Document this...

Frankly, We had never heard of the large European television channel "Arte", but here was their documentary film crew taping in my home this week. I would like to think that Europeans come to Midland, Texas to view my photographic work, or because they value my opinion on world affairs, but actually the media's goal is to speak with a special person I know, Julie, who once worked for a small oil and gas company here in town. Not that Europeans care one whit for small ten person oil companies, unless of course, one of those persons later becomes President of the United States, which is the case here.

Andrea and cinematographer Peter flew in from Vienna on Sunday, awaiting our return from Fredericksburg and our Memorial Day weekend. They seemed to have done well with the culture shock of leaving the forested beauty of Austria and landing right in the middle of some...well, rather stark countryside which abounds in West Texas. They even paid some small compliment by saying that it was not the complete desert that they had imagined. They wanted to get a flavor of the place so they met with the Mayor, toured the Petroleum Museum and we took them to get some footage of an oil well pumping. They were interested in filming everyday events in the Presidents old home town, so yesterday we took them to a Little League baseball game that Julie's son Jack was participating in. It was interesting trying to explain the game to Andrea who had never in her life seen a baseball game and knew nothing of the rules.

Julie's interviews with the media consist of recounting her years with the future President, what he was like then and how his life, policies and actions have been molded by his years in Midland. At least I think this is the gist of her talks, as I am sent out of the room. I know she does well though, because she speaks from the heart. My taped interview revolved around the history of Midland, the oil business, the ethos of the people and how I, from my perspective inside the oil business, view world events and the Presidents actions. I hope that I'm not heavily edited as it was a brilliant dissertation, at least from my humble perspective.

In our interviews with the BBC and now the Arte Channel, we made a basic assumption that their reporting would have a rather liberal tinge to it, and we tried to keep that in mind. But being Texans, we have a hard time not being ourselves and showing people who we really are and what we think. I believe that these more reserved Europeans have a hard time at first grasping this and it takes them some little while to adjust to this openess. But I think that this has served us well. I know it did with the BBC, as I still get email from one of their correspondents and their article pulled no surprises on us. After the first day with these Austrian filmmakers, we could laugh at our differing philosophies on world events and Andrea and Peter seemed to be genuinely having a good time. At least I hope they did. And I hope that they better understand our President, a man who like us, says what he thinks and means what he says.

If you are vactioning in France or Germany at the end of June, I hope you can catch the program and if you do, drop me a note and let me know how my hair looked.

A True Memorial Day......
During five hellish days in November of 1965, 234 young, proud and brave Americans died 10,000 miles from home at Landing Zones X-Ray and Albany in the Ia Drang Valley of the central highlands of South Vietnam. Their story was told in the bestselling book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and later in the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. Julie and I had the honor of spending Memorial Day with some of the Ia Drang survivors at the Adm. Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. This is what Memorial Day should be and I will never forget this one.

Most of these young men had been together and known each other for 18 months before they went to Vietnam....they knew each others wives, kids and families. They were close then, and they are perhaps closer now, more attached to each other than many of us are to our own kin. The Band of Brothers. Tears are still shed all these years later for those comrades who fell that day, and for the many wounded, and for those who have never been the same since. But also there is joy in seeing each other again and joy in sharing the good things that life has brought in the years that followed.

These are amazing men, with some amazing stories. Vince Cantu [black shirt/yellow tie] was a classmate of the books author, Joe Galloway, at tiny Refugio Texas High School, with a graduating class of 55 kids. Joe and Vince had not seen each other in the six years since their graduation. As a young UPI reporter Joe stepped off the helicopter at LZ X-Ray to cover the battle and one of the first voices he heard said, "hey Joe, you'd better get down, people are dying here". He wondered, "who the hell knows me in the middle of a battle in Vietnam"? That voice was none other than his old classmate Vince Cantu..... Vince is retiring soon from his job in Houston, and is planning to start up a new Tejano music band.

Will Parrish [red polo shirt] was a young kid from Oklahoma, and certainly had no dreams of becoming a hero. He was about to be become one, though it's a term he would not use on himself. During a human wave attack by the North Vietnamese at LZ X-Ray, Will found himself alone, manning a machine gun. He fired up all the machine gun ammunition and when that ran out, he emptied two .45 cal. pistols into the enemy.....they were that close. When the battle was done, over 100 enemy soldiers were found in front of his position. He won the Silver Star for Valor that day. Today, he is the mostly quiet modest person he has always been, still living in Oklahoma. He shies away from the term hero, an overused used term today, but his buddies know that he truly is.

Lt. Col.[retired] Bob Barker [yellow shirt/black hat] commanded one of the supporting artillery batteries at LZ Falcon, some 5 miles from LZ X-Ray. Bob and his fellow artillerymen, firing constantly for 3 straight days, poured some 18,000 high explosive shells into the enemy, and when necessary, right on top of the American soldiers at X-Ray. There is not a man who was at the battle who will tell you that the reason they are alive today is because of Bob and his artillery. That says it all. Bob is now retired in Hemphill Texas, a true gentleman and a great pleasure to be with.

Robert Saucedo [far left] was an extraordinary soldier who Joe captured on film during the battle and can be seen on our photo website, photo #2, assisting a wounded comrade to evacuation. George Kelling [red shirt] ran the evacuation medical facillity to which wounded soldiers were sent, and through his skill many lives were saved. He is now a PhD. and lives in San Antonio. Chip Parker [blue shirt/black hat] was an attack helicopter pilot in the Ia Drang Valley and provided continuous, accurate and deadly fire on the attacking NVA. He and his wife have been close friends of mine for years. Chip owns a telecommunications company in Dallas. I met Joe Pena [far right] and his wife Rose on the airplane flying to an Ia Drang reunion in Washington D.C. several years ago.....we have been friends since. Joe retired as the Chief of Police in Port Lavaca, Texas and now assists in helping youth in that area.

And the young man in the dark suit and tie is Dacien De la Paz. Dacien's father was killed at LZ X-Ray. The troops vowed that no one would be left behind and no one would be forgotten. Dacien is an example that the vow has been kept. Dacien is a living Memorial to his father and to all those who died that day and he is a member of the Band of Brothers and attends many of the reunion functions. He is a Doctor in Houston.

And finally there is the book's author, Joe Galloway [brown coat].....the reason for my association with this group. Joe has been a friend and business partner for some years now. I thank him often for my introduction to these great guys and for his efforts in telling the true story of the soldiers in Vietnam.

Memorial Day.....
Streams will be closed for the Memorial Day weekend. The management and staff will be at a fundraiser for The Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas with our good buddies from the We Were Soldiers crowd. What a great group to spent the holiday with.

Enjoy your burgers, dogs and potato salad and have a cold soda for me......but please remember the true meaning of Memorial Day. Many good Americans have died and suffered so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have!

Find the animal in you.....click here!

Which animal are you?
This is fairly accurate for me...which is why I love dogs so much. I love my packmate Julie too and eagerly seek her out! You receive five bonus points if you can identify the four examples of misspelled words above. Who does these things?

Rain....!
To all the Native American rain dancers who responded to my plea last week, a big Thank You. It is raining here today. Well we call it rain, really it's just wet. Folks in New Orleans or Seattle would consider the amount of moisture we've had today just spit in a bucket, but when you have had no rain all year you learn to alter you're perspectives. It has not been cloudy in, well I can't recall, but let's call it a coon's age. The dramatic change rather scared the Big Gold Dog who is a creature of habit and he was somewhat tentative about going outside this morning, thinking that perhaps he had awakened on a different planet.

And cool! Oh my, how delicious is cool when it's been so hot. We're talking a major league cool down today. About 50° cooler. The difference in 102° yesterday and 52° as I write will really get your attention. I had to wear a light coat on the morning dog walk today for the first time in months. So far in May we've had 10 days of over 100° temperatures and summer hasn't even started. Summer here proceeds on unceasingly until late September. I have to add, that although the final verdict on Global Warming is not in, there are indeed strange things going on with the weather in West Texas!

Yo Mama's a Redneck...
It appears that my wardrobe has been saved by the US Supreme Court . The high court refused to hear arguments from a New Jersey school district that wished to ban students from wearing clothes identified as "Redneck" or having redneck sayings on them. The school district's logic was that clothing with redneck connections was used to harrass or indimidate other students of the non-redneck persuasion.

A specific slogan mentioned in the lawsuit was "How you know you are a redneck: You wear a baseball cap to bed, and You know the Hooter's menu by heart. Holy damn cow, these aren't offensive, these are trifling. If they want to hear offense redneck sayings, they should have emailed me. You want 'em, I got 'em. Not that I wear my little jewels on a T-shirt, but I have them ready for use at the proper occasion. Offensive redneck sayings need to have references to plywood porches on trailer homes, marrying your cousin who has no front teeth...these sorts of things stray towards the offensive. You wear a baseball cap to bed? This is offensive?

Really I'm a sophisticated redneck, a suave and debonair redneck, but I have it in me none-the-less. Ask Julie. I admit here publicly that I on occasion chew Redman and occasionally when some bit slobbers off on my shirt, I consider the shirt still wearable for several more weeks. When I get a'holt of a good pair of shorts, or a T-shirt I like, you might plan on seeing it on me for extended lengths of time, like everyday. I don't see the need in getting a clean coffee cup out everyday just to put another cup of java in it. Having a dog sleep right next to my face don't bother me a lick. And I'll tell you up front I do have a Hooter's T-Shirt....given to me with love by Julie.

You'd think that the New Jersey school board would have more pertinent matters to consider than suing dumb ass redneck kids. Giving dumb assed redneck kids an education is one idea that comes to mind. What they were trying to litigate was a fashion statement. Redneck dress is no more insulting than the kids who wear baggy "shorts" that come down to their ankles or kids who wear nuts and bolts stuck through their tongues. In fact, if I was gonna' sue a kid, I'd go after the nuts and bolts crowd first...and they call rednecks stupid.

Rock on.......!
Julie and I just finished watching Austin City Limits, tonight featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd. We enjoyed hearing a couple of their old tunes, but they have not aged well, compounded by the fact that they are just plain ugly. But after the debauchery we all lived through in the 60's and 70's I suppose they are to be congratulated on being alive. Coincidentally with the door to the house open we could hear Jerry Jeff Walker playing live in concert at our May Arts Celebration about a mile from my house . Jerry Jeff, another survivor.

This got me thinking about all the old rockers and songsters from the 60's that I've had the privelage to see live. The conversation with Julie on this subject started by my mention of my encounters with ZZ Top. Going to college in San Antonio, we had ZZ play several of my fraternity parties before they got to be famous. Just 50 or so guys, our dates and ZZ Top.....pretty cool looking back now. As the treasurer, I was responsible for paying them for the two hours of music they provided. I paid them the grand sum of $400. I think that they get more now.

We then moved on to my mention of the Sir Douglas Quintet who played in our student union at Trinity University on several occasions. No concert, they just showed up and played. Julie, being younger, was not really that familiar with Sir Doug, who met with moderate success, but had a big influence on later music. While still in college I heard The 13th Floor Elevator a short lived cult psychedelic band who had a band member from Trinity U. They later imploded under a drug induced haze. Throw in The Association and you've rounded out my college era rock experience. The Association appealed more to women, but they were great musicians and vocalists. Well, I also saw Barbara Mandrell at the San Angelo Rodeo before she made the big time, but we won't count her in this rock related memorial.

Prior to going to college my experience with big time rock bands was front row seats at Paul Revere and the Raiders. Some called them rock bubble gum, but they were BIG when I was in high school....some top 10 hits. And of course at my high school all night party we had the one hit wonders, well two hit wonders.....the The Five Americans playing Western Union and I See the Light.....Being full of high school graduation and intoxicating beverages, I don't remember much about that.

Some of the best, meaning my favorite, musicians I saw while living in Hawaii. Both Canadians. Joni Mitchell was just hitting her stride as a crossover rock star coming from folk music. She was in concert with the Braker Brothers Band and was simply fantastic! She still is. And then within several months of seeing her, I saw the other great crossover of the day, Gordon Lightfoot. Saw him for the first time......three all together. This first was in a sold out Honolulu Bowl appearance where Gordo was so....well drunk....he could hardly stand up, but never missed a word in any of his numbers. The next time I saw Gordo was in Dallas at a really cheesy, sleazy little venue playing before no more than several hundred fans. I have recently met, online, Rick McGinnis the photographer who did a recent album cover for Gordo, and I'm informed that, like me, Gordo has seen the advantages of not drinking himself to death.

My later life has put me in the crowd at an outdoor performance of the original [minus Brian Wilson] Beach Boys, a B.B.King concert [where he played in the aisle right next to me] and at a private party where Ray Charles was the entertainment. Nice private party!

Perhaps my most memorable brush with musics best came several years ago when Willie Nelson was in town playing a small outdoor gig here, much like Jerry Jeff Walker is doing tonight. I had a backstage pass for Willie, and since there was really no backstage, I got to sit on the side of the 2 foot high platform, right next to Willie's sister Bobbie. Then afterwards I was invited to meet Willie at his bus. I was thinking that Willie would come out for a cameo appearence, say hey and bug out. Not So! Willie stayed for two and a half hours talking, signing autographs, and getting his picture taken. By three in the morning there were just three of us and Willie. Willie probably would have stayed longer, but the rest of us were tired. Willie is one of the most genuine, nice, and humble people I have ever met, counting himself grateful for a great career. I rue the fact that this was in my pre-digital camera days, or I'd post a picture of Willie and Me, though I did cop an autograph.

Achtung! Verboten!
From Tim Blair down under, comes a distressing story concerning the plight of one Herr Stefan Lukoschek and his protest against the German government. Stefan is angry with the Schroeder government and has painted "The Government is Crap" on the sides of his Yellow VW Bug. The German government, not being able to accept some critical thinking, is threatening to send Stefan to prison unless he removes his slogan.

Now this hits close, very close, to home with us. Julie drives a Yellow VW Bug and and someday we might just want to slap a slogan of our choosing on the door. As long as we don't espouse the violent overthrow of the government, racial hatred, criminal activities or try to advertise tacos for sale without a permit, we are free to paint whatever slogans we wish on our Yellow VW Bug. We are grateful that we live in Texas, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, where we can paste slogans critical of the German Government on our Yellow Bug without the threat of prison hanging heavy on our heads. And if the German government secret agents read this, don't bother to send your Jack Booted Storm Troopers here, our Yellow VW Bug is parked right under our symbol of slogan freedom....the Stars and Stripes!

If you own a Yellow VW Bug, now is the time to speak out! Don't let the left wing fanatics trample on your right to put slogans on your Bug! Today political slogans, tomorrow Smiley Faces!

Short Subjects......
Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers. Mothers truly do make the world go around, and functioning smoothly. One of the reasons I love Julie so much is that she is such a great Mom. She takes care of Jack, Amanda........and Me in superb fashion.

Congratulations to Lisa who completed the 13 mile Moonwalk for Cancer in London on Saturday night. You are an inspiration to us all, and it makes me want to start running in my underwear thru the streets again.......!

If you are a Native American and know anything about making rain, please do so now...target West Texas. We have not had any significant moisture this entire year. It is bleak. Several inches would be fine, but any amount would be appreciated.

On Saturday, Julie and I took Jack and several of his friends in Cub Scouts to the Kids Day at the Planetarium. We all had a bang up time participating in the varied events demonstrating elementary science. While there I was touched by a little group of girls......Brownies. These girls were from Kermit, Texas, which is generally a pretty poor small town. But here were these girls and their leader attending this learning experience forty miles from home. I wanted to thank this adult leader for taking the time to make a difference in these kids lives. I didn't lest I might embarass them, but I hope she might somehow know that someone noticed.

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The magnificent Java Cube has been removed to improve loading times. More Java Magic will appear periodically.

Oh Poo to the British....!
How lucky to live in Britain where Microsoft© is soon going to feature Wireless toilets, or as it is termed, the iLoo. As if lines to public restrooms aren't long enough, now we will have to wait for some gaseous teenager to finish reading his email. And how exciting to have web addresses on your toilet paper!

Actually this makes more sense as an option on home toilets for those of us fast readers who have exhausted our monthly Readers Digest by mid-month.

Pepe Le Pooch.......

In a half hearted attempt at international reconciliation, The Big Gold Dog tries on my old beret. I had a hard time convincing him to do this. He hates snails, bleu cheese and women who don't shave under their arms, but he was a good sport.

Actually, this beret brought distant memories flooding back. I received it in approximately 1953, a gift from my grandparents on one of their trips to Paris. Apparently as a young lad I loved it so much that I wore it all the time resulting in the nickname, "Frenchie" which was bestowed upon me by my grandfather, Norm. A name which stuck with him until his death in 1995. My brother was "Stuffer", the derivation of which is lost to history, but I can still hear Norm's voice on the phone from St. Louis......"OK good bye Frenchie, and tell Stuffer hell-o".

I don't really recall wearing it, and was unaware that it existed until several weeks ago, when my Mother was on one of her "I want to get rid of everything in the house" binges. I received it today, still looking brand new and surprisingly it has grown on me, having played so much a part in my childhood....or so they tell me. It doesn't fit my adult sized head, but gives the dog quite the continental look.

Story of the year.......!
Amazing things are revealed in this recent article from the World Weekly News! I'm not sure about the credibility of the World Weekly News, but I can attest that this article was sent to me by an old friend, who is in fact, a high ranking FBI supervisory agent in Washington D.C. Decide for yourself.......!
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NEW YORK -- FBI Agents have arrested an enigmatic Wall Street whiz on insider-trading charges -- and incredibly, he claims to be a time-traveler from the year 2256!

Sources at the Security and Exchange Commission confirm that 44-year-old Andrew Carlssin offered the bizarre explanation for his uncanny success in the stock market after being led off in handcuffs on January 28. "We don't believe this guy's story -- he's either a lunatic or a pathological liar," says an SEC insider.

"But the fact is, with an initial investment of only $800, in two weeks' time he had a portfolio valued at over $350 million. Every trade he made capitalized on unexpected business developments, which simply can't be pure luck." "The only way he could pull it off is with illegal inside information. He's going to sit in a jail cell on Rikers Island until he agrees to give up his sources."

The past year of nose-diving stock prices has left most investors crying in their beer. So when Carlssin made a flurry of 126 high-risk trades and came out the winner every time, it raised the eyebrows of Wall Street watchdogs. "If a company's stock rose due to a merger or technological breakthrough that was supposed to be secret, Mr. Carlssin somehow knew about it in advance," says the SEC source close to the hush-hush, ongoing investigation.

When investigators hauled Carlssin in for questioning, they got more than they bargained for: A mind-boggling four-hour confession. Carlssin declared that he had traveled back in time from over 200 years in the future, when it is common knowledge that our era experienced one of the worst stock plunges in history. Yet anyone armed with knowledge of the handful of stocks destined to go through the roof could make a fortune.

"It was just too tempting to resist," Carlssin allegedly said in his videotaped confession. "I had planned to make it look natural, you know, lose a little here and there so it doesn't look too perfect. But I just got caught up in the moment."In a bid for leniency, Carlssin has reportedly offered to divulge "historical facts" such as the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and a cure for AIDS. All he wants is to be allowed to return to the future in his "time craft." However, he refuses to reveal the location of the machine or discuss how it works, supposedly out of fear the technology could "fall into the wrong hands."

Officials are quite confident the "time-traveler's" claims are bogus. Yet the SEC source admits, "No one can find any record of any Andrew Carlssin existing anywhere before December 2002."

In a follow-up article on 29 April 2003, the Weekly World News reported that mysterious time-traveling Andrew Carlssin had been bailed out by an "unidentified benefactor" who ponied up $1 million, then jumped bail before an April 3 court hearing and disappeared without a trace.