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