tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62767533449178042172024-03-06T14:00:41.774-06:00the NAVASOTA CURRENTOver 500 articles by a Texas artist about the lore and legend of the Brazos Valley...............................
SEARCH YOUR TOPICS IN THE BOX @ THE UPPER LEFT CORNER!Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.comBlogger506125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-23531101104319870062021-12-04T11:36:00.015-06:002021-12-07T10:09:50.710-06:00YOUR CHANCE To Preserve Navasota History!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN4rElRCBzJIiAiI1IojPlaBLbLENyBgJxL-gxoYJ7YmJgUhPO7clmaS-ldMTqQNdieZ8F9_oQnRn43QecZjXAOlhuq9I9evaqY2dnGZedKWd6YMxbpcHfo516lgWpABWeGAn64yLf_p8/s1600/Resized_20190626_204826.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN4rElRCBzJIiAiI1IojPlaBLbLENyBgJxL-gxoYJ7YmJgUhPO7clmaS-ldMTqQNdieZ8F9_oQnRn43QecZjXAOlhuq9I9evaqY2dnGZedKWd6YMxbpcHfo516lgWpABWeGAn64yLf_p8/s320/Resized_20190626_204826.jpg"/></a></div>
<i>Tim Gregg is going to publish a book about artist Leon Collins, which will help document his place in Texas art and Navasota as the Texas town that hosted his art legacy. He has made an appeal for those interested in this happening to contribuite to the publishing of the book. Below is his invitation:</i>
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<b>I've been working on a book project with an artist in Navasota named Leon Collins, and I'm looking for some donors to help underwrite production of the book. Donors can get a commissioned original work- or two framed and signed prints. I put together some sample pages from the book at:
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(www.timgregg.com/salvation)
<a href="www.timgregg.com/salvation" rel="nofollow"></a>
[Sorry if the LINK does not work]
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(Best viewed on a computer) I'd appreciate if you would take a look and let me know if you would be interested. We can get the art in time for sensational gift giving! Leon is sensational. His "Southern Negro Folk Art" has been shown in galleries all over the country. He's been through some tough times of late, so I'm thankful for the opportunity to bring attention back to his works. Thanks for your consideration, and Happy Holidays</b>Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-15275140049318505982021-11-28T17:00:00.006-06:002021-11-29T13:05:49.634-06:00Herbert Bolton, the “Palermo Stone,” and Two Cruel Pranks of History<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjUuI40JC9tTP4VO97_HrvW__5jZNp0htRb1IAdeT2S6khAv-FBLE615q73Mcocxc3HuqijGRQg9bA2F6vkwl0hD_G5FoMtJSOLksn5IhKHh3ONoj5LUJ_0q8R5oxk7q9Zwbf2xmmJCyO/s804/DRAKES+PLATE+FXD_edited-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="804" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjUuI40JC9tTP4VO97_HrvW__5jZNp0htRb1IAdeT2S6khAv-FBLE615q73Mcocxc3HuqijGRQg9bA2F6vkwl0hD_G5FoMtJSOLksn5IhKHh3ONoj5LUJ_0q8R5oxk7q9Zwbf2xmmJCyO/s400/DRAKES+PLATE+FXD_edited-1.jpg"/></a></div>
In 1936, a story began to unfold in academia which tipped an avalanche of negative effects for decades. A fellow found a small, inscribed brass plaque on the side of the road in the San Francisco Bay area, not far from San Quentin Prison. It was not long before he was encouraged to show it to a California historian who might interpret its significance. The thing was taken to UC Berkeley, where the venerable Professor Herbert Bolton held court, and he and another historian ended up purchasing the plaque for $3,500.00... in 1936 dollars, which would translate into much more money today. Given that this was during the height of the Great Depression, and money was scarce and there were great tragedies unfolding all over the world, it is even more amazing, and suggestive of the importance these two men attached to this newfound artifact, which they believed was going to re-write North American history.
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As news of the find emerged, several people claimed to have seen it in the same vicinity, and after looking at it they had tossed it into the weeds as a piece of junk... Finally it been scooped up by the last “finder,” who put it on its amazing trajectory. With such dubious origins, Bolton and his associate desired to authenticate and justify their artifact, and to silence skepticism, and so they had a metallurgist examine the plaque. Afterwards they proudly claimed unequivocally that the plaque had been left on the California shores by Sir Francis Drake, as a land claim for his King.
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This was the favorite legend often kicked around in California historical circles, that California had actually been originally claimed by the English, and not the Spanish. And Bolton was one of the leaders of this “school.” Now he had the proof. The words scrawled on the brass turned Bolton's theory into historical fact and became his lasting legacy.
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Soon the plaque was proudly displayed at the Golden Gate International Exposition. Copies were made of it and sent to the First Lady, and to Queen Elizabeth II.
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This was all very exciting, until more information trickled out over the next few years. Herbert Bolton belonged to a bizarre club of academics, who prided themselves in hilarity and historical ironies. They were known to fund and place historical plaques wherever there was some irony to celebrate. In their heyday they placed a plaque in commemoration of where the Spanish priests, coming to Christianize the natives, signaled the establishment of their ministry with the sounding of... cannons. They placed the first “permanent” monument, a historical marker on a... ship, where it could conceivably float anywhere.
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This was a powerful collection of historical geniuses, with a hysterical, even impish strain, and possessing a pool of knowledge and talent which could have convinced any museum anywhere of almost anything- within reason. And especially something that someone already wanted to believe.
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Almost forty years later it all finally came out, when surviving members of “E Clampus Vitus” more or less confessed that the whole thing had been conceived as a joke among themselves, to heckle one of their most esteemed members, and that the joke got way out of their hands and had, well... terrible, unexpected consequences. E Clampus jokesters ducked out somehow and avoided much bad publicity for the trouble they had caused.
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The scandal and all of the uncertainty it inspired had dogged Bolton for the rest of his life, and strongly threw all of his scholarship into question. One of the perpetrators had committed suicide. The organization had to somehow repair its respectability, so they light-heartedly went on as if the scandal, barely ever documented then or now, was merely a sad chain of events, which had become like most of history; blotted with regrettable instances of man's inhumanity to man.
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This brings us to the “Palermo Stone.” ( Sorry about the stitched-together photo, it had been printed across two pages in a newspaper magazine) Outside of a few scholars, few persons would have recognized history repeating itself, when the scarred chunk of sandstone, marked with the word “LSall” and the number 14 was reportedly found during highway construction in Brazos County. A fellow named Luke Palermo had found what appeared to be a crudely inscribed boulder, which may have been related to the French discoverer and explorer of the Brazos Valley, Ren`e-Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle. In fact he was believed to have been murdered by his own men, just across the river, somewhere near the crossing of the old La Bahia Trail and the fork of the Brazos and Navasota rivers.
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And who might have researched and published this theory? That's right, Herbert Bolton. Bolton had literally marched the terrain between Matagorda and Navasota, and matched landmarks along the way as they would have been mentioned by those who left journals. (And yes, there were several, and in French) It was his scholarship pointing to modern-day Navasota as where La Salle must have met his premature death, and his published theories which inspired the Daughters of the American Revolution to commission the bronze sculpture of La Salle, which was prominently placed in Navasota in the middle of Washington Avenue, in time for the Texas Centennial in 1936.
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It took years for the secrets of E Clampus Vitus to come out, but there was a clandestine network of scholars who knew since the 1930's about Bolton's problems and thus had to be wary of any artifacts related to his research. It seems that, while Bolton was doggedly out in the field documenting and pontificating, there were funny guys back in California devoted to popping his prolific history balloons. And there was no better way to accomplish that than placing counterfeit artifacts at his every turn, for him to embrace and publicize- and then be shocked and defrocked as they proved to be hoaxes. And as with most of their monuments, irony played a role in their conception...
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The original Palermo stone was associated with the Fifth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, circa about 2300 B.C., a stone which contained inscriptions which had been maliciously chiseled off of Egyptian steles and lost for thousands of years. It could have been just a coincidence, but more probably this Brazos Valley “find” by a Palermo might have been considered a hilarious spoof, designed to tease Bolton with his very own “Palermo stone.” It was probably immediately recognized as absurd, even to him, and might well have rattled his confidence about his controversial brass plate, the Holy Grail of his career. The Clampus Vitus had been trying to subtley clue him that they had planted the Drake Plate, but to no avail. Surely his friends would never do such a costly and embarrassing thing to him... So when the “Palermo stone” appeared in 1940 in Bryan, Texas, it was treated with inexplicable, almost institutional skepticism. Mr. Palermo took it to Texas A&M, and later to Houston scholars, and received some press coverage, and then the find died. Luckily, nobody with credentials would or could dare believe it, possibly remembering what embarrassing results evolved out of Drake's Plate.
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Palermo genuinely tried to establish the stone's provenance and authenticity, and give it its due place in history, as he believed that it deserved. And this suggests that he was somehow led to the discovery, an innocent stooge, probably directed by someone connected to E Clampus Vitus. The eccentric fraternity had very cleverly concealed their association with Drake's Plate, so that the finders were never aware that the artifact had been placed where it might be “discovered.” The main difference in the Texas scenario was there was no passionate professor/collector like Herbert Bolton in Texas to sell it to. And thank goodness.
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If the stone was for real, its timing, its association with a Bolton theory, and its almost unintelligible message, condemned it to obscurity. Disgusted with the whole mystery, Palermo loaned the stone to a local museum. It was last seen, gathering dust in the boneyard at the Brazos Museum... and then by 1990's, nobody knew its whereabouts.
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Recently, Betty Dunn of Two Rivers Heritage Foundation in Navasota met someone who said they knew exactly where the discarded relic resided. It was in a barn in north Grimes County. And for such a precious artifact of Brazos Valley to end up there... it was unconscionable! Soon Mrs. Dunn had it and was studying it at her home. That was when the inconsistencies of the latest epiphany of a Brazos Palermo Stone began to puzzle its beholders.
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It was more like a facsimile of the one photographed by newspapers in the 1930's. Marks and arrows were missing... important ones, and others had appeared, and spacing between the letters was not exact. This suggested that there had been<i> two La Salle stones</i> made by someone, which had ended up lost to history. Had Palermo made a copy for easy transport as he showed it around Bryan and Houston? Considered by him to be very valuable, and with the original stone quite cumbersome, a more portable copy of the artifact would have made perfect sense. If so, was this the copy?
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OR, and this would be the suggestion by scholars, several spurious “Palermo Stones” might have been produced until the history gremlins were satisfied they had a believable forgery which might pass routine, non-academic inspection. The idea was not to change history, but to temporarily excite Herbert Bolton and harmlessly remind everyone that real historic finds were rare, and for people not to trust anything. Perhaps a local artisan had been commissioned to fashion it, and the road construction created the perfect event to unveil it, an historic landmark waiting near the Brazos River after centuries. Of course, the impish Clampus elites never worried much about the temporary damage done to local history. They would plant a forgery somewhere where it could easily be found, and then after some fun, one of their people would no doubt be the very person who would call it a forgery. No harm done... And that <i>should have been</i> the end of it.
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It would have been, if local historians like Pamela Puryear, and Russell Cushman, and Betty Dunn, had not cherished the thought of the rumored find, and wondered about it for many years. When Dunn finally located the stone, or at least one of them, it was a rock-my-world moment for myself and several history buffs. As I have studied and thought about it, its significance might have been changed, but not the depth of the story behind it.
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Eventually, the so-called Drake's Plate was deaccessioned and sold by the Berkeley archive, and this was a mindless and unnecessary purging. The plaque was actually quite significant, even if its importance had changed. Much like the removed fragments of Egyptian steles such as the Palermo stone, which had been "erased" thousands of years ago to destroy former legacies and simultaneously elevate the status of later pharaohs, the remnants of academic predecessors keep coming to the surface. It would have been much more useful to history for the brass forgery to have remained, and to be displayed, as a relic of professional ruthlessness and cupidity.
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Likewise, the Brazos “Palermo Stone” is important. It is, in itself quite historical, since Bolton's research has stood the test of time, even if a certain purchased artifact in his collection has not; Because it may well illustrate the degree old cronies of Herbert Bolton, perhaps out of professional jealousy, would go to discredit and humiliate him. And that it is probably the resounding theme of most conflicts throughout history. Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-57715210792030527102021-04-29T10:25:00.007-05:002021-04-29T10:50:38.596-05:00THE SECOND COMING... Of Donald Trump<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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“Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in
our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice
moderation. Favours come to us from gods.” *********************************************************************
-Aeschylus ********************************************
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<b>Let me save you a bunch of time.</b> And let me save you even more disappointment
and embarrassment. Upon my pilgrimage to my “adopted hometown” a couple of weeks ago,
I experienced one of those bizarre, Alice in Wonderland descents down the proverbial
“rabbit hole.” **************************************************************************************
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This is no joke, most of my conversations with my beloved Navasota friends were
almost adversarial in nature, as I crashed into their collective delusions. I
had heard of “QAnon” but had never chased that silly rabbit. Now I was
surrounded by its converts. And it would have been hilarious had it not been so
terrifying. **************************************
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Incredibly, as I went from friend to friend, people who in some cases did not
know one another, and had not visited with each other, served up the latest word
on the street, which shared several common themes. And, as far as can be
surmised by objective, uninitiated persons, these urban legends have matured
into a full-blown mass delusion. *******************************
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“Q” is an anonymous social media informer who has created the hottest narrative
ever, designed to appeal to die-hard Trump believers. Nobody knows who Q is, or
where Q gets the wild speculations now clutched by many formerly rational
Republican voters. One popular video which launched this movement before the
past election, calmly decries that QAnon is not a cult. Since it has no bible,
no mecca, and no identifiable spokesperson, QAnon is rather an emerging Faith without an
acknowledged prophet, a runaway train with no driver, a wanna-be cult which appears to me to be an anonymous hoax. Or, as my grandmother would
say, a lie from Hell. **************************************
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I sat through the intro video on You Tube, out of respect to trusted friends who
promised that it would explain everything, everything which I unfortunately did
not know, and needed to know to face the future. And the bottom line, I was
promised, according to this shameless, unfounded fiction was this: “EVERYTHING
IS GOING TO BE OK.” Well, that part I liked. ****************
*******************************************************************************************
<b>QAnon followers believe,</b> fairly uniformly, that things got so bad in our country
that, right before President Trump stepped down, he took action which turned the
government over to three American generals who have silently been pulling
strings of power and justice since the days of President Biden's Inauguration
(which was staged); That Biden is now their puppet who is hidden away somewhere,
to be used as a Media decoy, and that the power of the presidency has been
(temporarily) restored to former President Trump until an honest election can be
arranged. He is quietly cooperating with the military until it is safe to
announce all of this. Since the Constitution requires that any such military
coup would be strictly a sunset committee, an election has to be called within
90 days after this takeover has been acknowledged. So finding their clean-up job
far more complex and overhwelming than the U. S. Constitution provides for, the
military trio, (headed by none other than former General Flynn) which is now
controlling our country has postponed announcing what happened right after
Biden's election, pre-empting the prescribed 90-day count-down, thus using a
loophole to delay elections until they (A) Can arrest the bad guys, (B) Conduct
military trials to punish the perpetrators, (C ) Arrange for an honest election,
and (D) Return Donald Trump to power legitimately. “Fake News” has taken a
beneficient turn, now in the hands of the “Good Guys” and everything you see on
the news is staged. Everything. The generals now control the Media, and use
look-alikes and Media tricks to create an impression, a delusion, that the
Democrats are still in control, putting everyone at ease, when in fact our whole
country is under Marshal Law. Congress is not really meeting. The Halls of
Congress are actually empty. Half of the congressmen may be in jail. Former
Mayor Rudy Giuliani's home was not really invaded and his private papers taken
as evidence by the Feds. He is not actually suffering from, as he put it, “pure
political persecution.”
******************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************
Everything is really OK.
*******************************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************************
THERE IS MUCH MORE, BUT I WILL SPARE US BOTH. Yes, I know, you have a hundred
legitimate challenges about this narrative, but don't even waste your time...
What is of concern to all of us, or should be, is that halfway intelligent
Americans we know, and love, believe this. And perhaps millions of others as
well, all over the country. Maybe I ran in a circle of nut-jobs in my adopted
hometown... Being an artist, I have a high tolerance for persons who indulge
their imaginations. But I do not think I was swaggering through a NUTHOUSE.
********************************************************************************
**********************************************************************************************
And if you are one of those valued friends who informed me of the treasured hope
you have for tomorrow, I have to thank you on one hand, for the ultimate
compliment, because almost all of you were sharing something dear, and largely
private to yourself, something you would not tell everyone. Even Jesus
understood the psychology of telling his followers to “go and tell no one.” Of
course they went and turned the world upside down. People love secrets, and
relish in sharing them. Lucky me. I pray you do not read this essay with any
sense of betrayal. I believe that you are ultimately seeking the truth. Please
know that I care about you, and I am not making fun of you, but understand that
my first obligation to you and my country is to be, as best as I can, a
truth-teller. And I think that is why you shared your “truth” with me. It's just
that, in this perfect storm, you are drowning and do not know it, and you will
not realize it until you are at the bottom of the sea.
****************************
***********************************************************************************************
QAnon may be the most clever mass delusion ever perpetrated on disillusioned
modern Americans; Persons who were suffering the loss of an election, and they
believe the loss of their beloved way of life, have found a paradigm which they
can accept. And Q has served it up on a candy dish.
*************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************
When I tried to reason with them, my friends instantly became condescending,
confidently assuring me that I would know the truth soon enough... “It was all
about to come out.” And they serenely went their blissful way, grateful for the
good old “Red, White and Blue” military having saved our country.
***************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************************
I decided that QAnon may be saving many lives, or at least preventing many
nervous breakdowns, as brains are pickled, providing a hopeful, fantastic delusion which supersedes a
crippling truth, bringing calm and pleasant rest for its converts at night. Of
course, it also buys time for the Democrats to subdue and sweep up all the
powers which threaten them, eliminating their opposition while Qanonists hum
their way to the nail salon. By the time they wake up and smell the sleeping
gas, our country will be that much... more... lost.
****************************************************************************************************************
***************************************************************************************************
This clever lie has found and nailed the Conservative Achilles heel: A deeply
passionate love of an America with integrity, unable to conceive or accept any
other, willing to accept the military takeover of our government and an
information blackout rather than... rampant corruption and cultural and
political decline. I'm afraid that these fellow Americans are demonstrating all
too clearly the intellectual standard revealed by the jury in O. J. Simpson's
murder trial. “If it does not fit, we must acquit.”
********************************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************
QAnon could only have happened with the Internet, mass hysteria, and the human
proclivity for denial. It is the work of a genius... a masterwork inspired by
the Great Deceiver.
*************************************************************
**************************************************************************************************
The Bible wisely, repeatedly warned about false teachers, false prophets. It
warned that people naturally choose the wrong paradigm... our sin natures more
often than not reject truth in preference for what “tickles our ears.” We thus
consistently “strain at a gnat while we swallow a camel.” That is how and why
the Israelites would have chosen to return to slavery over the uncertainties of
freedom. How and why the people of Jerusalem chose to save the murderer Barrabas
and instead to crucify Jesus. Why Americans chose a Civil War and the death of
many thousands over free moral agency, when they had no plan to actually
enfranchise blacks for another 100 years; Slavery was bad. Killing tens of
thousands per battle and destroying homes, families, farms and whole towns was
defensible. My younger brother, who has always had a way with words, likes to
say: “Man is at his supreme best, when justifying that which he wants to do.”
************************************************************
******************************************************************************************************
In the world of QAnon propaganda... both political parties, in real time, are having their
way, simultaneously. The extremes on both sides are happy and encouraged. There
is peace in the land. Sooner or later both sides will shake off the lies each
political pole is perpetrating, and perhaps all will be worn out and ambivalent
in time for the next election. But one will be much farther behind, having
dismissed everything they have heard for years, anticipating instead Donald
Trump's Second Coming... But they will only be able to extract a disheartening
mess from Qanon promises of an American messiah.
***************************************
*********************************************************************************************************
And most importantly to the Democrats, Conservatives will not only be largely
confused and uninformed, they will be hugely discredited, and the Republican
Party will be considered the refuge of the weak-minded and impressionable- Thus
insuring Democratic control of the final remnants of the American Brain Trust.
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-41380157687379638682020-07-29T12:27:00.002-05:002020-07-29T12:29:06.763-05:00The Secret<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8X1MEfanNPs26bjmLlOEomzilst0OxjgQMBKQOMTAt_Ts1voVABb0EG11y-B_vC-zlcd_L9hK8VjAAVYSQU5V_OadpETChBsJrAWvHkW3n32xPYweN-qc1BRaKqmwlUj8ZkqSF-yjyUF_/s673/AMERICAN+LEGACY_redcd.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="673" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8X1MEfanNPs26bjmLlOEomzilst0OxjgQMBKQOMTAt_Ts1voVABb0EG11y-B_vC-zlcd_L9hK8VjAAVYSQU5V_OadpETChBsJrAWvHkW3n32xPYweN-qc1BRaKqmwlUj8ZkqSF-yjyUF_/w400-h371/AMERICAN+LEGACY_redcd.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><font style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 22pt;"><br /></font><p></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 22pt;">So
many people, </font><span style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt;">even some of my relatives, are talking smack
these days about finally being fed up... not with the riots or crime
in the streets, or the ineptitude of local governments to deal with
these things... but with conservatives... or any people like me who
support our president. They blame this one man for all of the civil
unrest, the breakdowns in the urban areas, especially Democratically
run major cities, and even the deaths from a global pandemic. They
blame us too for supporting him. And they speak as if this new,
righteous intolerance of the president and his ilk is absolutely
reasonable.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font color="#282829"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;">They
watch the major networks and trust that they are sifting reliable
information, and well, according to them it's time to ratchet up the condemnation and
persecution of all Republicans and their constituency. They speak
with the solemn, self-assured haughtiness of Puritans about to round
up the witches. “It's too bad about them... those who disagree with
us, those who have totally different sources of information; life's
wastrels who have taken the wrong path, who have somehow come to such
wrong conclusions, and now endanger our carefully constructed
paradigm.”</font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font color="#282829"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;">The
“Left” reacts to the latest actions taken by the president as the
last straw, even though in reality he drew that short straw the day
he was elected, when President Obama and VP Biden went to work
immediately to totally discredit him, in the process misusing their powers and the once impeccable lever of the FBI... and others. Thus three and half years of
baseless accusations which they cleverly seeded, and the subsequent
fruitless investigations, have created a pervasive distrust and
suspicion... Mere suspicions then reinforced by the Media who whipped
up every accusation, usually derived from undisclosed sources, and
then spoon fed hungry, impressionable intellects. And they have
shaped many false conclusions, (perception is reality) which have
sent these high-minded reformers marching, demonstrating, some
rioting, some even disowning their own relatives.</font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font color="#282829"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;">It
is impossible, to my greatest frustration, to change the mind of a
person against their will... regardless of what facts may exist, so I
will give the conservative arguments a rest. Here is another angle
which I wish my self-satisfied relatives would consider. </font><font size="6">What is
missing from our country, and what is impossible to form unity
without, is... forgiveness. </font><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;">The kind that is the product of grace...
First embodied by God's grace, defined by many Christians as
“unmerited favor.” Sadly, tragically, America has lost its use
of forgiveness, and a close relative, Forgetting.</font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font color="#282829"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;">The
old, oft-used quip in our American mindset used to be “Forgive –
and forget.”</font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
Iron Tail,</span></span></font><font color="#202122"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Blue Horse, Little Bull, Red Shirt, Little Chief and Flies Above</span></span></font>
<font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rode
with Buffalo Bill in</span></span></font><font color="#000000"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
The Wild West Show in </span></span></span></span></font><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">London,
they were forgiving and forgetting... more or less. Each had his own
blend of these precious values. When Civil War veterans from both
sides met and broke bread together after that terrible war, they were
forgiving and forgetting. The country as a whole could not have
healed and prospered without these things.</span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
the Japanese people went to work and built an enviable new economy
after the horrors they suffered at the end of WWII... under American
Democracy, they were forgiving and forgetting. </span></span></font></font></font>
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
Jack Roosevelt Robinson led his race into professional baseball, they
did not take a knee... they swung away. They knew better than anyone
about apartheid... but they still embraced the opportunity to change
the face- and the future of America. And they did. White kids like me
were soon collecting baseball cards with their faces on them... and
they were heroes in our impressionable eyes. And it was because they
entered the game with dignity, and forgiving and forgetting, changed
history and helped correct injustice in our country. Soon every sport
had its own Jackie Robinson, and America was never the same. When
Sammy Davis Jr. ran with the “Rat Pack,” he did the same for the
American entertainment industry. And on and on it went.</span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What
was their secret?</span></span></font></font></font></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></font></font></font></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></font></font></font></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-MUixMTqvzpYOeYhyphenhyphenEaHiDrKdn180m1RWh57FIfJ6_M56oCTPOCgEy7vbqQAH0LpbY2ri7_0XUs9gJQ8dmrc2gpEh6CrdRa5HvxUlTSwa-tc1huNpS0zFvcxbI5gX44kvCUzbqRhT-vO/s1049/FORGIVE+AND+FORGET_REDUCD.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1049" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-MUixMTqvzpYOeYhyphenhyphenEaHiDrKdn180m1RWh57FIfJ6_M56oCTPOCgEy7vbqQAH0LpbY2ri7_0XUs9gJQ8dmrc2gpEh6CrdRa5HvxUlTSwa-tc1huNpS0zFvcxbI5gX44kvCUzbqRhT-vO/w400-h274/FORGIVE+AND+FORGET_REDUCD.jpg" width="400" /></a></font></font></font></div><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></font></font></font><p></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font size="6" style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif;">Racism
and injustice </font><span style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt;">could never be totally stamped out, but in my America,
and I have known a wonderful cross-section of Americans from all
walks of life, there has never been any discernible organized racism,
and yet an overwhelming organized, institutional war against it. I
just spent the majority of my adult life in a racially “blended” southern
town, and the most discussion of race and its inevitable stepchild,
racism, was when talking to my black friends, not my white ones. As
best as I can tell, the whites have been “over it” for some time.
But the blacks seemed to hold on to the old hurts and suspicions.
Some could forgive, but some could not. And some quite transparently,
would never forgive or forget. Distrust and cynicism shaped their
very identities. And in a very inadvertent process of natural
selection, the hopeful, ambitious, forgiving blacks moved up and
out... and the others stayed in town and languished and had kids.
Kids who also did not forgive or forget.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So
today we have many groups of distinct blacks... but two main ones,
those who forgave and prospered, and those who held a grudge and
lived out their self-fulfilling prophesies. The latter group is
louder, angrier, and more frustrated than ever, after generations of
government assistance, and still they struggle in poverty and
hopelessness. Their communities are tortured with drug addiction,
fatherlessness, and illiteracy, and they rightfully no longer believe
anything politicians say. Today you might say that many are now
biting the hand that has fed them. <i>But what is killing them and
future generations are the ideas that they have fed their children.</i></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font size="5">And after years, decades of internal and external struggles, discontented blacks now lead the way to fight, resist, and even disband the police- who are the last protection they have in their neighborhoods, many of which look more like war zones. Insanity and contrarianism seems to have followed desperation.</font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
must be true, because bizarrely, in the midst of the supposed racial
divide in this country, there is a growing contingent of conservative
blacks who support President Trump; Lovable black spokesmen and
spokeswomen who are successful and optimistic and declare that this
is not your mother's America, once embroiled in racism. They are the
children of those who forgave and forgot.</span></span></font></font></font></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><font size="6">Forgiveness is not just the
nice words of Jesus, it is a legacy, and it is a life source. </font><span style="font-size: 16pt;">People
with it can move on, live out their full potential. It is a powerful
gift to be able to put the hurts of the past behind. And it cannot be
done without forgiveness. God's Grace, and personal grace. </span></span></span></font></font></font>
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt;">As
the teachings of Jesus wane in influence, and the Media relishes in
every questionable word or act by any Republican, and people begin to
fashion their own moral absolutes without a Biblical foundation,
forgiveness has been dispensed with. That is because forgiveness is
not a natural response. Revenge and eternal racial and cultural conflict are the norm,
illustrated well in the Middle East, or Africa, or anywhere where the
teachings of Jesus never took root. And now Leftist Americans are
joining the intolerance of the Palestinians... or the Iranians, or
the Jews in Israel, or the warring primitive tribes of the world from
one end to the other.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #282829; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt;">In
this new “woke” era of America, Iron Tail should arise from his
scaffold and apologize for forgiving, or forgetting, or whatever he
and his other Sioux chieftains did, and take up his tomahawk and rage for
social justice. President Grant should also go back and hang Robert
E. Lee... and all the so-called Confederate traitors. Jackie Robinson
should refuse to play baseball until all baseball-loving white
Americans get down on their knees and beg absolution. Sammy Davis Jr.
should give Dean Martin a poke in the eye.</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Well,
now they don't have to. A generation who never experienced any of the
wrongs or systems which persecuted people in the past have taken up
the tomahawk for them, and are whacking back at a society that has
only provided them the most open, prosperous society on earth; A
monumentally delayed reaction towards the sins of our country,
committed by our great-great grandparents, as if somehow this registers in
our collective American conscience as changing anything. "Take that!
Robert E. Lee. Take THAT! George Washington... Take that, anybody
cast in bronze. </span><font size="6">Whatever you did, you lived back then and you were
probably guilty of something... AND WE DON'T FORGIVE YOU!"</font></span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oh,
it was Jesus who taught us to pray... “Forgive us our trespasses,
<i>as we forgive those who trespass against us...</i>” He also warned,
that those who cannot, will not forgive... will get the same from
God.</span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
careful warnings and classic, grace-giving words of Jesus have been
abandoned like an old phone book, and the Ten Commandments are
considered silly obstacles. Taking the Lord's Name in vain, adultery,
and dishonoring parents are just natural expressions of life. And today's
ambitious career climbers pride themselves with their habits of
covetousness and false witness. Our National politics are rife with
all of these sins. </span></span></font></font></font>
</p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></font></font></font></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font><font color="#282829" size="6"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Without Biblical ethics and morals, we have evolved quickly into a society of ruthless, insolent, competitive liars and usurpers.</span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But
the most evident complication for this generation is, since they no
longer trust in God, the God who “in the end” judges and rewards
all souls whatever their due- this generation must exact ultimate
justice themselves. In this life. In this country. And they do not
have any concepts of forgiveness or mercy. Christians know this as
“Grace.”And in this new Leftist system, grace is as foreign as
free speech, and there is no crime or injustice to be left
unanswered. </span></span></font></font></font>
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
mobs terrorizing our cities are worse than the worst of the strictest
Puritans, who were eventually outnumbered and rightfully neutralized.
While their violent destructive actions are excused, even justified,
other people are vilified and persecuted now for their thoughts. This
is identical to the social atmosphere which produced our Civil War,
and the bloody, godless French Revolution.</span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Public
kneeling at games, reparations, rioting and looting, disowning your
kinfolks- will not fix this country. Certainly hatred and
intolerance, practiced by any group or individual towards any others,
is actually everything the “Left,” and most Americans, once stood
against. The insults, the accusations, and broad stereotyping became
un-American several generations ago. Sadly, this new generation of
protesters did not read about that in the history books. And it is
too late to explain the “secret,” and encourage them to read all
about it. And if they did, they would fail to find the untold truth
in books, since they were long since gladly disposed of, and I bought
them years ago at the public library. We have to trust Twitter and Facebook and You Tube to protect and convey important truths to our discontented youth. </span></span></font></font></font></p><p align="LEFT" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;"><font face=""><font size="4" style="font-size: 16pt;"><font color="#282829"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I'm afraid the "secret" will remain just that.</span></span></font></font></font></p><br />Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-46711382639780948482020-06-24T18:20:00.001-05:002020-06-25T09:32:50.558-05:00The Blind Hog Strikes!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Good
News, Ranger badge seekers. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">I finally proved to
myself that a person could walk into a Texas antique mall and still
find a genuine ranger badge in the showcase- staring up with no one
to love it... and priced as if it was a cheap toy.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-9SkakAAjpj2447u8G1YihlInX4-IoPWUhINUcn-CCIct69264Lm23jZJiPxX3m6FgO4_MeZ0KmoWU_KZ3WZj7G_1F4T0BiZa1PVyACKiaBNT7FFiyTUm70L_rnZRtUP6RvAz4FbQkba/s1600/rang+redcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-9SkakAAjpj2447u8G1YihlInX4-IoPWUhINUcn-CCIct69264Lm23jZJiPxX3m6FgO4_MeZ0KmoWU_KZ3WZj7G_1F4T0BiZa1PVyACKiaBNT7FFiyTUm70L_rnZRtUP6RvAz4FbQkba/s640/rang+redcd.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I found this</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> authentic
oreite badge half an hour from my residence in Bell County. It had
been messed with, as the finding appears to have been broken off and
somebody prepared the back for soldering. Thankfully, they chickened
out, probably because they were afraid the badge might melt while
attaching the new pin... so it has some shiny buff marks on the back,
but for less than $50.00, I did not ask them any questions.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I recognized the design in
this old relic, as there was a die sold at one of the Burley Auctions
in New Braunfels years ago which was almost identical. Artist Donald
Yena was liquidating his awesome Texas Ranger collection, which
included dozens of authentic, historic ranger badges. It was the
Ranger collector event of the century. There were several Simmang
artifacts sold, including some clamps, sample badges and a die used
to make ranger badges in the 1920's and '30's. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aBPTRwGWGrLVDajrJ5KcNCrfyo8fn1DNAhivxNLtEc9iPfahfpsOSV7KBnDXvSfKAYSmessvLZxA6HiSCWCBN3QfAQaq_ZKxsWm6ZUo-9jgh4T5tuBPPLhFbIQjLj-o4uqPUU5EN-TF-/s1600/SIMMANG+1930%2527s++RANGER++posb+Ferguson+Ranger+badge+die.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9aBPTRwGWGrLVDajrJ5KcNCrfyo8fn1DNAhivxNLtEc9iPfahfpsOSV7KBnDXvSfKAYSmessvLZxA6HiSCWCBN3QfAQaq_ZKxsWm6ZUo-9jgh4T5tuBPPLhFbIQjLj-o4uqPUU5EN-TF-/s1600/SIMMANG+1930%2527s++RANGER++posb+Ferguson+Ranger+badge+die.BMP" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The design was
common then, first made popular in the late Nineteenth Century, when
lawmen desired to get past the negative associations of the “tin
star,” when many outlaws and disreputable gunmen were hired to
“keep the peace.” The new modern, official-looking design was
made with hundreds of variations, but basically formed a round
shield, sometimes with a star in the center, and mounted by an
American eagle with her wings spread. The “spread eagle” mounting
a Union shield was a popular motif going back to the Civil War, and
suggested a new, united, better America, where law & order could
and would prevail. By the 1920's, the design was used for many
government badges, including those sported by the IRS and other
“Prohibition” men.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It would be
years before the Texas Rangers would distribute an official badge to
rangers. Each ranger had to order his own, creating the wonderful
variations you see in this website. That was why the poor Mexican
Peso got so abused during that time, being a cheap silver substrate
for a jeweler to use to carve a custom lawman's badge. But some more
style-conscious rangers could order a badge from a catalog, and in a
few months receive a brassy, “oreite” badge, pressed by machine
and beautifully sculpted into a classic lawman's shield, like this
one. Many Rangers had similar, miniature badges pressed by the same
manufacturers to pin inside their wallets. The truth was, Rangers
preferred not to wear a badge which could be easily observed. In fact
they hated badges and uniforms as well. Badges were targets for the
lawless in those wild days on the border. The element of surprise was
about the only advantage a ranger had, and badges were a “dead
give-away.”</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2rVMFbryTAz34OFri_zxoaQaTIHSq09ryWZ6z1J-5sS-rlK6va4jcVPgeJrOtBDghQpSkD3HzDzYC1nZN-PcbInOGCfRNUSF93jgMBf18YetAVTt_FYL3WdQ7fyiw2_1VNyb8hKC63qj/s1600/SIMMANG+1930%2527s++Ranger+badge+die_REDCD.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="613" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2rVMFbryTAz34OFri_zxoaQaTIHSq09ryWZ6z1J-5sS-rlK6va4jcVPgeJrOtBDghQpSkD3HzDzYC1nZN-PcbInOGCfRNUSF93jgMBf18YetAVTt_FYL3WdQ7fyiw2_1VNyb8hKC63qj/s400/SIMMANG+1930%2527s++Ranger+badge+die_REDCD.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Charles Simmang
of San Antonio was an official Texas Ranger badge maker, and produced
different designs over the years, including the traditional star
within a circle. The wear and miscellaneous imprints on the die above tell
a story of many years of service, as this design was probably used
for all kinds of law enforcement agencies. My badge shows hasty
stamping of the letters. Or at least the lack of care usually
associated with Simmang or any ranger badge maker. But that does not disprove its authenticity...</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The relatively
soft, oreite badge was unforgiving. Oreite was basically like bronze,
containing brass, zinc and tin, and looking like gold when polished.
It was easily engraved and stamped, but also easily scarred or bent.
And in 1925, or thereabouts, a special order badge blank for this
badge was not so easily replaced. A slight flaw in the stamping was
tolerable compared to a lawman waiting another week or two for
another badge to be obtained for custom stamping. So my guess is, for
the time it was being used, it was “good enough.” Mr. Simmang
probably gave him a discount on it, and sent him on into “harm's
way.”</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">So, "even a blind hog finds an acorn," </span><span style="font-size: medium;">every once in awhile. My wife asked
me where I was going to display my new find. Surely it needed to be
in a suitable, worthy place. And somewhere where I could take it out
and look at it! You can imagine that I have picked up some good
badges, in all the hunting and gathering, and I have my better badges
where I can show them off. But none of them are this old or have a
Texas Ranger's initials carved in them like this one. I'm going to
have to keep this one handy... so I can let it tell me its story. We
need to find out who “T.E.H.” was, and maybe then the badge will
be able to rest with the others.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-52332658107201913892020-06-03T21:08:00.002-05:002020-06-03T21:34:46.040-05:00UNpatriot Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZGxofhRw7N_xbbvHBWmsw7_4A9CDSe9mhChDr4RymsJFwt8SE9SDgOA2AKdgfScM80XOL6uDpqaBvLAaoMNQsmqTzDHL55OLZ_lTgkAh9wnqaEhIlN2z72-p2f8VuTNEl3i-x2bhLIcH/s1600/BELL+PICKER+FXD_REDCD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="851" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZGxofhRw7N_xbbvHBWmsw7_4A9CDSe9mhChDr4RymsJFwt8SE9SDgOA2AKdgfScM80XOL6uDpqaBvLAaoMNQsmqTzDHL55OLZ_lTgkAh9wnqaEhIlN2z72-p2f8VuTNEl3i-x2bhLIcH/s400/BELL+PICKER+FXD_REDCD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>-OR-</b></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
Profit in Prevarication...</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I
grew up in the antique business, and in my antique business days, all
of the antique dealers loved to purchase items from local hucksters
who routinely brought pick-up truck loads of “antiques” to the
downtown area and if possible, play one dealer against another. It was often a
scene of cat and mouse, as dealers watched them work the business
district, considering when might be the most opportune time to
strike. The “pickers” had their own strategy, always going to the
big spenders first, and forcing the others to “pony up,” or be
left out. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Sometimes
the dealers would get too excited and enthusiastic, loving the sense
of opportunity, and ignoring the fact that what they were ravaging
through was a truckload of junk. Or worse, a carefully crafted trap.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This
game always included a certain inevitable element of bluffing, acting
and other poker skills, and sometimes there was outright lying and
even counterfeiting. On both sides. The dealers had to act like they
did not care, that the items were common, of little value. They were
only dispassionately gazing into the bed of the old truck out of
altruistic philanthropy. And in the process, setting themselves up
for the kill. This contest led to a much more sophisticated scrimmage
of prevarication for profit. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
pickers had their own tricks, and had come to use me as a test, and
if their newest counterfeit antique passed my inspection (it rarely
did), then they felt as if they had truly accomplished something. I
often laughed them off, but sometimes I had to complement them on
their artistry. The thing that amazed me the most, was that my fellow
dealers were usually never very interested in my warnings to them,
that counterfeits were being regularly circulated. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I
sometimes visited their homes, whenever they had a new batch of junk,
ready to seize anything of value that could be sold for some profit.
One day they were all gathered around a drum fire in their primitive outdoor furniture building area, telling lies, bragging and scheming, and I
saw one of them quietly carving on an old polished cow horn. He
handed it to me shamelessly, to get my reaction. It was crudely
inscribed, with a name and date, which elevated it to the appearance
of folk art and a highly collectible thing... I always tried to
ignore their counterfeiting efforts, trying to encourage the more
boring vocation of really “picking” old things from barns and
abandoned farm houses. On this day I just smirked and kept walking.
But I could not help but shake my head.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">A
couple of weeks later I saw the same horn hanging from a fellow
dealer's private stash behind his desk. It was “not for sale”...
or at least that was the game... making the price much higher for
anyone who had to have it. I blurted out before I could think, and
let him know that I recognized the cow horn. I went ahead and told
him what he had, and worried out loud about what he had to pay for
it. He would not say immediately, unable to discern whether I was
telling him the truth, or kidding him, or even trying to acquire it
myself, but defiantly admitted that he had given a reasonable sum.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I
assured him that I had no interest in it, and told him that he should
never sell it, because that kind of thing could hurt his own
reputation. He shrugged, unable to let go of the “find of the
week,” and unwilling to affirm my assessment. He was going to keep
it, he said, as it looked good hanging there. And that was that. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">So
far no laws had been broken; One fellow had made a half-ass
“replica.” No harm in that. Another fellow had showed it to the
antique dealer. No crime there. He left it with him to ponder. No
pressure was applied. Later a third fellow came by and picked up a
check. Just a courier of the transaction... so nothing illegal or
unethical had been done or said by any of the parties. Each had an
“innocent” role in a process carefully woven with plausible
deniability. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But
a damnable lie had been established and was hanging in that shop, for
all to see, and misunderstand. All while the buying public assumed
that a reputable dealer would never proudly display a worthless
counterfeit artifact. Soon the lie easily became the most coveted
item in town. Until the next lie floated in. This was a veritable
counterfeit antique ring, covered by smiles and innocence, and after
all, nobody was hurt by it. Well, not physically. And great
conversation was enjoyed by all, by those passing through, and those
participating in the process.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">And
this is EXACTLY how the American Media functions today. One source
creates a lie. No harm in itself... in fact it could be considered a
joke or parody. Another source merely repeats it... not claiming its
authorship, but advancing the lie to Media outlets. No crime in
repeating a lie. The Media publishes these lies, a truckload of
clever counterfeits, or just pure junk, ostensibly obtained from
“reliable sources.” Nobody claims the information is reliable,
only that it was passed on by persons of influence or reputation. The
lie is then borrowed, repeated, reworded, pondered, cultivated, and
generally spread until it is considered a solid fact. And no one has
broken the law. Not even tarnished their ethics.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No one can be directly accused of "bearing false witness," one of the more neglected of the Ten Commandments. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">But I get some satisfaction believing that God knows all about it. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Newspapers,
news broadcasts, magazines, and Internet news outlets all profit from
the lie, which in some cases can be exploited for months or years.
Until someone proves it to be untrue. And in some cases, that cannot
be done. Lies are easily the most profitable and dependable material
being trafficked by the national Media. And it has always been the
case. Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, and even
Franklin Roosevelt could all tell you of egregious lies printed and
reprinted about them. The Press has always had scurrilous characters
who understood this “gray area” long before somebody coined the
phrase “plausible deniability,” and ambitious “journalists”
have always been willing to capitalize on it. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Bizarrely,
our brave soldiers fight and sacrifice life and limb to defend the
right of the Media to perpetuate this wicked chain of injustice.
Hunkered in the corner under the auspices of “Freedom of the
Press,” lurk the insidious profiteers of prevarication.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">There
may be no laws to prevent such activity, no prosecution of those who
dance in the gray of plausible deniability, cleverly designing their
alibis while dealing in laundered lies. But observers have warned for
centuries about the latent threat of malicious propaganda designed to
confuse and redirect societies. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Alexis
de Tocqueville predicted the oncoming strategies overwhelming us
today. Edward Bernays and others made a science of population
management via mass psychology. Now a hundred years later, Russian
disinformation has partnered with partisan manipulation of law
enforcement, and the force-feeding of the Media poisonous narratives
guaranteed to implement Lenin's secret weapon: “Confirmation bias.”
The founder of Soviet Russia built his empire on deception, and that
was done by cleverly telling what Lenin knew the Russian people
wanted to hear. Could he have known, what we have learned through
scientific research, that people actually get a dopamine rush from
belief affirmation? Thanks to all of the major networks, Americans
are actually mentally and physically addicted to the gratuitous,
incendiary trashing of the president; An evil yet effective strategy
straight out of Vladimir Lenin's playbook. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It
has become a race to oblivion, a question of which will burn out
first. Whether the American experiment can outlast the dying
newspaper business, pervasively discredited and now cannibalizing
itself to survive. We can only hope there will be a special place in
Hell for those who knowingly proliferated lies for profit, or worse,
for some despicable political strategy.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-4115623762650316632020-04-03T14:55:00.000-05:002020-04-03T18:01:11.189-05:00Coronavirus: Taking a Roman Holiday?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LTY-tjG1f7Kj9U8GOwBy_DD39_XdVKd133b2Vp1baGWNMdLijAzMn3aSfkcvNDQJ-Dg2w4rCcs0hTPANwcFJI0brE3sUyxrTgiMH-X61t9tADHyTE_QRueGkQ0Ad7UU6tcXX2Q7ajVyk/s1600/corona+epicenters.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LTY-tjG1f7Kj9U8GOwBy_DD39_XdVKd133b2Vp1baGWNMdLijAzMn3aSfkcvNDQJ-Dg2w4rCcs0hTPANwcFJI0brE3sUyxrTgiMH-X61t9tADHyTE_QRueGkQ0Ad7UU6tcXX2Q7ajVyk/s400/corona+epicenters.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center; text-decoration: none;">
<i>Coronavirus needed two things to succeed: a vulnerable host and messengers to take it there. The map shows where this played out.</i></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It
is with great disappointment,</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> but little surprise that we now concede
that the Chinese greatly misled the world with the information they
provided from their Coronavirus epidemic. They could have saved many
lives with useful scientific data, but opted to use the disease and
their contrived narrative as a propaganda tool instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Still,
I believe, for no good reason, that they did forward some truths
connected to the disease, before they, for ominous political reasons,
shrouded the whole country in mystery. Their willingness to expose
their own population to the disease staggers the mind. Their
insolence to provide information which they knew would be eventually
impugned and which could set back their foreign relations by decades
was especially short-sighted and self-defeating... Unless we consider
the near revolution which they had been contending with... and what
they might be willing to do to squelch it. A handy epidemic could
well mask a few thousand executions.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">MAYBE,
if nothing else, we learned the origin, the high contagiousness, thus
the significant threat, and the lack of effective treatment, and the
approximate life cycle of the virus within a fairly isolated population. Maybe.
There was no good reason to lie about those things. They had their
reasons, which we may never know, to not share the route and
casualties of the virus in regions <i>beyond</i> Wuhan.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">So,
forget China... even though a great deal of my own confidence and
optimism was centered in their fallacious representations. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-oZ5RCLzdvELB70V2unzaGKdSmxPs01NsUKZZiu0LkKPYamHJEwRWAM394AcHmYklyH4JAJ09fkYXjLtSuhEhD9XLUBWIEM8ksVzoQ0Eem6q3w3wZ9KHFO6b4E3rFbXTMDjlOAzQz1oO/s1600/world+redcd_edited-1.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1600" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-oZ5RCLzdvELB70V2unzaGKdSmxPs01NsUKZZiu0LkKPYamHJEwRWAM394AcHmYklyH4JAJ09fkYXjLtSuhEhD9XLUBWIEM8ksVzoQ0Eem6q3w3wZ9KHFO6b4E3rFbXTMDjlOAzQz1oO/s400/world+redcd_edited-1.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Coronavirus bypassed many Chinese neighbors </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>and almost made a beeline to Italy and then</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i> to New York. Might some demographic groups</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i> have had a more than normal susceptibility? </i></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">For
a moment, let's focus </span>on just the Eastern Hemisphere. Removing
the U.S. and China, the seeming beginning and end of the pandemic,
the Coronavirus outbreak is mostly a Mediterranean/ Middle Eastern
phenomena. And the casualties in New York prove it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Italy
was the first on the western side of the Eastern Hemisphere to
exhibit great susceptibility to the disease. A massive Chinese
population in Italy, and significant inter-relations between the two
countries, not unlike a partnership, sealed Italy's fate. Yet China
has plenty of other partners around the world, who should also have suffered from their kinship. Strangely, countries surrounding China, including
Hong Kong and Singapore, seem to be immune. But South Korea, not exactly
an ally, has had a touch of it. Mysteriously, the disease went
elsewhere. This seems to prove that not all regions will react the
same to the virus. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Finding
more fertile prospects </span><span style="font-size: medium; text-decoration-line: none;">in the west, the disease leap-frogged over the
Orient and landed in Italy, and Iran, and here is what may be
significant, it invaded Italy and many places where there were
significant Italian populations: Of the top 20 countries who have
suffered the brunt of the Coronavirus outbreak, 9 of them are also in
Italy's top-20 list for her ex-patriots. So it is not surprising that
<b>Germany</b> (2<sup style="font-weight: normal;">nd</sup>), Switzerland (3<sup style="font-weight: normal;">rd</sup>), France (5th),
UK (6<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>), Belgium (7<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>),</span><span style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;"> US</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> (8<sup style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">th</sup>),
<b style="text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Spain</i></b> (9<sup style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">th</sup>) and Australia (11<sup style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">th</sup>) are also<u> <b>4<sup>th</sup></b>,
9<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>, 6<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>, 8<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>, 11<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup>, </u></span><u><span style="font-size: large;">1rst</span><span style="font-size: medium;">,<b> <i>3<sup>rd</sup></i> </b>and 20<sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup> respectively in reported Coronavirus
cases. </span></u>
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Other
Mediterranean/Mid East countries, less important to Italy but in the
top- 20 are Iran (7<sup>th</sup> ), Turkey (10<sup>th</sup>) Israel
(18<sup>th</sup> ) in reported Coronavirus cases. Others in the
region may be suffering but not reporting very accurately. The
obvious hyper-susceptibility of these mostly western populations
should be of interest, as compared to China's neighbors. There might
be a racial or demographic angle to this pandemic.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">News
agencies easily acknowledged that Italy had become the epicenter of
the pandemic for several weeks... an insidious Roman holiday, until the U.S. took its place. And
we soon eclipsed Italy with our cities sporting the densest
collections of Jewish and Italian-Americans in the U. S... New York-New Jersey, which constitute, at this writing, one half of all of the casualties in the whole country. Ten times the losses in Louisiana, 38x that of Texas, home of the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan regions America, (Houston & Dallas-Ft Worth) AND Austin and San Antonio. Surely something is missing from the equation. Sure cases and casualties are rising... and they will for a couple of weeks more... but declining numbers in Italy tell us to hold on. Italy has gone six days where their death totals were less than those when at their highest (Mar27) ... indicating a downturn of the epidemic, and a "curve" very similar to that suggested by the Chinese. Hopefully they have just entered their epidemic downturn, and we are a week or so behind them and will experience a downturn, at least in New York, very soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This
observation, of a Mediterranean connection, could contribute greatly
to understanding the spread of the disease, the inexplicable and
disproportionate casualty rate around the globe, and the most
susceptible populations to the disease, and help warn the most
endangered demographic groups. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>It
also could mean that the models being used to forecast the
Coronavirus are skewed towards the general population... disregarding
the significant Italian population now suffering the pandemic in New York
and New Jersey. </b></span><sup style="font-size: 16pt; font-weight: normal;"> </sup>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
the United States,</span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
where the virus has done the most damage, it has been the quickest
and most deadly in the densest Italian populations: New York and New
Jersey. Here the carriers, some Chinese and some Italian, brought the virus to the most susceptible populations. New York and New Jersey represent the third largest concentration of
Italian-Americans and Italian nationals outside of Italy. New York
boasts a huge Italian-American population, over 8%, and there are
around twenty towns in New Jersey which tout 40-50% Italian-American populations. They argue back and forth just who is the most Italian.
That argument has morphed into who has had the greatest losses per
capita from the dreaded Coronavirus.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">True, it could be argued that the disease just followed where the Chinese elites took it, to the more populated and prosperous places on the globe, where there would have been Italians... who are part of the Western network of industrialized countries. Perhaps it was merely the Chinese and Italians who were the carriers to Europe and the U. S.. The path of the disease would indeed overlay perfectly with airline travel, trade routes, and tourism corridors. But India and Pakistan, Poland, Russia, and most of China's closest neighbors got a curious reprieve from the outbreak. They have travel and trade as well, and in fact probably have the virus, but it is not <i>killing them</i> in great numbers.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">We in the U.S. are greatly Ameri-centric... we always think it is all about us... so when the virus comes calling first and foremost to New York... of course it did! But why not London? Why not Moscow? Or Houston? Los Angeles (still only 269 deaths)?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">There has to be a practical explanation to the explosion in Italy when so many highly populated areas closer to China were skipped.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> In fact, it would have been expected that poorer populations, worse medical facilities, more backward societies would have been hit the hardest. Certainly not the very opposite.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When Chinese nationals brought the virus to the U.S., they no doubt hit our western shores at about the same time that they hit the east coast, and the outbreak surfaced from Georgia to California to New York about March 1- and New Orleans about a week later, on the Gulf Coast. Yet experts seem to be anticipating a deadly wave across America, as if delayed, which (I believe) may have already visited upon these places... and done their deadliest. Perhaps Corona has hit and climaxed with a speed beyond our comprehension. Outbreaks in California, Colorado, almost every state, suggest that it has had time to seek from coast to coast, and kill or terrify a majority of the population, already.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Then those infected in those places did the rest, spreading the virus to the elderly and those with immunodeficiency, or some other fragility, of all demographic groups... and causing great suffering. But perhaps not as many deaths as those with the Mediterranean/Mid East bloodlines. Only time will tell.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As Rush Limbaugh has pointed out, it is impossible that social distancing prevented the Coronavirus pandemic from having its way, in California or anywhere, since most populated places had probably been exposed for weeks before the public adopted these strategies. Limbaugh has been intrigued for days with California's seeming immunity. They have a significant Chinese population... no doubt quite a few "carriers"... but perhaps not the density of Italian -Americans which would catch it and suffer greatly, and propel a health threat anywhere near an "epidemic." So far the total deaths (270 in first month) in California is small compared to New York, sand many other health threats they have faced.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">"Just an observation..."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">But it might be helpful to add</span><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"> another demographic to the “model”
being used to forecast America's fate regarding the Coronavirus:
Victims are old to very old, (avg of 80 years in Italy) suffering a
myriad of preconditions which increase their vulnerability, and more often than not in countries associated with Italy... </span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>or Italians</b></span><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">, and in
New York, where the model for Coronavirus forecasting was born, at
least 8% across the board are of Italian descent. That is just my
“SWAG” from Internet sources, based on population estimates
until actual numbers are available, but the Mediterranean/Mid East
angle which is suggested by the world Coronavirus map, and the related casualties in New York and its environs, suggest that it may be even more.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-28592446512123043092020-03-31T09:30:00.001-05:002020-03-31T09:53:29.447-05:00Marked for Life by The Twilight Zone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3hK8IJGBgMfZElpaYej7lYLftXZJn8DVy88pWJbzKg3wJzPXiGRy8a9oz-9kVEP6bJEAD_Fuf780FteZZ9wPlp-rFVI9m7SdIw_mNx5kaYniAEmuAVs8vdRJ0gGz4ZXSDvKsBtsRlTTFd/s1600/southernb+belle+redcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="1198" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3hK8IJGBgMfZElpaYej7lYLftXZJn8DVy88pWJbzKg3wJzPXiGRy8a9oz-9kVEP6bJEAD_Fuf780FteZZ9wPlp-rFVI9m7SdIw_mNx5kaYniAEmuAVs8vdRJ0gGz4ZXSDvKsBtsRlTTFd/s640/southernb+belle+redcd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Do any of you recognize this face?</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Please, let me introduce a
classic film short... and a great case of real life “deja vu.”
But first, who does this woman, featured in An Occurrence at Owl
Creek Bridge, look like? If you ever lived in Navasota, Texas,and
knew everybody that mattered to the community as a whole, you have to
know... who this looks like. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This film was based on a
story written by Ambrose Bierce and appeared on the Twilight Zone
when I was a boy. It impacted my life in several ways including some
that I am still discovering. I was only eight years old when I saw
it, for the only time in my life, and now I learn that the reason
that I watched a thousand Twilight Zone re-runs over my lifetime, in
hopes of seeing it again, and never saw it in almost sixty years, was
that the Twilight Zone television show only purchased limited
broadcast rights to it. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Owl Creek Bridge was a
short film made in France! And only <i>edited</i> by the Twilight
Zone... no doubt formatted for its time slot and commercials, and it
was a hit and won several awards- and my lifelong enthusiasm with
very, very limited exposure; Two broadcasts... I saw one of them...
in 1962. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It's main character was
named Peyton Farquhar... which means nothing to most people, but in
Navasota, there is a Farquhar street in the center of downtown by
that name, and runs right by City Hall, and the Post Office, and dead
ends right into a building where I spent a great deal of time and
energy... now known as Classic Rock Coffee Co. But I did not know
that wne I was eight, or remember any of the details, as the man's
name was barely mentioned... and in the beginning, which had me
mesmerized, and stupified.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I just saw it again after
many years of wishing to see see it again. Remembering it hard,
reconstructing it in my mind, as the years passed, suddenly, by the
miracle of Netflix, it was ON! </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">As a boy I was raised in a
history rich environment, injected with a powerful dose of Southern
pride. My brother and I played Civil War every day. We had kepis and
muskets and knew our generals... and a few battles... mostly we
fantasized fighting and dying for the South. When this Twilight Zone
came into my living room, it grabbed me, held me, captured me,
executed me, and left me for dead. The Confederate spy in the story
was me, and I went through his ordeal repeatedly in my mind for the
rest of my life.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The theme obviously hit
close to home, but it was something else which I could not recognize
as an eight year old, and upon seeing again, now understand why the
show appealed so much to my soul. The film is a masterpiece of art;
The creepy bluesy vocalist, singing as the spy watches his life flash
by. “I want to be a LIVING MAN.” (That should have been the name
of the segment) The singer has the appeal of a Captain Kangaroo
children's entertainer, as he slowly elaborates the beauty of nature,
the wonder of Creation... “I see the treeeeees... every vein on the
leeeeeeaves...” A man about to die realizes how much he loved life,
how much of life there was still to live... how he would give
anything to just go home again, and he envisions running home
barefooted through the wilderness, and seeing his adoring wife and
children one more time.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">That hunger, that value
stayed, anchored in me like a peg on the wall, and something to hang
my identity on. I saw that sweet, loving face of his wife coming
happily towards him... but never quite reaching him... for six damn
decades! THAT is good art. And that was the day I knew... there was
no glory in war so great as a single leaf on a tree.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I did not want to die for
the Confederacy... a cause long lost, I wanted to spend my life
doing what that poor schmuck hanging from the bridge would never get
to do. His yearning, his regrets, his brief, unrealized fantasy
became my lifetime of fulfillment and achievement. I still pretended,
and played Civil War after that, but I knew I never wanted to
stupidly throw my life away. And this was important at that time, as
I was soon to go through a boyhood hell and want to end my life. I'm
sure now, as I think about it, that the dead rebel hanging from the
railroad bridge figured heavily in my mind one Saturday morning when
I hunkered down under the fronds of a palm tree in my front yard with
a butcher knife, determined to end my anguish. I thought I wanted to
die. But the picture of that Confederate spy running and running and
never quite saving himself, leaving so beautiful a life behind, stuck
with me. Death in youth was a terrible waste. He was dead, but I
could still have the life and fulfillment which he could not.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I had forgotten the lack
of dialogue in the film, which made the emotions portrayed so much
more important. I had completely missed the stream of conscious
singing... the violence of the waterfall, but I had fixated on the
long, long run home... and the reaching... reaching, to the breaking
point... the final embrace as the condemned man actually falls to his
death at the end of a rope, which rocked my world. It was the first
time I had ever seen a show that did not end with a happy ending. He
was supposed to get away and reinforce my juvenile sense of justice.
Instead the show went on for many minutes, making you think that
somehow he had struggled free and was going to go home to his family.
Just as in life, death came with a terrible shock. It was as
effective and sobering as any thing I have seen since. It possessed
with my eight-year old mind, and never let go. That is the power of
art.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I was not the only
celebrated writer to love the piece- Kurt Vonnegut said it was the
greatest American Short Story ever written. He called it a flawless
example of American Genius.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Bizarrely, as I finally
saw it again, playing the two main roles were actors who could have
been doubles for two friends of mine. All of these years there was a
strange familiarity... they were the physical and temperamental
embodiment of the characters in the film. Him, a melancholy folk
musician, she a loving soul, once a popular children's day-care
provider. Seeing them again... in this haunting film, familiar faces
in a film which owned a part of me, added another real-life layer to
the Twilight Zone. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Of course, I grew up to
be... an artist, a historical illustrator, a photographer and writer.
A bird watcher... and a happily married man, to a beautiful Southern
belle, going on 45 years. And she loves the Twilight Zone. I am the
LIVING MAN!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">So the actor was Roger
Jacquet. The Actress Anne Cornaly... or so they said... But if you
are from Navasota, you will watch it with... a certain kind of myst
in your eye.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Now, start voting as you
hum the Twilight Zone theme song.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-80330772447889487142019-12-29T14:18:00.001-06:002019-12-29T14:29:48.082-06:00A Crazy Dream- That Made Sense<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJnUGz38ldV7mG70fyhvamg0qH2hYpyvcHwt6u-uNcrLoeKW8BzSHzKltlIXsfBNP2fvJrZQHZBtRqPwc8ivQprVGADIIEBs3mdmXshiR30EgnPa0n_bGo6i4v8gqxICGER0RYEXuDskk/s1600/DREAM+DC_CROPT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1459" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJnUGz38ldV7mG70fyhvamg0qH2hYpyvcHwt6u-uNcrLoeKW8BzSHzKltlIXsfBNP2fvJrZQHZBtRqPwc8ivQprVGADIIEBs3mdmXshiR30EgnPa0n_bGo6i4v8gqxICGER0RYEXuDskk/s640/DREAM+DC_CROPT.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I really did have this
dream last night.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had been
invited </span>to the White House as an honored guest. For what I do
not know. But in dreams you never think to ask questions. Anyway, I
was sitting in a special section of honored guests at an event of
some sort... there was music playing on the stage... and the great
man and his lovely wife were sitting up front, tall and dignified,
and I was proud to be there and proud to be an American. It was a
golden dream.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Then after a break, I was
told that it was my turn to sit with the president and first lady.
And like a child going to Santa Claus, I got up from my seat and came
down a few rows to the front and took my seat. The music was already
started again, so there were no time for introductions, no hand
shaking, but it was fine by me. It was such an honor, just to stand
next to, sit down at the right hand of President Barack Obama. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">I wondered if
he knew</span> that I usually voted Republican, and had never liked
his politics, and certainly had never cast a vote for him. Nor had
many people whom I knew, for that matter. Whether he did or not, he
was very kind and gracious to me, and I took my seat and just basked
in the glory and diversity of our wonderful country. Realizing we had
never been formally introduced, the fatherly president just took my
left hand, and rested our clasped hands on his knee. And then he
lovingly placed his left hand on top of mine. I took it as an
affectionate gesture, and decided to finish this bipartisan love fest
with my right hand, but as I put it on top of our mound of hands, he
brushed it away. This had been a presumptuous and preposterous
gesture on my part. After all, it was his shindig.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But it was my dream, and
staring at first lady Michelle's long, slender, beautifully bejeweled
fingers, perfectly manicured nails, her hands clasped angelically at
his other side, my eyelids suddenly got very heavy, and my head
slowly dropped and leaned on the towering president's shoulder. I
tried to stay awake, but a part of me <i>wanted </i>to nestle and
doze on his shoulder, like a little boy. And I did. President Obama
did not seem to mind, he seemed to almost understand, like this often
happened to him. He sat typically dignified, totally composed, as I
shrugged off any possible embarrassment- as one does in crazy dreams,
and I just melted into the music and the beauty of the moment.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Soon, the concert was
over, and people were scattering like they do. We were ushered
through the throng and showed a faster way, THE way out of the venue
for the Prez and his entourage. Quickly, forcefully we marched into
the darkness, and once again, forgetting my place, I took the lead.
And it was a good thing. No sooner had we outdistanced the teaming
mass of people behind us, we came upon a fifteen foot drop, where
there had once been a grand stone stairway. Now it was a muddy cliff.
With the crowd pressing behind, I shrugged and trusted my dream and
jumped. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Maybe I thought I would go
first... somewhat protectively, to see if the president and first
lady would be safe... and instantly I landed on the crumbly earth
below... farther down than I anticipated but without much incident.
But it was too far, and still on all fours, I yelled for the
President not to try it, for fear that he might break a leg. And
certainly the first lady should not try to jump it. But before I
could get their attention they were already jumping and they landed
and bounced like Olympians. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">President Obama chuckled,
took it all in stride, and stood up faster than me, since sadly, I was still a 65 year-old man, in my dream, and not so resilient. Meanwhile, many followers came trustingly behind him. He graciously helped me up, as
if it happened every day. It did not seem to surprise or fluster him that
government workers had destroyed his exit, and left a dangerous
precipice that would certainly harm hundreds of others, even cripple
some of them. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;">We were dirty now, and a little shaken, but I thought, what a
nice guy. What a strong and good-natured fellow. Nothing seemed to
bother him, and he is always glib, and well spoken. And I realized in
my soul, in my <i>real </i>mind, how much I missed that kind of
dignity in my president.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Then I looked back at the
muddy bluff, with people spilling over like lemmings. Some were
making it. Many were turning back. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Mounting numbers of faithful followers were broken and wounded at the base of this hole that had once been a trusted stairway. Some were laying about unconscious and not moving. The news of our president
confidently leading hundreds or thousands over a cliff was certainly
going to be a national crisis. </span><span style="font-size: medium;">And I thought, that was too bad, but it
was just a dream, a ridiculous scenario, and I was not worried at
all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I knew that soon enough,
President Trump would fix it. And Americans, whether they liked him
or not, would be safe again.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I was pretty sure that
President Trump would never invite me to a White House concert, and
if he did, he would knock me out of my honored place if I laid my
head on his shoulder! He is not much of a father figure... never very
comforting. But he understands very well how to survive in a world
full of pitfalls, and takes charge of problems like a construction
foreman. Trump has been visioning, building, and fixing things and
making them work all of his life; Showing a profit in New York City.
And now he has begun to fix many things in our country, against
incredible, deliberate obstructions. And as I awoke, I knew which
kind of president I would rather have.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-58837922552651246882019-12-06T20:59:00.003-06:002019-12-06T21:11:05.098-06:00Delightful Scars of Christmas Past<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7kQEtCDPBqfCuhWR23qmnAX7E4Jv1o2McGhobu19mdKrg9I8WneEn7ar2cGa5YX0Q4BqpJBKpgjqhbqTfc9hvJUtzdDoUeE9-ebY1qJ6QRBwsKjHdzXvVybmlGieKsgBTIWyTiz5bng8/s1600/Fbabyrebs.BMP" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="361" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn7kQEtCDPBqfCuhWR23qmnAX7E4Jv1o2McGhobu19mdKrg9I8WneEn7ar2cGa5YX0Q4BqpJBKpgjqhbqTfc9hvJUtzdDoUeE9-ebY1qJ6QRBwsKjHdzXvVybmlGieKsgBTIWyTiz5bng8/s400/Fbabyrebs.BMP" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Scarred
for Life!</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It will probably seem
petty to many people, that I was scarred for life because of mistakes
Santa made at my childhood Christmas tree. Being a middle child, I
was already struggling to find my own identity, to identify what I
might excel at, so as to compete in my own way with my boisterous
brothers. They were robust, and smart and athletic, which left me
arts and humanities, which I began to ponder seriously. I told Santa
I wanted a carpenter set... I was about nine and thinking that my
creativity could be put to use in some positive way besides bloody
battle cartoons. Wasn't Joseph, Jesus's father a carpenter, and
wasn't Jesus said to be the same?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Christmas morning at our
house was an explosion of laughter and wrapping paper, as three boys
dug into their long-awaited prizes. But the tree had some surprises.
It was as if a bad elf, or a drunk had placed the gifts left by old
Santa. I kept unwrapping things made out to me, but which were meant
for Reynolds, my little brother. Socks, underwear, nothing of
consequence, and my mom seemed to better understand what Santa
intended, and snatched them up as fast as I unveiled them, trading
out with the intended recipient and handing me yet another thing to
unwrap... and then the extent of Santa's chain of errors became more
clear, as my six year-old brother came up out of the layers of shiny
paper with EXACTLY what I had wanted for Christmas: a real deal
carpenter set. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A cute little hammer, a saw with real teeth, even a little coping saw, and some
other carpenter stuff little boys would not understand.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Reynolds was thrilled</span>,
that Santa had given him something valued by others. He was more
thrilled, suddenly having something he knew that I would like to
have. I eventually found a cheesy plastic carpenter set on my side of
the tree. Santa understood that Reynolds would be jealous of the real
carpenter set, so he left him a little baby one. I looked at it as if
Santa had just kicked me in the gut. My mom looked mortified, and
looked at my dad... who said something flippant like “Santa must
have made a mistake!”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: large;">You'll never get that
from him...” My mother said dryly. She could not help but chuckle,
as Reynolds began to show everyone his new hammer, gleefully trying
it out on the furniture.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: large;">Uh... boys, Santa's
helpers have made a mistake...” My father tried to interject. But
as he tried to wrestle the hammer away from Reynolds, it was obvious
that the little guy was already a member of the carpenter's Union,
and fighting for his life. No way was he giving up the carpenter set,
now the tools of his profession. So, of course, as parents always do,
they give in to the wants of the youngest, even when Santa has made a
stupid, irresponsible mistake. And then they did the other thing
parents always do, they tried to extract a compromise with the little
peckerwood. “Now Rey Rey, you'll be glad to share your carpenter
set with Russie, won't you?”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My dad was a big tough
guy, and could be very intimidating, but Reynolds was not phased. He
clutched the hammer, and looked around for moral support. When he saw
none, he did what all indulged little punks do, he puffed up and
turned red, and looked like he was about to explode. Mom swiftly took
him and the hammer away to soften the moment, and dad began laugh.
That was easy for him, it wasn't his hammer.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course Reynolds never
made anything with that damned carpenter set, he just proudly owned
it. The little saw didn't really work very good. Then he grew up to be a
journalist, which had <i>nothing</i> to do with carpentry. And I learned
that someone as powerful as Santa could make grievous errors, which
could not be undone.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But I was a forgiving
soul.</span> And I got even soon enough, when one day we were pretending to be Rebs fighting Yankees, and he tried to sneak up from behind and I twirled around and nailed him right between the eyes with the steel barrel of my quite real looking Confederate musket. Made a perfect circle on his forehead. Blood running down his face just like that reb in Shenandoah...It was really cool. You can still see that scar if you look close. That fixed his little carpenter butt!</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I changed my life goals
that year and the next Christmas, Reynolds heard me tell Santa that I
wanted a microscope. I wanted to look at things up close, to study
their textures and cell structure. I was now ten and curious about
nature. Ok, so maybe we were going to torment some ants along the way...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The big day came, and we
shot out of bed and flew to the tree like wasps on the warpath. We
tore into mounds of toy army gear and guns and plastic army men, and
then... Reynolds unwrapped his brand... new... microscope.
Complete with slides and minerals and science experiments. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I could not believe it.
I... COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Really? Two years in a
row? He was just seven freaking years old! How could Santa make that
BIG of a mistake? It was if the devil elf was taunting me. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sensing a repeat from last
year, Reynolds clutched the microscope as if it were a long lost
friend. Meanwhile I unwrapped the Erector Set Santa had left for him.
It was a fussy affair, with millions of little metal strips and nuts
and screws, even an adult could not figure out. Reynolds would not
consider a trade even if he was threatened, or begged, or reasoned
with.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />“I want it!” was
all he said, so happy to be such an obvious favorite of Santa's, to
get big-boy stuff that even his older brother wanted. It was as if life
was extraordinarily fair...<i> to him</i>. And it was great to find out that
all of those threats about being a good little boy, if he wanted
Santa to bring him great stuff, were just parental ignorance. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Reynolds was always
relentlessly competitive anyway. He always wanted whatever I had, to
do whatever I was doing. That competition continues in many ways,
until this day. If I got an old truck... he bought three. And then
there were the arrowhead wars, wrought iron wars, stoneware,
tintypes... we are both pathetic and just a tiny bit covetous. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">So anyway I gave up on a
microscope and finding a cure for cancer. And by now I knew that
Santa was over the hill, horribly incompetent, and no more efficient
than a thirty-something couple in a rush, who had hit the egg-nog a
little toooooo often. Every year! And scarred for life, I gave up on
being like Jesus and resorted to hours
entertaining myself with pencil and paper. Lots of paper. Lots and
lots of paper.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It was cheap, and Reynolds
had no use for that. I made all kinds of paper airplanes, and
drawings of Texas history, and even dozens of little elves to
decorate the house for Christmas. I was probably hoping they would
hang around and lend Santa guidance the next year. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Merry Christmas Brothers!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">None of us would change a
thing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRuDV1_cS2HKYujeiF0i8UIay3EKOoV68QHe6_y3KUyg26CWSGLQ3ln_pRuh6-zcDfOzJrXBuF2NqaUL-9CkeYVIfMbfu4amHjaC2aa-7QWKNZlJExS5PKrioqBb-Mx-5p3AZnvzWd2ern/s1600/marfa+light+dancers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRuDV1_cS2HKYujeiF0i8UIay3EKOoV68QHe6_y3KUyg26CWSGLQ3ln_pRuh6-zcDfOzJrXBuF2NqaUL-9CkeYVIfMbfu4amHjaC2aa-7QWKNZlJExS5PKrioqBb-Mx-5p3AZnvzWd2ern/s640/marfa+light+dancers.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-83513365707426444512019-10-23T15:55:00.000-05:002019-10-23T15:56:13.935-05:00If you are about to get a new cell phone...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>DON'T TRADE IN YOUR OLD
CELL PHONE!</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WWrrC1-OxJTmvi6Mk41uffL9plr83wUT8vwUx7rH_M40WMx1Z8O7UWOs5C6LiEGY6wh21GhzhQskHWTDAx_edeL6EbiCTa_kO0hPXzz8uJfvTXUum-NKG0mcCaqL1hUno6MJD6-hKvHY/s1600/CELL+PHONE+HELL_redcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="990" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WWrrC1-OxJTmvi6Mk41uffL9plr83wUT8vwUx7rH_M40WMx1Z8O7UWOs5C6LiEGY6wh21GhzhQskHWTDAx_edeL6EbiCTa_kO0hPXzz8uJfvTXUum-NKG0mcCaqL1hUno6MJD6-hKvHY/s400/CELL+PHONE+HELL_redcd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I'm glad to explain, but
for now just believe me and read until you are satisfied.</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><i>If
you are about to get a new cell phone,</i></span> <span style="font-size: medium;">let me
share what my wife and I just endured.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">My phone was damaged and
hers was about to be inoperable, so we decided to be brave and strike
out to the local </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Verizon </b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">store.
Here we found a wonderfully informative young man who sold us on
converting to the new </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Google Pixel 3X </b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">phones.
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DON'T DO IT!</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> But let
me first explain that after we waited for five days for the Verizon
guy to fetch these new techno-wonders, and were disappointed when we
showed up to get them, that this nice young man had to be summoned
from someplace else in his street clothes to tell us they were not in
the store, and one had been “jacked.” I guess that means stolen.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">We smelled something fishy
and left... not surprised but yes, a couple of disgruntled retired
people... visited the phone center at Sam's, then settled on getting
the PIXELs at Best Buy. Already sold on the product, we gladly paid a
little more and got outfitted, me with a Pixel 3XL and my wife with a
3X... and because I was too distrusting,</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> I did
not let go of my old, damaged phone,</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> because
it had a mountain of images and videos in it... and (LUCKILY) I was
not so sure about the information transfer...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">My wife sadly, naively
traded in her phone... it was swiped clean before she realized that
she had lost precious and sentimentally important texts... like her
father's last voicemail to her... and they were GONE. We soldiered
on... and I went home to play with my new super-duper Google Pixel
camera and all my wonderful new picture making tools...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Then the real debacle
began!</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> My photos from my iphone had not all
transferred. Not even a tenth of them. None of my videos. We went
back to the Best Buy store to try to learn what had gone wrong. A
nice young fellow explained that we needed to establish a connection
to a “Cloud”- (I thought I had!) and he recommended the Google
Cloud, and started it for me, and the download began... we thought.
Next day, I had about the same number...basically all my photos for
the </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>past month</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">, and
few random ones from seven years ago! The Googel Cloud, accessible
from my computer, had not downloaded any of my photos from the
iCloud. Now I got concerned. I still had my photos and memories in
the old damaged phone, thank goodness, because I had not traded it
in. And I looooved the my new Pixel phone... for about five minutes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The Pixel camera was
great, but the photo tools were not as handy or effective as my old
iphone 7's. You are supposed to download an App for that, if your
really care or know the difference. So I studied Apps... then decided
on a movie App... the latest Photo Shop free app. But I still had
very few photos to work with. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">One peculiar thing, the
“Cloud” was sending my new phone some very old images... somewhat
randomly, from as far back at seven years ago... </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>many
of which I had originally deleted.</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">.. in other
words, it appeared that</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> everything I ever
photographed</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> was still in existence... in the
iCloud, and when it sends them to the new phone, they come raw,
unedited, and even undeleted. So half of what I did have were
duplicates, outtakes, and stuff that I did not want.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I was more than
underwhelmed with our advances in technology, and we just wanted our
old phones back... with our old stuff in them. We went back to the
store to trade-in our purchases, get iphones and be done with it.
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Then we stumbled into disaster.</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The lady at the customer
service counter was more than understanding... she immediately went
to work to satisfy us. I was glad to get something else, but still
retained ownership of my old damaged phone...We traded in our Pixels
and purchased iphones at a considerable savings, and then the worst
thing possible happened. The Best Buy people at the Customer Service
counter did not know that when they removed those tiny little
microchip cards from the Google Pixel phones, that </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>everything
in them is erased. </i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">LOST.
REALLY... lost.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">A
supervisor came along about that time and told us what had
happened... but there was no recourse... the information in both
phones had been lost completely, and there was nothing that could be
done. We were starting out all over again, totally fresh, no
contacts, no photos. We went to the phone center there at Best Buy to
get our phones updated as much as possible, since </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I
still had my old damaged phone.</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Once
again, the Best Buy cell phone person waiting on us, this was now
about the third, began trying their best to recover what they could.</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>
</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">They began
a download, </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>once again from the
“Cloud,” </i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">which
was supposed to help me transfer the contacts and photos I had in my
damaged phone into my new iphone. My poor wife was speechless, having
just lost years worth of contacts and messages and photos. The worker
explained that it might take a while, so we went to get something to
eat. Wife walked like a war refugee in the parking lot, almost
unaware of moving vehicles, stupified by such an unexpected loss. I
was hopeful that my old broken phone would pull my transfer through.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">To
cut to the chase, (sorry about all that detail!) we were assured that
it was all loading up, and we could take it home and it would all be
OK. But when it was “finished,” it was no better than the first
downloads in the Pixels. </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Random</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and still sending unwanted, recently deleted images which I thought
had been sent to the bad place. I gave my wife a few contact numbers
which we had in common. There were not that many! I depended on her
to keep certain contacts, and she depended on me. So call her if you
are one of her buds, and let her reload your number.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Our
daughter, our hero, came and helped me retrieve my images, in ways
even she does not completely understand. </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u>She
was able to recover all of my photos.</u></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">..
(they are still loading!) and even my numerous “Memories”
video/slideshows made with the iphone 7 movie program... which are
quite good. Hallelujah!</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: medium;">As best as I can
understand, as long as you have that old phone, and the data it
contains, even if the phone service has been transferred to a new
phone, it still is connected to the “Cloud” and can keep your
contacts and photographic images “alive.” It is the lifeline. But
your average cell phone salesperson has no clue how to adequately
transfer what it has access to. You'll need better people than who
occupy the local Verizon outlets to get it done.</span></b></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">So:
</span></span>
</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Don't
let go of your old phone</b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
until you are totally satisfied with your info transfer. You can
always trade it in later. My wife lost all of her texts because she
traded in a phone which they only valued at twenty bucks!</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Don't
trust the Verizon guys,</b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
they are scamming or something. At one point we commented to one
another on the unkempt nature of the place, and the unprofessional
way they were handling customers. (This was in Bell County)
Certainly I was skeptical when the salesman told me he would drive
over fifty miles to Georgetown get our phones at another location
during the weekend, and have them for us next week... and was not at
all surprised when he dumped a big lie on us.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>DONT
LET THEM EXCHANGE “SIM CARDS” </b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">WITHOUT
AN EXPERT TECHNICIAN PRESENT. Ask lots of questions... Different
phones have different data memory essentials... Your average
salesperson is not going to know all the changes, until it is too
late! I kept saying, “It's like they never sold a phone in this
store before!” And I might add, these were recenty outdated Pixel
phones... </span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Find
a way to </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>copy
your Contact info </b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">so
you still have it, no matter what. Back up your images with
something in your own possession! The “Cloud” seems only to keep
data but never releases much of it, EVEN TO PROFESSIONALS, and when
it does, it is random and RAW. Thankfully, I had emailed myself many
of my favorite images over the years. </span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Keep
your daughter handy. :)</span></span></b></div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-38694683722485217972019-02-28T18:26:00.002-06:002019-02-28T20:25:30.582-06:00The BIG GREEN MONSTER vs. common sense<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUJjETNuKkvic1mhcGYeprwWZrPFrq0KGYoDlG54X98OH8E7e0LI7bVTwBDCuE8g6qJELLnTgNUH2PbpsSJTJB-g3dehTvZ6vRvmlo1eMqi-V8g6MGhyphenhyphenvFhyphenhyphenHfAicpuX7jh1I5hlxt9pK/s1600/BIG+GREEN+MONSTER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1356" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUJjETNuKkvic1mhcGYeprwWZrPFrq0KGYoDlG54X98OH8E7e0LI7bVTwBDCuE8g6qJELLnTgNUH2PbpsSJTJB-g3dehTvZ6vRvmlo1eMqi-V8g6MGhyphenhyphenvFhyphenhyphenHfAicpuX7jh1I5hlxt9pK/s400/BIG+GREEN+MONSTER.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Issue:</b>
The Earth is said to be in danger, or at least its status as a living
environment for most of its inhabitants. Pollution and dangerous
levels of animal CO<span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span>
emissions will eventually make the planet uninhabitable. These
pollutants and “green house gases” could be reduced to safe
levels by joint actions taken by humans, all around the world. WE
have done the damage and now we must fix the problem. The United
States, one of the worst “offenders,” should lead the world in
its air recovery. Otherwise mankind is doomed...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Politicians
in the United States have begun to offer up a comprehensive, even
grandiose plan which would assume world leadership by
revolutionizing, and to a large degree limiting the travel, diet, and
freedom of its citizens. This would be accomplished by drastic
reduction of petroleum powered automobiles, domestic air travel,
energy-inefficient buildings, and even cattle. The “Green New
Deal” would not only completely (ideally) eradicate domestic air
travel and energy-inefficient structures but the petrochemical
industry and the medical insurance industry, while providing free
health care, and free income for those who do not work, and free
college educations for all and other marvelous benefits of a liberal
society. Some of these things have little to do with the planetary
emergency being discussed here, but are part of a grand plan for our
government to meet all U. S. citizen's needs by confiscating 70% -
90% of the “excess” income of the wealthiest class.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Response:</b>
We know from responsible observers like NASA that carbon emissions on
the planet have doubled since 1900, (when they were far less than
historical highs) to over 380 parts per Million today. When seen on a
graph it is a straight up rocket, spiraling into dangerous levels in
the relatively near future. When illustrated on a fourteen-year time
lapse movie, the earth grows from a foreboding but habitable place in
2002 to a choking wasteland 2016. And that is where we are. Anyone
who has ever visited a Third World country, or even Mexico City, has
seen and smelled and felt the ominous results of man's abuse of our
most necessary natural resource.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Yale
University has invented a dipstick they call the EPI; Environmental
Performance Index. The U. S. does not make it into their top 20
performers. Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark head the list. I
wonder if it would be fair to ask what and how much these winners
produce? Jobs, social mobility, International exports, or GNP
apparently do not enter into the EPI. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">We
Americans are good at one thing, and that is beating up on ourselves.
We have plenty of input from college instructors and Liberal
politicians, who gain a devoted shadow of hand wringers as they
spread their bad news gospel. According to the “Kyoto Protocol,”
which took force in 2005, America does not lead the world in
pollution control. On the “ecosystem vitality scale,” the U. S.
ranked 39<sup>th</sup>, (out of 149) below other developed
countries, showing poorly in clean environment or pollution progress
compared to our European counterparts. This low score and other
subjective measures have brought on a growing wave of outrage among
Globalists and Environmentalists. They fail to appreciate what
America does in the world, while it produces those lackluster
scores... and still finishes in the top quarter of the planet's
organized nations. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Before
we get into solutions, let's consider the role the United States
actually plays in this world environmental crisis. The facts
presented here are readily available to anyone on the Internet.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
U. S. is a leader in the world in the control of industrial pollution
and preservation of “clean” air. In fact it ranks in the top
twelve among <i>all countries in the world</i>, balancing our immense
industrial productivity with environmental protection, having done a
better job with our dangerous emissions than most of our peers,
including the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Russia, and Israel. Only
fairly NON-INDUSTRIALIZED countries like Finland, Sweden and Canada,
or much less productive ones like Australia or New Zealand have
better air.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Our
(U. S.) carbon emissions are not even close to competing with the
real violators or Earth's oxygen, such as the Arab countries, led by
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait and others. India and China have a
long way to go to match our level of air quality or its protection. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
numbers are very confusing, depending on how a reporter slices the
onion. But every American should know and be proud that his country,
for all its productivity, only makes about 1/6 of the carbon
emissions on the planet- about half of the emissions of China, who
produces nearly a third of the world's pollution. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
reason American politicians are creating drastic reforms for the U.
S. is that we are an easy target, and a conspicuously messy
population, and we don't score well. Although we lead the world in
quality of life and production in agriculture, in the process we make
more pollution <i>per person</i> than other countries. For instance
the next worst nation in per-capita carbon emissions is India, with
its growing industrialization and approximately 280 Million cows...
(Compared to our 100 Million)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Which
brings up a controversial source of the world's greenhouse gases-
Livestock. American politicians have suggested that a massive
reduction in consumption of beef, thus erasing cows from the
landscape, would be a big benefit to solving the oxygen crisis. This
is a very overstated claim. While Americans do enjoy their beef, it
only makes up a small fraction of the poundage of animal flesh we
consume. While we are eating 32 Million pounds annually, a fairly
conservative amount of cow meat, we are putting away 42 BILLION
pounds of chicken. If cows have got to go, chickens should have
already been banished. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
Chick-filet cows have won the public-relations battle in convincing
Americans to “Eat more Chiken.” And we are. So much that
outlawing cows would barely put a dent in the production of nasty
air. It is estimated that there are between 90 and 100 Million cows
from sea to shining sea. And a quarter of those are dairy cows, who
provide us with milk, cheese, butter, ice cream and latex paint. The
abolition of the dairy industry is out of the question. And beef is
more and more becoming a minor player in the “Greenhouse Affect.”
When you think about having to invent satisfactory substitutes for
leather, glue, gelatin, fertilizer and all the jobs related to all
these products, it seems like the Green New Deal is far-fetched and
unnecessarily sacrificial. To most rural Texans, it is just plain
political grandstanding.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps
it would be smart to look back... and compare our animal population
to 500 years ago. When you imagine the pristine American landscape,
before the invasion of White people, it sported upwards of 25 Million
bison, and huge numbers of elk, deer and antelope, (now greatly
reduced) and vast populations of passenger pigeons, (extinct) and
other game birds, not to mention a huge amount of feral horses, pigs
and longhorn cows... (greatly reduced) whose aggregate greenhouse gas
production could easily have been half or even two thirds of the
present number. Meanwhile the great herds in Africa and Asia have
been reduced to alarming numbers. It is somewhat inconsistent for
Liberals to pitch the eradication of livestock, whose production of
greenhouse gases could not be much more than the emissions of the
wildlife they replaced, suggesting that former wildlife populations
would have been unacceptable today, intimating that humans and
animals cannot coexist, thus delegitimizing pet ownership and
wildlife preservation. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Animals
are not our enemies. They have been our sustenance and allies for
centuries. The Greenhouse gases which result from agriculture in our
country are a necessary bi-product of food production which is a
major benefit to the whole world. While some individuals may choose
vegetarianism, we have no alternative method to produce enough
protein to sustain our larger population, especially children, much
less others, without meat and eggs and dairy products.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Remember
that we are talking about the planet here, so even IF the emissions
in the U. S. were at alarming levels, there has been a compensating
loss of the various wild herds around the planet. Wildlife experts
anticipate that there will be a 67% depletion of the world's wildlife
by next year. Human populations are squeezing them out until there is
insufficient wild space for them to exist. These usurpers will need
food. And America feeds the world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">True
we are messy, when it comes to air, but if you want to see a nice,
neat country, with no air quality challenges, visit an unproductive
one. And even though Americans foul up more than their “share” of
the earth's air, they also in their busyness provide a lot of food
and goods for the whole world to utilize. Much more than their share.
The U.S. is and has always been the world leader in food exports.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Punishing
U.S. Citizens, by restricting their travel and diet, would be beating
the goose that lays the golden egg. The Democratic proposals designed
to address our carbon excesses would result in the retardation and
decline in health and productivity of the very country which has
become the breadbasket of the world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Even
though the U. S. does more than most countries about its pollution
challenges, it is still number two in the world, after China, in
production of “nasty air.” There is no empirical data on the
impact which carbon emissions have on the earth's atmosphere and thus
our lives, only the “scientific” assumption that it is bad and
getting worse. Since the U. S. is evaluated as a major offender, some
politicians have been quick to point to American excess, abuse and
even malignance. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But
the number ONE cause of our “Greenhouse gases” is not cows, or
the cattle industry, it is simple human beings, trying to make a
living... You and me. Our carbon emissions, our cars, our use of
energy... which is exacerbated by the steady deforestation going on
all over the world, especially in Third World countries outside of
our reach. TRUE, America is a prime greenhouse gas producer, and thus
considered a “major violator,” because we have so many areas of
<i>great prosperity and productivity,</i> which create and grow one
another. We make more, do more, travel more, and thus use more. More
than the world's average. The only answer to this conundrum, for
America to match the planetary average is for Americans to do less.
Work less, travel less, eat less. A lot less. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">And
that would mean for every family to make less income. To enjoy less.
Have less. It would mean the end of our culture as we know it.
Suffering all of that while the rest of the world is doing little to
solve the pervasive problem of the earth's air quality. THAT would be
social injustice. But dumbing down America is the only Democrat
solution to our maintaining environmental leadership in the world.
Their solution is that we have to invent the future so all the other
countries will have a pattern, when they are ready for it. It is a
lofty demand in a hand-to-mouth world.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">This
is why in the past decade Democratic leaders have quietly overseen
the depletion of American industries, neglected our highway and
aeronautic infrastructure, promoted a future with socialized
medicine, vegetarianism, late-term abortions, high speed rail
everywhere, limited air and auto use, and proposed subsidized income
for those who do not work, because it is the only way for the U. S.
to reduce its carbon production so that we might compare well with
world CO<span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> levels, which
would be necessary for leading by example. And they have ginned up
the climate arguments to justify these quantum changes in our country
and our lifestyle. In the '70's it was an immanent ice age... in the
'90's it was Global Warming, now because weather statistics do not
support that, they have morphed the semantics to “Climate Change.”
That just about covers anything that might happen, so that the U. S.
population stays alarmed and (hopefully) patriotically cooperative
with these monumental adjustments being imposed on it. But a growing
number are counting the cost and questioning Democratic strategies.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Too
many of these Democrat social constructions depend on assumptions
that, following our lead, someday the straggling nations will catch
up, modernize and provide for themselves. But even Russia, after all
its modernization, cannot feed itself. The Arab and African countries
will continue to prosper and their populations grow in a desert land
with scant agriculture, and will never be able to feed themselves.
Populations which have traditionally been checked by famine and
disease will benefit from modern medical advances and as they
celebrate life and longevity, increase the demand for places like
America to feed them. They short-sightedly decimate or abuse their
natural resources even as we consider our own inconvenience and
restriction, to set some kind of example. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It
seems obvious that if America has already failed to meet the
environmental expectations of our Democrat brethren, in spite of
decades of government regulation and corporate striving, and the only
answer (for them) is a nationwide shake-up of our lifestyles and the
subsequent wholesale loss of jobs and family incomes, then this
country, The United States of America, cannot stand one more
immigrant. New people will only make worse the impossible task of
feeding ourselves and the world, while drastically reducing our
carbon emissions. More immigrants means more cars, more cows, more
carnivores, as our immigrants are very much beef eaters, and thus
more nasty air. Sorry immigrants, we have already used up our oxygen.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Of
course, we can do better for our environment and we will, and this
assertion is as absurd as the Green New Deal. Neither is going to
happen. And America will continue to lead the world... and most
importantly, it must lead with common sense. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It
is not time to dumb-down America's productivity, it is time to
anticipate the coming starvation in that half of the world that has
an admirably small CO<span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span>
impact but insufficient industry and agriculture to survive. It will
be a very amicable trade off. It is also time to attack pollution
where it multiplies unchecked, to begin enforcement, through the
United Nations, or International trade, rewarding developing
countries who care as much as we do about the environment, and
educating those who don't. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The
“Green New Deal” has nothing to do with solving the world's
problems. It only turns our world upside down, as it proposes to
vastly centralize our government by Federalizing our transportation,
agriculture, health care and education; A bizarre but misguided
compensation for the environmental abuses in two-thirds of the world,
where the carbon emissions are growing every day. And democrats know
that few promises are being made in these countries to do otherwise.
The Green New Deal may be the most presumptuous, the most ambitious,
the least feasible, the worst proposal ever submitted to the American
public by a national party.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">No
disrespect to our wonderful Statue of Liberty, and what it
represents, but we really can no longer accommodate all the unhappy
and oppressed people in the world. And we cannot bear the burden of
their sins. American magnanimity was wonderful and noble while it
lasted. But we are running out of oxygen- so to speak. It is time to
stop bashing ourselves, to meet our global crisis where it is, and to
meet and train, and if need be indoctrinate those huddled masses
where they are.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-53434158567852428012017-03-26T20:35:00.001-05:002017-03-26T21:18:37.928-05:00THE CLYDE BARROW MIRROR<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmj-r0FQRkkhr_HYzNFdF0sLA47uAQhZsgIaE-fzN5v1XQFXxCwuGCZUxy5F3O_lq0yd_Mn_jJI8BrejRfGLw6YYut6aY4YHEC1lJ2LYXJyYs7pljOXj8TTPxl5OkFaoQuWY3GBbJ1B59W/s1600/russell++RANGER+BOB+CONNELL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmj-r0FQRkkhr_HYzNFdF0sLA47uAQhZsgIaE-fzN5v1XQFXxCwuGCZUxy5F3O_lq0yd_Mn_jJI8BrejRfGLw6YYut6aY4YHEC1lJ2LYXJyYs7pljOXj8TTPxl5OkFaoQuWY3GBbJ1B59W/s320/russell++RANGER+BOB+CONNELL.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>History and MYSTERY lovers, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Former Texas Ranger Bob Connell</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> and I talk about things we can't prove.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> It's a long list.</i></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">It's a charming,</span> somewhat humble thing.
And it has a wonderful story which requires some suspension of
disbelief in order to fully enjoy it. It is an old engraved mirror,
and if only it could reflect back to us what it has seen. </span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOVPKToZIDZ9z4ST5-BSZbhdMwjZ6RySAfaxfKNawE4B0kQucPOmLDDnm8GXS8wOHqdBRzFCUPMBDkkkg8H4iyUAdtg0bBYB-L-WJHXnO7Y9Gt6FBsUPIblBeOz0CUinZN-6M2db7uQy4/s1600/MRS+BARROW%2527S+MIRROR_redcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOVPKToZIDZ9z4ST5-BSZbhdMwjZ6RySAfaxfKNawE4B0kQucPOmLDDnm8GXS8wOHqdBRzFCUPMBDkkkg8H4iyUAdtg0bBYB-L-WJHXnO7Y9Gt6FBsUPIblBeOz0CUinZN-6M2db7uQy4/s400/MRS+BARROW%2527S+MIRROR_redcd.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Barrow Mirror.</i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The other day I was chatting with a
retired Texas Ranger, a man who would have many stories to tell if
there was time to listen. <b>Bob Connell</b> was once the interim Police
Chief in Navasota, and is not just a former Texas Ranger, he is a man
who has spent his life collecting the legends and lore of his
esteemed law enforcement agency. He is the proud owner of a rare
Texas Ranger badge, once the property of Ranger <b>Captain M. E. Bailey,</b>
that was dug up by a Navasota citizen in his flower bed. History
randomly coughed up the brass relic of one former ranger and former
Navasota City Marshal in 1912, into the hands of a man with the same relative titles
one hundred years later! But that is another story.
</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And people have given him things.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The subject that day gravitated to
“great stories we could not prove.” There are lots of them. The
old badge had Bailey's name inscribed right on it, no problem proving
that. But time and circumstances have erased the traces of provenance
that have reduced otherwise sensational things... into the seemingly
ordinary. And Bob has one such frustrating item.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The story goes that he had an uncle
named Audie who lived in Dallas, and Audie once worked as an ice
delivery man. Yes, once men delivered big blocks of ice to homes,
back in the 1920's, '30's and '40's. The people would put a little
placard out in the window or on the porch if they needed ice. The
delivery man would stop his wagon or truck and bring it right to the
doorstep with a pair of giant tongs. People kept their blocks of ice
in ice boxes. They would use it to cool their perishable food, and
would chip or shave ice off the melting ice block for drinks.
Everybody had an ice shaver and an ice pick in the kitchen drawer. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, one of Uncle Audie's customers
was Mrs. Cummie Barrow, faithful mother of the notorious Texas
gangster and cop-killer, Clyde Barrow. One day, for some reason,
perhaps to pay her ice bill, Mrs. Barrow offered Bob's uncle a
little treasure in lieu of payment for her ice service. She had this
old mirror... and the story goes it had been given to her from her
infamous and bereaved son Clyde. And Audie the ice man took the mirror and
kept it. We are going to assume he took care of her ice bill, in
trade for the mysterious relic. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgyogeyQpTvvGCsByFwKSVk-ic_bYNQl8yQNGb3WOftZaJ6Jw4CDIi-PBdtF3HJb4W6xHkDY2PsxLDctJiRzR8AlMKpKRQXWsFACuXVY278EtDGLzyQzuTpQBDAP5UO54FPJW4gp8Mw2x/s1600/MRS+BARROW%2527S+MIRROR+FORMING+redcd.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWgyogeyQpTvvGCsByFwKSVk-ic_bYNQl8yQNGb3WOftZaJ6Jw4CDIi-PBdtF3HJb4W6xHkDY2PsxLDctJiRzR8AlMKpKRQXWsFACuXVY278EtDGLzyQzuTpQBDAP5UO54FPJW4gp8Mw2x/s400/MRS+BARROW%2527S+MIRROR+FORMING+redcd.bmp" width="300" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The story goes... that young Clyde,</span>
before he turned to a life of crime, had worked at <b>United Mirror &
Glass Company</b> at 2614 Swiss Ave., in Dallas, believed to be the very
glass company where the mirror had been made, and Clyde quite
possibly had helped in the manufacture of it... sometime between 1926
and 1930... as the story goes. One has to believe it would have been
a serious sacrifice for Mrs. Barrow to part with such a useful keepsake. And
one has to believe that this vintage mirror has no little
significance in Texas law enforcement history... and considerable value to
collectors, <i>if the story could only be proven</i>.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The mirror had been left to Ranger
Connell's parents and thus to him. Now he owns the mirror and its
story, and has done all he could as an experienced investigator, to
establish the connection between the mirror and Clyde Barrow.
Absolute proof is impossible. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But belief is. It is, that is if you
accept the oral traditions of a family that preserved not only the
mirror and its story, but a Texas lawman with a stellar career.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Personally, I think it is good that
Ranger Connell cannot prove his family's most controversial icon. If
they could have, it might have been sold decades ago. The money would
now be gone, the story lost to some packrat collector and never told or
shared. The mirror would be hanging in some oilman's man cave, a
casual conversation piece, always explained by, “yeah, I probably
paid too much for that thing...”</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">t is because he cannot</span> prove his story
that Bob still has it and is still talking about it. It's probably the find of
the century, that could be worth thousands. But is more valuable to all of us as a
story. In the end, to me that kind of story is worth more than money.
It captures the imagination where cold cash just lays there with no
life, no mystery, no anticipation. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> When I looked </span>into the mirror for
the first time, I saw (in my fertile imagination!) Bonnie and Clyde looking into it as well, and
back at me. It gave me the creeps. It made me think about old lady
Barrow tearfully handing over the thing to her ice man. For a second
I was inside that glass... my reflection was sharing space above the
silver with them all. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">How much is something like that worth? Well an old ranger and I think it is priceless!</span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-65022306146742418582016-12-12T23:17:00.000-06:002016-12-12T23:18:31.383-06:00Nemesis: Facing Our National Demons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_aaA6FXNsiSIxVoLWQevstq_4yaEkfcrDT1x4bVnG7m4qrQPUsVNeIxTCL_JsluKnoJNl3lFGHCAgOQnmzIY6cK3Wl0MAgaU_7Zhf1q5WSyg7pCdJSYqC_IZMK41SlsBtFWT51W1L2j1/s1600/JACQUIE+BRAZOS+redcd.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_aaA6FXNsiSIxVoLWQevstq_4yaEkfcrDT1x4bVnG7m4qrQPUsVNeIxTCL_JsluKnoJNl3lFGHCAgOQnmzIY6cK3Wl0MAgaU_7Zhf1q5WSyg7pCdJSYqC_IZMK41SlsBtFWT51W1L2j1/s400/JACQUIE+BRAZOS+redcd.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
older you get</span>, the more precious are your childhood memories. They
may be growing faint, but they are the last vestige of the innocence
and trust born in your heart which have not yet been violated, a safe
place in your personal hard drive where you still nurture those
all-American hopes and ideals. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">And
heroes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Peter
Evan's 2004 revelation called Nemesis took my long-protected bubble
of innocence and hammered it into an urn of ashes. I accept that it
happened, but I am always mad at myself when I am the last to know...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But
maybe there are some others who like me missed this story... some
incredible way, probably THE BIGGEST STORY OF THE CENTURY. Peter
Evans seems to have quietly answered all of our suspicions and fears,
and many of the lifelong mysteries around the Kennedys... and nobody
bothered to acknowledge his accomplishment. Some tried to call it
rubbish and even an outrage, but it seems to have survived the test
of time. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Evans
wrote an authorized biography about Aristotle Onassis and then was
told by several people very close to the famous husband of the former
First Lady, that he had completely missed the real story. It was the
story that Onassis took to his grave. It was the story that others
closest to him must never admit. And in the telling of it, Evans
takes down many of our lifelong American icons.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I
found the book by accident after watching Bill O'Reilly's killing
book made into a movie, made with tunnel vision, Killing Kennedy,
where one scene grabbed my reclining intellect as I enjoyed memory
lane. Jack and Jackie are cuddling and consoling one another after
losing their third born, and President Kennedy says sweetly and
trustingly, for her to go ahead on that Mediterranean cruise with
that Onassis guy... to get some rest and enjoy herself... and come
back to him so they can go to DALLAS... it was all so wholesome. And
right then I knew that O'Reilly had done another slick spin on
history as he wants to sell it. But I was unsure why I felt that
way...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps
it was because, no matter how much skeptics have dismissed the
lingering suspicions about an assassination conspiracy, even as a
nine year- old I knew that it was too much of a coincidence that Lee
Harvey Oswald JUST HAPPENED TO BE EMPLOYED in a building right on
the parade route which would give him maximum visibility to shoot the
president. Too much of a coincidence that Oswald was found quickly
hiding in a theater, where he gave himself up as if he expected an
escort out of the country... Too much of a coincidence that a Dallas
strip club owner was able to walk right up to him and shoot him LIVE
on national television in the police station... Too much of a
coincidence that Texas Governor John Connolly, once the trusted
hatchet man for Lyndon Johnson, discreetly changed over to the
Republican Party... knowing he had no friends left in the other
one... </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">What
did Connolly know? Perhaps he learned as I did from Peter Evans that
Jackie, fed up with the Kennedy brother's sex-capades, wanted out of
her Kennedy farce, had found a new champion in Onassis, a longtime
nemesis of the Kennedys. And Onassis was a man that had no moral
compass and was admittedly the most ruthless man on the high seas.
Perhaps he found out that one of Jackie's trusted confidants was also
a trusted confidant of...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Lee
Harvey Oswald.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
just knew from Killing Kennedy </span>that IF Jacqueline Kennedy was
floating around with Ari, before the assassination, that fact opened
up a lot of possibilities for the causes of future events. For more
“coincidences.” And as it turned out, Peter Evans had been
trying to tell me and you for a decade. Yes I am a conspiracy nut.
Every mother's son from my generation is to some degree. We all knew
growing up that the Warren Commission had been a whitewash to cover
up the truth about the Kennedys, the assassinations, the ugly part of
our national soul, and we would probably never know what happened. It
was too big, too dangerous, too earth-shaking. And then Peter Evans
dumps it out like moldy old gym shorts from a forgotten locker room.
And damn it stinks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">And
there are answers, and reasonable explanations, and yes, even
confessions. In the end, none of the players is left standing, least
of all Jackie O, our uncrowned queen.... our forever national widow,
fallen from grace, and with Peter Evans's investigative skullduggery,
she morphs into OMG, the wicked witch of the west. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Evans's
account is scrupulously footnoted and backed by numerous first-
person accounts and testimonies, and yes, tons of hearsay. But the
bottom line is that it has the ring of truth. Onassis had volcanic
hates, and irrational obsessions, and multi-layered sin scum at the
bottom of the sea, and Peter Evans manages to dredge up just enough
to make us beg him to drop it, for God's sake, back to where he found
it. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But
not before he has convinced me and others that he has uncovered the
ugly truth about the Kennedys and “Camelot,” and the political
forces behind their destruction. In the end, it all makes sense. The
unexplained coincidences of the premature deaths of Marilyn Monroe,
the Kennedys, Oswald, and others. Anyone who could hurt Jackie. And
arranged by the ones who would avenge her. And then they tried to
destroy each other. In the end she walked away with her reputation
intact... and with much of the money.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">But
new questions emerge.</span> How could the Media and our whole country for
that matter, ignore this book and its implications? That question,
and the possible conspiracy behind it is far more daunting now. How
could O'Reilly make such a flacid regurgitation of old news, and
perpetuate Jackie's spin of “Camelot”? To do that, his co-writer
had to step over a lot of dead bodies. One wonders why, after all
this time, and Evans's revelations, we are still nursing those
childhood fantasies...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But
I'm sure O'Reilly sleeps better at night, than those of us who have
faced our national demons. We all have to choose between Peter
Evans's noxious humus, the staggering corruption and decadence which
was the cornerstone of the Liberal wing of our society, fifty years
ago, or continued ignorance and bliss. It is obvious, America has
already made its choice. </span>
</div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-40328646223252114632016-11-30T16:49:00.001-06:002016-11-30T16:50:26.237-06:00The SCANDAL about Lottie Moon that every Baptist should know...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lottie Moon
was a nut job.</span> Born in 1829, she was the beautiful daughter of
a prominent Virginia doctor, who relocated his family to Ohio. At one
point she almost married a man named Ambrose Burnside, (future Union
General) but jilted him at the last minute. During the Civil War she
fearlessly smuggled messages for the Confederacy across enemy lines,
gallivanting around with Union brass including President Lincoln, and
took her nuggets from eavesdropping straight back to Confederate HQ.
She was not terribly religious... or at least her lying and
treachery would not support that assumption... and she never went to
China, as a missionary or anything else.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">That's right, Lottie Moon.
Right about now a lot of folks are reaching for the phone to call the
preacher... ;)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Well, it turns out, as
history would have it, there were TWO Lottie Moons, during the same
period in history. And sadly, plenty of quasi-historians have melted
the two together, thinking they are adding something to history. Some
have taken great delight in exposing a great perceived weakness in
the SBC traditions inspired by Lottie Moon. You, know, one of those
“REST of the story” revelations like Paul Harvey used to do on
the radio. Plenty of would-be historians are erroneously claiming the
famous Southern Baptist missionary was a Confederate spy. I am happy
to report that our more plain-faced Lottie Moon spent the war helping
to manage her family plantation in Virginia. She did get a wonderful
education, spoke several languages, and helped to provide medical
assistance during the war. And yes, she followed her sister to be a
missionary in China when 32 years old.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But wait a minute Southern
Baptists... you are not off of the hook. My research has discovered
something just as troubling... </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Baptists do not agree on what our
Lottie Moon looked like... </span>and there is great discrepancy there. It
appears that somebody did not like the visage of the old Lottie, and
replaced it with a sexier 1920's Lottie in recent times. That face
has caught on, and appears in many of the Lottie websites, and even
on the cover of a book! </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHwvE7QVu3fRDvOiBEthV5ObgbvMIRzKegt6iZkAGbJSjZ0NJuCEEtUombdBBjirTB1QbldW7zdhWwDbjsoU9NVAUfoLrjphH5iYWrQDE8ucGKJeotNImDDWOvf7NKbtlu8szU23Zxhj7/s1600/51Vc-ubwKML._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOHwvE7QVu3fRDvOiBEthV5ObgbvMIRzKegt6iZkAGbJSjZ0NJuCEEtUombdBBjirTB1QbldW7zdhWwDbjsoU9NVAUfoLrjphH5iYWrQDE8ucGKJeotNImDDWOvf7NKbtlu8szU23Zxhj7/s320/51Vc-ubwKML._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">So I have provided my
expertise and some pictures to help set the record straight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSGZr7hV9vBpHLS4Ic2yYGpuiWzjD1q2NDvZT_6cPCFmNM5EhJM29r5kbDKvRJmwZQPoqwgBielduHmiyl-b0a2uHsRjLOexKziOKVfOcNyowZP5STXKn3woovYEY6AbJI0Oks_YMWhiY/s1600/Moon-Lottie-fxd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSGZr7hV9vBpHLS4Ic2yYGpuiWzjD1q2NDvZT_6cPCFmNM5EhJM29r5kbDKvRJmwZQPoqwgBielduHmiyl-b0a2uHsRjLOexKziOKVfOcNyowZP5STXKn3woovYEY6AbJI0Oks_YMWhiY/s320/Moon-Lottie-fxd.jpg" width="221" /></a></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i> The REAL Lottie Moon, about 1875</i></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">You can see for yourself,
there is definitely a problem... and since truthfulness and accuracy
are paramount in our Kingdom cause, I thought I would try to puncture
the new improved Lottie as best as can, before more damage is done
to history.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATAnXmSKPygRwko3oMJy3CLmecyvMbHVnuQCPazkHvDoUZXX5ARk8NOmH3YEeWM3sRFs6G7yyJw847_bpKiJFvxOeKRAjO9KPyGJTLT9ETw2QeTIzOg-RM3phYhVnBCcxylpf48yrKHnJ/s1600/will+the+real+lottie.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATAnXmSKPygRwko3oMJy3CLmecyvMbHVnuQCPazkHvDoUZXX5ARk8NOmH3YEeWM3sRFs6G7yyJw847_bpKiJFvxOeKRAjO9KPyGJTLT9ETw2QeTIzOg-RM3phYhVnBCcxylpf48yrKHnJ/s400/will+the+real+lottie.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> Lottie is pictured in the center, much older, and on the right about the time she embarked. Lottie Moon (Sorry Lottie!) had an enormous chin... and protruding lower lip, probably from dental issues. </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bottom line, </span>there are
several key points to observe, with these facts in mind. Faces do
change over time. The ears and skin and muscles may sag, eyelids and
lips as well. Noses might get somewhat larger... jaws wider, face and
neck broader... but the bones stay the same. So we compare faces with
the constants... cranium, nose bridge, chin... jawline, and to a less
degree the variables. More importantly we study the relative ratio
between the eyes and nose bridge... and the hairline and the cranium.
Beyond that, similarities are only similarities. <b> The new improved
Lottie is an impostor. </b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR23YB7nIG32WdV0Q_6A9jptyQywmw1eqz9GL6y9du-vB_JbZsvduMJuO8FA7N091v4XhF74HWZJN2n-Vc4Egx3eAQsBetDwTApvu3zog2M69sAx1gALoJWv2YR8m9NywZmBIMbCFtciG7/s1600/LOTTIE+NOT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR23YB7nIG32WdV0Q_6A9jptyQywmw1eqz9GL6y9du-vB_JbZsvduMJuO8FA7N091v4XhF74HWZJN2n-Vc4Egx3eAQsBetDwTApvu3zog2M69sAx1gALoJWv2YR8m9NywZmBIMbCFtciG7/s320/LOTTIE+NOT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
<span style="font-size: medium;">The pretty lady on the left has a classic,<u> large</u> cranium... hairlines do not get lower wit age, but maybe higher... Faux Lottie also has a very short nose bridge (which also does not change), and her ears lay back almost flush to the head. Overall, a very pretty lady. The Lottie photographed in China is actually quite different... especially the hairline, and those extremely arched eyebrows. But they could be mother and daughter. But they are not...</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">How can I be sure? That is
easy. Lottie Moon of Baptist missionary fame was born in <b>1840</b>. The
photograph of the new improved Lottie is of a young woman... say
around 30.</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">That makes the portrait
having to be made around 1870. (Lottie was dead by 1912). The new
improved Lottie is wearing clothing and hairstyle from around <b>1920 to
1935</b>. She would have been born around 1890- when Lottie was around 50. There is no way that photograph used on the cover of the book was made in the 19<sup>th</sup>
Century. It saddens and scares me to think so few have noticed or
cared, or knew better.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx9ivVeCoBTwwMARL0V4nj_l86eFqT7F3ryD8TY8sGPT8ZUFuq0Vq1KHNbnRqpaEGb-8DAhMnnFpqiD3Hm7PxtoCYfAU_e4zky2Nf55h7L2Ra0z-gwjXD3F7yw4RNJb_dd8M5na6eldetJ/s1600/lottiemoon+YOUNG+N+OLD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx9ivVeCoBTwwMARL0V4nj_l86eFqT7F3ryD8TY8sGPT8ZUFuq0Vq1KHNbnRqpaEGb-8DAhMnnFpqiD3Hm7PxtoCYfAU_e4zky2Nf55h7L2Ra0z-gwjXD3F7yw4RNJb_dd8M5na6eldetJ/s400/lottiemoon+YOUNG+N+OLD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> These two Lotties line up perfectly (vertically). She gained mass with age... (on the left) her face much wider, actually making her face more pleasing, not unusual at all for someone in their mid-sixties. </i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Baptists do have
universities who might have been able to establish these simple facts
and prevent all the confusion and misinformation. Instead we have to
save Lottie's reputation as the Queen of the Knights of the Golden
Circle! </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">We can do better than
this! <span style="font-size: large;">Can I get an Amen?!!!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-16573861989971165872016-11-28T10:17:00.002-06:002016-11-28T11:27:58.737-06:00Ready to face the machine guns... of Mo McMorrow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>SIX years ago I ran home to write my weekly music blog after a wonderful singer-songwriter performed at the Corner Cafe here in Navasota, and in a rare instance, I experienced writer's block. I'm sure now I was afraid I had lost my objectivity, and sure I would be too much in love with the performer to be credible... And also painfully aware that my take on her music might be appreciated by her the least... (I had gotten some angry feedback at that time from some of the visiting musicians who hated my reviews...) So I let it brew awhile. </i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">And then I forgot about it.</span> Sorry Mo! I am ready to face the machine guns!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9Pe5pucM2lxtXV4EJONL2fhOmwWk1E9r4cwKDyH7Hn72c6CISh5z-mz1sE8zqlL932bQkWewa7EwEPXteSU2Yj3hEgnZKAaMi35aXv2QGOIkBRp38JsHwmhyxEbgqXD6SbZQ-7SJq6YA/s1600/mo+trilogy+screen_redcd.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9Pe5pucM2lxtXV4EJONL2fhOmwWk1E9r4cwKDyH7Hn72c6CISh5z-mz1sE8zqlL932bQkWewa7EwEPXteSU2Yj3hEgnZKAaMi35aXv2QGOIkBRp38JsHwmhyxEbgqXD6SbZQ-7SJq6YA/s400/mo+trilogy+screen_redcd.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I do not believe in re-incarnation.</span> <span style="font-size: large;">But
sometimes a song comes along which seems to connect me with an
eternal, primeval chain of souls who reach for me from out of the
past- and possesses me- hand-in-glove, through the singer. And I
have to admit that when this happens, it is usually some kind of
music which is derived from Irish traditions.</span><br />
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</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sure I love folk and country and rock
and roll, and I'm learning to appreciate blues. The first time I
felt this supernatural Irish effect was listening to an Eddie Rabbitt
8-track. He sang a mystical song about Ireland like he knew and loved
it with all of his being... and as I listened, I too became Irish. Man I <i>went</i> there! An exceptional musician can do that. The same way Blind Willie Johnson and Al
Green baptized me African American, and Merle Haggard brought me into
the brotherhood of ex-cons. It is something wonderful and spiritual
and completely a divine fruit of the imagination. Music is a way we
can all celebrate the brotherhood of man... and YES woman... I am a
woman whenever I listen to Jewel, or Crystal Gayle.</span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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</span>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But when my daughter introduced me to
Steeleye Span... I was a goner. I became Irish in my soul of souls,
and the rest was just quaint cultural exchange. I was grooving to
words I could not even understand. You Tube then fed me an infinite
dive into “my past.” The crying fiddles, the driving rhythms, and
tenor ecstasies... and sometimes bagpipes that choke me up when they
just <i>begin</i> to whine. They reset my emotions instantly. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(Click below for Cam Ye O'er Frae Franc by Steeleye Span... several versions, I love the shorter studio version the best, second from the left, but all worth listening to) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://search.aol.com/aol/video?s_it=sb-top&s_chn=prt_bon&v_t=comsearch-aolnewtab-t&q=you+tube+steeleye+span+cam+ye+o+frae+franc" target="_blank">http://search.aol.com/aol/video?s_it=sb-top&s_chn=prt_bon&v_t=comsearch-aolnewtab-t&q=you+tube+steeleye+span+cam+ye+o+frae+franc</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When I
discovered the anthem <b>Erin Go Bragh <span style="font-size: small;">(Ireland forever!)</span></b>, I was sure I was hearing the
caress of my ancestral heartstrings...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Nqg2ohiDY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Nqg2ohiDY</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When they sing FACE THE MACHINE GUNS for Erin Go Bragh, I am so ready! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Still, I had no clue what these
folks were so mad about... But it was inspiring to be exposed to such
conviction, such unanimity, all shared through soulful poetry.</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSbx2wVzcQs4bwPjmzcnGmUjZOqRE9Dj_CP8OLFRGlbgptjSzzxZBFt0FhQSqUXlbQbWr6Lx3OmUwkEY7cEgX9rwBP_ICst7sR8rHPtoscFMrgUvFlkS8oBirpJtfjZIczclAmb_Gi6RY/s1600/mo+wants+RICH+redcd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheSbx2wVzcQs4bwPjmzcnGmUjZOqRE9Dj_CP8OLFRGlbgptjSzzxZBFt0FhQSqUXlbQbWr6Lx3OmUwkEY7cEgX9rwBP_ICst7sR8rHPtoscFMrgUvFlkS8oBirpJtfjZIczclAmb_Gi6RY/s400/mo+wants+RICH+redcd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> Mo McMorrow</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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</span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">So if you understand or even relate to any of this</span> you
will probably enjoy Mo McMorrow... a darlin' lass of Irish extraction who
sings here in Texas like a passionate angelic missionary. And you
will grow to love her recordings like Irish Gold from across the sea. I heard her first in Schulenburg, Texas at a downtown festival... She had commandeered a beauty parlor for the evening and won everyone's hearts... and most of them were of hard-core German extraction. I played her first CD (Excellent: Mona Lisas Don't Cry) until it had so many dings in it that it became irritating... I had to find another one... That led me to her next album.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">McMorrow's album called <b>Hangin' from a Nail</b> </span>(2013) continues her weaving of
American and Irish traditions, and within she does her own version of
the Irish standard, <b>Spancil Hill</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Just twenty-three, <b>Michal Considine</b></span><b>
</b>wrote this song in the 1800's while dying in the gold fields of California. A
native-born Irishman, his gaelic impetuousness led him to seek
riches in a faraway land. And there he perished. But before he passed away, his adventure
over, his gift of Irish poetry captured his epic regret as he
realized he would never see Ireland, or the love of his life, again.
He sent the song on where he could never go, to say good bye to everything he loved about his beloved home.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It was a very sad song, full of poetic, cultural pride and ethos. Thank goodness, the Irish
loved it, and it has become a national anthem, if not a warning to
NEVER LEAVE, ever since.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUoslDXwGKQVZC_GTITieEaO17hz6SlFZbWVc-Enpl2MzBhzukTRul6oQZJOs9JQi3ufpx9rTClJS2iksAbxyVYKIVg0R0ha9Z3WJCyf1oWKt5cBY1PJOKsjz4gA_EjinK6KRCIqy7Fo6/s1600/cross.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUoslDXwGKQVZC_GTITieEaO17hz6SlFZbWVc-Enpl2MzBhzukTRul6oQZJOs9JQi3ufpx9rTClJS2iksAbxyVYKIVg0R0ha9Z3WJCyf1oWKt5cBY1PJOKsjz4gA_EjinK6KRCIqy7Fo6/s400/cross.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><i>Spancil Hill is the site of a traditional horse fair in County Clare.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You see,<span style="font-size: x-large;"> Irish music traditions are
built on the same foundation as blues;</span> Oppression and depression and
the human struggle to endure. The music is large, hearty, focusing on
the “small” people with huge loves, hates and passions. It is a
catharsis for its audience, salving their hurts, but finding
oneness in corporate self-pity and identity in a people chained to
their own negativity. Like blues it will never go away as long as
oppression (and Ireland!) exists. When you hear this music you
remember your own pains and sufferings, and find comfort and
community in the music. And it is good every once in awhile to free
this stuff, which we tend to internalize, out of our systems. Thus Irish music has a very liberating effect.</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;">So the Irish will always be the
proud custodians of bedrock melancholy and discontent. Maybe it is in their
DNA. Thankfully some of us have escaped. Mo is one, one of those exceptional musicians, transforming her passion for life and lore into soulful, engaging, inspiring performances. </span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But some of us have never escaped, or even sadder, never known what we
escaped. But if you want to know... If you have a restless, wandering
soul, if you are feelin' a bit Irish... Get <b>Hangin' on a Nail</b>, and especially Spancil Hill... but
fetch your box of tissues first. Click below to have your socks blown off!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqKJs5ZLe3o" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqKJs5ZLe3o</a></span></div>
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Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-73960564699435896212016-11-22T19:05:00.000-06:002016-11-22T19:18:14.271-06:00"HERE is a way" - The Logic of One Pilgrim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8d6YUgQfwTiIDA-78kBhzhYfvTzTbKU2G9ec0vEHaJxnOr5tnXjpMLI88GVoJZ3xWQah1HVg9kNx6T4c1UmNZARSZ-eXFYvGdGGpHTlz6b1oHNEgnpednhvfVIXsIObyQQwNjLF7rxKQ/s1600/TDAY+PLATE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8d6YUgQfwTiIDA-78kBhzhYfvTzTbKU2G9ec0vEHaJxnOr5tnXjpMLI88GVoJZ3xWQah1HVg9kNx6T4c1UmNZARSZ-eXFYvGdGGpHTlz6b1oHNEgnpednhvfVIXsIObyQQwNjLF7rxKQ/s400/TDAY+PLATE.jpg" width="283" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> A couple of Cushman-Plymouth souvenirs.</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">My people
have been in this land</span> for almost four hundred years. Yes, my
ancestors came over on the Mayflower. And after starvation and
suffering from exposure and all kinds of suffering, the “Pilgrims”
at Plymouth found gratitude beneath their blanket of hardship. What
WERE they thinking?!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">We should care what they
were thinking, because no other migration ever set into motion the
wealth of Providential events we have seen on our continent over the
centuries. Largely under-utilized before its “discovery” by
Columbus, the New World soon provided much of the food, inventions
and progress which blessed mankind ever since. <span style="font-size: x-large;">We as Americans have
lived and celebrated the greatest, most advanced and prosperous
nation in human history.</span> So it is easy to forget that it all had a
very ugly start. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">A full half of the
pilgrims died the first year. Those who survived shared
homesickness, starvation, exposure to the elements and unbearable
grief.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">There were no doctors, or
stores or letters from home. The Natives watched from the treeline
and pitied them. Soon they were bringing them essential help. The
first miracle God provided was a Native American in this remote
wilderness who spoke English, and who could and would help them get
through those first months.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">At the first harvest on
their primitive plantation, they instinctively threw a festival of
sorts, and invited their aboriginal neighbors over for a thanksgiving
feast! WHAT were they thinking! They could have been easily massacred right then. But their
faith was strong that the worst was behind them, and God was in
charge. Strangely, hardship and mortality bring us closer to our Maker. Instead of cursing God for their painful saga, they were singing God's praises. This suggests that a happy, prosperous people (like us) will never grow towards God, but away from Him.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">A short while later the
pilgrims held their first worship service led by one of their elected
shepherds, (and my ancestor) deacon Robert Cushman. Cushman had
helped expedite their adventure and originally embarked with them on
a separate ship, the “Speedwell” which almost sank, and was
forced to turn back. He had just arrived from England with supplies
and welcome news from their homes. And he gave them a prepared
sermon, recognized as the first (recorded) sermon delivered on
American soil, in December of 1621.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">It was a warning to avoid
self-pity and narcissism, or “self-love” as he called it, and he
challenged them to think not of themselves but the ultimate success
of the colony. Deacon Cushman commanded them to be heroes, and
nothing less. And this is why: Cushman had looked down the road at
their home in Europe. A great deal was at stake. He wrote in the
dedication of his historic sermon this rationale... </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;">And if it should please
God to punish his people, in the Christian countries of Europe (for
their coldness, carnality, wanton abuse of the gospel, contention,
etc.,) either by Turkish slavery, or by popish tyranny, which God
forbid, yet if the time be come, or shall come (as who knoweth?)
when Satan shall be let loose to cast out his floods against them,<span style="font-size: large;">
<i><b>here is a way opened for such as have wings to fly into this
wilderness...” </b></i></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He
saw a grand strategy at work, and these pilgrims would serve an
essential role... </span></span><i><b>“</b></i> so <i><b>a light
may rise up in the dark.</b></i><b>” </b></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">To Robert Cushman, the
world was going to hell in a corrupted European handbasket, and the
fate of Christian civilization (and thus mankind) could very well
have rested in those hands which cupped this “candle in the wind”
in the New World. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Robert Cushman was right
about Europe... long before Napoleon and the so-called
“Enlightenment” and apostasy became the backbone of European
intellect. America did carry the ball for Christ for the next few
hundred years... and it all started with great sacrifice and
discipline like that in Plymouth.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">In hindsight, most of us
would agree that it was worth it. We are the most fortunate of
peoples to live in a land established by God's hand-picked heroes of
Faith. And there is no secret as to how they accomplished this
amazing legacy. The slogan “In God We Trust” had deep origins
rooted in blood and tears.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">The pilgrims were not just
a random assortment of boat passengers</span>. Even from the beginning, they
were representatives of two very different lots. The leaders and
believers in Christ were called “Saints” and the rest of the
people, workers and sailors, were “Strangers.” The pilgrims
understood that<u> they must partner with and work alongside strangers
who did not share their beliefs or value system.</u> They kept their
faith and obeyed God and let Him sort things out. That partnership
gave birth to the greatest nation on earth.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Today we must remember how
and what and WHO got us where we are. Humbly. Gratefully. On this
Thanksgiving, as our country slips into cynicism and
self-sufficiency, Americans must ask themselves, if they want to
enter the next chapter in our history without the guidance and
support of a God who has blessed us so greatly... Because without
Him we will be no better off than most other countries in the world.
<span style="font-size: large;">And they had a huge head-start on us, but can never match American exceptionalism</span>. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">And unlike in Robert Cushman's paradigm, there is no next place to
fly.</span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-69146852041473170502016-11-11T17:06:00.001-06:002016-11-11T17:10:40.593-06:00The First Bag of Deplorable.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8k1N0Sge7_hA31rES29a1tQKI3zqigE4b5PGjgwqJuG5Zfl7y7BG94srPmA2TI5DNt6udjErGMFxNKpYNZ8PidVfGCQbpPFcDjKi9GIi2fsSCAeQgrb9EpHrQDcXgQpQVG7FzIlW0jh7r/s1600/CARRY_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8k1N0Sge7_hA31rES29a1tQKI3zqigE4b5PGjgwqJuG5Zfl7y7BG94srPmA2TI5DNt6udjErGMFxNKpYNZ8PidVfGCQbpPFcDjKi9GIi2fsSCAeQgrb9EpHrQDcXgQpQVG7FzIlW0jh7r/s320/CARRY_edited-1.jpg" width="254" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Normally I try to stay out</span> <span style="font-size: small;">of political
discussions.</span> And I enter this public fray only to try to encourage
those who are afraid of President-elect Donald Trump... to not be.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
First of all let me share a very
personal moment. When President Obama was elected, I remember
visiting with my father, very ill at the time, once a huge political
activist, (both Democrat and Republican) and telling him my
disappointment in the election results. I felt Obama did not have the
experience or the leadership qualities to lead our country out of our
financial or military mess. My father never hesitated... he said “I
think you will be surprised... I think he may turn out to be a pretty
good president.” Smiling, he went on to explain that Clinton had
been a much better president than we (as Republicans) wanted to give
him credit for... and Obama might surprise a lot of people.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My point is that many so-called “racist
haters,” Republicans, were willing to give the man the BENEFIT OF
THE DOUBT. The fact that he was black was immaterial. I am serious.
He won the election, and he had only to prove himself. I feel that my
father represented most voters, because that is what Americans do. We
fight hard for what we believe- then we support the results of the
system. But the system has gotten uglier and uglier for decades...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The bag in the photo is a souvenir</span> of
my childhood. In 1964 my father took us to “volunteer” to work in
Barry Goldwater headquarters in Houston to help get him elected as
president. We worked hard for him. I remember licking stamps and
listening over the radio to Ronald Reagan nominate him at the
Republican National Convention. Reagan stirred my ten-year old soul.
I tear up just thinking about it. Goldwater was a pretty boring guy,
and I could not wait for then Governor Ronald Reagan to run for
president!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Barry Goldwater was a distinguished
Senator from Arizona. He was a man with an excellent record and
highly respected by both parties. But President Johnson's campaign
made a despicable TV commercial. It showed a little girl out picking
flowers on a spring day, and then BOOOM... she was blown up by an
Atom bomb. The world as we knew it suddenly came to an end... NOTHING
like this had ever been seen on national network television.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Democrats said that this might
happen if Barry Goldwater was elected. We were all going to die! This
strategy worked and they have been doing this ever since. Since then
their commercials have shown all kinds of monstrous expectations from
Republicans, including pushing helpless people in wheel chairs off of
a cliff... Today they have young people stirred up with many
outrageous accusations about Republicans, now led by Donald Trump, as
if they are all maddened war-mongers who hate everyone who is not
male or white or Christian. Don't let them make you a hater, who
judges and persecutes people because they disagree with your
political agenda. Ironically, it is Democrat extremists out beating
people right now because of their beliefs...!!! The epitome of
intolerance! The Democrat party ruined Barry Goldwater, and they have
now almost ruined our country with their ruthless propaganda. Our
country is mired in the worst class and race tension I have seen in
my life.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Even Warren Buffett,</span> one of the
wealthiest Americans and a stanch Clinton backer, has said that Trump
will not have the kind of negative impact which drives so much fear
in Hillary Clinton's supporters. Like my father was about Obama, he
is willing to give Trump a chance. He understands the damage that
could come from youthful over-reaction. These are young people doing
what many jobless, disenchanted young people choose to do... act out
their anger and frustration. But almost everything they are doing is
either against the law or against civilized society... pure anarchy
with a flimsy excuse.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many of us on the Conservative side
have endured President Obama, not liking his politics or his effects
on this country... but we never acted out in anger, never called
anybody names... I have even defended him at church because he was
our president, and we are taught in the Bible to “honor the King.”
The real intolerance, hatred and prejudice is coming from where it
has come from all of my life... inspired by ruthless politicians who
say anything to win and have no conscience about what they stir up
in the process.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Donald Trump was not my first choice, but he will emulate Bush and have the most
inclusive cabinet in history. He will be the most effective president
in decades. He will do the most ever for the underprivileged and Veterans and yes, Blacks and (American) Hispanics. WHY? Because he is
a problem solver, an experienced achiever, who is accustomed to
having to deliver the goods... who does not enjoy the benefit of the
doubt... (mostly due to his own misbehavior and democratic
fear-mongering). He will eventually prove himself, and that will be
the end of the Liberal stranglehold on this country. And that is why
Harry Reid and others will relentlessly continue their uncharitable
partisan attacks. They are going down... this time for good.
Conservative Americans are tired of being called names, tired of the Democrats
rallying votes by impugning our intelligence and humanity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Get smart, see through this</span> class
manipulation. STAND DOWN, watch and listen as Pence and Dr. Carson
and others join the most effective Cabinet in history... and maybe
you will begin to understand that we are not “deplorable” haters
or racist or whatever, and in fact we love YOU and this country and
only want the best for all of us... and we know how to get it done!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-28225247930483269062016-05-31T11:20:00.002-05:002016-05-31T11:20:46.767-05:00Boessenecker: The Long Arm of the Law... and the TRUTH<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The LAST thing I needed</span> <span style="font-size: large;">was another
Texas Ranger book. At last count I had around thirty and stacks of
related publications... Then <b>John Boessenecker</b>, hereafter referred to
as “<b>The Boss</b>,” recently published his long awaited epic on Ranger Frank
Hamer, boldly titled <b>TEXAS RANGER</b>. If you thought you knew about Frank Hamer, you don't. I sure
thought I did. I have written a lot about my favorite Texas hero...
he has been the subject of two of my bronze sculptures, and even a
couple of my videos, but anybody can read books and summarize with
colorful jargon. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I am a history buff, Boessenecker is a historian. It
is the difference between my seeing the historic moon walk LIVE on
television, and Neil Armstrong.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can do decent book reviews when I
choose to... but I cannot even fake objectivity about this. I have
too much personal involvement with the story. All I can do is offer
by deepest thanks to John, who has written a beautiful, worthy book
about a magnificent lawman. After a good cry, yes, even real Texas
men cry, I raced to write this while the lump was still in my throat.
There IS Justice, but sometimes it takes a long time.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This time it took too long. It irks me
a little that it took a danged Californian to do that which some
faithful son of Texas should have done decades ago... But maybe that
is OK, since it helps me to see Californians a little differently. In
truth, Frank Hamer and his story belongs to all of us.
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If you have read any of the Boss's
other fine historical books, you know that he is a dogged, objective
researcher. A real history detective. He cuts it straight. This time he reached out of his traditional focus, across the Rio Grande, as he tells,
and it made me nervous all this time waiting and worrying, the true
story, warts and all. Frankly I did not trust anybody from
California to give the legendary, controversial ranger a decent
break. Few others ever have. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But the Boss was fair and thorough, and
what's more, debunked a lot of Hamer myths that we Texans have
treasured for generations. We need to thank him for that. What we
have here is a new, restored, impeccably factual Texas Ranger, and
the good news is Frank Hamer stands as tall as ever. And Bonnie and
Clyde, Ma and Pa Ferguson, Lyndon Johnson, and a cast of rowdy
thousands... not so much. This was the book Ranger Frank Hamer,
“...the greatest American lawman of the twentieth century,”
deserved.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And now, thanks to the Boss, a man from
California, Hamer's amazing story of courage, dutifulness and sacrifice will be
told to all the world.
</span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-46828938078482296522016-03-15T13:42:00.001-05:002016-03-15T14:14:59.662-05:00INDEPENDENCE!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-23524126813692695712016-03-07T22:24:00.000-06:002016-03-07T23:02:13.868-06:00Sam Houston: A Legacy of Lost Loves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Maybe there was a good reason why Sam looked so sad...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Sam Houston
was a son of fortune</span> on the battlefield. But he may have been
the most unlucky of men in relationships. He fought bravely and was
wounded for life for his beloved mentor General <b>Andrew Jackson</b>
against the Creek Indians, only to become a political pariah in
Washington. He was married to a beautiful young woman named <b>Eliza
Allen</b> in Tennessee whom he unexplainably divorced soon after. He had
been elected Governor of Tennessee only to resign in awkward
controversy and with threats on his life... by his in-laws! And his
trail of tears did not end there.</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Houston fled to the Indian
Territory, where he took up with the Cherokees. The Cherokees were
part of a loose network of Native Americans, known to us as the
so-called “Five Civilized Tribes.” There in modern day Arkansas
he drank his troubles away and hid for awhile from civilization. As a young man
he had lived with the Indians and learned their ways, and had been
adopted into the tribe. He adapted quickly to life in the wilderness.
About an eighth Cherokee, tall and statuesque <b>Tiana (Talihina)
Rodgers </b>Gentry was the half-sister of two Cherokee chiefs, and niece
to Cherokee Principal Chief <b>John Jolly</b> and related to the famous
founder of Cherokee alphabet, <b>Sequoyah.</b> She became Tiana Houston in
1830. It is thought by many that Tiana was Houston's romantic
interest before the Cherokee removal from Tennessee. Near Fort Gibson
She ran his trading post known as <b>Wigwam Neosho</b>, and oversaw his
interests while he drank hard- and occasionally fought in Washington
D.C. for her people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Sam Houston loved the arabesque attire worn by the Cherokees, and drove his detractors crazy with his Indian garb while in Washington D.C..... </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Houston's earliest biographers </span>chose to skim over this period in General Sam's life. In fact they often somehow forgot to mention Tiana, his legendary "Cherokee" wife. What could have been so bad about Houston finding love in his darkest hour? In fact those writers probably discovered and tried to avoid a scandalous harem left in the Arkansas Territory, of Native American wives that Texans even today will squirm at.</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">It was during these years
in obscurity when Sam Houston may have woven his most intricate if
not tangled web of influence. Houston was a very tall, commanding
figure, and known as a powerful warrior from his days of fighting
under Jackson against their sometime adversaries, the Creeks. Many
historians still contend that Houston may have been assembling an
Indian army as a U.S. Agent, intending to invade and secure Texas
from Mexico using Native American mercenaries. Either way, Sam
Houston became the great white hope for the civilized tribes. Houston
refused to speak English, dressed and survived like an Indian. And he
still had powerful medicine, especially able to fight in Washington
for Native American causes and win the undying devotion of the
Cherokees, and perhaps other tribes in their alliance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Bye and bye, and certainly
on schedule according to conspiracy theorists, Sam Houston left his
idyllic life with the Indians, and followed his star into Texas,
where his associations with the Indians would pay off later. He last
saw Tiana, (actually Talahina) or Diana Houston at Fort Towson, when
he left his adopted Cherokee homeland on a mysterious mission; The
liberation of Texas. At the time he supposedly planned for his
Cherokee spouse to join him, but she never did... and there may have
been good reasons.</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Incredibly, he would never
mention Tiana</span> or even bother to obtain a legal divorce from her. They
had been married and separated according to Indian law. As far as
what has been written about them for over a century, there was no
issue out of this relationship. Whatever it meant to General Sam, it
was in the past. Records show that she later remarried, so it may not be true that she waited faithfully and died of a a broken heart, as the legend goes...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">But certain clues have
emerged over the decades that shed light on Sam Houston's lost Indian
loves. It is very possible, maybe even probable that he had other
Native American “wives” during that time, from other tribes, as
was Native American custom. This is nothing that the Houston family
ever publicly acknowledged, but some Native Americans did, and did so
discreetly, as they found the reality of it less useful than their
white kinsmen. Here are the intriguing facts, and stubborn conclusions about Sam Houston's
“lost” loves...</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Texans take
so much about the amazing Sam Houston for granted</span>. He was the
Governor of two states in the United States, a president of Texas, a
hero of the War of 1812 and the commanding general in Texas
Revolution. At the pinnacle of his illustrious career, he was
impeached as the Texas Governor because he refused to join the
madness of secession, the Confederacy and war against his beloved
mother country. He died rejected and hated by many Texans. His legacy
of lost loves is almost impossible to comprehend. That may be why so
few have asked some obvious questions...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Like: <i>Who was</i><i><b>
</b>Talahina Rodgers</i><i>?</i> Who were the Alabama and Coushatta
Indians, and why were they somehow overlooked when Texans routed and
expunged all other Native Americans under President Lamar? All
Indians but the Alabamas and the Coushattas, their kinsmen, relative
newcomers to Texas themselves, were completely removed from Texas.
But the Alabamas and Coushattas were eventually given a reservation
and promises that were sort of kept. What kind of deal had they made?
Who made it? Why and how was it enforced to this very day? Why did
all of the Indian tribes trust Sam Houston so much, and why could he
secure peace with them when nobody else could?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">I believe that these and
other questions that spring from these questions can be answered by
Houston's Indian alliances and possible clandestine marriages while
in Indian Territory. There are some intriguing possibilities.
Prominent Indians from at least two different tribes have passed on
traditions that they were “blood brothers” of Sam Houston.
Indians either gave or took his name out of admiration, such as Sam
Houston Benge, Houston Shaw, Samuel Houston Smith and Samuel Houston
Mayes. Houston may have been the most admired and loved white man to ever mingle among the Five Civilized Tribes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cherokee <b>Chief Bowles</b> gave one of his daughters</span> to Houston.
This marriage was actually witnessed and recorded by <b>Samuel Maverick</b>.
A Wichita woman named <b>Melissa Houston</b> claimed to be Sam
Houston's wife as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Some of the research that
brought these “native sons” to light was done by <b>Dr. Joseph B.
Mahan.</b> A vastly pedigreed academic, Dr. Mahan wrote a fascinating
book called North American Sun Kings, which fleshed out the complex
inter-tribal alliances between the Civilized Tribes, and the
religious and cultural core of their kinships. In his book Dr. Mahan
reveals the mysteries of the ancient Shawano belief system, as
understood by the Yuchi tribe, which included priest-kings and royal
families and some mysteries very akin to that of the Masonic Order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Like the Levites of old,
the Yuchi Kings had priests who knew their genealogies going back
many, many generations. The Yuchi were the priest class of the
civilized tribes, embodied by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek
and Chickasaw tribes. Yuchi shamans were the official keepers of the
eternal sacred fire for all the woodland tribes. </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">When Sam
Houston met with these people</span>, he no doubt would have
recognized their significance and the similarity of their beliefs to
ancient Judaism. He was perceived by them as a noble among nobles,
and as he fraternized with many chiefs in the region, he no doubt was
honored in many ways that would have been lost on the average
Nineteenth Century person. And he may have been inducted into a
secret Indian society known as the <b>“Great Medicine Society,” </b>and
sealed these relationships through extra marriages. Dr. Mahan
interviewed at length one such Yuchi chief, <b>Samuel W. Brown</b> <b>Jr,</b> who had
no doubt that he was a grandson of Sam Houston.</span></div>
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Samuel W. Brown Sr., Chief of the Yuchi, always claimed Sam Houston as his real father. </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Chief Brown unveiled to Dr. Mahan an
elaborate network of spiritual tradition and practice, carried for
centuries through many related tribes, from the Great Lakes region to
the Smoky Mountains and later to Texas and Oklahoma. Dr. Mahan wrote
everything down that Chief Brown said, and then spent the rest of his
life trying to understand it all. In the midst of all of the mystic
language and complicated tribal relationships, stood the unapologetic
fact that Chief Brown was descended from General Sam Houston. </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">His father,
Sam Brown Sr., had been born in Van Buren, Arkansas, in 1833,</span>
the son of a Yuchi princess from Alabama, named <b>Suttah</b>. Also known as
Polly, she was a direct descendant of the famous <b>Emperor Brim</b>; the
daughter of the Yuchi Sun King <b>Timpoochee Barnard</b>. Suttah was also
the sister of two prominent Yuchi subchiefs, <b>Tisoso</b> and <b>Fushudgee</b>,
both “Birdtail Kings.” All of them were grandchildren of <u><b>"Cusseta"
(Koasati/Coushatta) Birdtail Kings</b></u>. They were royalty, at the top of their social order.</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">A fierce Yuchi partisan
and statesman, Tisoso was hung by whites in Girard, Alabama in 1836,
after Sam Houston had gone to Texas. He and his brothers had
petitioned the Secretary of War, attempting to stop “the fraud
being practiced upon our people.” These were the purportedly
short-lived Indian brother's-in-law of Sam Houston and the uncles of
Sam Brown Sr., who was of noble Yuchi blood and served as Yuchi
principal chief for almost 50 years. His mother, Princess Suttah was
murdered in 1861 by some of Quantrell's Raiders in Oklahoma during
the Civil War. Fushudgee was killed the next year fighting under
Creek Chief<b> Opethleyoholo</b> at Pea Ridge. </span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The fact that Sam Houston
was the Senior Brown's father was a mere fact, nothing to be proud
of, in fact it was rarely mentioned. In Creek and Yuchi tradition,
royalty was passed down through the females, as in ancient Hebrew
custom. Other Creek customs were unusual if not quite liberal to our
Western, Victorian standards. Creek girls were expected to be
sexually active before marriage. These were matrilocal societies,
where polygamy was common, and chiefs encouraged favored candidates
to bed with their daughters. Mixed-blood was actually desired. To add
to the genetic pool of confusion, the Creeks were also exogamous,
forbidding the marriage of individuals within the clan. Sam Houston
would have been almost incidental to Sam Brown Jr.'s story, since his
power and authority came through his grandmother Suttah. Still, Brown
Sr. had admitted to his son that “...My father Sam Houston made two
crops- and I rode on the horse's back...”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Samuel W. "Billy" Brown Jr.</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Billy Brown looked more like Sam Houston than his father did.</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Old Chief Brown's
contention that he was somehow spawned by General Sam Houston has its
problems. It is doubtful that Houston made “two crops”... unless
this was a euphemism for two conjugal visits, or even two children.
Perhaps he might have once met Sam Houston later and “rode the
horse's back,” the “horse” better translating into English as
sire. Sam Brown was born in June of 1833, after Sam Houston abandoned
his “Cherokee” wife Tiana and bought over 4000 acres on Karankawa
Bay in Texas. In October, Nine months before, was exactly when Houston
had settled his accounts and given the trading post and slaves to
Tiana, and left forever. Intriguingly, Chief Brown would have to have
been conceived during this last return to the Indian Territory and
right before Sam Houston's legendary departure to Texas. So even
though this relationship seems sketchy and improbable, <i>it could
have happened</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Houston filed his claim at
San Felipe<i> as a married man</i>. If he had multiple wives in the Indian
territory, he faced a real cultural dilemma. Which wife would he
bring to Texas?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Several Native American women insisted to their deaths that they were once wives of the famous Texan, and bore him children. This was nothing to brag about, as Texans were generally despised by Indians. Later the confusion led skeptics to allege that even youngest son Temple was one of the Indian offspring.</span>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Houston did go back and
forth in the early months of his adventure, offering opportunity for
a tryst while reporting on his progress </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">with the
Comanches </span>to American authorities. The Comanches were
considered by the Americans as a possible natural military barrier to
the Mexicans if they would cooperate, and Houston effectively placated them. If Houston had so many
neglected and jealous lovers awaiting him back in the Indian
Territory, no wonder dealing with Comanches seemed like a reasonable
if not safer endeavor!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Sam Brown Sr. seemed to
suggest that Sam Houston lived with his mother Suttah for at least
two years, since “he made two crops.” He also suggests that he
rode on the plow horse used on their farm, when just a toddler. It is
not absurd to imagine this scenario, when we consider Houston's
chronic alcoholism and escapism, and his popularity with the
Cherokees. But a farmer he wasn't. Whatever strange fiefdom Houston
had created, he could not sustain it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"> This portrait of Sam Houston reveals the similarity between Billy Brown and his alleged grandfather. Even Brown's daughter has Houston's eyes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">And there may have been a
second,</span> older son from this union, or a cousin or "half brother" out of an aunt of Brown's. No dates are known for a brother of Sam Brown's, but in the 1840's Brown's so-called “half
brother” was kidnapped by the Osages, to be raised as one of their
future chiefs! Houston had been instrumental in negotiating a
successful and effective Treaty between the Osages and Creeks in
1831. This child may have been stolen when that treaty went sour. The stolen Yuchi boy was called <b>Tsa pah ki ah</b>, and
became a major chief of the Osages. He was never rejoined to his
Yuchi family. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42Gk-8GCuLqXzjr9afAvn-utkFzJWFpOEY3Iwo2kQAzYpo5xyy7BqL1Rm4khaiTW7ARXidCXT3llOASOLEkjqznOHkydzWD4vaqRBM_M-ML4mGVYwr_lO4ZdKynCubiFFD0IQQGSxzKyp/s1600/15+A+SON+OF+SAM.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42Gk-8GCuLqXzjr9afAvn-utkFzJWFpOEY3Iwo2kQAzYpo5xyy7BqL1Rm4khaiTW7ARXidCXT3llOASOLEkjqznOHkydzWD4vaqRBM_M-ML4mGVYwr_lO4ZdKynCubiFFD0IQQGSxzKyp/s400/15+A+SON+OF+SAM.bmp" width="351" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Sam and Osage Chief Tsa Pah Ki Ah </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The stealing of Indian children of royal blood was
considered an intelligent thing to do! Is it possible that even a
child of Sam Houston was considered powerful medicine? Or more likely, a great prospect for a huge ransom. There is no
way to know what the Osages saw in the little Yuchi boy, but one look
at him as a man and there is the instant impression of Sam Houston.
Skeptics argued that Sam Brown Sr. did not look anything like Sam
Houston, but then neither did Temple Houston, the last off-spring
from Houston's most famous marriage... and yet Sam Brown Sr. could
easily have been believed to have been Temple's brother.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The elder Brown took the
name Brown from an Indian educator he admired. <b>S. C. Brown</b> took him
under his wing and shared his love for education, which led to the
founding of several Indian schools. If Sam Houston was his blood
father, S. C. Brown was Brown's intellectual mentor. Still the acorn does
not fall far from the tree. Sam Brown Sr was an original member of
the Creek House of Kings, the Treasurer of the Creek Nation, a 32nd
Degree Mason, and ultimately the last surviving Union Officer in
Oklahoma. His integrity was unquestioned. Upon his death, Sam Brown Jr obtained a death certificate
from the State Department of Health (Bureau of Vital Statistics)
which verified that his father was indeed General Sam Houston.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">According to Chief Sam
Brown Jr., the Yuchis maintained close ties to many Indian brethren
throughout the southeast United States, including those living in
<b>Polk County, Texas.</b> These would be what we know as the
Alabama-Coushatta Indians, once neighbors in Alabama over a century
ago. Brown said that the “Cussettas” were the only tribe outside
of the Yuchis who had ever been given all of the secrets of their
elite religious order. The Cussettas (Koasati/Coushatta) were
descendants of the Muscogee and Natchez tribes of the lower
Mississippi Valley, and closely kin to the Creeks. They came to Texas
around 1810. They brought the secrets and the alliances of the
Birdtail Kings with them to the new land. Perhaps this ancient
religious society was the nucleus of an blood covenant between
General Sam Houston and his Indian kinsmen, which spanned from the
Indian Territory to east Texas, and somehow protected these Native
Americans from expulsion.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever the reasons for
it, kinsmen of Chief Sam Brown's seemed to enjoy the proverbial
“king's X” in Texas. All other tribes were driven or burned out
from east Texas before 1850. But even<b> President Lamar,</b> a veritable
Indian exterminator, and the Texas Legislature passed laws and set
aside large tracts of land for the Alabamas in Polk County, and they
shared their good fortune with the Coushattas, and both live in peace
in Texas to this very day.</span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-29746497320383864342016-02-23T16:44:00.000-06:002016-02-23T16:44:25.358-06:00Dr Palmer's Sanitarium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJm368HsyxppMxiy2Mar4uzAbhT7bKiLB2n9msNhmsW_i5ChnEGq3WCrCy-RYilvJ99pfM-QW2tEK5Oo41Vt_nV1gQEaKkhWWV0BHchaadghh3UcKYESGGp2V1fVeYpFvsLhnGGn_82oI5/s1600/DR+PALMERS+BACK+CORNER+ENHANCED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJm368HsyxppMxiy2Mar4uzAbhT7bKiLB2n9msNhmsW_i5ChnEGq3WCrCy-RYilvJ99pfM-QW2tEK5Oo41Vt_nV1gQEaKkhWWV0BHchaadghh3UcKYESGGp2V1fVeYpFvsLhnGGn_82oI5/s400/DR+PALMERS+BACK+CORNER+ENHANCED.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Before there was M. D. Anderson</span>, there was...Yes, Navasota had a "sanitarium," at least that's what they called medical clinics in those days. <b>Dr Hal Palmer</b> was a Civil War-trained doctor who did treatments, without surgery, for cancer in the early 1900's. You can still see his name and signs on the old brick at the corner of McAlpine and Farquhar, in downtown Navasota. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_0KJgLf-2npV94zekfFX0U2mCEz6jAPNZR-hZcl1njdklqydEwsP2TB557s7wGXMNpu2u8Wcm8QfuaBQzvTKJnVYWQUaFd2JljtrQrgUCuE-aF3LyGYRb89CpUapjIPXPd7fnLZ26_kS/s1600/SANITARIUM+ENHANCED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw_0KJgLf-2npV94zekfFX0U2mCEz6jAPNZR-hZcl1njdklqydEwsP2TB557s7wGXMNpu2u8Wcm8QfuaBQzvTKJnVYWQUaFd2JljtrQrgUCuE-aF3LyGYRb89CpUapjIPXPd7fnLZ26_kS/s400/SANITARIUM+ENHANCED.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First Dr. Palmer had a private sanitarium in Plantersville, but he moved around to find patients. He had clinics all over the state, but always seemed to land back in Grimes County. He started his enterprise in this building in 1907.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-58578075396810620962016-01-05T22:28:00.001-06:002016-01-08T09:59:21.171-06:00THIS is OUR History! The COOLEST Stinkin' Badges!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Navasota, Texas is especially blessed</span>
with interesting history, and was at one time the home of an
impressive array of Texans. And there are no more celebrated Texans
than the members of the <b>Texas Rangers</b>, both real and artistically interpreted. Most towns the size of
Navasota might be able to boast that they were the residence of a
Ranger sometime in history, but Navasota can boast of at least
five... and three of which we actually know of the exact badges they
wore. This is unheard of. History yes... legends sure, in the books
maybe.. but the actual stinkin' badges? Hardly ever!
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Perhaps one of the oldest authenticated
badges known in Texas Ranger history belongs to <b>Dr David Fruchtman</b>, an Arizona
forensic scientist and criminal justice professor, who has recently
shared a badge in his collection... with provenance, which was the
Ranger badge belonging to the legendary western lawman, <b>Jeff Milton</b>...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmDmJThXhDLHffoknkMNhD8Zcj4F4q34gshQpPGUR5z5RoV1vKMjHPqOx0s_iYXGetOVdcpdvYU8kde3zsTor2NgATpYiUxk1SLFEywULfPs8cEhSV3zAEXeTgphYr0QFvBm0G_K0L4jU/s1600/MILTON+BADGE+COMP+SCREEN+copy.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmDmJThXhDLHffoknkMNhD8Zcj4F4q34gshQpPGUR5z5RoV1vKMjHPqOx0s_iYXGetOVdcpdvYU8kde3zsTor2NgATpYiUxk1SLFEywULfPs8cEhSV3zAEXeTgphYr0QFvBm0G_K0L4jU/s400/MILTON+BADGE+COMP+SCREEN+copy.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Milton was the adventurous son of the
Florida Governor who came to Texas after the Civil War to live with
his sister, who had married a Navasota merchant. He did not stay in
Navasota long, and became a Texas Ranger when just 18, with the
endorsement of Navasota attorney and former Attorney General of
Texas, <b>H. H. Boone</b>. Milton's career with the Rangers was cut short
after some tragic gunplay, and subsequent legal embarrassment to the Ranger
organization... but he went on to become one of the most noted lawmen
of the Old West.<b> J. Evetts Haley</b> wrote his biography in<b> A Good Man
With A Gun</b>. You can read all about this Ranger's career at my blog below... just click on the LINK, after your read this!).<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://russellcushman.blogspot.com/2013/12/jeff-milton-from-in-law-to-outlaw-to-law.html" target="_blank">http://russellcushman.blogspot.com/2013/12/jeff-milton-from-in-law-to-outlaw-to-law.html</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But you will not see his badge</span> in the book... in fact you
will not see it anywhere but right here!
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>There
are several <u>exciting things</u></b></span> we learn from this badge. And
some of what we learn challenges the conventional wisdom concerning
these beloved icons of Western lore. First of all, we learn that at
least some of them, HAD BADGES. The common belief is that they rarely
had badges, and few Rangers ever wore them, as they were considered
invitations to be murdered. Only on the force for a couple of years,
Private Jeff Milton had this handmade star, with his company
designation. This badge is crude, cut out of a disc of nickel, yet
the lettering has been fairly masterfully done, with a popular zigzag
technique, which is seen on many old badges. Unfortunately, the
finding has been lost. On this badge, the wearer chose to inscribe
RANGER, (singular)... not Ranger Force or State Rangers (plural). These
details may seem insignificant, but they help establish what I have
suspected... that is a total LACK of a pattern in the early badges.
And just as importantly, it is <i><b>not cut out of a Mexican Peso.</b></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The exclusive use of etching on the
badge suggests several things. Out west where the Rangers were
ranging, and where they were most likely to try to scrounge up a
badge of some sort... they had to settle for <i>homemade badges</i>, or
ones made by frontier jewelers, who had very limited tools and
materials. The right metal was scarce, and the tools necessary to work metals were usually not available. If a mistake was made in the cutting of it... like the chopped-up star in this badge, that
was just too bad! There were few or no stamps available to hammer
pretty letters into sheet metal.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So an engraver might have been the
closest thing</span> to a badge maker available. My guess is that another
Ranger of Company B had this one made, and had a better one made when
he could, and passed this faulty one on to the young Ranger... who
did not need it long. It was soon just a keepsake for the young
Floridian who wandered the west for years as he tried to grow up and
get the respect he craved. Now the badge is a direct link to his life
and times... and another intriguing link in our study of Texas Ranger
badges.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Texas Ranger badges are rare. Let's
just say so rare that I went most of my life collecting antiques and
seeing hundreds if not thousands of fake Ranger badges being passed
off and nobody ever expected to really find one... You would find
diamonds in a diamond field faster than you would find a real OLD
Texas Ranger badge in an antique market. Yet my neighbor dug one up
in his yard, right here in Navasota. You can read that story (later!) here at
this LINK:<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://russellcushman.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-texas-ranger-badge-makes-visit-to.html" target="_blank">http://russellcushman.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-texas-ranger-badge-makes-visit-to.html</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15pUfK-5-KzjdACX9KvesfD1FLZmRTB2NEPYe1LuiOKe54aQnnc4ipYOaAftXKu22NCPjHexAvkLDWHEXpbR3pJ_qj8kBpZZ-lcmEtWRu6WSAIk4w1cJAeNwRaAZfeI218vcv7h6UZHiw/s1600/1910+BAILEY+TX+RANGERS.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15pUfK-5-KzjdACX9KvesfD1FLZmRTB2NEPYe1LuiOKe54aQnnc4ipYOaAftXKu22NCPjHexAvkLDWHEXpbR3pJ_qj8kBpZZ-lcmEtWRu6WSAIk4w1cJAeNwRaAZfeI218vcv7h6UZHiw/s400/1910+BAILEY+TX+RANGERS.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The significance of this badge</span> is hard
to fully appreciate. It belonged to the Navasota City Marshal around
1911-1915. <b>M. E. Bailey </b>was a Ranger buddy of Frank Hamer's out in
Alpine and came to help him in Navasota as his Deputy City Marshal.
He took over as marshal when Hamer left Navasota. Hamer was a devoted
fan of Bailey's and when interviewed after his death, claimed Bailey
had once single-handedly arrested a handful of Mexican generals who
were in Texas recruiting for <b>Pancho Villa</b>. What Captain Bailey could
not have fully appreciated were the number of Texans who supported
Villa and his revolution, and who made money off of the gun trade.
This arrest made him a huge target, with enemies on both sides of the
border, and this event may be why he left the Rangers and migrated
around 1910 to civilization on the Brazos. Some way, some how this
badge got dropped, thrown and buried in the flower bed of
his residence in Navasota, to be dug up nearly a hundred years later,
from dirt a foot deep.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Bailey badge also teaches us
several things about Texas Ranger badges. By 1910, some were being
ordered and made by real honest-to-goodness badge manufacturers. Some
were brass or bronze, thin, pressed by machine, and featured the
ranger's name and rank and company. These were official but fairly
cheap badges. This captain's badge suggests that even a ranking
officer would have no more fancy a badge than any regular city
lawman. But it also may be one-of-a-kind.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The only common denominator between
most early ranger badges is the<i> star inside of a circle.</i> Several
companies out west could have been contracted to do such work as
shown in Bailey's badge... But my pick would be <b>Anson Mills</b>, who had
a large operation with big money government contracts in El Paso.
They manufactured a wide array of military issue belts and
beautifully ornate, brass belt buckles... for several governments.
Mills was a former Civil War Union General who came out west to make
his fortune and did so. With his fame and connections and his handy
geography, it is easy to imagine <b>T. C. Orndorff</b>, his brother-in-law
who did much of the “heavy lifting” doing business with many
regional law enforcement agencies. In fact there are photographs of
Texas Rangers wearing his famous Anson Mills woven cartridge belts... sporting
those beautiful buckles. Understanding the Mills'/Orndorff interest
in the socio-political situation along the Texas border, it is easy
to imagine that Mills made this badge (had his people make it) and
gave it to the young Ranger for his daring-do... but probably the
fancy brass badge only got to him after he left the force.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Bailey had moved on, probably despising
the regime that forced him out because of divided loyalties... I can
easily imagine it arriving in the mail one day while he was working
in Navasota, and as he unwrapped it, cussing it and chunking it in
disgust into the shrubbery outside his home... where it laid for a century.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjtmiXeHLTJRuS9w5iG76q-FU0aU5xEypdArmigYrczTgCOGIO76kasq85mtG1IOV4vrmQ1muajnz23CmA-5slgqjzwaDbRmTtXPzrPXISgDXGz5gwQPF1JkL63sysVZJn49F6V-86r1n/s1600/brass+hamer+badge_1913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsjtmiXeHLTJRuS9w5iG76q-FU0aU5xEypdArmigYrczTgCOGIO76kasq85mtG1IOV4vrmQ1muajnz23CmA-5slgqjzwaDbRmTtXPzrPXISgDXGz5gwQPF1JkL63sysVZJn49F6V-86r1n/s400/brass+hamer+badge_1913.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
The Texas Ranger badge worn by Ranger Frank Hamer.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Because of various auctions</span> in the past
decades, we have also gotten blurry peeks at the badges worn by
<b>Ranger Frank Hamer</b>, before and after he served in Navasota. I have written extensively about Hamer on this blog, but we do not
know what his City Marshal badge looked like, and in fact he might not
have had one. He might easily have chosen to wear his Texas Ranger
badge, which by then was a symbol of deadly authority. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8K95RpYwFlqqxe2xj4i7zHQ7DsmhhKtbxEDQk-sQrMbg797GfPHFsyNHbF95Le5gATdVic2ME1313D933jDPWchct2Y8TdOt-MPbf0NrfltkD0QNWrj7daoxdoM46qc5EqDgk2qZhbDe/s1600/Ranger+badge+close+REDUCD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8K95RpYwFlqqxe2xj4i7zHQ7DsmhhKtbxEDQk-sQrMbg797GfPHFsyNHbF95Le5gATdVic2ME1313D933jDPWchct2Y8TdOt-MPbf0NrfltkD0QNWrj7daoxdoM46qc5EqDgk2qZhbDe/s400/Ranger+badge+close+REDUCD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Recently I acquired a fantastic
facsimile of Hamer's earliest Ranger badge, thought by his son and the
auctioneers to have been made of brass or bronze. Few people have
studied metals enough to know that really old silver, when not
allowed to blacken from constant rubbing, will take on a deep yellow
appearance. I have seen this most often on spurs, where the patina
said <i>brass</i> but the polish revealed <i>SILVER</i>! Anyway I purchased this silver
badge, which is the spitting image of Hamer's badge down to the
scars. Possibly made by <b>Langenbacher</b>, the legendary badge copyist, it is unlike any other Ranger badge I have seen, replica or
real. The design of this badge is unmistakably related to the Mills Texas Ranger buckle design, assumed by many to be fakes.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Later around 1915 Ranger Frank Hamer
had one of the first classic <b>“Peso Badges”</b> which have become the
Ranger standard we all recognize today. They were literally cut out
of silver Mexican pesos. On the back one could easily observe the
Phrygian cap in a sunburst, and dates up until 1910 when the silver
was discontinued. Later<b> “Cinco Peso”</b> badges were made in the
<b>1960's</b> which were reminiscent of these early badges, with
(on the back) a Mexican eagle perched on a cactus, tormenting a
rattlesnake.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This Peso badge must have been the
badge he wore for around seven years until he became the Senior
Captain over the whole organization in 1922. His captain badge is
truly magnificent. It was a manufactured catalog standard, custom
made, gold plated, and no name, it had only his rank stamped in
the badge.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7O1XMK5kgEm4PP8xTZkDseVb5qxm56HZSUe2oEFBvX5YKfzh7Yj-ddiGcDNhlLg0W2QjatKBfFp3lWY1zLvVeJpRcgHeyhLPr8GBEdRiAxEO0yubtrSiZ3iCglVPxJGqAahqp4GVOwI1w/s1600/1930+-CAPT+hamer+rangerS+badge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7O1XMK5kgEm4PP8xTZkDseVb5qxm56HZSUe2oEFBvX5YKfzh7Yj-ddiGcDNhlLg0W2QjatKBfFp3lWY1zLvVeJpRcgHeyhLPr8GBEdRiAxEO0yubtrSiZ3iCglVPxJGqAahqp4GVOwI1w/s400/1930+-CAPT+hamer+rangerS+badge.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
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For a LINK to a<i> WONDERFUL</i> short video about Frank Hamer and his service here in Navasota, go to the You Tube address below: </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOC5G6FUntE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOC5G6FUntE</a> </span><br />
<br />
You might be wondering what these
badges are worth. After watching real Ranger badges sell at auction,
I would say that because of identification, fame, and provenance, all
of these would fetch in the thousands of dollars. Anything can happen
at an auction, but I would be totally amazed if they did not bring
$4,000.00 - $7,500.00 each. Maybe more.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">These are just a few examples of the
Treasures of Navasota.</span> I will share more of them in the future. These
things testify to an exciting and legendary era in human history,
when men had to kill or be killed in a struggle between good and
evil. And when a lawman's badge was a sign of lethal authority, and
outlaws were pursued, captured and eliminated with prejudice. Let's
hope and pray we never need those kind of lawmen again. But whether
we do or not, this is what we come from, this is our history. And
history almost always repeats itself.</div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-40361419023112619412015-12-24T09:44:00.002-06:002015-12-24T09:44:44.246-06:00Nailing Jesus and Christmas- with Science<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89I3IW6epzM4IOyNSvdOGvmdAFcOnvYRxgIKbHbg6JLqb4dmmpq-g8Vy-ARfgR6B-EcdKCRRWQa9kBCMvRcuaYAlb5oL1vKGqsON_r_vLE5jH0WUdOQdDCHN7h6oB6xoM6vBn3BRRKf-K/s1600/NATIVITY+2+REDCD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89I3IW6epzM4IOyNSvdOGvmdAFcOnvYRxgIKbHbg6JLqb4dmmpq-g8Vy-ARfgR6B-EcdKCRRWQa9kBCMvRcuaYAlb5oL1vKGqsON_r_vLE5jH0WUdOQdDCHN7h6oB6xoM6vBn3BRRKf-K/s400/NATIVITY+2+REDCD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You would think</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
in two thousand years, skeptics could have demolished this popular
yet outrageous story... instead it has changed the the world,
inspired millions, and is now supported and fortified, not only with
Genealogy, but Astronomy, Astrology and Archaeology. (Not to mention
hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament). Today it is still where
it should be, I believe where God would have it, right in the center
of controversy, as cynics, skeptics and infidels stubbornly reject
it. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I saw on the Science
Channel where they found Caiaphas' grave and the stone box containing
his bones. He was the pragmatic High Priest who masterminded the
illegal execution of Jesus. In the dusty box researchers found two ancient,
bent and corroded nails... which they immediately deep-sixed,
separating them from the historic ossuary. They did not know... or
want to know the significance of the nails. Like Caiaphas, whose
bones they sorted, they did not want them to be of earthly or
spiritual significance. Still, Caiaphas was so identified with these
nails that his loved ones placed them in his little stone coffin, to
rest and mingle with his remains forever. As if, for better or worse, they wanted to
make sure Caiaphas met his Maker with them in his possession; Proof
of his wisdom, or his eternal damnation.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Caiaphas was willing to
stake his eternal destination on the rightness of destroying Jesus
and his earthly ministry. Even after the profuse rumors of miracles,
and Jesus' resurrection and the inspiration of a new religion...
which had caught on among Jew and Gentile... he could not be
persuaded. If they were crucifixion nails... and they were, he
obviously thought they were irresistible souvenirs of his notorious
career... Denying them their possible significance, he took the
evidence of them to his grave. Over the centuries, how many
Christians have wondered what might have happened to relics just like
these, of Jesus of Nazareth? Caiaphas not only sought to kill Jesus,
but to obliterate his legacy. In doing so, he gave science much more
evidence, in our time, of the ruthlessness and pride with which he
executed his duties.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Later another researcher
learned of the misplaced Caiaphas nails... found them at a local
university, and established they were THE nails, and that they were
exactly the kind of nail used in crucifixion, AND found traces of
human bone and cloth on them. The nails and the ossuary shared the
same exact ancient sediments which served to connect them like DNA.
The sudden implications of biased, unprofessional, malicious
behavior, then and now, were mind-boggling. The science proving it is
irrefutable. Raw hatred was at the bottom of all of it.</span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>It is not just poetic
justice...</b> </span>but Providential guidance, that has made modern science
the most objective and effective advocate of God, his Son, and their
story. Today people have to look past much more evidence than
Caiaphas did, to ignore and ridicule, or try to destroy Jesus... as
God proves that for some... there will never be enough evidence to
humble and change them. And some day, tragically, they too will have
their own “nails” in their own coffin... to meet their Maker
with.</span></div>
</div>
Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276753344917804217.post-82285404204499861682015-11-29T14:22:00.001-06:002015-11-29T14:31:13.286-06:00THE MOST IMPORTANT THING<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha2bzKxlkieVk-puVUvRNayadfWPmvm2W7CrRuq5sVj45rqQ_fZuryfY_aa5T9yN2cjw3LeNDb11kNyMafO2GeL3SiVt8zeE7Js2ofMbpta8aaA_BASDy8x-P0atZ_3nZrxZMAnMJ1MHGw/s1600/THE+MOST+IMPORTANT+THING+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha2bzKxlkieVk-puVUvRNayadfWPmvm2W7CrRuq5sVj45rqQ_fZuryfY_aa5T9yN2cjw3LeNDb11kNyMafO2GeL3SiVt8zeE7Js2ofMbpta8aaA_BASDy8x-P0atZ_3nZrxZMAnMJ1MHGw/s400/THE+MOST+IMPORTANT+THING+girl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A
person like me</span> must encounter some useful
information along the way after fifty years of reading, researching
and conceiving and creating art. You might think I have become
unnecessarily opinionated in my search and exploration of truth and
beauty (which often seem to me to be the same thing). That is why I
try NOT to appear to be too overbearing … or dogmatic... But
sometimes I must share something so essential, that I think, acting
on my conscience, I must endorse it...</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">In my business, I go
through thousands of pages... some while reading, but often just
thumbing through old magazines looking for “scrap.” Scrap is the
mountain of imagery that artists collect for reference material...
and old magazines are an excellent source. Sometimes an old forgotten
jewel pops up, and this one was an especially valuable discovery for
me, entitled THE MOST IMPORTANT THING... by Dr. Frank Crane, who was famous for his "Four Minute Essays." With a
title like that, I HAD to read it. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, I did not pay
attention to what magazine I tore it out of, but it was something
like The Mentor or some other Turn of the Century periodical, which
typically did not hesitate to moralize or attempt to shape the public
character. Here then is a piece of long-since discarded conventional
wisdom... wisdom which I believe we would do well to resurrect... and
of course my interpretation of it! [Sorry about the small print!]</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvEtBy4xfWzkW3it3Xt6L03UY1QR8sf_mb1fYdEz2ARsfRl5SZ9XLRsLeXzd4FDBu_UbUGuHh9JHE4eNkv7D33jrVsUK5jQV3RS8OzeVaBJvwsWwtlMjRe5cHBa_MxDF2dIzTFyoqlSmU/s1600/THE+MOST+IMPORTANT+THING+cropt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvEtBy4xfWzkW3it3Xt6L03UY1QR8sf_mb1fYdEz2ARsfRl5SZ9XLRsLeXzd4FDBu_UbUGuHh9JHE4eNkv7D33jrVsUK5jQV3RS8OzeVaBJvwsWwtlMjRe5cHBa_MxDF2dIzTFyoqlSmU/s640/THE+MOST+IMPORTANT+THING+cropt.jpg" width="429" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Acts make Motives”</b>;
We are familiar with the Darwinian ideas (survival of the fittest)
which prove that motives inspire action; hunger inspires the hunt,
greed inspires deception, righteousness leads to service... but the
writer flips that axiom on its head to reveal a more subtle equation-
that over time <i><b>repeated actions lead to adoption of motives
previously uncharacteristic to our habits...</b></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>There are two kinds
of people...”</b>; This is obviously simplistic, and was said to
provoke introspection, so do not get prematurely derailed over this
statement. Perhaps Crane might better have appealed to our generation
by merely suggesting that there are lots of different kinds of
people, many of which fall into two major groups; the strong and the
weak, who are by his definition <b>“capable” or “incapable.”</b>
This writer talks to his reader as if they are already his disciples,
ready to listen to the coming major points, and willing to overlook
his assumptions. He must neglect diplomacy in order to cover a
universe of wisdom on a single page. So please bear with him.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The difference
between them is this only: that the strong change their motives...”</b>;
Another over-simplification, and built upon the first. If I were
writing this, I might have said, “I have found one major difference
between these two types is...” Please hold on, because the writer,
uncharacteristic of other such pontificators of his day, is about to
dump his load... But may it suffice to say that he wants you<i> to
want to be counted among the strong</i>... He is betting that you are
already looking for your affinity with “the capable.” In fact, it
would be the “weak” who would begin dismissing this wise writer
out of self-defense, even before they have partaken of his wisdom,
for fear of being offended, corrected, or challenged. The strong
would not be afraid to read on... regardless of broad statements, or
where they might lead.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>There is no art in
the world so important as the art of killing one longing and creating
another in oneself.”</b> Okay, so the guy is full of dogmatic,
unprovable opinions, one built upon the other. A sanctimonious tower
of cards... BUT, what if he is right? Even I had to question this...
and had to prove this statement to myself. But, basing my analysis
from another unproven assumption, that most people spend their whole
lives in pursuit of happiness (which takes different forms for each
of us) there would be general agreement from most folks who have read
this far that happiness comes from personal fulfillment and
contentment... which usually is the fruit of security and freedom
from want... which is usually the result of someone's success and
hard work... which will be made easier if we ( the provider as well
as their dependents) willingly, selflessly adapt our wants and
expectations... It would stand to reason then that a very important
art in mankind would be <b>ADAPTABILTY; The “art” of flexing
one's questionable plans or goals into healthy, attainable ones.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The idea here is that this
forced adaptation comes from within. But many of man's longings are
based on selfish, predatory and even sinful motives, which also come
from within, naturally. Modern civilization depends on men to stifle
their animalistic urges, or there would be constant pandemonium and
war. Today we call it “redirection,” when people's energies and
ambitions are corralled and pointed in better directions, for the
benefit of everyone concerned. It is a long-lost art for people to
willingly do this, without tragic mistakes first, and today without
professional analysis, counseling, and sometimes even
hospitalization.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Then Crane unveils his
“secret.” Just entering his fifth paragraph, he is already
prepared to share the central truth of his essay. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>“...
by repeating an action one can gradually induce a desire to repeat
it...”</b></span><b> </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
conversely, </span><b>“by refusing a desire, one can eliminate it.”</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">I
once had a young friend who put it this way... “Do anything (good
or bad) three times in row, and it will become a habit.” I can't
tell you how many times I have repeated that... to myself or others.
It is true. Actions do shape motives. Conduct does reflect and
affirm personal character. Repeated conduct even more so, and we
decide which actions which we repeat... to form good or bad habits,
and to our own benefit, or peril.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>All
you need to climb out of the slime is imagination..”</b> This would
be, in my mind, another long-lost secret. Dr. Ben Carson talks about
how his mother planted in his mind, not the hopelessness of his
environment, but the potential of his situation. She could not read,
but made him read to her, as if she were supervising his reading
development. She used nothing but sheer imagination to do that.
Without imagination, “Faith” is almost impossible. In fact Faith
and imagination are gifts from our Creator God who counts on our use
of these things to transcend out earthly realities.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Today
our society dismisses all the traditional systems of attaining
prosperity, often born of human imagining... especially religion.
But hope and optimism are often born not from the harshness of
reality, not from financial security, not from education, as these
things can help provoke success but are certainly no guarantee of it.
<b>Hope and optimism spring from an inner confidence built on
powerful undercurrents of faith... in self, in justice, in the
positive forces of humanity, and in a Supreme Being who brings order
and ultimate justice to the Universe.</b> Dr. Carson's mom had faith
in God to deliver her children “out of the slime,” as Crane calls
it. And eventually Carson himself believed... and imagination turned
humble beginnings into an extraordinary life. People who have been
chained to poverty and hopelessness for generations are really just
victims chained to their own lack of imagination. .. who settle for
something immediate and far less than God's plan, like addiction and
crime or worse, blaming others for their own anemia. And they are the
ones who need Crane's essay the most. But to add to their dilemma,
they as a class do not read, do not listen to good sources of
solutions... and with dormant imaginations, do not seek life-changing
answers, as they amble on in a self-fulfilling prophecy. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
process is slow.”</b> Amen. But only, as Jesus put it, “because
of the hardness of men's hearts.” Crane admits that much of his
wisdom is common among an elite group he terms the “spiritual
aristocracy.” It is not that they withhold these truths. It is just
that most people could not care less about doing things that require
discipline or flexibility or heaven forbid, obedience to a higher
power. The process is so slow, that most people, especially parents,
give up way too soon.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>This
is the only known road to real success. It leads to kingship.”</b>
By now our haughty, would-be mentor does not try to hide his
confidence in his wisdom. You can take it or leave it. Kings have
followed this advice... or so he flatly suggests. Jesus spoke of a
wide road and a narrow path... the former used by most people... the
latter for his followers. He knew that his followers would not, could
not be successful without, as he put it, “First deny yourself, take
up your own cross (of personal sacrifice) daily and follow me...”
Jesus suggested that everything we are meant to do is a path that
starts with self-denial; personal restraint, selflessness, deferring
to others, and especially God, before we can be sure we are on the
right road.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Crane
skipped over that part, perhaps assuming his Victorian audience
already knew that... but he reminds them of the final measure of our
lives; how we used what God had provided to us... Our legacies. Are
they legacies of service or demanding service? Are they legacies of
contentment and generosity, or discontent and greed? Of grabbing for
more, or giving more? Jesus not only settles the question, by “It
is more blessed to give than to receive,” but Crane found where
Christ pronounced a sort of eternal equation, of which we should all
take heed: “To him that hath- shall be given, and from him that
hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath.”</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">We
all start at a personal bottom, or find the literal bottom at some
time in our lives. Few of us will ever be wealthy, so God diligently
directs and blesses most of us in our various states of financial and
physical and spiritual struggle, where we can either choose to turn
to him, or not. Those who have Faith and pray have a very decided
advantage. Those who do not are also likely the ones who cannot even
imagine success, much less a creator/personal God. But even believers
can be thwarted in their efforts if they see God as a secret weapon
or magic wand. If they fail to use what God has given them, has
provided in His wisdom at that moment, to be thankful for what is,
and all the while to be content and generous to others... </span>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Read
the parable of the “talents”... where those given very little,
and did very little, because of fear, suspicion, or
small-mindedness... Their master took away what little they had.</b>
It turns out that we can seal our fates by expecting or doing
nothing... or too little. The ne'r-do-wells in those parables were
self-indulgent, even willful, leaning on their own wisdom, own
preferences, rather than their master's. Bottom line, they lacked
imagination; trust in “the master,” and more tellingly, the
willingness to risk failure. These are critical elements to success
at anything. These are the earmarks of Faith.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">For
those who do not believe, this stripping of the underprivileged is
outrageous. Like Dr. Frank Crane, the author/authors of the New
Testament, aka God, seems to be a presumptuous, judgmental,
illegitimate authority, based on their own twisted sense of justice.
They will instead, forever look to the government to solve all ills,
feed all discrepancies, make right all wrongs. They will never admit
that their system has always failed, because it assumes, (falsely)
the inherent goodness, dignity and even nobility of all men.
Christians assign those attributes to God only. Their Scriptures are
rife with great leaders who fell far short of God's righteousness.
Man-made systems always fail. Only an all-powerful God never fails. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">For
those who do believe, this seemingly twisted formula is the key to
success; Make the best with what you have, be thankful, keep the
faith and hope for better, obey God, and He will justly reward his
own as it suits Him... As it serves His Kingdom, fulfills His plan...
In His time. <b>Jesus explained that the only way you can move up the
ladder in his paradigm is by first using wisely, obediently, what God
has already given you.</b> If you waste it, hoard it, hide it, fail
to even use it, whatever your motives, you are not able to move up to
the next rung in the ladder. So... perhaps Crane was right... this
idea of being able to imagine the next upward move... and act on that
vision repeatedly, regardless of our circumstances, to the believer
and unbeliever alike, is AT THE VERY LEAST, one the <i>most </i>important things.</span></div>
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Russell Cushmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12125943782255815588noreply@blogger.com0