Moving On
"There's an old joke in which a couple married 75 years visits a divorce attorney, who asks why they waited so long. The reply, 'We wanted to wait until the children were dead.'" (Quoted by Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall St. Journal, June 17, 2003, pg D1)

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#130

David Brinkley
This eminent reporter, anchor man and host of a widely acclaimed TV Sunday morning news hour died today in Houston, Texas. Mr. Brinkley inspired confidence and trust in his readers and listeners and is one of a very small group of news personalities who will be missed.

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#129

Break out the Advil
Forget about Bush, Israel and Palestine. We Americans have serious stuff on our plates: Sosa caught with a corked bat, Martha Stewart indicted and Barry Manilow broke his nose. Where is the Advil?

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#128

North Korean nukes
A six man congressional team, including Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-SC), had talks last week with North Korean leaders who discussed their intention to increase their nuclear weapons program. I hope one of the Congressmen, perhaps Mr. Wilson, had the presence of mind to inform the North Korean leaders that the first nuclear weapon they fire on America will be the last one fired by North Korea for at least a thousand years.

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#127

About Henry Brown
Came across a new blog of possible interest to South Carolina Lowcountry readers about (click on the name)Congressman Henry Brown. The blog reports on Mr. Brown's record of service, citing chapter and verse, and is not likely to be favorite reading in the congressman's office.

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#126

Saudi litmus test
"I will believe the Saudi rulers are serious about combating terrorism only after we see a few public beheadings in the public square in downtown Riyadh, preferably broadcast live on CNN."
(Letter to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, May 25, 2003)
#125


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Armed Forces Day
Today we recognize Armed Forces Day and pause to say a prayer for the men and women who wear the uniform, defend our country and go in harm's way.


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#124

A dissenting voice
A reform but not a stimulus
"Sadly, Mr. Bush's claims are not convincing. The notion that a tax plan's ten-year price-tag provides any measure of its efficacy as a short-term stimulus is absurd. The central component of Mr. Bush's tax plan—the elimination of dividend taxation—would improve the tax code and, probably, long-term growth, but it would do little to boost the economy now. Mr. Bush's people say that ending dividend taxation would raise share prices, which in turn would boost spending. Most economists reply that the boost to share prices would be fairly undramatic (a 5-15% jump is the consensus guess); and any effect on spending would be small and gradual." (The Economist, May 10, 2003, pg. 26).


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#123

Consequences

Robert Ingersoll said, "In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are consequences." Last night I learned that the hard way. After struggling for two years to clear my backyard pond of algae and clear the water so we might enjoy the fish, I finally succeeded this week. It is not important what all the theories, trials and guesses were over the past two years. Only the consequences matter. During the night a heron or egret visited my pond and ate all but two of my fish. Gone are six two-year old comets and shumukins, as well as two new koi and about ten small gold fish I had introduced a week ago. My wife was up around four this morning for a few minutes and looked out the kitchen window. She saw the bird standing tall at the edge of the pond. Since it was still dark and she was only minutes out of bed she thought it was a new piece of statuary I had purchased. When she later got up for good the bird was gone and we discussed it. An examination of the pond established Ingersoll's insight.


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#122

Doesn't "Andre" sound French?
This week in Columbia, SC, the Lt Gov, Andre Bauer, was held at gunpoint by a cop after the Lt Gov swept through two red lights, was clocked speeding 60 miles an hour in a 35 zone, and jumped out of his car in an aggressive manner that scared the officer. The Lt Gov said later he exercised bad judgement but he was running late on his way to preside at the opening of the Senate (about all a Lt Gov in the Palmetto State has to do). Some sort of weird behavior for a man whose name smacks of the French.

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#121

A gentleman's apology
Hall of Fame apologizes for snubbing Robbins


Sunday, April 20, 2003 at 07:00 JST
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame president apologized Saturday after he was caught in a media firestorm for publicly snubbing stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon over their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Dale Petroskey issued a letter in which he admitted making a public relations blunder when he summarily cancelled a screening of the stars' baseball film "Bull Durham" at the prestigious Hall of Fame later this month.

"There was a chance of politics being injected into The Hall during these sensitive times, and I made a decision to not take that chance," he said in the letter posted on the Hall's web site.

"But I inadvertently did exactly what I was trying to avoid. With the advantage of hindsight, it is clear I should have handled the matter differently," he said.

Petroskey however did not directly apologize to Hollywood pair Robbins and Sarandon, who reacted furiously to the Hall of Fame's very public slap in the face, delivered in a letter which was sent to the media.


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#120

A future Secretary of State? Fact, fiction or fantasy?
Although he doesn't discount it totally, Fareed Zakaria, is being touted by two ladies on the net as a future Secretary of State and the first Muslim to hold the job. Who is this Omar Sharif lookalike who speaks like Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, to quote the impressible Tina Brown (she put the cleavage back in Cosmo) and Marion Maneker writing in NewYorkMetro.com. This is what Newsweek - his principal employer - has to say about him:

Fareed Zakaria was named editor of Newsweek International in October 2000. The magazine reaches an audience of 3.5 million worldwide. He also writes a regular column for Newsweek, which also appears in Newsweek International and often The Washington Post. He is a regular member of the roundtable of ABC News’ "This Week with George Stephanapoulos" as well as an analyst for ABC News.

Zakaria came to the magazine from Foreign Affairs, the widely circulated journal of international politics and economics, where he was managing editor. Prior to joining Foreign Affairs, Zakaria ran a major research project on American foreign policy at Harvard University, where he taught international relations and political philosophy. He has written for such publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and the webzine Slate. He is the author of "From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s World Role" (Princeton University Press), which has been translated into several languages, and co-editor of "The American Encounter: The United States and the Making of the Modern World" (Basic Books). His new book, The Future of Freedom, will be published in the spring of 2003 by W.W. Norton.

Zakaria has shared two Overseas Press Club Awards with Newsweek reporting teams and has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards. He won the Deadline Club award for his columns and several honors for his October 2001 Newsweek cover story, "Why They Hate Us." He has received the South Asian Journalists’ Association’s highest honor, the Leadership Award. In 1999, he was named "one of the 21 most important people of the 21st Century" by Esquire Magazine. He has appeared on most major television news programs and has addressed audiences ranging from the World Economic Forum at Davos, to the State Department, to universities in America and abroad.

He received a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard. He lives in New York City with his wife, son and daughter.


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#119

Finding the WMD
"There is a famous Soviet joke about the impossibility of being right: Workers who arrived early at the workplace were accused of espionage, those who arrived late were guilty of sabotage, and those who got there on time were despised for petty bourgeois conformism.
" As the war in Iraq winds down, something similar is happening in the debate over weapons of mass destruction. An early discovery by coalition forces would have proven that operational intelligence was not provided to international inspectors, late findings would show that evidence had been planted by the CIA, while no discovery of proscribed weapons would ruin the main justification of the war." (Therese Delpech, French commissioner of the U.N. Disarmament commission on Iraq, arguing in an Op-Ed piece that the search must go on for WMD. Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2003, pg. A18.)


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#118

Congratulations to CIA!

ABCNEWS has learned that the CIA assisted in the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch in Nasiriyah last week by covertly videotaping the former POW as she lay in an Iraqi hospital bed days before her dramatic rescue.

U.S. intelligence sources told ABCNEWS that the CIA, acting on a tip, gave a concealable camera to a paid informant who videotaped the inside of a hospital where Lynch was being held.

The following day, a U.S. special forces team went in knowing exactly where to go and rescued Lynch, said U.S. intelligence sources.

The former POW is recovering from her injuries at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

NOTE: JUNE 7, 2003 -This story appears to be suspect in many regards as new information is coming to light. It may all very well be a piece of propoganda put out by the Pentagon. In any event, it should be treated accordingly.

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#117

Al Sharpton
Several years ago when South Carolina put James Brown behind bars, Jesse Jackson was allowed to visit him in prison. Al Sharpton of New York tried to crash the party but Jesse didn't want him around and it fell to me (as Public Affairs Director) to tell Mr. Sharpton that he could not come in. Apparently all this was before Mr. Sharpton announced, "All my skinfolk ain't my kinfolk."

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#116

The Pianist
Friday night (April 11, 2003) we saw The Pianist. Thought it a very good film and highly worth seeing. It is unfortunate that the director Roman Polanski couldn't keep his dick out of a 13 year old girl or he could be in this country enjoying the fruits of his work.

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#115

Foreign Affairs - Some views
China:
The Chinese government's penchant for secrecy and outright stonewalling on the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) will cause repercussions in the form of foreign investor hesitancy and business and personal travel to China. The recent death of an American who taught English there may be the consequences of a country obsessed with not losing face. (As one who formerly taught English in China, I find the Chinese conduct so typical and foolish, but also so unnecessary.) Wal-Mart has banned employee travel to China and other Asian cities. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning against travel to China.

South Korea:
The U.S. plans to move its military headquarters and some 6,000 troops out of Seoul and further South away from the border with North Korea. This comes at a time when South Korea is worried about (1) "military adventurism" on the part of North Korea and (2) suspicions that the U.S. may move next against North Korea (part of the axis of evil) having dispatched Iraq. South Koreans around Seoul, many of whom demonstrate periodically about something or other American servicemen do or don't do, but who also profit from the presence of these troops may also be thinking of their pocketbooks. The U.S. would like to get its troops out of range of North Korean artillery.

Cuba:
It is difficult not to believe that Cuba moved against almost 80 dissidents while the world was focused so intently on the war in Iraq. Hammering his opponents, Fidel Castro has shown again his own feelings of insecurity. Courts in Cuba sentenced people to jail for 20 years or more for writing, operating independent libraries and associating with foreign (principally American) officials. The U.S. Congress, regardless of complaints from farm states, tourists, Mafia gamblers, and others hoping to score by dealing with Cuba, should shut off all aid and travel to that country unless Castro exercises "executive clemency" and frees political prisoners. Cuba has been a pain in the ass for over 40 years. President Kennedy's promise not to invade Cuba in return for the removal of Soviet Missiles was a good deal at the time, but current American leaders have other cards to play. The relaxing of tensions and turning a deaf ear to trade and travel there have been thrown with contempt in our face.

Responding comments and views solicited.

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#114

Are we being manipulated?
The following was a (unpublished) letter to the editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, submitted March 27, 2003.

Getting into the mind of people everywhere, soldiers on the battlefield and the families at home awaiting their return, is one of the goals of psychological warfare. Getting into people’s minds goes a long way to winning battles – and the war – without the use of bullets. This is not new age psychology; it has gone on as long as there have been wars. America is proficient at this tactic, but so are other nations. Let’s consider the current events in Iraq.

President Bush says Iraq has weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including chemical and biological weapons and the means to deliver them. And so for this (and other reasons beyond this scope of this letter) we have gone to war in Iraq. Preceding the war a massive buildup and positioning of men and equipment – primarily American – took place as the world watched. This out-in-the-open action was no half-hearted measure, and it was designed to send a message: Iraq’s armed forces ought to surrender forthwith and spare themselves. The President and his chief officers put out this message loud and clear. This was psychological warfare at its best.

Our leaders talked about the WMD and considered how they might be used on the battlefield. They talked of measures to be taken to meet and overcome chemical and biological weapons. Equipment was issued to the troops, and training in its use was intensive. Medical staff training was updated and intensified to recognize and treat problems which might arise. This was psychological warfare to reassure soldiers and their families.

A week into the battle, however, such weapons have not been used by the forces of Saddam Hussein, and none have yet by found by our forces. In a hospital in central Iraq, U.S. Marines found 3,000 chemical warfare suits and the discovery was instantly communicated to the American leadership. Following standard military procedures, we must conclude, the find was reported downward and all units and individual soldiers ordered to be on the alert and ready. The people at home got the message over the TV, radio and in their newspapers. This find would re-enforce the original message of our president that Iraq had WMD.

But let’s look at the strange place where the find occurred: in a hospital. Saddam Hussein knows Americans would not knowingly bomb, shell or destroy a hospital. The hospital would be taken, the suits discovered, and fear and anxiety introduced everywhere. What better way to get inside the mind of soldiers on the battlefield and anxious families at home? If Iraq didn’t have WMD, why would they have the suits? Will the weapons be used in the battle tomorrow or the next day? Will they be fired on Israel, or on the Iraqi people? Or, is Iraq showing its proficiency at psychological warfare?


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#113

Dollars on the fly
Around one o’clock this morning one of the several private security trucks leased by South Carolina banks that carry cash to replenish ATM machines around the state was on its way to Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach and Georgetown when it had a tire blow and the speeding truck rolled three times, the light frame collapsed and the truck ended up on its side. The driver and the technician with the codes to the ATMs were badly bruised and are hospitalized at this time. The authorities will not release the amount of money the truck was carrying. There are, however, 1,347 bank, savings and loan and credit union ATM machines in the three cities (Each pay a proportional share of the costs of servicing their machines.) According to Chamber of Commerce data released last year, each ATM machine holds up to $20,000 when re-filled. Anyway, the point is that the low temperatures in the area at the time were accompanied by high winds and when the truck crashed the money went everywhere. (The money in the truck was stacked and held together only with narrow paper wrappers denoting the denominations and the ATM machine it was intended for.) People have been reported picking up money as far as eighteen miles from the site of the mishap. Continuing high winds are expected and the windologist–trainee on duty at the Charleston weather station said (before being muzzled by her angry supervisors) that the money could be carried on the winds as far south as Beaufort and up to the outer banks in North Carolina. Bank and police officials stress that people must turn the money in (ha, ha), and are subject to federal prosecution under the Bank Robbery statutes enforced by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney if they find it and keep it. A toothpick chewing deputy sheriff, coming off donut break in the area, who spoke on the condition of absolute anonymity, said, “It’s impossible to cover the whole area and the money will never be recovered.” He added, with a chuckle, “Of course, if I find some, I’ll turn it in.”

Just thought you would like to know this. Feel free to pass it on, especially to retired seniors who may have time to cruise about. A good cover story would be, “I was picking up trash along the highway.”

Archie
4/1/2003


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#112

Best wishes to Bill Starr
A friend, Bill Starr, is moving on. Here is part of what he wrote in The State, Columbia, SC, March 23, 2003:

"THE NEXT CHAPTER
"BILL STARR, Staff Writer

"In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to take an early retirement from my newspaper home - well, maybe not all that early - and move to Atlanta, the city of my birth, and the city where my wife lives and works. It will be a pretty dramatic change.
Then again, maybe it won't.

"I'm not going to be leaving the arts behind; that's no longer an option, much less a desirable one. No, I'll be working in a bit of a different area - as executive director of the Georgia Center for the Book - but one that involves many elements of a life spent in the arts. The new assignment will permit me the excitement of discovery. It's going to be very energizing.

"I go with a stash of incredible memories, of course. Thirty years at this newspaper preceded by five years at WIS-TV News and five years at United Press International way back when. Was I ever that young?

"I've been fortunate to have held a series of positions that permitted me to examine and comment on crucial elements in the life and health of the city of Columbia. That's even if not everyone in the city seemed to acknowledge the importance of a thriving arts community at the time."

We will miss Bill and wish him additional success and happiness.


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#111

Return from the Dark Continent
On Thursday last we returned from our two month trip to South Africa. It was a grand time and I will be posting an article on our African adventure in due course. Suffice to say now we are happy to be home again with family and friends. Hope all are well and look forwarding to sharing our adventure with all.

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#110

Books reviewed
A review of Bob Woodward's "Bush at War" and an earlier review of Richelson's "Wizards of Langley" are on the website under Book Reviews. Read and enjoy. Comments solicited.

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#109

2003
Best wishes for a happy, prosperous, error free, enriching, scintillating, exciting, rewarding, and healthy year in 2003! Just enjoy yourself to the maximum!

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#108

Journalism, blogs and the future
Herewith an exchange with a University of Minnesota student:

I am a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and am writing my final paper for a class, "The Future of News: Is Journalism Dead?" During the next few days, I would love to get your answers to a couple of questions.

The class deals with journalism's role in democracy and what kind of future we can expect journalism to have. For my paper, I'm focusing on web logs and their effects on more traditional forms of journalism, mainly newspapers, as well as their possible impact on the future of journalism. My questions for you are the following:

1) Why did you decide to start your own blog?

2) What advantages/disadvantages do you think blogs have over more traditional forms of journalism?

3) What role do you see blogs playing in the future (fading away, replacing other forms of media, etc...)

Thank you so much for your time! Any answers you could give would greatly enhance my work.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Lippman

Hi Elizabeth,
I will comment in the same order as your questions:

1. To have a place to post thoughts with regularity and to open an exchange with others. I hope to cause someone else to think about the subject and open a dialogue.

2. I used to write a weekly column (see my website www.archibald99.com ) but it had only a local audience and limited circulation in a weekly community newspaper. I also did book reviews for a major newspaper in central South Carolina. The blog has the potential of an indefinite audience throughout the world. I stress "potential" because with minor exceptions I have not experienced feedback from the backwaters of the globe. Print journalism is very selective. Papers run 40-60% or 45-55% in terms of news and advertising space respectively. The number of column inches devoted to commentary is miniscule in the overall context, and most often reflects (as in looking in a mirror) the political persuasion of the paper's editors. It is funny but Op-Ed is supposed to mean something other than "on the opposite page." Yet many papers select columns only from columnists with whom they are in political-sync, and they do not freely give space to counterpoint thinking. The so-called "free press" in America is free only to those who own a newspaper. A blog is independent and reflects individuality. It gets thrown out there in cyberspace and anyone can respond from any perspective.

3. There are so many blogs out there. A great deal of them are idiotic, they talk about bathing cats, worshiping stars and people's personal failures in relationships. (I realize the blogs I refer to as "idiotic" are probably serious to their authors.) As such things proliferate the number of "hardly anyone cares" blogs will be the millstone around the neck of serious bloggers. Until serious bloggers find a way to more widely publicize the existence of blogs and develop a following they will remain a curious niche in the information age. I do not see them as threats to the print, radio or television media. Recent studies show most people who have a computer in their home use it for e-mail. Writing, keeping books, storing pictures and recording music are a distant second. Most of the people I know who have computers do not have web sites; they do not understand blogs and are afraid to tackle the learning job.
4. I wish you well in your studies and hope these views are helpful.

Francis X. Archibald

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#107

Fallout from Lott

The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) today devoted 36 column inches (page 12A) to criticizing former President Bill Clinton for calling Republican criticism of Sen. Lott’s comments “pretty hypocritical.” Mr. Clinton told CNN Mr. Lott “embarrassed them (Republicans) by saying in Washington what they do on the back roads every day.”

On the following page (13A), in the same paper, The Post & Courier gave The Rev. Joseph A. Darby, an African-American minister and first vice president of the South Carolina state conference of branches of the NAACP, thirty column inches to say the same things Mr. Clinton said. Examples: Mr. Lott’s “(H)ead, however, told him he was at a party among friends of like mind where he could speak freely and be himself. His head failed to remind him that cameras were rolling.” And, “The Trent Lott story reminded me of something related to me by an influential and outraged friend who happens to be white. Almost a year before the recent Charleston County School Board elections, he told me of a discussion among other influential ‘friends’ at a social event on what to do about the ‘coons running the school board.’”

On the front page, The Post and Courier carried a story about Kwadjo Campbell, an African-American Charleston city councilman, declaring his intention to join the Republican Party next month. He is going to talk more about his decision sometime around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Campbell originally ran for office as a Democrat, although in the latest election the council seats were on a non-partisan basis. Campbell's intended defection ought to raise the intellectual level of both parties.


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#106

Quality of life
Nothing will improve the quality of life for prisoners generally like the sentencing of a couple of bus loads of white collar corporate executives.


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#105

SUV = JERK?
Excerpts from The Washington Monthly Online

Bumper Mentality
A review of Keith Bradsher's High and Mighty: SUVs

By Stephanie Mencimer

"Well, according to New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher's new book, High and Mighty, the connection between the two isn't a coincidence. Unlike any other vehicle before it, the SUV is the car of choice for the nation's most self-centered people; and the bigger the SUV, the more of a jerk its driver is likely to be.

"According to market research conducted by the country's leading automakers, Bradsher reports, SUV buyers tend to be "insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communities. They are more restless, more sybaritic, and less social than most Americans are. They tend to like fine restaurants a lot more than off-road driving, seldom go to church and have limited interest in doing volunteer work to help others."

"He says, too, that SUV drivers generally don't care about anyone else's kids but their own, are very concerned with how other people see them rather than with what's practical, and they tend to want to control or have control over the people around them. David Bostwick, Chrysler's market research director, tells Bradsher, "If you have a sport utility, you can have the smoked windows, put the children in the back and pretend you're still single."


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#104

Africa
I plan to visit South Africa early next year. If anyone has any interesting input I would be glad to hear from you.
Thanks.

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#103

The OED
A most appealing web site for lovers of the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary . The site is well organized and offers an intriguing and fascinating tour.

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#102

Some thoughts
Some thoughts:

Read any good poetry lately? Ruth Lilly, 87 years old and heir to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune gave $100 million to Poetry, an almost obscure literary magazine which never published any of her poems. Poetry has a circulation of about 11,000 and in 2002 celebrated its 90th anniversary. Slight increases in the payment to poets are likely, said the editor.

Various studies and surveys tell us 49 percent of American marriages end in divorce. Second and third marriages are as likely to end in divorce as first marriages. It almost seems as though people spend less time to selecting a mate than they do to finding a parking space closest to the door at Wal-Mart. Of course, this doesn’t explain the 68 percent divorce rate in Belarus where there is no Wal-Mart.

Since the butler didn’t do it, according to the Queen, what are we left to think? The amusing tales of British Royalty in the fading days of 2002 are keeping the masses amused, which is one reason the English are unlikely to dump the Royals as predicted by some British watchers. After all, entertaining the masses is as much a worthwhile Royal function as opening a new mall, christening a ship or running with hounds.

Is it possible the administration was pandering to the Christian Coalition and right-wing extremists in the Republican Party leading up to the November elections? Let’s face it. Why now are Administration voices finally speaking out against the anti-Islam rants of Falwell, Robinson and Swaggert? Also, why this week, two weeks after the election, for the first time has the President said war is his last resort?


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#101

"Slut and stool pigeon"
In the late 40's and early 50's, Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers were star performers during the hunt for Soviet spies in America. Chambers produced documents given to him by American government officials. But Bentley was more fun. She was a courier and the lover of a philandering Soviet agent. J. Edgar Hoover embraced her and then must have suffered massive headaches from his star informer's antics and stories. Her enemies called her a "slut and a stool pigeon," amid a flurry of uncomplimentary comments. Ultimately, Bentley's story stuck and has been buttressed over time as more and more information has come out about Soviet espionage, most notable through the Venona Project. A new biography (Red Spy Queen, Univ. of North Carolina,) by Kathryn S. Olmstead gets a good review from Michael J. Ybarra (The Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2002.)

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#100

Skin check is very important
Completed the work on the three basal cell carcinomas with my dermatologist today. On Tuesday he scrapped and burned a growth on my back, on Wednesday he did the same to a growth on the right side of my scalp and today he cut on my right forehead. The doctor sent today's cuttings (forehead was worst than other two locations) to the biology lab while I was still on the table and telephone report followed shortly giving me the all clear to go on my way. The doctor stiched me up (he did stitches internally and externally) while the flesh sample was en-route to the lab. I questioned him about this and he said in only about five percent of the cases did he have to cut the stitches and continue the work. I like a man with confidence.

I will take out my own external stitches in about seven days. The internal will disintegrate on their own. Daily, I have to cleanse the wounds and apply new bandages for a couple of weeks, perhaps three weeks for the forehead. The literature the doctor gave me said it is an "old wives tale" that wounds heal better in the air. I apply a medication to my back and forehead, but surprisingly Vaseline to my head. I got a haircut in the Robert Duvall style on Tuesday afternoon. It makes dressing my hair easier and less likely to interfere with the wounds when I don't have to comb, brush, fold and tuck those 137 hairs across my head from left to right.

I will return for a checkup in about six months and annually for five years. I plan to make an annual visit part of my normal annual physical routine.

One of the more surprising things about all this is that two spots on the left side of my scalp which I worried about (and two children urged me to see about) were shrugged off as meaningless by the dermatologist. He saw things we didn't. (See reference to confidence in Para one above.)

The worst part of the procedures is the needle to deaden the area to be worked on. Having needles stuck in your head is a thrill only for a masochist. I applied ELA-Max (a local anesthetic) about 45 minutes before the procedures began but thought that of minimal value. The first and second shots were the worst. Who knows how bad they might have been without the ELA-Max?

The doctor said the damage to my skin could have been done years ago and is only now manifesting itself. This was surprising and I urge anyone suspicious of any growth to have it checked by a dermatologist. My regular physician has been looking at me for a few years but nothing he saw sounded any bells. I believe a specialist is called for as we advance in age.


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#99

Salute to veterans
This is the annual Veterans' Day weekend. Veterans of World War II are dying at the rate of 1,800 a day, according to Peter Jennings last night. A good way to thank these men is to be a good person yourself and to have respect for each other.

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#98

Sincerely, Andy Rooney
November 8, 2002

Mr. Andy Rooney
CBS
524 West 57th Street
New York New York 10019

Dear Mr. Rooney,

I am reading Sincerely, Andy Rooney. I found it in one of those remainder warehouses where books are discounted up to 80%. Your book didn’t reach that level, but I am satisfied it is worth the $4.50 I paid for it.

Sincerely,




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#97

Post election observations
At the end of the day on November 6, our country had experienced an interesting 24 hours of mixed interests and concerns. Republicans return to Washington in control of the Congress, the Fed meeting in Washington slashed interest rates a half point in an effort to jump start a sluggish economy and Winona Ryder was found guilty of shoplifting in Los Angeles. Somewhere in the middle of the country, a wheat farmer asked, "Is anyone interested in me?"

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#96

Short-circuit at Circuit City
The new Circuit City location in North Charleston, SC, opened formally this afternoon at 6 p.m. I was there at 5:10 p.m. and was shocked to find close to 400 people already in line. Some were sitting in lawn chairs, at least one was in a wheelchair and others were eating and drinking out of picnic coolers. In the paper this morning, CC advertised they would give a free DVD player to the first 100 people in line. I believe tickets for the new James Bond movie are also being given away. I actually thought by getting there 50 minutes early I would have a shot at one of the DVDs. Who knew that many people would be reading the paper this morning? Don't these people have morning jobs? Anyway, I turned my Lincoln (Ford Co. motto: "There are those who travel. And those who travel well.") around and parked discreetly near the mess hall (aka: K&W Cafeteria) and went in for my dinner. I treated myself to a slice of apple pie since I wasn't going to get a free DVD player.

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#95

A friend passes
I learned today my long-time friend Albert "Bud" Sessoms, formerly of North Charleston, S.C., died on October 10, 2002, in North Carolina, after being admitted to a hospital. He had been in a nursing home where it is believed by some members of his family he was given incorrect medicine for his emphysema. At the hospital, a reaction set in and he passed within two days. My e-mails to him of recent date had been returned.

I contacted one of his sons, Eugene, who is on staff at the College of Charleston, and he told me what he knew of his father's passing. Bud was a good friend, had some strange ways and was always waiting for the next big deal to come down the pike. He was interviewed for a head waiter's job one day and the interviewer asked, "You do have a tux, I hope?" Bud replied, "Certainly, doesn't everyone." He told me later he rushed out and rented one immediately after the interview.

Bud and I frequently met to talk and discuss world events (we solved many a problem, but no one listened) over a few beers and to eat one of those big, delicious hamburgers at Harold's on Dorchester Road, North Charleston. On occasion we would also shoot a little pool there.

I hired him as a counselor when I was director of the South Carolina Commission for Farmworkers. He had a bad set of tires on his car and an African-American on staff took him to a place to get new tires on credit. Bud said he was embarrassed to have a black man vouching for him (remember this was 1966) and left without the tires. In later years he would not have thought twice about a black man doing him a favor. Bud was not a racist. One Christmas, to teach his four sons the true meaning of Christmas he had them gather up all their unopened presents and the family took them to the John C. Calhoun homes and distributed them to poor black children who otherwise would have had nothing for Christmas.

Bud was what we would call a character. There are not many like him who have passed this way.

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#94

Tracing phone calls
From Slate magazine on the Internet today:

Laugh the next time you see a TV cop tell someone to keep a caller on the line to help trace the call because:

"Digital switches have sped up the process of tracing phone calls by the police. Beginning in the mid-1980s, phone companies began using electronic switching systems (ESS), which can automatically identify any caller's number within a fraction of a second. Those numbers can then be correlated with information from an automatic location indicator to find the phone's address. There is no foolproof way to avoid tracing on an ESS network when making a direct-dial call. (And don't think for a second that hitting *67, which masks your number to Caller ID boxes, can foil a police trace; it only works against civilians.)"

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#93

Richard Helms, spymaster, dies
The shadows have darkened forever for Richard Helms who died at his home outside Washington on Tuesday, October 23, 2002. Helms was a career intelligence operative who headed the Central Intelligence Agency during administrations of Presidents Johnson and Nixon. He was fired by Nixon for refusing to use the CIA to head off the FBI Watergate investigation. During his career Helms hid in the shadows of the intelligence world and is only known to have made one public speech - to newspaper editors. I would rank Helms as one of the top three CIA directors along with Allen Dulles and Bill Colby. Helms was a role model for the current director George Tenet who had Helms' portrait temporarily moved from the directors' wall at the agency headquarters to hang in his personal space.


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#92

On the train, October 2002
I rode the Amtrak to Washington last week prepared to give some advice to President Bush on foreign and domestic policy but he was out hustling the party faithful for dollars for political cronies - old and wannabe - he hopes will jump up and salute when he sends a note to Congress. Any congressman who gets elected with the President’s help better tow the line least he or she be called on the carpet by the leadership and condemned as an ungrateful, miserable little shit. Since the President chose not to be at home when I was in the city I transported myself to the suburbs for four days. Life in the Washington suburbs is not comparable to life in South Carolina. It is all get up and go in heavy traffic and everything seems to cost more. During my stay a shooter was terrorizing whole communities from southern Maryland to southern Virginia. He or she had shot eight or nine people and killed seven or eight. There were more shootings while I was there. I was happy to be heading back to Charleston. My mother, before she died in the spring of 2002, reminded me I once said I would never live further south than Washington. I also said in my youth I would not smoke nor drink. Three plans that went astray. I did give up the smoking in January 1974. Actually I had quit earlier but started again in the winter of 1973 when I went to Saigon after Secretary of State Henry Kissinger initialed the cease fire in Paris. Back to the Amtrak. Along the route between Charleston and Washington the train passes through innumerable small towns in South and North Carolina and Virginia. At one time when automobiles and personal transportation was minimal the train stopped at many of these towns but now limits stops to the larger cities. Passengers are expected to travel on their own to these stops to catch the train. Where the train does stop, and in between, looking from the window one can see shops and businesses closed, buildings empty and in some instance a ghost town appearance. Did these earlier businesses move to the other side of town, perhaps to a mall or out to the suburbs where they are more people? Or had the shops and stores dried up or been replace by Wal-Mart and Costco? Had the proprietors died off without any survivors willing to work the long hours necessary to make a small success of hardware, drugs or dry goods stores? What happened to all these people and where did they go? The homes along the railroad are largely what used to be called trailers but in today’s politically correct world are referred to as mobile homes. Some yards around these are littered with broken auto parts and children’s toys. There is an abundance of folding aluminum and plastic lawn chairs around trailers. Some of the sticks built homes are in need of repair, especially paint, but occasionally one is a pleasant surprise and model for others: fresh paint, yard tidy, grass cut and an American flag flying from the porch. Who are the people who still live by the side of the tracks, especially in the well-kept homes? It must take a lot of effort and hard work to keep a house neat and looking good alongside the tracks. The train rolls on and riders are as ignorant of the people who live along the tracks as they are of the riders. It would be nice to know if one of them was wondering who I was looking out the window at the same time I wondered about them. Would this be thought confluence?


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#91

New leads
On this happy weekend (a daughter's birthday today, the wife's tomorrow) it is noted that the web site Arts and Letters has filed for bankruptcy and is up for sale. Two of the major web site managers are combining their talents at Philosophy and Literature (http://www.philosophyandliterature.com) and this has been substituted for the A&L link on my web site (http://www.archibald99.com) The P&L is fresh and interesting with great links to major publications, essayists and writers. H


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#90

Sightings
Yesterday I saw a man driving his car and shaving with an electric razor. Later, I observed a woman in the Walmart parking lot engaged in conversation on a cell phone she was holding between her shoulder and her ear while she simultaneously opened a car door, helped a small child to get in, and put a large box on the back seat. (Also appeared in The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, Oct. 9,2002, letters section.)
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#89

Renovating till my birthday
Within a couple of weeks of our return from Canada (see 8/21/2002, below) we started to renovate my study and the family TV area. This week we are almost finished, needing only to get some furniture, blinds for the windows, and hang pictures. Except for the painting this was a DIY job. We put in an engineered floor and while it was a tough, four-day job it has turned out well. We also installed four French doors (two operative) to separate the two areas and allow some privacy. The choice of colors, while initially seemingly brash, is softer and more pleasing to the eye after re-installing the book shelves, desk and furniture. I converted my old desk and credenza into a computer work area by enlarging the credenza top. I had a new top made using walnut planks joined together (72" x 20") and fastened it to the original base and desk. Yesterday was my 71st birthday and I admit to that age only because I feel good and life is good. Being still able to do the work involved in this renovation is a pleasure. Next week I will amend this entry with a picture or two. I am waiting on furniture.


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#88

Salute to the Working Men and Women
Labor Day is set aside to recognize the contributions of millions of men and women who have worked in all aspects of the American experience for over a hundred years. America would not be America without the contributions of these people, living and dead. Thank you, Americans all!

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#87

Trip to Canada and observations
My wife and I recently enjoyed a driving trip to Canada. We visited Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City. On the way there we traveled through South and North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. On the return we came through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and North and South Carolina. We had a grand time, enjoyed the sites along the way, rode ferries from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia and from Nova Scotia to Maine. We found that while airline business may be down, Americans are still on the move in their automobiles, trucks, RVs and mobile homes. We visited Ground Zero to pay our respects. Even after all of the TV, magazine and newspaper coverage, we were not prepared for the gapping hole left after the destruction of the World Trade Center and adjoining buildings on 9/11. We were happy to see, however, except for a few buildings still sheathed in builders' cloth and netting while repairs are on-going, most of the buildings on the perimeter of the terrorism have been repaired and are again occupied. People are at work, doing business, selling, buying, creating. It is New York at its finest. Here you can appreciate the comment of one resident on why he lived in New York City: "To be ready to rule the world if it becomes necessary."

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#86

Wow, what an accomplishment
Events in Pennsylvania this past weekend made my chest heave with pride and admiration for old-time Yankee stubbornness, ingenuity and faith. The rescue of the coal miners was another example of the classic line, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." My hat is off is off, not just doffed, to the miners and others who went to the rescue of their brothers in a great demonstration of American determination and technological ability. Those who would do us harm ought to consider this long and hard. (Also appeared in The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, August 17, 2002, letters section.)


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#85

No TIPS
Congress should think seven times seventy times before funding any TIPS. Contrary to AG John Ashcroft's statements that there would be no database maintained, I am fearful that "unofficial" databases would be created and haunt people for decades. The whole idea of turning delivery men, truck drivers and utility workers et. al. into informants on any organized scale is repugnant in a free society. The proposed Terrorism Information and Prevention System sounds like Orwell, but even worse it is a stark reminder of how people lived in the old Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

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#84

The Bushes
“You have to hand it to the Bush family,” says Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist. “In nearly six years of two Bush presidencies, there hasn’t been any real job growth at all.” (Quoted in NEWSWEEK, July 29, 2002)

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#83

Some real bad stuff
If Osama bin Laden and his cohorts think the post 9-11 American response was triggered by some pissed-off Americans, they haven't seen anything like the response likely to follow an attack on Disneyland. Spanish authorities have arrested some suspected terrorists and found in a search of their property videotapes of five to seven landmarks in America. The tapes were taken by a highly skillled person and could be use to plan attacks on the landmarks. Included was a tape of Disneyland in California.

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#82

The Day of the Jackal
The attempted assassination of French President Chirac today in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe is reminiscent of the story line in The Day of the Jackal.
The gunman is reported to be a young, demented neo-Nazi.

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#81

Ted Williams
Baseball Great Ted Williams Dies
July 5, 2002
Baseball legend and former Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams died Friday at the age of 83.
The Hall of Famer hit .344 in his 19-year career with the Red Sox with 521 home runs and 1,839 RBI. He won the American League batting title six times and baseball's Triple Crown twice, in 1942 and 1947. He flirted with a .400 average again in 1957, batting .388. He served in the Marines during the 1943-44-45 seasons and was recalled to duty during the Korean War.
Williams was inducted to Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1966.
As a rookie in 1939, he hit .327 with 31 homers and 145 RBIs, easily the top batting statistics ever for a rookie. Williams was batting .3996, which would have rounded off to.400, going into the final day of the 1941 season. It was suggested that he sit out the day's doubleheader, but Williams refused. Instead, he played both games and went 6- for-8 to lift his average to .406.
"Teddy Ballgame" went on to manage the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers in 1969-72 and maintained a lifetime connection with the Red Sox.
The Red Sox retired his number 9 in 1984.

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#80

Spin (n): something between truth and a lie*
A stock transaction in 1990, before President Bush left the oil business and baseball for politics, raised new questions when administration officials acknowledged that Bush had failed to promptly disclose the sale of stock in a Texas oil company as required by federal law. The sale was reported 34 weeks after it occurred, which the White House blamed on a "mix-up, a clerical error" by lawyers - a different explanation than Bush had offered previously.
Before becoming President Bush had been involved in four late reporting transgressions.
Democrats charged Bush’s conduct was typical of the atmosphere his administration creates that encourages today’s malefactors (see Enron, WorldCom and others of recent note) to flaunt the law with a screw the stockholders and the public attitude. Republicans charged Democrats with a desperate attempt to score political points.
Who is spinning?
*(Spin This," Bill Press, Pocket Books, New York, 2001)

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#79

4th of July

The birthday of America.Stand up and be proud of our country! Have a happy holiday!

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#78

I want to stay home
Somewhere along the line some women (and probably a few unsteady men) founded "Take Your Parents to Work Day," (celebrated this year on June 27) and I think that is a crockpot full of, well, crock. I have five children. One is a school teacher whose place of work is closed for the summer. Two sons live in Washington and toil for the government and that's five hundred miles away (a thousand if you count the return trip). Another son whose office I have been to on numerous occasions, and while it is a pleasant place it is hardly where I want to spend a day making idle chitty chitty bing bang talk with strangers. And then there is my other daughter. She is a funeral director. I would have to wear a suit and look like one of those brothers on Six Feet Under meeting with the survivors. No thanks. I believe I will stay home on June 27 and consider the mind set of parents who worked decades to get their kids on someone else's payroll and then can't resist the urge to visit with them on the job.

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#77

Flag Day 2002
May our flag be always flown proudly and with honor.


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#76

The Perfect Father's Day
Today I sent this e-mail to my brothers and sisters (two of each):
Hello kin
Every year around Father's Day I speculate on how much we saved by having our father desert us at an early age in our lives. I also enjoy much of what I see and hear about the upcoming day. For example, Dave Barry, the humorist, writing about lame Father's Day poetry gave this example:

"When I was just a little tyke,
you showed me how to ride a bike;
And you were sweet to me the day,
I drove your car into the bay;
Dad, I think you're really grand,
I'm praying for your prostate gland!"

Love to you all
Bud
cc: Walter (snail mail)

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#75

He/She hanging in the living room
Today I attended an art exhibit sponsored by McAlister-Smith Funeral Homes as part of the Piccolo Spoleto now underway in Charleston. Two artists from the New Orleans area have incorporated into art work (paintings primarily) small amounts of cremains. These commemoratives have been commissioned to honor parents, loved ones and even to plan one's own future. A financial planner from New Orleans loaned the exhibit a piece he designed to which his ashes will be added someday. I kind of wonder about this. It is a way to honor and remember loved ones who have died, but do we really want Dad and or Mom hanging around the living room forever?

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#74

D-Day
The extra-ordinary heroism of thousands of men on D-Day 1944 is recaptured in part in the June 2002 issue of National Geographic. Look for this cover on your newsstands. It is worth reading.

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#73

Alaska journey
An account of the trip my wife and I made to Alaska by automobile is on my website. Click on Alaska Journey . Enjoy.


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#72

Colonialism, anyone
From Queen Victoria to World War II colonialism controlled or governed much of Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Great Britain, France and lesser European countries had a foot on someone’s neck somewhere in the world. We’ve read Kipling, seen Lawrence of Arabia, lived through the French and American disasters in Vietnam, and watched Africa hemorrhage to know all we need to know about colonialism.

Following the war the colonial powers were in a state of national exhaustion and unable to mount the campaigns necessary to hold onto their empires. The demand for self-rule was too strong. The United States championed national freedom and home rule everywhere. The colonial empires fell apart, and the world moved on. There really hasn’t been a demand for a return to colonialism ever since. Until now.

A British commentator, Robert Fisk, has contributed his thoughts to solving “this filthy war” in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. His suggestion is a return to colonialism. Given that no one with any authority seems to have a workable solution to the problem, Mr. Fisk is entitled to chip in with his. Mr. Fisk, by the way, is not further identified on the web site (independent.co.uk) where his lengthy commentary was published. Maybe he is just a common Joe like the rest of us.

His suggestion – and it is more in the form of a “rash, fearful prediction,” that American and NATO troops will be in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza - and in Israel. He predicts Jerusalem will be an international city. The Palestinians will have security. So will the Israelis.

(Originally published in The Hanahan News, Hanahan, SC, May 22, 2002)

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#71

Federal court vacancies
Excuse me, but I don't recall any editorial such as Saturday's "Fill federal court vacancies" when the Republican-controlled Senate sat on Bill Clinton's nominees (and led to the current high rate of vacancies). I must have been traveling in space or something.
FRANCIS X. ARCHIBALD
1128 John Rutledge Ave.
Hanahan
(Letters to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, May 17, 2002)

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#70

On lousy cooks
Scuttlebutt has it that Henrietta Nesbitt was a lousy cook. She was hired by Eleanor Roosevelt to cook in the White House based upon some imaginary culinary reputation she acquired around Hyde Park, New York.

It is a wonder President Franklin D. Roosevelt survived as long as he did. Mrs. Nesbitt was in charge of housekeeping at the White House and planned the menus, supposedly after talking with the First Lady. Unfortunately the First Lady was herself a terrible connoisseur of food whose taste ran from pedestrian to awful. There was a lot of food eaten out of cans during the Nesbitt years.

It fell to Bess Wallace Truman to put the situation right. Her daughter Margaret tells in the biography she wrote of her mother how Mrs. Nesbitt served brussels sprouts three nights in a row to President Truman, despite being told after the first serving that the feisty new man in the White House didn’t like the damn things. Bess was out of town at the time and Margaret called her and threatened to throw the sprouts at Mrs. Nesbitt. Bess came home and in quick order the rest of the staff was informed that Mrs. Nesbitt had retired.

In Amsterdam there is a restaurant called Mr. Coco’s where they advertise “lousy food and warm beer.” Currently they are soliciting applications for cooks and if you can tell the difference between a hamburger and a carrot you are considered qualified. From a distance it is hard to tell if this is “tongue in cheek” advertising or fair warning.
(Originally published in The Hanahan News, Hanahan, SC, May 15, 2002.

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#69

Scuttle the Evening News?
For a fascinating look at the evening news on the three network channels look here and see if you agree with the author.

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#68

John Kennedy was right
“Since 2000, (President) Bush has courted church leaders, including Boston’s embattled Cardinal Law, whom many rank and file suspect of protecting pedophile priests. Bush’s team has relied ‘too much on the hierarchy’ for voter outreach, one adviser says. ‘This will force them to think more broadly about just who Catholics are.’ ” (Jackie Calmes, Wall St. Journal, May 10, 2002, pg A4)

President Kennedy was on target vis-a-vis Catholic Bishops. Upon hearing that two groups – one of Nuns and one of Bishops - wanted to meet with him, Kennedy said he would meet with the Nuns “since the Bishops will vote Republican anyway.”

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#67

Molly says
For an enjoyable read see Milly Ivins on Robert Caro's volume 3 of the Lyndon Johnson biography.

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#66

What the world needs now...
...is another shopping mall on Rivers Avenue near Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston (S.C.), one of the busiest intersections in the state. Trident Technical College is selling land for $8.3 million to a Florida developer who plans another mall.

On the port issue, State legislators have a plan to let the Ports Authority build on the South end of the former Naval Base in North Charlestion. This would eliminate building a terminal at Daniel's Island. The plan favors the wealthy who have already invested heavily in homesites on the island. The plan would give the North end of the base to the city of North Charleston, a locale of middle-class and poor residents. North Charleston officials have long coveted the North end of the base where they plan to build a park and recreation area. The deal maker is the State's obligation to build an overpass connecting the South end of the base to I-26, and to build three more overpasses along Rivers Avenue to eliminate rail bottlenecks. Practically all the local politicians in both parties are sucking up to the deal. I recommend North Charleston get the four overpasses underway before they let ships start docking.


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#65

Where the people read
In a routine flash of self promotion South Carolina newspapers have released to the Audit Bureau of Circulation their circulation averages for the six months ended March 31, 2002. The Greenville News claims the largest Sunday circulation (127,496) and in Charleston The Post & Courier reported 115,858 Sunday subscribers. The State, a Knight-Ridder newspaper in Columbia, did not report and neither did the Florence News. In daily circulation, The Post & Courier topped the list with 105,667.

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#64

John Leo votes "yes"
John Leo, the sharp-tongued columnist for U.S. News & World Report has voted in favor of the blogging revolution. See his column in the May 13, 2002 (page 48) issue of the magazine or go to www.usnews.com and click on Opinion.

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#63

Questions to ask
Should we be concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe?
Is Iraq a real or imaginary threat to the United States, and if so, what should be done?
How are we going to reduce the worst unemplyment in the United States in almost 20 years?

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#62

FLASH - Helms has a heart?
The media is reporting N.C. Senator Jesse Helms is doing well after surgeons replaced a valve in his heart. One is constrained to ask, "Where did they find it?"
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#61

From bison meat to chauffeured limousines
Writing about the Washington scene after September 11, Bill Hogan wrote: "...never have so many lobbyists for so many different special interests so blatantly wrapped their requests for subsidies, tax breaks, and other forms of federal largesse in patriotic packaging." (Mother Jones, March/April 2002)

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#60

What is he afraid of?
Is it my imagiantion or is President Bush speaking only at military installationsand schools? Saw where he addressed the VMI "kadets" recently and is scheduled to address West Point cadets next month. Seems his father preferred these captive and most likely favorable audiences.

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#59

Some passing moments
We gave my mother a fine sendoff on April 2, 2002. My brothers selected readings from scripture, my oldest sister read "Trees" and I delivered a eulogy. All of us, my two brothers and two sisters and I, selected the hymns to be sung at the funeral Mass. The Mass was held in St. Patrick's church in Lowell, MA. This is the church which means the most to us as a family unit. We attended from January 1942 until sometime in the late 50's when my mother moved. Following the Mass, burial was in St. Patrick's Cemetery, close to another plot where her parents and brothers and sisters are buried. Following the brief internment prayers at the cemetery we had a luncheon at Jimmy's Four for 57 family and friends.

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#58

Passing
My mother, Anne Wynn Archibald, died this morning at 8:05 a.m., at Lowell General Hospital, Lowell, MA. She suffered a massive stroke yesterday (March 29, 2002) at about 5 a.m. She was 92. She is survived by five children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. She will be missed. God bless and keep her.

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#57

Ode to America

This article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "Cîntarea Americii" on September 24 in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul zilei ("The Daily Event" or "News of the Day").
As Associated Press reported about Mr. Nistorescu:

Nistorescu, managing director of the daily newspaper Evenimentul Zilei -- News of the Day -- published his editorial Sept 24, two days after watching a celebrity telethon in New York for victims of the attacks . . .

Like his other columns, "Ode to America" was meant for domestic consumption. No one knows when -- or how -- the article first reached the other side of the Atlantic. But Nistorescu figures it began when someone pulled it off the English-language version of his daily's Web page and sent it to a friend.

Since then, thousands of Americans at home and expats around the world have e-mailed it to friends, saying it captured their nation's spirit. It has been read out to U.S. soldiers and on radio talk shows and posted on U.S. Web sites.

Nistorescu says he had no idea his "Ode to America" would resonate so far away . . .

Nistorescu remains surprised and touched by the success of the piece, one of thousands he has penned in a more than 20-year career. "It is all about the American spirit and how freedom cannot be crushed," he says.

An Ode to America~

Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are.

Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about.

The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag.

They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".

Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different TV channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Sylvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul.

What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds was being heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests.

I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds or thousands of people. How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow human? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.

What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like common places. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion. Only freedom can work such miracles!

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#56

Winners or losers
At winners.com the site is undeveloped
It offers links to other related sites
At losers.com the site is undeveloped
It offers links to other related sites.

The related sites are the same
Which begs the question:
Does it make any difference
If you are a winner or a loser?


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#55

Cheeky claim
"Some 58% of the New York Times's weekday circulation comes from what the company calls the greater New York City area, which includes 31 counties extending into Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania." (The Wall Street Journal, March 26,2002)

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#54

Bumper idiots
"I am the NRA AND I VOTE" - "Normal people worry me" - These were two bumper stickers I saw today. They were on cars that hadn't been washed in a couple of months and the roof of the voter's car was peeling fabric.

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#53

Lawsuit is misguided
The Attorney General of South Carolina, Charlie (“I want to be Governor”) Condon, says the NAACP’s protests at South Carolina welcome centers are illegal. He is suing them. The NAACP leaders say Condon is using the lawsuit “to suppress expressions with which he does not agree.”

The NAACP protestors are at Welcome stations on the borders where they urge visitors to the state to not stop and not spend money, just to keep on going through. The NAACP started their economic boycott against South Carolina in January 2000 because the Confederate flag continues to fly on statehouse grounds.

Given the large number of new persons moving to the state and clogging roads, creating long lines in restaurants, building houses on open space, escalating demands for public funded infrastructure, crowding schools, and generally making life miserable for those living in the quiet shadows all these years, Condon ought to be thanking – not suing – the NAACP.

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#52

Florida snap
The author in Florida on March 8, 2002, at Naples pier where we watched a beautiful sunset at 6:32 pm.


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#51

A schmuck speaks
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2002, Dan Henninger said Rusty Yates was in New York on television with Katie Couric while his wife was being sentenced in a Houston courtroom to 40 years in prison; later that night Yates was on Larry King who asked Rusty how he thought Andrea would handle incarceration. "I talked to her doctor at the jail about it," said Rusty Yates. "She thinks she'll do fine. Andrea can get by with not a lot. She's a good woman."

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#50

Change
"Changing the health care system is like changing the Catholic Church. It takes a long time." (Dr. John Wennburg, Dartmouth College, WSJ, March 21, 2002, pg. l.)

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#49

Tending the grave
"Lying for one's country
"Deceit is justified in wartime, rarely in peace

"The MBE awarded today to Isabel Naylor de Mendez indirectly, and rightly, pays tribute to one of the greatest wartime deceptions ever perpetrated by British intelligence. Mrs Naylor has for 40 years tended the grave of the Man who Never Was — an illiterate Welsh tramp, whose body was used after his suicide to plant false documents on a supposed British intelligence officer washed ashore in Spain. The aim was to convince the Germans that the allied attack planned on Sicily would actually be made through Sardinia and Greece. It succeeded brilliantly. After the war, the strategem, carelessly revealed by Churchill, captured the public imagination; the film was a box office hit. Only the tramp was forgotten — by all except Mrs Naylor." (TIMES ON LINE, London, March 19, 2002)

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#48

St. Patrick's Day
Today is every Irishman's national holiday. I warned this was coming by posting an "Ireland for ever" greeting on March 15, see below. The celebrations locally are low-key. Street parties in the saloon section in downtown Charleston are banned for the second year. Several saloon keepers were turned down when they made requests last year and didn't bother to apply in 2002. Savannah allows such parties; apparently without offending anyone. Sometimes public officials can be so damn officious. We have so many government people looking out for our welfare it becomes tiring to put up with it all.

Erin go bragh!

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#47

E-mail your comments
I've added a link so you can send your comments and opinions. Just click on "E-mail your comments" below.

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#46

The bounty
We are six months into the war in Afghanistan. We don’t know where bin Laden is, if he is dead (as a result of the bombing), on the move (dodging the bombers) or in hiding. America has put a bounty on his head. It is up to about $30 million US dollars. You would think this would bring some informant out of his hole to betray bin Laden. It certainly would in the United States if he was hiding here and someone knew where. But in Afghanistan, few people have any conception of what $30 million US dollars is. We are talking about a country where the gross domestic product is $800 per capita. It is also possible that no one (Taliban, Al Qaeda or Afghan) has any idea of where to go to strike the deal to get the money. What are the possibilities? Seek out the nearest American troops and try to cut a deal? Slink around the local bazaar and try to find someone from the CIA? Try to find an American consul somewhere who could pony up the dough and throw in a free ride to a place of your choice on an American plane? The bounty sounds good but it is unlikely ever to be paid.

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#45

Contrasting colors
What is it with bloggers who use a dark background and a black type? I have seen a couple of these combinations lately and the resulting site is so hard to read. Somewhere there is a color wheel that suggests the best combinations of contrasting colors. Maybe someone knows where on the web it may be found and bloggers could use it.
Send comments to archinsc@comcast.net

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#44

Erin go bragh

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#43

Double knockout, hopefully
Tonight at nine on Fox, Tanya Harding and Paula Jones will don boxing gloves and fight each other. Is it too much to hope that they would knock each other out in some stupid combination of lefts and rights?

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#42

Bumper publishing
A bumper sticker seen recently: Buck fin Laden

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#41

Grand time at the reunion
Mary and I returned yesterday (March 11, 2002) from four days in Naples, Florida, where we attended an "all classes" reunion of my high school (Keith Academy, Lowell, MA). We had a grand time. No outside speakers nor entertainers. Classmates took care of all that, and the "entertainment" was one continuous roll of good, clean humor for almost 25 minutes. The man was in the class of '48, one year ahead of me, and he has been working his act for over 50 years, according to those who know him. For those who were hearing him for the first time he was priceless. One of the attendees was driving a car with a Massachusetts license plate "Chosin" and I told Mary "who ever he is, he's a Marine," and he fought his way out of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. "That's a big part of Marine Corps history," I told her. At dinner Mary was seated next to the man himself. She was thrilled to get to know him. He also was in the class of '48.

Naples is a fascinating community. All the beaches are "public" beaches, although there are hotels and condos up and down the beach. We watched a sunset (at 6:32 p.m., March 8, 2002, Friday evening) from the end of the pier (1000 feet out in the Gulf) and it was beautiful. The man who founded Collier magazine, Trailways, and numerous other successful ventures founded the area. It is called Collier County and is 26 square miles.

One of the places we ate on our own was Mike Ditka's. The food was delicious. We had lunch there and went back for dinner in the evening. Met and talked briefly with Mike. He was very gracious and looked like he could get into the MLB position today.

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#40

Aquinas and Bakker
Thomas Aquinas died on this day in 1274. The boys down at the pub will want to know this.
Tammy Faye Bakker, ex-wife of soiled one time PTL Club leader Jim Bakker, was born on this day in 1942. The boys at the the pub probably won't give a damn!
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#39

Confusing
Two young men just rode down my street on bicycles. I couldn't tell if they were Mormons or the local police.
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#38

Condit gone
When I told my wife Gary Condit had been defeated in the California Democratic primary, she said, "People have more sense than I gave them credit for."
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#37

Spring cleaning the rage

Everywhere it is spring cleaning time and no where is that more evident than in the Red Sox camp. The new owners of the team axed the General Manager a week ago and the field manager yesterday (March 5,2002). As one of the long suffering Fenway faithful, I can only hope the owners can pull it together and put a winner (we are talking about the World Series here) together.
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#36

Focus
"A ritual of every American recession is that someone gets hung in the public square." Opening sentence in The Wall Street Journal editorial (March 5, 2002) against stringing up "the accountants (at Arthur Anderson) as a way of letting everyone else off the Enron hook."

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#35

Keith Academy reunion
An "all classes" reunion of Keith Academy (Lowell, MA) graduates will be held in Naples, FL, March 8-10. A number of KA graduates have retired to FL and are arranging this reunion. I graduated from KA (it was a Xavierian Brothers high school) in the 20th class - 1949 - and have not been to a reunion of any sort since. The closest I came was in 1994 when a reunion was held in Lowell, MA, but an opportunity to live and teach in China for a year came up. My wife and I are looking forward to this reunion. We also hope to stop by and see some friends from our early Air Force days who live in Ft. Walton Beach.

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#34

The Comcast switch over
Much of February has been devoted to switching over to Comcast.net from the failed @Home.com. The switchover has not been without its hazzles, but all things considered, it has been successful. The Web page Archibald99.com is again active. My E-mail address is now archinsc@comcast.net .

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#33

Kitchen project moving along.
Expect a man in Monday to sand and finish the floors. About 52 years ago, when I got out of high school and was knocking around before my serious life's work began, I had a job on a maintenance gang in a textile mill. One project we worked on was laying a hardwood floor in a mill that was about 300 feet (or more) long and about 60 feet wide. I can tell you that you do when you are 20 cannot be duplicated when you are 70. I laid down a hardwood floor and it took two days to do about 110 square feet. It is hard work.
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#32