One Hundred Years Ago

On this day one hundred years ago, my father was born. He passed away in 1996, but, like all the others of his generation, he witnessed the transformation of this country. The automobile, the airplane, space flight, atomic energy, home computers, the Internet; they all came of age during his lifetime. He could vividly describe seeing his first automobile, eating his first hamburger, riding a train for the first time and his first airplane flight. These were great events to him.

He grew up in an era of transition. During his young years he walked or rode a horse or a mule for transportation. He cut and hauled cross ties and "acid" wood in a wagon to the rail head, some 25 or 30 miles away. Did I mention that he surreptitiously hauled a bit of corn liquor at the same time? One of the odd jobs that he performed as a youngster was assisting various still operators with transporting the raw materials to the job site. The operation of stills was only condemned by a few. It was considered an acceptable means of making a living in these isolated mountains of Georgia.

My father's father was killed in a coal mine in W. VA in 1920 at the age of 60, when my father had just turned eleven years old. His death left my grandmother with six mouths to feed. The oldest was 20, so he was about to go out on his own. My father was the next oldest son. In a short time, he would become more responsible for the family. It was a family like so many today. The girls in the family would shortly experience what so many teenage girls today experience far too early in life. Children were born out of wedlock, only one of which lived beyond a few days. My father would be the only real father she would know for many years.

He lived through two world wars, Korea, Vietnam. His grandfather was a Civil War veteran and he heard first hand the stories of that war. He knew the local boys, who chose to avoid the draft in WWI. When WW II came along he was 32 years old and newly married with a newborn, a wife, and mother-in-law to support. He was not required to serve because of his family responsibilities, but he did his part, working at the Bell Bomber plant in Marietta, GA, constructing B-29's.

When electricity came to the area shortly after WW II, my father sought employment with the company constructing the power lines that would provide power to the local households. Prior to the war he had worked on the TVA projects that constructed two flood control and hydroelectric dams in the area. Now he would be helping to distribute the power that they generated.

My father was not a farmer. He had tried. During the 1920's and 30's, he had traveled to south Georgia to work on the vegetable farms. When he married my mother in 1938, he went to live with her and her mother on their family farm. He planted a few crops, but the money wasn't there and subsistence was not his idea of living, I suppose. Instead he chose to follow the power line construction company as a crew foreman. He continued until his retirement in 1972, running power to households around the southeast as power was first distributed. Later they would concentrate on building the large transmission lines across the eastern part of the U.S.

When he retired, he returned to his home permanently. For the next 26 years he spent much of his time as a hospital "pink lady," volunteering at the local hospital and nursing home. I'm sure he brought much joy to those sick and infirm people. He loved humor and he loved music. Shaped note gospel singing was a joy to him. As a young man he led the singing at his church. Later he would often attend singing conventions. He often sang and led singing at the nursing home and at local singings around the area.

It all came to an end in April of 1996 at a nursing home in Clayton, GA, an hour's drive from home. Unfortunately, we were not able to get him into the local nursing home, a place where he would have received special love and care from those with whom he had worked for so long. It might have extended his life, but then in his condition at the time, he would have been very unhappy. Fortunately, he was only in the nursing home for a short time.

It a good life and an adventurous one. He saw much and experienced so much. He devoured it heartily, savoring every moment and remembering them all so very vividly. Always one to enjoy telling a good story, he did not fail to pass his experiences and memories on to others.

Today's world is better because of people like my father, but it misses them as well. They knew hardship and trouble and they were better for it. If they are looking down now, I am quite sure they are very disappointed at what we have become in the short time that they have been away. It is so sad that we cannot seem to carry on what they worked so hard to build.

The Great Obama Liberal Conspiracy

This so-called president of ours, who isn't even a natural born American and poses as a Christian, when everyone knows that he is a Muslim, is moving yet again to take total control of this great country of ours. It is not enough that he has taken over the automobile industry and the banks. It is not enough that he is going to take our guns away from us and turn the country over to gays and baby killers.

Hussein Obama started his cycle of control almost immediately upon taking office by taking control of the automobile industry. He could not wait to get his socialist claws into everything American. His friends at the ACLU are working daily to take away the one and only true religion, Christianity. The EPA is already secretly working on plans to nationalize the coal mining and oil industries, using the false claims of global warming. He will force Americans to give up their gas burning automobiles and replace them with electric ones, so Americans can be kept close to home.

What is his next big move? Swine flu vaccines. You have heard all about it, but have you thought about the real reason that only those under age 25 and over age 65 are being given the vaccine? It is quite clear when you think about it. These two groups are the easiest to control and bring under Hussein's power.

Oh, he is a smooth, talker this Kenyan. His Center for Disease Control is a front for the development of this mind controlling drug that will be given to the young and old under the guise of Swine Flu vaccine. Once they are under his control, the young will be moved to the hundreds of concentration camps now under construction by FEMA, where they will be further brainwashed to accept his socialist and Muslim way of thinking. The old will simply be subjected to Death Panels, which will determine if these great Americans, who have given so much to this great Christian country of ours, are healthy enough to live on without a large expenditure of money. If not, they will simply be left to die.

The unborn will not be left out, of course. DNA testing will be secretly done under Hussein's public option "health care" system. If it is clear that the unborn child will be a conservative Christian, an abortion will be scheduled. Once Hussein has eliminated guns and Christians he can easily move the Muslim terrorists into power in this country. He has already surrounded himself with them in Washington and is in daily contact with Osama Bin Laden to update him on the progress of the Musliming of America.

It is a sad day indeed. This country has been ruined by this impostor, but we can fight back. The valiant people at FOX News are working hard to keep these facts in the forefront. Without them and such great heroes as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin we could be led like lambs to the slaughter. We will overcome this, because the 2010 elections are only a short time away. The great and only true Americans will be back in power soon and they will bring God back to Washington. They will restore the fight to save America from gays and Muslims and put Hussein Obama back where he belongs.

The Afghanistan Dilemma

Afghanistan has proven difficult for so many before us, the last being the Russians. Ironically, in our own inimitable style we aided the Taliban in its fight against the Russians, only to have to fight our former "ally" later. How many times in our past have we supported, equipped and trained the bad guys?

When Bush entered that country in October, 2001, the objective was to destroy Al Qaeda and its training network there and to destroy its Taliban ally. Unfortunately, the President got his priorities mixed up and entered into his poorly planned, conducted and unnecessary invasion of Iraq. Iraq became the priority and Afghanistan and Bin Laden became a nuisance with little being done to pursue the objectives.

Like Nixon in 1968, Obama has inherited a poorly conducted and deteriorating action that threatens to drag him down. Operation Enduring Freedom, as it was initially known, is becoming unpopular as the American body count continues to grow. Conveniently, it is becoming unpopular among Republicans, who will use anything to discredit the President, no matter that it was their man who made the mess. Gleefully, for them, Obama is in a "damned if does, damned if he doesn't" situation.

Rightly so, I believe, the President has taken a step back to re-evaluate the situation in Afghanistan. His commander there has said that success will require a large infusion of troops to stabilize the situation. Whether the President is willing to undertake that route remains to be seen. It will take a clear plan of action with specific goals to make such an action successful. It is very difficult to defeat an enemy in its homeland. Vietnam comes to mind. The minds of the people have to be won before success is possible.

The danger of continuing a wide war of occupation in that country lies in the number of soldiers needed for possible success. The terrain is difficult and the surrounding countries uncooperative. Then there is that history. The Russians could not do it. The British failed miserably with eight divisions in their last Afghan War in 1919 and they had air power and armor.

It is incumbent upon the President to pursue the efforts to destroy Al Quaeda and abandon any Bush-like attempt at nation building. Afghanistan has never been captured, and I do not expect that the U.S. war will be an exception. As in Iraq, it will be up to the people of Afghanistan to do their part to throw off the religious zealots in the Taliban. If Al Quaeda and Bin Laden are destroyed that potential thorn in the side of the world will be neutralized. That is all that we need from our efforts in Afghanistan, nothing more, nothing less.