Straight From The Hart

  THE TANGLED WEB OF BENGHAZI It was poet Walter Scott who said “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” I thought about this so many times Thursday as I watched the Benghazi hearings featuring Hillary Clinton. I also thought about William Safire’s description of Hillary in a column for the New York Times on January 8, 1996. Safire, a long time syndicated political columnist for the Times, and a talented wordsmith, said she was a “congenital liar” and then wrote “Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.” As I watched the lengthy hearings on media news Thursday, I was amazed to think that she could have saved herself so much trouble and time and attorney fees had she just told the truth to begin with. . But she could not. The web had become too tangled. I have studied and researched and thought a lot about the incident since it first happ...

  October Fills Up My Senses Written by Joan Rowden Hart on  a cool October morning, 2017 Listen!  Can you hear it?  There’s autumn in the air. And though the door’s still  open, you can  sense  a chill out there. Although the winds are still warm, You can hear a special sound As the leaves begin to rustle, and fall softly to the ground. Eyes open!  Can you see it?  New season coming on The summer palette fades away, Hazy days are almost gone The trees become transparent as their glory disappears Missouri embraces October- it happens every year. Breathe deeply! Can you smell it?  That smoke that’s in the air? Arising from the piles of leaves now that the trees are bare. That musty smell of dying soil now covered by summer’s waste Our memory of the harvest foods, the fragrance and the taste. Enjoy these days!  Another month and they will all be gone The sun sets much too early now, cold nights are hast’ning on Missouri has its fresh ...