What I would like to see...

Just once I would like to see the President express a bit of public pique or even anger with the Russians. President Obama has not responded aggressively, so far as I know, to Russian President Putin's statement that Russia will not hand over Edward Snowden. Unless you have been sleeping on the moon you must know Snowden has released U.S. classified information to the world and has been indicted for his violation of American laws. If he is returned to the U.S., he would be tried in Virginia and if convicted could be sentenced to a term in a federal prison. 
Granted Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Since Snowden is at the airport in Moscow, however, the Russians could put him on a plane to the U.S. He has no passport and whether he has a visa or not is immaterial. 
So what shape could President Obama's displeasure take without turning U.S. - Russia relations into a 1950's Cold War era nuclear standoff? He could recall the American ambassador to Russia for consultations. He could call in the Russian ambassador in Washington and give him a dressing down.  He could order a halt to whatever commercial, social or cultural exchanges are set up for the next six to twelve months. (President Carter cancelled American participation in the 1980 Olympics in Russia.) This might put a crimp in some Americans' interests, but a little hard ball from time to time would do wonders for the national psyche.
You might ask if Mr. Snowden is worth all this. It is not only about  that blabbermouth. It is about our country, our laws and the right we have to expect cooperation from other countries and officials. Granted, President Obama has to play the long game and prudence dictates he take these humiliations in silence. Waiting to get even, however, is not in the American tradition. Such pettiness at a later date would be looked upon by the rest of the world as third-graders getting even over a playground argument. So, for just once, I would like President Obama to let Mr. Putin and the world know he is p****d off. It might not do any good for U.S. - Russia relations, but it would make me and - I believe - a lot of other Americans feel good. It might lead Mr. Putin to sit up and take notice, and it would put the rest of the world on notice.

(Complete blog here.)

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Dining out and orchids

On Saturday evening, just before dusk, we stepped out to take a short walk around the neighborhood and observed a hawk in a tree eating on a smaller bird. 

Earlier in the week, I observed some horses in the Stable Gate section of Moss Creek out in the corral munching on the grass. It was almost impossible to get any horse to look up, so intent were they on eating. 

And we had a bonus from a neighbor who left some plants for us to water as she departed on a trip. We got to witness the blooming of a a couple of orchids.

Dreaming

I had a strange – make that weird, dream last night. It started with me looking at a large painting with a three stories high chateau on a hill in the upper left corner. A dirt road extended out to the right and when it reached the edge of the picture it curved back toward the lower left corner. In the lower right corner a small building was surrounded by a manicured lawn. I was standing in a gallery looking at this painting. The picture slowly came to life when a procession started from the chateau, a vehicle in front and hundreds of troops marching in formation behind it. Simultaneously, a jeep moved out from the building in the right corner across the grass until it stopped just a few yards from the road. Then the figures came into view. General George S. Patton, Jr., was in the vehicle at the head of the procession.  He was standing up, bedecked in his dress uniform, battle and other ribbons smartly displayed on his left breast, an ivory-handle pistol at his waist, a riding crop in his left hand and obviously enjoying himself as the center of attention. Behind him marched his beloved 3^rd U.S. Army which he led across France following D-Day in 1944. In the parked jeep sat three American army officers and a man in a German uniform. His face was a scowl. It was obvious he absolutely hated the moment and wished he were elsewhere. When the parade of troops ended the jeep started up, turned and headed back to the small building and carried Adolf Hitler to his fate.

Professional and amateur dream analysts are invited to comment via e-mail to arch@archibald99.com. 

(Complete blog here.)

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Posting on Facebook while driving

I am a reasonably competent PC user and sometimes encounter difficulty posting on my Facebook  or Twitter page. It takes my full attention to do it properly and to type without misspellings or getting the wrong picture into the post. (The last sentence had three typos which I had to correct.) I also use a dictation program and  experience proves there are always multiple errors to correct at the end of the dictation. The proposal some auto makers are putting forth to allow drivers to post on the Internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) while driving borders on insanity, or foolishness multiplied.

It doesn't make any difference, typing or dictating. Defensive driving requires full attention. Can you imagine the outcome when a driver becomes more concerned with how his Internet post will look or be received than whether he is driving properly and safely? Accidents happen in an instant. Bad ideas abound.

(Complete blog here.)

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Fewer pecans this season

I never learned the answer (if there is one) to the rhetorical question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" Not many heard a major limb snap off a pecan tree near the entrance to Moss Creek plantation at Hilton Head, SC, on June 4, during an electrical and rain storm which passed through the area, but certainly it must have sounded loud and clear.

A similar storm  has been a daily feature for a few days and the forecast is for more such storms for the balance of the week. This one of many pecan trees in the area but the first one to suffer such damage this season. The same general area also houses dozens if not hundreds of giant, sprawling oaks, some of which are at least 100 or more years old.

Being a relative newcomer to Moss Creek I do not know who harvests the pecans when they are ready but it is obvious there will be fewer this season than in the past.
(Complete blog here.)
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Paying my dues

In the mail this week came a reminder to pay my annual dues to the AFOSISA: the Association of Former Office of Special Investigations Special Agents. The OSI is the Air Force equivalent of the FBI, the model on which it was created on  August 1, 1948, under the brilliant, innovative and inspiring leadership of General Joseph F. Carroll, a former FBI agent, supervisor, and special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover.

Sixty years ago, I was an airman serving as the Legal Clerk in the 3650^th Air Base Group at Sampson AFB, New York. Sampson had been a Naval Training site during WWII, but when the Korean War started the Air Force took it for basic training of new recruits. The 3650^th was the house keeping group on the base. I wanted to transfer to the Office of Special Investigations and in the spring of 1953 the deputy group commander, Lt. Col. John A. Brock, recommended me for such service.

(In 2013, AFOSI is the second-most requested career-field choice in the Air Force.)

Within a few weeks I was on my way to Washington, D.C., and posted as the Senior Administrative Airman in the Sabotage & Espionage Branch, Counterintelligence Division, Headquarters, OSI. When I arrived in the spring of 1953, street cars were operating on Pennsylvania Avenue, and cherry blossoms were in full bloom around the tidal basin facing the Jefferson Memorial.

Our offices were located in buildings built at McLean Gardens in NW Washington as “temporary” during World War I. The OSI mission in the early fifties was to provide personnel, criminal and counterintelligence investigative services to the Air Force around the world. It was an AFOSI agent who first alerted Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters of the attack from North Korea that began the Korean War in June of 1950.

(Today, OSI is a federal law enforcement and investigative agency operating throughout the full spectrum of conflict, seamlessly within any domain; conducting criminal investigations and providing counterintelligence services.)

In September 1953, I went to the OSI Special Agents’ training school and was graduated in November. For the next six years I served in a variety of assignments, stateside and overseas. My special interest was with counterintelligence and I took advantage of my status and opportunities to learn everything I could. When I left the Air Force in 1959, after eight years of service, I was employed by the United States Navy as a security administrator and director. I was the first civilian security officer hired by the Naval Supply Corps, which in Charleston, SC, had responsibility for world-wide support of the nuclear powered submarine force carrying Polaris-Poseidon missiles as the Navy’s first line of deterrence against the threats posed by the Soviet Union. Later I was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives and was a senior manager at the state’s Department of Corrections.

Looking back it was the totality of my eight years work and specialized training and duties in the Air Force which set the stage for my life’s work. To this end, I will always be grateful for the opportunities I had and the men and women who helped me along the way. That is why I will send off my dues this week and remain in the brotherhood of former OSI Special Agents.

The AFOSISA was incorporated on December 7, 1966, and its objectives are to maintain and further friendships emanating from service with or employment by AFOSI; to assist one another through combined efforts and mutual association; to perpetuate the ideals and principles of AFOSI; to facilitate contact with members on a worldwide basis; and to unite former and present AFOSI Special Agents in the common interest of promoting the security of the U.S. Air Force

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Did it again

 Do you recall doing some things and enjoying them so much you could not wait to do them again? Like the time you went to a carnival as a teen with your own money and had a waffle covered with strawberries and cream. Or the first time you had sex with someone other than yourself.  A more recent experience did not reach those levels of pleasure, but I did it a second time anyway. 
 In April my cardiologist, Dr. Matthew O'Steen put a stent in the LAD (left anterior descending artery which supplies blood to the front and bottom of the left ventricle) of my heart.
 I felt so much better afterwards. I was walking a couple of miles at a good pace and without stress. My wife said my color was better. I felt better all around. But my blood pressure remained high.
 A month later I went back to hospital and Dr. O'Steen put two stents in the renal artery of my left kidney. If one is good, two must be better, right?  
 Suffice that my blood pressure has dropped 30 points over the past week since the kidney work. A major triumph. My doctors and I have been working on lowering my BP for a long time.
 I share this personal experience with the hope it may help someone to do some things in their life if they are having problems of fatigue, shortness of breath and worst of all high blood pressure. See your doctor as the place to start.
 Life is the most valuable possession we have. We ought to take care of it and enjoy it. "Living well is the best revenge."
(Complete blog here.) 
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Prison inmates and e-mail

I was sitting around a doctor's waiting room recently reading the weekly New York Times Magazine, (which I brought with me. Doctor's offices typically having copies of Reader's Digest dating back to the Reagan years.)
 One of the more interesting stories, "A Lust for Zeros," centered on a couple of men who have broken the law, one (Raj Rajarainam),is doing an 11-year stretch in in federal prison for multiple securities fraud offenses, and one, (Rajat Gupta) has been convicted of and is out on bond while his appeal is being heard. He is is likely to be in a federal prison for two years if the Securities and Exchange Commission has its way.

 What jumped off the page was the information that the writer, Anita Raghavan, had an e-mail from Jeffrey Skilling, former head of Enron, who is doing a 24-year stretch in a federal prison at Littleton, Colorado, for his well-known felonious conduct. The e-mail was a comment on the career of Mr. Gupta.
 As a former executive in the South Carolina Department of Corrections, I was surprised that an inmate had access to e-mail. I went to the Federal Bureau of Prisons web site and learned about this practice and how it is carried on. The policy is outlined here.
 Essentially, the system is a controlled one and like ordinary mail the sender and recipient of e-mails has to be on an approved (by prison officials) list. Anyone else, such as a reporter, must jump through some hoops to contact a prisoner before there can be an exchange of e-mails.This program is one of the ways the Bureau of Prisons hopes to prepare inmates for an eventual return to the free world.
(Complete blog here.)

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Fighting over Nelson Mandela

The vultures are out in South Africa. Members of the ruling party, African National Congress, and the opposition, Democratic Alliance, are staging photo ops to bask in the image of the ailing, fading 94-year old Nelson Mandela, life-long activist for equal treatment of all South Africans, 27-year prisoner for his opposition to apartheid, and first black president of South Africa. Amidst all this members of his family squabble publicly over the executor of the trust set up to handle his estate when he dies. This is shameful in the extreme. To be used as a political prop and have your family fighting over your estate is a sad way to end a life of struggle and victory.

This downloaded picture of Mr. Mandela is from a happier time when he was enjoying his later life in his beloved South Africa. 

  I took this picture in 2003 of Mr. Mandela's former cell in the Robbin Island prison where he was held for almost three decades.

 

(Complete blog here.)

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Sit in the Archibald

This is the "Archibald", designed by Jean Marie Massaud, for Poltrona Frau. The New York Times Style Magazine (May 12, 2013) carried a full page ad for this chair.  Seldom does one see a piece of furniture being one's name. Quite interesting. 

(Complete blog here.)

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A new credit union experience

The capabilities of the world wide web and the tel-communications industry continue to amaze me. A credit union where I do business allows customers to scan a check and have it deposited almost instantly in an account. This new service came to my attention about a week ago. Yesterday, for the first time, I had an opportunity to use it. The whole process went smoothly and in a couple of hours the check was credited to my account. I am required to hold the check for 60 days. No more going to the physical site of the CU, no more standing in line, and no more mailing for a simple task. I think the whole process shows imagination and a willingness to innovate. 
(Complete blog here.)
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Get out and vote

After the March mayoral primary in Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, who won the primary, told Joel Stein (TIME, My 13, 2013, pg. 58),"I got 33% of the 20% turnout of the 49% of the population registered to vote. I had a landslide with 2.6% of the population."
Tuesday, May 7, voters living in the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina have a chance to elect their representative to Congress.  The last incumbent got appointed to the U.S. Senate, thus the vacancy and the special election. The race is between business woman and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert-Busch and former congressman and governor Republican Mark Sanford.
Let's prove we can do better than Los Angeles. 

Get out and vote!

Jackie Robinson - "42"

Went to see "42" last night. It is a provocative recitation of the difficulty Jackie Robinson had breaking into baseball following World War II, a story long overdue in the movie houses of America. Robinson and Brooklyn owner Branch Rickey were racial pathfinders for the ages. We are better today for both of them, not just in terms of baseball and opportunity for non-white athletes in major league sports, but for ourselves as human beings. And for America. Every year major league baseball salutes Robinson when every player on every team wears "42" for one game.
(Complete blog here. )

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A new king

Prince Willem-Alexander will ascend to the throne in the Kingdom of the Netherlands today following the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix, who governed for 33 years. Her mother and grandmother before her also abdicated making room for the young to have the honor of serving. 
I actually saw Queen Beatrix in May 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Holland at the end of World War II. She came on her boat to a major canal in Amsterdam to join the festivities which included a massive light show and music from American, British, Canadian and Dutch bands. I recall being impressed with the frogmen who were on her boat. When it dropped anchor in the canal about eight of them were over the side, checking the bottom and the canal. (They brought back memories of the 1960's  when frogmen would check the hull of Polaris carrying submarines as they prepared to leave Pier Bravo at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, SC.) When they were finished the frogmen disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The Queen then came out of her quarters into view amidst cheering and applause from the multitudes.
The festive crowd along the canal was so massive and packed together one could hardly move. When someone asked if I wanted a beer and I replied, one appeared in my hand as if by magic.
I had the opportunity to talk that day with some Canadian veterans of WWII. It was they who liberated Holland. One told me he was on the trip courtesy of the Dutch government. "All I had to do was show up at the airport in Canada. I have not been able to spend a dollar since." The Dutch picked up the tab for all the living Canadian veterans.
For about 120 years today, April 30, has been "Queen's Day" in the Netherlands. From now it will be "King's Day." Long live the King.

Having a silent heart attack

It was April Fools’ Day, so when following a stress test my cardiologist, Dr. Matthew O’Steen, said I had a “silent heart attack” sometime in the past couple of years I sat staring at him in awkward silence waiting for the punch line. This is not exactly what a newly married (15-days earlier on St. Patrick’s Day) man wants to hear. When there was no punch line he went on to tell me the stress test revealed this event but he could not put a date or time on it. My mind went back to several incidents over the past couple of years, any one of which could have been a silent heart attack and not just TIAs (transient ischemic attacks) as diagnosed at the time.  Our discussion went on from there and we agreed that in eighteen days he would do a heart catherization and probably put in a stent.  He did this by inserting a catheter through an artery on the underside of my right arm just above the wrist. In the aftermath I began to feel much better than I had in a long time. He subsequently told me my left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was about 80 percent blocked and this is what he opened and where he inserted the stent.  About six months ago I had cut back my daily walk from approximately three miles to two miles. I found myself needing a lot of post exercise rest, including lying down on some days. Even the reduced distance was tiring on many days and I looked for excuses to take a break. At the time I attributed this new feeling to just getting older. Now I know different. My daily two mile walks have resumed and I tolerate them with ease. We may have some other work to do down the line (a second artery has a 70 percent blockage) but for now everything is looking much better. It is a good feeling.

After the Boston Marathon Bombing

A few personal thoughts as the Boston Marathon bombing enters the wrap-up phase.
One of the ministers at the inter-faith service said she did not have an answer for why a loving God allowed such tragedy. I don't either and I doubt that anyone does. We will, however, go on from here as we always do. Those dead will be grieved for, those injured will be cared for and soon our attention will be focused on something else. It is the way of life. Life is for the living ad we ought to treasure every moment. We can expect that loving God to be with us along the way. And so we pray.

Riding a cab in New York City

The New York Times ran a story, April 10, 2013, "Sometimes, Riders Find a Cabby Worth Praising," and invited comments related to the theme. Among those published was one I submitted:

"I was in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, about ten years ago. My wife and I stopped at a restaurant for an early supper. We were the only customers until six men came in and sat at an adjoining table. One of them had recently been in New York City and was recounting the bad attitude of a cab driver. He went on and on and I thought he would have a heart attack. On the way out I stopped at his table and told him I was sorry he had had such a bad experience; that I was the Deputy Commissioner for hack licenses in NYC and when I got home we were going to work even harder on drivers with bad attitudes. I hope he would visit NYC again soon. As we got into our car my wife asked if I had too much beer for dinner. I shrugged and laughingly told her it would give him something pleasant to talk about and take his mind off the bad attitude driver."
(Complete blog here.)

Trees

Over the weekend I was out with some friends on their boat and while looking at the shore and the far away horizon I got to wondering about the stand of trees in the distance. Tall, strong, almost regal. It was not anything unusual, similar sights are visible everywhere. Riding along an Interstate through the low country or in the mountains one sees the same. Off in the distance trees appear uniform in height like an army on parade. So even, so neat-looking. Why is it like this, I wondered? Do trees talk to each other and say “conform, stay in line?” Walk down a busy city street and look ahead as far as you can see and the eye will treat you to a smorgasbord of heights and shapes. Even if you look down a long, wide boulevard, such as in Paris, you will notice differences. There is always someone taller who breaks the continuity of the line. Not so with trees in the distance. Tree tops appear even, more disciplined and I wonder how this comes about. Trees compete for the sunlight to help them grow. It seems they willingly share and not one is hoggish. Is this why on the horizon the line of trees appears so even? Assuredly, I know when you get up close you will notice differences, but looking at the horizon all is orderly and unbroken.

These are just some recent random thoughts I have about trees. I have not given much thought to trees in years, living as I did in a metropolitan area with more asphalt and concrete than greenery. My new home (Moss Creek plantation, Hilton Head, SC) is surrounded by trees, grass and two golf courses. I had almost forgotten how pleasurable it is to look around and see giant oak trees with massive trunks and limbs testifying to decades, if not centuries, of growth. It is, all in all, a most pleasant experience.