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MEMORIAL DAY 2009 A RETROSPECTIVE
Memorial Day will be celebrated two days hence. On that day, the President of the United States will lay a wreath on The Tomb of the Unknowns. In Millburn, New Jersey the American Legion post will gather a few of its members, dressed in overseas caps, who will march from their headquarters on Main Street…
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CLAYTON 714-J
People with prodigious long-term memories may recognize the title of this piece as being a telephone number. That is indeed the case. It was a four party line associated with the town of Clayton, Missouri. In 1934 or 1935, my father was again employed after a layoff of six years, which was a function of…
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A THOUGHT OR TWO ABOUT “THE GIFT OF CHASTITY”
There are two or three thoughts that must be established before we proceed into this essay. The first has to do with vows that Catholic priests embrace, saying that they will live a life of poverty, obedience, and chastity. Secondly, your old essayist has never claimed to lead a life based on these three concepts. …
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“…REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE”
Tom Harkin is the junior senator from the state of Iowa. Harkin is a well-regarded fellow and has had presidential ambitions. Unfortunately those ambitions never got past the primary vote in the state of Iowa. But be that as it may, Harkin has an idea worth considering. The idea has to do with naming a…
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ON BEING SCARED SPITLESS AND/OR THE BIG GUY SYNDROME
Since the Bushies have departed the political scene in Washington, we find that many of them are emerging from their burrows and holes in the ground to tell us that following the events of September 11, 2001, we were all scared spitless. I have a clear recollection of my thoughts after the destruction of the…
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LIPSTICK FOR PIGS
Logic has taken one brutal beating recently from Condoleezza Rice and from our former Vice President, Mr. Cheney. For example, this past week, which was the last week in April, Madame Rice, addressing a group of Stanford University Students, was asked about waterboarding. She provided an answer that was convoluted as well as full of…
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ANCIENT HISTORY
You may recall that in the late summer of 2008, the American stock market as well as the American banking system took a terrible nose dive. From that time forward, there have been legions of analyses by learned scholars who hoped to tell you what was wrong. As always, there were political arguments. The Republicans,…