SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 6, 2000
OCTOBER 6, 2K
Good morning. It is 5:21 A.M. and the outside temperature
is 50.0 degrees.
Thinking of winter
I was closing my swimming pool on Wednesday and there,
crawling across the edge of the pool was a black wooly bear caterpillar.
Do you know what that means? I do and it sent shivvers down my back.
A hard, cold winter with lots and lots of snow.
I tried to dismiss it. I am aware of the interracial
aspect of caterpillar. I thought maybe one caught a ride back from
Florida with me in the bags of grapefruit I bought around Gainesville.
Everyone knows that Florida caterpillar are darker than northern caterpillar.
They are in the sun much more and the sun they have is hotter. That
had to be it. I dismissed the whole matter.
Later that same day I was walking between my house and
the Rainbow Inn. Ever since the day a particularly large black bear
(not Jack) and I came face to face, I stopped walking looking at the
ground. Actually, ever since that day, I walk like I am moving through
the heavy bush looking for an attack from all sides. Believe me, coming
face to face with one of those guys will bring you back to reality
real fast concerning how cute they actually are. Teddy Bear my foot!
Anyway, while moving with great stealth across my own property I saw
two more of them.
I knew then that it was not Florida. They had not hitch
hiked back with me. They were here and winter was looking me straight
in the face. It was looking at me and it was laughing. It had me right
where it wanted me and I was going to be punished for enjoying, and
actually reveling in the mild winters we have had over the past three
or four years.
The first year I was here winter set in very early.
As I recall, we had a cold and wet summer, just like the one we have
just had. We had built a new fire place at the Ranch (the predecessor
to the Rainbow Inn) and I was doing insulating and painting to get
the hundred year old structure ready for the winter. Our primary heat
source was wood and I had a load of logs in the back and I cut on
them for an hour or so every day.
John Gates and I had just put a new face on the place
and he was painting. We knew we were racing the weather and we shook
a leg to get done. He was just putting away the last empty paint can
when we could see the lead clouds of the front approaching from the
west. We went into the bar and sat down for a draught or two. (Actually
more like six or ten - who can remember and who cares?) Any way, around
eight that night the wind began to blow. And did it ever! Then came
the driving rain. Boy did it ever rain. Then the wind shifted from
out of the south west to out of the north. The temperature dropped
and the rain changed to snow. Winter arrived just like that.
Snow was on the ground that year from mid-October until
the first week of February. I believe it snowed every day during that
time and our snow banks were well over my head. It was a brutal welcome
home after years of living in Texas and only coming north on business
or at Christmas to visit my parents and my in-laws. Something, maybe
a little voice in my head, tells me that we are going to have a replay
of that year.
Our house was especially cold that year. We had a wood
stove and electric base board heat. All the wood was over at the bar
and restaurant so we used the electric heat. We were never warm. Those
little heaters under the windows are not the same as a wood stove
or a forced air furnace.
So much has changed since then. The old Ranch is gone
and was replaced by the Rainbow Inn. I heat the Rainbow and my house
with propane. My house is larger and much better insulated. The Rainbow
is very well insulated. It would appear that we are ready for winter,
all except for the leak in the dining room that I discovered last
night during some heavy rain. It never ends and it never fails. Just
about the time you think all is well something else happens.
But because of the slick asphalt sheeting (Ondura) I
used when we built the Rainbow in 1990, the leak will be quickly fixed
- I hope. It is just a tuck and nail job and we should be high and
dry until spring. And I have the materials, too!
Winter is just around the corner and we can all see
it coming. I have to remember to call Sears and have them service
my tractor and put on the snow plow blade so I can keep my driveway
clear. That is always fun first thing in the morning when it is ten
degrees or so. Yes. I am really looking forward to that. But at the
same time there is something about that first snow and the ones that
follow it. There is something that leaves you at peace with it and
something else that makes you contented when you are inside looking
out at it.
While some consider themselves house bound, I sort of
relish it. I like being confined by winter and it allows me to mentally
contemplate and prepare for the next year. And I especially like it
as long as I can get away from it for a week or so in the middle of
it. With that in mind, I will refresh my memory before winter
sets in so I will know what I have to look forward to.
Sunny St. Pete Beach, Florida! Great bars and better
people! Pretty girls! Lots of fun!
Great guys and great music and balloons!
And even more sun and sitting at the edge of the pool along with
more fun.
The pictures were taken at The Tradewinds Resort, St. Pete Beach
Florida and feature the staff of the Flying Bridge Beach Barge, the
Great Darrell Dodge, the Fabulous Balloon Man, and Sam Stone along
with Sharyn at the pool.
Until February!
Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.
Have a nice day.
BUD'S NOTE: For those of you who are new to the column,
the Rainbow Inn is located in Marshburg, PA (Northwestern Pennsylvania)
on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest. Marshburg is located
on SR 59 between Warren and Smethport, 13 miles past the Kinzu Dam
and the reservoir.
OCTOBER 5, 2K
What ever happened to the New Frontier?
Good morning. It is 49.5 degrees at 5:22 A.M. It
is raining outside. I guess the bad weather is a little to the west
of us. Oh well. It is that time of year.
Forty years ago John F. Kennedy spoke of the New
Frontier. It was a catchy phrase and it inspired mental pictures that
differed from person to person. We can only wonder what it meant to
him.
Looking back, for some the New Frontier had to have
meant a new age in economic prosperity. We had just ended a decade
of economic uncertainty. The nation had experienced a post war boom
at the beginning of the fifties buy became bogged down by inflation
and a recession that just would not go away. Unemployment was high
and wages were low. The Teamsters, the United Auto Workers, and the
Steelworkers all went on extended and devastating strikes. If that
is what the New Frontier meant, then we grabbed it by the neck and
wrung out whatever we could.
It was during the Vietnam war that we were able to produce
guns and butter at the same time. For the first time in the economic
history of man, a nation was able to fight an extended and costly
war without placing any sort of economic or supply side hardship on
the people at home.
For others, the New Frontier had to have meant racial
equality. The prior decade was one of awakening. People wanted the
same rights that everyone else had. They just didn't have to be African-American
to want that. Granted, they were the first to speak out, but right
on their heels came women. And do you remember the Mexican-Americans
striking in the fields of California? The New Frontier ushered in
the demands for equality all around the table and that certainly included
women.
Then there was space and national defense. The first
satellite was successfully placed in orbit in 1958 by the Russians.
They had larger and more powerful rockets. If they could launch an
object into space and have it orbit the earth, then they could send
bombs across the oceans and destroy our cities with relative ease.
That ushered in the age of the Space Race and the struggle for military
superiority.
It also must have given the sense of freedom. Shortly
after those words were spoken the birth control pill was given to
us. Life suddenly was good and sex was even better. At the same time
the old taboos were being challenged and one by one, stricken down.
People had rights and they were not about to sit back and allow anyone
to take them away. To them the New Frontier had to have meant doing
whatever they wanted when they wanted. And looking back now, that
is exactly what happened. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What a time.
Where is the New Frontier today? What ever happened
to it? Did it leave us? Did we lose it? Or, was it just a myth?
Since John Kennedy inspired us with those words we certainly
have had economic prosperity. We have seen changes, too. Civil rights
- law after law, incident after incident, quotas, bussing, equal pay
for equal work, sexual harassment, and on and on, became as common
as breathing. We were forced to look at ourselves as a nation and
we didn't like what we saw. We made changes. Granted, not enough,
and there are still more to make; but we did change. And we still
are. In that respect, perhaps the New Frontier is alive and well.
But what about the rest of it? It couldn't have been just Civil Rights
and a booming economy. Could it?
We won the space race by landing on the moon and going
to Mars. We fly the Space Shuttle every month and just imagine that
the Russians and us are building a Space Station together.
On the other side, we certainly built as many if not
more missles and bombs than the Russians. We won the cold war and
we did it in true Capitalistic style. While we were fighting in Vietnam
and making new cars and color televisions, the Russians supplied the
other side and had lines and ration stamps for everything you could
imagine. Toilet paper was like gold. When they fought in Afghanistan,
we began building computers and supplied the rebels all at the same
time. We never missed a stroke. In the end, we had them dismantle
missles and bombs and we paid them cold hard American dollars. We
won it all. We did it by literally outspending them. And isn't that
the American way?
We had a sexual and social revolution. We thought we
knew what we were doing, but in the end we found it was all an illusion.
We gave up the values of our parents, and have been struggling to
get them back ever since. Much like the Bolshevik Revolution, it wasn't
exactly what it was cracked up to be. New sexually transmitted diseases,
abortion, broken homes, latch key kids, dissolution of the family,
and many many others all came about as a result of what we did then.
It certainly was a new frontier, but not exactly the one we were looking
for.
I'm really not sure where the New Frontier went.
I can't say for sure but I will take a shot at it.
I do know that using this nifty tool called a computer,
I can communicate with a half a million of you with ease and speed
and never have to leave my home, let alone get dressed and look presentable.
I can sit here in sweats and a tee shirt, hair not brushed and the
coffee sitting out in the kitchen waiting for me and tell you what
I think.
The computer age, the age of Cybersex, e-commerce, e-mail,
and free telephone calls over the Internet have to be a big part of
it. Looking back and remembering John Kennedy say it, the New Frontier
was the future. And if it was and if I am right, then the New Frontier
is out there just in front of us and just out of our reach. It is
that thing we are striving to have but never actually will. The New
Frontier is different for everyone and every generation, but it is
there just the same and very very real. And it changes as we change.
As we age our frontiers become redefined and modified. We change our
goals and we certainly change our needs. And in the end, the New Frontier
may be just taking that last breath.
Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.
Have a nice day.
CLICK
HERE FOR FINE COLLECTIBLES AND ANTIQUES
OCTOBER 4, 2K
Yuengling Night at the Bradford Hotel
Good morning. It is 51.3 degrees at 5:00 A.M. I spent
a wonderful day yesterday with my grandson, Sam, and Sharyn. We were out
and about for the day and what a great day it was. Then, last evening, I
went to the Bradford Hotel to watch the Presidential Debate. As luck
would have it, I showed up on Yuengling Night.
The place was packed. All the regulars were there. Billy
Peckham, the legendary former Chief of Police in the City of Bradford
and great Irish tenor was there with owner, Dave Sheffer. They were at
their usual places down at the end of the bar. Peckham, as usual, was
standing, and Sheffer, as usual also, was sitting. They immediately
recognized me as I entered the bar.
"Brother Beck," Peckham yelled out, signaling
me to come over and join him.
I made my way across the room. It was already two deep
at the bar. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the debate between Governor
George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. I got the impression just
from some of the conversations I was over hearing that the crowd
was charged. Finally making it to the two men Dave Sheffer turned around
on his bar stool and extended his hand.
"Good to see you," he said. "You haven't
been around for some time. Where have you been?"
"Traveling and working," I said. "The
column is syndicated with four other on line magazines now and our
readership has really increased. I am putting more time and effort into
the internet and our business is beginning to show it, too."
"Good for you," Billy Peckham said. "Good
for you."
"Are all of these people here for the debate?"
I asked.
"No," Sheffer said. "It's Yuengling
Night. The guy from the brewery is here and he is promoting their beer.
Everyone turned out looking for some freebees. They weren't
disappointed. The salesman is a great guy. Wish I could say that about
some of these free loaders. Not one of them has spent a penny. Just
Paul." Dave pointed over at a table covered with empty Yuengling
bottles.
I immediately recognized Paul from the brewery and Nick,
a Warren beer distributor. I excused myself and went over to their
table.
"Hey guys," I said. "Good turnout."
Nick stood up and began shaking my hand. "Bud. Good
to see you. How's it going?"
"Great," I answered.
Paul rose and shook my hand too. "Bud. What brings
you down off the hill?" he asked. Then without waiting for an
answer he went right into selling. "We should do this up at the
Rainbow Inn. Look at how successful this is. Have a beer!"
He ordered me one and I gladly accepted it. It was
great.
Yuengling is the oldest brewery in America. They have
been in business since 1829 and make some great beers. As I finished the
first beer a second arrived. About that time the debate was beginning
and I excused myself and went back to Sheffer and Peckham so I could
hear the television.
"Turn it up," Sheffer told the bartender. She
did and the people in the crowd began to turn their attention to the two
men vying to become President of the United States. Almost immediately
the comments began.
"The tree!" someone said as Vice President
Gore was answering a question.
"If he's a tree, then Bush is a rat," someone
else said in rebuttal. "Look at him. He has a pointy face just like
a rat."
Even though comments like that were being thrown around,
I focused on what the men were trying to get across. This election, we
are being told, is the closest in the last twenty years. I knew it would
be and I know it is an important one. Much too important to be calling
the two men trees and rats. But I had to write that off to the
intelligence of the people calling the names.
"He wants to give 50% of the surplus to the richest
one percent of the population - all people earning more than one million
dollars a year," Al Gore said. He said it over and over during the
debate that lasted ninety-seven and a half minutes.
Governor Bush never denied it. I watched his face each
and every time. I waited for him to explode and fire back calling Gore's
contention a fabrication. It never happened. I looked at him and I saw
his father. I saw the rich people who traditionally are the Republicans.
I saw the elite. And looking into the man's eyes, I saw a nation that
under the right circumstances could easy turn around in a minute.
I wondered how strong these claims of surplus were? What
would happen if there was a world economic crisis and the stock market
went south? What would happen if this oil business got any further out
of hand and the price of gas at the pump sent the economy reeling? Is
this projected surplus real, or is it election year rhetoric? I wasn't
sure.
Then came a second difference. Gore challenged Bush on
his Pro-Life stance. He pointed out how he supported a woman's right to
choice and said in no uncertain terms that ".......the government
had no place intruding on such personal matters in a woman's
life."
I love babies. Heck. I had just spent the day with one
that loves me without reservation and another is about to make an
appearance any moment. They are wonderful and I wouldn't have it any
other way. But having or not having a baby is a choice that people must
make for themselves. I don't like the government telling us what to or
not to do. As much as I disagree with my fellow Democrats about guns, I
totally disagree with Bush about his stance on a woman's right to
choice.
As Yuengling Night ended and the free loaders left, only
the hard core was remained. All of us listened as the two men stated,
rebutted the other, and re-stated their positions. A clear difference
was being made.
Governor Bush seemed to feel being Governor of Texas was
experience enough to run the nation. If it wasn't, I am sure he would be
looking to his dad for help. Fine.
However, Vice President Gore pointed to twenty-four
years in Washington, not a state capitol. He pointed to the fact he
enlisted and went to Vietnam when he knew he could have avoided the
whole sticky mess. He told about being in the Congress and then the
Senate. As he did, I felt more comfortable with his experience than I
did with that of George Bush. A Vice President is better fit to serve
than a Governor.
When Bush finally did begin to attack Gore personally in
the last five minutes of the debate, Gore rose above it. I remembered
him taking on and taking apart Ross Perot in 1992. Gore can become very
aggressive. Last night he wasn't. He pointed out that people were
interested in issues not personal attacks. I respected him for that.
As it ended I thought it was a boring debate with no one
man standing out over the other. I ordered another beer and changed the
subject to the Steelers and the Bills.
The news commentators continued long after the
candidates left the building. They confirmed what I felt. Bush didn't
hurt himself and in general, the people were more confident in Gore's
experience. 49% felt Gore won. 36% thought Bush won. The rest didn't
know. Oh well. There is another debate next week and Lieberman and
Cheney debate tomorrow. Election year! Isn't it grand. Just another
Yuengling Night at the Bradford Hotel. Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.
Have a nice day.
CLICK
HERE FOR FINE COLLECTIBLES AND ANTIQUES
OCTOBER 3, 2K
Different rules for different people
Good morning. It is 61 degrees at 5:51 A.M. A
thunderstorm blasted on through here a little after two this morning.
Sharyn sleeps like a rock, but I heard it and was up after that. Good
thing I was. I got a jump on the ever increasing e-mail. It seems that a
lot of you agreed with me about Rush.
A few more of you were interested in what the leaves
looked like. It just so happens that before the sun finally faded last
night I snapped a few shots of some of the trees around my house.
Imagine a whole forest of these! It is a magnificent
sight to see. But don't be too envious just yet. We have snow in our
forecast for Saturday and Sunday. All of this will be gone all too soon.
Those are for you, Sue. We miss you, too.
Being up as early as I am normally, I do a number of
things. One is indulging myself in one of my favorite pastimes, surfing
on my big dish satellite. I bring in a number of movies, news programs,
and general information. Today was no exception.
One news program reported on Congress working on a law
to hold corporate executives responsible for defective products that are
not recalled soon enough. Obviously that is a knee jerk response to the
Firestone fiasco.
While it may, on the surface, sound like a great idea,
it really scares me.
It scares me because once the bill becomes a law for
only the finest of intentions, what will the Justice Department and
Federal Prosecutors, not to mention the Judges who rule on the cases
that will be brought, twist this into?
Legislation of this type does not end with the law. No
it does not! Judge A will interpret the law to mean something totally
different than what Congress intended and he will re-write the law from
the bench. At the same time, a prosecutor, trying to win his or her
spurs, will pick on some unsuspecting saps who did nothing even remotely
associated with the intent of the law and ruin their lives. Laws like
these scare me to death.
The Firestone thing appears to be an egregious and
unconscionable act that Ford and Firestone both hoped would go away.
Congress needed to get involved. Our safety is directly involved and it
is good to see those fat heads in Washington involved, finally doing
something.
The head of Firestone is being replaced. The board
evidently waited for him to do the "honorable thing," but
absent that, they had to take action of some sort. But with all this
flap about unsafe tires and one hundred people killed as a result of it
all, it seems that we as a population are missing something. With
Congress wanting to pass laws to see this never happens again, they are
ignoring something much more serious than defective Firestone tires.
They are ignoring it and they are ignoring it deliberately.
What about the Boeing 737 ?
The Federal Aviation Administration, Congress, The
President of the United States of America, and the Boeing Corporation
all know that the mainstay of the aviation industry is flawed. They have
given Boeing five years to redesign the rudder and correct the problem.
Today, more people will fly on a Boeing 737 than any
other model or type of aircraft and they will be more unsafe on that
plane than any other currently in operation. And everyone knows it! Five
years! Who are they kidding? Who are they endangering?
Two crashes, one in Colorado Springs and one in
Pittsburgh have killed more people in this country than the combined
total of lives lost as a result of defective Firestone tires not just in
this nation, but internationally. The crashes occurred as a result of a
defect in the rudder that, "on extremely rare occasions"
causes it to swing to a side, lock in place, and makes the plane roll
over. Over Pittsburgh the 737 rolled over, went into a nose dive from
12,000 feet, and crashed into the ground killing everyone aboard. Those
people knew they were going to die. They knew it for about thirty
seconds - the time it took from the rudder malfunctioning until they hit
the ground.
Think about how long thirty seconds can be in a
situation like that. Try holding your breath for thirty seconds. Go
ahead. Try. And while you are doing it think of what was going through
all of their minds.
Firestone is going to be ruined. I would never buy
another Firestone tire and I certainly don't want my new car coming with
Firestone tires either. I'll buy another car. I want no part of a tire
with the name Firestone on it.
But think about it. If they are recalling all of these
tires, why haven't they grounded the fleet of 737's? Could it be that
the airline industry has more clout than one automobile manufacturer and
one tire manufacturer?
I am sure that if only the 737's owned by Northwest were
flawed, they would be grounded. Even if it was only Northwest and US
Airways they would be out of commission. But every single 737 flying for
every single airline? Get real. Do you know the economic impact that
would have?
Imagine what it would do to scheduling. Imagine the loss
of revenue. Imagine what it would do to the banks that financed all of
those aircraft that still aren't paid for. Just imagine that and a
myriad of other things that are escaping me right now. The impact would
be a world wide disaster.
So we have different rules for different situations.
Will the new law affect Boeing? Will it affect the FAA? They all know
the plane is unsafe. They are all looking the other way for five years.
What happens between then and now? How many more crashes will we have
that are caused by this known defect?
If the statistics hold true. If the time pattern runs as
it has. If age and other factors do not come into play then we should
have around 1.8 more crashes somewhere in the world. The chances are
very good that they will be here in the United States and one of us just
might be aboard. Try thinking about that if you are plunging straight
down at the ground for thirty seconds or so. Some consolation.
If the rules for safety are going to be different for
different situations and industries, then we don't need any new
laws. Hold your hearings. Tell us what is and has happened, but keep new
laws off the books. Laws have a habit of becoming something other than
what they were meant to be. I don't think any of us need that.
Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.
Have a nice day.
CLICK
HERE FOR FINE COLLECTIBLES AND ANTIQUES
OCTOBER 2, 2K
I guess it's me
Good morning. It is 46.5 degrees at 5:48 A.M. It
looks like a warm sunny day is in store for this part of the world. I am
wondering if we could call this the beginning of Indian Summer? There
really doesn't seem like much of a break between the real summer and the
summer of Chief Cornplanter and his people.
We have had a minor frost. It killed the flowers we had
growing over the septic tank and the wild flowers out at the end of our
drive way. Even the tomato plants were hit. But some of our plants, the
ones on the back deck in planters are still going as is the grass. I was
hoping for a good one so that the grass would finally go to sleep until
next spring. I don't relish the idea of cutting one more time.
As we returned home Friday afternoon we cut across the
back roads to miss the construction on Interstate 80. We had seen some
of the trees begin to change in West Virginia as we traveled across the
tops of the mountains. But as we got off Interstate 79 one exist past
I-80 we saw how brilliant the maples were beginning to become. The
closer we got to home and the higher in elevation we went, the trees
became consistently better. Pulling into our drive we realized Autumn
had come to Marshburg.
That was a pleasant reminder of how beautiful the area
is in which we live.
"It's a big change from sand and palm trees,"
Sharyn said.
And it was.
It was down right restful after the grueling drive
across the Interstate highway system wondering who was out there still
driving on Firestone tires and if they were going to have tread
separation as we were passing them. As if the traffic wasn't enough to
worry about!
Car travel can be boring. We pass the time listening to
music. I sing a lot. Sharyn gets travel magazines and information. She
reads to me about the highlights of a particular area to minimize my
singing, and me being a typical man, insist on doing most, if not all of
the driving. Somehow we manage to get from point A to point B.
Looking back on the trip, all 3765 miles of it, I saw it
as being different than any I had taken. There were more people out
there on the same highways driving faster than ever before. What used to
be fun and relaxing for me, was now a white knuckle adventure. Our
highway system is over crowded.
Even the old places of refuge had changed.
Every afternoon, just after the news at noon, I would
tune into Rush Limbaugh. I did it again this trip. He is still there but
it wasn't the same. Something had happened. Something was
different.
I never used to agree with everything he said on his
shows. But all in all I could find a common ground with him. This trip I
couldn't. This trip it seemed to me that he had gone off the deep end. I
wondered why?
Sharyn commented that without Bill Clinton Rush didn't
seem to have much of a program anymore. I was inclined to agree. It
seemed that the issues he tried to be politically cute about were all
old hat. They had been beaten to death so much that I was bored
listening to them. I was curious. Had Rush changed?
I listened and I listened. The same old voice was there.
He was still a Pittsburgh Steeler fan and he was still the same old
egotist that I had grown to love. Heck! When I ran for County
Commissioner in 95 I compared myself to him. He was still as outspoken
as ever. What was different? Why wasn't I as entranced with every word
like I used to be? I couldn't figure it out.
Then as he did his skits on the wacky environmentalist
football picks, as he went on and on, babbling about nonsense, you were
forced to believe that he was thinking he was not only funny, but cute,
too. I finally figured it out. Rush hadn't changed. I had changed.
I guess being treated to Rush only on trips and my trips
being less frequent, my taste or my tolerance had moved in a different
direction. Being a veteran I always enjoyed listening to him take apart
a draft dodger like Clinton. Living in an area that depends on logging,
I enjoyed listening to him berate the tree huggers and the weirdoes who
took the extreme view of the world. But suddenly, listening to him go on
and on about football teams named after animals versus teams named after
the Patriots and the Chargers and explaining whatever it was he was
trying to explain, I realized that Rush was no longer funny to me. In
fact, Rush was without a doubt very disappointing.
Hearing his own voice and convincing himself that he is
always correct has taken it's toll on him. For the past two weeks it
certainly took it's toll on me. Rush may have lost a ton of weight, but
looking different is not change. No. Rush hadn't changed one bit since
the days of Jocelyn Elders and Slick Willie. And that is a shame. Things
today are not the same as they were then. I don't think he realizes
that.
Listening to him talk about Al Gore's mother-in-law was
boring. Listening to him tell us about a man recently dying and asking
people to vote for Bush instead of sending flowers was stupid. Listening
to him take apart a woman who picks up cans on the side of the road
claiming because she had Social Security and government programs she had
it better than she really deserved was the final straw. I turned him off
and plugged in one of my home made tapes and began singing. Even Sharyn
appreciated my singing over any more of Mr. Limbaugh.
Being a complete conservative or a total liberal doesn't
hack it anymore. There has to be someplace in the center. Sure there are
issues. We face major issues and they need to be addressed. I don't
agree with Gore or Bush on all of them. I agree with Bush on some and
Gore on others. And it is the angry back biting that bothers me most of
all. I would think that it bothers other voters, too. We want to hear
about issues, not someone's mother-in-law.
If Bush is such a great candidate and if he backs him
totally and unconditionally, Rush should be telling us why. But when I
was listening Rush didn't do that. Instead he ran Gore down day after
day. My gosh. How did the man ever get where he is today if he was and
is that bad? Was his daddy more powerful than George W's daddy? Give us
a break.
Listening to Rush at 48, 49, and 50 was different than
listening to him at 54. Rush hasn't changed. I have.
I am a grandparent now. Sharyn read to me that our
generation wants to keep producing so we can take care of our
grandchildren. As I held Sam on Saturday and looked at Freya and Geoff
yesterday realizing another baby was hours or days away, I realized she
was right. We have taken care of our children, now we are worrying about
our grandchildren. Listening to Rush pick on a political candidate, his
mother-in-law, an old woman who picks up cans, and go on and on about
names of football teams just doesn't do it for me anymore.
What was funny then is not funny now. Too bad. I always
liked him. Even when I didn't agree with him, he was entertaining. I
will miss that but life goes on.
Your comments are welcome at editor@mlrmag.com.
By the way, I am going to e-mail this column to Rush when I finish. Have
a good day.
CLICK
HERE FOR FINE COLLECTIBLES AND ANTIQUES
OCTOBER 1, 2K
There is no new article
SEPTEMBER 30, 2K
There is no new article
It has just turned five o'clock. We had a sudden
change of plans yesterday and started north. Greetings from Columbia,
South Carolina. We are on our way home and welcome to all of you new
readers. Good to have you with us.
If you have a comment on this article please click here.
[ Top ] [ Home ]
[_private/toc_for_second_level_pages.html]
