Saturday, April 29, 2006
ALL HANGS OUT Do you remember when people used to try to keep written records of their lives - dull or glamorous. If a young lady set down those dates, addresses, names, confessions, factoids, romantic and wishful longings the miscellany book was called her "diary". If she was a bit more settled, the writings were often a small book inscribed "My Life", "My Daily Record" or something such as that. If the lady were somewhat more mature in the nature of the materials of the work-a-day world matter would be more serious in nature. Most such collections became quickly lopsided with too much family history, hankerings and prejudices. With men who kept such diary records and details of their reasoning were usually said to be keepers of "journals". In case you have not noticed,there are far more diaries and journals being routinely done each and every day than at any time ion our history. The very nature of the doing has changed radically, too Propriety is, with many, in serious question. One has heard little of it. This a abuse. The so-called diary - more specifically which we called a personal is now a salacious,filth best described as pornographic excess trash. It has been featured recently in a cut-down, modified, versions in the "My Place" controversy on the Internet and in media in general in the media. Too hot to handle. In our other world problems we are seeing evidence,perhaps of the same sort of fear in facing cultural-filth-pollution problems in regulations and rules set forth by porn-placed officials with power to make it stick albeit sick! If there has ever been a time when we, as a nation, have ever been more in need of advice and guidance - this is it. The very standard by which we live is being destroyed. A.L.M. April 28,2006 [c318wds] ltijjoyi
Thursday, April 27, 2006
F OUR HUNDRED We, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia,will be celebrating our 400th Birthday beginning with the year to be tabulated as 2007 A.D. Four hundred is beginning to be a venerable and respectable collection of years and we will be looking back to see what we have done, things be,perhaps, should have done,but didn't - and make other such judgments. We should not expect it all to have been a special era of pristine perfection,either. Too often celebrations of this type can get a bit out of control and fail to properly honor the men and women who were called upon to do the very best they could with the limited materials they had at hand. At this came about by chance, I suppose. Yesterday I as watching a delayed segment of C-Span when the speaker happened to be former Governor George Allen now Sen. George Allen (R) Virginia in our Congress. The C-Span program was part of that series being presented to showcase potential nominees to the office of the Presidency. You can bet I was listening with my very best ear forward when I heard our former governor George Allen say: "...the Commonwealth of Virginia is doing something this year that it has never done in it's entire four hundred year history!" I, along with a few other people, waited for the magic word of explanations. It was certainly true that the Virginia colony sent countless tons of tobacco to overseas markets. Later,after endless tons of processed tobacco as cigarettes and other forms followed and relinked to the word alluded to in the closing moments - was "micro chips" and I was left stranded way out in left field somewhere- without a glove. The only possible way I see Virginia's micro-anything output beating anything is suggestive of the use of the system used by the movie industry to decide on "Best Picture of the Year" They no longer count the number of people but,rather, how much it costs them to see the movie." A C-Span math explanation is something "former" Governor Allen and staff had best develop speedily lest it be comes "former" Senator, as well. A.L.M April 27,2006 [c378wds]
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
DON'T LIKE IT, HUH?
When it rains a lot some salt - a specific brand - flows freely. That's about all the old weather saying seems to have meant. Perhaps you remember when, at the dinner able on a damp,rainy day you had to remember to shake the salt shakers real good - even tap some of the more stubborn ones on the table's edge, or,oddly, a quickly upturned boot-heel. Moisture let the salt grains gather closely and, as they dried, they stuck together. Someone at them old Morton's Salt factory discovered a way to remove this needless delay of pre-shaking salt shakers before shaking to scatter just the right sheen of fine salt particles upon the surface of fine foods to make them taste their very best. They hired some artist's little drawing of a pert, little ,always busy, girl who would embody the whole idea of a finely flaked stream of pure salt which would never clot up but would always offer a stream of white, clean, pure saltiness cascading toward the sidewalk spattered with raindrops pinging away pleasantly at the roadway's smooth rain-spattered surface. With wisdom seldom seen in the advertising field they allowed her to age just a bit, to change enough to stay in tune with our times. The same little salt-spilling girl greets us today, but she wears a new dress; has a new hair-do, too, while maintaining her abilities to demonstrate how her salt pours evenly and endlessly. So, when you meet with day now and which seems o have been conceived in rain, moved to active growth in the same steady downpour and has settled down to be the finest rainy day ever -make the most if it! Take a leisurely walk in it. Who knows, you might even meet Gene Kelly dancing your way? A.L.M. April 25, 2006 [c317wds]
Monday, April 24, 2006
NOT FOR EVERYONE In spite of any positive affects film actress Greta Garbo's traditionally overstated desire to be " left alone". I have always held firm to a more positive form of expressing one's latent personal pride and gratitude for being are whatever level one might have attained to at any given moment. Other persons, some of them being "stars" as well in their own right, have consistently said it never to be good be "alone" for stars to be alone too long. It is true, perhaps, that once fame is gained in the entertainment world your life - or much of it - belongs to your fans and financial supporters. They see it to be to their advantage to keep you going and they tend to view you as an investment to be protected and available to be available to be stroked and admired from time-to- time. There are many ways in which a candidate can let his supporters know that he is ready to run for a political office and just being coy in seeming to hesitate and ask outright for help in doing so. I think we can safely say it is the political party group which brings about the individual who is to run. He is, after all, doing so in their name. Each can look forward to praise if all goes well; if mishaps occur, which does happen, one can always blame it on the other. To me, the rather casual manner in which John Kerry has announcement that may, possibly, seek the Democratic Party's approval for him to make a second run for the office of President under their banner was set forth rather timidly. It seems to me he might have better attracted the attention of those who matter in the Democratic Party as it exists today, if he had chosen a more active, more compelling path. The announcement should have come to us in the form of a gentle, even modest rebuke by John Kerry to a trio of sturdy, loyal Kerry supporters demanding via every media muscle available that the American people - deluded and grossly misled at every turn - be now be given a fair chance to elect the right man for the Oval. A second John Kerry campaign could be a political disaster. He had best stand clear of it all this time perhaps borrowing Greta Garbo's famous line: "I vant to be alone!" Surely, John has been told that '08 is Hillary's year! A. L.M. April 23, 2006 [c426wds]
Saturday, April 22, 2006
OR? I know, for a fact that many of my personal views concerning our national defense preparations have been drastically modified and, in some cases, changed. When we look at the picture of ourselves as that which we find to be true that we can gain from knowing about our shortcomings. Basic principles - either were forgotten or forgotten in recent years and we are frequently reminded of their essential nature and, for a time, they are accorded a new measure of respect and properly maintained. Right now, while we are being buffeted by Mother Nature's harsh laws as realities is an especially good time to put the old rules back where they belong and under better protection than they have had in recent decades. The city is having an election today for the mayor's office. There are twenty-one candidates. They are seeking control of the one office which, probably, suffered the most slings and arrows during the critical weeks of the flood crisis than any other. It was a profoundly Democratic party stronghold. It will, in all likelihood remain so, tonight because less than one-half of New Orleans 257,000 voters have returned to the city - even with buses hauling in politically-correct persons in all day long. Due to the great number of candidates, special rules will apply - something to do with choices from top in a run-off election to follow. Whomever gets elected has a wide job classification awaiting him, to be sure. My ideas concerning the future of the "Crescent City" have recently been somewhat modified. How about yours? We need to know more about the people of the entire Gulf Coast area. The whole area needs greater stability as a much valued commercial, industrial , and business community for our Gulf energy business. A.L.M. April 22, 2006 [c311wds]
Friday, April 21, 2006
TOURIST NUMBERS There can be little doubt that the higher costs of gasoline has inhibited the number of tourists we now see here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It seems to me we used to keep closer tab on the people who visit our to our part of the nation for pleasure rather than business and commerce. The complex nature of the vehicular traffic which now uses Interstate 81 defy any tabulation of who, what,from where and why? Rest stops are now used by everyone because filling station pit stops are fewer on related roads. I notice fewer guests at the many Bed and Breakfast locations,too. Generally motels and restaurants are prospering with new and larger ones being planned. o many attraction in the Virginia are so often of an historical nature which attracts a steady group of "learning" visitors of students. I also wonder if the Internet causes increases or decreases in the number of guests we see. The fact that they can see the attractions on their screens at home is all the more reason they want to see them in person. We have the homes of two presidents - Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson - and both can be seen on the Internet, but there can be nothing which can equal which lives when you are actually standing in the very spot, in the very room where the presidents stood in the past. As a tourist, you are "there" in a unique manner. It is a good feeling to live in a section of the country which has a strong appeal far beyond that of mere novelty or uniqueness. Ours is an historical and geological attraction with us at all time. Come to be with us in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We gave up on counting long, long ago. A.L.M. April 21,2006 [c313wds]
Thursday, April 20, 2006
JOHN BELL CLAYTON There must be times when local historians need a swift kick in the pants for not remembering certain things. Some years ago I entered the name Charles M. Manley for recognition as the inventor of the radial engine for aircraft. I have contended that the City of Staunton Virginia ought to have at least a marker of some sort recognizing the talents and accomplishments of this interesting personality. He, perhaps, suffered a bad press during his lifetime when he was often pictured as the pilot on Langley's non-flyable aircraft. There are prints and even a newsreel or two showing Manley as the man in the bay after a typical Langley launching. The last column did on Manley was in June of 2003. You can reread it simply by going to "Google" and asking for it. I have another name I want to suggest for recognition. This one is for all of the Valley of Virginia area, but it centers on Staunton because John Bell Clayton lived in Augusta County. Clayton was born in Craigsville,Virginia passed away some years ago in Los Angeles,California in a different world from formative years. Among his many writings are three novels. The very titles suggest both action and nostalgia and he did well in both areas. One was called "Six Angels At My Back", another was: "Wait Son. October Is Near" and a third was called "Walk Toward The Rainbow." His wife Martha Carmichael Clayton had a brother we all know and remember by the odd name of "Hoagy"...that's right...the pianist and the composer of "Stardust" and other song favorites we all revere. He had a sister who lived in Deerfield, Va. nearby - Mrs. Mary Bartley. Clayton attended Churchville High School, then Dunsmore Business Collge in Staunton. From there he entered the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va and after three years joined the staff of the city's daily newspaper The Charlottesville "Daily-Progress". He served as Managing Editor there . He later worked for the Scripts-Howard "News" in Washington,D.C. and he was associated with the production of Robert Allen's "Washington-Merry-Go-Round". He worked for at time with United Press in Philadelphia and with "The Examiner"in San Francisco - all the while gathering absorbing a rich store of genuine Americana and local lore which, then, showed up in his numerous short stories. You and I may have some of those stories,too They appeared in the nation's finest magazines "Collier's", "Harper's", "The American "Mercury" and "Esquire". John Clayton, of Craigsville-Churchville,Va. Lets not allow the values he held so dear pass us by. A.L.M. April 21,2006 [c449wds]
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
FRIEND-ABLE I have found it to be true most of the time: "No one is a complete failure. They can always be used as a bad example." We see it work out best, of course, when we are looking at, talking about, watching other people at work or play. We seldom wonder how we appear in the eyes of other men and women who area our friends and associates. That's another word we tend to kick around a bit too freely I think. Who, exactly do we call our "friends"? And, who, please list for me to those whom you include among your associates. Maybe some of them would rather not have anything to do with the likes of you. We are also guilty of bending the meaning of some words to better fit them to our idea of what we wanted them mean. Some people gather friend " to be used as needed." That is certainly not a firm basis for friendships of a durable nature. One tends to maintain a life-long pledging sequence seeking "brothers" who will have connection for your career. Age elements creep in, as well. We choose different friends as we get older and they us. You can sense that has arrived when people speaking of you say you are "looking good" rather than that you are "good looking." Look at yourself carefully when you deliberately think about getting new or added friends. Yes, such need do arise. I know people who have moved just a few blocks from their older neighborhood; made little or no effort to build new friendships and now wonder why people could be so heartless as to ignore them in their old age. A discontented person finds no easy chair anywhere in a home furnished other than with friendships in progress and those embodied in memories. We cannot, of course, count on too many occasions in a lifetime which will yield only good cheer and happiness. So it is with friendships. Some will be bright and sunny while others will prove to be unpleasant. In this time when our television producers are over accenting "realism" a preset a-day maxim might be: "You have to expect the bad with the lousy." There will be some of it, anyway. Your prime concern: Be sure you are friend-able. A.L.M. April 1, 2006 [c402wds]
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
WATER!WATER! It's everywhere! It must seem to be that way to many people living in the Sacramento Valley where heavy rains and melting snow in the mountains have caused steams to go wild causing damage down stream. Certainly the people along the coast Gulf states must feel they have seen enough water to last them for a long time. But, here in Virginia, in the eastern section farmers and cattlemen are awaiting rain which,unless it gets there very soon, will be too late for some of them. Everywhere,now,one sees bottled water selling well. In recent years we have "discovered"' more "springs" than we ever knew we had. At site after site of established old-time medicinal and otherwise springs one can see them have recently been covered over or modified in some way to assure they can be repaired to produce a steady stream of salable "spring" water. So often that word "spring" is the magic term. Any such term suggests they have been using this valued spring water for many years. You can now enjoy it canned and cooled. Special arrangements have been completed so all of us can depend on having sufficient supplies on hand in spite of the great demand for the pure products from Nature' Old medical claims which used to be associated with springs of various classifications, colors, and taste have been set aside, perhaps for later use should the mania for fresh Spring water wane. At the moment,I have a bottle labeled forthrightly as being from the Berkley Springs Water Works, Berkley Springs, West Virginia Water Works and and that they have been bottling the tasty fluid since 1974. I live at Weyers Cave, Virginia which gets its water supply from a site called Dice's Spring. The town uses just a portion of the springs daily output. None is bottled as far as I know. We have that all the time, but bottled water still sells well, by the case, at local stores. A.L.M. April 18, 2006 [c356wds] hvttku
Monday, April 17, 2006
"UP IN YEARS" That's the title of a small booklet of essays written by Clara Cassidy, in 1974, at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. It is an autographed copy. It contains thirty-six, one-page essays, two recipes for cookies (Ginger Snaps and Sugar Cookies, a full page black and white drawing of comfortable-looking, armless rocking chair - a drawing done by A. Preissler and on display at the Albatross Gallery, Harper's Ferry. This is the sort of nostalgia book one buys on the spur of the moment when traveling, reads through hurried, then,so often, gets lost on the back of a bookshelf or in a drawer with travel folders, motel, post cards other such things which en to save themselves for many years. The kindly lady pictured on the back cover is about right in every respect as what I imagined Clara Cassidy to be or have been, because, having been born in l902 in Lancaster Count, Nebraska at would place her right up there as the book's title suggests "Up in Year" and there is a parenthetical subtitle appended which sets the tone of the entire book for me: "Up In Years(...and off my rocker.) Clara Cassidy was a warm somebody I'd liked to have known. She wrote short essays about her "Neighbors", A Funny Happened" in which she discovers that "...what happens is not important. What matters is one's attitude to what happens." She compiles "Rainy Day Lists" and urges you to do so, as well. She contrasts her early living in Nebraska and in California's Sacramento Valley She gave her opinion in sideway glances at society: "Suppose Goldilocks have been put in a day care center? What if Red Ridinghood's grandmother had lived in a Leisure Colony?" or "Sometimes well-meaning relatives remove all incentive for living by being too helpful." I find, too. that Clara Cassidy was quite adept at composing those short seventeen syllable Japanese style poems called "haiku".None are included in this rocking chair book but she did a great many of them - indicative, perhaps, of the precise, manner in which she had trained her alert mind to work. Some people think "checkers";others think "chess". "Many" she commented at one point, "seek companions of same age and similar tastes, thus guaranteeing a humdrum old age." A.L.M. April 17 2006 [c395wds]
Sunday, April 16, 2006
HENRY,JOHN Patrick Henry became the first governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia following the "unpleasantness" with King George III. We are here to talk about the Henry named John ,however, rather than this "Pat. John was the railroading man. After that same revolutionary event of about 1776, John Henry got busy and helped this new nation built a fantastic railway system which brought the many types of people spread out over many miles of a wide variety of lands so different they were lost until he joined them together as a sturdy, fighting unit when the chose be be that. John Henry - that coal-burning chunk of national movement - put in untold hours of back-breaking labor; of pot-belly removing stress an strain, or brain-clearing competition with others of like mind set and temperament. He touched all social segments of the growing nation; he brought in new citizens from Europe;from the Orient ,as well,to help him build his vast network of tracks, bridges, tunnels all stretched together,it seemed at times, by miles of telegraph poles and endless miles of lines. Some critics can make a pretty good case of John Henry having overdone a good thing and pushed his railroads into areas of corrupt political and social scandals and skulduggery we are still attempting to define. Our National Railway system - our John Henry scheme - "growed up," like Lil' Eva, into slave-conditioned circumstances. It showed its many faults;it revealed its own inner sinfulness and sottish tendencies and could not or would not could not abandon and decry its Gay 90's excesses. Nostalgia took over and destroyed that quality core which had made it great. It lost it; national appeal hesitated too long until the steel network -the actual superstructure was antiquated,inefficient, obsolete - backward an acronym and embarrassment. Other aspects of wheeled wandering took over. Overactive enthusiasm for air travel drew many devotees-including grand dirigibles and blimps the family car took over to some extent, but it remained for the truck - the multi-tonned, big 'uns, the trailers, semi formed into one, two, even three units moving as one, the "articulated lorries"- if you are English. That is what is here now. The system is here to b used. Even now we are, oft times grudgingly, we are allowing modifications of existing highway system to accommodate those vehicles we still regard as "behemoths". Distribution systems are being drastically and dramatically changed to suit the needs of shifts of population centers and other vagaries of the fascinating international commercial world. John Henry now rides a rig. A.L.M. April 16,2006 [c444wds]
Saturday, April 15, 2006
RETIRED WHAT? I have been deeply disturbed to find that we now have a distinct social class set apart from the rest of American citizens and tagged for "temporary convenience" as "retired Generals." This goes against some of the basic principles on which our nation was founded, has prospered and, today,stands firm as a strong bulwark against tyranny! Can it be that we, as nation have been lowered in our own estimation so that we can acknowledge the existence of such a class of military-made men, organized and staffed to a level of affront? Could it be that we have, at hand, a group of militant has-beens - six now showing - who are poised to become an active opposition to to their Commander in Chief? As ex-Generals they should take pride kin also being "veterans" along with the rest of us. They might, one would think they might keep in mind the simple fact that it was often their actions as Generals which - done or left undone - largely determined the seriousness of many major problems our President and his advisers face today. We need fewer "former" Generals who have "retired" and a few more who have remained patriotic. Certainly these men, now urging the replacement of our Secretary of War, after having been a part of whatever branch of our armed service in which they were schooled, nurtured, and in which they grew to maturity. They have held positions of trust and special demands were placed for their allegiance, support and loyalty. Their action areas in world affairs were very real and positive. Can all that be so easily set aside for political lures and temptations? I am very much concerned that we have a group of dissenting "Generals" in our midst. Certainly every one of those men have seen history's revelation that it is from just such groups hat dictators rise up and rule. If, in the next few days or week, any one of these "retired Generals" gains any public support from opposition party people bodies of opposition, or worse yet,if any one of them gains media acceptance in their replacement schemes we can assume we are then to be faced,ultimately, with a Dictator's reign. The template has been used which makes it even more dangerous because we have never known such an attack from within. Be alert. Stay alive. A.L.M. April 15, 2006 [c409wds]
Friday, April 14, 2006
ZECHARIAH One way to remember what the name Zechariah means is to remember it means to "remember". It's not going to change your work-a-day needs a great deal. Much depends upon what National Geographic does with its recently acquired purchase of "The Gospel According to Judas Iscariot." They now have the MMS and all the do-dads which go with such a purchase. We shall now see what sort of a ripple or wave it makes on the religious life of America and of the world. In that section of Noah Webster's fine but wordy book listing "Common Names" (names not to give your children) it is suggested that "Zechariah" means "God Will Remember" while others suggest "Will Reward" or "will be aware of." It was a popular name. If you look it up in the Westminster Dictionary you will sort through thirty "Zechs" until you land on our particular Z-31. Technically he was what is known as one of twelve "Minor Prophets". He merits seven full columns in Westminster Dictionary and a dozen pages in Dumalow's "Commentary". His book consists of fourteen chapters rather than the page-and-a-half most of the minors get. Part of this length is due to the fact that he, unlike others, made use of various tools used by bigger prophets - dreams, visions, Zechariah was the grandson of Iddo who is mentioned in Neh.12:4-10 as being one of the priestly families who returned to Jerusalem, after the exile years. Generally speaking, the exile years were 597 BC down to about 538 BC. That's when Cyrus issued his proclamation which allowed all Hebrew who wished to do so to return to their home land. This puts him in the company of an oldster of the family named Haggai. He was Zechariah's grandfather and this suggests he was younger than the other minor prophets. Scholars now agree that there are some problems with authorship. Zechariah has been credited with just eight of the fourteen chapters between the years of perhaps 520 to 518 BC. Chapters 9 to 11 were written by a "Second Z" and inserted at around 300 BC. Chapter 12-4 were appended at about 250 BC by a mysterious "3rd Z." It was seem that the book has been more or less "pinned down" now, I have an idea we will see numerous studies made of the recently located Gospel story as told by - of all people - Judas Iscariot. The extreme novelty of such an idea has a like reaction on the mind of many fringe "believers" who have not been able to understand the concept of "God is Love". Should these strange writings get into "the wrong hands" might well signal disaster for the church. Counter denominationalism could mean the end of the church itself. We should be thankful for one favor. Be thankful that it is to be "National Geographic" rather than "Walt Disney." A.L.M. April 14,2006 [c498wds]
Thursday, April 13, 2006
MAY 31ST
It will all be decided when as of May 3lst when certain contract agreements in the television business end, or expire, or run out or and we can start shifting various personalities about in the TV work slots to be news anchors, entertainment emcees, interviewers, and audience attention “getters and holders” of television audiences of this nation.
The unusual factor about this switcharoo series is that all of the people concerned are admired and respected. So often they include some one we can dislike, even hate. This time we have a likable list all the way!
Let’s see, where do we start? Katie Curic, I think. We all know her pleasantly perky presence friendliness on the "Today" where she started fifteen years ago, or what she calls "174- hair dos ago". Katie grew up there; we - certainly many of us - matured along the way with her, too. If she wants to be able to sleep normal hours again, that's her right and she is "wanted" at CBS-TV to do news, " 60-Minutes" segments and other established shows in need of fresh talent.
Meredith Fiera, from emceeing the daily "Millionaire" version and a prime doer on "The View"- ABC-TV stalwarts -will move to "Today"o NBC-TV. Meredith will sit pretty in "Today." She will adapt quickly to the format, I feel, but it may well be that ABC-TV has already provided the "first female anchor" for a national news program. It may possibly have been a poor idea to put emphasis on the idea of inserting a first female anchor into the changes. The entire idea of national news people being editors, pundits, writers, seers, writers, editors, producers, thinkers, expounders, and guru guys and actors has been entombed long ago; head-men anchor have been dead for some time, I have felt. It must be said that Elizabeth Vargas has been doing fine in the still vacant Jennings news time. Doesn't that seem to qualify her to be named the nation's first female news anchor?
Talent tops tenure.
Placing Katie Curic and Meredith in that danger zone calls upon them to dig and search for facts. I also have some slight worry and care about the possibility that Katie's associate Matt Lohrer might overshadow her at times, especially if he tries not to so. They share kindred attributes.
The switcharoo is complex this time around. We shall just have to sit by and see how it works out. To me, it appears to be a good thing for us and for ever-in-need-of-change TV.
A.L.M. April 13, 2006 [444wds].
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
A LIL' BIT. You, too, have, no doubt, hear older folks use the term "smidgen", I'll bet. I am not at all sure how they may have spelled it when they made use of the word: “smidgen.” Is that about right? Some purists deny the need for the letter “d”, but I hear of hint of it, however, so i keep it. Nor, do I know where the term might have originated, or who first made use of it. Smidgen is the word needed when she put a set amount of whatever in something cooking. It was always the exact amount needed – no more no less. I have often wondered if it may be that little something added for no particular reason other than that the cook causes it to be added to the recipe; the composer inserts a new theme,; the singer tries a trill where none existed before, or the seamstress does a different stitch in a strange site. We are all creating as we do our work, whatever it maybe. Some of us work on a much more personal level than others. John W. my friend in farming, feeds his five hundred of Black Angus cattle ever other day. The very fact that John has five hundred head of cattle again this year, shows that John is no dummy on raising cattle for profit. He says "smidgen", too. There is subtle element of artistic merit in just every career a man or woman might undertake as his or her lifework. To that work we then devote our very best and put into the mysterious elixir which nourishes that hope for success. Some of the truly great people of this world have show themselves to be generous in their acknowledgment of having had divine help along the way. Maybe that's where the smidgen of perfection is intertwined. A.L.M. April 12,2006 [c320wds]
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
SPECIAL TREATSSeveral years ago the Wall Street “Journal” did one of their fine “middle column” pieces dealing with the proper use of what we call “road kill” nutrition. In notes made at the time, I find I was not impressed with the recipes they provided for making larger types of rats edible for humans. In so many cases the rats are readily available in the very area where are scarce. It makes good sense to make use of available sources of nutrition. Many cases are cited wherein “road kill” items have been prepared as food for human consumption. It remain a theme for comic songs, however, rather than for cookbook copy. The main barrier to wider use of non-conventional food sources is in the mind and we should try to overcome such restrictions in either economic or nutritional reasoning. Review your own personal experiences in food source as a guide. After all, you will find you place your trust in someone afar whom you have never even seen, much less known, to tell you where,when and under what conditions your foods were raised. His continued career depends solely upon your acceptance of everything he says. And, ”he” is often plural as well. What “uncommon” foods have you consumed? There are long lists of “generic” foods beloved by some families and utterly repulsive to others. Have you had your “chitterlings?” Your “brotschnizer?” Your “rivels?” College kids make news headlines and have their picture taken eating gold fish, which are one form of carp. Aborigines in Aussie Land eat worms and bugs We consume who-knows-what in cold cuts, hot dogs, and other such mixtures while Koreans are enjoying their – I’ve forgotten at the super-smelly stuff -”kim- she”think,...something like that, and just a few mountainous miles westward from where I am sitting, West Virginians will soon be eating fresh ramps from their almost-heavenly hills. Let’s see now: I have eaten Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers from a tightly sealed shoe polish can (formerly,I think)- a flat-like metal thing. They tasted nutty or cocoa-nutty. I ate rattle snake and crackers a biological staff get-together at Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia many years ago. I’ve enjoyed deer, of course, bear steaks and bear burger,buffalo in various styles. How does your off-base list read? A.L M. April 11,2006 [c401wds]
Monday, April 10, 2006
CITY GROWTH Cities grow in so many ways, and as I watch - and live - in the presence of such communities in transition here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia I have a grandstand seat at some exciting changes. Ours is a state which has, from its very start in 1607, been a farming area to some degree. As the population increased and the settlements moved westward from the Atlantic Ocean varied lifestyles gained a foothold with modified dietary preferences. Less seafood and more wild meats both birds and warm-blooded animals could be found in many Piedmont home than across the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Shenandoah Valley. New settlers came more from Pennsylvania than from Eastern Virginia a mix of several traditions started the villages, towns and cities of the new area and today far too many residents either overlook or ignore these background of circumstances. Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro are each quite different in many ways and to expect them to mature, to grow, mutate, modify and change for either good or bad in identical ways is a faulty concept from the very start. It is important also that we always remember that each community has a share of malcontents and ardent traditionalist citizens. It has been my experience that neither side is going to simply "give up" or concede that the other may be right in their thinking. It so happens, however that zealots in any such divisive matter or periodically disenchanted with their Utopian views. off guard or simply, and genuine progress can be made in such times by those modernists who readily think they see the mote in the eye of anyone who opposes them. Without getting into fine details,let's look, briefly, at some of the alleged differences of these three sets of sets of citizens as they have been evident in the development of each of the three cities - Harrisonburg, Stanton, and Waynesboro. Notice, at this particular point that such listings are best initiated in strict alphabetical sequence because one members has, on several occasions, has deemed it possible they could not participate if their positioning in the name chosen was at any place other than primary. Staunton had major ties with Eastern Virginia not found in the others I has Episcopal/Church of England ties and British trade concepts. Family names tended to be largely English, Welsh,Irish, Scottish, with a sprinkle of Norse and Norman. Harrisonburg was settled by people who trekked up the Valley from the Lancaster Pa. area. Their trades were agriculture, carpentry, brewing, land acquisition and ownership. They were largely Lutheran and Presbyterian with pockets of groups including Quakers, Pietist German Baptists and various Catholic adherents from the Mediterranean's fringe and from Germanic States, The Low Countries, Scotland, and Ireland. Waynesboro has roots in Central Europe, with Protestant faith paramount and and industrial aptitudes which reminds one of the Rhur Valley and the Rhine Palatinate area of Germany, Border States and France. Waynesboro remained longer in the village frame as Tee's Tavern and Basic and developed, as its name indicates, in that time period when General "Mad Anthony" Wayne was a public figure to be revered and honored by freedom loving folks with an industrial tendency rather than farming or cattle production. Ask any one of those three groups to describe what "progress" might be,and I will bet they will tell you of plans which will vary with each, if not both of the others! It remains pretty much the same to this very day. A.L.M. April 10, 2006 [c598wds]
Sunday, April 09, 2006
TRIAL BY TROUBLE I saw a program on TV recently which set forth the idea that all of the many troubles of life are best seen as being the means by which God tests us. Isn't that a bit too simplistic? I can agree that, in a very,limited way I can understand how it may be that we are,from time to time, presented with problems which are brought upon us by our faulty judgments or as a consequence of our past poor management. To me, such a claim is a "cop out" and little more. One "trouble" which was mentioned was that we are along our gulf coast experiencing horrible living conditions among millions of people who have lost everything they owned or used and, in some case,doubtless - mis-used. Can I be charged of being heartless and cruel when I fail to accept the proffered idea that their condition is my fault because I did not care for them in the past? Am I,now, to accept the burden of the past errors? Am I to lead they to a better life? I see the suggestion as being one which, even though it is made to appear as a religious or social when it is so grossly political in every way. Yet, when I heard the idea expressed, it came me from a political one to a religious one. It was suggested "we" Leo obligated to take up such burdens not in a sense of doing good of anyone in need, but out of past wrongs done to them. The evangelist type of wide-mouthed - narrow-brained person who makes this kind of accusation under whatever association's weird banner is doing a gross dis-service to both his country and his God. A.L.M. April 9, 2006 [c307wds]
Saturday, April 08, 2006
TOWER CROPPING. Build it anywhere you like, but not in my back yard! Have you ever been involved in one of those neighborhood wars about building anything new or different in the area? The most recent series of such community clashes has been about the building of communications towers which are popping up everywhere to help extend the practical range of our cell phones and making them more efficient,hence more valuable. As the telephones have become smaller, the towers they engender have gotten larger and a goodly crop of simulated, add-on Christmas-tree decorations have been appended up and down their cloud-tickling lengths. Just because a property owner oppose the construction a particular tower seldom means he or she is opposed to all raising of towers. They want to see even that tower built but not here - somewhere else - anywhere else - except "in their own back yard!" One single tower, stripped, is not too bad in too bad in appearance, but I can understand how some people might not like what so many of such towers have become. Many have sprouted add-ons in the form of simulated Christmas-like decorations tagged up and down their slender lengths pointing cloud-ward. Economically landowners have accepted "towering" as a practical, worthwhile "crop" They have come upon a new way to make the farm far pay and a new way to stay on the family farm for not another generation or two. A firm agreement for rental fees of a thousand or so for the main site - possibly fifty feet square at the most - plus several hundred hundred additional rent money as add-ons are appended. It can quickly become a good thing for the companies who need the towers to keep their businesses growing and any framer can use a bit of extra income. I wonder what we would find if we studied property sales for farms around our cities. I would like to know how many forward-looking urban persons bought hilly land in rural areas with tower cropping plans in mind. A.L.M. April 8,2006 [c353wds]
Friday, April 07, 2006
CRIME CLIMB The nature of crime in America seems to be that it is seeking constantly to find an even broader scope in which to operate. It does not seem to shown to so much physical or bodily growth but rather a searching for more aspects of our daily activities in which it might operate to its advantage. That is one of the common objections when a state begins a lottery project. We saw that sentiment expressed again and again this past week when the State of North Carolina started a lottery venture. Many people see any relaxation of rules concerning gambling in any form an open invitation fro criminals to exert their special talents for stealth, mis-judgments, faulty assertions, downright lies and certain elusive bits of charm as well. Their view has been correct on many occasions in the past so it cannot be ignored. Rather it might best be respected by all by taking seriously ways and means of preventing such mis-use of such facilities. What about other threats to our well-being? We are aware of the potential danger of flood waters. So we study rivers, ponds,lakes, rainfall, levees, pumps' take all sorts of precautions to help make suffer we don't suffer unneeded flood damage. We do the same as we study weather conditions of our area, state, nation and of the entire world. We even take occasional glances as the solar system to make sure we know what actions we might use to thwart ruin. Until we can, as fair minded citizens exert the same sort of dedicated efforts to our gaming instincts - all the way through our bingo games, chance drawings, contests, cake walks, sweepstakes, and other such "non-gambling" forms of gambling we are going too stay pretty much as we are. If we can do that and learn to control crime, think what the next steps might be for Mankind. We might be able to take on the nation's really serious crimes - static or growing. A.L.M. April 7, 2006 [c346wds]
Thursday, April 06, 2006
PROFILE I find it troublesome when small, insignificant items items get mixed in with the news. We had a good example of such a non-story taking up time in our newscasts this week – that of a black, female Congressperson roughed it up a bit with one of the guards at the Capital building in Washington, D.C. He failed to recognize here as being a Congresswoman when she tried to enter the building without warning anyone that she had undergone a transformational hairdo since her identification photograph have been taken. The wild, woolly explosion on her head did not remind him of then the skull-tight hairdo on ID card. Doing his job, the guard noticed that she was not wearing the small,lapel-type pin all congresspersons are required to wear if they wish to enter or leave the building without inspection. She accused the guard of “racial profiling”;of “touching her body improperly”; and stated that she was forced to strike out in self-defense to make the man remove his hands from her. A type of repetitive hell of h arranging broke loose and sought its level in the media marshes of America. So,just today, after riding it for all it was worth, the cross congresswoman has appeared in public and apologized for something but exactly what and why we will never really know. Her lawyers made quite a thing of it and proclaimed “racial profiling” to be a major cause of anything which happens to appear to be wrong today through out the land. It is unfortunate that such off-beat incidents eat up so much of our discussion time concerning issues of genuine importance. This also means ,I suppose,that security concerns will demand that the congressional pre-approved passage pins must all be discarded. What do you think the new safe-passage secret item ought to be this time? A.L.M. April 6, 2006 [c327wds]
PROFILE I find it troublesome when small, insignificant items items get mixed in with the news. We had a good example of such a non-story taking up time in our newscasts this week – that of a black, female Congressperson roughed it up a bit with one of the guards at the Capital building in Washington, D.C. He failed to recognize here as being a Congresswoman when she tried to enter the building without warning anyone that she had undergone a transformational hairdo since her identification photograph have been taken. The wild, woolly explosion on her head did not remind him of then the skull-tight hairdo on ID card. Doing his job, the guard noticed that she was not wearing the small,lapel-type pin all congresspersons are required to wear if they wish to enter or leave the building without inspection. She accused the guard of “racial profiling”;of “touching her body improperly”; and stated that she was forced to strike out in self-defense to make the man remove his hands from her. A type of repetitive hell of h arranging broke loose and sought its level in the media marshes of America. So,just today, after riding it for all it was worth, the cross congresswoman has appeared in public and apologized for something but exactly what and why we will never really know. Her lawyers made quite a thing of it and proclaimed “racial profiling” to be a major cause of anything which happens to appear to be wrong today through out the land. It is unfortunate that such off-beat incidents eat up so much of our discussion time concerning issues of genuine importance. This also means ,I suppose,that security concerns will demand that the congressional pre-approved passage pins must all be discarded. What do you think the new safe-passage secret item ought to be this time? A.L.M. April 6, 2006 [c327wds]
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
TO THE STREETS ! If you are in favor of just about anything and things are not, for some unknown reason, going exactly your way, there remains just one thing which can and must be done – that is to take it “to the streets!” That's what several hundred thousand of the good people of Paris, France are doing this evening - having a jolly old rioting time of it eagerly going against all who would oppose them, out to have a fine time running madly through the streets seeking out anyone who will try to stop them, crowding in to public places, loitering in historic squares and visiting walled courtyards usually forbidden. Water hoses, mounted on large trucks stand ready to douse any rioters ahead of them and when they do, spilling them over each other for twenty feet or more. Policemen dressed in bulky combat gear for as a shell of sorts with their long body shields and advance, looking for all the world like a giant armadillo nosing its way into a patch of swamp grass. There is something in their movements which reminds us of day when Roman soldiers went against foes in much the same fashion. It seems that those students, teachers, rioters, who are captured are well-trained in putting on a creditable dramatic with much cowering against imagined blows, twisting, falling, screaming, calling out, cringing, writhing in imagined pain, and generally contorting freakishly for any TV camera which may be clicking away nearby. After all, that is the main reason why a riot is still best taken “to the streets !” That's where the TV cameras are thicker. We had our own street gathering of disturbed citizens early in the week. They were upset over pending migration legislation. They were much better behaved than the Paris paraders who, the papers said “got a bit out-of-hand.” A.L.M. March 28, 2006 [c317wds]
Monday, April 03, 2006
TWO MEN Do the state-sponsored historic signs along Virginia's highways ever change? Does the text there ever vary with the years? As I recall from helping to get one of the sturdy, metal signs installed not too many years ago, it used to cost an associated sponsoring group about three hundred dollars or so. I was a charged with writing the copy to be used on the sign we did and requirements were strict and rightly so, concerning content and length. There is going to be very little re-writing or editing being done Year ago, probably in the 1950's judging by my notes at the time (thoughtlessly undated, of course) I was impressed by the state fact that two men were members of the Union force which faced General Jubal Early of the Confederacy, September 18th and thereabouts, during that which we now call “The Third Battle of Winchester” which we can imagine was not called by any such tidy terms few years later -war of those men would be further tested when called upon to do their best in the same job, which, like the making-of-war, they have never done before. There is no indication that the two men ever knew each other. “Rud” as close friends called the older man, was a married man who had three children and a fourth one on the way back in Ohio. He was one who readily attracted attention, however, so the younger soldier hailed from a won named Poland in north easterly Pennsylvania. “Rud” had been named a “.”when he indicated he was a eager to be an active war to fight seditonists and slaveholders. He believed, almost to a fault, that an officer should always lead his men into battle. Five times wounded in battle, it was his personal leadership of leading his men at the battle of Occoquan. In later days of the war. Back home people urged him to run for Congressmen. He agreed, but absolutely refused to do any campaigning. while in the army. Our second soldier was named William, so Billwas, what his friends tagged him. He alwaystook pride forhavbikng ellisted as a private soldier He stayed so for three months; was upped to Commisary Sergeant, Quartermaster and the Adjuant. then “Veteran”'. No doubt“Rud” who finished as a Brigadier General,. would have welcomed William as one of his troopers. Each man, in turn, became Commander In Chief: President Rutherford P. Hayes and President William McKinley. A.L.M. April 3, 2006 [c447wds]
Sunday, April 02, 2006
TOO MUCH?Are we trying too hard? That information we now call “ the news” comes to our attention in a complex mixture from ever-widening sources. Each and every one of these sources has the ability, and a marked tendency, to modify their version of the story which is, after all, is a prime reason for becoming either a basic or a secondary source. Are we looking at a forest that is far too large to be seen other than as the few trees right in front of us demanding our attention? Are we subject to error in the choice we make due to the very multiplicity of items spread before us? Are we, in effect, drowning in a riptide of information for which we have very little practical use? I find all of these points seem to apply my particular situation. The find a way to improve y I tried scoring myself on “Jeopardy” and, for a time I found the scoring helped me by showing me, very clearly, at I was fair to good on some type of question dismal on others. I needed practice in both area, and I found such a place by going to www.Iwon trivia. They offer some daily quizzes which are firm enough to merit trying them. I find doing a set a of these worthwhile. They are available daily in a variety of subject. There is a “General” quiz covering a variety of subjects – which I find I am more relaxed and “at home”. Other subjects include: “Movies”,”Music “,”TV shows”, “Tech Talk”....right on through and including “Sports” - which is my personal nemesis. When you complete each quiz, you are very quietly scored – your percentage and you see your standing among others who have taken the quiz that day. Some days you will be rather proud of your accomplishments and on others disappointed. Give it all a little time, however, I am sure, you will begin to see marked improvement in even your lowest marks. There is a very sound and sensible reason for this growth factor. Notice, as you read your scores that your answer was incorrect you get not only the right answer but also information about the subject which will enlarge your knowledge of the subject and you from making that mistake again. I have no idea who writes these “Iwon trivia” quizzes, but think of it in this way: If a quiz writer wants to keep on being a successful one, he or she, will be interested in keeping their customers happy. You come away from each session as a better informed,more knowledgeable person. I am grateful for this special help and I’m passing the idea along to you. Let me know if you,too, find it to be helpful. A.L.M. April 2, 2006 [c474wds]
Saturday, April 01, 2006
HAD YOUR FLU SHOT?
It disturbs me when I find sol many people taking the threat so lightly. It is not that I think we ought to be complaining of symptoms or putting on sad faces and mope around worried worthless about possible epidemics striking at any moment. I do not see any reason or stay in a constant state of emergency, but I do think we ought to know the facts - that ,for instance, it has been influenza which has killed more than anything else. It has happened in relatively modern times, too. In 1918 and part of 1919 - twenty months more or less - 675,000 American citizens died of flu infection. We were lucky. World wide estimates show that in that in that same period about one-sixth of the total population of planet Earth died of influenza; between fifty-one and one hundred million people died. Figure have to be pretty much guesswork in China, much of Africa, India and other heavily populated areas. The total killed here in the United States was large enough to actually shortened our national life span by ten per cent or or more because the killer disease chose victims between twenty and forty years of age. The first suggestion that a potential epidemic might be underway came from Kansas where a U. S. Army installation reported more than usual number of cases of a flu-like nature and a rising death toll because of it. A quick survey of other military installations around the nation showed that such an epidemic was, indeed, underway. The disease spread rapid and troops shipping out for overseas took it with them. The virus in which the 1918 attack was set was isolated and treatment devised but not quickly enough to forestall numerous deaths in many lands. Many people today are familiar with the symptoms of the malady we rather lightly call "the flu bug." We even use a saying 1918 survivors said: "I felt like somebody had beat me all over with a big board" . We also hear people say "Oh, he's o.k! He had touch of the flu." We should remember that the 1918 never did find out what caused the flare up at that time. They now know that the virus which caused the earlier trouble is not all that different from those causing "Avian Flu" today. We seem to have "Killer Flu" on Death Row. But, how securely? A.L. M. April 1, 2006 [c417wds]
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