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]
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