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CAPTAIN BELL’S INNATE DECENCY
This is an essay about my military career which ended about 65 years ago. The essay will necessarily record the incompetence of the United States Army but at the same time will celebrate the decency of one commissioned officer. This essay is being recorded at this time prior to my brain delivering a “don’t answer”…
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ANOTHER NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
If I were an observant Muslim, I would add the phrase “Blessed be His name” after saying something about Prophet Mohammed. But as most of you know, I am not an observant Muslim and I suspect the Muslims would regard me as nothing more than a pagan. But be that as it may, the point…
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BACKWARDS IT HAVE I
This morning I was amazed to hear that Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin have announced their engagement. I know that my age is approaching that of Methuselah, and there are those who would accuse me of having antediluvian ideas. But I always thought that the way to romance had to do with a boy and…
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ANOTHER CLOWN STORY
After Tony Hayward finished his grueling testimony before a House committee, he flew back to England, most likely in a private jet that BP owns. Some time on Friday or Saturday, Hayward was told that he had been replaced on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by a Mississippi State graduate who formerly was his…
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IN MEMORIAM, MARGARET M. MURPHY
It is with a heavy heart that I record the passage of Margaret Murphy from this life. Margaret was 88 years old and lived a complete life span. Nonetheless, I am grieved to think that there will be no more happy laughter from Margaret Murphy. When we worked, we referred to Margaret as Three M…
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FRANCESCO’S QUESTION
Every nine weeks I visit a podiatrist associated with the Summit Medical Group. He takes care of ingrown nails and all of the other problems that afflict the feet. Francesco is a nice fellow in his early forties who laughingly mentioned that if his children remained in parochial schools, he would have to be working…
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SPRECHEN SIE DEUTSCH?
Under ordinary circumstances, a visit to a physician in a non-emergency situation would not qualify as a reason for writing an essay. Certainly that is true on a morning when we learned that Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, seems to have met his demise. But in this case, my visit with the learned cardiologist Andrew…
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HERMAN’S STUD FARM
According to the Julian calendar, which I keep in my hip pocket at all times, today is Friday, December 2, 2011. The latest news about Herman Cain, the Republican aspirant to the Presidency, is that he is going home tonight to keep a “date night” with his wife. I expect that Herman will have a…
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THE MAN AT THE FEED STORE
This essay is about the man who works at a feed store in eastern Kansas. It comes to me from a woman who was born in Olomouc in the Czech Republic. Since her birth, she has migrated first to England and then to New York. So you see, there are international implications to this simple…
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AUNT MARY CHICKA, REST IN PEACE
Two deaths took place yesterday, December 18. Because the Earth turns from east to west, the first death took place in North Korea. The dictator there, Kim Jong-il, aged 69, died. The civilized world was not impressed by the passing of the North Korean dictator. As might be expected, the North Koreans have required public…