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Silly me! All this time I thought the deviciveness was coming from my own fellow conservatives who were scared to death to let a "black guy" into the Whitehouse. Call him a Liberal. Call him a Socialist. I'll even go one further, I will call him one of the biggest "do-nothing" presidents in my memory.

But Jim, to say HE set race relations back 50 years is so far of the mark as to be almost laughable - except it isn't funny at all.

Don't you think it was more of the racist cowards in our own Repubican party? Like Mr. McConnell? (And oh by the way, isn't his Chinese wife as Secretary of Transportation - assisting her Father's business to the tune of milllions of dollars - clear cut case of nepotism?) Or the guy I once admired, Paul Ryan, who has shown himself to be an utter coward in facing up to "Chumps" crazy ridiculous personal insults and lies against anyone who crosses him. Or that absolute nut case in Iowa - what's his name - Steve King? Or many others I am too tired to look up on a nice relaxed Saturday.

But alas, once again, I must be confused.

(I tried to say out of this one - honest I tried - but that remark was too much for me to let pass)

06/30/18 02:19 PM

#3422

Fred,

Just think, we saved you the trouble of telling Tim or Frank.

06/30/18 02:26 PM

#3423

Mike, Sylvia and Dave,

We all can remember the torrid times of the '50's and '60's when segregation and race conflicts were nightly news stories. The next 50 years showed various degrees of healing and acceptance of blacks into mainstream society, albeit incomplete. Some of that was accomplished by legislation, some other by new generations of young people who were just raised in a less polarized America.

Under the prior administration there was an increase in activity and transition to terrorism of various groups such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, and some ultra right wing groups as well. Also there were more major clashes in some of our cities including St. Louis and Cincinnati. Some of this has spilled over into the present. This is what I consider a devisive change.

Combine that with President Obama's frequent taking sides against law enforcement officers, prior to obtaining all relevant facts, whenever a conflict or shooting occurred between LEOs and criminals of color.

Now the left is emphasizing more immigration issues and separation of families. That has been occurring during several prior administrations and yet they never pushed Congress to change the laws. The protest against the current POTUS seems to me to be misdirected. Illegal entry into the country - actually any country - is just that, illegal! Why was there no outcry in the past on this issue? What about other criminals, US citizens, who are separated from their children when they are sent to jail/prison for their crimes? Are we to just ignore the laws passed by the legislative branch of our government?

Mike, Sylvia, Dave, we differ greatly in our political beliefs and the direction in which we feel the country is heading. I would hope that we can agree that if we live in a country defined by the rule of law and our Constitution, we would expect that the laws and the Constitution should be followed and, if need be, legitimately changed or amended.

Jim

06/30/18 03:24 PM

#3424

"......the Left.....emphasizing separtion of families."

Wow, I thought I was confused before ??????

06/30/18 03:37 PM

#3425

Dave,

You misread or I was not clear. No one on either side is for separation of families. The left is making an issue out of it and blaming only the right.

Jim

06/30/18 06:18 PM

#3426

06/30/18 11:54 PM

#3427

Mary Margaret,

Good advice! I will try to follow it.

Anyway, I prefer to discuss backyard wildlife and why Frank is not playing in the Senior Open that is currently going on at the Broadmoor here in Colorado Springs. Also why the PGA doesn't allow the use of golf carts for all these old arthritic golfers. Hey, it was 100 degrees yesterday for round 2 and that had to be dangerous for those legendary guys.

Jim

07/01/18 12:47 AM

#3428

Hey Jim......I submitted the meme b/c I really wanted to jump in on the discussion, but decided it would be better for all involved to be spared my opinion!! By all means, carry on. In the meantime, here are a few one-liners that may achieve unanimous consensus!

If you are not part of the solution, you're probably running for President

I once met an honest, caring, politician that listened when I spoke and tried to help the country...........and then I woke up.

What's the difference between baseball and politics? In baseball you're out if you get caught stealing.

The consensus after the 2016 election is that 100% of Americans think 50% of Americans have lost their minds.

Stop repeat offenders...........don't re-elect them!

07/01/18 09:47 AM

#3429

Mary Margaret,

Your poster applies to me - most of the time - but especailly when I am with my own grown children, watching how they raise their children.

Bite your tongue grandpa!

07/01/18 11:45 AM

#3430

Jodelle Sims

Mary Margret, I loved your post. I don't say that very often!

07/01/18 01:58 PM

#3431

Lawrence Foster

Dear Friends,

I have been on the road for a couple weeks so I could not make the birthday party at Peggy's but the pics sure look great. I think I remember reading that someone suggested / wanted to do another get-together, in the fall, perhaps? If so may I please request that it not be between Ocotber 24-27 as I will be in visiting siblings in Texas. And if there is no big official gathering I can drive up for a Saturday afternoon lunch if anyone want to do that.

And now,

Deer Friends - Here are some deer I saw while in Massanutten, Va this last week.

07/01/18 02:12 PM

#3432

Larry,

Great shots of some very pretty deer! Those should make some good subject matter for etchings or paintings.

Jim

07/01/18 03:01 PM

#3433

I keep trying to post some cool videos from our local newspaper but can't seem to figure out how to do it. If your're bored and have a few minutes google up th "Island Packet" newspaper and click on something like "recent news".

The first video is about a retiring local "fish whisperer" - kinda cool scenes on his shrimp boat.

BTW - our "shrimpers" are dying off here. they are being killed off by cheap shrimp imports from "shrimp farms" in Brazil, Thailand, and Vietnam. Here and there you see an old shrimp boat rotting in a local channel or creek, where the owner has just walked off and abandoned it - broke and jobless.

Then about 8 articles down there is a video of a baby deer chasing after it's mother from the shore up to the dunes out on Fripp Island (just north of here). We have tons of deer down here (an absolute nuissance to gardeners and landscapers).

Just below that a pretty cool story about some local fishermen climbing out of their boat to rescue a stranded Dolphin on a sandbar (Not very good camera shots, but cool story). We have quite a few dolphin right here in front of my place on the May River. We sit and watch them sometimes in the evening as they swim by the dock. We don't feed them. That's a Federal Offense.

Then somewhre below are two "gator" stories that are pretty intersting but I don't see them on this list. If you Google up "Island Packet - "Hilton Head Man Records Himslef Rescuing....Did That Just Happen?" I think you may get a good one of a young local guy "saving" a 10 or 12 footer by relocatng him from the road to a nearby pond. Worth a few minutes - Quite interesting!

Note: We have not lost anyone locally for some time down here, but last year a resident out on the Island had his 80 pound Husky wander down near the back yard pond and was grabbed and drowned and partially eaten by a 12-footer. I have some very close shots from my iPhone as we cruise by them at close range on golf carts as we ride down the fairway.

07/01/18 11:41 PM

#3434

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

O.K., Dave, no fair! If you mention photos of gators you have to share them with us!

Jim

07/01/18 11:52 PM

#3435

Mark Schweickart

Classmate Mike published a very nice article in the WinterPark Magazine the other day. Check it out. Even though it is about someone you may never have heard of (I certainly hadn't), Mike makes you feel this man's passing as if he were someone who had been a life long comrade.

https://winterparkmag.com/2018/06/26/wordsmiths-silent-goodbye/

07/02/18 10:58 AM

#3436

Mike: What a lovely sendoff; Mark: Thank you pointing it out... you might be interested in this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/insider/obituary-writer-margalit-fox-retires.html as well as the wonderful movie "Obit" which tells of the NYTimes obit desk... It's streaming on Amazon.

Along with Mike, I have written many, many obituaries for the famous and not-so-famous in in our small community, and found them to be much more about a person's life than their death. A very humbling part of my job....

07/02/18 11:17 AM

#3437

Michael McLeod

Mark that was kind of you to post the story. It did get to me in part because it reminded me of the midwest. And it's been my experience as a writer that any time a story revolves around a small town, you're halfway there. But mainly I wanted to honor a life well spent, however tragic its end.

07/02/18 12:11 PM

#3438

Janie Albright (Blank)

Mike, you have a gift! Mark, thanks for tooting a friends horn. Sheila, love the NYT story.

For any of you posting a link, our site, for whatever reason, requires that you click on the link icon middle row right above and paste link into url for it to become clickable.

07/02/18 01:41 PM

#3439

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Mike,

Congratulations on that fine article about your fellow writer and his small, Midwest town roots. It was first class!

Sheila,

Thank you for that link to a most educational piece concerning obituary writers. I never knew there was such a speciality. Whenever one of our family members has died, and there have been many (my wife is from a large family with many deceased aunts and uncles), it has been the responsibility of surviving members to pen the obituary.

For many decades I have read the daily obituaries in our local newspaper, granted not all verbatim unless I knew the the man or woman personally or he or she was one of my patients. Since Colorado Springs is a heavily military town and my patients were mostly retirees from those military ranks, I have found out many things about their military and civilian lives through the obits that was never revealed to me in the exam room. Looking back at how well some of these were written I suspect professionals writers were involved. I have developed a new respect for those, like you, who do that work.

Oh, and let me know if any commas in the above need to be replaced by semicolons!

Jim

07/02/18 02:15 PM

#3440

Janie Albright (Blank)

Jim, I have a lifelong friend who went into the Air Force (as her mom had done in WWII) as an officer after receiving a journalism degree from OSU. One of her first assignments was at Bolling AFB in DC where she wrote and updated bios on high ranking officers that could then be used upon their demise.

07/02/18 03:28 PM

#3441

Dr. Jim: All commas present and accounted for; might want a second opinion from Mr. McLeod...

07/02/18 05:32 PM

#3442

Mike,

That was one sweet piece of writing.

------------

And Shelia, Would you PLEEEEEASE tell these people about your award a few years back?

-------------

Jim,

Sorry, I am having difficulty with my aligator videos so I have solicited the help of a few "experts" to see if one of them can make the transfer to the Forum. They are all smarter about this stuff than I am (and a lot prettier too).

07/02/18 05:33 PM

#3443

https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/untamed-lowcountry/article210882124.html

Posting for Dave

07/02/18 05:42 PM

#3444