The Myth of the Gunfighter

Remember when you sat in the movie theatre on a Saturday afternoon and watched two men walk slowly down the dusty street toward each other. Merchants shuttered doors. Women whisked children off the street. The bad guy was unshaven, snarling and he wore a black hat. The good guy was tall, handsome and looked magnificent in his white Stetson. The music came up in the background and you stopped putting popcorn in your mouth as the bad man's hand moved toward the pistol on his hip.

Great stuff from Hollywood (and pulp novels), but far from factual, Joseph G. Rosa tells us. Gunfighters of the old West were more imagination than fact. Of course, the code of the entertainment world is, "When the legend is greater than reality," print the legend.
  
Joseph G. Rosa is a historian of the Wild West, author, and the chief biographer of Wild Bill Hickok as well as several other figures of this period.

Mr. Rosa makes his case for setting the record straight in his new book:

Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons on the Frontier, 1840-1900. by Joseph G. Rosa. University of Oklahoma Press. Paperback

 

The first Medicare Card

Do you know who got the first Medicare card? Harry Truman. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson moved the Medicare bill signing from Washington, D.C., to Independence, MO. so former President Truman could be on hand for the signing and receive the first card. This was a tribute to Mr. Truman's efforts 20 years earlier to create a national health insurance plan. (The President's Club, Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2012.)
 

ABA awards hghest honor to Morris Dees

Morris Dees receives American Bar Association’s highest honor

Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, was recognized Tuesday for a legal career dedicated to seeking justice and equality for all when the American Bar Association presented him with the ABA Medal – the organization’s highest award.
Dees, honored during the association’s annual meeting in Chicago, received a standing ovation from the ABA’s House of Delegates, the association’s policymaking body of more than 500 members.
“I am honored and humbled to receive this award from the American Bar Association,” Dees said afterward. “But this award isn’t just about me. It’s also a tribute to the talented SPLC employees dedicated to ensuring that what began as a small civil rights law firm I helped found four decades ago will always be there for the disenfranchised.”
The ABA Medal, which recognizes “exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence,” is given only when the ABA Board of Governors determines a nominee “has provided exceptional and distinguished service to the law and the legal profession,” according to the ABA.

SPLC Founder Morris Dees accepts his award from the ABA.

“The presentation of the ABA Medal to Morris Seligman Dees Jr. represents our profound admiration for his personal courage and incomparable leadership as one of the greatest civil rights lawyers of our time,” said outgoing ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III. He said Dees is “an outstanding example of a lawyer who, case by case, is moving our country toward tolerance and equality.”
Previous ABA Medal recipients include Supreme Court Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, Felix Frankfurter, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan Jr. and Sandra Day O’Connor. Other recipients include Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski; Judge Patricia Wald, a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; and human rights activist the Rev. Robert Drinan.

No applause at horse shows

Ever wonder why there is little to no applause during horse shows, and what there is is often subdued? 
Several years ago I went to a horse show in Vienna, Austria, where the famous Lipizzaner Stallions  were performing. During this fabulous performance I was a standee in the second balcony looking down on horses and riders. When the performance was over the audience remained respectful as the riders and horses gracefully retreated to the stalls. Without warning I was seized with a loud burst of repetitive sneezing and several really loud ah-choos rocked the hall. I made so much noise the horses bolted, reared up and almost threw riders. The audience on the first level instantly turned their gaze my way; I thought my fellow standees on the balcony would throw me into the arena. I tried to apologize silently with an embarrassed face but that did not go over well with anyone. Although I could not understand all the comments I got the message to exit quickly and quietly. After the horses had cleared the arena, loud applause showed appreciation for, I am sure, the performance, and not my sneezing. 

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Government workers

Many of the men and women who put Curiosity on Mars on Sunday are federal government workers who often are criticized. Hope some of the critics will pause to admire and praise this magnificent accomplishment. And to think most of the equipment and parts of Curiosity came from the lowest bidders...
Well done!