Month: February 2017

  • A POTPOURRI OF THOUGHTS | Meditations: Chapter 11, Verses Genesis to Exodus

    Verse 1. THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION My final job at AT&T was in the Overseas Department where it was necessary to deal with all the other telecommunications organizations in the world on mutual problems. In many cases, it was a matter of maintaining harmonious relations with people who were very different from ourselves as well as…

  • BEING BUFFALOED AND OTHER RESPONSES | Meditations Chapter Ten: Verses Ezra to Micah

    On Tuesday evening, June 28th, the peerless President took over the broadcasting networks to ask for patience and understanding as the ill-gotten Iraqi war proceeds well into its third year. The theme was the well worn phrase, “As the newly trained Iraqis stand up, we Americans can stand down.” Emperor Rumsfeld said a week before…

  • FURTHER PROFOUND MEDITATIONS | Chapter Nine: Verses Leviticus to Haggai

    The last Meditation seemed to exhaust the ready reserve supply. So it was my thought to put the Meditation series aside and go on to other projects unless there was a celestial sign that further work on this series would be met with ecclesiastical acclaim. In the middle of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium,…

  • THOUGHTS THAT OCCUR LATE AT NIGHT | Meditations Chapter VIII

    When the idea of Meditations was revealed to me, it was my thought that a sentence or two on each idea would be sufficient. As it turned out, some of the Meditations cannot be dismissed so lightly. Some require an explanation that would rival Genesis of Biblical fame. And so it is time to return…

  • IS CAMILLA PG? | Meditations – Chapter Seven, Verses 1-17

    For the better part of 35 years, Prince Charley of England had played games with Camilla, an upper class English woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to his mother. Charley and Camilla were married to other people for many of those years, so it is fair to assume that Princess Diana and Mr. Parker Bowles…

  • WAY TO GO ALBERTO | Meditations – Chapter Six; Verses 1 to 17

    When Bill Clinton was the United States president, a suit was filed against the producers of American tobacco products. It was alleged that nicotine is addictive and leads to emphysema and lung cancer among other disabilities. That much is a given. When Bush took the presidency courtesy of Scalia and the Supreme Court, his Attorney…

  • THOSE GOLDEN YEARS | Meditations – Chapter Four

    There are many Americans who are cliché driven. When a person sneezes, they say “God bless you.” Tardiness is treated as “Better late than never.” Young daughters are told as they meet their dates, “Get home early” or “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Women are involved in monstrous untruths when they say, “Oh, I…

  • SECOND CHANCES | Meditations – Chapter Three

    For nearly 63 years, this old broken-down soldier has thought that he and five other GI’s, could have acted more graciously in not accepting an offer by a gentleman to pay for a breakfast we ate in a civilian restaurant. Once the offer was either not accepted or if you will, rejected, there were no…

  • SADDAM’S UNDERWEAR | Meditations – Chapter Two

    Readers are warned that this essay is concerned about men’s under shorts and briefs. It would be a great disappointment to this old essay writer to have my readers expecting a display rivaling a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. This is a work of utmost modesty. It could be delivered profitably by some Protestant preachers who appear…

  • A TOUCH OF ELEGANCE | Meditations

    Calendars don’t mislead or obfuscate. They mark the inexorable passage of time. That was the burden of the message exchange recently with Shirley Morganstein, a great speech therapist who set me to writing essays nearly eight years ago. In my case, essay writing has made those years pass most pleasantly. While essay writing has occupied…