Saturday, May 27, 2006
"Mr.ED" – EDITEDI read recently that the way they got the TV horse “Mr. Ed” to move his lips to simulate “speaking” was by smearing peanut butter on his teeth. If I had done such a thing, the amalgamated “Don’t Mistreat Horses Society? Would have been on my neck in full assault for causing the steed unnecessary discomfort and possibly harmful neurological damage. The insult-riddled attack upon my poor judgment in doing such a dastardly deed against one of God’s creatures would be magnified out of all proportion and indicate clearly that I had performed a despicable crime of against the entire equine side of creation. In the making of films one must know never to let a horse get shot. In our Civil War the loss of horse flesh one must make sure never to let a horse get in the way of any type of ammunition in flight, too near any explosions or be on the receiving end of some sneaky sniper's "ping" from far away. You don't "kill" horses. Humans? Well,that's another matter. If, as a filmmaker, you wish to remove a horse from action you simply place a trip wire across and send him sprawling seven ways from nowhere in sand and brush when his rider gets a flaming arrow shaft in his gazebo. And, never let a downed horse lie here. Film him or her struggling and thrashing about but make it obvious that the horse regained a foothold on Earth, regained purpose and establishing a goal for improvement centered on finding a new, safer and better place in which to live. Its not unusual for men think animals might one day, speak to them in acceded language patterns I do believe there are moments in which us who has not felt a specific time when their dog was on the edge of saying something important. In a sense some do,at times, manage impart an idea an moments ahead of time make preparations to use the moments wisely. This deep-set awareness of that which is likely to happen; Call it "chance" if you must - but it seems to happen far to consistent to be accidental. We all know Mr. Ed is other than what is made to seem to be, yet we listen to his parroted words intently. Of course the whole premise is "moot" as our lawyer friends say when a thing is passee - dead and gone. "Mr. Ed" was fifty years ago. Things have changed...the little kid who went fishing with Andy Griffith every time that old show started, is now the producer of mod films most of us don't care for at all. Words straight from the horse's mouth would seem to be a bit dated,too, I'd say. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 27, 2006[c477wds]
Friday, May 26, 2006
MISSING - ONE DAY I know people who happened to have been born on February 29th and I don't know why I have always expected them to be different from the rest of us. They are not ,of course, even the least, little bit, unless it be that they are rather hardened to hearing jokes about their extended childhood. By definition the term means any year which can be evenly divided by four. In actual application that doesn't quite work out. The non-official formula now on wide use replaces the "four" with "four hundred". I find there seems to be no central theme which might tell me which persons were born Leap Year , and try as I might, I can think of only one person I know, personally, who has a February 29th birthday. I thought I could recall the names of others who did so. Nothing. You can find them in all manner of occupational or social divisions. U.S. band leader and trombonist was Leap Year born in 1904 and the Italian race car driver Mario Andretti is another in the year we called 1940. Certainly those selected at random are occupationally far removed from another year leaper born February 29th, 1732 - Ann Lee. She was the lady who founded the American Society of Shakers. Others on the list include John Holland (1792) the American inventor of the submarine; Gioacchino Rossini, the Italian operatic composer and American writer named Tim Powers whom you may not know. I saved Tim Powers to last on the list because, of all of those named, strikes me as bring more of what a real 29ers. His writing is somewhat specialized and usually read only by dedicated science-fiction and other-world fans. Tim Powers has been praised as being the current literary world's Edgar Allen Poe. He is that and more and his dozen or so novels and numberless short stories glisten with glamorous, spirited and meaningful monsters; often diabolic, half-human and half otherwise involved in embryonic situations from which, one might suppose, chaos and void concepts might well have been fashioned. There are others, of course, who belong on such a list of men and women born on Feb. 29th. Try examining the life patterns of other people such as Pope Paul - 1468, Pepper Martin - 1904, Dinah Shore - 1916, Tempest Storm - 1928, or rapper star 'Ja Rule' born in 1976. Then, if you really want to get involved - explain what might or could occur with those who died on February 29th. Is Ludwig of Bavaria who died February 29 , 1868 dying in an intermittent series of four years at a time? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 26, 2006 [c454wds]
Thursday, May 25, 2006
LOST SOULS We have been hearing a great deal lately about lost or stolen identity. Just this past week we were told of the theft of a million of restricted records of our servicemen and women. It appears an unidentified government employee took some restricted discs or papers home for some undiscussed reason and while they were out of the "Secret" drawer, stole them. No one has said when all that took place,but we first heard of it this past week, and some people are upset. Our alert media is doing a fine job of informing the thieves about the treasure which they have in their possession as well as suggesting ways to best turn their holdings to their financial advantage. The original thief involved has " been placed on administrative leave" which must be extra vacation days with pay" for being naughty. We have quite a history along such lines. In August 1814 when the British were occupying Washington , D.C. and fine-tuning the military art of Selective Arson, they chose to destroy the original manuscripts for the First and Second United States Census Returns for Virginia. The were for the period from 1790 to 1800. That meant we lost the schedules which named the heads of households and contained the number of inhabitants in each household. All that loss meant such basic statistics had to be founded on published abstracts containing the number of inhabitants of each county, some of which survived. In 1908 the Bureau of the Census published a twelve-volume set of books listing just the "Heads of Families - Virginia " which was welcomed and used widely by people who set out to re-establish old or distinguished Colonial family. The current plague of identity theft is associated to some extent on the great improvements made in our communications systems. The advances in the computer field have revolutionized our entire way of living far more than we realizes and opened entirely new aspects of knowledge and new ways to use it. Still growing...still innovating new concepts the Internet is a fertile field being worked by identity thieves. The widespread of colorful flood of small plastic cards which have inundated just about every niche of our society. A major emphasis of our educational system - at all levels - has become: security. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 2006 [c402wds]
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
PART TIME SOLDIERS Many years will pass, I dare say, before we, as a nation, really come to appreciate how much the National Guard troops have meant to our nation. They, in recent times, been the chief means of national survival. Natural events, such as hurricane Katrina and the record-smashing flood conditions she caused along our southern border cities, towns and countrysides, caused a sudden realization that we may have overused our safeguard of reserve strength. That seems to have been the first time many citizens ever heard hat it was possible for us to overdraw on our use of such troops intended for use in dire circumstances. The National Guard was formed, and I think wisely so, to be a trained, equipped and modestly experienced in military realities. It was intended that it stand ready to supplement the Regular Armed Forces in time of stress. It was composed chiefly of volunteer soldiers for whatever reason some of which deserve to be questioned .When it was suggested that national guardsmen be sent into flood ravaged areas, many people were surprised – some astonished - when we were told we were already stretched about as thin as we dare to have them be in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places where we still maintain troops as a lingering aftermath of some action in which were engaged there years ago. It was only then when we were faced with such a choice, that many citizens realized how much we have have depended on this at-home, stand-by force to take the place of a Regular Army we have allowed to, more or less, lapse. It has proved to be far less troublesome politically to simply call out the reserves than to recruit warriors by means of a draft law. When we find ourselves ordering a part time soldier back to his third or fourth tour of combat duty in Iraq, we should begin to see how thinly we have spread our “extra” protective forces. It is as time for us to realize that such a gross miscarriage of justice and of common sense is wrong. The matter of starting a draft is political rather than a military problem No politician is going to even suggest that such a plan be out into effect because he knows that we, the voters, will, most certainly, cast him into total oblivion. Such reasoning indicates, quite clearly, on whom much of any blame for such conditions ultimately rests. I believe we are quoting Pogo of comical Swampland fame when we say: “we have met the enemy and he is us.” A National draft of our youth - with a sunset clause as a part of it – is essential to our future well-being. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 24, 2006 [c470wds]
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
HAS FEMA FALLEN? Has the Federal Emergency Mis-management Agency - well know as F.E.M.A or "Fema"' (which was said with a uneasy sneer in most voices) during the troubled days of hurricane Katrina and the resulting floods, been discontinued? Of course not. Federal government adjuncts never died; they don't fade away, either. They go on and on and will continue to do so, until we get a sensible "Sunset Law" in force which would automatically pull the financial plug which promptly make it a governmental memory - more of a nightmare, no doubt, for those persons who were the working crew in charge at the critical time. Government entities do not die, nor do they like General Douglas MacArthur's "old soldiers" just faded away. As long as nourishing sustenance remains at hand. FEMA has, wisely, been keeping a low profile and the word “trailer” is a dirty word among both staff and supporters. Now in this Merry month of May the official start of the new hurricane season set to begin. Has FEMA been doing some house-cleaning? Have some of the hazardous points which made past performances rather clumsy to say the least? Pretty soon soon, some element of the media will wake up and start asking who is in charge of what at FEMA. Have needed reforms modified their potential so they can have a ready answer for the media when they start checking on is the capabilities of the new stormy season? A usual action of such times of crisis for some of entities to change name and this may well be something that can be done. A bad taste has lingered with many people who would rather no hear the offensive tag. No doubt, FEMA did a great many needy people some good as it was started but it foundered badly in a time of crisis with administrative woes as yet undetermined, or a least, unpublished. There is some danger that we may, in any excessive remodeling, “throw the baby out with the water.” FEMA, properly managed did work, it appears. It can be seen as a sick bush which needs pruning rather than excavation. The worst path we could take is to simply let it all go as a bad dream. I haven't heard much about FEMA in recent months. Hurricane season is with us. What changes have been made? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-23-06 [c407wds]
Monday, May 22, 2006
AWRIGHT! Okay! Fine! Now that the election is over and done with, we hope, let's get to work rebuilding this city! I hope a great many people in the New Orleans, area are thinking that way this morning...a full week ahead of the new hurricane-tornado-big blow- with blow with rain season. That makes it an especially good time to start the make-over. A new or re-treaded mayor has been chosen by a slim majority. That put some one in authority at the prime-point of pressure where someone with good intent in mind can push the right button, pull the proper levers, perhaps break a few heads if need be by lowering a few unused booms. It is also a good thing that Mayor Nagin was re-elected by a narrow margin. there is nothing better to add some zing and zip to doing of the projects undertaken than being aware that a critical eye is watching your every move. The mesmerizing media has assured us the two men have shaken hands and agreed to work together which you can take with the same droplet of saline solution you do when you see two pro-boxers shaking gloves in the middle of the boxing ring long enough for the referee to get out of the way. The new mayor of the City of New Orleans takes the job this time with a unique advantage. He knows, from personal experience, a few things he is not to do. This time he approaches the task with a new confidence we have not seen in him before. He seems to have the bearing of being "his own man" this time rather than acting out an assigned role as a tool of an ingrained political mechanism. Notice his very movement on camera today. He does not sit with sagging shoulders as in Katrina films; he now strides across the scene with the camera-pointers in transit. He smiles a great deal more, too and we find he has a good stock of poses which allow him to look as other wish to see him a boyish grin, for instance, that hits to the heart of mid-America. He also has a serious, oh-so-solemn side to show. He will fare well with the public, I feel, and if this second-time-around thing as Mayor is successful in reviving New Orleans, the state-wide political machine - like something designed and built by Rube Goldberg - may fall apart as the find he can be Governor - the prime person of the parish. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net May 22, 2006 [c445wds]
Sunday, May 21, 2006
THE PULSEWe don’t always agree on it’s qualities, but we are fortunate to live in an era when we have such free access to the many events taking place around the world. Now, as if that were too small an area, we get regular bulletins concerning things happening in space - the entire universe and beyond. It has not been that way too long either. The newness of it all still startles some people while others can – and do ignore it completely. Most of us would, I feel, be classified in a group called, perhaps, "keepers” - people who pay attention to news reports and make serious efforts to determine how they might relate to their lives. The main items were facts about success in setting up a reformed government in Iraq and extended coverage of the day's election of a new mayor for the City of New Orleans. I find that was not the important news at all. The news, as being talked about this morning, was that Brittany Spears had been photographed actively "mis-treating" her small son. She was leaving a building holding her infant child in one arm; a drinking glass in the other when she caught a toe in an edge of her gown; tumbled and an alert bodyguard at her side caught the baby before he hit the ground! This new incident was cause enough to bring forth old films of Brittany driving her kid around pinned down on the seat of her convertible in am "illegal" backwards position. This morning more people seem to remember the Brittany "paparazzi" item than the other two. I'm told the item also reported that Spears is pregnant again, I missed out on that bit of news. I find more and more viewers who edit the news they do watch in much the same manner retaining that which they think of as being good and avoiding all others. Do you edit the news programs you watch in pretty much the same manner? Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphi.net 5-21-06 [c352wds]
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