The Room

The building at 34 East 62nd street in New York which was destroyed by an explosion on July 10 was built in 1882 and was once site of The Room, a secret hideaway complete with a mail slot and an unlisted telephone number. It had no full-time occupant. Access was limited to a select few successful, rich, powerful and patriotic Americans. These were friends, neighbors and confidants of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, both Republicans and Democrats, who kept the President informed on world affairs, carried out intelligence duties for him and delighted in playing secret agent man. It is easy 70 years later to laugh and dismiss these businessmen, bankers, lawyers, and publishers, but in the 1930s and until World War II the United States had no OSS, CIA, DIA or other national intelligence service. (The FBI’s overseas intelligence activities in South America would not come into play until after WWII started.) One of the early visitors to The Room was William Donovan, a Republican lawyer, and contemporary of FDR’s at Columbia Law School. He undertook missions for the President in the mid-thirties, served as Coordinator of Information, director of the Office of Strategic Services, and is remembered today with a life-size statue in the lobby of the CIA headquarters. Members of The Room, it has been reported, gave President Roosevelt, among other things, secret access to banking information and telegraphic communications – similar to two intelligence gathering efforts the current President is catching hell for.

The latest waterfall

Having tried to improve the postal service (see preceding blog), I turned my attention to my pond and its waterfall. Since I built the pond in March 2001, I've had a narrow waterfall in various configurations and earlier this year a daughter-in-law told me about a commercial spillway with a wide (18 inches) throat. This presented two problems: how to position it so the water would drop directly into the pond (and avoid loss of water into the rock and soil) and also camouflage the black plastic appearance. I could not achieve both objectives satisfactorily with the rip rap stone wall I preferred so I built a 20 inch wide spillway using cedar (which should eventually turn grey and blend with the rip rap). I positioned the commercial spillway in the rear of this to regulate the flow of water through the cedar spillway into the pond. The water is pumped from the pond through a Laguna UV sterilizer to suppress algae. To the rear of the pond I cleaned out the brush, laid in some weed suppressant cover and topped this with a layer of cedar chips. The waterfall offers a soothing sound both while sitting on the back porch or sleeping with the window open, and it helps to oxygenate the water for the more than 35 fish in the pond.

About the postal service: A supervisor called to say that signs (Please turn off cell-phones) are on order from Washington and another clerk will be called from the back room when the line builds in the service area. We will check on this and report back.

On improving the Post Office

Recently I visited the local branch of the United States Postal Service. This is one of those 38,000 beleaguered outposts of citizen service that our congress years ago in its infinite wisdom simultaneously put under the control of something called a Board of Governors and washed its hands of the only service in the United States that was (is) more hard-pressed than the DMV. (That is if you don’t count the welfare office in New York.)

Only two counter clerks were working and my wait time was between 20-25 minutes. The clerk who serviced me said another clerk was on vacation, something I could appreciate. What I don’t understand is why one of the 100,000 part-time workers who back up the 800,000 full-time workers couldn’t be pressed into service at our local post office. Look at the numbers: 38,000 post offices, 100,000 part-time workers, an almost three to one worker ratio.

And another thing. Every one of sound mind and body agrees that smokers do not have the right to pollute our air space. During my wait at the post office I had to listen to a blond haired woman in tight jeans and wearing high heels, about 50-55 years old, with a German accent, talk on her stupid cell phone to another female dimwit on the other end and dispense advice on to how to correct, improve and put up with some male dimwit who had the unfortunate luck to be connected somehow to these two female dimwits. She was two customers ahead of me and only stopped talking on the cell phone when she was next to being called to the counter. Cell phone usage in post offices by patrons should be outlawed until the wait time is reduced to two minutes or less.

I have communicated these views to the Postal Service and I am sure they will be on the agenda at the next meeting of the nine-member Board of Governors. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Weather

Last night on the local news (Charleston, SC) we had a substitute weatherman who said the regular guy was on vacation and the weather would be good for a couple of weeks. This brings up two questions: Did the regular guy arrange the weather to accommodate his vacation schedule and if the weather is going to be good why do we need a substitute weatherman?

We miss you, Duke

Died: June 11, 1979
Born: May 26, 1907

Criminal Activity

When I was a city judge in Hanahan I had authority to issue search warrants and did so upon affidavits by sworn police officers which usually took up less than one page and often related to minor criminal activity. The judge who issued a search warrant on Congressman William J. Jefferson was given an 85 page affidavit from the FBI alleging major offenses. This is not an issue about the separation of powers, it is about possible major criminal offenses and no one - not even a Congressman - ought to be beyond the law. (Published as Letter to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston SC, June 6, 2006.)

THE OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE

THE OPIATE OF THE PEOPLEIt is a source of wonder that rising five years into the AFGHANISTAN story, (21st century edition), we find that Allied soldiers lives and nations' treasure, are being expended in a country whose principal contribution to the world was to have been the base HQ and training centre to the terrorists of 9/11; which remains the world's prime source of opiates, and whose citizens are grouped into tribal and religious factions that hate each other - almost as much as they hate foreign soldiers on their soil. The end game from the point of view of the west is to stay until the fledgling democracy is secure, the terrorist threat is no more and, well, hopefully not until they all love one another. Is it just irony to observe that the Taliban government, (pre 9/11) in their final year 2001, under some persuasion no more, from the west, had reduced the poppy harvest to a mere74 tons? Last year with US and NATO forces in country, a new national army and all manner of inspectors and mercenaries tasked with destroying the crop in the ground, the harvest ran out at about 4,500 tons, just 2.4% down on the previous year. It is true that alternative crops have not been forthcoming and that the farmers just have no other crop. That problem needs bigger brains working on a permanent solution than seem currently to be deployed, because the billions squandered on a clearly failed mission might be better used in intervention purchasing to keep the farmers alive, whilst alternative crops are propagated. (Published by Newnations (a not-for-profit company) PO Box 12 Monmouth United Kingdom NP25 3UW Fax: UK +44 (0)1600 890774  enquiries@newnations.com )

Who gave...for the land

Today we pause to recall the sacrifice of all who gave their lives for the land we love and live in; for the men and women who have served and are proudly called veterans and for those serving in our Armed Forces around the world today.

Our family is proud to call Mom and Dad (USAF) and sons Frankie (USMC) and James (USAF) "Veterans." A grandson, Trey Turner is serving in the USMC.

Anne's Kids - Reunion 2006

On Mother’s Day I left my wife and mother of our five children behind and headed off from Charleston to Maine for a reunion with my four siblings. It wasn’t planned that way but my wife opted out of making the trip and I flew off totally oblivious to what was happening in New England. By Tuesday, after almost three days of rain, the papers reported the area was having the third worst rain storm since they began keeping records back somewhere in the middle of the nineteenth century. In our home town of Lowell, MA, about 3,000 people were evacuated from homes along the banks of the Merrimack River. Only the 1936 flood that caused the Merrimack to overflow its banks and put much of Lowell under water was worst than last week's rain storm.
We gathered in Wells Beach, ME, and had a grand time. One brother, coming by car from Staten Island, was unable to get to the reunion because of the weather. He was missed, and we told him by phone that we faulted him for all our youthful misfortunes. Somehow, although he was only three or four, we said he caused an older brother to fall off the top of a bridge across a canal near our home. Similarly, in his absence, he was at fault when a bus threw a board up from the street breaking a sister’s leg. He accepted all this with good humor, although I suspect when he got to yakking it up later with his friends we would be somehow responsible for his youthful injuries and ailments.
I had planned to stop in on a few friends and e-mail acquaintances unannounced but once on the ground in Maine the weather made all that impossible. Maybe some day soon.
This was the first time we got together since our mother died four years ago. Families get caught up in what they do and times passes ever so swiftly, especially, it seems, as people age. I suggested the gathering last December and it turned out to be a happy time for catching up, reminiscing, updating on the kids whereabouts and accomplishments, and discussing future plans. We ate a lot of fresh fish, especially haddock and lobster. Fresh cold water fish is the best eating, I believe, and difficult to come by in South Carolina. My sisters had some fig squares, also not readily found in Charleston, when I arrived and to take home with me. I ate them in the airports at Portland, LaGuardia and Raleigh Durham. None made it to Charleston.
It was a good time for all and although about 12 inches of rain fell on Wells Beach during the storm we minded it not a wit. After all, we four on hand had survived the ’36 flood.

Fantasy (or insanity)

In a moment of fantasy (or insanity) I was attracted to a car ad in The Wall Street Journal today by the price: $3,995 per month. This is for 35 months at 7.75% APR, one final payment of $215,000 with $42,648 down. The car: A Rolls-Royce Phantom offered by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Miami. My wife came into the kitchen where I was reading the paper and sipping coffee and she broke the spell bringing me back to the real world, "the truck needs to be filled up with gas."

Why I'm in the Gulag

Ran across this old Soviet Union joke earlier today: Three guys in the Gulag are talking about why they are there. The first man says, "I came to work five minutes late every day and they charged me with sabotage." The second prisoner says, "I came to work five minutes early every day and they charged me with spying." The third, "I came to work on time every day and they charged me with owning a western watch."

Wal-Mart Parking Lot

Add this to your list of strange behavior in Wal-Mart parking lots. Someone apparently bought a pair of shoes, sandals, slippers, or some kind of footwear at the Wal-Mart in North Charleston, SC, and changed into them in the parking lot. Evidence: The saddest looking pair of beat up, worn out tennis shoes were set side-by-side in one of the shopping cart corrals. These shoes had more miles on them than hairs on a gorilla. My late mother thought wearing new footwear out of the store was gauche; what would she think of putting them on in the parking lot.

Red Sox Slugger Breaks Car Window; no arrest

Last night (May 6, 2006) at Fenway Park, Manny Ramirez broke the rear window of a sedan parked on a garage roof across the street from the Green Monster when he belted a tape-measure home run in the fourth inning of a game against Baltimore, according to the Boston Globe this morning. (Photo from http://www.RedSox.com)

A giant has fallen

“He remained optimistic about the ability of government to improve the lot of the less fortunate. ‘Let there be a coalition of the concerned,’ he urged. ‘The affluent would still be affluent, the comfortable still comfortable, but the poor would be part of the political system.’

“John Kenneth Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist, teacher and diplomat and an unapologetically liberal member of the political and academic establishment that he needled in prolific writings for more than half a century, died yesterday at a hospital in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97.”

(Excerpted from an obituary by Holcomb B. Noble and Douglas Martin, The New York Times, April 30, 2006, web edition. Photo from the obit is by Brian Snyder/Reuters.)

Other bloggers at work

I was roaming through some blogs this morning when I came across a recipe that began with "1 head of cauliflower" and I instinctively knew it was not for me; another blogger discussed job turnover and recommended management look at the supervisor of any unit with high employee turnover - he/she may be the problem; and then there is a web site HollaBackNYC where people can report and highlight street harassers. My favorite is the lady who was flashed on the subway and who had the chutzpah to take a video phone picture of the flasher, and later put it on the website. The flasher was eventually caught and he reportedly lamented that being reported to the cops was one thing, but being posted on the Internet was unfair.

Can take a joke

I certainly don’t want to get all the Catholics in the world, or even in Charleston, upset.

However, I saw a painting recently in the Charleston room at the end of the long hallway on the first floor in The Gibbes Art Gallery that has all the potential for an uprising parallel to the tumult in Islam over those cartoons in the Danish newspaper.

At first glance it appears to be a painting of the late Pope John Paul II, whom I had the supreme pleasure of seeing up close three times while he was among us.

At second glance it is a portrait that looks like the Piggly Wiggly pig. I don’t know what this school of painting is called and I failed to note the name of the artist, but she/he ought to be happy I can take a joke, and I believe John Paul would have smiled himself.

Of course he might have given a penance of one Our Father and one Hail Mary.

(Published as a Letter to the Editor, The Post & Courier, Charleston SC, Apr.5, 2006)

Full bloom

Our back yard is in full bloom today as temperatures soared to almost 85 degrees at noon in Hanahan, SC. "A beautiful day in the neighborhood," isn't that what Mr. Rogers
usually said? (Thanks to the half-dozen readers who correctly identified the source of the quote. I originally credited Captain Kangaroo.)

Water almost ruins bridge run

A four-foot water main (that’s what they call a big one) broke last night in Hanahan a couple of blocks from our house and for more than a couple of hours some 400,000 people in Charleston and the surrounding area were without water. This threatened to put a real damper on the crowd pouring into Charleston for the First Annual Ravenel Bridge Run this morning but the water people got it fixed in good time and all is well. The same people recommend we boil water at least through Sunday morning to be on the safe side. Personally, I have always found in my travels that a double Scotch is sufficient to ward off any contaminants in the local water.

The bridge run is the 29th running of this 10K spring event and the Ravenel Bridge (opened in July 2005) will be the third bridge featured. About 45,500 runners and walkers are registered, although more than half will likely not show, not run/walk nor finish if they do participate. I was an entrant in 2000 in the walkers division and although I enjoyed the experience I have not returned. There is no benefit in the second kick of a mule.

Shoes, runners and lawnmowers

I read recently in The Washington Post on-line edition about a girl who broke up with a guy who opined that her choice of (weird to him) shoes was not appropriate to wear for a job interview. The girl finished her sushi lunch, stood up and told the guy not to call her again. He never did.
In Charleston, SC, the first annual Ravenel Bridge Run (replacing the old Cooper River Bridge run) will be this weekend and some racers from Nigeria will undoubtedly be on hand. They have an unfair training advantage over local runners. The Nigerians train against leopards, the locals work out against guys they meet in bars or at the office.
What are the odds that the two lawnmowers you own will go belly up on the same day within minutes of each other? That happened to me yesterday and I walked up the street and contracted to have my lawn cut regularly during the season. I am expecting a potential buyer to come today and give me some beer money in exchange for the two lawnmowers.

"Complete security" - my view

A friend and former co-worker e-mailed recently that Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. "is controlled by/part of the Chinese Govt/PLA and is now up for operating/running a US radiation detector at Freeport in the Bahamas. I also believe they operate 2 terminals at the Port of Long Beach, operate terminals at both ends of the Panama Canal, were involved with smuggling illegal weapons about 10 years ago at the Port of Oakland and operate terminals at other ports around the world. What are your thoughts about our 'security'?"

To which I replied: First off, M......, I would have to caveat that I have not been in the loop for 25 years. It has been a long time since I had responsibility for even a small part of the DOD/Air Force/Navy security programs. As a citizen-observer, however, I see "complete security" today as I did throughout my 28 years of investigative/security management service: Impossible to obtain and maintain in our great country with its freedoms, opportunities and challenges. I once told one of our commanding officers, Navy Captain (later Admiral) Dick Curtis, that security was about managing risks. He stood up from the chair in my office and shouted at me that he did not manage risks, he eliminated them. We never did hit it off completely during his tour. Security in a Republic is about risk management and despite some glaring gaffs from time to time, I continue to believe the men and women who do this job on a daily basis do commendable work and we ought to be grateful to them for it.

Russians in the War Room - Part II

"In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to role in," said James Casey, chief of the Eurasia section of the FBI's counterintelligence division. "But things haven't changed as much as we thought they were going to change in 1989." (“Despite partnership, Russia spying on U.S.,” Douglas Birch, Sun Foreign Staff, The Baltimore Sun, originally published 3/23/2006.)

A friend e-mailed to say that “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” was “Absolutely my all time favorite movie. Scott said it was his all time favorite part. Only Slim Pickens was better in that flick!! -- He had the best part.” (Pickens, movie fans will recall, piloted the American bomber and rode the bomb down waving his cowboy hat after breaking it loose from the bomb bay.)

Russians in the War Room

A report out of Washington today reflects that Russians admitted to the American Central Command collected invasion plans data and passed it to Saddam Hussein before the war began. Because the Cold War has ended we have Russians in the heart of the American Command responsible for planning the Iraq War. The Russians told us early on they would not back any military force against Saddam, so why the hell were they still admitted to the planning rooms? Why were they and any representatives of other countries opposed to the war not asked to leave temporarily?

Hollywood got it right, why can’t Washington? For example, General Buck Turgidson said Russians are basically spies who cannot be trusted and was absolutely correct to express outrage to President Merkin Muffley about one being admitted to the war room.

In case you don’t recall Turgidson, he was the Air Force Chief of Staff (portrayed by George C. Scott, who morphed into Patton in 1970) in the 1964 movie, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”

President Merkin Muffley (one of three characters played by the late Peter Sellers in the film) invited the Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky (Peter Bull) into the American War Room deep in the bowels of the Pentagon to discuss ways to stop the American bomber wing dispatched to destroy the Soviet Union by an utterly mad U.S. Air Force Colonel Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden, who commanded an OSS boat in the Adriatic Sea during WWII).

If Hollywood can get it right, why can’t Washington? Where are the Turgidson’s in this day and age?

Reasons to stay the course

President Bush and a majority of other Republicans, and a large number of Democrats as well, got us into Iraq and now we are riding the tiger. We are damned if we stay and will be damned if we cut and run. The original premises for going to war in Iraq have been shown to be largely bogus and a lot of legislators who voted for the war now complain they got suckered. (On that point, I, as a former State legislator myself, say they should have done their homework before voting.) Many Americans feel the same way. We did not have access to the pre-war intelligence and could only trust our elected leaders. Nevertheless, we got rid of one SOB dictator and started a popular move to democracy. That has to count for something. With all of this, the lead editorial in The Wall Street Journal today (March 22, 2006) identifies the following consequences if we "cut and run before giving Iraqis the time and support to establish a stable, democratic government that can stand on its own."

The U.S. would loose all credibility on weapons proliferation.

Broader Mideast instability.

We would loose all credibility with Muslim reformers.

We would invite more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

Time and space do not permit reprinting the entire Journal editorial but it may be seen in your local library after today. I will e-mail a copy to you at your request (unless WSJ lawyers tell me to stop). Contact me at archinsc@knology.net. It is worthwhile reading and remembering.

Select extracts from readers' comments on earlier blogs

When I sent the flag as a test of the picture capture capability I heard from a friend who said: Old Glory flies on my newly created flagpole at a home depot parts price of $28 and my very own design. How's that for thriftiness?

Write your own obituary brought four replies: I am sending to you by regular mail two obituaries that I have kept because I couldn't stand to discard them. I agree with you on the subject and feel the same way about the coverage of weddings. I always loved reading about what the bride and her entourage wore and where they held the reception and all that good stuff. My husband fought under Patton but never talked about his experiences. I didn't meet him until after the war. When he died in 1972 I started to piece his military life together and have been a student of WWII ever since. I have put "write obituary" on my list of things-to-do. There are a lot of more intriguing things ahead of it, I must say.

I think it is a great idea. Also, guess I'll always remember (deleted) wanting to write his. I wish I had listened to him.

Thanks. I've been thinking of doing this but have not gotten off the mark yet.

I always want to know cause of death - I think the NYT (The New York Times) does that. Seems we need to know if cancer is felling people, or drunk drivers run into them or something. The NYT says "according to family members ..." or some kind of attribution.

The root canal inspired this on the medical profession: Why can’t we charge for the time we sit waiting on them not only in the waiting room but in the examination room?

“Eight Below” brought forth this from a minister: A member of my church had China cups that were on Byrd’s expedition to Antarctica. (Byrd’s first expedition occurred in 1928-30 and he participated in at least six others until his death in 1957.)

On the Ernest Hemingway exhibit and his suicide there were four reactions: Two e-mails told me of the recent suicides of two young men I did not personally know and the tumultuous affect on survivors.

Also: I've known some suicides where I just had to say, they were so miserable that they couldn't see another way out. But I've known some others that were really an act of violence against those left behind. Who knows?

And, finally: We want to see visit the exhibit. Maybe tomorrow when we are in Charleston.

Old Glory

I uploaded this image today to test the process and expect to put some photos on my blog from time to time. For now, a simple salute to Old Glory.

Write your own obituary

Marilyn Johnson, who also edited three major magazines in her 28 year career as a journalist, has written a book about obits. I haven’t yet read the book, “The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries” (Harper Collins, $24.95), but she talked about it with Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg of The Wall Street Journal, (online WSJ, March 14, 2006). Ms. Johnson makes the excellent point that obits written in England top the list.

Thanks to the Internet and the time to roam, I have read many obits in English newspapers and have to agree with Ms. Johnson, who says, “They let them go on. And they let them entertain.” Some English obits make fascinating, enjoyable, smiling reading. They bring the dead to life and tell the good, the bad and the ugly. Snide remarks, peccadilloes, failures and successes and whatever else it takes to make the reader aware of whom and what the deceased was is fair game. The writers include journalists, relatives, friends, colleagues, enemies or even the deceased who anticipated his death and wanted the last word.

Here in the United States, and you can see this in your local daily paper, we are accustomed to reading where and when the deceased was born, his ancestors and descendants are listed as are his major life accomplishments. Most obits we read in our local papers are written by Funeral Directors based on information hurriedly gathered up immediately following the death. They are bland and devoid of anything that brings the deceased to life. The directors who write these usually lack the insight to portray the deceased as the hero or the scoundrel s/he was. The family pays to have them printed in the paper, based on the number of column inches.

Some newspapers will have a reporter write an occasional short piece about a dead politician, a business leader, senior church official (especially one convicted of sexual crimes) or an executed criminal. But they leave the rest of the dead alone and to the inadequacies of sorrowing families and funeral directors. Occasionally a letter to the editor will follow an obit by several days, and all of these are complimentary. No one discusses the warts.

What is the solution? Write your obit now and put it away with your funeral papers if you have such a file, or put it where your spouse or significant other will be able to find it if you die. You can study the outline of the obit formula by reading your daily newspaper. Do this for a week or two and then take up pen and paper and go to work. Put down who you were and what you did that makes you proud. If a life incident is everlasting enjoyable or otherwise significant to you, put it down and share it with the readers. Recently, I read obits where the deceased served with General Patton in the glorious march of the Third Army across France, and the relief of beleaguered American troops in the Battle of the Bulge. Now this belongs in an obit. It doesn’t matter if the deceased was a private who only saw General Patton for a few minutes at a time, he was proud to be in that Third Army and people ought to know it a hundred years from now when they look at old obits on yellowing pages, on microfilm or discs or whatever the storage device is in the future. If you love gardening and want to say something about some darn flower, put it down. If you lived your adult life with a same-sex partner go out the same way, put it in the obit. If you made a fortune or lost one, tell the readers. If you bagged a tiger hunting in Nepal but lost its skin in a poker game later, share the agony of victory and defeat. Let posterity know who and what you really were. Write your own obituary

The Week (Feb 19-26) in Review

We had some good days and some not so good last week. We had some good friends in for lunch and saw a popular movie. A restaurant manager surprised us, we went to a birthday party for a 90-year old woman, and I had a root canal. Cold weather slowed down work on the renovation of the porch.

We saw Eight Below, the story about Antarctica explorers returning there to recover sled dogs left behind because there was no room on the plane when the people left in a blinding snowstorm. I agree with the movie critics who say the best thing about the movie is (are?) the dogs. Other parts leave you wondering: why don’t viewers see the actor’s breath while they talk out of doors at the bottom of the world. (Football fans will note this occurs frequently in Green Bay.) And as for flying off in that storm in that small plane which sets up the movie, believing it is a stretch. You don’t have to be a dog lover to enjoy this film. It is that good.

I ordered a chocolate cake for dessert while at Sunday brunch and when the waitress asked how it was I told her the cake was old, dry and not moist. The manager came by shortly after and said she had taken the cake off our bill. “I never order desert in a restaurant,” she said, “because it is usually undersized, overpriced and stale.”  For this frankness I omit the name of the restaurant. Would not want that manager fired.

The lunch with long-time friends from Columbia, S.C., opened the week enjoyably and the birthday party closed it in the same manner. I told the elderly lady she has a way to go to catch up with our neighbor who is 99 and currently off on a cross-country trip to visit a daughter in Southern California.

As for the root canal, what is there to say other than the Endodonist did a good job on three roots in about 90 minutes with a minimum of pain. I now, emphasis on now, believe my anxiety was worse than the actual event. But, what the hell, I have never been praised by nurses (as has my wife) for being “a good patient.”

Hemingway & Evans

Today I viewed the Ernest Hemingway & Walker Evans exhibit at the Gibbes Gallery here in Charleston. The collection celebrates three weeks the two men spent in Havana in 1933 in close company meeting, talking, drinking and dining. Hemingway loaned Evans $25. He later forgave the loan. During this time Evans entrusted 44 photos to Hemingway who took them to Key West where they stayed in storage for years and passed to a friend after Hemingway shot himself in 1961. From that friend the pictures made their way to the Kennedy Library and eventually to this touring exhibit. Despite the thousands of pictures Evans – one of the great photo-journalists of the 20th century had published in numerous magazines these originals did not appear in any collections of his work.

Hemingway’s suicide by shotgun in Idaho was a severe disappointment. I recall that on the Sunday morning I read of his death I felt he cheated his family, his friends and his fans, of which I was one, and I took it as a personal betrayal. He had always carried himself in life and written as a man’s man. Suicide, I thought at the time when I was thirty years old, was a coward’s way out and unworthy of a man. Some forty-five years later I continue to believe suicide is wrong, but not necessarily “a coward’s way out.”

The exhibit is on tour and will move to another city in late February, early March.

Madden's Rules

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, insisted that all 15 Security Council members show up to meetings on time: at 10 a.m. Asked recently by a reporter how this was working out, Bolton said, "I took a list of when they came in. We started just before 10:15. I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room, though."

Bolton should have given them John’s (as in John Madden) Rules: Show up on time, listen and play like hell.

AXIS Information and Analysis (AIA)

AIA is an information agency that unites professionals having years of experience in collecting and analyzing information about Asia and Eastern Europe. AIA's main attention is focused upon those states that represent a threat to regional and international security, as well as upon areas of ethnic and religious conflict. At the same time, AIA follows the events in those countries that are going through political and socio-economic cataclysms.

I am adding AIA to my links page at my website .

Where the Ice Bowl was played

I read today in an AP story about how the pleasant winter weather around the country is coming to an end. The story reported that January past was the warmest on record in Green Bay, Wisconsin. No further details were given. I assume therefore – just based on the mere coupling of “Green Bay” and “winter,” the temperature was probably about 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shortest interval of time

Wednesday night as I watched the news about all the security precautions being taken in Detroit for Sunday’s Super Bowl, the thought occurred to me that if Osama bin Laden and his fellow terrorists want to see hell-come-to-breakfast on Monday they should do something stupid at the 40th Super Bowl.

Tuesday night while driving to a social gathering, I lived the immeasurable nano-moment George Carlin calls the “shortest interval of time:” that flashing moment between when the traffic light turns green and the guy (Carlin used a different term) behind you blows his horn. Our paths paralleled on the eastbound highway for less than a half-mile when the horn blower pulled his SUV off the highway to use an ATM machine.

The dog situation about which I have written earlier appears to have succumbed to a “mild solution.” A talk with the neighbor resulted in her promise to tether the animal when she lets him out in the morning (the city requires dogs to be on a leash or under control of the owner.)

Click to see the website: http://www.archibald99.com/

Wife, dog and Exxon

Those keeping up with us on the neighbor’s dog may be pleased to know today’s score. This morning Wife was adjusting a window when the neighbor’s dog, continuing his preference for our lawn over that of his owner’s, assumed the position to do the daily necessity. Wife opened the window and gave a shout as only a mother of five could muster and the dog took off for home. Score: Wife 1, Dog 0.

Most of us cannot comprehend the true meaning of the $10 billion dollar profit Exxon made last quarter, so today we rely on the Wall St. Journal to tell us it is $80,842 per minute during the quarter. Now, does everybody have that straight?

See earlier postings at www.archibaldinsc.blogspot.com on these and other provocative tales of life.

Exxon and the rest of us

I got two electronic alerts via e-mail this morning, both advising that Exxon had reported $10 billion profit in the 4th quarter, exceeding it’s own record profit of $9.2 billion in the 3rd quarter. These profits are from record high oil prices and come at a time when people everywhere, faced with higher heating oil and gasoline prices, struggle to make ends meet. In Massachusetts and a congressional district in the Bronx in New York, a non-profit organization and a Bronx Congressman cut deals with Venezuela’s anti-American leader, Hugo Chavez, to furnish heating oil at reduced rates to the poorest of the poor. What kind of national nonsense is this when the Emperor sits in Washington, his buddies in the oil business reap these kinds of profits, American communities everywhere suffer and an oil-rich dictator thumbs his nose at the U.S. and reaps favorable headlines? Something is wrong with this picture!

How to stop a dog from crapping on a lawn

This morning a neighbor’s dog came to my front lawn and took a crap. I saw him as he was leaving. My wife saw him yesterday but he took off before she could get out in the yard to rattle and chase him away. The neighbors let this fat white-with-black-markings dog out in the morning and he roams at will, pausing only to crap in my front yard. I said I would Google this problem and my wife laughed. I put the question “how to stop a dog from crapping on a lawn” and instantly Google returned a hundreds of references. I summoned the wife to view the computer screen and said, “Look.”
It seems our problem is one shared by thousands of people who don’t own dogs but live close to irresponsible dog owners who lack the damn sense to train and or curb their dogs. Some suggestions revealed by the Google search include the mild (talk to your neighbor, put out Crap Away; call the dog police,) to the mad-as-hell (shoot the dog with a stun gun*; tie a nicely wrapped box of dog crap to the dog and send him home; staple a small dog to the neighbor’s door and keep stapling larger and larger dogs until the neighbors get the message.)
Citizens who go through daily life in the suburbs without this problem are generally unsympathetic to the victim and take the attitude “better on your lawn than the bottom of my shoe.”
I will work on this problem and if I achieve a “mild” solution I will share it with you via another blog entry. If I have to go to the “mad-as-hell” basket of ideas, well that’s a different story and it will probably be best to take Ben Franklin’s advice: three can keep a secret if two are dead.
[*A policeman in Round O, South Carolina, used a laser gun this week to subdue a Billy goat.]

Update to revised blog

Update: If you care to comment on the revised blog you can do so directly at the bottom of the posted blog (i.e. click on :  http://www.archibaldinsc.blogspot.com/). Sorry I left that important point our earlier.

Revised blog - invitation to critique

This is an invitation to family members to examine my revised blog* and make suggestions/comments. This revision was accomplished over the weekend with help from Patrick. I am working on a mailing list to accompany the blog but I am not there yet. Patrick has set up the mechanics for the list, but, as usual, the devil is in the details. You may create a shortcut to this blog for your desktop so you can return from time to time. I would be interested in knowing if anyone in the family other than me and Patrick has a blog going. Many people put a lot of personal stuff on their blog but mine is tends to be less so.

My web site remains on-line at www.archibald99.com.

*Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site. www.bytowninternet.com/glossary

Repair or replace: a decision made

My all-in-one printer, scanner, copier (Epson Stylus Photo RX600), bought in April 2004, (you guessed it, warranty exhausted) broke last week and I tried the Problem Solving suggestions in the owner’s manual several times. The black and light cyan ink cartridges would not respond when I tried to print, and there were color variations in copying. This week I called Epson service and paid $9.95 for (flat-rate) technical assistance, plus the phone call charges. (A phone number in California was routed to a woman outside Toronto, Canada.) After almost 23 minutes of re-doing what I had been doing on my own nickel without resolving the problem, she gave me the names and numbers of two authorized repair shops, both more than 100 miles distance from Charleston, S.C. The first shop in Savannah, Georgia, had a customer-friendly rep that walked me through the costs of shipping each way (undetermined), assessing ($50, applied to repairs – if made), and repairing the machine (labor $90 per hour, plus parts). We talked over the low cost of a new all-in-one, improvements in the technology since 2004, and the uncertainty of final repair costs. “The numbers aren’t with you,” he said, “but you decide.” I’m going to get a new all-in-one (HP Photosmart 3210).

The Epson will be re-cycled to a local charity which has a special shop for computers and related gear. They keep a couple of workers on payroll who fix such items up and sell them. Maybe they will have good-luck with this all-in-one.

Movie Diplomacy

Has anyone else noticed that when Germans elect a new Chancellor and he/she makes the obligatory diplomatic call on the occupant of the White House, some American movie channel shows uncut, uncensored and uninterrupted re-runs of The Longest Day and Patton?

Remaking Blog Page

This is a remake of my blog page done on January 22,2006. The Archives on the right of this page cannot be search by the blogger search in the upper left-hand corner as they are from an earlier period when they were not entirely saved on this blogger.com server. They can, however, be examined by clicking on one of the monthly periods. You can return to this page by clicking on the Back button.

Dress Nice

I just saw the Presidents of Iran and Syria standing side-by-side at an airport. The best thing which could be done for these two is to send them on an all-expense paid trip to London or Rome and get them a tailor. Their suits are an embarrassment to management everywhere.
Have a nice day, and dress nice.
#262 (06-02)

The Hollywood Cowboy

Despite talk of Oscars for Brokeback Mountain and its actors, I believe that for millions of people like myself the lasting image of the Hollywood cowboy will be John Wayne sitting astride a big horse, six-gun on his hip, rifle laying at the ready across his saddle, pushing a herd of cows across the plain - not two lightweights on a sheep farm falling in love with each other.
#262 (06-01)

Syriana

If anyone can figure out how all the sub-plots and connivances in the movie Syriana fit together let me know. I saw it last night and did not understand it. This is an anti-CIA movie because you have the Agency targeting and killing a forward thinking Saudi prince just to keep an incompetent prince in power and protect the interests of American oil companies. The Agency would not do this. It would take too many case officers and technicians and the story would leak in a heartbeat.
#261 (05-52)

Note: This is the last posting for 2005.

"No" to Arnold

California voters said "No" to their Governor, Arnold Schwarznegger, by defeating four initiatives he had promoted and put seveal million dollars of his own money behind, in voting on November 8, 2005. The voters made it clear they would not dump on teachers and unions, nor did they trust any Governor to trim the state budget unilaterally or three retired judges to carve up the legislative districts. This ought to put an end to the talk of amending the U.S. Constitution so Arnold, born in Austria, would be able to run for President. He will face a tough re-election bid next time out.
#260 (05-51)

J. Palmer Gaillard Jr.

On the evening of October 19, a native Charlestonian, World War II naval aviator, successful businessman and former mayor of the city spoke at the Friends of the Berkeley Library meeting in Goose Creek.
See J. Palmer Gaillard Jr. under Columns Current - above - for a full report on this entertaining speaker.
#259 (05-50)

Q#1

Is Ben Bernanke's checkbook balanced?
#258 (05-49)

Quick off the mark

The Iraqis have fullfilled George Bush's dream. They learned, all too quick, about voting. Two days after the Nationwide vote to decided the future of a proposed constitution inquires are underway in several districts where the vote was 99% favorable. Such a vote would have made Boss Tweed and Mayor Daley cry in their beer. Only Stalin had a greater percentage of victory.
#257 (05-48)
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Time to move on

Ok, it is time to move on to other subjects. The Red Sox are out of the playoffs.
The new questions: Where is the Bush administration master plan for rebuilding New Orleans? It was promised in that speech in the curtained off square in NO by Himself.
Will we let countries who practice censorship and thought control have any say-so in running the Internet? This is under discussion in the United Nations, and China, Iran and Saudi Arabia are lining up to have a major say.
Why do we have more than 2,000 young people locked up in prisons for life, something only two or three other nations do? Some of these people were sentenced when they were only 13 years old.
#286 (05-47)
Comment to: archinsc@knology.net

Red Sox in playoffs

The Red Sox split the weekend games with the Yankees and got into the playoffs as the fourth team. Yanks won on Saturday, Sox on Sunday. Cleveland lost to Chicago both days. It is now Red Sox and White Sox and Yankees Vs Angels.
#285 (05-46)
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It is down to two

Red Sox won last night and are even with the Yankees on the season. Today and tomorrow will tell the story.
#284 (05-45)
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It is down to three

The Red Sox and the Yankees begin a three-game set tonight in Fenway Park which will decide the Division race for the year. Yanks have good pitching and hitting at this time and the Sox have mediocre pitching and no so consistent hitting. None the less, hopes run high in the Red Sox Nation. It will be written in the wind by Sunday night.
#283 (05-44)
Comment to: archinsc@knology.net

Posting directly to this blog

Today I discovered how to post directly to this blog using the Google taskbar. This discovery came from reading a Google Friends Newsletter.
#282 (05-43)

Hurricane Names

CNN said on its web site today:
"The largest number of named storms ever recorded was 21 in 1933, a record that will be broken if just seven more storms develop in the next 12 weeks. And if that happens, the hurricane center will run out of names...
"The letters Q, U, X, Y and Z aren't used, because few names begin with those letters, so the 21st and last name on this year's hurricane list is Wilma."
How about Quentin (as in Tarantino), Ulysses (S. Grant), Xavier (Cugat), Yogi (Bera) and Zeus, (the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea, he was the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and of the Pantheon of gods who resided there.)
See there, simple.
#281 (05-42)
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Waiting for a Leader

Editorial - The New York Times

Published: September 1, 2005

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.
#280 (05-41)
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The Great Raid

Last night Mary and I enjoyed The Great Raid, the based-on-actual-events story of the greatest rescue in American Army history. In January 1945, 511 American POWs were rescued by Army Rangers aided by Pilipino guerrillas before they could be killed by the Japanese who had already burned to death more than 200 POWs in another camp. When this murder of prisoners occurs in the movie I had a "they deserved the atom bomb" moment but later remembered it wasn't the guys who did the killing who were in Hiroshima. The story of the Raid is told in an understated way and is devoid of any individual heroics so often seen in war movies (e.g. Rambo). We highly recommend this one.
#279 (05-40)
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Peter Jennings

Early this morning as I was finishing the night's sleep I had a dream. In it Peter Jennings was walking on a platform or patio that I was on. He was wearing a photographer's vest and had a couple of camera lens sticking in the pockets. He had a camera in his hand. He was signaling to another man to come over because he wanted to do some close-ups. He looked young, good head of hair. I spoke to him and said he was the favorite evening newsman for my wife and I. I told him we had been watching him for years. He thanked me and in a friendly way said he would be back on the air when his voice got better. This remark struck me, because it was the same thing I said to our parish pastor several years ago when he asked me to resume lectoring after I had carotid surgery. Peter turned to take a picture and stepped on my toe and I said, "You're on my foot." "Sorry," Peter said, and then he was gone and I awoke. A short time later I got my morning newspaper and learned he had died yesterday from cancer.

Later this morning I told this to my grandson, Steven Archibald, and he wrote in an e-mail, "Maybe since you were a loyal fan he came to visit you."

I will miss Peter Jennings, he was on each evening and over the years became to be looked on as a member of the family.
#278 (05-39)

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Pre-bridge opening gala

They had their fun and games in Charleston last month with all the festivities incident to opening the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, or as it is sometimes known: The Awendaw Connector. (For pictures see http://www.PLApix.com/) The new bridge in Charleston, the longest cable stayed bridge in North America, connects Charleston to Mt. Pleasant.
Not to be outdone, Hanahan last night had its pre-bridge opening gala celebrating the longest bridge on Murray Avenue which connects two parts of the city. Although slightly smaller than the 50,000 or so who participated in all the goings on in downtown Charleston and the Ravenel Bridge, the alcohol free crowd of about 1,200 in Hanahan had a grand time. There was a band, including Mike Davis, owner of the music supply house in Yeamans Hall Plaza, local public officials, including the Mayor and some members of council, the High School cheerleaders and high school band boosters who were selling hot dogs, chips, drinks, etc. None of that haughty stuff like Charleston with its $200 a person dinner on top of the Ravenel where the wind blew small people over.
The oldest person on hand was Doris Segrest, our neighbor, who will be 99 (that's right 99 years old) in December. We, Mary and yours truly, parked at the high school and walked the two blocks to the concrete bridge and walked across it. (Traffic barricades were still in place on the west side.) Just as the Ravenel has sidewalks so pedestrians and bicyclists can cross it and view the wide expanse of the Cooper River and the giant ocean-going ships, the new bridge on Murray Avenue has its sidewalk for use by pedestrians and cyclists to view the narrow expanse of Turkey Creek (best viewed at high tide) and the occasional kayak. In fact, there were several people on bikes there last night as well as roller skates and skate boards. One of the skateboarders, a young boy, made a loud noise with his board and a policeman urged him to pick up his board and go home. (What a downer).
Many people bought their dogs, including (our daughter) Martha Archibald, manager of the McAlister-Smith funeral home in Goose Creek, who had Charlie on a leash. McAlister-Smith gave away free water in the sweltering, humid, evening atmosphere and when they learned the band boosters were selling water they put a donation bucket on their table to help the band and minimize the competition. Some of the party-goers came in formal dress. One member of City Council had his tux shirt, tie and jacket on, along with his walking shorts. All in all it was a good time and we saw so many old friends that I am glad when I cleaned up after dinner I trimmed my nose hairs.
#277 (05-38)
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Soviet Humor - Too Rich for the Masses

Tiny Revolutions in Russia: Twentieth-Century Soviet and Russian History in Anecdotes By Bruce Adams, Publ: RoutledgeCurzon, 173 Pages. $97 is probably one of the better collections of humor in the Soviet Union and, in later days, Russia, but at $97 a copy it is obviously too rich for the masses.
#276 (05-37)

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Letter to the Editor

Excited, captivated
After walking in awe with thousands of other excited and captivated men, women and children across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge this past weekend, I can truly say I believe this is the best expenditure of taxpayers' dollars since the government started paying my pension.
FRANCIS X. ARCHIBALD 1128 John Rutledge Ave. Hanahan SC

Published in The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC, July 16, 2005
#275 (05-36)
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Fireworks at Ravenel Bridge

If you love the sight of fireworks high in the night sky then check out www.patrickarchibald.com This is my son's web site and he has recorded the largest display of fireworks ever seen in South Carolina. The event took place last night on the site of the Ravenel Bridge, to be dedicated on Saturday and opened to traffic late that day. This is the largest cable stayed bridge in North America.
If you want a copy of any picture note the enlarged number of the photo in the index of photos at the bottom of your screen and send an e-mail to pla@patrickarchibald.com.
Have a nice summer.
#274 (05-35)
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Enjoy the gulag

I received a con-job spam e-mail yesterday from a Yugoslavian woman (allegedly a former secretary to a big dog in Russia who is now in trouble - he's doing nine years in the joint) offering to cut me in on $423 million deposited in a Gibraltar bank that belongs to her old boss in Russia. All I have to do is give this woman my bank information and keep all this deathly quiet so we can profit. In my reply yesterday I said, "I am forwarding this to the FBI in America and the SRV in Russia where I am sure they will have an interest in your shenanigans. Enjoy the gulag."
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New York Times supports my suspicions

In an editorial today, The New York Times wrote, "John Bolton was a destructive presence in the State Department under Mr. (Colin) Powell, and his administration fans were lobbying to see him promoted to the No. 2 job. Ms. (Condoleezza) Rice avoided that disastrous possibility by backing Mr. Bolton instead for the job of ambassador to the United Nations. She chose the far more stable and grounded-in-reality Robert Zoellick, the former trade representative, as her deputy. Granted, siccing Mr. Bolton on the rest of the world at the United Nations isn't exactly the best way to sideline him, but at least he has been removed from dangerous areas like North Korea policy."

This echoes my view expressed in a blog on May 10, 2005, when I wrote "SecState Condie Rice wants him gone from Foggy Bottom where he is like a bull in a china shop." See Archives for May 2005.
#272 (05-33)

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Making of a Patriot

Thirty years ago I took three of my five young children to a theater in West Ashley that has long since closed to see "All the President's Men." I am sure they would have liked to see something more attuned to their age at the time, but my wife and I had followed the Watergate story from beginning to end and believed it was important in the course of American history.

The Post and Courier editorial June 3 supporting the contribution Mark Felt made to directing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the right direction in their investigation emphasizes that importance. I believe now, as I did then, that "Deep Throat" performed a great service to America despite his personal misgivings, inner turmoil and anguish.

Today, we continue to enjoy the freedom envisioned by our founding fathers because a free press keeps the spotlight on government and because in a time of turmoil and testing, the heartland of America always seems to produce a patriot like Mark Felt. (The Post & Courier, June 10, 2005, Letters to the Editor)
#271 (05-32)

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I love David

Yesterday, June 2, 2005, in Fenway Park, David Ortiz, in the bottom of the ninth inning against a Baltimore team leading 4-3, and with two on and two out and the count 3-2, smashed a three-run walk off home run into the centerfield seats thereby winning the game for Boston 6-4.
#270 (05-31)
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Felt is a hero

In the last 48 hours a few voices have been raised criticizing Mark Felt, former #2 man at the FBI, for his actions during the Watergate period which earned him the sobriquet "Deep Throat". The criticisms, from those who should know better, say Felt should not have gone to a reporter but to his seniors. His immediate boss, Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, was throwing evidence off the bridge and into the Potomac, the Attorney General approved the breakins, the White House counsel was in on the coverups, the President was involved up to his ears, Congressional committees were not formed and investigating. Who the hell was Felt supposed to turn to?
#269 (05-30)
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Social Security Reform: Q&A
Today I looked in at www.gao.gov/new.items/d05193sp.pdf and viewed the General Accountability Office's 77-page monograph on Social Security Reform: Answers to Key Questions. Like most government writings it lacks drama, suspense and sex, but it is the ultimate source to understanding Social Security, past, present and future.
#268 (05-29)
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Remember...
On this Memorial Day, let us pause to remember those men and women who served our country well and who gave their lives that we might be free. It is the least we can do.
#266 (05-27)
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Pains in the ass get promoted, loyalists stay at their looms
I believe John Bolton was nominated for the post at the United Nations because SecState Condie Rice wants him gone from Foggy Bottom where he is like a bull in a china shop, giving rise once again to the theory that a government employee who is a pain the ass gets promoted and the plucky, hard working loyalist stays at his loom.
#265 (05-26)
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National Identity Card (Part II) - An opposite view point
A reader offers these opposing views on National Identity Cards (see #263 (05-24, below.)
"I'm afraid this is an issue on which I must respectfully disagree. In fact, rather than having the notoriously inefficient states upgrade drivers license application procedures on their own to require real proof of identity, I'd like to see the federal government simply move to national id cards for all citizens and legal aliens.

"Admittedly, I do not think that such a card would lead to the catching of many, perhaps any, terrorists directly. However, it would make their evil purposes much harder if they were unable to purchase plane tickets and establish bank accounts and get drivers licenses. Such a card, which might well replace traditional passports, would also make it much easier for those who travel legitimately to cross our borders, while deterring terrorists.

"The border crossing issue would be a great benefit of such a card. For too long I have listened to politicians, primarily Republicans, speak of securing our borders against terrorists and illegal immigrants. The simple truth is that they have seen to it that border security remains under funded and inefficient to provide a source of cheap labor for their businesses. Requiring a national id card to work, combined with real penalties for businesses that did not comply, would be a great step toward ending this problem. I admit that some lessening of profits and cost adjustments would occur as we moved toward a minimum wage on which legal workers could actually live but these might well be accompanied by a lessening of the tax burden legal workers and their employers, large and small, now pay to subsidize the illegals and their employers. Some of the savings might even be diverted to actually adequate border surveillance and catching some terrorists..

"I realize that many, particularly those with memories of World War Two and the ways of the "Iron Curtain" states, have very negative feelings on the matter of national id cards here. The simple fact is that we have long had them, as financial institutions and state and local agencies have forced our social security cards to become something they were never intended to be. In our technological age, a real id card would lessen our liberties no more but provide the benefits I have mentioned."

Sincerely,
JRH Garden City Beach SC
#264 (05-25)
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National Identity Card
The New York Times this morning has a major story about the administration's push to take over the drivers' license programs in the individual states by mandating requirements that states obtain proof of residence and citizenship of applicants before issuing a license which in itself must meet new federal standards. Critics charge such federal mandates will cost the states more than $500 million, to say nothing of the intrusion into personal liberties. The resulting data base of the nation's drivers will be subject to theft of identities, social security numbers and other personal data. This is the first step to a national identify card, usually required by oppressive rulers and dictatorships. Is there anyone out there who thinks all of this will stop a dedicated terrorist from getting a driver's license?
We need some balance in the equation between national security and personal liberties, the latter being the cornerstone of our Republic.
#263 (05-24)
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Charleston Photos and a work in progress
In the left column (and on the links page) there are links to a budding photographer's work in and around Charleston, SC, including homes, public buildings, events and the like. A proud father invites you to visit and view some of these fine pictures taken by my son.
#262 (05-23)
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Passport Paranoia
The Wall Street Journal (April 18, 2005) correctly editorialized against the Homeland Security plan to require passports of all citizens crossing the Canadian and Mexican borders starting in 2006. Millions cross daily according to the Journal and President Bush, who was, after all, the Governor of Texas. The editorial quoted President Bush: "I thought there was a better way to expedite the legal flow of traffic and people." The Journal went on to say the passport thing was a bureaucratic burden on law abiding Americans, it lets officials cover their butts, and is another "needless" cost and hassle.
#261 (05-22)
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Pope dies
Today Pope John Paul II died in Rome. I saw the Pope three times: once in Columbia, SC, in 1987 and twice during Easter Week in Rome in 1995. The occasions in Rome left the strongest feelings. They were both in St. Peter's amid thousands of worshippers. As he processed down the aisle a large gathering of young people from Poland cheered and called his name. He smiled, reached out to them and moved on. It was obvious how well he was loved. When he was shot in 1981 I told David Kern, a UPI reporter, that "God will take care of the Pope, I worry about Poland." Pope John Paul II will be remembered as one of the greatest men ever to serve as Pope.
#260 (05-21)
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Comments received

"Unless there is oil in Sudan our government will not make any real effort to help. Perhaps if we weren't so occupied in Iraq we could actually defend humanity." (From MA in SC)
"We saw this (Hotel Rwanda) last week. Awesome movie. Hard to believe humans can be so cruel to each other." (From HC in SC)
#259 (05-20)
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Sometimes in April

Watching this HBO original movie was like eating light at a buffet where you pick out a single dish from the many offered. This well-done film plucks one man’s story out of the totality of the 1994 Rwanda experience, and in the process tries to explain how this black holocaust started and why one part of a nation turned on another and massacred an estimated 800,000 men, women and children. In the Nazi era in Germany, and especially the Stalin era in the Soviet Union, there were those ordinary citizens who silently participated through “many forms of collaboration and compromise,” whereas in Rwanda, Hutu extremists and government personnel (including military) wielded machetes and fired guns on Tutsis and moderate Hutus – their brothers and sisters. “Sometimes in April” does a better job of exploring the inactivity of the west through several scenes of American political and military officials meeting, discussing and in the end doing nothing. This is a black mark on the Clinton foreign policy record. Similarly, another African nation, the Sudan, will be a black mark on the Bush foreign policy record unless action occurs immediately to end the current conflict. A UN peacekeeping force (proposed by a pending U.S. resolution) will be a useless gesture unless it takes on a peacemaking role to help end the conflict that has forced more than 2 million in the Darfur region of Sudan to flee their homes.
#258 (05-19)
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Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda is a must see movie for those who ignored the plight of Tutsis and Hutus in that Central African country in 1994 when almost a million were slaughtered by Hutu extremists with the connivance of the French-backed Hutu government. "Those who ignored" means pretty much all of the civilized world, including the United States. The Hutu government in Rwanda was chafing at a United Nations supervised agreement that they share power with a Tutsi rebel group. I thought the performances by Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo outstanding. My regret is that I did not see the film earlier than yesterday (March 17, 2005).
HBO will enter this arena on Saturday, March 19, with "Sometimes in April," another reminder of this black holocaust.
#257 (05-18)
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'tis an Irish Blessing

...for St. Patrick's Day
May those who love us, love us
And those that don’t love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn’t turn their hearts
May He turn their ankles
So we’ll know them by their limping.
#256 (05-17)
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Great news for Packer fans
Brett Favre will return for his 14th season as the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers - great news for Packers and their fans, not so good news for the rest of the league.
#255 (05-16)
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Nixon sightings?
Has anyone reported any Nixon sightings lately? Reply by e-mail.
#254 (05-15)
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Searching this web site

Blogger suggests allowing readers to search a site by adding the Google search bar but doesn't explain how to do that. The blogger bar searches your whole computer; not something you want everyone to be able to do.
#253 (05-14)
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Condolences to families of slain RCMP
We send our condolences and thoughtful prayers out to the families of the four RCMP officers slain this week in Alberta, Canada, while investigating an illegal marijuana site.
#252 (05-13)
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Comments on Aviator review
"Well good for you! (When I'm wrong, I mutter and scurry furtively out of sight!)" (X- A minister in South Carolina)
"I haven't seen 'Aviator' yet, but I def-will. Nancy has and enjoyed it immensely. Good to read of your contrition. [lol]" (Dave in New England)
"An honest man! How rare! Thank you. I enjoyed the film too. Everyone sez it's a shoo-in for Best Picture, but I'm thinking maybe Million Dollar Baby (which I haven't seen!)." (John in South Carolina.)
#251 (05-12)
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Aviator
Some weeks ago I expressed an adverse opinion about the film Aviator without having seen the film. I did not believe that Leonardo de Caprio could carry off the role of Howard Hughes because I consider him to be too young and baby-faced. Yesterday, we saw the film and it is obvious why I am not a Hollywood producer of epic films. My casting skills suck. de Caprio does a great job and he carries the film from beginning to end. Having grown up during the Hughes era, reading about him and seeing him in newsreels in my youth affords me a perspective to appreciate how accurate the film story line is with regard to Hughes and his accomplishments. It may not win the Oscar tonight, but it will be a worthy contender. Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Kathryn Hepburn is also right on target and she is a delight to watch
Five stars.
#250 (05-11)
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Master Cheat
This third novel by Jack Miller features a lead character drawn from a composite of different cheaters operating in the glitz and greed of Las Vegas. The methods employed and the scams run by the cheaters are based on actual events. Their successes as well as the precautions taken by casinos to protect themselves are both complex and simple. Miller was a senior agent of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for eleven years and writes from first-hand experience. His book may be obtained on-line through Mystic Publishers (www.mysticpublishers.com).
#249 (05-10)

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Death of a good friend
Today I will be a pallbearer for my good friend Fred Matthews who died on Saturday after a brief illness. Fred was 83 years old and I knew him for 41 years. He could always be counted on to help anyone in our neighborhood with any project and he was a font of knowledge on many everyday things. I will miss my friend.
#248 (05-09)
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Trip over -short circuited
Our trip to SE Asia was cut short after my wife took a cold and was unable to shake it. We felt it was better we journey home than traispe around SE Asia with one of the party - as they say - 'sick as a dog.'
#247 (05-08)
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On a trip to SE Asia
On January 20, I will leave on a trip to SE Asia with planned stops in Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Three Gorges in China, Bangkok, New Delhi and other points in the area. Two months have been allocated for this overseas adventure, my first since visiting South Africa from January to March 2003.
#246 (05-07)
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The Economist and Einstein
Dear James,
I cannot express adequately how glad I am that you turned me on to The Economist a couple of years ago. I often enjoy reading their diverse essays and commentaries and marvel at how much my mind has been expanded and knowledge increased. So it was especially so this week as I ploughed into the three page Science and Technology essay which celebrates the 100 years of Einstein and where the editors "attempt to elucidate" on Einstein's theories about (1) atoms, (2) relativity, and (3) quantum physics. Being, however, a social science major who matriculated in mid-life, I have no f****** idea what the hell they or Einstein are talking about. I thought I would share this with you. I did enjoy Lord Scarman's obituary, although the world is poorer for his passing.
Dad
#245 (05-06)
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One vote against bathing
A long time good friend wrote: "Believe it or not, I knew a woman who died in a bathtub; her doctor husband electrocuted her by dropping a radio into the water and trying to make it look accidental. He was caught."
#244 (05-05)
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Reasons to stop bathing or gambling
Your lifetime odds of dying in a bathtub are 1 in 11,469; the odds of winning the Powerball lottery are 1 in 120, 526,770. (Source: David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal, Jan.6, 2005, pg 2.)
#243 (05-04)
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Readers comments on automated phone systems

(1) The main utility in New York City, Con Edison, has a diabolical voice mail. If you hit "0”, a cheery voice says "thank you for calling Con Edison" and disconnects the line. The only way to get a real live person is to punch the code for reporting a gas emergency.

(2)My mother who had trouble with her eyes could not see well enough to press those numbers and had to take the phone from her ear to look at the numbers so she could press whatever button she needed. Sometimes it would disconnect her before she could push the right button. She would get so frustrated and call me to help. I think this is a sorry situation for all of us but especially for our elders who might have trouble hearing and seeing.

(3) I too have encountered some automated business call systems that made me want to drive right over and change my account or service to another company. However, I have encountered some that were both easy to use and led me to an answer quicker than an employee in a busy office could have helped me alone. The technical difference is simply in the programming. The human difference is, I suspect, in whether anybody high enough up in the company that they really ought to making decisions affecting their customers' satisfaction ever sat down and actually tried the new service experience before its installation.

(4) Oh, you cannot know the meaning of aggravation until you have tried to reach the good folks at AT&T. I asked the young lady in Bombay (and I'm not complaining that I was talking to someone in India) to please fwd my concern as high as she could that it was ironic to see this giant of American communications technology reduced to an impenetrable voice messaging system.

(5) Amen--and there are many more companies and businesses that provide the same "automated" service!
242 (05-03)
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Credit Union Telephone Service
It is a new year and time to strike back at those systems and things that aggravate a man's soul. We were not put on this earth to be abused by businesses that won't put a human being on the phone when we call. I understand efficiency, but I also learned almost sixty years ago that the customer is number one - or ought to be. Herewith my opening salvo in this year's first crusade. If you have similar or dissimilar thoughts send them to me for posting on my blog.

January 5, 2005

Chairman, Supervisory Committee
SC Federal Credit Union
PO Box 190012
North Charleston 29419-9012

Dear Sir,

Again today, I had to call the Credit Union to tell them that we could not access our iTeller statements after receiving e-mail messages that the statements were available. The computer system was not responding for statements until after 12:30 in the day.

The main thrust of this letter is to express my aggravation at the automated telephone answering system in use by the Credit Union. This system may be the cat’s meow to some employee technical geek who thinks he or she has brought the Credit Union into the 21st century but from a user’s standpoint, it is a blood pressure raising aggravation designed to increase the frustration level. The voice recording the messages is an irritation and the number of buttons you have to press to get anything done is ridiculous.

I do not call the credit union much anymore because you cannot talk to an individual unless you wade through the automated system. It occurs to me that if the next time I have to call the system is not improved, then my family will be better served by moving our accounts elsewhere.

Cordially,

Francis X. Archibald
#241 (05-02)

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Doctors Without Borders
DWB are rendering emergency aid throughout the stricken SE Asia area and elsewhere in Sudan, particularly the Darfur Region. If you can, make a contribution today at www.doctorswithoutborders.org . It will give you a good feeling throughout your body and soul.
#240 (05-01)
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