Nomad News

Nomad News Vol.3-No.53

2012-01-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

PATRIOTISM: In Nomad News Vol.3-No.52, dated September 7, 2011 I wrote:...."Freedom and liberty were words that were never taught to us. They were a part of living the same as our lungs pumping air and our hearts pumping blood. We lived freedom every day we pledged allegiance to the American Flag in the classroom. We were taught American history and about the Constitution that guaranteed these freedoms. My family flew the American Flag every day but to my Irish immigrant mother it was "Old Glory" and she was mighty proud of it. In our town of 10,000 every home, with few exceptions, flew the Flag or had several on sticks on the front lawn on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. The sidewalks were packed with young and old during parades on those holidays. That was part of our inculcation to freedom and liberty. ....The only thing we inhaled besides air was freedom."
     In the next issue of the Washington Times weekly edition I received was a column by Matt Barber titled
"Mainstream values: Patriotism is Extreme". In his column Mr. Barber examines the view of 'progressives' toward patriotism and includes some interesting observations that reflect on my writing in the above quote from Nomad News No. 52. For instance: "...the America within which one lives might best be reflected by the parade one chooses to attend.  A recent study found that those who attend Fourth of July parades...are more likely to be, or to become right-wingers."
Or, "Fourth of July celebrations in the United States shape the nation's political landscape by forming beliefs and increasing participation, primarily in favor of the Republican Party."
Or: "...important childhood events can have a permanent impact on political beliefs and behavior and that such events socialize children into Republicans."
     This kind of verifies what I wrote in Nomad News No. 52. It also reflects on the Greatest Generation, or, at least the ones I know, or knew, were consevatives or leaned to the 'right'. Conversely, why most of the present generation lean to the 'left' and look to government to care for them, which is a road to disaster.

Nomad News- Vol. 3 - No.52

2011-09-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND
Mike Miceli: I wrote about Mike before but for a quick recap; I met Mike at Camp Chicago in France in September 1945 while we were waiting for orders to go home. I have no idea even today where this camp was. Mike was a gambler and lost all his money in a crap game. He convinced me that he was positive he could win if I banked him with $10.00. Bad investment.. We finally received orders to proceed to Marseilles. Now I knew where we were. When I was still in the states in headquarters I kept a pad or two of passes. I always signed them "Arthur T. Jones, Captain, Air Corps", just a name I pulled out of the air, and I never had any problem getting off any base I was in. So, in Marseilles, Captain Jones gave Mike and I a pass whenever we had a desire to go into Marseilles for a "cold one" which was often. We would take along just enough articles of clothing to sell on the black market to take care of that night's expenses. It wasn't exactly legal but what was a guy to do to stave off dehydration.
Anyway, the cruise ship finally got us to the States and then we were off to Camp Shanks, up the Hudson River from New York City, We were told to stick close to camp as we would be leaving for Fort Dix, NJ momentarily if not sooner. Mike lived in Brooklyn and disregarding this edit, Mike was determined to go overnight to his home. He arrived back the next morning just as the train was ready to leave. He came on and sat next to me looking out the window. All he could say was: "They don't understand. They just don't understand". He kept repeating this over and over until we arrived at Trenton and debarked for Fort Dix.
Marilynn Shanks: I met this young 90-year old mother-in-law of Karen Shanks at the Republican Club's annual banquet on July 23rd. She and I had a lengthy talk before dinner and discovered we were classmates in high school, Marylinn was a sophomore while I was a senior. The only difference, Marilynn was in Ohio and I was in New Jersey but we could very well have been in the same classroom. We both grew up in the same atmosphere. Freedom and liberty were words that were never taught to us. They were a part of living the same as our lungs pumping air and our hearts pumping blood. We lived freedom and liberty every day we pledged allegiance to the American Flag in the classroom. We were taught American history and about the Constitution that guaranteed these freedoms. My family flew the American flag every day but to my Irish immigrant mother it was "Old Glory" and she was mighty proud of it. In our town of 10,000 every home, with few exceptions, flew the Flag or had several on sticks on the front lawn on Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. The sidewalks were packed with young and old during parades on those holidays. That was part of our inculcation to freedom and liberty. We understood. The parades were always led by World War I veterans Mr. Cuthbert on foot carrying the Flag and Mr. Roney following on his flag-draped motorcycle. The only thing we inhaled, besides air, was freedom.
Back to the banquet: Following the dinner we retired to the auditorium for the round of speeches and it was in the middle of U.S. Representative Phil Roe's main speech that all of a sudden I had a feeling, it wasn't a thought but more like a revelation might be, that "these people don't understand, they just don't understand".
Then I thought: " Marilynn and I are probably the only two persons in the room that understood. The others didn't understand and never would because they were never raised in the true atmosphere of freedom. All they had learned were words so how can they teach future generations the real meaning of freedom. Further:
Memorial Day, Crossville TN 2011: Daylight was shattered by a shower of sunshine and it remained that way throughout the day. Perfect setting for a memorial service and parade. To the contrary, in a county population of 35,000, 34,900 slept or played golf while 100 or so at the Veterans Memorial had the pleasure of listening to local resident and Navy veteran Joe Reynolds pay tribute to our fallen soldiers with a memorable speech If ever there was a population that "Just Didn't Understand" it was Cumberland County on Memorial Day 2011 in Crossville TN. I'm sure this scene was duplicated thousands of time across America. Oh where have all the patriots gone?
Why America will fall: The same way Rome did. The current younger population have no respect for themselves or for America's heritage because they are not taught it in the government schools. The President of the United States needs to be impeached and half the Congress recalled because they have violated their Oath of Office by failing to protect and defend the Constitution, pastors and priests need to be stripped of their robes for remaining silent while America is in death's throes, the America Flag is an "insult" to minority races so it is outlawed from the classroom along with the Pledge of Allegiance, God has been outlawed, too, from the classroom but Allah is allowed in.
Why America can yet be saved: At the ballot box on November 6, 2012. When the sun breaks the night over the Atlantic Ocean is will shine either on President Reagan's City on a Hill or on the smoldering ashes of the greatest nation the world has ever seen. It's your call.

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Vol. 3 No. 51

2011-08-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF A VISITOR
Last September 2010, Yvette received a call from Mark Daniels, Cumberland County Veterans Service Officer, asking her to come to his office to meet some French people. Yvette, thinking Mark wanted an interpreter, went over. Upon arrival Yvette discovered that the two couples had been looking at the display of flags in the front window of Mark's office. It turned out that one of the women was a collector of flags and Mark was so impressed he was inviting them to go to lunch with him and wanted Yvette to go along.

The lunch developed into a friendship and we had them over for lunch the next day.. Yvette's brother-in-law from France was visiting with us at the time and we had a pleasant interlude. The visitors were returning to France the next day but ever since Yvette has maintained an e-mail connection with Carmen. Carmen is retiring this year and goes to work at the hospital at 6 a.m. and returns home at 6 p.m. The young folks come to work at 9 a.m. and are already tired. Sound familiar? These French folks love America, especially Carmen. In a recent e-mail Carmen commented on the retirement of the American shuttle program. Following is a literal interpretation of Carmen's letter which I will reproduce as Yvette interpreted it:

"I watched with sadness the departure of the last American shuttle. It caused me great pain. You know, every Monday on the TV there is an historic show called "American History" in 10 episodes, one hour and 30 minutes each. It is the history of America since 1664. We watched the sixth episode last Monday. It was the Revolutionary War.
"It is absolutely superb. I love it. You see, when I watch all that, I see the mentalities of all the people, then I know that things will not stop. I am sure you will be back in space because American people have a strong mentality who always dominate. The adventurer side, discovery and most of all their patriotism that does not exist anywhere else. These are tools that make the world go around, not with a walking stick in each hand waiting for everything to come down already prepared in their plates.
"It is a country that has prevailed all the bad times. I am sure it will be U.S.A. again. Everywhere else is finished. There is only lazy people or the profiteer who thinks only of one thing: fill their pockets and doing the least they can. God knows, it does not work that way. To go to Paradise one must deserve it." Carmen

Through the eyes of a visitor! Wouldn't it be nice if more Americans could see the same thing?

Hawkeye

Nomad News- Vol 2 - No.50

2011-08-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

WHEN COMMON SENSE RULED:
When I was a kid (everything that follows, mostly, will be about "when I was a kid" so I don't have to repeat this with every episode). I would spend hours in the woods tracking a specific bird to find it's nest; not to destroy it like today's kids are wont to do; but just to find it. When I returned home, my mother would ask me where I had been. The answer was always "out" This was followed with "what did you do?" Nothing. I always thought this was a unique situation between me and my mother until a couple of years ago I discovered there was a book titled "Where Did You Go, Out. What did you do, Nothing". I purchased the book and discovered that I could reprint a good portion of the book, have it printed with my name as the author and not be charged with plagiarism.
I am going to digress right here and put my two cents into the Casey Anthony soap opera. After the verdict one of the first things I heard was that there should be a law that would make it a felony if a missing child was not reported within 30 days. Another law. When I was a kid (there I go again) Casey would have been hauled before a judge who would sentence her to 30 days, 60 days, 6 months, a year; whatever he thought the incident merited. End of conversation. Another two cents: My father's work took us from New Jersey to Owls Head, Maine every summer. The lobstermen had these huge iron pots on the beach (about 5-feet in diameter and 4-feet tall) filled with tar. They would build wood fires under them to melt the tar, then dip the rope they used for their lobster pot anchor lines in the tar as a preservative. I would toss the entire Anthony family in that tar pot. To call them "sorry" would defame the word. End of conversation. Maybe. I recall one time my brother Joe and I just happened to pass by Mr. Ledbetter's tar pot shortly after he had tarred his lines. The tar was still soft so Joe and I started playing in the tar with a couple of sticks. I don't recall what started it but we were soon whacking each other with the sticks and returned home covered with tar. Again, I don't recall what transpired but I'm sure we had our rear-ends tarred again when our father returned from work.
Back to wiwak. We lived in a modest suburban town in South New Jersey. No one had much in material wealth but we had plenty in freedom wealth. Unfortunately we have given too much of it away. We didn't know we were poor until Franklin D. Roosevelt rose from the pits of Hell and told us we were and that we needed the government to take care of us. The rest is history.
My mother would give me an empty wooden thread spool and ten cents and tell me to go to the Jew's store and ask Mrs Finestein to give me a new spool. Nothing racial or implied. The Finesteins were just another friendly family in a friendly town. It took the ACLU to destroy that relationship.
Johnney Sapio ran a speakeasy in the cellar of his home in the thousand islands. No one has been able to tell me how a little section of Haddonfield in those days became know as the thousand islands. No one bothered Johnney because he saw to it that no poor family went without coal in the winter. It was called "looking out for each other".
Jim Masters, a black "bookie" from Camden would drive out from Camden each day in his shiney Chrysler to pick up his numbers bets at various stops on Kings Highway; always getting a friendly "Good Morning" from the cop on duty at the corner of Ellis Street.
You didn't get much common sense knocked into your head until you fell off a bike or encountered a twig on the street while roller skating and took a header, winding up with a bloody nose. I broke the corners of two front teeth when I fell off my bike. Still have the two broken teeth. Better than no teeth t all. The first thing my mother said when I returned with the two bits of broken teeth was: "Did you make a hole in your trousers."
Cy Marter was football coach and history teacher. When a kid came limping off the field or holding an arm, Cy would look at it and if the bone wasn't sticking through would say "spit on it and get back in the game". No lawsuit. No ACLU.
I guess that was the start of the Greatest Generation. A rag tag army of farm boys, mountain boys, shoe store clerks were able to destroy two of the most disciplined and mightiest armies ever assembled. When the fighting got tough we just "spat on it and got back in the game", thanks to teachers like Cy.
Many years later when I was fired from my job (through no misconduct on my part. I may write about the incident someday) I was prepared with a Plan A and Plan B. Two days before I got the word I had an offer (name your price) from another food chain and an offer to a partnership in what would be my own business. I took the partnership and within ninety days I was earning three times what I was making at my former position. I had prepared years earlier to be nice to people on the way up because might meet them on the way down and I did.
I had a good friend. Bill Roberts. I lived on Roberts Ave. which bordered one side of the Baptist Cemetery and Bill lived on Lee Ave. that bordered the other side. We went to kindergarten together and graduated from high school together. I joined the National /Guard and Bill joined the Marines. Bill got married and they had a son. One day, when Billy was four or five years old. Ginny called Bill at work and screamed: "Billy is way up in the top of the tree in the backyard. What shall I do?" The reply: "Pull the shade down." Billy grew up to be 6-feet tall and 200 lbs. The Greatest Generation did it again without any help from OSHA, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or some asshole in D.C.
Another good friend, Bucky Walters. As a matter of fact, he is the only surviving member I'm aware of, of my old gang. Buck lived in the section of Cherry Hill, NJ, known as Erlton. Buck's father had about half dozen hogs that is now one of the most populous regions on the planet. I was in the process of obtaining my flying license and one day I buzzed Mr. Walters pig pen so low I nearly flew under the top rail of the splitrail fence. It scared the hell out of the pigs and they broke through the fence and scattered over the neighboring yards. My next visit to the Walters residence was with great apprehension but Mr. Walters greeted me with his usual warm "You're a sight for sore eyes". He thought my escapade was one of the seven wonders of the world. He never tired of talking about it. I didn't even have to go through diversity training with the hogs.
Some bitch down in Florida got off scot free after chloroforming her young child. I don't know how many local, state and federal agencies a person must go through to obtain chloroform today but when I was ten years old I would visit Farrow's Drug Store and ask for a ten-cent bottle of chloroform. Mr. or Mrs.Farrow would ask me what I was going to do with it. The answer: chloroform butterflies. I collected butterflies and chloroformed them before mounting them on little drying boards. They trusted a ten-year old kid. Today you can't trust a 100-year old. Farrow's was also the place where we could get an cake cone of Supplee Ice Cream as big as a baseball for five-cents.
With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 Johnny Sapio built a restaurant and bar so close to the Haddonfield town line that on a windy day you could spit out the front door of the bar and it would land in Haddonfield a "dry".town to this day. Mr. Kress opened a bar on the other side of town in Delaware Township, separated from Haddonfield by a small creek. The Fire House was a two-storied wooden building on Haddon Ave. across from Tom Holloway's and Harry Atkinson's Mobil Gas Station. The second floor of the Fire House was where dances were held on Saturday nights. Music was provided by an old upright piano. During one summer month a used but better piano was donated to the firemen. Access to the second floor of the hall was a very narrow wooden staircase. The volunteers struggled on a very hot day to get the piano down the steps so when they finally got it to the ground they decided to go to Kress's bar for a couple of "cold ones" before chopping up the old piano and taking it to the dump. In the meantime, a new group of volunteers showed up and seeing the old piano there, they chopped it up and took it of to the dump. While this was going on, the new piano arrived and was deposited on the ground. Apparently the original crew that went to Kress's had more than a couple "cold ones" and upon returning to the fire hall did not recognize that the piano was now the new one so they proceeded to wield their fire axes and destroyed it, too.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is, we lived and grew up during a period when the law of the land was "common sense". There were boundaries but we knew what they were most of the time. We were not constrained by a plethora of laws and regulations, and bloated Big Brother government agencies. There were crooked politicians but they were 'honest". It seems like there was an element of "fun" in everything we did. Today, we can hardly breath without breaking some law or regulation. Today, Big Brother has legislated and/or litigated common sense and fun out of life. And, we can place the blame on the American people who placed the prime destroyer of liberty and freedom squarely in the shoes of the America destroyer Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the worst s.o.b.who ever occupied the White House except, perhaps, for the one who occupies it today.
This edition of Nomad News has been sitting in the computer for a couple of weeks or more and I was going to continue. with some more episodes in trying to explain Common Sense but when I attended the Republican Club's annual banquet on July 23 I met a young 90-year old lady. Today is August 4 and I have a topic for Nomad News No. 51. When I finish, No. 52 will be kind of a sequel to No. 50

Hawkeye

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Nomad News -Vol. 2 -No.49

2011-06-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

COMING TO AMERICA?
As some of you know, my wife, Yvette, is from France but as those-in-the-know also know, she is not French-American. She is proud to be an American. That said. Yvette has few relations and close friends in France. Those she has are afraid to say anything over the phone or on the internet. Coming to America?
I'm not talking about the folks. Sometime last year we made friends with some French tourists and Yvette has been in touch with them and they are not afraid to speak out. Coming to America? Not the friends but citizens who are afraid of our government.
I am going to copy nearly word-for-word Yvette's interpretation of an e-mail we received today:
"Our friends have a large open space for people to come to play with their children or to play sports. Last week 12 caravans of gypsies with their Mercedes installed themselves on our open space. They connected their caravans to the electricity of the city and the water of the city without permission. We let the police know. They did nothing because they were afraid of revenge on cars by ram-sacking.. The police are afraid. Result: We cannot go to our open space. They go to the bathroom everywhere. There is excrement all over the place. It stinks badly. We are obligated to submit to this.
"We wrote a letter to the mayor. He did not respond. You see what we have to put up with.
"I hope that in USA you will not have to put up with things like this. I pray that you will never see something like this. With all my heart, Your friend"
Coming to America? Maybe sooner than later.
Hawkeye

Nomad News- Vol.2 No.45

2011-06-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

MY PICKS FOR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Everyone is asking: "Who do you think will be the Republican candidate for President in 2012?" Of all the declared candidates, I don't really like any of them so here is The Way I see It: There could be a dark horse but from those that are "possibles" here goes: SARAH PALIN for President, MICHELE BACHMAN for Vice-President. Crazy. You Bet! But crazier things have happened.
Now, here's the Dark Horse: CHRIS CHRISTIE, Governor of New Jersey. I believe he's honest when he says he is not running but if it comes down to the deadline and no viable Republican has stepped up to the plate, I think he will throw his hat in the ring to save America and then pick either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachman for Vice-President.
If all else fails, I may throw my hat in the ring. As someone said: "You don't have to be qualified to be president. Just better qualified than the guy in there now." That takes in about 300 million people so keep it quiet. I don't want that much competition.

Hawkeye

Nomad News No. 48 Vol. 2

2011-04-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

REBUILD THE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC
The following was composed as a letter to the Crossville Chronicle in November 10 and I decided to transfer it over to Nomad News so it would be in my archives. Hawkeye

November 15, 2010

Letter to the Editor
Crossville Chronicle
Crossville TN 38555

Gentlemen:

Just prior to the November 2 election I was e-mailing a message to the folks on my list cautioning them that if they had done the barest minimum, VOTE, when they arose on November 3 and listened closely they would hear the Liberty Bell ring out this message that is inscribed on the Bell: “Proclaim Liberty thro’ all the Land to all the Inhabitants Thereof” Leviticus XXV.10. Did you hear it?
     As I was thinking about this, my mind travelled back in time to July 1944. It was the time when the ground forces finally broke through at St. Lo in Normandy. My squadron had already been moved to an airport at Dreaux and I had stayed behind to wait for one of my section members, Mike Spero, who was in a field hospital suffering from dysentery. Mike was now lying in the bed of the small weapons carrier and I was winding my way through piles of bricks and shattered walls that had once been St. Lo. The only standing structure I observed, though badly damaged, was the cathedral with an artillery shell embedded in the stone wall. This scenario would be repeated later, city after city, all the way to Braunsweig and beyond.
     In 2000, after several trips to France when I had always purposefully bypassed Normandy (I have 10,000 comrades still there) I returned to St. Lo and to an unbelievingly beautiful monument to human endeavor. The city folks had known that there were ancient ramparts surrounding the city that had been covered over in years past. These were all uncovered and reconstructed as of old. The only remaining remnant of war was the artillery shell still embedded in the cathedral’s stone wall. This scenario, too, had been repeated , city after city all the way to Braunsweig and beyond.
     Someone had to pick up the first brick until all the rubble was cleared. Then someone had to pick up the first brick to rebuild, put it back in place, put a little mortar on it, then place another brick on top until the city was restored.
     This is what we must do now. Some of the rubble has already been removed. We will continue, brick by brick, until our shattered Constitutional Republic is restored.

Andy Dolan
1850 Spruce Loop
Crossville TN 38555
788-3879
e-mail: Looproad@hotmail.com

NOMAD NEWS VOL.2 NO.47

2011-04-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

MURPHY'S LAW:

It was mid-September and the sun was barely above the treetops in the western Ontario sky when Lucy Graves' battered 1951 Plymouth station wagon pulled into the lodge frontyard and Lucy hurried down to the dock where I had just finished two hours working on replacing the starter spring on my 5 h.p. Scott-Atwater outboard motor. Lucy was all apologetic and worried for not getting back from Peterboro on time to make my dinner as promised.

I soon allayed her fears for my well-being by telling her if she had returned at the time promised it would have been the only thing that went right that day. This calmed her down and for years thereafter this was one of her favorite stories relating it to new guests and old ones alike.

Lucy and her husband Earl were from Pottstown PA but operated Pine Camp on Clear Lake in the Rideau chain of lakes in southern Ontario during the summer months. The summer season was over and I was the only guest as Lucy was preparing to shut down for the winter.

   The day started off unusually bright, sunny and warm for mid-September. I was up early, Lucy had my breakfast prepared and advised me she had some business to attend to in Peterboro but assured me should return no later than 5 p.m. for dinner. She was going to pack a lunch for me but I told her to just give me a slice of her homemade apple pie if there was still some left over from the evening before. There was. When I told her I would just cook some fish for lunch she provided me with an iron frying pan, a couple chunks of fatback and a brown paper bag with a mixture of flour,salt and her secret breading ingredients. My ice cooler was already packed with the requisite quota of nectar of the Gods: Carlings Black Label Beer.
   It was around 7:30 when I pulled away from the dock and fifteen minutes later reached Bass Hollow, one of our favorite fishing areas. I attached a Skipper (a surface lure with little side flippers that splashed when being retrieved) and cast it near a half-submerged tree stump, as it hit the water a bass struck and took off. The day was starting off great. That's what I thought. I reeled my prey in and it turned out to be about two pounds so I decided to keep it for lunch. Fishing turned out to be good as I caught several more bass.
   After a bit I decided to try for some Walleyes so I cranked up tmotor and left the area at full throttle when "kerplunk" I hit a submerged rock. I was afraid of what I found: a broken propeller. I always carried a spare so I rowed to the nearest land; a small rocky island about 1/4 mile away. I knew better than changing a propeller over twenty feet of water (the bottoms of lakes worldwide are strewn with brand new propellers
during failed attempts).
   Reaching the island I backed the boat to the rocky shore, rolled up my trousers and stepped over into about twelve inches of water when I slipped on a rock that overturned and I landed in the water, wet from the waist down. It was now around 9 a.m., the sun was up bright and warm, as I looked for some tree branches overhanging the rocky shoreline. I found a reasonably level area so built a fire under the branches. There was plenty of dried driftwood around in addition to fallen trees on the island. I then removed my soggy garments and spread them out on the overhanging tree branches. I then proceeded to change propellers. I kept feeding the fire and soon had a nice bed of hot coals.
   It was now late morning so I decided to eat lunch while my garments completed the drying cycle. I filleted the unwilling bass, poured some Black Label over the fillets and then dropped them in the Brown paper bag and shook them until they were well breaded. In the meantime, the frying pan had been on the fire so Itossed in the fatback until it was melted and then put in the fillets. They may not have qualified for the silver platter at Paris' Moulen Rouge but they were the chef's choice that day and followed with Lucy's apple pie washed down with gulps of Black Label Beer it was a meal to be remembered.
   But the day wasn't finished. It wasn't long thereafter that my clothes were dry and I was on my way to try my luck for some Walleyes. After several uneventful trolls along a rocky ledge I gave up and went back to bass fishing which continued to be pretty good. All catches were released. As the warm fall afternoon receded the cool evening encroached so I decided to head back to camp. I gave a pull on the starter cord and it slipped out of my hand and somehow the starter recoil spring jammed and I could not start the motor. During the season there were always many boats on the lakes but I had not seen another fisherman or boat all day so it seemed there was no alternative but to start rowing which I did. I was about two miles from camp and by the time I reached the Pine Camp dock it was around 5 o'clock and that's where Lucy found me about two hours later working on my motor. A day for remembrance.

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 46

2011-03-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

DOCTORS' APPRECIATION WEEK
   The week started off on Monday (as it usually does) with a visit to Dr. Wikert, urologist. About ten years ago i was diagnosed with prostate cancer following a biopsy. My PSA test was 13 at that time. I was subjected to a shot of Casodox (or something like that) every three months for a year. My PSA went to zero but has gradually climbed to 17. Dr. Wikert is not the doctor with the fastest knife so we have just taken a 'wait and see' program which has been just fine. On Monday we kind of agreed to stay the course, then Dr. Wikert said: "Let's do another bone scan and it will make us both feel better". The last time was two years ago.
   On Tuesday it was a visit to Dr. Bise to have my ears unclogged. Now when my wife says: "The pots are ready to be cleaned." I can't just keep walking away. I either have to catch the pot or duck. At least in our new home we have a dish washer, something we didn't have in Mayland. Jubi, our cat, always did a fair to middlin' job but not near as good as the automatic washer.
   On Wednesday it was to Cumberland Medical Center for the bone scan. This was uneventful except that the first person had some difficulty finding a vein to pump the gluk in but he found a nice young lady that inserted an IV first and then pumped the gluk through that. Wednesday evening as we were preparing for dinner I felt kind of shaky and uncomfortable. I took my blood pressure and it was 189/75 where it usually hangs around the 120s and 60s. We felt it best to go to the Emergency Room rather than take a chance.
By the time we reached the ER my blood pressure had started to drop but Dr. McKinney checked me out and told me they had the report on my bone scan already and that nothing had changed from two years ago.
He suspected my anxiety over the scan probably had something to do with my problem that evening.
   Today (Thurs.) it was down I-40 to Cookeville and Dr. Gentry, dermatologist, for skin cancer scan.
A spot inside my right ear looked suspicious but when Dr.Gentry got me down for a biopsy he had a better view and it turned out not to be. There were the usual spots that needed a shot of witch's brew I call it (liquid nitrogen) but, all in all, everything looks pretty good.
   All in all, the week wasn't much different than the other 51. Fortunately, I had my choice of doctors working within the best medical system in the world. I prefer my doctors making decisions involving my healthcare rather than some bastard in Washington D.C. looking at my treatment application and stamping "DENIED" on it strictly because of my age and having no knowledge of my physical condition.
   So, much to the consternation of some people, it looks like I'll be around for a while. Or as Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar (alias 'the Saint') might say: "Continue the fight against the ungodly"'

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 32

2011-01-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

There is No Copyright on Common Sense

I think it might be worthwhile to cogitate for a moment on the last two words of the above line.

I mentioned in an earlier writing that I got that phrase from Charley Reese in 1989. Glenn Becks' latest book is about 'common sense' and Glenn got the inspiration for his book from the writings of Thomas Paine, one of the real "common sensors

" of our Revolution, who used "Common Sense" for the title of his comments. If a person would just take a few minutes to read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America they would discover that the entire contents is about "common sense" guidelines and laws on how to govern a Republic. If these bombastic idiots we send to Washington to represent us would just sit back for a minute and read the above two publications we might reach some common sense resolutions to today's problems. Come to think about it, we don't have a Republic any longer; we now have a 'Democracy'; the worst possible type of government run by the worst possible people. It's time to mann the barricades with pitchforks and torches. Let the bad heads roll! We attack on November 2, 2010.

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 44

2011-01-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

STARS AND STRIPES - 'HATCH MARKS':
   Just came across a copy of the "Hatch Marks" column from the Feb..5,1945 issue of "Stars and Stripes, the wartime military publication for the troops. Thought you folks would find it amusing. It may be too lengthy. If so, I will publish just part of the column.
Quip of the week (By Capt. Howard M. Fibel) "With all the bombing and shelling of Germany today, Hitler has achieved what he always strived for--A Crater Germany".
It happened in the UK : After watching several of the snappy girls in blue stroll by, a Pfc remarked: "I'm glad I am here to see England undergo a modern WREN-aissance"|."
From Goldie, Rosie, and Duffy, three former civilians, comes this dizzy paragraph tracing a soldier's activities from the time he leaves home until he returns. It's called GI Merry-Go-Round, (initial distribution). "HOME" SS,IA,RC,IQ,GI,KP,TS,LO,DRO,BT,IG,GFU,AWOL,MP,GH,MTP,IG,POM,IG,POE,APO,UK,CZ,ETO,LCI,SNAFU,DSC,PH,ZI,USA,CDD,HOME. (P.S.: Editor's note: I don't remember some of these myself. I was thinking I should offer an award to the person who first sends me the interpretation of all the initials.)
   Chivalry is not dead: Paris' streets were ankle deep i slushy snow. A trim, young WAC was strolling nonchalantly near the curb. Two steps behind came a nattily-dressed Air Force captain. The saw a jeep pulling up to the curb, anticipated the forthcoming splash and jumped to the side of the WAC. The WAC escaped unsplashed, but the gallant captain was splattered from head to toe. The young lady thanked her hero for saving her stockings from the splashing and the couple went off arm-in-arm
   Fashion Note. A lot of men in the ETO rear zones who wear Crossed Rifles, Crossed Cannons are now wearing "Crossed Fingers".
   News Flash: "Wife shoots husband with bow and arrow," so she wouldn't wake the children up.
   And then there's the ASC colonel who wears both eagles on one shoulder. "'Tis the mating season," he sez shyly.
   A beauty named Henrietta, Just loved to wear a tight sweater. Three reasons she had, To keep warm wasn't bad, But her other two reasons were better.
   Is it true that Russian troops storming into Germany have chosen as their theme song that smash it, "Oder There, Oder There?"
   Cause for divorce? A Wisconsin woman sued her hubby for divorce on the grounds that he shot her instead of a bear during the hunting season.
   The Regimental CO, writing to his wife round up his letter with the remark about his new orderly, a recent arrival from the repple depple: "How Green Was My Valet."
   Advance dope on the Flag Race.   It Looks like the Reds will win the pennant before the season starts.
   Another daffynition.  Diplomat: A man who can convince his wife that a fur coat makes her look too fat.
   Slick Jones, who used to mutter to chicks in the States those soulful words "Till Death Do Us Part" are today murmuring, "Till Dawn Do Us Part".
(That's all folks. Some of this may seem to be a little corny to you but this is the way it was)

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 43

2010-12-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

THE REPUBLICANS JUST DON'T GET IT:
   It appears to me that the Republicans have already forgotten who won the election on November 2. Maybe they need to be reminded that November 2012 is not that far into the future and the People who won on November 2 have not gone away and will be back with a vengeance two years from now. We can't do anything here in Tennessee about Lamar Alexander this time but we can do something about "Bailout Bob" Corker, as the folks at Tea Party Nation call him. To you folks in other parts of the country, please follow what your senators say and do.
   We met Bob Corker in 1991 (I think it was) when he first ran for the Senate. He asked me to be his campaign manager here in Crossville. I didn't know much and couldn't do much but I did talk to Mike Moser at the Crossville Chronicle newspaper. Lo and behold, a little later Mike called me and advised they had never endorsed a candidate for office and this would be a "first". Corker didn't win and the Chronicle hasn't endorsed a candidate since, as far as I can recall.
   I can't say that we really became "friends" as I would define a friend but maybe "good acquaintances" would be a better term. All that is to say I sent the following FAX to Corker this evening - Tuesday, December 21:
"Dear Senator Bob:
   Prior to moving to Tennessee I was in business for myself the previous twenty years or so. I had an advertising service and a formal contract for my services. Often I would meet prospective clients at business functions, explain my proposition, and if acceptable, the new client would usually say "Send me a contract". My reply was: "All I need is a handshake." If I couldn't do business with a person on a handshake, I didn't want to do business with him anyway. I never lost a nickel.
   "On November 11th here in Crossville, you came over to me, gave me a hug and handshake like an old friend I consider you to be. Last Sunday morning I saw you on Fox News discussing the Start Treaty and, if I remember correctly, you admitted there were some questions about America being able to maintain the right to develop and upgrade our nuclear defense capabilities but that these assurances would be in the treaty before it was signed.
   "I now read on the internet that you and the Republicans agreed to go along with the administration because you got assurances that Obama would be strong in negotiating further terms and in future negotiations. I find this hard to believe. If it is true, then I have lost by first nickel!
   "Regardless, Yvette and I wish you and Elizabeth a Very Merry Christmas.
   Sincerely, Andy Dolan"
Figuring this message would never reach Bob Corker in Washington I sent it to Elizabeth at their home in Chattanooga asking her to forward it to Bob but it came back "Undeliverable". Something has changed. I doubt if the FAX will reach him personally either. If I do receive a reply it will be published in a future Nomad News or after a reasonable length of time and no reply I will pass that along, also.

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 42

2010-12-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

THE FUN OF FLYING

   For the past four or five months we have been going to the "Fly Ins" at Crossville Airport on the second Saturday of each month. A nice lunch is served at a reasonable price and it's just fun to hang around an airport and chat with friends or strangers that fly in or ride in as we do. It's more fun because we have two friends who have airplanes hangared there: Charles Robbins has a store bought Piper that is very nice and Rainer Braun has a "made from scratch" Sports plane that is a beauty to behold and, I'm sure, a joy for ever for Rainer. This plane is of special attraction for me as I watched it under construction by the able hands of Rainer and his German work ethic for perfection.
   On Tuesday, November 23, the City of Crossville hosted a luncheon for the pilots and management of the airport. Charley invited us as his guests. We had a delightful lunch and sat around and drank coffee for a couple of hours and then Rainer and Shauna showed up. Even after Rainer received flight approval for his work of art he had some regulations about hauling passengers that were required. All this was past and on Tuesday I was invited for the long-awaited ride. As I stepped over the side to enter the cockpit I think the excitement and exhilaration was as great as the time seventy years ago I stepped into the back seat of the 09, a J-2 Piper Cub, for my first flight lesson. (I will have a lot more to say about the 09 in a later issue). Rainer's plane has a joystick for the flight controls rather than the yoke or "steering wheel" in most planes today. I could be wrong but I believe a stick gives one a better "feel" or coordination with the plane's attitude and reaction to changes in attitude. I think it is just a little bit faster, too.
   My aged legs made it a little difficult to get into the cockpit but once in the seat the cockpit was a little crowded but very comfortable. With Rainer at the controls we took off in about 800 feet and climbed swiftly to cruise altitude when Rainer turned the control over to me. Visibility with the rounded canopy was excellent. It had rained in the morning but by now had cleared off, the sun was out and the wind was blowing straight up and down the flagpole when we took off. It was a perfect day for flying. In fact, fall and winter is the best time to fly in small planes as the air is more stable. After being away from a stick plane for seventy years and any plane for twenty-two years I felt comfortable. The sound level was good but for some reason I had dificulty understanding Rainer through the earphones as he explained the operation of the computer screen and some of the other modern gadgets. I was accustomed to flying with a chart, and sometimes a road map. This plane has a computer with pictures of the ground that tells you exactly where you are. All we ever needed was a compass, altimeter, gas gauge, oil pressure gauge, air speed indicator, and later on the VOR navigation system. I'm glad I wasn't taking a flight test but I felt I did pretty good keeping her straight and level and making gentle turns and maintaining altitude. I was a little tense, I don't know why, because the plane flew like a jewel at 200 m.p.h. When we returned to the airport Rainer set her down gently to end a wonderful experience. I flew another half hour that evening before falling asleep.
   We have a fine airport here with a 5400-ft. paved runway and taxiways and an instrument landing approach system This is just not a place where folks like me go to have fun but it is an important asset to building a business base for our community. We should all be proud of such a facility.

Nomad News Vol.2 No.41

2010-08-05T13:25:00.001-07:00

TREATISE ON HOW NOT TO GET RICH
     Going back 80 years or so there was a popular item promoted as an educational tool called an Ant Farm . (I couldn't recall the name so I asked Google and apparently there are similar items on the market today). The 1930s model was a glass container about 6" x 6" x 3/4" (I can't be too sure about these demensions because 80 years is a long time ago). Anyway, this container was filled with dirt and ants. There must have been some tiny air holes at the top and maybe even you had to do a little watering. Again, 80 years you know. The idea was to watch these little industrious insects build their family homes or motels.
     All that is to say, after the war I worked at the Al Paul Lefton Advertising Co. in Philadelphia for a year or so. I saw a book advertised, the title of which was How I Made a Million Dollars in Direct Selling.
I was on my way to becoming a millionaire. I was friendly with one of the copywriters, whose name I can't recall at this moment, so I showed him my new-found road to wealth. His retort was: "That guy didn't get rich selling ant farms, he got rich selling that book to suckers like you." This guy was much older than me and that's when I found out you had to be an old guy before you got any common sense. Sixty-three years later and I still don't know what that age is.
     My boss at Al Paul was Miss Harbison, woman much older than the copywriter and a short time later I discovered she hadn't attained the age of common sense when she told me I had to do something whether I liked it or not. Sixty seconds later she had a piece of paper on her desk with the notation: "This is your notice I will be resigning two weeks from today." Maybe some day I will go into detail when I think of putting it together with some other related events. For five weeks I was out of work while I looked for a new source for becoming rich.
     I then answered a newspaer ad for a position at Food Fair Stores, a retail chain of supermarkets. I didn't feel like I wanted to work for them but decided to take the job until I found something more to my liking. To make a long story short I stayed for eighteen years. I should have met an "old guy" like the copywriter a week later but I didn't so I stayed to be unjustly fired . This story is more interesting than Miss Harbison so maybe I can link them together when the mood hits me.
     I eventually became Advertising/Sales Promotion Manager of the Philadelphia Branch and one day in walks Leonard Edge with an idea. It's a good idea and we accept it along with Leonard and it is quite successful. Leonard and I also become pretty good friends.   I forget the time periods, etc. but Leonard eventually leaves and forms an alliance with a couple of not too savory characters.  We remained friends and at some period we were having lunch or something with a third party when this party made a statement to Leonrd: "I would like to buy a piece of you". Leonard was a convincing person. I remembered this statement and a short time later approached me with a proposition. He had an idea and it was a good one but he needed $10,000.00 in return for 15-percent of the profits. Here was my chance to own 15-percent of Leonard. This sure beat the ant farm idea. Alas, Leonard left town for Aruba about as far out of reach as possible. He got involved in some resort deal and sent me papers giving me ten percent. He did sign a promissary note my lawyer sent him, promising to pay in installments. Nothing. Then he got involved in some photo postcard business that promised to be better than the resort business. Nothing. It wasn't until years later I found out that he had been borrowing money from anyone at Food Fair who would loan it to him. He probably sold 500 percent of himself. Should have stuck to ant farms.
. Now we come to around 1986. I pick up the Wall Street Journal one morning and there's a front-page story about a guy named Ralph Tucker in Fresno, CA who raises snails and is president of the Snail Club of America. Right across the street as I looked out our home/office is a one-story building that is empty and have an idea. I can see it as a snail factory. I should have had a V-8!
     A week later we're on our way to Fresno and our snail fortune. Soon, the fine restaurants in Philadelphia and New York would be clamoring for Les Escargot. We went to San Francisco first for about a week and then to Fresno for Mr. Tucker's snail seminar. About 200 people attended and we received our first introduction to snail-raising.  Yvette had her picture on page-one of The Fresno Bee newspaper holding a snail and another picture on page-three singing to a bunch of snails. We met John Lockie who had a "herd" of 500,000 snails. That to you Texas longhorn hucksters.
     We decided against snails but several months later Mr.Tucker came East and presented us with another million dollar proposition. He had sole U. S. sales rights to an English wine bottle opener called a Corkette. It had a pump handle and long hollow needle. You pierced the bottle cork with the needle and then pumped air into the bottle that forced the cork out. It was unique and he offered me sales rights to as many states in the East as I wished. Then he offered to let me display the item in an upcoming New York Trade Show where he had cleared $10,000.00 the year before. The entrance fee and expenses for a week in New York was about $2000., the Show was a flop and we got one order that just about cleared our expenses. It was time to say 'adieu' to Mr.Tucker, which we did.
   Right now I'm looking at an oil stock that is 70-cents a share. 1000 shares has the possibility of a million dollars in five years. I might buy ten shares. I don't really need a million.
Hawkeye

Nomad News Vol.2 No.40

2010-07-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

TAKE 5 GOOD MEN..
I just came across a letter from a friend of mine, Mike Spero, dated 22 October 1980 that I thought you might like to read. Mike and I served in the Photo Intelligence Section of the 33rd Photo Reconnoisance Squadron in Europe during 1944-45. Mike was from Boise, Idaho and we were lifelong friends but I believe he passed on to the Great Beyond. When last heard from he was 95 and living with his son. Messages left on the son's answering machine are never returned. So, I believe the son got what he had been waiting for. One of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century will be how the Greatest Generation sired a generation of irresponsible misfits. So much for that. Here's the letter:
"Dear Andy: Here is a copy of the book BLOODY AACHEN. Only 2 copies came in to the store here. I bought the hard cover edition for $10.00 about 2 years ago. If you will remember, you and I trip to Vervier 29 October 1944. Vervier is about 18 miles from Aachen. The battle for Aachen began 11 Sept. 1944 and ended 21 Oct. 1944. We got there just 8 days after the fighting. You remember we went into a bar or night club and it was jammed with GIs drinking, hollering, fighting and we didn't get much further than the door. The place was really jumping. One of the sergeants you spoke to told you the men were back for a rest and would go back into the line the next day. He said then it will be 'take 5 good men on a patrol into the NAZI lines -- his words -- it's always take 5 GOOD men and not 5 of these'. You and I went to another bar and we were alone with the Belgium behind the bar. We talked despite the language barrier and I remember him telling us the Nazis were always correct, always correct. They paid for everything they got. Then he told us how they paid by making a motion as if turning a crank to indicate they printed the money right there. He 'tout le jour' meaning they printed paper francs all day to pay for what they took. Anyway you and I could not get a place to sleep so we knocked on every door down one of he streets and one of the French families gave us a bed and as I remember it was pretty soft. They also gave us breakfast in the morning and we returned to Charleroi.
'I remember on the way to Liege a tremendous explosion went off in the fields and the jeep we were riding in jumped a bit. I never knew what was happening around us in France and Belgium. This book tells what happened just before we got to Vervier. Those GI's that were blowing the lid off had just finished kicking the hell out of heil Hitler's supermen. And what a job they did. The sergeant said they would have to carry half of them back to their billets. They were dead drunk. The Belgium behind the bar was a good egg and had a sense of humor if you could call it that at that time. Anyway it was quite a trip in retrospect.
"I'll have to admit after reading BLOODY AACHEN, we never had it so good. I'd hate to think of being mixed in what went on there for 5 solid weeks day in and day out. It's incredible what those GIs did. Charleroi was about 60 miles from Aachen and Beauvachain was 25 miles from Namur (Battle of the Bulge) that is the closest we came to the fighting. Anyway read the book and see what we missed." Mike
The trip in question came about when Mike, a civil engineer in private life, was recommended for a direct commission to First Lieutenant for devising a system of plotting that saved countless hours of work. He had to appear before a commission at SHEAF Headquarters in Vervier so I went with him, I drove and he rode shotgun while we ducked German patrols. The explosion Mike referred to was probably a German V-1 "Buzz Bomb" that landed in the vicinity. You never knew when one of those might drop in.

Hawkeye

Nomad News Vol.2 No.39

2010-07-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

I'M NOT AT WAR WITH THE NRA! MAYBE I AM!

I'm not at war with the National Rifle Assn. Then again, maybe I am. I can go back 40 years and now recently I have been at odds with the NRA over their onerous "one issue" policy when it comes to supporting Congressional candidates. They base their endorsements strictly on how a candidate has supported issues important to the NRA. I think this is wrong. A Congressional candidates' fitness to serve should be based on many factors.
More recently the NRA endorsed the Disclose Act (a misnomer), an Act that violates our First Amendment rights. A deal called a "carve out" was cut to exempt the NRA from the rules of this Act. The NRA will deny this but they can spin it any which from here and back and it will still be a "deal".
I object to the NRA's support of legislators like Harry Reid for the above stated reason. Example: With great fan fair the NRA reported the opening of the state-of-the-art Clark County Shooting Park in Nevada. This "Park" cost the taxpayers $61 Million. Harry Reid was instrumental in obtaining the land through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Mangement Act. Who paid for the land? A quick look at the Act doesn't seem to justify the support of a Shooting Park but this is arguable. $30 Million was used for extending roads and utilities to the site. In a letter to me from the NRA they stated that no federal funds were allocated.
You can go to Harry Reid's internet site and see the list of pork, some probably good but some smelled, amounting to millions of dollars that Harry Reid has bestowed on the citizens of Nevada this year and the millions more he has asked for in 2011. I couldn't find it in a cursory look where any pork was directly connected to the Clark County Shooting Park but I think if you dig deep enough it will be there, maybe under a pseudonym.
Not to sound gratuitous but anyone who knows me, even if it's only my wife, knows the amount of time and effort I have expended over raising funds for Friends of the NRA and recruiting members. But, the fate of America whether we remain a representative democracy or become a serfdom rests on election day November 2. I can't in good conscious remain in an organization that could be, by their one-sided policies, helping with the down-fall of the greatest country the world has ever experienced: America. For that reason I have stood by my principles and resigned as a member and recruiter of the National Rifle Assn.
I am not suggesting that anyone shoould follow me. I still believe the NRA is one of the great bulwarks between Washington as it is today and freedom but I think they would serve their members and their country better if they would direct their efforts toward getting people out to vote rather than support people who may not have preservation of America as a representative democracy as their agenda.

Hawkeye

Nomad News Vol.2 No.38

2010-06-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

MORE ON THE 20 MILLION NEW VOTERS:
SINCE I ISSUED NOMAD NEWS NO. 37

Since I issued Nomad News No. 37 about our goal of registering 20 million new voters by November I received word that David Crowe will be the main speaker at our Tea Party meeting here in Crossville on July 13. Separate notice will be sent on that. Why it is urgent that we register all these new voters:
We hear the talking heads on TV say that there is no way Obama can get through a comprehensive immigration bill in time to legalize up to 20 million illegals to vote anyway. WRONG WRONG WRONG. This guy will get anything he wants and here is how he will circumvent the immigration laws now in effect:
There is a little known clause in the current immigration law that allows an immigrant with "special skills" to be placed on "Prefered status" and he/she can then jump ahead in the line, receive certification toward a green card and eventually to citizenship. Each case is to be handled individually with a immigration official. This is all fine and dandy but here is where the danger lies: I understand Obama is seeking a way to grant mass "prefered status" to the up to 20 Million illegals (all the scum included). Don't say: "It can't happen". We know how this guy operates. This guy is evil personified.
DO YOUR PART. Here in Crossville, where Liberty will be re-born, we are planning our conference where all local clergymen/women will be invited to hear David Crowe make his presentation. YOU have to do the same thing in your home territory. We have to get a handful of conferences going so we can get some publicity while we make our Liberty Movement big enough to get the attention of Glen Beck or Bill O'Reilly and get David Crowe on their program. Mr. Crowe will go anywhere for no fee; just pay his expenses and an honorium to his ministry.
LET'S WIN THIS ONE FOR THE GIPPER!

Hawkeye

MORE

Nomad News Vol.2 No.37

2010-06-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

THE 20 MILLION VOTE PLEDGE.
Do you think 20 Million votes could make a difference in the November 2 election? If so, read on. Where would you say is the most likely place in America that you would observe the following Biblical verse?
"Proclaim Liberty thro' all the Land to all the inhabitants Thereof" Leviticus XXV 10
You probably guessed wrong. This verse is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia PA,probably the most famous icon of America's birth that proclaimed Liberty throughout the fledging country on July 8, 1776. Is placing a Biblical verse on a secular icon separation of church and state or is it just the opposite?
I'm re-reading a book by Bruce Feiler, "America's Prophet". This book should be beside the Bible of every Christian clergyman in the country and I don't get paid a nickel for saying that. Mr. Feiler's book traces the influence of Moses in the founding of America and for the next 200 years. It is an easy-to-read and delightful narrative of American history.
In the Declaration of Independence our Founding Fathers appealed to "the Supreme Judge of the World" and asked for "the Protection of divine Providence". The strength of the Constitution of the United States of America is that it was constructed under the guidance of Judeo-Christian principles. Some of the Founding Fathers, including Franklin, wanted the image of Moses as part of the Great Seal. There has never been a separation of church and state in America until the progressive secularists in the halls of the Congress of the United States shredded it with their Nihilistic Doctrine.
Stay with me. This is leading to something. In Nomad News No. 36 I told you I considered myself an Independent Conservative American but usually hung out with the Republicans because they came closest to my idealogy. Try it sometime. They're not a bad bunch at heart. That is just to say, at the Republican Club meeting last Thursday the main speaker was David Crowe, founder of Restore America, a Christian ministry dedicated to the restoration of America as a nation "Under God".
An ordained minister, writer, speaker, and a former congressional district chairman in the Oregon Republican Party, he speaks and writes frequently on our Christian Heritage and duty to participate responsibly in civil government and the elective process. Mr. Crowe's presentation is a "get out the vote" plea aimed at the clergy of America for one thing.
On Saturday I gave our Pastor David Lampman, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Mr. Crowe's bio and some voter registration forms and asked if he would agree to host a conference of all the Christian clergy in Cumberland County to hear David Crowe's presentation. While I await Pastor Lampman's decision, here is my two-sided goal:
At 7 a.m., November 2, 2010 the Liberty Bell in absentia, accompanied by the peal of church bells in every Christian Church in America, will ring out, calling Americans to the polls to exercise their sacred duty and obligation to vote. We can do this if we get
20 MILLION NEW VOTERS to the polls. Liberty in America was born in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776 and it can be reborn in 2010 starting in Crossville now.
We're going to have this conference in Crossville, if not at Shepherd of the Hills it will be at some church. Just think how this can branch out practically overnight to cover the country and save America. America's fate is in the pulpits of America's Christian churches. The key will be to reach those 10 million who have never voted and what better place to start. The pledge starts there.

I told you how Bruce Feiler has uncovered the influence of Moses in our heritage. Again, I'm not selling books, but if every Christian leader would read this book, somewhere a new Moses will appear, part the waters and save America this November 2. Who will be the new Moses? Who will be the one to stand and say "I"?

Hawkeye

Nomad News Vol.2, No.36

2010-06-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration of the two 36-feet billboards now displayed on Interstate 40 in Cumberland County TN. One facing eastbound traffic is located at mile 304.5 and the other facing westbound traffic is at mile 328.5, just before Exit 329.
40-inch wide copies of the billboard printed on peel-off paper (like bumper stickers) are available at Signsmith Signs, 1337 West Ave., Crossville TN 38555
(just across from Hardee's) for $15.00 each. Ideal for tailgate of pick-up trucks. Make your pick-up a travelling billboard for cleaning house in Washington. If anyone from out-of-town would like one, I will see that it is mailed to you for the additional cost of postage and mailing tube.
Already I have advised you the history of these billboards but I am repeating it here for the record: When we moved last December we sold a separate vacant lot at the same time. We do not pay any income taxes (this can and should be correted with the Fair Tax because I think everybody should pay their fair share) but thinking the vacant lot sale might create some tax liability I went to a tax preparer. When advised we had no liability I was also advised we had a $6000.00 tax rebate coming. "How can this be?", I asked. I was advised it was some Stimulus Fund thanks to the Obama administration. I told the tax preparer I could not in good conscious accept something that had to be taken from somone else against their wishes. I decided not to file my return and forget about the whole thing. But, thinking a little bit more I thought: They will just give it to someone else so I'll accept it and then use the money to help defeat those who had passed this onerous bill. So I decided to use the money for these two billboards. Now, when you pass these signs on I-40 you will see some of your tax dollars working to Kick Them All Out.

Hawkeye

P.S.: I'm getting an estimate on some bumper stickers with the billboard. Anyone interested?

Nomad News Vol.2 No.35

2010-06-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

I Believe in Something:

In case anyone hasn't already suspected, I consider myself an Independent Conservative American. If I seem to lean more to the Republican side it is only because that, in most cases, is the lesser of two evils.

First and foremost, I believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. The Constitution has withstood the ravages of both current Republican and Democrat parties and all those that came before during the past 200 years plus. At least, to some extent. The patriots who designed the Constitution were able to do so because they relied mostly on a commodity that is sadly lacking today: Common Sense.

I have lived, fortunately, through nearly a century of thieves, hucksters, traitors, and self-serving sleazy bastards who have attempted to shred the Constitution. It didn't start with FDR but that is where it starts with me. FDR started the slide toward socialism with his New Deal schemes. Each succeeding administration has added to the slippery stream until it has morphed into a cesspool of greed , corruption and putrefaction.

And, I believe I am an American. My immigrant parents, like many before them, came to America to be American citizens. Not Irish-Americans, or German-Americans, or Armenian-Americans. They left their old ways behind them and melted in, still maintaining their sense of heritage. They worked hard with little formal education but plenty of common sense. They raised the Greatest Generation and saw to it that their offspring received the education they never had the opportinuty to acquire. One of the greatest questions of the 20th Century that will be argued for years is how the Greatest Generation sired the misfit generation of the 60s who are now occupying the seats of government in the U.S.Capitol.

And, I believe America is a Christian nation and we speak English only. One need not be Christian to be a citizen but to be a citizen one must abide by the laws and procedures set down in our justice and legal system. There is no place for Sharia law or any other foreign system of law in the American justice system.
And I believe it might we well to remember this quote from George Washington's First Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789: "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican form of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

Hawkeye

only.

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 34

2010-05-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

I Don't Believe In UFOs. Or Do I? Several months ago after darkness had set in, Yvette and I were leaving the VFW Post 5025, Hwy 127 South. Yvette was driving and she is always very careful in pulling out of this driveway as there is usually traffic in both directions.

This time there was no visible traffic so she pulled out in the left lane to make a left turn and suddenly, seemingly "out of nowhere", there appeared two brilliant headlights that flooded our car. I looked left and as crash was imminent I turned my eyes straight ahead thinking"we're dead". Yvette uttered a low "Oh".

Then everything was unearthly quiet. This all happened in the matter of a second. Maybe less. Nothing passed in front of our car. It would have been all but impossible for the other vehicle to go behind us, at least without making some kind of noise or commotion . No screeching of brakes or skidding. Just this silence. I had no feeling of being scared or excited as we remained stopped. It was surreal. I then said to Yvette: "You had better get out of the middle of the road before something comes along." We proceeded home in silence as if we couldn't believe we were still alive.

There was only one answer. It had to pass over us. But how could this be possible. Was it a UFO that swerved up and over? What power could lift a heavy object over another? What emotion did the occupant or occupants of the other vehicle feel? I have read of similar experiences where a heavy object was moved by an unseen power but I didn't believe them.

In my last issue of the Nomad News, No. 33, I discussed how my journey to Tennessee was planned sixty years ago and that I was here for a purpose. Can there be a power that protects me until that purpose is fulfilled? I don't think so but how do you explain this "miracle" because that is what it was. Or, was it a UFO?

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Vol. 2 - No.33

2010-04-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

My Journey to Tennessee: I have often been asked "How did you decide to come to Tennessee". It was a little unusual so I would recite it until one evening we were watching The Mike Huckabee Show and Gov. Huckabee had as a guest Kathy Lee Gifford. In response to a question Ms Gifford commented that one of the most interesting persons she had interviewed was Paul Newman. At the time Mr. Newman was fighting his battle with cancer and Ms Gifford asked him what kept him going as he was pursuing an active life. His reply: "Each morning when I awaken I believe I am here for a purpose so I just keep going."

I began to think about this and it occured to me that I just didn't end up in Tennessee per chance but that I was destined to be here for a purpose and as of this date I don't know what that is but the start of my journey, I believe, was 70 years ago when I enlisted in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It was at that period I met Mario Grasso, a South Philadelphia Italian-American. I dislike hyphenated designations so, to set the record straight, Mario was an American citizen, born in Sciliy and came to America when he was a year old, as I remember. It was an unwritten law in the community at that time, maybe still is, if you were born in South Philly you lived and died in South Philly and you married a nice Italian girl. If one did move out of South Philly it was only a short distance away, probably within 50 miles. Mario was an anomaly.

Mario married late (although not as late as me) and married a nice non-Italian girl, then he not only moved out of South Philly but he moved over 700 miles away to Tennessee. You will see a little later on how all this about Mario affected me. The 103rd Observation Squadron entered active duty on February 16, 1941 with, as I recall, about 260 personnel. Mario was one of the first people I met and we became instant friends. All 260 of us were a cohesive group and we knew each other on various levels of friendship. I was close with about a dozen of them but Mario was the only one I kept in touch with after the war. When the squadron was split to form new units I went to Europe and Mario went to Burma.

When Mario married his wife Jane and then later moved to Tennessee we stayed in touch and I would visit them regularly in Tennessee. They always tried to get me to move down and I would say: "Me, move down to this hick country" and so it went. In June 1987 we came down for a week of fishing. On our arrival Mario asked if we would like to meet friends, Jim and Charlotte Bulleck, who had moved down from New Jersey and Jim was a woodcarver, like me. Our 20 mile trip ended at the most beautiful "Garden of Eden" imagineable. A small home overlooking a small lake and gardens of beautiful flowerining flowers. Everything was located in a most pristine setting. We were so impressed, the next day we decided to contact a real estate agent in the hope of finding another "Garden of Eden" in the area, looking ahead to retirement. Mario directed us to 20th Century Realty where we met Boyd Raper. We told him what we were looking for, something that had to include a lake, etc. Our search was not fruitful.

Unbeknowust to us, while we were gone Mario had told the Bullecks about our search and they announced they had been thinking of returning to New Jersey to be near their grandchildren. I immediately contacted Mr. Bulleck and was advised they were thinking about it and he promised to get in touch with us first. The next day Mr. Bulleck called and asked: "Are
you serious?" The answer, of course, was in the affirmative so we went over, made a casual trip around the property and I asked: "How much are you asking?" He told me, I said "You have a deal". We made the deal for a year later, I gave him a check for $2000.00, we shook hands and I told him to send us an agreement of sale when he got around to it. We had no intention of moving at that time so we decided to rent the property and went back to Mr. Raper and asked if he would handle the rental. He agreed but called me the next morning and said: "I looked at your property and wouldn't have any trouble renting it, but anyone I rented it to would dsestroy it and I don't want that on my conscious." We decided he was right and without hesitation made a decision to go home, wind up our affairs, and move a year later. This was our first 'Tennessee experience' and I'm pleased to say we have met many more fine Tennessee folks over the past 22 years.

Now, these may be a series of coincidents but I don't think so. I think we were destined to end up in Tennessee and that destiny has yet to be fulfilled. Perhaps more on that later

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 31

2009-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

"There Is No Copyright on Common Sense"

Nodebais, Belgium, Late November 1944: It was late in November, the weather was just about as miserable as it is here in Tennessee today on October 17. We were occupying an old chateau that was one grade better than the pyramidal tents we had recently vacated. I shared a room with T/Sgt. Lon Whitworth, Staff/Sgt. Michael Spero, and Staff/Sgt. Sterling Winn. We heated the room with a little round steel stove that burned soft coal and any wood we could scrounge from the nearby forest. The stovepipe exited through one of the windows. You could always tell where the GIs were billeted by the stove pipes sticking out the windows. It's a good thing the Germans didn't have the same photo intelligence capabilities we had. On this particular Saturday night we were making grilled cheese open-faced sandwiches over the heat of the coals, if you can imagine that. We were washing them down with some red wine one of our guys had liberated from we didn't ask where. As the Photo Lab needed a good sourse of water, they along with the Photo Intelligence Section were always located a distance from the main Squadron. In this case, we were about 12 miles away and Tech/Sgt. Warren Harnish, headquarters Sergeant Major, was "visiting" with us. Our repast was continually interrupted by the "put-put" of a German V-1 Buzz Bomb as it passed nearby on the way to London. Sometimes the "put-put" would stop, which meant the critter had run out of fuel and was on the way down. We would wait for it to hit, all the time hoping it wasn't going to be on the roof of the chateau. It never was, which you have discerned already or I wouldn't be typing this. I was taking a mail-order course in journalism from the University Of Indiana at the time and the following is one or my lessons with the title being:

"The Chateau"

It was an evening in late November. It was damp and it was cold. Inside the chateau it was warm but hard for one to lose that lonely feeling. There was plenty of time to think. One of those nights when you would give a month's pay for a ham on rye and a bottle of good American beer, or an American girl to talk to.

An occasional buzz bomb would go over, but by now not many of us gave them much notice, outside of a casual remark such as "There goes another one". When they first started coming over, their approaching sound was the signal for everyone to rush out and watch the anti-aircraft crews open up on them, and sometimes shoot one down.

A faint haze hung over the room and the flickering lamps threw their dull glow over a noisy group on one side of the room embroiled in a card game. Two others were battling noiselessly over a game of chess in the far corner, while still others singly or in pairs, talked about various topics of the day or scanned the latest issue of "Stars and Stripes". A quartet at the bar would break in at times with their own version of "Mairzy Doats"

Two guards coming off duty, stepped into the room, looked around, wiped rain and mist from their eyes, squinting in the dull light after coming in out of the night. Their shoes were covered with cold, sticky mud. Stepping to the bar, they quietly downed a shot of brandy in an effort to shake the chill from their body, after which they left as quietly as they came.

The room itself was large, drab, and unpretentious with a high ceiling and dark plaster walls finished off in imitation mahogany which was chipped and scarred. High French windows, blacked out with dirty cardboard and paper, lined the wall on one side. In years long past, it was undoubtedly the site of gaudy parties and banquets where fine ladies in lace dined with their noble gentlemen, or danced to light-hearted music. Rich, Napoleonic era tapestries would have lined the walls, heavy furniture and glittering chandeliers would have lent gaiety and finery.

But, tonight the room was furnished with a few unpainted wooden tables, a few woobly chairs and a bar made from boards stretched between two boxes. Light was furnished by black-globed kerosene lamps. The back bar was another box upon which rested half a dozen bottles of wine, brandy, and cognac. The heavy oak floor, once covered with expensive carpets where only the elite trod, was now covered with a thick layer of dirt and scuffed by the shuffling feet of the men now occupying the room.

Somewhere over the horizon lights shine brightly, people are happy again, but here it is cold, it is desolate, it is war.

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 30

2009-10-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

"There's No Copyright On Common Sense"

'FLIP THIS HOUSE 2010": Motto for the next year. I forget who coined this but it is one I am dedicated to and I hope you will join me and the others who have adopted this. The only way we're going to make a change in Washington is to clean house: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Then, elect new representatives who will run on a policy of term limits for starters. They must sign an oath they will sponsor or co-sponsor a bill setting term limits and then abide by it or out the door. Today we have 35,000 lobbyists in D.C. with fists full of money to buy their way into our pocketbooks. Nepotism is an incurable disease that permeates the entire power structure: We have family or relatives on the payrolls with lucrative salaries, we have retired members of the House and Senate that are now lobbyists or working for lobbyists, we have two generations down that are in the web and if they are not directly attached they are working for corporations that have or are seeking government contracts. This is a power and/or influence web that includes everyone except the taxpayer. You can't penetrate it. It must be destroyed. If it's not started at the voting booth next year it will be done in the streets in the not too distant future. A sign seen at the Washington tea party said it all: "This time we came unarmed".

Don't think your vote or your message to a member of Congress doesn't count. If two kids with a hidden camera can bring down ACORN, think of what we can accomplish if we stick together and don't let up the pressure on Washington. The dismissive attitude the liberal press and the Washington establishment took on the Tea Parties will backfire on them in next year's election if we continue on the attack. As Winston Churchill said: "We will never, never, NEVER give up."

MUST READ: 1. Constitution of the United States of America
2. Declaration of Independence
3. The Fedralist Papers
The first two you are no doubt well aware of but they need to be reviewed regularly and impressed on others, especially the younger generation. No. 3 may not be familiar to some of you but it is also a "must" to understand the first two, especially No. 1.

There are 85 Federalist Papers and the main author was Alexander Hamilton; some by James Madison and a few by John Jay. When the Constitution was submitted to the 13 original states for ratification there was some fear that the people of New York, one of the most important states at that time, would not ratify it so the Federalist Papers were authored to explain how the new government would operate. My guess is, if any current high school student or graduate within the last 30 years was asked about the Federalist Papers the answer would be: "who?". That's a testament to today's government-schooled students and their lack of basic knowledge of what America is supposed to be: a representative republic.

G8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: In some of my previous dissertations in the field of aeronautics, especially the inventions of the flying belt and the jet engine, I completely forgot about one of my earliest exploits as one of G8's Battle Aces! I was enjoying a cup of coffee with George McKeel, another former pilot and junior old guy, following a recent Sunday after-service coffee hour at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, when George, brought up G8. How could I have forgotten G8? Must be getting old, too. When not flying through the universe with Buck Rogers in pursuit of Killer Kane, I was fighting such bad guys as the Headless Monster with G8 and His Battle Aces in our World War One French Spad aircraft. Whereas Buck Rogers operated out of the newspaper comic strips, G8 was a comic book that I eagerly awaited each edition so see where the next battle would be. Copies were closely guarded and traded.

MY TITLE FOR OBAMA'S LATEST MEMOIR: The Audacity of Hubris.
Actually, I like Rush Limbaugh's rendition after the messiah's put- down in Oslo: The Ego has Landed and his later comment when the messiah was awarded the Peace Prize: "His head now fits his ears".
As I remember, on December 8, 1941 President Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany. On September 12, 2001 President W declared War on Terror. All the messiah has done after 8 months in office is change the words to Foreign Contingency Operations and has yet to announce a battle plan. He's "thinking about it". He dishonors the title Commander-in-Chief. The kids in uniform deserve something better. Much better. Reminds me of a comment by Mark Twain: "Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it".

I started this issue on October 4 and on Ocxtober 7 I wound up in Cumberland Medical Center when my blood pressure took a dive. I was there overnight and things seem to be normal after a minor adjustment in my medications. Doing a pretty good job of living up to my grandfather's admonition: "Live a long time without getting old". Well, at least it's an Irish saying from someone's grandfather.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 29

2009-09-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

"There's No Copyright on Common Sense"

MAINE (Con't) CHESTER PHILBROOKS: Chester and Martha Philbrooks were friends of the family. Chester was a local fisherman and worked at the School (Bancroft School where my Dad worked) during the summer months. Martha made donuts like you never experienced. The best of today's donut makers would be arrested for fraud if one was set alongside one of Martha's creations. They were best if picked up just after they came out of the boiling greasepot and left to drain on yesterday's newspaper. Just the odor would set your taste buds on fire. The Philbrooks lived on top of the hill from the wharf, next to the Post Office.

One year we arrived in Owls Head to discover Chester had taken up residence in the state penitentiary in Thomaston. Seems like he had taken a second job, like some of the other fishermen, and discovered he could make more money running "hooch" in from an off-shore vessel than he could fishing. With his knowledge of Penobscot Bay waters he was able to elude the Coast Guard for some time. Frugal as he was, he saved his money and bought a new boat that was "guaranteed" to outrun anything the Coast Guard had. Alas, on his first trip off-shore the "Coasties" got their man and the "guarantee" warranted him a spell in the "pen".

Next to Martha's donuts, the next best treat was one of my mother's wild blueberry pies; unsurpassed to this day. There is something about the Maine coastal blueberries than cannot be duplicated. Just like Jersey corn to this day and Jersey tomatoes before 1940, when they started to genetically change them so they could be harvested by machines. When we were kids in Haddonfield the line of horse and wagonloads of tomatoes would be horse nose to wagon on the way to Campbells Soup, ten miles west in Camden.

Got away from Maine for a bit and I want to recall another fisherman, Pete Reed. Mr. Reed was a big friendly man that fished for cod and haddock and was also "in charge" of the wharf. We rented a house from Doctor McBeth, a rare female doctor at that time, on The Point. The Point is the easterly end of Owls Head harbor. We would watch for Pete Reed to return with his catch and then my mother would give me a dime and tell me to go for a "ten cent haddock". It seemed like Mr. Reed always gave me a "bigger ten-cent haddock" than he gave my brother or sister. The Reeds had a son, Pete Jr. about our age but we never had much engagement with local kids as they all worked during the summer with their fathers or doing other necessary jobs around the wharf or around the boats. I renewed my acquaintance with Pete Jr. when I purchased the cottage on Spruce Head Island. At that time Pete was in charge of the wharf, just like his father before him and I would stop by to pick up my daily lobster that was dropped in a pot of boiling water for fifteen minutes and then eaten with delight. Ah!

Another long ago delightful experiences were the family picnics in Maine. Several families would get together and row off to Sheeps Island or another nearby island for a picnic. First chore was to gather a hugh pile of drift wood for a fire. Then the women would set out the homemade foods and goodies like my mother's blueberry pie. While this was going on we kids would dig through the bottomless pits of clam shells, discarded long ago by Indian tribes, looking for artifacts. We never found anything but that didn't minimize the expectancy time after time. Now, for the biggest event of the day. Just about dusk we would hear the fog horn of the distant Boston Boat, a passenger ship that ran from Boston to Rockland, as it steamed up the channel. This would be the signal to light the pile of driftwood and by the time the ship reached our location the fire would be roaring, the ship's captain would pull the whistle halyard and we would wave to the passengers as they waved back.

Before I leave Maine, I nearly forgot about the super-delicious wild strawberries that grew in abundance on The Point. If you have never tasted a wild strawberry, especially the Maine ones, you have missed one of childhood's treasures. What they lacked in size they more than made up for with their sweet wild taste.

****************** ****************** *************
IF YOU AREN'T SCARED YOU HAVEN'T BEEN LISTENING:

"This is a public health epidemic. We are struggling to find a cure for AIDS, we are struggling to find a cure for cancer; we know the cure for this public health epidemic---getting rid of guns."
Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education. The most extreme anti-gun member of Obama's cabinet.
************** ************* ***************
DAY 3 - GLENN BECK'S "Reasonable Questions for unreasonable times"
- Why does the FCC have a diversity "czar"?
- Who is Mark Lloyd and how does he plan to "balance" the airwaves?
- Cass Sunstein once said he wants to balance the Internet; is that next?
- Will broadcasters who leave the airwaves be allowed to go to satellite or Internet without government regulation?
- Is there any place (that has a mass audience) where the government won't regulate free speech?
- Why does it seem every member of the Obama advisory team hates capitalism, unless those companies (like G.E.) are in bed with the administration?
- If Mark Lloyd has his way, stations who don't comply to the governments definition of "public interest" will have to pay a massive fine to help support public broadcasting:
What will the definition of "public interest" be?
Who defines "public interest"?
Why should it be balanced? Because it's public airwaves? (Well, there are public highways
that go past my house and I don't count how many Republicans and Democrats are driving
on them)
************** ************* **************
YOU DIDN'T READ/HEAR THIS IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: "Recently there was a conference call arranged by the National Endowment for the Arts, with a representative of the White House, for potential grantees or actual grantees of the federal government, subsidies--the theme of it was how the arts community could advance the president's agenda. Now I don't know how many laws that breaks, but I am sure there are some". Andrew Breitbart writing in the "Washington Times".

Hawkeye

Nomad News Volume 2 - No. 28

2009-09-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

"There Is No Copyright On Common Sense"

NEWS HEADLINE: "Matinicus Island Lobster Wars": This headline caught my eye as my brother, sister, and I spent our early summer months in Owls Head, Maine. Our father's work took us there and it was a wonderful experience not many kids at that time had the opportunity to enjoy. This same headline above could easily have been written during the 1920s as this has been a feud as long-lasting but not as well known as the Hatfield and McCoys of Kentucky.

Matinicus Island lays about 20 miles off the coast and the inhabitants maintain a strict code of descipline when it comes to lobster fishing. For decades they have, in reality, maintained their own set of laws and regulations as pertains to lobstering. I assume it is still the same. They lobster only nine months 0f the year. The summer months are "off limits" as they allow the lobsters to establish maximum growth during the warmer waters of summer. This results in larger lobsters and the Matinicus Island lobsters bring higher prices than the rest of the grounds.

I believe this latest incident involved a person who claimed residence as the result of being a third generation member of an Island resident. He ended up in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the throat. The article also quoted an incident where recently two lobster boats in Owls Head harbor had been sunk and another damaged. This brought the latest news "closer to home".

When we reached high school age, we stopped going to Maine. It was "old hat". It wasn't until 30 years later I decided to go back. Things had changed and then, again, they hadn't changed that much. I purchased a little bay-front cottage on Spruce Head Island and kept it for 15 years or so. Located a couple of boyhood friends. One was Mary Foster. Her parents had worked at the Bancroft School where my father worked. She recalled a time when a bunch of us kids were at the home of Levi Ledbetter and Mrs. Ledbetter offered us an apple. This was not just any apple, it was a Red Astriken, the most delicious apple imagineable. Maine was the only place I ever ran across this variety. The Ledbetters were frugal people. Levi was a lobsterman(more on Mr. L.). When Mrs. Ledbetter came to me, I asked her to give me one "without the worms". The apples Mrs. L. always served were "windfalls". The good ones were kept for applesauce. Mary recalled that the local kids were all surprised that I would be so bold. It was something they were "afraid to do".

Levi, as I recall, didn't care much for "noisy kids" but he took a liking to me. Maybe because I had the nerve to solicit non-wormy apples from his wife. For whatever reason he invited me to go cod fishing one time. As I mentioned he was a lobsterman but on occasion would fish for his own consumption. Levi lobstered from a sloop, a single-masted sailboat without a bow sprit. She was about thirty feet long. He was the only lobsterman in Owls Head who worked from a sailboat.

Another time he had to sail to Vinylhaven Island, about 20 miles from Owls Head to pick up a new sail and he stopped by and asked if I would like to go along. I needed no urging. Off we sailed on a beautiful sunny day, tacking across Penobscot Bay to the off-shore island. There was a stiff breeze and we made good time. I lingered around the docks while Levi completed his task. I guess the sail wasn't quite ready because it was early evening when we set sail for the return trip. Dusk was setting in when we finally left the wharf. Off we sailed in a returning gentle breeze. When we were about halfway home, the breeze dropped like a rock. Levi went below to start the one-lunger auxiliary engine. He had to "swing" the flywheel to start it.

He swung and he swung and he swung and she wouldn't even sputter. The more he swung the more curse words flew from his lips. He finally gave up, came up still madder than a wet hen. Levi always had a 14-foot dory in tow, which he proceeded to pull alongside. Giving me instructions on how to steer toward Owls Head lighthouse off in the growing dark, he got in the dory, attached a towline to the bow and proceeded to pull his sloop home with oar power, still swearing all the while. I forget what time it was when we finally reached Owls Head but the moon had been full for a long time and as we rowed into the wharf, Levi continued to mutter under is breath.

(More about Maine and Chester Philbrooks next time)

Hawkeye

Nomad News - Volume 2 - No. 27

2009-09-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

"There's No Copyright on Common Sense"
WASHINGTON 'TEA PARTY': I'm not going to elaborate on the wonderful success of We the People who planned this rally, went to the rally, or just stayed home for various reasons but lent their support. What a success! What a message we sent to the idiots in Washington, especially to Ediot No. 2, Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, with his comment: "I didn't know there were any Tea Parties in Washington". When they're down to comments like that, we know we have them on the run. But, we must keep them on the run until next November when senators and representatives with their entourages will be flying out of Washington like snowflakes in a winter storm.
Important things to keep in mind: There were no police arrests. The people were a portrait of real Americans. There was no violence. They were Democrats, Republicans, Independents, white, black, and every nationality and they had one thing in common: love of America as it is supposed to be and a disdain for a bloated bureaurcy that has become increasingly corrupt and arrogant, especially with the advent of the New Democrats.
My favorite signs on display: "We came unarmed this time" and "The only thing we have to fear is Obama himself".
Finally, just about everyone there came at their own expense. There were no bused in at taxpayer expense Acorn community organizers, no George Soros or Michael Moore sponsored
buses, no government workers who were given the day off, no Hollywood trash. Just hard-working or retired Americans looking to preserve our liberty and freedom.
GLENN BECK'S DAY 2 "Reasonable questions for unreadonable times"
Suggestions we can use when contacting our elected officials, etc.:
- Who is "surrounding" the President in the White House?
- Do any of the President's advisers have criminal records?
- Are the Presidents advisers working to better the country or their own ideals?
- Who are the anti-capitalists in Washington?
- What roles do they have in crafting bills?
- What was "STORM"? What happened to the founders, where are they now?
- What qualifications must one have to be a Presidential adviser?
- What is the difference between a community organizer and a community activist?
- Do the czars have power?
- Should a communist have the ear of the President?
- What role did the Apollo Alliance play in crafting bills?
- Does the President know the co-founder of the Weather Underground is a board member of the Apollo Alliance?
- How many people in the administration are connected to the movement for a democratic society?
- What role does George Soros play...CONSTITUTIONALLY?
CORRECTIONS
In Nomad News No. 26 there were a couple of typos that I missed and Yvette caught as she read it. One, was "administration" at the end of the first paragraph and the other was about 75 percent down where I referred to a person as the "Devil Incarate". This should have been "Devil Incarnate". Sorry about that.
"LIBERAL" HAS BECOME A LIABILITY WORD for the Democrats so they now call themselves "Progressive". Don't be fooled, they're the same skunks with a different smell.
AN ADDENDUM TO NOMAD NEWS NO. 26: In this issue I related how I and my eleven friends grew up, joined the war effort, etc. but I didn't finish with the period just after the war. My brother Joe and Hubie Arsenault joined the Merchant Marine and hauled aviation gas across the Atlantic to Murmansk and Scotland. Tommy Brennan, Tommy Hamilton and Bucky Walters joined the Navy and served on tincans in the South Pacific. John Arsenault joined the Army Signal Corps and served in Europe. Bill Roberts joined the Marines and spent the entire war in Hawaii. Talk about good duty. Andy Ackerman joined the Coast Guard and served in the South Pacific, Merle Eagleston joined the Army and served in Europe. Merle Garwood was drafted and served in the Army in the South Pacific. Four years later we all came home without a scratch. With the exception of one we were all back at work within a week or so of returning. A short time later the State of New Jersey had a referandum to give each veteran a bonus of $500.00.
With the exception of one we all voted "NO" and it did fail. The one exception joined the 52/50 Club ( government-funded $50.00 a week for 52 weeks) took a year off and voted for the Bonus.
The women laid down their riveting tools, took their aprons off the hangers and life went on as if nothing had happened. Years later I guess this is why Tom Brokaw called us "The Greatest Generation". We didn't think so. It was just the way we were raised and the way things were done.
Hawkeye

-

NOMAD NEWS - Volume 2 - No. 26

2009-09-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

CROSSVILLE TEA PARTY - September 5
I would estimate we had about 150-200 present but the important thing to remember, they were all angry (except for one) but reserved about the state of the nation. Remember, this is just a sampling. Behind these 200 are thousands more who feel the same way. They feel we are losing our heritage, our freedoms, and our liberty to a socialist administration. My own description would be "a socialist-muslim adminisrtion".
Another important thing to remember: in 1775 it was just a dozen or so patriots who represented thousands that dumped the tea overboard in Boston Harbor. Then a year later it was a small group of Minutemen who repelled the British Redcoats and fired the "shot heard 'round the world".
Those who attended Saturday's event and the previous Tea Parties and those who will attend the Washington, D.C. Tea Party on 9/12, consider yourselves the present day "shot heard 'round the world".
I would like to interject a little past history right here: In 1940 the American Destroyer "FDR" had passed the draft bill and my number was the first out of the barrel. In some previous writing I told how I had a pilot's license but didn't qualify for the Air Cadets but wanted to be around airplanes so I joined the Pennsylvania Air National Guard to avoid the draft. Nothing wrong with that. George W. had the same thought. Nothing wrong with that, either. Anyhow, at the time I palled around with eleven other kids. We fished, we hunted, we played sports, we drank beer, we chased the skirts, we had fun and then some. We didn't each do all of these things but each to varying degrees. What I'm describing is a gang of relatively well behaved young people. We would probably be known as "squares" today. I joined the Guard in December 1940 and we left for a year's active duty on February 16, 1941. During the ensuing year only one member of my "gang" was drafted BUT on December 8 every one of them joined the Army, Navy, Marines or Merchant Marine.. This was not an isolated event. It happened from the rock bound coast of Maine to the beaches of California. We walked away from our jobs overnight, never considering what hardships we might leave behind. The women put their apron away for the duration and stepped in to fill the void. They built ships, airplanes and tanks faster than the enemy could destroy them. They gave up their butter for the boys overseas. To wrap it up, we were years ahead of JFK when he implored us to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what can I do for my country". Maybe he got the thought at that time. I'll ask him when I see him.
The good news is, I'm starting to see the same display of patriotism and Americanism at the Tea Parties. The people are angry. They feel betrayed. And, well they should be. We have an administration in Washington that is well-funded by people who have never read the Constitution of the United States of America. People who do not care about the Constitution. People who come here with a lust for power. People who are using the Devil Incarate for their own personal gains that have nothing to do with the freedom and liberty our Constitution grants us. They must be defeated. A small number of Minutemen defeated the Redcoats in 1775, in 1941 a raggety-ass bunch of shoe store salesmen, farmers, miners, clerks, bankers, and soda store jerks destroyed two of the mightiest best trained, best equipped military machines ever asembled. We can do it again. As Yvette says: "Nothing can stop the masses when they become aroused". Amen
H.R. 45: Keep an eye on this Bill in the House of Representatives. If passed, this unconstitutional bill will require that all guns be listed on your income tax returns. The I.R.S.
(and you know what a bunch of goons these guys are) will have the power to oversee that you do. The bill is much more than this but we cannot let it pass. The Nationl Rifle Assn. is keeping a close watch.
CHRISTIANITY IN DANGER?: Remember when the Taliban became the ruling power in Afghanistan after the Russians withdrew? I don't exactly recall and didn't want to take time to look it up, but I believe the Buddists were or had been. In any event the country was dotted with huge Buddist monuments that had been in place for centuries. They were historic treasures. The Taliban blew up these monuments to erase all signs of religion. I'm mentioning this as a prelude to what may be taking place here. When the U.S. Supreme Court meets next month for the fall session, they will be ruling on the case of the boxed-in World War One memorial in the Mohave Desert. This monument with a Latin cross has been a thorn in the side of the Anti-Christs for years . These people would like to erase all signs of Christianity and it will mean that Latin crosses on any monument on public property will have to be eradicated or blocked from view if we lose. This is a Christian nation and if we lose this one, that will be the time to man the barricades with pitchforks and torches. Recall the lady in France? When her courtieres advised her the peasants were getting restless, that they were hungry and had no bread, her reply was: "Let them eat cake". When last seen, her head was bouncing over the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysee.

Hawkeye

NOMAD NEWS - Volume 1 - No. 25

2009-09-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

QUESTION TO ASK YOUR CONGRESSMAN: Yesterday I listed some questions from Glenn Beck's list and had one of my own but couldn't think of it at the time (don't laugh, you'll get old some day). Here it is:

1. When a bill comes out of the Conference Committee, where all the 'dirty work' is done,do you read it before voting on it?

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AN UP-DATE ON THE NAVY:

In 1933 the first of the new Socialist Class American Destroyers was launched. It ws aptly named the Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 2009 the newer and up-dated Socialist-Islamic Class American Destroyer slid down the slippery runway and aptly, named the Barack H. Obama

And, that's it folks!

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Nomad News - Volume 1 - No. 24

2009-09-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

I'm trying something different. Instead of e-mailing my Nomad News to everyone I will be posting them on this Blog that took me days to figure out how to set it up and just navigate a little. There is plenty still to be learned to get the most out of the site. I will send an e-mail to everyone advising them when a new blog has been posted and then you can leave comments if you wish.
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POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON (This is a repeat from Nomad News No. 23. but there was a typo errror so wanted to be sure everyone understood) And, I kinda like it anyway and have a bumper sticker on my truck.
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GLENN BECK: Reasonable questions for unreasonable times!
During the week of August 24 and on four different days, Glenn Beck offered a series of questions we could use when writing our elected representatives. Following is group from Day One:
- Our unfunded liability for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion. Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America?
- We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on cap-and-trade and healthcare programs before we stop the flow of red ink?
- The stimulus package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?
- If it was so important for Congress to pass the stimulus bill before they even had time to read it, why has only a fraction of the stimulus money been spent 6 months later?
- Bush said he had to abandon free market principles in order to save them. How exactly does that work?
- Why won't members of Congress read the bills before they vote on them?
- Was the cash-for-clunkers program meant to save the earth or the economy? Did it accomplish either?
- How did Van Jones, a self-proclaimed communist become a special advisor to the president?
- Did President Obama know of Van Jones' radical political beliefs when he named him special advisor?
- The Apollo Alliance claimed credit for writing the stimulus bill. Why was this group allowed to write any portion of this bill?
- If politicians aren't writing the bills and aren't reading the bills, do they have any idea what these 1000 page plus bills actually impose on theAmerican people?
- If the 'public option' health care plan is so good why won't politicians agree to have that as their plan?
-If town hall meetings are intended for the politicians to learn what's on our mind, why do they spend so much time talking instead of listening?
- Politicins are refusing to attend town hall meetings complaining, without evidence, that they are scripted. Does that mean we shouldn't come out and vote for you since every campaign stop, baby kiss and speech you give is scripted?
- Is using the economic crises to rush legislation through Congress what Rahm Emanuel meant when he talked about "not letting a crises go to waste"?
- What are czars paid? What is the budget for their staffs/offices"
And my personal addition: What part of NO! don't you understand.

Hawkeye