@sharonherald.com
