Saturday, April 05, 2003
CAN IT EVER BE AGAIN?
It's been a long, long time since Washington D.C. has treated us to a real, old-fashoned filibuster.
Some hints about doing so surfaced recently in the hearings concerning an appointment to the Supreme Court, but nothing came of the threat. That 's a shame, in one way, because young people today need some close-up instructions on what and how the filibuster really was and how it worked. Cloture rules have made it impossible for a Senator to hold the floor indefinitely as they were, in the past, allowed to do.
The word itself comes from from a Dutch term meaning “piracy” and, in one sense, that's pretty much what it was because one Senator stole time from another. Any member could do so, simply by standing up to speak and refusing to yield to anyone else. There was no time limit stating how long a Senator might speak.
It ,at one time, applied to the House as well as to the Senate, b but the House became too big and clumsy for it to b e effective, whereas the Senate stayed pretty much the he same with two added member when a new state joined the union . Rules were set up in the House of Representatives setting up time limits for speakers to favor or oppose a proffered bit of legislation.
In time, Senators became became quite adept at using this right in order to obstruct progress on a bill they did not like. The became quite adept at the practice,too. The records read like some sort of a World's Book of Long Talk Records, with the reigning champion for many years being Senator Wayne Morris (R) of Oregon talked for twenty-two hours and twenty-six minutes at one time without a stop and he had to best others such as Senator Robert M. LaFollette, who held the record for about eighteen hours or so. Then , along came Senator Strom Thurmond, from South Carlina who spoke for twenty-four hours-four hours and eighteen minutes.
Louisiana's Senator Huey Long was a colorful favorite among filibuster entertainers, too, and could hold the floor for hours reading Shakespeare,detailing Cajun recipes and in his own swampy style,and expounding on the affairs of the world at large. One sideline incident which, while not closely associated with the filibuster themselves, has to do with with Clara Booth Luce, who it seems was up for nomination as an Ambassador to some country which was objected to by Sen Wayne Morse, the filibuster champ. She had to withdrew her name from possible nomination when it was reported that she had commented that her disagreement with Senator Morris “went way back to the time when he was kicked in the head by a horse”
The filibuster used to get good media attention, too. Photographers, in particular, the antics of the long-range speakers,of course, and al of that was concurrent with a craze centered around “Dance Marathons, too, where couples stood upright in dance stance as long as they could do so. “Mr Deeds Goes to Washington”,with Jimmy Stewart, was a successful movie on the filibustering subject along with others dealing with Flag Pole sitters and other such remarkable endurance accomplishments of the era.
There is one factor which has never been made plain to me. There are no mentions of bathrooms.
A.L.M. April 5, 2003 [c563wds]
Friday, April 04, 2003
AVALANCHE!
One of the most feared dangers of living in mountainous areas is that of the avalanche.
Mankind can develop some devious way to make life fearful for others, but Mother Nature has the power to do so far beyond any of man's inventions. Think about it: very few people ever survive an avalanche.
I remember being fascinated by reading about one such avalanche in the Andes Mountains in Peru. Looking back and re-reading some items I wrote about it at that time – January 10, 1962. It happened at a place called Ranrahucra, Peru and is estimated to have killed about 3,500 people.
Observers witnessed the entire sequence, too, They were too far away ,of course to make any change in its course or intent.
The highest mountain in the area is called Hukscaran . It reaches 22,204 feet into thin air and is the home of ancient glaciers. A large corner of one such glacier came loose and fell dragging rock and rubble after it. The glacier struck the opposite side of the Valley after covering a distance of nine or ten miles. It slammed into the lifts. The shock wave which resulted from the fall made a noise heard seven minutes later at a point twelve miles away.
` The roiling mass of rock and ice ricocheted off the opposite side and rolled down the populated Valley. It moved at estimated speeds of around sixty to one hundred miles and hour and thinned down to a depth of about 60 feet. When it finally came to rest eleven miles down the Valley to a village called Yungay. Even after flowing ceased swelling blocks of melting ice caused deep pits of mud spitting air and water which made rescue work impossible
It all happed in a time span of just twelve minutes . When we first read about it in 1962 the total loss of live was estimated to be about 3500. Further study of the sliding mass that measured as much as 3,000 wide and one mile long has increased that figure which today stands are 18,000 fatalities.
It was called the “Debris Avalanche” and it proved to be but a prelude to an even more more severe one on the 3lst day of May in l970!
What humans can endure!
A.L.M. April 4, 2003 [c392wds
Thursday, April 03, 2003
DIRT
I keep seeing pictures of the harsh desert sands in far-off Iraq and other nations of that part of our world.
I get contrasting information about the actual conditions of the soil itself. Is it potentially rich, as some claim it to be, or even modestly so? Can it be revived with regular rainfall? Can it be be reclaimed and made useful for ag-biz to some degree commensurate with the climate of the area?
It always seems comes up, too, that if one digs a hole in the Mid-east you get oil – not water.
C'mon now! This is not exactly a topic to be treated in a comic manner.
In the Sudan years ago someone drilled for oil far inland and many were disappointed when the when the wells produced water. But, wise heads among them prevailed and they used that water to start an oasis, then a village, then a town, and now a city. Can the same sort of thing be done in Iraq ? If so, why hasn't it been tried? More to the point of our being responsible for re-building the war-torn nation. It would be good to have Nature on our side.
I doubt if the Saddam Hussein regime has take any time from the building of more of than a score of Presidential Palaces to make detailed studies of the soil potentials throughout the entire country. That would be the initial step required for all those persons seriously considering means of helping the Iraqi people, and the sub cultures therein such as the Kurds to the north. A unified Iraq can work for their own well-being . They can provide a portion of the food and fiber supplies they need.
It should be the prime focus of all that needs to be done in Iraq now to eliminate all of the minatory complications which face anyone undertaking such a task. A great deal of planning and study such undertakings is now in order to meet the fast approaching deadline when needs become pressing. Iraq should not be re-constructed to be a nation dependent on benefactors forever. It can be a self-saving nation of hard-working people if given half a chance .
A.L.M. April 3, 2003 [c376wds]
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
DURNED GINNY HENS!
I was home from school one week-end and it so happened that I was working in the barn on a Saturday morning with one of the older farm hands.
We heard a sudden screaming, cackling and clucking, crowing commotion from the chicken house area. We heard it, as did everyone within several hundred yards or so..
“We're a-gitten company!” my co-worker announced. “Them damned Ginny hens is a cacklin' like crazy! Strangers is a-gittin' too close!”
I stepped to the barn door and, sure enough, a car I did not recognize pulled up in front of the house. I did not know either of them.
“Ha!” laughed Bill when I picked up my pitch fork up to rejoin him at our task,: “Strangers, I'll bet, too. Right?”
I had to agree I did not recognize either of the two newcomers and Bill, looking pleased and content, relied.”Them ginny hens! You can't fool them ginny hens! Smart as he come! Regular feathered burglar alarms, that's what they are!”And. he said it all with authority and a tone of admiration and pleasure in his rough voice.
Most people would around there would have agreed with him about the guinea hens, too. They were hangovers from previous years. We had about twenty of them as a rule. They were easily distinguished from chickens because they were all bald headed, no feathers on their heads and they were uniformly gray in color with white spots all over.. They had come, I understand from Guinea in North Africa (numida meleagris) probably as a part of food supplies on slave ships. They ranged peacefully with chickens. Most of ours roosted at night in the chicken houses. Six of them in one house and the rest in a larger house where they took over one corner and perched apart in their own little guinea world.
It may seem odd to people today but we respected the presence of guinea fowl among the chickens in those days. They were, as Bill had said, “watchdogs.” It was generally agreed that when you heard guinea hens putting up a loud clattering there were strangers in the area. If during the daylight house, that gave women in the back of the house, a moment of to tidy up the premises or personal appearance, pat their hair into place, possibly remove her apron to greet the newcomers at the back door. Relatives and regular visitors did not get more than peep or two from the vigilant birds.. Only strangers, newcomer, wanderers, sales persons and, most important of all, chicken thieves
I don't pretend to know how they seem to have been gifted with a special ability which enabled hem to detect strange sounds. A different car, the voice of a stranger, the noise of any unusual movements in the area.... seemed to alert the sensitive inner mechanism which resulted in a din of loud cackling, clattering and even scream-like warnings.
Guinea fowl were nice to have on a place and very little effort take care of them. The eggs were edible, though sometimes scoffed at by oldsters. You seldom found any guinea hen eggs in the nests with the chicken eggs, because they took care to perpetuate their species by laying their eggs in secret spots all over the farm where they could hatch out and a brood and be sure to continue residence at the same farm. Yes, they could be eaten along with chickens, but they were much more valued as a living alarm system and numerous stories are told and re-told about how a certain guinea hen can be said to have saved the homestead from ruin at least once or twice, kept thieves at bay - and we did have chicken and turkey rustlers in those days. Turning a sudden light was all it took to send a shadowy human figure running across the fields.
If you had guinea hens on guard, and still lost chickens, you could be pretty sure it was an inside job.
A.L.M. APRIL 1, 2003 [c678 wds]
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
OUR NATION'S FUTURE
We are constantly being offered a wide variety of opinion in these early years of the 2lst Century. Just as we commonly do with the start of each New Year, we, on a somewhat larger scale, are doing the same thing – comparing the New Century to those which have gone before until it is old enough to acquire an identity of its own.
All is not peaceful and given to quietness, of course. Earth is seldom, if ever, the placid place some persons like to pretend it has been. Seldom, if ever, has there ever been a time of total absence of war among men. I see no reason why we need think our 2lst Century is going to be any different in that regard. The competitive nature of Man is an intrinsic part of his being and most often expressed in a need for superiority over other even if it takes some violent forms.
So it should not be a surprise to find we are in these early years of the New Century at war in several ways... a terrorist entanglement with unknown, unseen enemies as well as a war to rid Iraq of a dictator who has ruthlessly scorned all attempt to control his avarice
.
This particular Iraq war is taking place in an the area where our civilization first began to take on real meaning and much of it is historically connected to our religious sensibilities as well, in some strange ways. Some of these deep-seated animosities are apparent in surface factors; the deep hatred and distrust men hold for each other are apparent in the Mid-east, the Orient and in Ireland and other areas. From what we see and hear, we have become deeply concerned, but there are deeper troubles which we are, eventually, going to have to face up to intelligently and without social, religious and political rancor.
Carl Sagan, in his introduction to Stephen Harkins’ latest book made reference to a future about the place of..”God... or about the lack of God”.in our existence. Our racial, social,and political conventions and accomplishments are not enough; the use of religious, economic, social and political factors for gain in economic ,social and political sections of our lives, is, I think, wrong. And yet it is at the root of so many of the problems we have mentioned or to which we have alluded. Religion is ,too often, used as an excuse or alibi to justify actions which had little or nothing to do with religious concept of those concerned.
I have an insistent and growing feeling that we have, as a nation, surrounded ourselves with walls of religious barriers and even with our church church, if you can call the strange amalgam of ideas which range from sane and workable to weird and wild, by that term. In recent weeks, I have noted an indication of a disturbing complication in our religious and racial problems. A leading liberal newspaper in this country, last month allowed a columnist writing for their internationally respected pages a short item which seemed ,to me, to be a trial balloon to see what readers might think if someone suggested that Colin Powell had best be removed from his office as Secretary of State. The reason suggested was that, since we are now at war with Iraq, Powell’s diplomatic efforts were all ,obviously, wrong and that he should be removed from office. It is but one tiny mental step from that premise to say that Foreign Affairs advice to the President was also flawed and that Condollezza Rice should also be sacked. This form of party politics from the party which has at least two aspirants running as their candidate for President. The act seems be a rather a pitiful ploy designed to undercut blacks both specifically and generally. One thing America does not need right now is racial discrimination used politically by any party!
Our understanding of what the average Muslim believes is dismal. We insist they do not understand us. Both are correct, but nether of us is seriously attempting to overcome such an obvious lack of communication.
As we take stock of our present state just three years into the new century, it would appear that our most basic problem is going to be in the religious area.. The Arabic world has already declared a ”jehad” against all Christians, but how effective such world-wide war can be is questioned even by those who urge it.
Am I alone in thinking this way? I don’t think so, and the silence concerning the subject is scary.
A.L.M. March 31, 2003 [c775wds]
Monday, March 31, 2003
ECHO
Exactly thirty years ago in this country we were concerned about the rise of food prices. I wrote about such a sentiment locally on Friday March 30, 1973. That which I wrote still holds true more than a quarter of a century later.
One that day our President, that would have been President Richard M. Nixon, had slapped a top on meat prices.”and there had been a great deal of pro-and-con talk concern n the general subject of food prices.”
I was a talking with the manager of a local food store and I took the approach that I did not think food prices were too high when one compared them to the price some other items.
Then, in l973 he pointed out something which, to me, still holds true among many people I know. He pointed out that, in his experiences , the people who complain the most were those who seem to specialize in buying non-essentials. “If you checked their purchases.”he said, “you would find that about one third of their purchases might be called groceries and the rest will be non-food items.” They think of their ”food” bill as made up of all the money spent at the grocery store. Their concept of food also means foods which have been wholly or partly prepared, processed to a certain preferred level and then packaged in a sturdy, four-color, dye-cut carton with a plastic window for customer to get a peek at part of what they are buying.
Now, in 2003 it is even easier to buy other than food items as well as specialty foods of all types, hardware store, fish market, bakery, the local Five-and-Ten... now Dollar Stores, department store or multi-purposed news stand kiosk. Think of the variety of such items commonly purchased: paper supplies, hardware items, electrical essentials, drugs, cameras., fancy candy and cookies, toys, books, magazines, tapes, discs, kitchen appliances, pet food and medications, cleaning preparations and laundry supplies. The list is endless, and when all it added up as being spent for groceries, you can see that the final tally is lopsided and not all food costs by any means. In March of 1973, I quoted a shopper as saying: “It cost me $36.00 to get out of the supermarket last night!” Oh, happy days!
Supply and demand ,of course, play a vital part in food pricing. There are also higher costs of transportation and precessing. It is always a point of potential panic for politicians and a headache for consumers.
Let's try to be more aware of way in which we falsely accuse the farmers and good dealers by counting non-food purchases as food costs.
A.L.M. March 30. 2003 [c449wds]
Sunday, March 30, 2003
March 31, 2003
GO!
If we wish to be somewhere other than where we are today, we simply choose our favored means of transportation, and assuming that we have needed amounts of money, or a set of colorful, plastic credit cards at hand, we can be on our way in a matter of minutes.
It has not always been that way, of course. And, it also appears that, with today's multiple travel-related problems we might expect the old ways to return. We are going to have to re-learn subtle meanings of the term "to wait".."delay" ..."standby" and "canceled."
I'm not quite old enough to recall any personal delays caused for me through waiting for horses, but it was inconvenient for travelers in those days to wait for a horse, or horses to be be rounded up, suitable harnessed, and brought around. It was seldom as it happens in the movies where you dash out of the saloon and leap upon a waiting steed, all saddled and ready to speed you to your haven in the hills. More than once, just leading he horse to the barn was a time-chewing chore itself, especially if said horse had other ideas. The moment of actual departure was dependent on horses and upon those who tended to them. It would seem that to be ready to go within and hour would be a reasonable time frame to consider.
The appearance the automobile did not actually improve the situation too much for a time, either. People today, seem purposely to dis-remember that early cars – wonderful though they were - needed to be cranked before one could move in any direction at all. There are, even today, many broken arms to testify to the fact that cars did not have automatic starters a first. The iron, double- “L” shaped handle as inserted just under the radiator to the end of the shaft and many cars, like the horses before learned how kick back, and such a kick was no match for a simple arm bone or two. C-rack!
Many car owners came to think of their cars as being fa more complicated an elaborate than most of them were, but it caused many owners to prepare for driving or more so, perhaps to prepare to be 'seen"driving by others. Motoring wardrobes became, for a time, quite serious. My grandmother never went for a turn in the old Saxon touring car without a colorful scarf holding her hat on her head, and her son wore a tight leather cap and goggles as well as a wool scarf around his neck and tucked into a warm jacket or coat to protect his chest from the chilly breezes which, I can confirm, did come around the end of the tiny, glass windshield ahead of him. Both front and back seat travelers often felt blankets to be a necessity piece of traveling equipment.
We forget that early cars had a handy, standard equipment kit one carried along at all times which made it possible to patch tires along the was. A jack stand, a hand operated air pump, several and wrenches, a prying bar and pliers were included or added. As stations were few and far between, so it was wise thing to carry a five gallon can of gas with you when you took a trip through less familiar territory. My father worked with a man in Norfolk who drove a Stanley "Steamer". He had to leave the office for ten minutes of so every day at around four something to go out and fire up the small charcoal furnace in his car to generate enough steam to get him home and five o'clock-quittin' time.
We like to think of the many improvement we have made over the ways of yesterday and yet, it is plain to see that our current frustration with time spent in getting there – especially with get-there-quickly air travel - is repeating much of what has happened before." Hurry up, and wait" is no longer a maxim used concerning military routines alone.
A.L.M. March 29, 2003 [c687wds]
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