Saturday, March 19, 2005
SUPER SCAM If you were among those critical folks who felt that the Scot Peterson trial took far too long, or that the extended troubles plaguing Michael Jackson are with end may I point out that it was in April of 2003 that we first had word from Kurds along the Iraqi-Turkey border which suggested that the money involved in the "Oil For Food" program was going in the wrong pockets. The first accounts of gross mis-management in the relief program were by Claudia Rossett in the "Op Ed" column so the New York "Times". One year later columnist William Saffire called to our attention that she had said the program of "Oil For Food" had , from the start, been "an invitation to kickbacks, political back-scratching and smuggling done under cover of relief operations." Other journalists took up the cry and it was soon being said, very cautiously, that the program was compromised by Saddam “conspiring with bureaucrats in the U.N. Plaza.” It did not take too long for us to find that the scandal was a far more involved than we had thought it might be. It is not purpose to recite the evidence once again but, rather to say that it is time we admonish the U.N. To take some action on the charges. As it now stands the scandal involves the U. N. leadership and threatens the structure at its roots. The fact that knowledge of this scandal surfaced during our election time was unfortunate because that was not a good time to consider such subjects, nor were the Afghan and Iraqi war times Our President spoke with respect of he U.N. leadership and I went along with his view along with his view at that time... peace during our election. No man is better qualified than President George W. Bush to speak out now that times have changed somewhat with clarity and confidence urging the U.N.,leaders to clean house and to do so promptly. They must set things right with then new Iraq in particular. They are the one who suffered most from this scandal and all of the U.N.'s varied membership should share the guilt of such unseemly conduct.. Let's not put it off forever. If and when Saddam is ever brought to trial the Oil-for-Food relief scandal is just one of the charges to be be brought against him. A.L.M. March 19, 2005 [c415wds]
Friday, March 18, 2005
OLD TIMES, AGAIN Every time I see stock car racers slide through a window opening on their backsides to gain access to the interior of their controls, I think of two things: one of the "Dukes" of Hazard who made such action acceptable, and it takes me back to the days of our 1924 Model Ford. It had no door on the divers side, front. What appeared to be a door just like the others, was really a swollen noodle of metal; a rounded-over line extruded out of the metal surface. There was no door there. You had to up-a-leg to enter. It was not, as I recall, a line cut into the surface. From a distance it appeared to be a door not unlike the others. I have heard various explanations as to the need for such and purists like to say it was a "safety" feature placed there to keep a stray or clumsy foot from kicking the rig over the hillside. There were three pedals, some levers, handles and a steering column and wheel at that area. Those who know Henry a bit better know he was less concerned with safety that he was saving. If a "safety feature" printed-on front-left doors might cut costs - why not? Another "reason - the one we were given was that when you used the expandable luggage carrier which came as free extra with our car, covered the door anyway when mounted on the left side the accordion-like metal sections holding our suitcases and boxes covered the left, rear door as well. By that time he had the company which manufactured batteries for his cars systematically delivered all batteries to his plants crated in wooden boxes, with several large slots cut at spots he specified. When unpacked, the crates were carefully taken apart and I doubt if the battery company ever knew they were making the floor boards - complete with holes for pedals - for Henry Ford;s new cars. Henry Ford didn't worry too much about safety. In fact, he and other early innovators, never seemed to think of "motoring" as being as dangerous as some people liked to think it had to be. His assembly line production methods was a real money-saver. In September of 1924, my Father bought Henry's newest Model T - with an expandable, all-metal luggage rack, a free a tire-repair kit and hand pump plus one "spare" tire... all for just a bit over $300.00! It even had a hand- powered windshield wiper, and if the driver wanted to know much gas he had in the gas tan k all he had o do was clear the front seat, pick it; insert the measuring wand - a calibrated stick - to determine, approximately, how much gas remained in the tank under the front seat. I've often wondered if Henry Ford ever made any real money on his car sales. He refused to put in any system of cost controls whatsoever until his son Edsel sided with the Defense Department of the United States at war. If he wanted to manufacture B-24 bombers at his new Willow Run plant, built for that purpose, he had to start some way of knowing how much it cost him to build the them. He did all right with the 1924 Model T for my Dad; and the B-24's I fly in during World War II were satisfactory. Thank you, Henry, wherever you may be. A.L.M. March 18, 2005 [c590wds]
Thursday, March 17, 2005
CATTON SUBJECT In 1928, a young man by the name of Bruce Catton, who was later to become one of the nation's most successful writer of books about the Civil War here in America, was interviewing a worn, tired, little man who was perched on a rickety stool behind a counter top bearing a hand-drawn sign:"Information Desk" in the foyer of the "Detroit School of Trades". The irony of such a situation set in those glorious days just a year ahead of the Stock Market crash which was to create paupers aplenty held a cruel irony. The name of the older man was known world-wide and the fame of the newspaperman yet to be discovered. The young man was there to find out how and why that menial desk job was being done by a man whom he had found not afford a telephone where he lived. He had already written the man name on his notebook page- "David Dunbar Buick." He had come to America from Scotland at the age of two brought here by his father Alexander Buick who was actively engaged from the start in a plumbing fixtures which was going to bring him him wealth and satisfaction. He was inventive by nature and had found a process whereby he could, and did, heat-blend porcelain to iron to make, for instance, white bathtubs, sinks and other bathroom fixtures. His future seemed assured but he died within three years and young David's mother, from that time on, worked in a nearby candy store. The boy grew to be a plumber and worked at the Alexander Manufacturing Company making plumbing fixtures. He and a schooldays friend,William Sherwood took over the company in 1882. Some biographers credit David with the invention of the porcelain-coating process but most attribute that to his father. David, did, however, make a number of improvements on products and he invented a workable lawn sprinkler system. It is said that. had he stayed with plumbing business he and his and his friend might have done very well, but David, like so many young men of his era. Many seem to think "Buick & Sherwood", had they stayed with it, might well have earned a good living, but David was fascinated, as were so many young men of his era, by the combustion engine. That began a series of events in his life which would bring him success and failure again and again. Sherwood told him to get with it or get out of the plumbing business, so David sold his half of the business to his partner. He put the one hundred thousand dollars into a new company to manufacture combustion engines. He planned to built marine and stationary combustion engines at his new "Buick Auti-Vim Company". He hired a gifted machinist by the name of Walter Lorenzo Marr. By August 1901 they had built their first automobile, and Buick, strapped for cash, sold the car to Marr for $225. The following year the company - now the Buick Manufacturing Company - developed the "valve-in-head" engine which would become standard in the industry for power and efficiency and the Buick Motor Company was organized under terms he would regret for the rest of his life. His partner in the firm - Benjamin Briscoe - put up $99,700 of the $100,000 needed and David $300. David Buick was named as "President". Very shortly, Briscoe, decided he wanted "out". All he required was his money back. The Flint Wagon Works - the largest manufacturer of horse drawn vehicles in the country bought the firm with Buick as the firm's Secretary. He was alloted 1500 shares but would not receive the dividend until he paid his personal debts. Buick cars were in production in 1904 when carriage-maker William Durant took over as Manager. Buick sold his stock for mere hundred thousand when he, too, was squeezed out. He tried to design a new car in 1923 in California but produced only a single prototype model. He never held any bitterness against William Durant but witnessed him being squeezed out when General Motors took over. In the interview with writer Bruce Catton, Buick showed no bitterness or regret over his strange career which, despite mis-adventures, put his family crest on millions of the nations finest cars. A.L.M. March 18, 2005 [c730wds]
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
155th COMMANDO SQUADRON Not all U.S.A. combat area pilots in World War II were officers. In the 155th Commando Squadron, formed to be exclusively a liaison unit, the rank of pilots ranged from that of Technical Sergeant, Staff Sergeant to Master Sergeant. "For some reason," writes Lawrence M. Holzapfel in the February issue of "Ex-CBI ROUNDUP "or oversight, they were the only pilots in the Air Corps who were not commissioned." Although Holtzafel doesn't suggest such a thing, it would seem to me -after reading his notes detailing the groups special achievements - a belated bit of Congressional time and effort would seem to me to be very much in order ,any time now to confer due rank upon each and every 155th pilot in relation to the length of time served from the 1944 start date. All were volunteers. There were two other commando groups within the 2nd Air Command and, I assume, they too deserve such recognition - belated and overdue - but well deserved. Hollywood has missed an opportunity in failing to film the exploits of the 155th forces group and TV producers missed a series which could have been outstanding as well as true. It is to not too late for Fox Network to get Oliver North to retell the story for all Americans to know. Contact: Dwight O. King, Editor of "Ex-C BI Roundup", 4810 Park #101, Newport Beach, CA 92660. The stories of the 155th deserve a far wider telling than the fine Holzapfel article in in the China-Burma-Indian nostalgia publication. The 155th flew just three types of aircraft - the, low-fly L-5 reconnaissance, search planes, larger U-64's for troop transport and some C-47's. All planes were unarmed except for sidearms carried by the pilots. L-5 pilots were skilled at full flap landings over barriers, with limited runway lengths available they were trained to land with brakes full-on, on wet grass; slide until flip-over imminent and then release the brakes in time to settle the tail end down - just short of a flip flop end to end. They seemed to specialize in doing the impossible. The squadron was organized and trained at Aiken, South Carolina in the spring of 1944, served in the C China-Burma-India war zone and was de-activated on Okinawa and reassigned to be members of the 157th Squadron in Tokyo. There were thirteen officers and sixty-sixty enlisted men and they were flown to Japan and assigned to the 157th Squadron in Tokyo. Among many other honors the small group had garnered forty-seven air medals with sixty-eight medal clusters and thirty-nine Distinguished Flying Crosses with eight associated clusters, as well as numerous letters of commendation honoring their superior flying feats. A few of those combat conditions includes: during the March 11 to May 19, 1945 period alone their combat missions totaled 7,923 hours; over 2,869 casualties were rescued and evacuated from front-line positions and over two hundred tons of cargo delivered to countless operational sites, many in desperate need. To which we add our words of appreciation. Thank you, Sergeants - all! A.L.M. March 26, 2005 [c534wds]
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
EVERY DAY SECURITY When we place emphasis on any one type of security, we tend to subtract that amount of effort from some existing application. There is evidence that, all too often, simply move the protective shield from any area to one which is showing an urgent need to show how concerned we are about our defense. The unbelievable series of events which took place in Atlanta, Ga. this week, certainly brings into view many instances security planning was inept as to caused even common sense precautions normally considered necessary, to be ignored. The fact that the criminal being moved to the court room was escorted only by a lone, female sheriff's deputy disturbed many viewers at the very start. Video shots show it was no problem at all for the unshackled to overcome the smaller female; take her weapon and use it kill her, the judge and others - I've forgotten the supposed sequence of the killings, but I did hear court officials saying that the reason there was only one guard - and that a small stature d female with the criminal. was that there was " a shortage on deputies" with a strong suggestion that they had asked for funding to hire more deputies and been refused, ignored or evaded. The illusion was given that they were not properly funded by tight-fisted officials. More of us, sitting a home, watching all of this taking place -the miracle escape of the man down five flights of steps and across to a parking area; stealing a car and making off down the street. It all seemed to hinge on the fact that he had been inadequately guarded Viewers, taxpayers at home, had been subjected TV coverage showing singer-dancer-style-setter Michael Jackson arriving at his Southern California Court Room. He had b been accompanied every step of the way by, at least six, well-muscled men obviously alert, trained and experienced to function as a body guard for the celebrated star. Five or six such guards were visible and others had brought him there and would take him home. Six, or more, for Jackson; one for the one , unfettered Atlanta man. Such a comparison was obvious and millions of people saw it taking place. Some even wondered how such a thing could be happening. For this reason, and others growing out of this area of crisis in Atlanta, many Americans are - today - feeling a bit uneasy about our much discussed and very import national defense program. Election shifts have a put us in a state of uncertainty as to exactly who might be running the national defense programs at the moment. Many have been shocked to hear that, this morning, we had another anthrax scare in Washington, D.C. Two pieces of mail, were discovered to have a white powder on them and immediate closure of the U. S. Mail facility in Northern Virginia which handles all incoming Defense Department was closed employees started on a medical procedure to counteract any anthrax infection. The important thing which needs to be told more openly. The potentially dangerous white powder was discovered by machines installed several years ago. They are still working. We must not let our interest and concern for defense measures to lapse. We have done much of what we have done - well. A.L.M. March 15, 2005 [c561wds]
Monday, March 14, 2005
POP DUO One of the celebrated Wright Brothers, of Dayton,Ohio - I think it must have been Orville, decided he was destined to do something a bit more distinctive than running a bicycle repair shop. He decided he wanted to learn to play the mandolin. Part of that desire might well have been due to the fact that his brother Wilbur was already puffing out tunes on harmonica which they called a "mouth-organ. " The instruments seem to have suited their individual personalities. Wilbur choose a reed instrument - everything precut and fashioned and one had only to learn to regulate the proper flow of air over, upon and below the reed surfaces to bring forth a beautiful flight of melody. It is easy enough for us to imagine Wilbur experimenting with with several old tunes and tinkering with the tones until the sound were fashioned into recognizable songs. My maternal Grandfather John Loeffort was, at about that same time playing what was really a larger harmonica placed in a box with bellows between to button-studded keyboard clusters. In that day it was called "Meloldian". He bought it in Butler, Pa ; he played it a number of sites in Ohio and a summer camp at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It was made in Italy, a "Paolo Soprani, Castelfidardo, Italia". It is a kin to the concertina and even more closely to the small push-pull boxes you see and hear only in Cajun bands down New Orlan's way today. The melodian was the predecessor of the "Button" accordion which was supplanted by the piano key accordion starting in the 1920's. Orville preferred mandolin with its double-strings to be tuned up and down, the pegs to adjust, frets to follow with studied care, musical chords which worked all sorts wonders when properly manipulated. His mandolin was the same as one played by Ida Amanda Lenz who was one-third of the "Lenz Sisters" singers, in ,Ohio. The according Granddaddy played is beside me in it's original nail-studded wooden case but Grandmother's old "egg-[shell" mandolin is long gone. The Sister trio sang and played at church socials and civic gatherings in the Ohio area just south of Sandusky. While visiting relatives in an adjoining county, it so happened that John met Ida they were married. They moved - mandolin and melodian - to Aspenwald, PA and then, later, with their two children, to Norfolk, Va. It often strikes me as odd that I associate the famed Wright Brothers with music. Their sister Katherine wrote of her unpleasant times when Orville was taking mandolin lessons. "He sits around and picks that thing until I can hardly stay in the house!" She said her brothers practiced mainly "to get even" with neighbors who had practiced piano for years. It's good to know the Wright Brothers were very much like the rest of us. And, largely because of the musical background - however trivial - I have always felt a kinship I could never have known in any other way. Lean back in that easy chair of yours and think about flying for a moment. Isn't there a moment of melody in your swift movement across the vast expanse of an unclouded sky? A.L.M . March 14, 2005 [c550wds]
Sunday, March 13, 2005
CASTLE SHADES Old castles are traditionally supposed to harbor hosts of historically- -oriented ghosts to haunt the premises and to make the area more interesting to the tourist traffic. I found only rumors of some rather worn, somewhat vague sightings in the first authentic castle I visited - the old Norman Castle in downtown Norwich, England. Not that I was disappointed in any way at all. The fine old fortification structure is all that a fine Norman castle was built to be around the eleven hundreds or so, carefully constructed and intended to endure for a few centuries, at least . Today it still serve well as a museum and as a focal center for artistic and cultural activities for all of East Anglia which it was built protect. The amazing pile of stone and precise masonry shaped upon a sturdy rising mound "Castle Hill" surrounded by bright and well-groomed "Castle Gardens." Seeing it, one gets a feeling that it has always been there since the very beginning of Time itself. It, somehow, has qualities which make it seem to be more than merely man made. The only ghost I ever heard anyone talk about in Norwich Castle was that of a "skull" which was said is said to appear initially in the "keep" area of the castle and then to wander into what are now exhibit halls for art works. The skull lees assumed to have at least a bodily representation of a torso and perhaps limbs as well but they are never observed because that area below the neck draped in soft, cloth-like folds which are said to "flow" with every slow movement of the skull. Feet, too, are concealed and the image remains always well above the floor level which the flowing cloth occasionally brushes. The apparition gives no signs of an special preference for a particular style or type of art work; no nod of approval or scorn. The colorful drapes suggest the ghost may be feminine and she has one bad habit: moving along the exhibits, she suddenly seems to take a corner which is not there and disappears instantly and completely as if she had slid into a vertical slot in the air just ahead of her. I have never heard of any sound associated with the skull art critic at the Castle. What about witches? All castles have dungeon areas deep within their walls yet I have never heard a story about any dungeon inmate being tortured and becoming as ghost to re-live it all there. Norwich Castle tale-tellers claim they never participated in the burning of witches and religious heretics. Concerning one such recorded incident 1656 it is noted that she was burned in a "ditch" outside the castle proper. I was surprised years ago when working for a time in a morgue and in the preparation of bodies for burial or cremation to find that people who do such work develop a rather strange sense of warped humor. A Norwich resident has been quoted as having said: "We did not take an active part in the burning of witches, heretics and the like. By the time the decision had been made to do them in by burning at the stake, we had all ready hanged them!" A.L.M. March 13, 2005 [c556wds]
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