Only in America

Excuse me, but only in America could you have "Monday Night Football" on Thursday, ESPN, 8 pm EST, Channel 7 in Charleston, SC, area.

Perry ought to read the Constitution

Texas Governor Perry, running for the Republican nomination for president, said in Iowa yesterday that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing a "treasonous" act by ordering the printing of more money in another round of quantitative easing in the money supply to help business and employers' efforts to strengthen the economy.

Well, the Governor ought to check Article AIII, Section 3, of the Constitution of the United States: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

Traveling with Mark Twain

Chuck Boyd, a good friend, sent a brief but interesting note about Hal Holbrook's decades long performance as Mark Twain. It is worth passing along as part of the growing renewed interest in the man most consider the greatest American humorist and commentator of the 19th century. I hope you enjoy.

Archie,
Thanks for the "heads up" that (finally) 100 years has passed and it's Twain autobiography release time.

When I was Director of Tourism for the state of Missouri, I quickly realized he was a major "draw." In fact, public awareness of Missouri centered on Twain, Jesse James and Harry S Truman. In that order. In the 1980s, I put together a business travel mission to London and Scotland to help fill seats on the new British Caledonia Airlines direct flights in and out of St. Louis.

We invited 300 travel writers and travel agents to a presentation in the US Embassy in London. I had brought along a young actor to portray Mr. Clemens. He was in costume and we took the hotel elevator on our way to the Embassy. Several older Brits got on the elevator, and without any surprise or reaction stated, "Good to see you again Mr. Twain. It's been a while." My actor drawled "It's good to be back."

In 2001. Hal Holbrook brought his MARK TWAIN TONIGHT presentation to Charleston and, as I worked at the Post & Courier, I was able to secure a backstage visit afterward. Mr. Holbrook was VERY surprised when I showed him two mounted pictures of him I had taken 50 years before at Camp Lejeune, NC when he had just started his TWAIN program.

"I remember that over-stuffed chair we used as a prop!" He also quipped that back then he was in make-up for several hours, aging himself for the role. "Now, I just show up, put on the suit and light a stoggie."

He signed one of the pictures with a Twainism: "Be good and you will be lonesome." On the other he scribbled "Camp Lejeune..so long ago."

Thanks again.

Chuck

(Earlier posts at www.archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

Mark Twain - 100 years on

If you don't have anything special you want to do over the next few months you might start on Volume 1 of Mark Twain's autobiography. The first volume (three are planned) is out and it is a prodigious work, according to Lewis H. Lapham, editor emeritus of Harper's Magazine and the editor of Lapham's Quarterly. It runs to 760 pages, or as Lapham notes, 4 pounds. The publishers (University of California Press) promise Volumes II and III will be published sometime during the next ten years. It will probably take that long to read the Volume I.

Twain began writing his autobiography in 1877, but gave up when he realized it was easier and more enjoyable to talk and ramble while a stenographer took it all down. He got serious about this in 1906 and “talked” for the next four years until a few months before he went to meet his maker (about whose existence he had doubts) in 1910. Twain died before he could do any editing and the manuscript runs to some 2,600 pages.

To all of this talking/dictation he attached the caveat that the resulting work not be published until 100 years after his death. In this case Twain out-did the United States and England. It can take up to 30 years for information to be available to the public once it has been classified by the Unites States government. It England, some World War II data was held to be embargoed for 50 years.

Twain did not want to hurt anyone's feelings by revealing the opinions he held of men, their religion, politics and conduct. He believed that a person criticized deserved it and ought to be grateful for the time and attention he spent on developing the criticism. The 100 years quarantine was to ensure no one mentioned in the work would be alive to take offense, and he would be “dead, and unaware and indifferent.”

If you are too otherwise engaged (or for starters) you could do as I have and read Lapham's dissection and analysis which he calls “Democracy 101 Mark Twain's Farewell Address,” in the April 2011 issue of Harper's Magazine. I am only getting around to this now because I am seriously behind in my book and magazine reading. Other things seem to always be getting in the way, including watching foreign films, traveling abroad, a small amount of laziness.

I would probably have connected with Twain had we lived in the same era. He has deep understanding of the Constitution, that it is designed for the people, not the government; that when you protect the other fellow's liberty you are protecting your own. He rejected the idea that anyone should be able to tell him how to vote.

Twain was humorous, insightful and a great observer of the average American citizen. The slave and the common man fell under his gaze as did the rich and famous. He wrote of artisans, tradesmen, entertainers, politicians, government officials, and military heroes. He saw the freedom and good nature of the American spirit. “The scenes of foreign pomp and circumstance serve Twain as occasions to prefer the unpretentiousness of things American.” This benevolence towards his fellow citizens didn't close his eyes to the bad and the ugly he also saw in America. As a true recorder of the American scene he devoted his efforts to recording all he saw and experienced, and the 2,600 pages give testimony to his “authentic and unsuppressed voice, brimming with humor, ideas, and opinions.”

When I finish Lapham's essay, I may buy the 760 page version.

(More blog entries at www.archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

A few good words from the FBI

Intelligence Note

Prepared by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

August 9, 2011

FBI Officials Continue To Be The Target Of Spam E-mail

Various government agencies and high ranking government officials have been the target of previous spam attacks. In their attempts to lure victims, criminals continue to explore new avenues to obtain their goal.

A new version of the spam e-mail uses the names of FBI officials along with the names of specific units within the FBI. The e-mail alerts the recipient that two "Trunk Boxes" containing a large sum of money were intercepted at an international airport. The funds are allegedly from the Office of the Ministry of Finance, Federal Government of Nigeria.

The boxes contain documents bearing the recipient's name as the owner of the funds. The fraudsters advise an additional document called the "Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Delivery" is needed to protect the recipient from violating the Patriot Act. The recipient is required to contact the fraudsters, via email, for instructions to obtain the document. The fraudsters further inform the recipient of the consequences if they fail to comply and are told not to contact any bank in Africa, or any other institution.

Do not respond. These e-mails are a hoax.

Neither government agencies nor government officials send unsolicited e-mail to consumers. United States government agencies use the legal process to contact individuals.

Consumers should not respond to any unsolicited e-mails or click on an embedded link associated with such e-mails, as they may contain viruses or malware.

If you have been a victim of Internet crime, please file a complaint at www.IC3.gov.

For previous IC3 Alerts concerning e-mail scams targeting the FBI and other government agencies visit http://www.ic3.gov/media/2009/091027.aspx.

(Earlier blog entries at www.archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

Reflection by FXA

Taken at Seaside Farms, Mt. Pleasant, SC, 2009