Notes From Neal

I don’t know if I ever stated in this blog that I thought current President of the United States George Bush will go down as one of the worst Presidents ever. But I’ve sure thought it.

According to this article in Harpers Magazine, a poll of 109 historians who have actually done the comparisons, agree, find President Bush the worst ever.

History News Network’s poll of 109 historians found that 61 percent of them rank Bush as “worst ever” among U.S. presidents. Bush’s key competition comes from Buchanan, apparently, and a further 2 percent of the sample puts Bush right behind Buchanan as runner-up for “worst ever.” 96 percent of the respondents place the Bush presidency in the bottom tier of American presidencies.

Do take a moment to read the article, to see on what grounds they base their evaluation.

As I mentioned about, I agree, because Bush and his cronies have lead our nation down a very destructive path. During his time in office his administration has:

• Bankrupted our country with this ridiculous war in Iraq.
• Trampled our civil liberties and the Bill of Rights.
• Ignored all warnings of possible ecological disasters.
• Placed our nation in such debt that my children will not be able to get out from under.
• Destroyed much of the goodwill other nations felt towards the US.
• Made our nation much less safe from both terrorism (”tearism”) and other threats.
• Established a corrupt government acting with little regard to the needs of our citizens

Our nation direly needs a change in direction. Fortunately, within a year will have a new president in office. In the meantime, study these candidates for President carefully and thoughtfully. Consider their values, leadership abilities, and their vision. Turn off the television, listen, and read what these folks who are going to guide our country have to say. Register to vote! In November, exercise your right! Vote!

As I completed that last paragraph, the thought flashed through my mind that my son, Joshua, is now eligible to vote in his first Presidential election. I must remind him to register and then vote, even though he is away at school.

Opening Day, that rite of spring whereupon the first baseball game was played, is a holiday in the Cincinnati area. Since the Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional baseball team, Major League baseball used to commemorate that tradition by having the now Cincinnati Reds play the first baseball game of the season. Until they sold out to television, which decided it preferable to play the first game during prime time on Sunday night before the “official” Opening Day. Cincinnati commemorates the day with a parade from Findlay Market, a party on Fountain Square, marching bands, and a baseball game that gets sold out in minutes to the scalpers, I mean, ticket resellers.

I don’t enjoy baseball much anymore. It’s not because my favorite teams, the aforementioned Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates are so darn lousy. Baseball was always so rich in tradition with strong appeal and connection to the fans. Much of that has been lost on me for quite some time now. Escalating ticket prices, poor pitching, spoiled players, as well as prevalence of performance-altering chemicals cause me to look elsewhere for my entertainment.

However, it is Opening Day of a new season. It’s spring and “hope springs eternal” (Alexander Pope). Winter is over, the smell of spring is in the air! The Reds will get some pitching this year. The team won’t be out of the division race by June.

At the time of posting of this article, the score was Diamondbacks 4 - Reds 4.  Middle of the 7th.

On this cold January day, we celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a man of peace, who both acted and spoke out against racism, prejudice, and violence.

Below are several quotations from Dr. King:

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”

“Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ “

It’s July 4, 2004 on the grounds of the State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia.  President Bush is giving a speech on something or other.  In attendance are Nicole and Jeffrey Rank, registered Republicans from Corpus Christi, Texas.  Like others that day, they had obtained tickets prior to the event and were admitted to the capitol grounds without issue.

During the speech, the Ranks removed their outer shirts, revealing t-shirts sporting a red circle with a diagonal line through it.  Inside the circle was “Bush”, effectively symbolizing “No Bush”.  On the back of their shirts were the phrases “Regime Change Begins at Home” and “Love America, Hate Bush”.  According to the ACLU article,

“…the couple stood peacefully on the public grounds with the rest of the audience, two men believed to be working for the Secret Service or White House approached the Ranks and demanded that they remove or cover their t-shirts. When the couple refused, the officials instructed city police to arrest Jeff and Nicole, causing them to be removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs, jailed for one to two hours and charged with trespassing. Nicole Rank was also temporarily suspended from her work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “

Apparently they were escorted in handcuffs from the grounds while America The Beautiful was playing in the background.

Attorneys for the ACLU in both Charleston, WV and Pittsburgh, PA took the case and filed a lawsuit against the US Secret Service as well as against a White House department.

Fast forward to August 16, 2007.  Both parties settled the lawsuit against the US government for $80,000.  The government, of course, admitted no wrong-doing and the taxpayers got stuck with yet another bill.

Take this as a warning.  Our First Amendment rights of  free speech and assembly are gradually being eroded, often in the name of “national security.”

How many more?

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, we’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming, we’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio,
Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio,
How many more?
Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio,
How many more?

– Ohio, written by Neil Young and
Performed by Crosby Stills Nash and Young

Commemorating the murders at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.

In case you didn’t know, on the screens behind this blog that only people like me can see, is a function called The Dashboard. One of the things that the Dashboard displays is what search terms people are using to hit my blog.

So as a public service, I thought I’d answer several of the more ponderous questions that people seek answers for when they hit my blog. Here are some of the search terms used:

• Butter Jesus. Also known as “Touchdown Jesus”, this statue of an image alleged to be Jesus, arms uplifted and all is found a few miles north of Cincinnati. The outrageous statue is located just of the east of Interstate 75 at Exit 29 near Monroe, Ohio. You can’t miss it. You can click this link for more details.
• Neal Watzman. Yes, that’s right, I’m a search term. Almost daily someone out there is looking for me. Well you found me. I’m certainly not going to post my email address so that everyone all over the world can spam me, but I’ll gladly post a link to Watzman Associates, my FileMaker consulting company. Post a comment if you want something.
• Jesus sex. Jesus sex? What’s up with that? Taken separately, both are good things. Taken together, well, it’s really not any of my business. Most people don’t go searching the web to find out if I’ve had sex, at least as far as I can tell. Maybe there’s a few, and they just forgot to add it to the end of a search for my name.
• On a more serious note, another question is “how many World War II veterans die each day?” The answer: about 1,200 each day. We’re losing more and more of these amazing people, like my father, every day. And not only are the families losing parents and grandparents, but we are losing their story about one of the most significant events of modern times. If you are reading this and know a WWII Veteran, see if you can get them to tell you about their war experiences. I am blessed that my father wrote his memoirs at my request a few years before he died. I’ve posted them on my blog. Part I and Part II. You can view the Library of Congress Veterans History Project through another link.
• Who do you like in The Derby? Honestly, that one has not appeared in my list of search terms, but is certainly a valid question. Tough call, but I’m thinking about Great Hunter, Curlin, or Nobiz Like Showbiz. Feel free to disagree and comment below.

Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, is a Jewish holiday celebrated this time of year celebrating freedom. Usually on the first two nights, which would have been Monday and Tuesday night, Jewish families gather for a Seder to retell the story of Passover, eat a ceremonial meal, and be together to celebrate the holiday.

The Seder is a wonderful tradition of celebration, prayer, special foods, and simply a joining together of people to “break bread”, which in this case is unleavened bread. Seders vary in format and form almost as much as families vary. As a child, our family Seder often was celebrated with other families, some of whom were not Jewish. They had all the traditional elements, but the focus was on short and sweet. At other relatives homes, however, the service was much longer, where every word in the Haggadah had to be read, in both Hebrew and English. Butts were often a bit sore after an evening at these cousins’ home. Even as a member of a UU congregation, we often have Seder and have compiled a Haggadah.

It is often said that the Christian Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover Seder.

The story of Passover is about celebrating and giving thanks for freedom from slavery. It is a story told at the Seder through words and symbolism that Jews believe must be retold every year at this time. The Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, until the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues, the tenth being the killing of each Egyptian first born son. It is said that God passed over the homes of the Jewish slaves, thus the English name for the holiday. The Jews then left Egypt in haste, on their way to a new found freedom.

Thus, we celebrate freedom as well as the pain of slavery during the Seder. During the service, we are even reminded of the suffering of the Egyptian families as a price for Jewish freedom. As the Seder is celebrated, we give thanks for our freedom but are reminded that even to this day, people around the world are not free.

There are a number of traditional Passover songs sung at the Seder. At one of the Jewish congregations where I went as a child, we even sang a Spirtual as a part of our celebration, Go Down Moses.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people goGo down Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
“Let my people go”

Take a moment, at the season of this Jewish and Christian holiday to celebrate freedom and to pray in whatever form that takes to ask for the freedom of all people.

Let my people go!

Talk to me, and you will see
What’s going on, what’s going on
–Marvin Gaye

• How is it that we can send billions upon billions of dollars over to Baghdad, yet we cannot feed our own children? Or adults? Or educate our citizens? Or even provide our soldiers in Iraq with adequate protection?
• Why is it that this No Childen Left Behind “educational” program leaves so many of our children behind? Or have I answered my own question in the first item?
• Why is it that this blonde bimbo (excuse my impertinence) Anna Marie, Anna Nicole or whatever her name is, splattered all over the TV screen? I had never heard of her before, and what in the world has she ever done for humanity?
• And while all of television splatters Anna Whatever all over the screen, little or no mention of made of the fact that February 12 is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, a day we used to celebrate before the advent of President’s Day.
• Between the two, Anna Whatever and Abraham Lincoln, who do you think would be the better role model for people to see? If you had to think real hard about that one, this blog may be a bit beyond you. Please read the title again.
• Finally, while we’re still on this topic, whose life do you know more about now?
• Should I check “humor” as a tag for this article? Or “sadness”?

Back in December, I wrote a couple articles of my father’s memoirs of the South Pacific during World War II. He served in the US Army Signal Corps and was with the invasion forces working their way through the Pacific islands to Japan.

Several weeks later, I received an email from Paula, whose grandfather was with the US Army 196 Port Company Transportation Corps, serving in New Caledonia. She was kind enough to send along a photo of him. Charlie Boling is on the left, and his friend Hart on the right.

Here is his story:

My grandpa’s name was Charlie Boling. He once told me he was up for some leave time and took it to come home and see my mother (he hadn’t seen her since she was about two months old). When he got to San Francisco, the war was over and he didn’t go back to New Caledonia. He left his foot locker and everything over there. I wonder if someone got his foot locker and took it home. Perhaps it is sitting in someone’s attic.

Paula wanted to know if anyone had any information about her grandfather.

If you would happen to know him, be familiar with the outfit in which he served, or know where Paula might find further info, please post a comment below. I’ll be glad to forward the information to her.

Every day, over 1200 World War II veterans die, leaving their history, and often their story, untold. Usually it is not the one we read in the history books. In my mind, most of these men and women are heroes, serving our country with bravery, dignity, and honor.

Muhammad Ali is a special man. Not only did he bring joy, passion, humor, power and grace to the brutal sport of boxing, he moved through the world in the same way. He was outspoken, confident, strong, and he was willing to stand up and take a lick for what he believed. He shunned his given name of Cassius Clay, Jr. for an Islamic name, Muhammed Ali, one who is worthy of praise.

Ali refused to step forward and be drafted by the US Army during the Vietnam War, and ended up being a conscientious objector. He was quoted as saying, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong.”

As a young boy, I recall staying up late to listen to his early fights on the radio. They rarely started before 10PM, but I would remain awake, even if I had school the next day, to root for The Champ. As you can imagine, boxing is entirely a visual sport, so listening to a bout forced me to visualize the fight in my imagination.

Here are a few of his quotations, clearly indicating his belief in self, pride, passion, and joy of living in this world.

• Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
• Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.
• Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
• A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
• I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.
• I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.
• Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.
• The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

This month, Muhammed Ali turned 65. It was a pleasure to watch this gifted person in the ring as he would “dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”

The world needs more people like Muhammed Ali.