Saturday, October 16, 2010

North American Aborigines and Other Folks

There is adequate evidence to suggest that the lands we now collectively call the Americas were first settled by people able to migrate across a land bridge between modern day Alaska and Siberia. These folks crossed barriers and moved to lands that, at least in their minds, held promise for an improved future.

These people became what are now known as aborigines, or native Americans as we are so often taught is the politically correct term, although that suggests they were native to the lands when, in fact, they were just the first to move here. They emigrated from distant lands just as my ancestors emigrated from Ireland, England and Wales. They lived their lives, built their villages, grew crops, caught fish, and hunted animals just as we today go about our daily hunt for food and shelter.

What began as a small migration between 17,000 and 50,000 years ago grew into a population that by 1492  may have numbered as high as 100,000,000 people. Now, barely 500 years later, that population as been so decimated that, without knowing where one should search, it is difficult to identify more than a few communities, or to identify more than 18,000,000 aboriginal people.

Why did it take so little time for the aboriginal people to virtually disappear? First of all, they didn't understand the threat when the first Europeans landed. Second, they lacked the means of defending themselves from invasion. Third, and in my own mind, most important, they lacked cohesiveness between the various governments, or tribes, if you will, to put up a united front to the threat.

Their initial response to Europeans in North America was more or less cordial and curious. Then, as more and more came, the response tuned hostile. Sound familiar?

OK, where are we going with this?

Today, we face another invasion from outside our borders, and by our own laws, we welcome them. They come here because, like the aborigines, they are seeking a better life. Like the aborigines and the Europeans, they bring their own culture, but unlike the aborigines and Europeans, they are finding a well-established culture, properly maintained by sets of laws and governed from within by fifty separate states under a unifying federal government.  That federal government has established a means by which people from other countries may enter the United States of America legally, and in reality, those means are not unattainable.

My English ancestors came here before there was a United States, but they most likely came for a number of reasons, among which would be freedom of religion, freedom to pursue economic success, and adventure. . The locals put up with my earliest ancestors for a number of years, then the aboriginal folks realized that the Europeans were up to no good and began trying to get rid of them. It didn't work and the new folks ended up changing the way of life for everybody.

My Irish ancestors came to Canada , then down to the United States, not because of the an Drochshaol, or bad times as the potato famine was called, because Michael McNamara emigrated from County Clare some ten years before the potato rot.  In general, they found themselves unwelcome and unable to get good jobs, so they took low paying menial jobs.. My great-grandfather was listed as being a night watchman in a lumber yard when he was 75 years old and I have a photograph of him driving a team of oxen. The Irish did things differently than those who came to these shores in the 1600's, though. They were soon able to assimilate themselves into the mainstream, and the son of that night watchman became a farmer, a plumber, an insurance agent and a respected local politician.

To those who are causing so much discussion by the way they come here now, I say this: it is far easier to come here legally than it is to always be looking over your shoulder - don't bring your way of life with you - it didn't work back there and it won't work here, and finally, become an American citizen, send your sons and daughters to school and the military, vote, pay taxes, and be assimilated into our way of life - it works.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

E-Mail and other thoughts

From Jim Thompson - Editor, Athens Banner-Herald (Used with absolutely no permission)

"IT'S ON YOU: Among the recent e-mails forwarded to me was a set of photographs supposedly taken on the Mexico-Arizona border depicting huge caches of weapons and vehicles. Accompanying the photos was the provocative statement, "Definitely not Jose coming to pick lettuce."

Well, as it turns out, the photos were actually taken several hundred miles from the border, and the weapons and vehicles were connected to Mexico's internal drug wars. So, I e-mailed the person who'd sent me the e-mail, and got a reply to the effect that, oh, well, I'd gotten him that time.

A couple of days later, that same person sent me a seven-page e-mail describing the "three great waves" of tax hikes coming to swamp American families and small businesses. At the top of the e-mail, my correspondent had written, "How can I check ALL this out?" To which I replied that if he hadn't bothered to check it out, maybe he shouldn't bother to forward it.

I say all that to say this: If you're among those people who insist on forwarding all this knuckleheaded stuff, you need to consider what I can tell you is the absolute fact that many of the people you send it to will believe it, and you will have done your sad part in dumbing down the public discourse. As I told my recent e-mailer, if you're not willing to check it out, don't forward it. You just might escape making yourself look like an idiot."

Just in case you don't know it, I'm adding a few things about me and some of my thoughts.


I believe in God and the Federal Government, but religion has no place in government and government has no place in church.

Barry Obama is my President. I didn't vote for him and I don't necessarily approve of his way of handling things, but he is my President. He got elected by promising the world and cannot deliver, but he is still my President. Stop haranguing the man, he is your President, too. If he does something wrong, get on his butt, but don't stay on it for BS stuff. An example is the outcry over his comments about the Muslim center in the neighborhood of the World Trade Center. Read both statements.

Yes, I know we have free speech, but the best way to show ignorance is to continue harping on idiocy - two examples would be the claims that Barry O was not born in the US and that he is a Muslim.

My feelings on Congressional term limits is that they might be unnecessary if we'd stop electing the same people over and over. I've got an idea - lets start voting against the incumbents - you go first.

I am a Republican and I usually vote Republican, because I think a fiscally responsible government is the best way to ensure and perpetuate our way of life. My vote has nothing to do with any stand on abortions nor with any stand on homosexuality. It has nothing to do with Glenn Beck, a former alcoholic and drug abuser, it has nothing to do with college dropout (I'm one, too) Rush Limbaugh, it has nothing to do with washed-up comedian and former bad football announcer Dennis Miller, and it surely has nothing to do with Al Franken, the guy who acted like a politician when he was a comedian and now, as a politician, acts like a comedian. My vote is based on the way I see the way things are going. I'll freely admit that I am embarrassed because I voted twice for Richard Nixon, but when you consider that his opponents were Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, and George McGovern, I made a pretty good choice. I'm proud of the choice I made with George Bush 1st and 2nd and with Bob Dole.

Now that you know some of the ways I feel, please don't automatically forward every e-mail you get to my address. If they are valid or humorous, I might enjoy them, but if they are BS, I will not. Please be advised that I check with Snopes on everything I deem questionable.






















Friday, October 1, 2010

Huh?

No ranting, just some odd things I've noticed over the years

- how the big beer manufacturers rarely mention the flavor of their product.  Yes, I know the purpose of advertising is supposed to make you think of the product when you go shopping, but the decline in sales of the three big brewers in favor of craft brewers ought to tell you something.
  • World's Most Refreshing Beer
  • Beechwood aged, with a "born-on" date
  • Cold activated bottle
  • Great filtered taste you love
  • Fresh, Smooth, Real
  • Drinkability

    - pickup trucks with snow plow adapters - not common in our part of Georgia, but nearly every pickup in NH has one, whether or not they even have a plow or plow snow.  Sort of a northern version of those off-road light bars you see on jacked-up pickups with chrome undercarriage parts

    -electric cords poking out of the grill on cars - when it is -40° in the morning, motor oil turns as viscous as Karo and car engines just don't turn over fast enough to start.  Savvy owners attach a tank heater to the radiator hose and plug it in at night.

    -how delivery pizza is rarely really good, but we keep on ordering them anyway, apparently willing to forgo any semblance of flavor for the convenience of have someone else do the cooking and being able to eat in front of the TV.

    -how the stop line for the light at GA211 and GA316 is too close the the intersection - it is so close that drivers turning right on red must nearly enter the highway to enable checking oncoming traffic.

    -how Athens apparently figures it is appropriate to allow delivery vehicles to use handicap parking.  There are signs on Clayton St explaining it.  Another thing - most places exempt cars in the HC parking from paying for parking.  Athens not only does not exempt them, they make you walk half a block to get a parking coupon then half a block back to put the coupon on your dashboard.  So, by the time you leave your car to run your errand, you've already walked a block.  So much for convenient HC parking.

    -how a well marked fire department pickup truck was parked in the fire lane while the occupants were inside a grocery store.  When I asked them about it, the response was that the lane was for fire trucks - I told them it was only for fires, not shopping.  This was in Waldorf, MD back in the 90's.

    -one coldish November day I went to my local fire station to vote.  Sitting outside was a fire department diesel pickup, empty and idling.  After I voted and left the building, that same truck was still there, empty and idling.   The county was in the throes of the recession, laying people off, eliminating positions, cutting services, and yet, this unknown fireman thought it appropriate to leave his truck running while he was inside a building.  Do you suppose he needed a warm truck when he came back out?  Or had he once heard the inaccurate old saw that it's better to leave diesels idling that to shut them off?  I sent the fire chief an e-mail on that one.

    -how police tend to drive well over the speed limit - all the time.  I set the cruise control at the posted speed limit and am often passed by police cars.  From time to time, a little bit later, I'll pass the same cruiser parked inconspicuously trying to catch speeders.  Is there something wrong with that picture?

    -how much time people spend on the telephone.  Everywhere you go you see people talking on their cell phones.  I was in a store recently when a woman behind me said something.  I turned around and she said something again, but she wasn't holding a phone.  Turns out she had one of those things that lets you talk and listen hands free so she wouldn't have to stop talking to do something.  How convenient.

    -the difference in snow removal techniques between New Hampshire and Georgia.  In NH, it's plowed up in high snow banks, in GA it is left to melt

    - how on a really cold day in North Dakota, your boots squeak in the snow

    -how some people can find fault with almost anything
    • overheard in a line at the movies in Berlin, Germany, one of the most vibrant cities in the world,  "I told you there is nothing to do here, look at the people waiting in line to see a movie."
    • overheard in a line at the Base Exchange cashier at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, "Three more weeks on this damned rock and I get to go home to Iowa."
    -how people move to a new town and job, buy a house 30 miles out in the country, and complain about the commute.  A few months ago I commented on-line because a fellow complained about GA316 making his commute from Athens to Atlanta nearly unbearable.  I suggested that he find employment in Athens or move to Atlanta and his response was that he couldn't afford to live in Atlanta and there were no good paying jobs in his chosen field in Athens.  If he moved to Atlanta and took Marta to work, he'd save $172 per month in the difference between buying gasoline and riding the train.  The median home price in Atlanta is slightly under $200,000 and in Athens slightly under $165,000.  Adding that $172 to a mortgage payment for a $165K home would just about cover the mortgage for a $200,000 home, so his argument held no water for me.    He just wants GA316 to be rebuilt with overpasses and high speed lanes so he can do as he pleases.

    - the proliferation of sex stores across the Bible belt south.  I know they exist up north, too, but you never see them the way you do here..

    - the sale of alcoholic beverages on western carriers out of Saudi Arabia - as soon as the seatbelt lamps go out, the men hie off the the toilets and change into western attire. When the aircraft is out of Saudi airspace, the flight attendants immediately bring out the refreshment cart with those little bottles of happy water and those now nattily attired men order their favorite.  

    - fake fingernails that look like pieces of cardboard glued over real nails

    -automobile advertising that has little or nothing to do with transportation
    • chocolate-covered strawberries pop out of the minivan's front console
    • touting the number of cup holders
    • exclaiming that the car comes with chrome tailpipe extenders
    • electronic gadgetry for the driver
    • rear seat movies
    • voice commands to operate unimportant functions
    Aint is just amazin' what things you can see in our world?

    Tuesday, September 28, 2010

    Pizza Parlor (ST#5)

    Sara and I were in Athens this past Monday, right in the middle of a torrential downpour at rush hour, which, as everyone knows, will cause the normally slow "rush" to deteriorate to a crawl.  As we topped the hill near the Varsity, it appeared that we would soon pass out of the rain, so I asked my bride if she'd like to stop for a pizza.  Our favorite pizza parlor isn't one of the national chains, but they have begun franchising, and could soon turn into a well known operation principally because their pizzas are far better than any of the offerings by other pizzerias.

    We parked in front of a FedEx store and crossed the street to our restaurant of choice.  This is a place where you order your pizza from a wide list of options, watch them toss the dough, put on the toppings, and slide it into the oven, then get your beverage of choice and pay and proceed to a table.  Before you've had more than a sip or two, your pizza is delivered, hot and delicious.

    I know there are pizza parlors and pizzerias that cater to families with lots of children.  There are even places that have kids games along the wall so that there will be other means of dragging money out of parents.  But this place isn't one of them.   The serve beer, some very good beer as a matter of fact, in an attempt at drawing the 21 and over crowd.   Last night my beverage of choice was an Octoberfest from a brewery in Colorado and it was tasty.

    But the pleasure at having a tasty brew and a darned good pizza soon turned to dread.  About the same time we got to our table, two late-twenty-something mothers with four little girls attacked the dining area.  The four girls, ages perhaps 7 - 9, were sent to a booth and the mums retreated to a table by themselves.

    I know, you've heard this before, but in my day, children who were taken to restaurants were expected to behave as adults.  At the first loud squeal, my sister would receive a stern rebuke in the form of a frown and she's immediately remember where she was and act accordingly.  If I fidgeted to any excess at the Riverside Restaurant while waiting for my plate of clams, an abrupt ahem from my father put a stop to that right quick.  The four little girls in the restaurant on Monday night were not corrected one bit.  In fact, the mothers, obviously immune to their daughters' poor behavior, all but ignored them.

    When their pizzas were delivered, the giggling and squealing stopped.  For a moment.  Then, as the four untamed and untrained little girls began devouring their meal, the noise level turned right back up.  Mothers by then were absorbed in their own meal and never gave as much as another glance to their badly behaving progeny.

    Just as I was trying to keep myself from asking the mothers to take control of their offspring, another group came in, this one with a mix of little boys and girls.   These kids immediately went to a table or booth behind me and began playing noisily.  The adults, up to six or more in count, stood next to where we were eating and talked until the last of the entourage finally arrived.  One of that group, obviously a proud gandma, kept looking over at the increasingly noisy bunch of children, an act that gave me hope that she would quiet the ruckus.  But it was not to be.  When she finally got the attention of the child (or children), she grinned wide and shouted, "Hi sweetie" across the room, as if she were on a playground.  At one point, a little boy crawled beneath a table next to as as if it were a play fort.

    Mothers and fathers, it is your responsibility to teach proper behavior to your children.  It is your responsibility to exact proper behavior when you and your children are in public together.  It is your responsibility to ensure your children act properly even when you are not with them.

    Restaurateurs, it is your responsibility to create a place that is comfortable for all your patrons.  If you want to compete with places that serve pizza as a side for electronic games and the like, advertise yourself that way.  My wife and I will visit our favorite pizza place again because we figure that the happenings this past Monday were an anomaly and our next visit will be as pleasurable as the ones prior to this past Monday.

    But, rest assured, our taste for pizza will not survive many visits like the one I've described.  There are other places and other choices.  If I can't find a tasty pizza, I could always turn to another favorite Athens-area phenomenon, a pasta parlor that also recently began franchising.

    Monday, September 6, 2010

    Why our kids don't try harder


    OK, so this is a bit far fetched, but here is a thought.  One of the reasons education in America is falling behind is that children are no longer driven to succeed, but rather just to pass.  They are taught to pass tests, not necessarily to learn.  They are shown over and over that just passing is enough.  They now graduate from each level of school from kindergarten to college in the somewhat misdirected theory that, because so many will not graduate from college or high school, they are graduated from middle school to show they have accomplished something.  Kids are given trophies for participating, not excelling.  Score isn't kept in little kids' games because we don't want them to dote on winning.


    Mediocrity is seen as the goal. (Since first publishing this, I've received the following comment, "The goal is to be the best you can be...but we don't want you to have to work too hard to get there", to which I replied, "The goal we are teaching isn't to be the best you can be, but only be good enough to get the prize - that's my definition of mediocrity."



    If Coach Vince Lombardi was running NASCAR, the standings after yesterday's Atlanta race would be

    1 & 2.  Jimmie Johnson & Dennie Hamlin tied with 5 wins each
    3 & 4   Kevin Harvick & Kyle Busch tied with 3 wins each
    5 & 6  Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray tied with two wins each
    7, 8, 9, 10 & 11  Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann, & Juan Pablo Montoya tied with 1 win each

    Instead, NASCAR in all its wisdom, gives points for so many different things that Lombardi's philosophy of "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" goes completely out the window.

    Here's the NASCAR standings
    1   Kevin Harvick - THREE wins
    2   Jeff Gordon - ZERO wins
    3.  Kyle Busch - THREE wins
    4.  Tony Stewart  - ONE win
    5.  Carl Edwartds - ZERO wins
    6.  Jeff Burton - ZERO wins
    7.  Jimmie Johnson - FIVE wins
    8.  Kurt Busch - TWO wins
    9.  Matt Kenset - ZERO wins
    10. Denny Hamlin - FIVE wins
    11. Greg Biffle - ONE win
    12. Clint Bowyer - ZERO wins

    Outside the top twelve places are four drivers with wins:
    13 Ryan Newman - ONE win
    14 Jamie McMurray - TWO wins
    16 David Reutiman - ONE win
    17 Juan Pablo Montoya - ONE win


    No wonder our kids aren't driven to succeed.  Jeff Gordon, without a win to his record all year is in second place - "See kiddies, if you play safe and finish well you, too, can become rich and famous.  Don't worry about winning, that's too risky."

    Thursday, August 12, 2010

    Congressman Rangle


    I just listened to Congressman Charles Rangle's news conference and I have some thoughts on what he said. First of all, he has been found guilty of nothing at this point, so the calls for him to resign are futile. Folks, he's not going to do it. As least for now he's not. He rambled on and on today, much as he did yesterday in Congress, and probably much as he will tomorrow somewhere else.  Congressman Rangle is certainly not one of my favorite law makers, but on this point, I agree with him.  He has not been found guilty of anything.  Should the future change that, then calls for resignation might be appropriate, at least from his district in New York..

    What bothered me was a statement he made about what was foremost in his mind for the near future. Not the economy. Not jobs. Not the House Ethics Committee. No, what he said was most important to him was his campaign for re-election. He has served 20 terms in the House of Representatives, that's forty years in the same job, and all he can think about for the next three months is getting re-elected.

    He, and 392 of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, will spend the next 82 days campaigning for office. If nothing else can convince us of the need for term limits, that should.

    But you and I well know that ain't gonna happen. Even if I were to convince the state of Georgia to wipe the slate clean and start the 112th Congress with thirteen new Congressmen and to vote out our two Senators when their terms are up, there are 49 other states that would need convincing as well. The last time we were able to get most of the states to agree on one subject was in 1992 when 45 states ratified the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of the Congress from taking effect until the start of the next set of terms of office for Representatives.  That particular amendment took over 200 years to go from its initial submission to ratification.


    Wednesday, July 21, 2010

    Republican

    In the few days left before we vote in our primary election, I intend to read an amassed collection of those glossy campaign flyers that are sent to me because I've registered as a Republican. Note that I said "Republican," not "Conservative." Being a northerner who has lived in many different states, I settled in Georgia to be near my wife's family. In other words, I'm a "Damn Yankee." Each and every flyer I've received clearly says that the person whom the particular flyer is espousing is a "Conservative Republican."

    Well, as a Republican, I have a firm belief that our governments have grown too large and the politicians who are the decision-makers are way too non-responsive to the very population that elected them. That seems to put me in the same room as a "Conservative Republican."

    Next, I think government is way too expensive. As a matter of procedure, the way of doing things in the United States is to throw money at problems in the hopes that they'll go away. No matter which political party is in power, money gets aimed at problems. People can't afford health care, so Barry O went on a tear to throw trillions of dollars into a pot so that now, because our taxes will inevitably go up to pay for it, even fewer can afford health care and must rely on the government. Oops, that means we'll have to raise taxes again, and guess what, even more will have to ask for Obamacare.

    But wait, in 2001, hate-mongering Muslims directed by an equally hate-mongering Osama B (he hates, but apparently without sufficient conviction to offer himself into martyrdom) to hijack four airplanes and kill 2,995 souls, all but 19 of whom were innocent. In response, King George II attacked Iraq because they had weaponry capable of killing masses of people. The grotesque leader of that nation, who had ordered the elimination of perhaps 180,000 Iraqi citizens, hid in a hole in the apparent hope that his body odor would not be noticed. It was, and shortly afterwards, the world was rid of Saddam H. Of course, the country was then without leadership, which was worse than when there was a leader who hadn't gone into hiding, and we have since spent in excess of a trillion dollars trying to bring peace to Baghdad. Oh, yeah, King George II was in charge when the first "Bailout" hit the street (Wall Street).

    Billery Clinton tossed hundreds of millions of dollars at schools because kids couldn't read, and now, nearly ten years later kids still can't read.   Bill C. also tossed a couple of ineffective cruise missiles with conventional warheads at Iraq as if to say, "Wait until King George II is President.".

    King George I sent half a million troops to oust the aforementioned leader of Iraq from the neighboring country of Kuwait, but then declared victory before deposing Saddam H. See King George II (above) for the results. The list goes on and both political parties are responsible.

    With my disgust at watching my government spend my tax dollars, I am in the same room as those "Conservative Republicans" who are pleading for my vote.

    Now, as Willie S might have said, "Here's the rub." Seemingly without fail, these "Conservative Republicans" feel it necessary to add that they are against abortions, against Barry O, against more "Bailouts", against illegal aliens, against the "Yassuh, Boss" twins, Nancy and Harry, against taxes, against gay marriage, against the ACLU and just about every other item that's in the news. The only thing they really seem to be for is prayer in schools.

    Here's where I stray from the "Conservative Republican" way of thinking. Abortions should cease to be an issue - it's been decided. If you don't like abortions, don't get one. Prayer in school has been decided - drop it. It's a non-issue. Barry O is the president. Until you run for that office, get off his back. I'm not going to vote for or against you based on your opinion of Barry O.  As a person who's been divorced twice, I feel gays should be held to the same standards that I am. Why should they be able to walk away from a relationship with no responsibility? So I'm for gay marriage.  The "Yassuh, Boss" twins represent California and Nevada, so rather than telling me how much you dislike them, work at finding a real platform that will get you recognized as a real opportunity for the voters and, perhaps, just perhaps, Nancy and Harry will no longer be members of the majority party.

    Taxes. At least two of the gubernatorial candidates in Georgia avow to work on eliminating the state income tax. Right!

    How about this? Let's put a moratorium on any changes to the tax code for the next ten years. No tax increases, no tax cuts, no changes of any sort. Then, as each family must do, begin to live within the means provided by those taxes. Those of who do our annual state and federal income taxes would surely benefit if there were no changes from year to year. Those who don't do their taxes should go to jail.

    Not too long ago, I read that people with these same thought processes are RINO's, or Republicans in Name Only, as if in order to be a Republican I'd have to follow the mindless chatter of Rush L., Glenn B. and Bill O'R. without any responsibility to my thoughts. Well, folks, I'm here to say maybe not this year, maybe not 2012, but at some point the Republican Party is going to have to cease the politics of "Against" and start being for something. At least the Democrats are open in their desire to make The United States a socialist democracy in which the haves support the have-nots.

    The Republican Party needs me and others like me. I want a party that doesn't blame the other party, but instead finds improved ways. I want a smaller government that doesn't intrude into my life.

    One last thought. Right now, aliens (legal or otherwise) are given an identification number (not a social security number) that enables them to file a federal tax return, but apparently the number is not available to law enforcement agencies. If the government was truly interested in ferreting out illegal aliens, wouldn't that list be helpful?  People who are in America on a green-card have done all the right things. Illegal aliens in our country should be sent home without prejudice and with a set of instructions on how to return legally.

    Tuesday, May 11, 2010

    Listening to Music

    People today hear music just about everywhere they go.  Our local grocery store has a country-music radio station tuned on a radio placed above the fresh meats.  You'd think with some of the corny music playing, the radio would be in the produce department, but, no, Kenny Chesney, probably clad in his cowboy hat and wife-beater shirt, yells out the words to No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems directly over the chitlins and sousemeats.   With that picture in mind, I wonder why a multimillionaire, as Chesney certainly must be by now, still appears on stage in a wife-beater.  It isn’t like he can’t afford better clothing and wife-beaters certainly aren’t costume clothing, except perhaps for Stan Kowalski or Terry Malloy.  While I'm wondering, I also wonder why Chesney, a product of Knoxville, Tennessee, feels it necessary to wear a western style hat, seemingly all the time.  It's not as if he learned to play guitar and sing while herding cattle on the western prairies.  Knoxville is an eastern city and Chesney is a college graduate with a degree in advertising - must be a lesson there somewhere.

    This past weekend, Sara and I joined son Chris and family at their church to attend to the dedication of granddaughter Lily Mae.  It wasn't a baptism or christening, there was no water involved.  The preacher named all the babies being dedicated, then the parents, and the grandparents who were in attendance, made a few remarks about raising the children in the church, and was done.  This blog entry isn't about the different ways of Christianity though, it's about music.  I grew up attending a country church that was real big on tradition.  The pipe organ signaled the beginning of service and then was played for every song.  The congregation would sing together, somewhat in harmony except when Dad was in full voice, reading the words from hymnals  and seeing which direction the tune went by the notes above the words.  At Chris and Val's church, a band played, substantially louder than the Estey Pipe Organ ever sounded in Meriden, and, in the absence of hymnals, the words to the song were projected on a large screen behind the band, sort of in the style of a PowerPoint Presentation, but without the staffs, clefs, and all those whole, half, and quarter notes and more.  I'm not complaining, mind you, but rather commenting on the differences in which I see and hear the way we are exposed to music in the 21st Century.

    For many, many years, music has been piped into elevators as if the close confines of an elevator cab made you want to listen to pap.  Lately I've noticed a trend away from it though, as if it would now be appropriate to say hello or good morning to the strangers riding with you.  Do you suppose it is?

    When I was young, not every car had a radio.  Those that did didn't have very good reception, so often a ride in a car meant there was an opportunity to talk.  With the advent of rock and roll music in the early 1950's, more and more cars had AM radios so one could listen to Haley and Holly on a drive to church or the grocery store.  Of course, if you lived somewhere in the country, chances are you'd have to change stations every few miles because they'd fade out pretty quickly.   In the northeast where I grew up, there were little, low powered stations every 20 miles or so and more often than not, Dad would drive with the radio off.    As I reached the age where I’d be allowed to take the car by myself, I’d fiddle with those knobs a lot, and when my favorite tunes would be played, I’d crank the volume up as if the song wouldn’t be good at lower levels.

    The songs that were my favorites in the 1950’s all had a beat for dancing, some for fast dancing, some for slow dancing.  In the summer-time on Thursday nights, the nearest larger town would set up barricades on the street at one end of the park and a van from the local radio station would play rock and roll music.  Teenagers would all congregate, some as couples, more as singles looking to become couples, at least for the next song.  Girls often wore skirts that would flare out when they danced and a lot of the boys slicked back their hair in a DA (also known as a duck tail) and unbuckled the little belt at the rear of their b-b-b-b-black slacks. 

    Our music was a rite of passage of a sort.  We all knew that in a few years, we’d grow up and stop listening to songs about love letters in the sand, falling asleep at the drive-in, or party dolls and teddy bears.  I, for one, realized that there was far better music than rock and roll, and still today have some of the LP’s I bought looking for better music.  Oh, I continued buying rock and roll 45’s and even a few LP’s (there were also EP’s, that were like 45’s, but had several songs instead of just two), but in the late 1950's, I discovered Ahmad Jamal, Miles Davis, Ferde Grofé, Adolf Adam and Leo Delibes, among others who still delight me.

    An older Frenchman I worked with in my summer job tried to help in my quest for better music, and to this day, I think of him when certain pieces play.  Roger Barrett wasn’t the sort of fellow you’d see at the opera or at a symphony, but he appreciated better music, beer in a glass, and oddly, coffee with cream and sugar in a juice glass.  About the time he was coaching me in music appreciation, Ray Charles was a hit with "Georgia on My Mind," a song that Roger didn't appreciate.  Shows how much he knew.

    When I started writing this, I really had no idea in which direction it would take me.   I wanted to say that when I was first introduced to music, rock and roll was the choice of my friends, but while David Ransom had the first Bill Haley records I ever heard, he also had records by Mario Lanza,  and my friend Raymond Sullivan knew the words to Hank Williams’ songs. 

    I've outgrown most of the music of my youth, just as I supposed I would.  That’s not to say I still don’t start tapping my toes when I hear a Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley tune from my high school days, but I rarely listen to that music.  I lived in North Dakota for a few years in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s where local radio only played two kinds of music – Country and Western – so I can sing along with Conway Twitty and Charley Pride, but I avoid the radio stations that play that sort of music, as hard as it might be in Georgia. 

    So now, when I’m asked, I say my favorite music is classical and cash, as in serious music and Johnny.  I guess I didn’t grow up too much if the Man in Black is still a favorite.  



    Tuesday, May 4, 2010

    Catching the News

    Folks, I have a distinct problem getting my news.  I've tried them all.  Fox News Network just does not meet my needs.  As a friend of mine described them, they act too smug, and besides that, they are way too obvious in taking sides.  My news network of choice has been NBC for several years, but Brian Williams’ strong affection for the Obama regime irritates the daylights out of me.  ABC and CBS (when Walter Cronkite stopped reporting and started sermonizing, I switched networks) are even worse, so I usually watch our local ABC affiliate for early morning local news, FNN during the day for updates, an occasional peek at Wolf Blitzer on CNN later in the afternoon, and our local NBC affiliate and the NBC evening news   I guess I should give PBS News an opportunity, but the few times I’ve switched to them have seemed to come during their irritating requests for public support.  I read several on-line news blogs, but I must approach them with a larger grain of salt than I use for telecast news.  No single news blog that I’ve found to date can report without commenting.

    If anyone has some ideas, I’m willing to listen, but please don’t suggest any talking head who spouts his or her own thoughts as gospel.  I want to know when our President does something, bad or good, and I want to know the same about our Congress.  Yes, I want to know there's been another murder, but I really don't need to see a reporter standing alone in front of a police tape describing in detail that police spokespersons haven't said anything yet.  I want all the stories, not just the glamorous or fantastic ones. The only thing that took the news folks TV cameras off the problems after the earthquake in Haiti, was an earthquake in Chile, then a volcano in Iceland, and, most recently, an oil well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.  I really don't expect the newscaster to don his Dan Rather bush jacket and hie off to every catastrophe in the world as if to prove to me that he or she is really a reporter.  I don't want cutesy like CBS seems stuck on, and I for damn sure don't want to be talked down to, ala Glenn Beck. I guess I just want to have a real reporter sit behind a desk with a microphone and describe the day's happenings. Perhaps we should urge Edward R. Murrow to return to the evening news.

    Sunday, May 2, 2010

    Labryrinth


    Oliver Herfort Imagine: a labyrinth in front of the Church, transforming the Green into a sacred space and opening the Church to its surrounding!

    April 1 at 9:38pm · Report
    I was doing some personal research early this morning and came across the Facebook entry above that was talking about that snow-covered lawn in front of the Meriden Congregational Church in what was once my home town of Meriden, New Hampshire. I grew up in that church. I learned when and how to pray in that church. I was baptized in that church as were my three children. For a period of time during my high school years, I rang the bell in that belfry three times every Sunday morning, first to advise that it was Sunday, second to advise that the service was soon to start, and the third time to tell the minister that he could begin the service. I played parts in Christmas Pageants for years, growing from a fidgety kid dressed in what we thought represented shepherd's attire, to playing one of the wise men carrying a gift for the Christ child.
    I gave some of my background to let the reader know that, while I no longer live anywhere near Meriden, I do have a valid reason for adoring that sanctuary and its surroundings. Yes, Miss Duncan, I was one of the children who would play in that old horse-drawn carriage in the shed behind the church. Yes, Mrs English, it was one of your sons (I'll not name him) and I who smoked pieces of dried grapevine and later pilfered cigarettes behind the church.
    But this morning I was up early and, because we were planning on attending our daughter's church this morning to celebrate its 175th anniversary, I looked up my boyhood church to see how old it was. In December of 1780, a group of parishioners met for the first time, two hundred and thirty years ago.
    So much for background. The real purpose of this entry in my blog is to advise you, the reader, of my astonishment when I read that Oliver Herfort was imagining that beautiful expanse of lawn and magnificent trees being replace with a labyrinth. A LABYRINTH. A labyrinth on top of a hill in the middle of one of the most picturesque villages in North America. Now I've been in a labyrinth or two and to be perfectly honest, they don't strike me as being a Christian symbol at all. Near my home in Georgia, a local farmer plants an enormous corn labyrinth each year and all through the autumn months, people pay to see if they can get through the maze. Near an apartment where I once lived in São João do Estoril, Portugal, an enormous maze has been developed on an expanse in front of the Casino Estoril, which bills itself as the largest casino in Europe. In Hawaii, the students in architecture at the University of Hawaii have painted a labyrinth on concrete in the "Sustainability Courtyard." I don't mean to deny that houses of worship have labyrinths - many do. But not a single one I found would pay respect to the beautiful stone church on top of a hill overlooking Mt Ascutney and Grantham Mountain. Not a single one could pay any respect to those church members who have gone on before us.
    I began conjuring a picture in my mind of a person who'd even suggest such a thing, but came up with little except that he must be an ogre. There is a Dr Oliver Herfort who practices internal medicine. There is an Oliver Herfort who has some interest in energy management. There is an Oliver Herfort who can set up links from one on-line web site to another.
    Finally, it came to me. Our Oliver Herfort is a practical joker. He posted his comment at 9:38 pm on April 1. What a relief.
    I hope.
    Jim McNamara

    Thursday, April 29, 2010

    NASCAR

    Over the past several years, NASCAR has pretty much admitted that providing a venue for good racing has become secondary to providing entertainment for the masses, even those who don't know push from shove, or racing from hype.

    Take for instance, all the hype placed on the pit crews. Their job is to replace worn tires, to top off the car with fuel, to tear plastic windshield covers off, to add little rubber wedges to suspension springs or to adjust suspension travel and loading. Occasionally they'll open the hood, but they always look bewildered when they do that, as if all those things are strange to them. Oh, yeah, they'll tape up open pieces of body and pound other pieces of body away from tires.

    So what's the hype? NASCAR and their lackeys, the TV crews assigned to bring the excitement of racing into your living room, add the pit crews' performance into the mix and call it all "the racing experience."

    Well, for the France family and the TV folks I want to say this. When I turn on the TV to watch a race, it's the competition on the track I want to see. I don't care about watching a bunch of pumped up mechanics trying to add 22 gallons of gasoline from huge gas cans they must carry themselves while about them scurry tire changers and one guy with a hand operated frame jack.

    Still think the pit crew orgy isn't hype? When you go to a gas station, nobody comes out to your car with a can of gas on his shoulder. You, or on the Jersey Pike, an attendant, pumps gas directly into your car with a hose - much more efficient way of adding fuel to a car. When you go to the tire store to get four new tires, a guy doesn't run out to your car with a frame jack while tire handlers do their thing.

    There are other forms of racing that have modernized the pit stop and I think NASCAR would be wise to learn from them. Fuel could easily be added from a hose and a jack could be built in to each car that would raise the car off the pavement at each pit stop. Finally, the use of five lug nuts on each wheel seems archaic when a single knock-off could be used.

    But, you ask, how could racing be racing without the actions of the pit crew be included in the mix? A couple of simple changes to the rules would do it:
    1. Pits would be open during green flag racing
    2. Pits would be closed immediately when a caution or is called
    3. Pits would remain closed until racing is resumed.
    4. Relaxation of the rules to permit on-board jacks, knock-off wheels and modernized re-fueling methods.

    As simple as this sounds, I don't expect NASCAR to contemplate adopting such a change because they are too enamored with the current process. NASCAR would rather appeal to the masses as an entertainment medium, thus overlooking the real fans who groan because a crash has interrupted racing in favor of those who watch purely for the spectacular crashes in the hopes they'll be able to tell how they saw driver Winston Gosofast get killed or maimed in his last race.

    Farfetched? I'll bet more people can tell you about Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash at Daytona than can tell you who won the race or name the top five finishers.