Author: NewMexiKen

Poor Jeb

I don’t think he understands this story. But enough of us remember.

First posted on NewMexiKen eight years ago today.

One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay,” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and again just walked away

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

E Pluribus Unum

From five years ago today. My Virginia grandchildren attend four different schools now. I miss the lunches.

I had lunch yesterday with 1,000 children.

I decided to join The Sweeties for Thursday’s lunch. Four attend the same elementary school, so this is easier in some ways than it sounds. I drove over to the school just before 11, went through security (they take your ID and give you a badge with your photo on it), and walked across the hall to the cafeteria.

Kiley, second grade, doesn’t really have lunch at school; she has brunch. She and her class poured in at 11. Alex, her kindergarten-aged brother came next, at 11:25. Then cousins Mack, fourth grade, at 11:55, and Aidan, first grade, at 12:30. After Mack a cafeteria lady asked me how many grandchildren I had in the school. “Four,” I said, “but five next year” (if the district lines don’t change).*

This particular public school in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., has over 1,000 students, grades kindergarten through fifth. The cafeteria seats 320 and it was close to capacity on each shift, so I got to see (AND HEAR!) most of the 1,000 as they ate (more or less) their lunches from home or the lasagna, corn dog nuggets, or vegetarian chik’n nuggets sold by the school for $2.10, including two sides and a milk. (I didn’t see anyone with the chicken fajita salad.) I understand more clearly now why most restaurants stun me with their noise. The people that manage those places and work there experienced public school cafeterias as kids and think their workplaces are relatively quiet.

A thousand children, ages 5 to 11; American youth in 2010. And they were amazing and beautiful in every shade known, unquestionably with parents or grandparents from all parts of the world — and in many instances with parents from two parts of the world. And, romantic patriot that I am, I couldn’t help but think, e pluribus unum (out of many, one). It was America, as she has always been, richly diverse— our greatest strength.

And it made me quit worrying about the Tea Party.

* In school year 2011-2012 all five Virginia grandchildren did attend the same elementary school.

Worth Repeating

From 2011 —

“But this seems like a good time to repeat, once again, the truth about federal spending: Your federal government is basically an insurance company with an army. The vast bulk of its spending goes to the big five: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and interest on the debt.”

Paul Krugman

“And if you want smaller government, either you’re talking about cuts in the big five, or you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Whom Would You Rather Be?

  1. Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday
  2. Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb
  3. George Washington or Abraham Lincoln
  4. Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert (or Kimmel)
  5. Lt. Van Buren or Jack McCoy
  6. Elizabeth I or Elizabeth II
  7. Cary Grant or Clark Gable
  8. Mary Kate or Ashley
  9. Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense
  10. Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan
  11. Bill Gates or Steve Jobs
  12. Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck
  13. Katharine Hepburn or Meryl Streep
  14. Adam or Eve
  15. Eleanor Roosevelt or Jackie Kennedy
  16. General Grant or General Lee
  17. Thomas Edison or Albert Einstein
  18. Demi Lovato or Selena Gomez
  19. St. Peter or St. Paul
  20. Charlie Brown or Dilbert

The Scariest October Ever

It was on this date in 1962, that President Kennedy told the nation about the Soviet missiles in Cuba. From The New York Times report on the speech:

President Kennedy imposed a naval and air “quarantine” tonight on the shipment of offensive military equipment to Cuba.

In a speech of extraordinary gravity, he told the American people that the Soviet Union, contrary to promises, was building offensive missiles and bomber bases in Cuba. He said the bases could handle missiles carrying nuclear warheads up to 2,000 miles.

Thus a critical moment in the cold war was at hand tonight. The President had decided on a direct confrontation with–and challenge to–the power of the Soviet Union.

All this the President recited in an 18-minute radio and television address of a grimness unparalleled in recent times. He read the words rapidly, with little emotion, until he came to the peroration–a warning to Americans of the dangers ahead.

“Let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out,” the President said. “No one can foresee precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred.”

“The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are–but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world,” he added.

It was as close as we’ve ever come to nuclear war.

October 22nd Really Should Be a Holiday

Jerry Howard

Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz) was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on this date in 1903. The most popular of the Three Stooges, Curly had no formal training and was often improvising. According to older brother Moe Howard, “If we were going through a scene and he’d forget his words for a moment, you know. Rather than stand, get pale and stop, you never knew what he was going to do. On one occasion he’d get down to the floor and spin around like a top until he remembered what he had to say.” It’s said Curly squandered all his money on wine, food, women, homes, cars, and especially dogs. Sounds like good choices, but they took their toll. Curly Howard died at age 48 in 1952 after a series of strokes.

“N’yuk, n’yuk, n’yuk.”

So how come

… Airlines don’t charge a second bag fee for a connecting flight? Why does the greed stop there?

… Some think their circumstances will improve if they make snide stage-whisper comments while given a personal going over by TSA? 

… Some don’t know stand right, walk left is the rule on moving sidewalks and escalators? Whoever decided the norm should be stand and ride these devices rather than walk anyway? 

… Some still cough or sneeze into their hand that touches everything rather than the elbow of their sleeve?

Some Days …

I wish dead-tree newspapers were still worthwhile. It would be fun to recapture the appeal — and the serendipity —of that daily and especially Sunday package. 

Yeah, I know they still exist but they’re nowhere near as good nor as necessary as they were for most of my life. At least my fingers are no longer ink-stained.  

Seriously?

Steve Spurrier quits at 70 because coaching a football team is too much … but Bernie Sanders is 74, Joe Biden nearing 73, Donald Trump 69, Hilary Clinton about to turn 68 and they all want to be president. 

Seriously?

Hey Albuquerque Journal, it is nice that a Nobel Prize co-winner grew up in Raton, New Mexico, but it is most definitely not news alert notification worthy. 

‘I will fight no more forever’

With 2,000 soldiers in pursuit, Chief Joseph led a band of about 700 Nez Percé Indians—fewer than 200 of whom were warriors, towards freedom—nearly reaching the Canadian border. For over three months, the Nez Percé had outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers traveling some 1,000 miles across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

By the time Chief Joseph surrendered, more than 200 of his followers had died. Although he had negotiated a safe return home for his people, the Nez Percé instead were taken to eastern Kansas and then to a reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In 1879, Chief Joseph went to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Rutherford Hayes and plead the case of his people. Finally, in 1885, nine years before his death, Chief Joseph and his followers were allowed to return to a reservation in the Pacific Northwest—still far from their homeland in the Wallowa Valley.

Library of Congress

Surrendering to Gen. Nelson Miles 138 years ago today, Joseph reportedly said:

Chief Joseph

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking-glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men, now, who say ’yes’ or ’no’. He who led on the young men [Joseph’s brother, Ollicut] is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people–some of them–have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find;maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever

Truth and Consequences

Driving through its Georgia O’Keeffe mountains or under its aurora-clear skies, it’s easy to forget that New Mexico regularly tops the list in various poverty rankings. Americans willing to live side by side with UFO museums, the Very Large Array and the weapon to end all wars also claim the distinction of being number one in child hunger, poverty and school dropout rates.

Truth or Consequences, population 6,000 and home to the Spaceport America Visitor Center, is one of the poorest places in the state. It is a skin-of-its-teeth tourist town, and now a portal to another world.

The Guardian in a report “Space travel for the 1%: Virgin Galactic’s $250,000 tickets haunt New Mexico town.”

Ten Four

October 4th should be a national holiday.

It’s the birthday of Susan Abigail Sarandon, born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, 69 years ago today.

And, as if that’s not enough for a holiday, it’s also the birthdate of John Charles Carter, born October 4, 1923. As Charlton Heston he won the best actor Oscar for Ben-Hur (1959), his only nomination.

And, as if those aren’t enough, it’s also the birthdate of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th President of the United States. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on this date in 1822.

Rutherford B. Hayes became the nineteenth U.S. president in 1877 after a bitterly contested election that pitted him against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Tilden won the popular vote, but disputed electoral ballots from four states prompted Congress to create a special electoral commission to decide the election’s result. The fifteen-man commission of congressmen, senators, and Supreme Court justices, eight of whom were Republicans, voted along party lines to decide the election in Hayes’s favor. The electoral dispute has come to be known as the Tilden-Hayes Affair. Because of the tension surrounding this partisan decision, Hayes secretly took the oath of office in the White House Red Room. He was the first president to be sworn in at the residence.

Library of Congress

The Space Age began 58 years ago today with the launch of Sputnik (Cпутник) by the Soviet Union. The word means companion or satellite in Russian.

Buster Keaton

The wonderful Joseph Frank Keaton was born 120 years ago today. Roger Ebert wrote about “Buster” Keaton in 2002. It’s worth reading; a brief excerpt:

He said he learned to “take a fall” as a child, when he toured in vaudeville with his parents, Joe and Myra. By the time he was 3, he was being thrown around the stage and into the orchestra pit, and his little suits even had a handle concealed at the waist, so Joe could sling him like luggage. Today this would be child abuse; then it was showbiz.

The Films of Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton is considered one of the greatest comic actors of all time. His influence on physical comedy is rivaled only by Charlie Chaplin. Like many of the great actors of the silent era, Keaton’s work was cast into near obscurity for many years. Only toward the end of his life was there a renewed interest in his films. An acrobatically skillful and psychologically insightful actor, Keaton made dozens of short films and fourteen major silent features, attesting to one of the most talented and innovative artists of his time.

Born in 1895 to Joe and Myra Keaton, Joseph Francis Keaton got his name when, at six months, he fell down a flight of stairs. Reaching the bottom unhurt and relatively undisturbed, he was picked up by Harry Houdini who said the kid could really take a “buster,” or fall. From then on, his parents and the world knew him as Buster Keaton. By the age of three, Keaton joined the family’s vaudeville act, which was renamed The Three Keatons. For years he was knocked over, thrown through windows, dropped down stairs, and essentially used as a living prop. It was this training in vaudeville that prepared him for the fast-paced slapstick comedy of the silent movies.

American Masters | PBS

Wildlife at Casa NewMexiKen

Bear

This is a gif loop from 10 stills taken of the bear in my backyard June 27, 2013.

I love watching the bear problem solve — how do I get over that wall? She (he?) eventually jumped onto the berm, a leap of about 5 vertical and 5 horizontal feet. She visited again, once or twice, but I didn’t see her, only her sign. Bears have been much more scarce since the horrible winnowing of 2013, a bad drought year.

Bobcat

My cat, taken April 21, 2015. He also has been around from time-to-time, but this was my one sighting.

Bunny

One of many bunnies through the years.

These photos were taken through windows. I didn’t want to frighten the wildlife away by opening the door or screen — and I didn’t really want to let them in.

Humor Me

To you this is a nothing photo of a tiny, blurry object.

To me it is a photo of the International Space Station as it passed 249 miles above Albuquerque a few minutes ago at 4.76 miles per second.

ISS

It’s fun to see. Get yourself a good astronomy app — I favor Sky Guide, which sends me a notice when the ISS is visible at my location.

Ho Hum

Just another sunset.

Always fearing I will miss the color, I don’t run down to get in front of the power pole. I should I suppose.

Tonight, instead I tried it with the zoom — no power pole, but still the wires. Both taken from the street in front of Casa NewMexiKen. Uncropped.

Focal length (35mm): 157 mm ISO 220
Focal length (35mm): 157 mm ISO 220
Focal length 35mm: 300 mm ISO 400
Focal length 35mm: 300 mm ISO 400

Yikes!

I can deal with bears in the backyard and bobcats on the courtyard wall — and the coyotes singing at night — but this creature scared me. The photo is poor and you can’t really see his stinger curled up — I hurried for fear he would scamper under the bed and I would have to move to Nova Scotia. 

 
According to Wikipedia, a scorpion sting does not require medical attention except for children or the elderly. I did not find that reassuring. 

I had never seen a scorpion before; this one was between my chair and my bed. 

September 30th

Angie Dickinson is 84 today.

Chances are Johnny Mathis is 80.

But here’s the scary one. Greg Brady (Barry Williams) is 61.

Die Zauberflöte — The Magic Flute — premiered in Vienna 224 years ago tonight; libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That night Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder played Papageno. Mozart died less than 10 weeks later at age 35.

James Dean was killed 60 years ago today at the junction of California Highways 41 and 46. He was 24.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire

Jerry Lee Lewis is 80 today.

When he was 14, he made his public debut, playing with a local country & western band at a car dealer’s parking lot. In 1956, he went to Memphis to audition for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records label, whose stable of talent also included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. After a country-flavored audition for Philips in 1956, Lewis was told that if he could come up with some rock and roll, “we could probably do something.” Lewis didn’t write much himself, but he transformed other people’s songs into unbridled rock and roll that even he called “the devil’s music.”

Lewis’ debut single was a rocking recasting of Ray Price’s country hit “Crazy Arms.” He followed it with “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” which sold 6 million copies and went to Number Three, and “Great Balls of Fire,” a 5-million seller that reached Number Two. Both songs were from 1957, a watershed year for Lewis, and both songs also made it to the Top Five on the pop, country and R&B charts. The next year yielded more hits – “Breathless” and “High School Confidential” – and a role in a movie titled after the latter song. …

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame