Rock-a-bye Baby? Maybe

The "normal" pregnancy rate at Glouchester High School in Glouchester, Mass is four per year in a student body of twelve hundred, but this year the rate quadrupled to seventeen. Principal Joseph Sullivan suspected a prenancy pact amoung the girls to get pregnant and raise the children together by helping each other out. The expectant mothers were nearly all under 16 years old when they got pregnant. One of the oldest of the the group, Lindsay Oliver, 17, appeared on national televison said that was not true but just "a coincidence."

Glouchester Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Superintendent Christopher Farmer and School Committee Chairman Greg Verga held a press conference at City Hall and called the pact a fabrication. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of a pact." Superintendent Farmer reported "There were a group of girls who were being pregnancy tested regularly, leading one to conclude they were not trying hard not to get pregnant."

Wait, Superintendent Farmer, that was 150 tests administered at the high school clinic which indicates to me that they were looking for positive results not failures. In fact some of the health care workers reported long faces when given negative results and "high fives" when positive. There is some slight preceived benefit to a teen pregnancy:

Extra attention (positive or negative) given by the school, the mother's parent(s) and boyfriend.
Clearing of the complexion along with a sort of senrenity nicknamed the Madonna Effect.
Baby will help bring the bond between boyfriend and girlfriend even tighter together.
The mother will become a more complete person.
Their favorite teen star has had (or will have had) a baby and look at how the media treats her.

I believe we should go back to the flour bag baby concept for a high school course called "Home & Family." It would be a coed course where couples would be paired up and given a ten pound bag of flour to represent their "baby." Babies must be changed, "fed" and given tender loving care. No tossing the "kid" in the locker over the weekend. The child must not show evidence of abuse (torn paper wrapper) or mistreatment and a log must be maintained about diaper changings and feedings. Both students must work together to obtain a pass/fail grade. This is not to be an elective course but mandatory.

The charm and idealized legend of being a parent will soon wear off and any glorified thoughts of being a single mother will opt out as soon as possible.

K.

I walked ten miles to school in the snow, up hill both ways.

When I was a kid in elementary school during the 1950's, I joined the Boy Scouts. One of the benefits of being a Scout was to receive a paid for subscription to Boy's Life magazine, a BSA publication. This large layout periodical told kids how to bake "planked fish," tied knots and other such stuff that would be useful to the scout who was to "be prepared."

Like any magazine it had advertisers, one of which was the Savage Arms Company of Utica, NY. Savage marketed the Model 24 over and under or combo rifle with a 22 caliber barrel on the top and a 410 shotgun barrel on the bottom, all controlled by the same trigger but which required a lever to select the proper barrel. I attended my first gun show just a few months ago, and I wondered if the rifle that was touted during my childhood would still be marketed. Sure enough, I recognized it immediately. I held this old relic in my hands as I would a long forgotten toy from that same time period.

You might cringe at such an analogy, toys and guns? Yes, but those were much different times; we would like to think it was an age of innocence. This was well before Columbine High School, school multi-murders and zero tolerance. It was also a time when a kid in my high school English class went to the principal and asked if he could bring his rifle to school for a oral presentation or demonstration (a kind of a show and tell). The principal had no problem with that; the student would have his parent bring it to his office in a zippered gun case with the bolt disassembled, the student would pick it up at the office just before the class, and at the conclusion of his presentation returned it the office for the parent to pick up. Oh yes, there was to be no live ammunition (I think he brought in a dummy shell to show how it was extracted from the chamber).

I can vividly remember that unique demonstration, how to hold the rifle, positioning the webbed sling just right to aid in steadiness. I remember the various demonstrated shooting positions—prone, sitting, kneeing, and standing and how triangulation with the sling and your elbow helped to steady the shooter's aim. I cringe to think that back then it was all that simple; just get permission from the principal and bring in a gun. In today's modern, litigation happy, lawyer-dominated world, that principal would have being summarily dismissed. I wonder how much today's kids have missed out of similar experiences.

I'm not a gun advocate mind you, but I can see an opportunity when one presents itself. Today, nursery school teachers may spend hours after kids leave the building wiping down toys, chairs and doorknobs with bleach or disinfectant to prevent the spread of germs. It's for the same reason you won't see a turtle anymore in the classroom—salmonella poisoning. We shelter our children preventing them from "possible" harm. Not very long ago a parent who thought along those lines would have been considered overprotective, today we call it being reasonably prudent. Ah, the good old times, gone but not forgotten.

K.

The Lord is my Sheppard... He Restores my Soul

My experiences this past week, have put me into a stunning, traumatic shock. Could I be so oblivious to the world around me that I could not see what was happening? Was I so trusting that I was setting myself up for the biggest downfall of my life? Did I have horse's blinders next to my eyes? We see our children grow up before our very eyes, watch them metamorphous into adolescence and then mature into adulthood. Then we turn them nonchalantly loose. We turn them loose into a world, like sheep that are sent out into a pasture full of lurking, ravenous wolves, waiting to pounce upon them like so much meat at a butcher's shop window.

We as parents can only watch, hope and pray that all will turn out OK. We can only trust those eighteen years of education in school, teachings in Judaeo-Christian principles and instruction in scruples and ethics, have had an effect. It is like making a cake, we have mixed together all the ingredients, have set the timer, turned up the heat and have put the cake into the oven. Now, what remains is to watch and see (and hope for the perfect cake). If the makeup of materials lack something, if the temperature is incorrect, if the over door is opened at the wrong time, the cake will fail. They say that each of us has a guardian angle, pray for two angles for each of your children. One to diligently watch and the other to standby as a backup— a redundant system, just in case.

K.

A Tale of Two Universities

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; that happened in the month of May 2008. The best of times—Mallory Holtman, first base for the Central Washington Wildcats softball team, and shortstop Liz Wallace helped an injured opposing team member "walk" the bases. Sara Tucholsky from Western Oregon had just hit a homerun over the fence and was starting for second base when she realized she hadn't touched first. As she doubled backed to tag the base, her knee crumpled beneath her making it painfully impossible for her to run the bases. The ball would have counted as a single if anyone attempted to replace her, wiping out Tucholsky's only college career homer.

Holtman and Wallace opposing team members picked Tucholsky off the ground, cradled her between them and walked all four bases, stopping to let Sara's good leg gingerly touch each base in succession. The trio received a standing ovation from the crowd for this unheard of display of good sportsmanship. This act of kindness enabled them to appear on several morning television shows.

The worst—also in the TV news was announcement that 75 students from San Diego State University were arrested for possession and selling drugs. The grocery list of seized illicit drugs included: four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, 48 indoor grown marijuana plants, 350 ecstasy pills, hallucinogenic mushrooms, 30 vials of hash oil, methamphetamines, and various prescription drugs. Also confiscated was $60,000 in cash. 25 others, not attending the university were also arrested.

Members of three fraternities, Theta Chi, Phi Kappa Psi and Delta Sigma Pi, were arrested, according to law enforcement. Three other fraternities were suspended Tuesday (May 6th) pending a hearing on evidence gathered during the investigation. Two drug related deaths of students at SDSU, prompted the investigation. Ray Poliakoff, father of one of the dead students, and an emergency room physician from Poway, CA, said SDSU "could have chosen to turn a blind eye to the whole thing. ... [but] if one kid gets saved, if 10 kids get saved, then it's worth doing."

The good—college sport rivals helping each other out; the bad—students preying upon others in their community and the ugly—San Diego's drug ring may be only a microcosm of the drug related extra curricular activities of the entire student population. Let us pray that this is not the case.

K.

My Country ’tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty..."

I have a friend who is going blind. He has had sight difficulties since high school some forty years ago, but now the doctors tell him that here is nothing more they can do for him. How very final that sounds; blindness is just around the corner. There is nothing that I can do for him except be there to hear his frustrations, listen to his dashed hopes and befriend him.

Today, Mrs. K. and I went over to his house and talked to him and his wife. He wanted to put up an American flag so he could still see it before he totally lost his sight. Two holidays are coming up: Memorial Day and Fourth of July and he wanted to be prepared. The two of us spent some time deciding where to mount the flagstaff, finally deciding to place it on a fencepost right outside of his front door. The sun shone brilliantly on it, really lighting it up. He was very pleased with the results and I was happy that the two of us could work on it together. He was never able to serve country even though he had gone to enlist. Yet, he is as patriotic as anyone you could ever find.

What brought me to write this blog is that he gave me almost all of his entire collection of military history books; some five shopping bags filled to the top. These were his favorite pastime. You could almost say that he was a voracious reader and was very knowledgeable of American wars. I can't imagine what I would do if blindness was my ultimate fate. He is still very optimistic; he and his wife went out and bought an illuminated optical viewer so he can read the books he hadn't given away.

If there ever was a person who could use a prayer to stop the progress of his blindness (or even possibly reverse the outcome) my friend could use it. His name is Ron and I don't he'll mind if you put in a good word for him with the Man Upstairs. God has helped the blind to see before.

K.

Sunday April 27, 2008

Mrs. K . and I went to hear a masters candidate thesis presentation at Ursuline College on April 22. Ursuline fashion professor, Susan Powers discussed The Changing Silhouette of the American Wedding Gown. She highlighted how American wedding gowns can be learning tools when studied as historical artifacts of material culture. An exhibit of wedding gowns was included in her presentation.

The main reason why I was there was that my sister and her husband had donated a wedding gown worn by my brother-in-law's grandmother in 1914. It was quite interesting to see how the wedding dress had evolved over the last 100 years. Then again there hadn't been any real drastic change at all. The dress still represented the vestages of a young woman's crowning moment—the day of her wedding. It represented a young couple's hope and asperations, the future they were to share from that moment on. The bouque of flowers were long gone, in some instances even the bride, groom and wedding guests. Only the gown itself remained—a testiment to its loving care and sentiment.

The candidate, Mrs. Powers. worn a gown of her own creation as she presented her paper; her husband dressed in a groom's tuxedo—wedding cake and coffee were served after the presentation. I was quite impressed in Mrs. Powers' paper, the self-designed gown she wore and her husband's participation and support in her disertation. Mr. and Professor Powers can be very proud of each other.

K.

Pearl Harbor Revisited

All of us know about the Pearl Harbor sneak attack on December 7, 1941. The time was 8:00 a.m. (or as they says in the Navy --0800 hours) when a crewman went to the fantail, the rear portion, of his ship to raise the American flag. One minute later a torpedo from a Japanese bomber struck her on her port side. The ship began to take on water so rapidly that she began to list 15 degrees. The senior officer aboard, Lt. Commander S.S. Isquith, realizing that she was sinking gave the order for "All hands on deck and all engine room and fire room, radio and dynamo watch to lay up on deck and release all prisoners." The men were to go the starboard side of the she to avoid the shifting loose heavy timbers that had been stored on deck earlier. Four minutes later the list increased to 40 degrees and the order was given to abandon ship over the starboard side.

As the crew scrambled for safety, the increased list caused the timbers to loosen and slide into the water, crushing the men below. At about 8:12 a.m. the ship capsized after mooring lines snapped. "One of the ship's boats rushed in and picked up men in the water and commenced ferrying them to the beach. Constant strafing made the job hazardous, and many men sought shelter by swimming to the side of the mooring quay. The wounded and injured were treated along the shoreline or sent to the dispensary at the Naval Air Station at Ford Island. As survivors continued to struggle ashore, most sought protection in a pipeline trench dug by the Public Works Project."

Thirty officers and 431 men were reported to have survived the loss of the ship. The balance of the ships company, 58 men, remained entombed to this date aboard this ill-fated ship. Her hull in mostly submerged on the west side of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Its location and fate are not mentioned in the tourist brochures. Most persons visiting the historical sights at Pearl Harbor see the more publicized sites, including USS Missouri Museum, and the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum.

While 1.5 million people annually visit the more famous memorials, few know or visit the site of this sunken ship. Did I forget to say that the timbers stored aboard her deck were to protect it from target bomb practice? Had I failed to say that she was a target ship and wasn't deemed worthy to be on the Japanese hit list but was sunk in error? Did I mention the battle number of this forgotten shrine? It'sBB31-- the number of the battleship USS Utah. BB39 was the battle number of the more famous USS Arizona and now you know the rest of the story.

K.

Florida Teen Beating Video Taped

Polk County Florida prosecutors have decided to charge seven teens -- accused of pummeling a 16-year-old high school cheerleader and videotaping it for YouTube and MySpace -- as adults. An eighth teen is 18 years old and is considered by law as an adult.

All eight face charges of battery and kidnapping, punishable by up to life in prison. The six girls doing the beating range in age from 14 to 17 years old while the two boys who posted themselves as lookouts are 17 and 18 years old. Three of the girls face additional charges of tampering with a witness, which carries up to a five-year prison term.

The beating victim knocked unconscious, has bruises, a concussion and damage to her left ear and eye, although her family said she is expected to recover. The family would like a public apology from the girls, and they also want a law to protect kids on video and social-networking Web sites. The victim plans to continue her schooling at home rather than return to her high school.

The grandmother of one of the girls who was arrested says her family is suffering, too. The beating is alleged to have happened at her house while she was at work. Since the Sheriff's Office released the video this week, she has been receiving threatening, obscenity-laced telephone calls, and someone scratched her car.

Other parents of the perpetrators denied their child wasn't even at the scene, claiming they were in school or that it was a fair fight because it was one-on-one.Opinions on the Internet range from shock to disgust and outrage.

K.

Some material quoted from the Orlando Sentinal

Life

I received this from a friend and I thought I’d pass it a long; we had been discussing a new miniature computer keyboard

"K., I suspect eventually we will be able to talk directly to the computer with no need for the keyboard. In a manner of speaking, we already have this technology available in some cell phones.

"On the other hand ... we still have 45 million people with no health insurance, more than a million abortions every year, 20 percent of our people cannot read or write well enough to fill out an employment application or follow instructions on a prescription label, a high school dropout rate of 40 percent, and an old poor lady in her nineties, living on East 92nd street off Cedar, who eats canned cat food because that is all she can afford.

"We have laser-guided bombs that can seek out and kill someone virtually anywhere on earth, enough nuclear warheads to wipe out the earth completely, and troops in more than seventy countries around the world. Yet, we have one of the highest infant mortality rates, are way down the list of life expectancy for industrialized countries, and people in the prime of their life who are dying because they cannot afford the medications they require to sustain life.

"Lots ’o luck!"

Unfortunately this is true, it happens as a result of the importance we place on our priorities. If the welfare of the mankind were the topmost objective, things would be a lot different. We have a lot to learn and oh so little time to do it in.

Wishing all of you a very pleasant religious holiday.

K.

Our Sixth Sence--Fact or Fiction

I’m friends with a neighbor, whenever he knocks on the door, the dog run to the front door, her fur goes up and she gives this low threatening grown. Mrs. K. is not too fond of him either. She thinks the dog knows something and has a right to be suspicious. Do the two share some common intuition of this person’s character or agenda? Isn’t it a dog’s nature to be distrustful? Do they have some sixth sense that we human’s only have an inkling or completely lack?

Are you a good judge of character? Do your first impressions determine how you will treat someone for the time of your interaction or relationship? Or do you give people the benefit of the doubt, and let the course of time determine your opinion of their character? Luckily Mrs. K. and I hit it off pretty good during the course of our very early relationship that began forty-five years ago this month. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Would our relationship have been the same had she known that I don’t finish projects in a timely manner, leave stuff lying out or that I go on my own program and don’t consider others? I’m very glad she didn’t know the "real" me—or was willing to try and change me.

I in turn don’t try to figure people out; I let them "evolve" into the characters they become. My interaction with them changes as they change. If things are going OK then that is the way our relationship will interact; this is especially true at my job. If they turn out to have a bad day (or week, or month) then I keep out of their way; I try not to "press the issue."

Each us of has our own method of handling our determination of another’s character and how it will affect our lives or day-to-day interaction with them. We have found what works best for us and then go with it. Perhaps it is a throwback to another more primitive time when we had only seconds to make that life or death decision, which saved our lives. In some cases this sixth sense in still in effect for cops and soldiers who encounter dangerous decision making choices everyday.


K.

The American Dream--Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

I can still picture them both in my mind, two young men who died in their mid twenties. Both were oh so young and full of life, both filled with ambition, wanting to succeed, and both died by their own hand. The first, let’s call him "G," had an amazingly strong, firm handshake, very sincere. I told him he should enter politics because of his handshake, he had the strength to shake hands all day long and not let it faze him. He was very likeable.

G loved everything about the Spanish people, the language, culture, everything. Had he lived long enough he would he watched the Spanish TV stations incessantly, but they only became available after he died. G became enchanted with a Latino girl in his Spanish class in college and waited until the last day of that class to ask her out on a date. She refused; he went home, put a gun to his head and blew his brains out. So very impulsive, so very senseless. Why? Only G knew the hurt of rejection, it was way too much to bear. His act could not be reversed, no second chance, no turning back. It was his final solution.

The second young man was "D." D too was likeable, friendly and quiet. He grew up a small rural town and came to this area to make it "big." He was a good friend to have; his only flaw was he fell into the wrong crowd, and became addicted. Drugs have a way of turning a good, sensible person into something you wouldn’t recognize; like the book Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde. Oh, they make you feel good; the worries of the world drop away as you "drop out." But the dark side to them is they can kill–as family and friends of D unfortunately found out. I’m sure D never knew, as reality (and life) just slipped away. "Just one more ’hit" before I go back home and face rehabilitation." His mother was coming to reclaim her son, to take him back home so she could monitor his recuperation, his return to the normalcy of living. Instead, she went home with his lifeless body to bury him in the small town family cemetery. His last ’hit" indeed became his last act.


I feel very sorry for both of these men, who perhaps represent only a microcosm of what happens on a daily basis in this world. They were energetic, full of life, searching for that elusive, difficult to find, happiness. Now they are nearly forgotten except by their respective families and a few close friends. Sleep in peace gentlemen, sleep in peace.

K.

I remember, I remember

I didn't think about it until I read someone's blog about the death of her mother and sister. My mom died 5 yrs. ago next month. I didn't realize how fast the time had gone by. Like it was just yesterday. I had been to her gravesite several times but perhaps not enough.

In my mind I play back the events of our lives as if it was a recorded movie. More often I remember the stupid arguments we had, two headstrong people of German heritage who could not compromise; who always thought their way was the best. Her favorite expression was "learn from the mistakes of others." I couldn't see it. Her mistakes were not going to be my mistakes. We were in different times, different places, and different sexes. We were so different, and yet so much the same. I see my mother in myself. We have the same drive and determination, the same ambition (or lack of it).

Mom, I wish we could have had decent conversations, like two sensible people. There are questions that I think of now that I wish I had asked. But then I thought you would always be there; and now you're not.

Thank you Suzette for jogging my mind.

K.

Baby It's Cold Outsise

It’s cold outside; and the temperature will continue to drop well below freezing. The oil in the car’s crankcase is the thickness of molasses. It will take several minutes of running before it will warm up to anything resembling a free flowing liquid. Material goods such as wooden picnic tables or fences, protective plastic covers and metal steering components on cars become brittle and take on new physical properties completely different than their milder weather counterparts. Simply put, they break under strain that normally would never affect them. Car windows, doors and locks are prone to freezing. Car batteries become 50% as efficient during deep cold cycles. Cursing in frustration becomes a new occupation.

Going outside becomes difficult as exposed flesh of the face, ears, hands give up their precious heat to the brutally cold temperature. Walking the dog becomes a chore for both animal and human; the only difference between the two is that the animal knows when it’s time to seek shelter. The human will try to extend his endurance to the cold out of ignorance, pride or pleasure, sometimes a combination of all three. The sensation of pain during the thawing frostbite is a great reminder of our stupidity.

Our only consolation to these extremes is out memory of the pleasant spring weather that is just around the corner. These include our thoughts of the early flowers, the tree buds and grass shoots that begin to carpet our lawns and parks. Also coming to mind are the visions of road repair crews as they rid the street of the cavernous chuckholes that pox the surfaces. So cheer up, spring is just a robin’s chirp away.

K.

And just when you thought you had seen it all....

While the Screen Writers Guild strike is still on and you’re sick of looking at reruns and syndicated reruns, you must log on to YouTube.com if not for the fun of it at least for the education. There you will find an eleven year old girl field stripping her father’s semi automatic AR15. In today’s day and age it may not be her father’s civilian version of a military rifle but her very own. She was damn good at it too; she took it apart and put it back together in time that would make a Marine recruit blush. Imagine a drill instructor saying, “Its’ so easy an eleven year old girl can do it.” I also saw an anorexic, ninety-pound bikini clad girl shoot her boyfriends Desert Eagle. The recoil was so violent (or she was so under nourished) the barrel of the gun flew back and hit her in the nose.

Another young women discussed the nuances of the 1911 model semi automatic pistol. I didn’t know that several manufacturers made the same gun to government specifications or that it came in single or double action versions; it also it available with single or double stack magazines in various calibers. And still a forth young woman (possibly the older sister of our eleven year old field stripper) pointed out the features of daddy’s AR15 and shot off a few rounds for emphasis.

The most dramatic scene however, was when “dad” showed off his home modified, totally automatic AR15. He proceeded to demonstrate its ability to fire off 300 rounds in less than a minute, which included 3 magazine changes. Now that’s “protection.” If you’re a hunter you could feed the whole city with the rapid way you could knock down a gaggle of geese. You would need a kennel of dogs to fetch the carcasses to bring them home. I really wouldn’t call that type of hunting a “sport.” But hey this is America and he does have the right to bear arms. What is even more interesting is that he transported all this equipment to the gun range in his car with his family. Restrictions, what restrictions? This is America and he can do whatever he damn well pleases. Wouldn’t you feel safer living in the house next to his? “Look Dad, more geese.”

K.

The NRA and Your Rights -the Right to a Safe Work Place

I must admire the tenacity of the National Rifle Association. They have a very specific agenda, protecting the Second Amendment rights of Americans— namely the right to bear arms when ever, and wherever they choose to do so. Case in point twelve workers at a Weyerhaeuser Company plant in Oklahoma were fired in the fall of 2002 because they violated a company policy of bring guns onto the plant property. The guns were kept in their cars or trucks in the company parking lot. Two thirds of the fired employees challenged their firing, saying it violated their right to bear arms. The court and the appeals court ruled in favor of Weyerhaeuser. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why twelve guys would want to bring guns to work even if they didn’t bring them into the plant. Was getting the jump on hunting season that important or were they planning on attending a gun show or gun meet right after work?

“Should people who lawfully possess firearms be able to leave them locked in their motor vehicles, on business property? Common sense would say, ‘yes.’ All 50 states allow the transportation of firearms in motor vehicles for all lawful purposes and 48 states allow the carrying of firearms in vehicles for personal protection, in some manner. More than one of every four of America’s 65-80 million gun owners carries a firearm in his or her vehicle for protection.” Copyright 2008, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.

I like the part in the paragraph above saying “common sense would say, ‘yes.’” If they’re not company security they should leave their toys at home and not bring them to work to show off to their friends or worse, take out the boss or co-workers when they get pissed off. If you’re in a plant and you need “protection” are you going to run out to your car, load your gun (hopefully you had enough sense to leave it unloaded when you hit road bumps) and run back into the plant to protect someone or something? “Hey man, I saw how you looked at my girl.” I also like the part of 25% of the gun owners carrying guns in their cars. It gives a new meaning to road rage.

On January 16th the Georgia legislature will consider parking lot stored guns on company property. I hope they choose wisely. If I had my way the only gun(s) an individual could own would be the kind that the Founding Fathers of the Constitution were familiar with. These would be the smooth bore, flintlock, single shot, black powder muskets and pistols of 1776. Nothing more would due. Keep it up NRA, I’m “gunning” for you.

K

Those who cannot learn from the past are forced to relive it (over & over).

If you had predicted this, I wouldn't have believed that I would have written nearly 100 blog comments. I couldn't explain why I started this in the summer of 2007. Was it merely to have expressed an opinion, to test my skills as a writer or some other reason? I don't know. At one time I was ready to cash it all in and give up completely. A friend at work, who reads most of these blogs, encouraged me to continue. "Give it time," was his comment. So far I've had over 2000 "hits" which is very surprising as well.

Topics written about include my aversion to the wide spread use of guns and our total apathy to stricter gun regulation (notice I didn't use the word control). I still would like to see greater national gun regulation. For example, just a few days ago, a cop was killed in Mansfield, OH by no less than his own brother, a corrections officer. Both were licensed to own and carry guns as part of their job. Is there nothing that could have been done in this instance? It has been reported that the murdering brother was on medication for being bipolar. He was bipolar and allowed to carry a gun? What gives here? Where was the doctor who prescribed the drugs, the superior officer of this brother who must have known about his condition, and the family of the brothers in this example? Was everyone just nodding his or her head, sleeping? Didn't anyone have any foreside as to what could have happened? This young police officer didn't have to die and leave a mourning wife and child. It is totally unacceptable.

Gun regulation will only occur when all of us are so fed up with this carnage that our voice will become loud enough for legislator to hear across the country. This is a political year; the politicians want your vote and will promise almost anything to get it. Make sure that your opinions are heard. Write, phone or email your politicians on the local, state and national levels to let them know how you feel. Remember, your voice can, will and should be heard.

K.

New and Improved (but for how long?)

My son and I were talking about it Sunday evening. About how much technology has changed. In my life time, I’m 63, and in the era of music storage we have gone from 78 rpm to 45 rpm to 33 1/3 long play records. Then came reel to reel, eight trac and cassette tapes. From there we went to CD and currently mp3 storage. My sister-in-law’s husband, who has worked in the laser development field, believes that the width of the transmission band on recording devices will be one atom wide (vs. the ¾ inch wide video transmission of several years ago). Where will it go from there? Who knows?

It seems that not only is technology changing but the rate of change is changing. It seems to be growing in an exponential rate. We can see it in our own lifetimes as we must purchase the latest and greatest piece of audio (or video) transmission electronics. High definition TV is only one of the latest; other formats will follow in rapid succession. It makes life interesting, complicated, fast paced and expensive.

K.

"What time is it?" "Hey see that sun dial over there."

Did you feel it? It was hardly noticeable. It happened on Saturday, December. 22, 2007, at 1:08 A.M. Eastern Standard Time. It was the Winter solstice when we have the shortest day and the longest night (in the northern hemisphere). Depending upon the calendar shift, it can occur between December 20 and 23. The reverse happens between June 20 to 23 when the days start getting shorter.

To me, the winter solstice signals the beginning of a longer daylight cycle, the time more sunshine appears on my portion of the earth and starts to warm me up. It doesn't mean that we will instantly get warmer weather because there is something called a delay factor. February and March can still give us some nasty, cold, snowy days. But it's the beginning.

The part that interests me is how did the ancients know this? Remember Stonehenge, it was some sort of solar calculator that a primative group of people fingered out. How they determined that, I'll never know. Was it just pure dumb luck? Were they influenced by extra-terrestials? The Devel? Who knows. The point is they knew and I never could have figured that out. Maybe these are the guys that started Cambridge University.

K.

Ho Ho HO little girl (or boy) What do you want for Christmas?

Now that Christmas is rapidly approaching, you have your Wish List all ready to go—to give to anyone who is willing to listen. If we could just eavesdrop upon ourselves we would hear "I want that and that and one of those, and may I have that please…" The real problem is that we are unappeasable, like an unquenchable fire. We must have more and more. "If I only had that new widget, I'd be happy." Then we get the widget, are we happy and satisfied? No! We want some thing else—today's latest and greatest, not yesterdays. Case in point: do you even remember what you received last Christmas?

I don't know if it's human nature or Western Culture that drives us this way. At any rate, if we were to hear ourselves, perhaps make a recording and listen to it a year or even ten years from now, we would sound like spoiled brats. The very item we want so badly will be tomorrow's junk and discard. Remember seeing parents standing hours in line to give their children a Cabbage Patch doll? Remember seeing people fight to get into that line? More recently we have seen people fight for an Ipod or Xbox 360? We really do need an attitude adjustment.

I remember going to a large school sponsored rummage sale; carefully packed away was a vintage reel-to-reel tape recorder. Nobody wanted it. It was just clutter. The real shame is that in its day this equipment was a very desirable piece, top-of-the-line. Today it's junk.

Please don't forget the real reason for this season, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior and King.

K.

There is a time for all seasons, and one is a time to be happy.

My office had its annual Christmas party recently. It's a four-hour event that I look forward to each year and having been there 36 years, I have been to quite a number of them. It's a good time to interact with all of your colleagues, to learn of their goals and ambitions and discover their likes and dislikes. It is also an opportunity to see them in a totally different context, to view them in a non-working environment. Usually we play some type of icebreaker game that livens the party and you see the natural leaders and take charge type personalities come forth.

Do we really need liquor to have a good time? For some the answer is an unequivocal "Yes!" The great majority says, "It makes no difference to me, I'll go with the crowd." An infinitesimally smaller minority feels that it spoils this discovery, interaction process. While we're offered two free drinks, for some reason two is never enough and that seems to color the whole scene or make it tenuous at best. Indeed you do see others in a way that would normally not be familiar. You can be assured: what is spoken during these times is not hindered by constraint or inhibitions. This is raw feeling without boundaries. The kid gloves are off.

Of course for the latter group to even hint at this suggestion would be tantamount to being called a "spoil sport," "wet blanket" or "party pooper." It just won't fly. As the planners analyze the success of this event and begin to plan for the next, let us remember the real reason for this celebration. This time of the year is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

K.