The folks in Norway have decided that they'd like to help the folks in Malawi. The issue to fix. Sorcery and witchcraft.
You see....folks around Malawi still today believe in witches. It's so bad....that some folks have proclaimed it one of the top problems of the nation.
So the folks in Norway are sending down $600k to run a three-year program. Once I saw the number....I'm amazed. For an American program, that $600k would have been blown in six weeks.
What do you do in cases like this? Probably posters, and public statements by political groups. It's hard to imagine in 2013, that witchcraft is still taken seriously.
How will the witches take this matter? I'm guessing that they will discuss the matter within their group, and perhaps end a witch or two up to Norway....testing the local population there.
The Norwegian folks will probably have a bit of fun with this....until something odd happens. Then news will spread through the communities. After a couple of weeks....there might be two or three percent of the Norwegian population which then believes in witchcraft. Then the government of Norway might have to spend a couple million Euro fighting the notion of witchcraft in their own country.
Stranger things have happen, you know.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Saturday, 23 March 2013
The End of Harvey
For Harvey Updyke, the Auburn poison oak tree episode has ended rather quickly.
In Bama, this is probably one of the most talked about episodes of the past five years....well...except for NCAA football stuff.
On Friday, the court finally rendered the verdict there in Wetumpka. Declared guitly....Harvey has to serve a three-year prison sentence....but the judge determinded that he'd already done around a hundred days, and if he does six months minium....the justice folks could let Harvey out of the whole three years deal. My humble guess is that he does roughly six to nine months and is let go.
Then there was this stipulation written into the judge's order....which is a curious piece.
Harvey can't go near any NCAA football game for the next five years. He can't talk to any media folks or even cal into a radio-talk show. Harvey has to be home every night by 7pm for the whole five years. And Harvey can't go anywhere near Auburn, period.
All of this was handled rather quickly because Harvey dropped the idea of himself being crazy, and just admitted plain stupid guilt on this stuff.
The general feeling around Bama? Auburn folks are still a bit upset over the guy. Most of us consider him to be a nutcase, but like the other 250k Bama folks who are also nutcases.
I'd personally suggest this as a future movie. I'd like to see Burt Reynolds play Harvey, with Hulk Hogan as an Auburn alumni guy on the hunt for Harvey. Maybe bring in Terry Bradshaw to play the judge from Wetumpka.
So I suggest here....we Bama folks ought to drag out that forgiving nature of ourselves, and just give Harvey a bit of forgiveness on this stuff. And if he were to move off to Mississippi.....we wouldn't say anything judgmental against that.
In Bama, this is probably one of the most talked about episodes of the past five years....well...except for NCAA football stuff.
On Friday, the court finally rendered the verdict there in Wetumpka. Declared guitly....Harvey has to serve a three-year prison sentence....but the judge determinded that he'd already done around a hundred days, and if he does six months minium....the justice folks could let Harvey out of the whole three years deal. My humble guess is that he does roughly six to nine months and is let go.
Then there was this stipulation written into the judge's order....which is a curious piece.
Harvey can't go near any NCAA football game for the next five years. He can't talk to any media folks or even cal into a radio-talk show. Harvey has to be home every night by 7pm for the whole five years. And Harvey can't go anywhere near Auburn, period.
All of this was handled rather quickly because Harvey dropped the idea of himself being crazy, and just admitted plain stupid guilt on this stuff.
The general feeling around Bama? Auburn folks are still a bit upset over the guy. Most of us consider him to be a nutcase, but like the other 250k Bama folks who are also nutcases.
I'd personally suggest this as a future movie. I'd like to see Burt Reynolds play Harvey, with Hulk Hogan as an Auburn alumni guy on the hunt for Harvey. Maybe bring in Terry Bradshaw to play the judge from Wetumpka.
So I suggest here....we Bama folks ought to drag out that forgiving nature of ourselves, and just give Harvey a bit of forgiveness on this stuff. And if he were to move off to Mississippi.....we wouldn't say anything judgmental against that.
Friday, 22 March 2013
College in the Old Days
I had a curiosity about what was really required of a college student in the 1800s. So I went out to research this. From the University of Pennsylvania there is a publication left over from 1851. There were two semesters each year.
Freshmen were required to take English composition and declamation (classic speech), ancient history and geography, algebra, geometry, Horace, Homer, Xenophon (Greek studies).
Sophomores were required to take modern history, English composition and declamation, trigonometry (with applications for surveying and navigation), elements of mechanics and chemistry, Livy (second Punic War), Horace, logic, rhetoric, and Demosthenes (a Greek orator).
Juniors were required to take general principals of equilibrium and motion of solids and liquids, Plato, chemistry with experimental lectures, machinery, evidence of Christianity, moral and intellectual philosophy, English composition and declamation, general theory of equations, Greek tragedy, Juvenal (a Roman poet), Constitutional history of the US, and international law (lectures).
Seniors were required to take lectures on geology and mineralogy, Aristotle, Cicero, optics, astronomy, heat-electricity, physical geography, magnetism-sound, moral and intellectual philosophy, English composition and declamation, analytical mechanics, elements of integral calculus, lectures on English literature, history, and Constitutional law (lectures).
Now, some observations.
First, you did a light class schedule even on Saturdays....which might shock some students today.
Second, as you gaze across the spectrum here, there was a good bit of Greek and Roman reading. Logic and philosophy were a major part of your degree.
Third, speaking and orator skills were a standard requirement.
Fourth, what you generally left with....was a very developed mind to expand and take on more in life.
Fifth, you actually took a class in Christianity.
Sixth, you had a lot of basic skills in science.
Seventh, English was required each and every single year of the four years.
Eighth, declamation? It's a speech activity that you give with strong feeling. You say what you mean, and practice it....yearly.
Ninth, imagine trying to teach moral and intellectual philosophy today.
Finally, in an entire county of sixty young men graduating from school....if you had just one of them go off to this university...it was a big deal. You didn't borrow money or ask the government for a loan. You either paid or you worked your way through the program.
I don't think many kids today could make it with this list of topics.
Freshmen were required to take English composition and declamation (classic speech), ancient history and geography, algebra, geometry, Horace, Homer, Xenophon (Greek studies).
Sophomores were required to take modern history, English composition and declamation, trigonometry (with applications for surveying and navigation), elements of mechanics and chemistry, Livy (second Punic War), Horace, logic, rhetoric, and Demosthenes (a Greek orator).
Juniors were required to take general principals of equilibrium and motion of solids and liquids, Plato, chemistry with experimental lectures, machinery, evidence of Christianity, moral and intellectual philosophy, English composition and declamation, general theory of equations, Greek tragedy, Juvenal (a Roman poet), Constitutional history of the US, and international law (lectures).
Seniors were required to take lectures on geology and mineralogy, Aristotle, Cicero, optics, astronomy, heat-electricity, physical geography, magnetism-sound, moral and intellectual philosophy, English composition and declamation, analytical mechanics, elements of integral calculus, lectures on English literature, history, and Constitutional law (lectures).
Now, some observations.
First, you did a light class schedule even on Saturdays....which might shock some students today.
Second, as you gaze across the spectrum here, there was a good bit of Greek and Roman reading. Logic and philosophy were a major part of your degree.
Third, speaking and orator skills were a standard requirement.
Fourth, what you generally left with....was a very developed mind to expand and take on more in life.
Fifth, you actually took a class in Christianity.
Sixth, you had a lot of basic skills in science.
Seventh, English was required each and every single year of the four years.
Eighth, declamation? It's a speech activity that you give with strong feeling. You say what you mean, and practice it....yearly.
Ninth, imagine trying to teach moral and intellectual philosophy today.
Finally, in an entire county of sixty young men graduating from school....if you had just one of them go off to this university...it was a big deal. You didn't borrow money or ask the government for a loan. You either paid or you worked your way through the program.
I don't think many kids today could make it with this list of topics.
The Leno Solution
Jay Leno is being let go, finally, by NBC. What they will admit is that the numbers aren't there. Young Americans aren't watching Jay. And the older Americans, in pretty hefty numbers, are watching mostly Fox News.
Jay would kinda like to keep working but things aren't looking that way.
I would suggest that Fox go out and find two individuals to team up with Jay....in southern California of course, and run an 11PM one-hour show. The studio would be laid out in a fashion that would make a grown man cry.
I would envision the studio having an entire area with car jacks and Jay might invite a guy onto the show and just spend thirty minutes talking cars, or motorcycles, or even go-carts. Toss in someone who does interviews with the Hollywood elite, and finally a third Fox person who talks up the latest in gossip.
After a couple of months, the numbers would be significant, and Jay would be smiling most of the time because his magic was still working.
Jay would kinda like to keep working but things aren't looking that way.
I would suggest that Fox go out and find two individuals to team up with Jay....in southern California of course, and run an 11PM one-hour show. The studio would be laid out in a fashion that would make a grown man cry.
I would envision the studio having an entire area with car jacks and Jay might invite a guy onto the show and just spend thirty minutes talking cars, or motorcycles, or even go-carts. Toss in someone who does interviews with the Hollywood elite, and finally a third Fox person who talks up the latest in gossip.
After a couple of months, the numbers would be significant, and Jay would be smiling most of the time because his magic was still working.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Simply Observations
It won't be on the news or mentioned much....but as the new Pope got picked....the Argentine President got all peppy and got an entourage up to go and visit her guy in the Vatican. They stopped in Morocco and from there....went by commercial airlines. The reason? There's a bunch of investor folks who have attempted on a couple of occasions when she's used the jet....to show legal papers to take it because of state involvement in hurting their investment fund. So in effect.... Argentina has a presidential jet, but can't fly it anywhere where some oddball legal folks would attempt to use the local courts to grab it. In essence, it's a jet for mostly show and almost no travel.
This nutcase killer out in Colorado....has shown a new side. Strangely enough....he's studying and developing himself as a Muslim. Some news reports indicate that he prays five times a day. Was he converting back when he went off to shoot the twelve folks dead and wound fifty-eight others? Well....you don't know. It's just kinda odd, if you ask me.
Doctors in Detroit have found this older gal who did roughly a hundred bags of tea mixed up daily in one container, and drunk the stuff for at least seventeen years. She's got all kinds of bone issues and they now believe that it's mostly all related to the tea. My only question.....if you tossed a hundred bags of tea into a one-gallon container......how you could even sip that strong of tea without at least fifteen spoons of sugar or twelve lemons squeezed into it? I'd have to do that as a minimum. What the doctors aren't suggesting is that tea is bad....it's just everything else in life.....do it in moderation. It's like fishing....you just don't want to go fishing 365 days a year....you'd probably die eventually....from fishing (that's Bama logic for you).
Some folks did some studying and have confirmed that there are still a couple of folks getting government checks for participation or just compensation programs....for US war vets....going all the way back to the Civil War (1865). They have found two folks who still get payments today....being sons or daughters of such vets. They found the same issues with the Spanish-American war vets, WW I vets, etc. The intention of this data is to show that once you start a war....you end up paying for crap over the next fifty to a hundred years. It's best not to start any wars, and just surrender things as quickly as possible when challenged.
Finally, experts in Bama have now admitted that poor roads around the state....are causing roughly $530-odd million dollars of damage to vehicle. You can figure at $90 for a front-end alignment, that comes out to 5.8 million cars within the state each year. Course, it's an oddball group. Some are tires that wear out early. Some are axles messed up after ten years of driving over dirt roads. Some are just cracked windshields from stones tossed up. Bottom line? Mechanics in Bama are making a killing and quietly retiring to Florida by age fifty. They really don't want road improvements....it'd just kill the industry off. Besides, you wouldn't have a chance to ever meet such nifty and unusual Bama characters down at the Lube-and-Go Shop.
This nutcase killer out in Colorado....has shown a new side. Strangely enough....he's studying and developing himself as a Muslim. Some news reports indicate that he prays five times a day. Was he converting back when he went off to shoot the twelve folks dead and wound fifty-eight others? Well....you don't know. It's just kinda odd, if you ask me.
Doctors in Detroit have found this older gal who did roughly a hundred bags of tea mixed up daily in one container, and drunk the stuff for at least seventeen years. She's got all kinds of bone issues and they now believe that it's mostly all related to the tea. My only question.....if you tossed a hundred bags of tea into a one-gallon container......how you could even sip that strong of tea without at least fifteen spoons of sugar or twelve lemons squeezed into it? I'd have to do that as a minimum. What the doctors aren't suggesting is that tea is bad....it's just everything else in life.....do it in moderation. It's like fishing....you just don't want to go fishing 365 days a year....you'd probably die eventually....from fishing (that's Bama logic for you).
Some folks did some studying and have confirmed that there are still a couple of folks getting government checks for participation or just compensation programs....for US war vets....going all the way back to the Civil War (1865). They have found two folks who still get payments today....being sons or daughters of such vets. They found the same issues with the Spanish-American war vets, WW I vets, etc. The intention of this data is to show that once you start a war....you end up paying for crap over the next fifty to a hundred years. It's best not to start any wars, and just surrender things as quickly as possible when challenged.
Finally, experts in Bama have now admitted that poor roads around the state....are causing roughly $530-odd million dollars of damage to vehicle. You can figure at $90 for a front-end alignment, that comes out to 5.8 million cars within the state each year. Course, it's an oddball group. Some are tires that wear out early. Some are axles messed up after ten years of driving over dirt roads. Some are just cracked windshields from stones tossed up. Bottom line? Mechanics in Bama are making a killing and quietly retiring to Florida by age fifty. They really don't want road improvements....it'd just kill the industry off. Besides, you wouldn't have a chance to ever meet such nifty and unusual Bama characters down at the Lube-and-Go Shop.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
My Neighborhood
Across the river, and on the other side of DC....into Maryland, is Silver Springs. The local guys there, about a decade ago, got the city government talked into constructing this magnificent transit center. This multi-floor contraption.....called the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center, was going to be the end-all solution to Silver Springs issues.
There was to be a huge open bay area for buses (34 spots), and be tied right into both the Metro and even the Maryland rail system.
You were going to be able to drive right in, and dump your passenger, and drive right out. There's a great deal of engineering tied into the look and feel of the center.
The cost? Roughly one-hundred and ten million....more or less. Construction started in 2007.
I guess you are wondering about the end-date?
Well....that's really the issue. Whoever drew up the plans....didn't really make it clear where you needed reinforced concrete, and re-bar. The experts yesterday laid out the issues....it's just not strong enough to allow buses (in any number) to drive onto the terminal and drive down the next level. They now admit.....you'd sit there and wait for a collapse....sooner or later. Billions could be at stake in insurance claims if four or five buses fell through.
The fix? The TV news guys simply laid out the issues and left it there last night. It'll take months of study to reach some conclusion. No one wanted to say anything, but I got this impression that they just might admit that the whole thing ought to be torn down and restarted.
As you look at the drawing on the right of what it'd look like at completion.... remind yourself that physically it's almost ninety percent done and would have opened this year.
I'd hate to bet against it, but I'd be guessing a 2017 opening....with half the building torn down as a minimum
Folks going to jail? It never happens in Maryland. The company that did the drawings will likely just walk away and declare itself renamed or bankrupt. Folks in the construction zone will likely complain loud and long....they've spent almost several years waiting for things to be done.
There was to be a huge open bay area for buses (34 spots), and be tied right into both the Metro and even the Maryland rail system.
You were going to be able to drive right in, and dump your passenger, and drive right out. There's a great deal of engineering tied into the look and feel of the center.
The cost? Roughly one-hundred and ten million....more or less. Construction started in 2007.
I guess you are wondering about the end-date?
Well....that's really the issue. Whoever drew up the plans....didn't really make it clear where you needed reinforced concrete, and re-bar. The experts yesterday laid out the issues....it's just not strong enough to allow buses (in any number) to drive onto the terminal and drive down the next level. They now admit.....you'd sit there and wait for a collapse....sooner or later. Billions could be at stake in insurance claims if four or five buses fell through.
The fix? The TV news guys simply laid out the issues and left it there last night. It'll take months of study to reach some conclusion. No one wanted to say anything, but I got this impression that they just might admit that the whole thing ought to be torn down and restarted. As you look at the drawing on the right of what it'd look like at completion.... remind yourself that physically it's almost ninety percent done and would have opened this year.
I'd hate to bet against it, but I'd be guessing a 2017 opening....with half the building torn down as a minimum
Folks going to jail? It never happens in Maryland. The company that did the drawings will likely just walk away and declare itself renamed or bankrupt. Folks in the construction zone will likely complain loud and long....they've spent almost several years waiting for things to be done.
My Neighborhood
This is a story that you'd hate to hear about or discuss.
Local kid....sixteen years old....decides to sneak out of the house one night....go booze up and party with his associates. He's staying at his dad's house (divorced situation). House is in the nicer neighborhoods here in Virginia.
The kid parties and drinks up a bit. Then somewhere after midnight....he comes back to the back of the house....hops the fence, and misjudges his house for a house two houses down (they are all built the same way and look similar).
The kid opens a window.
He's drunk and clumsy.
The kid makes noise.
The real owner of this house.....up on the second floor....gets up and flips the lights on.
The kid thinks he's still in the right house, and just progressing up the stairs.
The kid won't stop.
The owner has a gun, and is yelling for the kid to stop.
The kid doesn't stop.
The kid is shot dead.
Cops come. It's a very long look over the mess. It takes hours to really come to some sorting of facts. The dad is called. A fairly traumatic event. Cops finally lay out the whole episode.
There's doubt if any charges will occur.
The kid's family has come out and said they forgive the older guy who shot the kid. They can understand how this all came down.
The mother? She was in the local area today. She lives in Indianapolis and kinda admits that neighborhoods there are a bit rougher, and she felt the son was safer with the ex-husband, than in Indianapolis.
You feel sorry for the kid. But on the stupidity scale....he was pushing a ten.
The guy who shot the kid? He's sitting there and asking himself how this all happened. If he'd locked the windows correctly....if he'd just shot the kid in the leg....there's probably a dozen ways this could have gone another way.
Local kid....sixteen years old....decides to sneak out of the house one night....go booze up and party with his associates. He's staying at his dad's house (divorced situation). House is in the nicer neighborhoods here in Virginia.
The kid parties and drinks up a bit. Then somewhere after midnight....he comes back to the back of the house....hops the fence, and misjudges his house for a house two houses down (they are all built the same way and look similar).
The kid opens a window.
He's drunk and clumsy.
The kid makes noise.
The real owner of this house.....up on the second floor....gets up and flips the lights on.
The kid thinks he's still in the right house, and just progressing up the stairs.
The kid won't stop.
The owner has a gun, and is yelling for the kid to stop.
The kid doesn't stop.
The kid is shot dead.
Cops come. It's a very long look over the mess. It takes hours to really come to some sorting of facts. The dad is called. A fairly traumatic event. Cops finally lay out the whole episode.
There's doubt if any charges will occur.
The kid's family has come out and said they forgive the older guy who shot the kid. They can understand how this all came down.
The mother? She was in the local area today. She lives in Indianapolis and kinda admits that neighborhoods there are a bit rougher, and she felt the son was safer with the ex-husband, than in Indianapolis.
You feel sorry for the kid. But on the stupidity scale....he was pushing a ten.
The guy who shot the kid? He's sitting there and asking himself how this all happened. If he'd locked the windows correctly....if he'd just shot the kid in the leg....there's probably a dozen ways this could have gone another way.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
My Experience in Cyprus
Back in 2009, I spent roughly ten days in Cyprus....on a vacation. It was one of those oddball trips that you'd take in your life. Resort. All-inclusive beverage deal (drink as much as you want, twenty-four hours a day). Beach.
With the recent financial mess going on, I follow the events more closely than most folks.
There's roughly ten things that I came away from the trip....on Cyprus:
1. There's a heck of a lot of folks walking around the island who speak Russian. From employees at hotels, to 'guests'.
2. You don't flush any toilet paper down the pipes in Cyprus....there's always a little can by the toilet and you put the paper in there. They just don't have adequate water supplies to flush anything of a paper nature.
3. Electricity is fairly expensive.
4. In 2009, there were a heck of a lot of construction projects going on, and new roads and streets being built everywhere....like they had tons of money.
5. About every fourth person you ran into....was British. Long-term resident of the isle, as I got the impression.
6. There's an absolute hatred of Turks. But beyond that initial hatred, no one can say much except how Turkey helped take over the north side of the island.
7. After reading two weeks worth of local newspapers....I got the impression that politics is a full-time thing and they must have a Fox News-like network on Cyprus to help generate that much enthusiasm
8. It's actually a tiny island, with only around a million residents. There's maybe 50k visitors there throughout the summer months.
9. Just about every single dish they serve.....has some quantity of olive oil or vinegar added to it.
10. Even if you go in September....you'd best dress as lightly as possible. You still sweat twenty-four hours a day.
With the recent financial mess going on, I follow the events more closely than most folks.
There's roughly ten things that I came away from the trip....on Cyprus:
1. There's a heck of a lot of folks walking around the island who speak Russian. From employees at hotels, to 'guests'.
2. You don't flush any toilet paper down the pipes in Cyprus....there's always a little can by the toilet and you put the paper in there. They just don't have adequate water supplies to flush anything of a paper nature.
3. Electricity is fairly expensive.
4. In 2009, there were a heck of a lot of construction projects going on, and new roads and streets being built everywhere....like they had tons of money.
5. About every fourth person you ran into....was British. Long-term resident of the isle, as I got the impression.
6. There's an absolute hatred of Turks. But beyond that initial hatred, no one can say much except how Turkey helped take over the north side of the island.
7. After reading two weeks worth of local newspapers....I got the impression that politics is a full-time thing and they must have a Fox News-like network on Cyprus to help generate that much enthusiasm
8. It's actually a tiny island, with only around a million residents. There's maybe 50k visitors there throughout the summer months.
9. Just about every single dish they serve.....has some quantity of olive oil or vinegar added to it.
10. Even if you go in September....you'd best dress as lightly as possible. You still sweat twenty-four hours a day.
Monday, 18 March 2013
That Satan Guy
So you gaze at the face for a minute, and you have this feeling....it's Obama. It's actually an actor, but you just have that momentary feeling....Obama....Satan.
An accident? Well, the producers just say it's a minor appearance thing and nothing else.
Me personally? I'm probably locked onto that image for the rest of my life. It's too bad that they couldn't get GW Bush for a week and have him play Noah. I might have had better feelings for "Noah" Bush. This satan guy? Yeah, it kinda bothers me.
Note: Now, a true Baptist would cite various references in the Bible that Satan can take many forms, and if you think you are looking at President Obama (Satan), then it's a spiritual thing and you might have a point there.
The Crazy Law
This week will put the Senate and the mass media into an odd position. Senator Lindsey Graham (R, SC) has put a bill on the Senate table that says if you are declared mentally incompetent....you have to be put into the national database, for gun purchases. You are then immediately disqualified from owning a weapon.
You can see some complications here, which the mass media will have to either ignore the bill entirely or pretend that it would hinder the mission at hand.
The Democratic Senators? They have to pretend the bill doesn't exist. Otherwise, you start to dig into much broader questions. For example....if a person is mentally incompetent....can you even allow them to vote? Or how about the purchase of alcohol? A driver's license? Could someone accuse a member of the Senate being mentally incompetent and then have them forced from the Senate floor?
After a couple of days....the mental health community will weigh in, and condemn the law. It's just not right or fair. The crazies need to retain their gun rights. At that point...you will shake your head and ask if the mental health community is crazy itself.
The truth? There's probably a million Americans who fall into some category of being mentally incompetent....either temporary or permanently. We could run around the US and accuse a dozen people in every community of a thousand folks or more. Using Graham's law....you'd just appear in front of some local judge....recite the federal law (if passed), and then folks declared incompetent. They wouldn't have to worry....no one will ship them off to a state facility....they'd just start to lose their rights as an American.
You can sense that a bunch of political folks are busy....doing mostly nothing....at a turbo speed.....and ending up with some results of questionable value.
If I lined up the sixteen mass shootings of 2012 and drilled into the mentally competency of the sixteen shooters....I think more than half would have been declared crazy. So there is a point to this. The question is.....just what else gets attached to this in the years to come.
Passage of the law? Forget about it. I just don't see more than two Democrats lining up to support this. And the media will not discuss the matter at all.
You can see some complications here, which the mass media will have to either ignore the bill entirely or pretend that it would hinder the mission at hand.
The Democratic Senators? They have to pretend the bill doesn't exist. Otherwise, you start to dig into much broader questions. For example....if a person is mentally incompetent....can you even allow them to vote? Or how about the purchase of alcohol? A driver's license? Could someone accuse a member of the Senate being mentally incompetent and then have them forced from the Senate floor?
After a couple of days....the mental health community will weigh in, and condemn the law. It's just not right or fair. The crazies need to retain their gun rights. At that point...you will shake your head and ask if the mental health community is crazy itself.
The truth? There's probably a million Americans who fall into some category of being mentally incompetent....either temporary or permanently. We could run around the US and accuse a dozen people in every community of a thousand folks or more. Using Graham's law....you'd just appear in front of some local judge....recite the federal law (if passed), and then folks declared incompetent. They wouldn't have to worry....no one will ship them off to a state facility....they'd just start to lose their rights as an American.
You can sense that a bunch of political folks are busy....doing mostly nothing....at a turbo speed.....and ending up with some results of questionable value.
If I lined up the sixteen mass shootings of 2012 and drilled into the mentally competency of the sixteen shooters....I think more than half would have been declared crazy. So there is a point to this. The question is.....just what else gets attached to this in the years to come.
Passage of the law? Forget about it. I just don't see more than two Democrats lining up to support this. And the media will not discuss the matter at all.
Saturday, 16 March 2013
The New Rule on Ramstein
In my youth, while in the Air Force, I spent a number of years (between five and six) living in the dorm (barracks is a more appropriate word but the Air Force hates the term). It ended up giving me a fairly different view on life.
The dorm room was simple. You had a bunk, a locker, a desk, a chair and a night stand to yourself. Typically, you had a refrigerator shared between you and your associate.
Over those years of life in the dorm, you got used to alcohol being around, and on rare occasions....some stupid events would occur. I came to eventually realize that it was the same issues that you had in college dorms.
This past week, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....the wing commander has decided to fix an ongoing problem at the base with alcohol incidents in the dorms. He banned all alcohol period. No booze, no beer, no wine. You can't bring it in. You can't store it. You can't drink it, within the dorm.
The logic of the commander? He believes the dorms are merely an extension of the training atmosphere. The idea of the dorms being a living atmosphere? Zero.
The issue in his mind is that alcohol consumption has triggered various cases that gone into the Air Force court room on base....throughout the last decade (I'm guessing). Once his tactic has been demonstrated and he goes for sixty days without any alcohol incidents....he'll consider it a success. It won't go away unless some General gets into the mess to toss the rule, or until this wing commander leaves the base and a new guy arrives to toss the rule.
What happens now? I suspect most guys will simply store their booze, beer and wine....in their car trunk, and drink mostly in the parking lot. The cops will report this and the commander will try to devise a policy of no booze stored in a private car....which base legal will laugh themselves into a fit and tell him that you can't really make up a rule like that.
Male and female banding together and just marrying for the heck of getting out of the barracks? It was an odd tradition in South Korea for twenty-odd years and made it into several other countries where the Air Force had installations. I could see twenty such arrangement occurring this spring as marriages are negotiated and just occur to get permission to move off-base. It's silly, but it's a solution.
So out there tonight....are Airman Gus, Airman Charley, and Airman Chad. The boys are all twenty years old and been on Ramstein for eight months. They'd like to have a party in their dorm.....but the best they can arrange for refreshments is water, Tang, and Doctor Pepper. The boys are wondering....if this is the way that things work in real life.
Down the street from our Airman on Ramstein....is the German barracks. I'm guessing....there's this wicked grin on the face of the German military youths. The wing commander's authority doesn't affect them. He can order just about anything he wants on Ramstein....but their barracks (notice, I didn't say dorm) is beyond his authority. They've got plenty of beer piled up in their rooms. Life goes on.
It's a bold new world out there.
The dorm room was simple. You had a bunk, a locker, a desk, a chair and a night stand to yourself. Typically, you had a refrigerator shared between you and your associate.
Over those years of life in the dorm, you got used to alcohol being around, and on rare occasions....some stupid events would occur. I came to eventually realize that it was the same issues that you had in college dorms.
This past week, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....the wing commander has decided to fix an ongoing problem at the base with alcohol incidents in the dorms. He banned all alcohol period. No booze, no beer, no wine. You can't bring it in. You can't store it. You can't drink it, within the dorm.
The logic of the commander? He believes the dorms are merely an extension of the training atmosphere. The idea of the dorms being a living atmosphere? Zero.
The issue in his mind is that alcohol consumption has triggered various cases that gone into the Air Force court room on base....throughout the last decade (I'm guessing). Once his tactic has been demonstrated and he goes for sixty days without any alcohol incidents....he'll consider it a success. It won't go away unless some General gets into the mess to toss the rule, or until this wing commander leaves the base and a new guy arrives to toss the rule.
What happens now? I suspect most guys will simply store their booze, beer and wine....in their car trunk, and drink mostly in the parking lot. The cops will report this and the commander will try to devise a policy of no booze stored in a private car....which base legal will laugh themselves into a fit and tell him that you can't really make up a rule like that.
Male and female banding together and just marrying for the heck of getting out of the barracks? It was an odd tradition in South Korea for twenty-odd years and made it into several other countries where the Air Force had installations. I could see twenty such arrangement occurring this spring as marriages are negotiated and just occur to get permission to move off-base. It's silly, but it's a solution.
So out there tonight....are Airman Gus, Airman Charley, and Airman Chad. The boys are all twenty years old and been on Ramstein for eight months. They'd like to have a party in their dorm.....but the best they can arrange for refreshments is water, Tang, and Doctor Pepper. The boys are wondering....if this is the way that things work in real life.
Down the street from our Airman on Ramstein....is the German barracks. I'm guessing....there's this wicked grin on the face of the German military youths. The wing commander's authority doesn't affect them. He can order just about anything he wants on Ramstein....but their barracks (notice, I didn't say dorm) is beyond his authority. They've got plenty of beer piled up in their rooms. Life goes on.
It's a bold new world out there.
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Harry
I don't normally lay out obituaries in my blog. However, there's this one obit which got published in the last week, and it's been on my mind. This old guy has passed on, and his daughter sat down and write up a personalize obit.
Normally, obituary writings are pretty serious and lay out a long life. No one ever says what's on their mind....but in this case....she pretty cleared the deck and wrote the best obit that I've ever seen. I frankly admit.....I would have liked to have met the guy. He is likely a one of a kind individual.
Harry Weathersby Stamps
December 19, 1932 -- March 9, 2013
Long Beach
Harry Weathersby Stamps, ladies' man, foodie, natty dresser, and accomplished traveler, died on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
Harry was locally sourcing his food years before chefs in California starting using cilantro and arugula (both of which he hated). For his signature bacon and tomato sandwich, he procured 100% all white Bunny Bread from Georgia, Blue Plate mayonnaise from New Orleans, Sauer's black pepper from Virginia, home grown tomatoes from outside Oxford, and Tennessee's Benton bacon from his bacon-of-the-month subscription. As a point of pride, he purported to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life.
The women in his life were numerous. He particularly fancied smart women. He loved his mom Wilma Hartzog (deceased), who with the help of her sisters and cousins in New Hebron reared Harry after his father Walter's death when Harry was 12. He worshipped his older sister Lynn Stamps Garner (deceased), a character in her own right, and her daughter Lynda Lightsey of Hattiesburg. He married his main squeeze Ann Moore, a home economics teacher, almost 50 years ago, with whom they had two girls Amanda Lewis of Dallas, and Alison of Starkville. He taught them to fish, to select a quality hammer, to love nature, and to just be thankful. He took great pride in stocking their tool boxes. One of his regrets was not seeing his girl, Hillary Clinton, elected President.
He had a life-long love affair with deviled eggs, Lane cakes, boiled peanuts, Vienna [Vi-e-na] sausages on saltines, his homemade canned fig preserves, pork chops, turnip greens, and buttermilk served in martini glasses garnished with cornbread.
He excelled at growing camellias, rebuilding houses after hurricanes, rocking, eradicating mole crickets from his front yard, composting pine needles, living within his means, outsmarting squirrels, never losing a game of competitive sickness, and reading any history book he could get his hands on. He loved to use his oversized "old man" remote control, which thankfully survived Hurricane Katrina, to flip between watching The Barefoot Contessa and anything on The History Channel. He took extreme pride in his two grandchildren Harper Lewis (8) and William Stamps Lewis (6) of Dallas for whom he would crow like a rooster on their phone calls. As a former government and sociology professor for Gulf Coast Community College, Harry was thoroughly interested in politics and religion and enjoyed watching politicians act like preachers and preachers act like politicians. He was fond of saying a phrase he coined "I am not running for political office or trying to get married" when he was "speaking the truth." He also took pride in his service during the Korean conflict, serving the rank of corporal--just like Napolean, as he would say.
Harry took fashion cues from no one. His signature every day look was all his: a plain pocketed T-shirt designed by the fashion house Fruit of the Loom, his black-label elastic waist shorts worn above the navel and sold exclusively at the Sam's on Highway 49, and a pair of old school Wallabees (who can even remember where he got those?) that were always paired with a grass-stained MSU baseball cap.
Harry traveled extensively. He only stayed in the finest quality AAA-rated campgrounds, his favorite being Indian Creek outside Cherokee, North Carolina. He always spent the extra money to upgrade to a creek view for his tent. Many years later he purchased a used pop-up camper for his family to travel in style, which spoiled his daughters for life.
He despised phonies, his 1969 Volvo (which he also loved), know-it-all Yankees, Southerners who used the words "veranda" and "porte cochere" to put on airs, eating grape leaves, Law and Order (all franchises), cats, and Martha Stewart. In reverse order. He particularly hated Day Light Saving Time, which he referred to as The Devil's Time. It is not lost on his family that he died the very day that he would have had to spring his clock forward. This can only be viewed as his final protest.
Because of his irrational fear that his family would throw him a golf-themed funeral despite his hatred for the sport, his family will hold a private, family only service free of any type of "theme." Visitation will be held at Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport on Monday, March 11, 2013 from 6-8 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (Jeff Davis Campus) for their library. Harry retired as Dean there and was very proud of his friends and the faculty. He taught thousands and thousands of Mississippians during his life. The family would also like to thank the Gulfport Railroad Center dialysis staff who took great care of him and his caretaker Jameka Stribling.
Finally, the family asks that in honor of Harry that you write your Congressman and ask for the repeal of Day Light Saving Time. Harry wanted everyone to get back on the Lord's Time.
Normally, obituary writings are pretty serious and lay out a long life. No one ever says what's on their mind....but in this case....she pretty cleared the deck and wrote the best obit that I've ever seen. I frankly admit.....I would have liked to have met the guy. He is likely a one of a kind individual.
Harry Weathersby Stamps
December 19, 1932 -- March 9, 2013
Long Beach
Harry Weathersby Stamps, ladies' man, foodie, natty dresser, and accomplished traveler, died on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
Harry was locally sourcing his food years before chefs in California starting using cilantro and arugula (both of which he hated). For his signature bacon and tomato sandwich, he procured 100% all white Bunny Bread from Georgia, Blue Plate mayonnaise from New Orleans, Sauer's black pepper from Virginia, home grown tomatoes from outside Oxford, and Tennessee's Benton bacon from his bacon-of-the-month subscription. As a point of pride, he purported to remember every meal he had eaten in his 80 years of life.
The women in his life were numerous. He particularly fancied smart women. He loved his mom Wilma Hartzog (deceased), who with the help of her sisters and cousins in New Hebron reared Harry after his father Walter's death when Harry was 12. He worshipped his older sister Lynn Stamps Garner (deceased), a character in her own right, and her daughter Lynda Lightsey of Hattiesburg. He married his main squeeze Ann Moore, a home economics teacher, almost 50 years ago, with whom they had two girls Amanda Lewis of Dallas, and Alison of Starkville. He taught them to fish, to select a quality hammer, to love nature, and to just be thankful. He took great pride in stocking their tool boxes. One of his regrets was not seeing his girl, Hillary Clinton, elected President.
He had a life-long love affair with deviled eggs, Lane cakes, boiled peanuts, Vienna [Vi-e-na] sausages on saltines, his homemade canned fig preserves, pork chops, turnip greens, and buttermilk served in martini glasses garnished with cornbread.
He excelled at growing camellias, rebuilding houses after hurricanes, rocking, eradicating mole crickets from his front yard, composting pine needles, living within his means, outsmarting squirrels, never losing a game of competitive sickness, and reading any history book he could get his hands on. He loved to use his oversized "old man" remote control, which thankfully survived Hurricane Katrina, to flip between watching The Barefoot Contessa and anything on The History Channel. He took extreme pride in his two grandchildren Harper Lewis (8) and William Stamps Lewis (6) of Dallas for whom he would crow like a rooster on their phone calls. As a former government and sociology professor for Gulf Coast Community College, Harry was thoroughly interested in politics and religion and enjoyed watching politicians act like preachers and preachers act like politicians. He was fond of saying a phrase he coined "I am not running for political office or trying to get married" when he was "speaking the truth." He also took pride in his service during the Korean conflict, serving the rank of corporal--just like Napolean, as he would say.
Harry took fashion cues from no one. His signature every day look was all his: a plain pocketed T-shirt designed by the fashion house Fruit of the Loom, his black-label elastic waist shorts worn above the navel and sold exclusively at the Sam's on Highway 49, and a pair of old school Wallabees (who can even remember where he got those?) that were always paired with a grass-stained MSU baseball cap.
Harry traveled extensively. He only stayed in the finest quality AAA-rated campgrounds, his favorite being Indian Creek outside Cherokee, North Carolina. He always spent the extra money to upgrade to a creek view for his tent. Many years later he purchased a used pop-up camper for his family to travel in style, which spoiled his daughters for life.
He despised phonies, his 1969 Volvo (which he also loved), know-it-all Yankees, Southerners who used the words "veranda" and "porte cochere" to put on airs, eating grape leaves, Law and Order (all franchises), cats, and Martha Stewart. In reverse order. He particularly hated Day Light Saving Time, which he referred to as The Devil's Time. It is not lost on his family that he died the very day that he would have had to spring his clock forward. This can only be viewed as his final protest.
Because of his irrational fear that his family would throw him a golf-themed funeral despite his hatred for the sport, his family will hold a private, family only service free of any type of "theme." Visitation will be held at Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport on Monday, March 11, 2013 from 6-8 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (Jeff Davis Campus) for their library. Harry retired as Dean there and was very proud of his friends and the faculty. He taught thousands and thousands of Mississippians during his life. The family would also like to thank the Gulfport Railroad Center dialysis staff who took great care of him and his caretaker Jameka Stribling.
Finally, the family asks that in honor of Harry that you write your Congressman and ask for the repeal of Day Light Saving Time. Harry wanted everyone to get back on the Lord's Time.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Those Silly Iranians
This week....the topic of Argo....the new factual movie about the six Americans rescued out of Iran during the crisis period came out....in Iran. Basically, the Iranians are a bit disturbed over the depiction of them as evil characters and they think that the bad Americans rewrote history. Some Iranian government officials believe it's time that a true movie of the entire event....be made in Iran and tell the Iranian's true story.
Some journalists from Iran talked over this commentary. They kinda pointed out.....Iran has never produced a single TV show or movie over this period and the way that the Americans were held. For over thirty years....nothing. So to them, it's a bit shocking now that the government suddenly wakes up and wants to tell the story.
You can imagine this scene....Mullah George and Ayatollah Larry....meeting up in some five-star decorated government office. They decide it's time to take the evil American's story and discard it. They need a big Tehran-style Hollywood producer to make this happen.
So Ali Perkinator comes over. Ali produced 'Five Jihads to the Wind', and 'Disco Tehran 2005'.
Mullah George starts up....this needs to be a family movie where a typical Iranian wakes up and rejoices because the evil Shah is gone, and the evil Americans are taken prisoner. Fresh fruit should suddenly appear on the street....at a highly discounted price. Gas prices drop overnight. Kids rejoice with new and fresh schoolbooks available....with Islamic themes in math and science.
Ayatollah Larry jumps up....suggesting that almost overnight, the terrible British and American TV shows stopped, and live Islamic prayers were telecast around the clock. Then he talked about the friendly nature of everyone to him from that first day on. And finally, he talked up the clean streets and freshly painted offices of the government that he toured.
Ali sits there quietly. You can sense his mind at work.
Finally, Ali asks....to make this authentic....he will need some Americans. Would Ayatollah Larry and Mullah George mind if he hired Lindsay Lohan, Martin Sheen, and half the cast of Amish Mafia. He wants this to be a combination of Islamic themes, action adventure, soap opera romance, frustrated Americans who drink and gamble greatly, and nicely tied up ending where the Iranians knew for days where the Americans were....but decided to just let the Canadians and CIA sneak them out of the country.
Mullah George and Ayatollah Larry sit and analyze the idea. Well....if you could get that Clint Eastwood guy....say Mullah George....to be the Ayatollah Khomeini...then this would all work out fine.
Ali leaves the meeting and sits in his luxury BMW....how the heck could he talk Clint Eastwood into being the Ayatollah? Then he envisions the real Ayatollah having four pistols under his robe and being fierce and confrontational. It all makes perfect sense.
Some journalists from Iran talked over this commentary. They kinda pointed out.....Iran has never produced a single TV show or movie over this period and the way that the Americans were held. For over thirty years....nothing. So to them, it's a bit shocking now that the government suddenly wakes up and wants to tell the story.
You can imagine this scene....Mullah George and Ayatollah Larry....meeting up in some five-star decorated government office. They decide it's time to take the evil American's story and discard it. They need a big Tehran-style Hollywood producer to make this happen.
So Ali Perkinator comes over. Ali produced 'Five Jihads to the Wind', and 'Disco Tehran 2005'.
Mullah George starts up....this needs to be a family movie where a typical Iranian wakes up and rejoices because the evil Shah is gone, and the evil Americans are taken prisoner. Fresh fruit should suddenly appear on the street....at a highly discounted price. Gas prices drop overnight. Kids rejoice with new and fresh schoolbooks available....with Islamic themes in math and science.
Ayatollah Larry jumps up....suggesting that almost overnight, the terrible British and American TV shows stopped, and live Islamic prayers were telecast around the clock. Then he talked about the friendly nature of everyone to him from that first day on. And finally, he talked up the clean streets and freshly painted offices of the government that he toured.
Ali sits there quietly. You can sense his mind at work.
Finally, Ali asks....to make this authentic....he will need some Americans. Would Ayatollah Larry and Mullah George mind if he hired Lindsay Lohan, Martin Sheen, and half the cast of Amish Mafia. He wants this to be a combination of Islamic themes, action adventure, soap opera romance, frustrated Americans who drink and gamble greatly, and nicely tied up ending where the Iranians knew for days where the Americans were....but decided to just let the Canadians and CIA sneak them out of the country.
Mullah George and Ayatollah Larry sit and analyze the idea. Well....if you could get that Clint Eastwood guy....say Mullah George....to be the Ayatollah Khomeini...then this would all work out fine.
Ali leaves the meeting and sits in his luxury BMW....how the heck could he talk Clint Eastwood into being the Ayatollah? Then he envisions the real Ayatollah having four pistols under his robe and being fierce and confrontational. It all makes perfect sense.
A Bullet Here or There
I spent twenty-two years in the Air Force. From basic training, until the very end....you had to maintain a proficiency in firearms. For the Air Force, this typically meant you spent three hours in a class, then practiced with fifty rounds, and then shot around forty to fifty to 'qualify'. You did that every two years generally. So I fired around 1,100 total rounds in my Air Force career.
A Marine today....getting ready for his deployment to Afghanistan or some distant land....will fire at least a thousand rounds. Some, with the heavy duty machine guns (M2HB) might fire a couple thousand rounds easily. If they stuck around for twenty years....they might fire twenty-five thousand easily, as a minimum.
I was sitting there and discussing this new directive from the Marines to their young men and ladies....to save on ammo as much as possible. My co-worker, an Army guy for twenty-odd years, will often tease me on Air Force short-comings. I usually take it in stride.
The truth is that some folks just won't ever be on the frontline operations....like ninety-eight percent of Air Force folks. That hundred-odd rounds we fired....were enough.
The other truth here is that if I was a Marine....I'd probably ask to fire three hundred rounds a week for at least six weeks before I deployed anywhere....to ensure I felt up to the task.
But there's a historical point of curiosity If you went back to 1860....you signed up with a Confederate unit or a Union unit. You might have spent two weeks in camp and going through some practice....mostly marching and forming up in columns. Total rounds fired over that two weeks? Maybe twenty to fifty shots. After that, you were considered proficient, and probably met the enemy within a few days. You lived or died, based on how quickly you could reload or your ability to stay in the back of the column.
We've changed a great deal in a hundred years.
A Marine today....getting ready for his deployment to Afghanistan or some distant land....will fire at least a thousand rounds. Some, with the heavy duty machine guns (M2HB) might fire a couple thousand rounds easily. If they stuck around for twenty years....they might fire twenty-five thousand easily, as a minimum.
I was sitting there and discussing this new directive from the Marines to their young men and ladies....to save on ammo as much as possible. My co-worker, an Army guy for twenty-odd years, will often tease me on Air Force short-comings. I usually take it in stride.
The truth is that some folks just won't ever be on the frontline operations....like ninety-eight percent of Air Force folks. That hundred-odd rounds we fired....were enough.
The other truth here is that if I was a Marine....I'd probably ask to fire three hundred rounds a week for at least six weeks before I deployed anywhere....to ensure I felt up to the task.
But there's a historical point of curiosity If you went back to 1860....you signed up with a Confederate unit or a Union unit. You might have spent two weeks in camp and going through some practice....mostly marching and forming up in columns. Total rounds fired over that two weeks? Maybe twenty to fifty shots. After that, you were considered proficient, and probably met the enemy within a few days. You lived or died, based on how quickly you could reload or your ability to stay in the back of the column.
We've changed a great deal in a hundred years.
Monday, 11 March 2013
My Neighborhood
Across the river....a good safe distance from Arlington....we had another shooting in DC last night. Cops now say that seven people (minimum) were shoot by a drive-by guy in a BMW....around 2AM Monday morning.
Reason? None.
The best they can say is that a group of folks were simply out front of an apartment complex....talking on the sidewalk area at 2AM, and the guy drove by to fire some rounds. All will survive apparently.
The thing that generally gets me....almost all of these shootings (the vast majority)....end up occurring between 10PM and 3AM. In an entire year....there might be three shootings during daylight hours. Toss in a dozen-odd shootings from 7PM to 10PM as the sun starts to set. The vast majority all happen in the later hours.
So you are left with this question....why the heck would you be out on the street at 2AM? And you really can't answer that question.
Reason? None.
The best they can say is that a group of folks were simply out front of an apartment complex....talking on the sidewalk area at 2AM, and the guy drove by to fire some rounds. All will survive apparently.
The thing that generally gets me....almost all of these shootings (the vast majority)....end up occurring between 10PM and 3AM. In an entire year....there might be three shootings during daylight hours. Toss in a dozen-odd shootings from 7PM to 10PM as the sun starts to set. The vast majority all happen in the later hours.
So you are left with this question....why the heck would you be out on the street at 2AM? And you really can't answer that question.
Saturday, 9 March 2013
The Five Great Mysteries of Bama
Over the years, there are a couple of weird events....which I tended to view, as mostly unexplainable, and more of a mystery...from the state of Bama.
First, there is the 1965 event of "Bloody Sunday"....where cops from Bama got into a mess with black marchers....going from Selma....to Montgomery. The mystery here....is how anyone could put together such a fifty mile walk....without any water stations or rest points. Over the years....I've looked at the route and am generally amazed that anyone could be talked into this....especially in March. It might have been a terrible mess in July....with the heat on....but still, March is not a great month to go walking in Bama.
In general.....you get the impression that the plan was thrown together at the last minute so no one could react to it much. The reaction by the Governor? Well....that's a mystery too. There's no state law violated, and other than looking for trouble....that's mostly all that the Governor could pause and say.
Even if you came to me today and said we need to march fifty miles over to the West Virginia border....I'd be asking questions. Where's the water and food? Where do we camp on the way? What if it rains? In this case....no one asked many questions.
The second mystery? Back in 1957, over near Phenix City, Bama....some kid found a coin in a field from the island of Sicily....dated 490 B.C. To this day....no one is saying much except wondering how it got there, and if a bunch of Italians were marching around Phenix City back two thousand years ago. The odds? Well....you just don't know. They might have checked things out....found out it was "dry" county back then, and just left looking for a place where you could get a real drink. You just don't know.
The third mystery? At the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston....things turned into a literal mess. Stephen Douglass was pretty much set to win, and easily beat the Republican candidate. But the Bama delegation came into play....demanded a certain platform that Douglass would not support (it'd screw up the votes in the northern states, had he gone to support slavery). So at some key point, the Bama delegation got up and walked out (led by William Yancy).
The election? The Democrats had to meet a second time...up in Baltimore. This went swell for Douglass, but the southern Democrats got all hostile (thanks to the Bama group again), and got up a Southern Democratic Party candidate.
As you can imagine....Douglass simply could not win enough votes in the north, or the south, and sat there in a mess at the end. In essence, the Bama group helped Lincoln win, and helped to start the Civil War. And for what? Just words on a platform, which typically mean nothing anyway.
Fourth? Per square mile, Bama probably has a listing of more haunted places than any state in the US. You stop any guy on the side of the road and ask for a local haunted site, and he'll likely throw three out at you...all within ten miles. Why so many hauntings? More disturbed Bama dead folks than over in Georgia or South Carolina? That's a mystery.
Fifth? Two guys walk into a Bama bar....total strangers. It only takes a mere sixty seconds for a conversation between the two to start over: (1) NCAA football, (2) hunting or fishing, (3) Baptist revivals, (4) love gone wrong, or (5) the problems of digging up septic tanks. You could put the two guys into a Wal-Mart, a Piggy Wiggly, or even a bait shop....and they'd still start talking over the same topics. Fate or mystery?
First, there is the 1965 event of "Bloody Sunday"....where cops from Bama got into a mess with black marchers....going from Selma....to Montgomery. The mystery here....is how anyone could put together such a fifty mile walk....without any water stations or rest points. Over the years....I've looked at the route and am generally amazed that anyone could be talked into this....especially in March. It might have been a terrible mess in July....with the heat on....but still, March is not a great month to go walking in Bama.
In general.....you get the impression that the plan was thrown together at the last minute so no one could react to it much. The reaction by the Governor? Well....that's a mystery too. There's no state law violated, and other than looking for trouble....that's mostly all that the Governor could pause and say.
Even if you came to me today and said we need to march fifty miles over to the West Virginia border....I'd be asking questions. Where's the water and food? Where do we camp on the way? What if it rains? In this case....no one asked many questions.
The second mystery? Back in 1957, over near Phenix City, Bama....some kid found a coin in a field from the island of Sicily....dated 490 B.C. To this day....no one is saying much except wondering how it got there, and if a bunch of Italians were marching around Phenix City back two thousand years ago. The odds? Well....you just don't know. They might have checked things out....found out it was "dry" county back then, and just left looking for a place where you could get a real drink. You just don't know.
The third mystery? At the 1860 Democratic Convention in Charleston....things turned into a literal mess. Stephen Douglass was pretty much set to win, and easily beat the Republican candidate. But the Bama delegation came into play....demanded a certain platform that Douglass would not support (it'd screw up the votes in the northern states, had he gone to support slavery). So at some key point, the Bama delegation got up and walked out (led by William Yancy).
The election? The Democrats had to meet a second time...up in Baltimore. This went swell for Douglass, but the southern Democrats got all hostile (thanks to the Bama group again), and got up a Southern Democratic Party candidate.
As you can imagine....Douglass simply could not win enough votes in the north, or the south, and sat there in a mess at the end. In essence, the Bama group helped Lincoln win, and helped to start the Civil War. And for what? Just words on a platform, which typically mean nothing anyway.
Fourth? Per square mile, Bama probably has a listing of more haunted places than any state in the US. You stop any guy on the side of the road and ask for a local haunted site, and he'll likely throw three out at you...all within ten miles. Why so many hauntings? More disturbed Bama dead folks than over in Georgia or South Carolina? That's a mystery.
Fifth? Two guys walk into a Bama bar....total strangers. It only takes a mere sixty seconds for a conversation between the two to start over: (1) NCAA football, (2) hunting or fishing, (3) Baptist revivals, (4) love gone wrong, or (5) the problems of digging up septic tanks. You could put the two guys into a Wal-Mart, a Piggy Wiggly, or even a bait shop....and they'd still start talking over the same topics. Fate or mystery?
Two Things
There were two minor stories of interest from Friday.
First, from Tennessee....there's a small town which had a number of problems with its cops....and racism. Things got out of control.....so they fired all of the town's policemen. They've gone out and hired a new chief of police. And he's ready to hire new cops for the town, but there's one stipulation. You have to take a law detector test, and prove you are not racist.
Based on two articles....it appears that there just aren't that many applicants for the jobs. Most legal experts say it's legal, but they have doubts that it really works like it is intended.
Typically with a lie detector test....if you really believe you are pure and clean....you will pass, but after you get into a conversation.....you might easily demonstrate that you are racist, but you just don't know it or believe it. So the test might be worthless.
I'm guessing some cops are just fearful they might be other questions, and get into details of their life that shouldn't be discussed in public....like doing drugs or handling stolen property.
Will it catch on? I'm guessing some people will ask more questions about the test, and discuss the idea of opening it up for real police departments. Value? In my book....less than zero. You could have a whole department pass the test, and discover that every member is Klan member tomorrow.
The second story? Up in New York state....the schools got all hot for having cops walk the beat in schools. So in the Highland Central School District....they had this episode occur. A cop was walking within the school's hallway, and his gun went off (accidentally, he says). So far, the school is in the midst of an investigation....that mostly goes nowhere.
The likely scenario? The cop probably has a gun with a safety that easily flips from safe to fire. The cop rounds a corner....bumps the wall...it flips to fire, and with a hair-like trigger....it simply goes off. Luckily, not hitting the cop or any kids. Or maybe the cop actually pulled it from the holster and was playing with it (the Barney Fife-trick). You just don't know.
What starts to get interesting now is that parents are concerned over the safety of their kids in the school. It was bad enough to worry about some nut.....but you need to now worry about some cop and his gun. You might have to actually pass a law that guns are simply not allowed in a school period....even with the cops.
First, from Tennessee....there's a small town which had a number of problems with its cops....and racism. Things got out of control.....so they fired all of the town's policemen. They've gone out and hired a new chief of police. And he's ready to hire new cops for the town, but there's one stipulation. You have to take a law detector test, and prove you are not racist.
Based on two articles....it appears that there just aren't that many applicants for the jobs. Most legal experts say it's legal, but they have doubts that it really works like it is intended.
Typically with a lie detector test....if you really believe you are pure and clean....you will pass, but after you get into a conversation.....you might easily demonstrate that you are racist, but you just don't know it or believe it. So the test might be worthless.
I'm guessing some cops are just fearful they might be other questions, and get into details of their life that shouldn't be discussed in public....like doing drugs or handling stolen property.
Will it catch on? I'm guessing some people will ask more questions about the test, and discuss the idea of opening it up for real police departments. Value? In my book....less than zero. You could have a whole department pass the test, and discover that every member is Klan member tomorrow.
The second story? Up in New York state....the schools got all hot for having cops walk the beat in schools. So in the Highland Central School District....they had this episode occur. A cop was walking within the school's hallway, and his gun went off (accidentally, he says). So far, the school is in the midst of an investigation....that mostly goes nowhere.
The likely scenario? The cop probably has a gun with a safety that easily flips from safe to fire. The cop rounds a corner....bumps the wall...it flips to fire, and with a hair-like trigger....it simply goes off. Luckily, not hitting the cop or any kids. Or maybe the cop actually pulled it from the holster and was playing with it (the Barney Fife-trick). You just don't know.
What starts to get interesting now is that parents are concerned over the safety of their kids in the school. It was bad enough to worry about some nut.....but you need to now worry about some cop and his gun. You might have to actually pass a law that guns are simply not allowed in a school period....even with the cops.
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