Tom Knuppel’s Page

We expect so much information to come so quickly. Makes you wonder.

If you’re as ancient as I am, you can probably remember the time when people responded to your polite “Thank you” with a smile and a pleasant “You’re welcome.” That’s why, like me, you probably cringe when clerks and others respond to your thanks with a curt “No problem.”
No problem? Was there a problem to begin with? Oh well, maybe I’m being too critical. Even so, it would be nice to hear someone say, “You’re welcome” every so often. What do you think?

George W. Bush, who has expanded his power to access the e-mails and other electronic communications of Americans, is resisting congressional demands that White House e-mails be saved for later research by historians.

Bush signaled he would veto a House-passed bill that seeks to overhaul the Presidential and Federal Records Act to ensure that e-mails and other government documents are preserved in the age of the Internet.

Got something to hide, George?

John McCain’s campaign is in damage-control mode after his senior economic adviser Phil Gramm suggested that the nation’s economic distress was mostly in the public’s head.

Gramm called the downturn “a mental recession” and complained that the United States has become “a nation of whiners.” McCain quickly disassociated himself from Gramm’s view.

So President Bush has declared that it would be “an affront to the Chinese people” if he were to not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

I’m sure one could quibble about whether or not the Chinese would prefer he attend, and of course it will be an affront to many Americans if he does attend, but given that China owns $500 billion of U.S. Treasury Securities, and over $1 trillion in dollar denominated assets, one can understand why Bush might not want to tick the Chinese off any more than necessary, even while his popularity here continues to set new record lows.