This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

This department is one of several I operate with a free hand to run each as I see fit.

The others are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of “Just Saying.”

With so much time on my hands in retirement, here are some of the things I wonder about as the Department of Inquiring Minds opens again.

MEDICATIONS:  If you take multiple medications every day as I do and have done for about 20 years, how do the various ones get to the right place at the right time?

I guess you must be a doctor to understand this miracle of modern pharmacy. 

I am not a doctor, so I don’t know the answer.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:  Every day produces new, strange actions in Congress.  One of the latest is why House Republicans don’t get rid of George Santos. 

His approach has been to lie about everything.  And the fact that he is still in U.S. House attests to the tolerant leaders there who believe lying is an acceptable strategy.  Of course, they lie routinely themselves.

Santos’ constituents are the worse for this excuse for representation.

DUST:  In an obviously less serious issue than what’s happening – or not happening – in Congress, the issue of dust bothers me here in the California desert where my wife and I live in the winter.  Especially this weekend – dust was in the air.

Why does dust get into everything?

After we clean it up one day, it’s back the next.

Which is why I wonder if companies that sell brooms and vacuum cleaners somehow work to send dust around.

COMMUNICATING BY E-MAIL, PHONE, OR TEXT:  This is an issue that, for me, is dominated by curiosity.

Why do some folks in an age category or two below me prefer to communicate by text, not e-mail or telephone?

Sometimes, these folks – often friends or family members – won’t answer the phone if they are home, but would rather get a text, then respond to it by another text.

So it is that you communicate in segments, not together.

So be it.  At least via text, I am included in the communication.

At my age, that’s a virtue. 

For me, though, my preference is e-mail or phone.

WHY:  Just asking:

• Why did Jon Rahm, when he played in the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, fail to shake hands with the U.S. Military serviceman who was standing by one of the Torrey Pines greens?  It appeared his oversight, if that’s what it was, was intentional.  The courteous, not to mention statesmanlike act, would have been to shake hands with the serviceman and thank him for his service.

• Why do so many professional football players engage in taunting or outlandish exhibitions of showmanship after they score a touchdown or make a good play on offense or defense.  All of that happened repeatedly Sunday in the NFL Football games.  Better to take the reward of scoring or a good play and forget showing off.

One reason I have very little respect for most NFL players:

In the opening drive today, Philadelphia receiver made a remarkable catch on 4th down that lead to a touchdown. When he got up, he immediately urged a quick play before it could be reviewed.

A replay later showed he bobbled the ball so it should have been ruled incomplete. So, the player knew it wasn’t a catch. Compare that to a golfer who calls a penalty on himself even when no one is around.

Also, the in-your-face taunting and disgusting celebrations by so many players. Can you imagine Rory McIlroy doing that after making a birdie?

Golf is a gentlemen’s game…NFL not so much.