The Lesson Learned....

I was scrubbing a pan in the kitchen tonight, finishing up the work Julie had started, when it all came back to me. Julie had done a good job on a baking rack and pan, but when I looked at the chrome finish I saw small stains, brownish discoloration and some grease spots. Nothing really, done well by anyones standards, but I knew the pan wasn't quite finished. There is something about an even slightly spotted pot or pan that takes me back and reminds me of one of the best lessons that I've ever had.

During the summer of 1969 I was in Army ROTC basic training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and one fateful day my turn came up on the KP roster. Kitchen Police. Slave labor. 24 hours in the mess hall with maybe a chance to catch 3 hours sleep on the 50 lb. potato sacks. Supervised by mess NCO's who were nothing to be trifled with. In that older army the mess NCO's were a class to themselves. Mean, surly and hard working. Few officers tried to pull rank on them. They did their jobs and they were left alone...a tough bunch who served some pretty damn good chow. But here I learned a lesson as valuable as any I have ever had.

One of my chores was to scrub and wash all the major pots and pans after the dinner meal. Not an insignificant amount of metal implements, large metal implements. Late into the night I scrubbed and when I declared myself finished I thought I had done a fairly good job. However when the Assistant Mess Sergeant did a cursory inspection he looked me right in the eye and said, "Private, that's the worse bunch of horsexxxx I've ever seen in my life, that's a half-ass job and you're a sorry piece of xxxx, do them all over again". Hot, exhausted and grimy, I was about to offer a "But Sergeant.....", when I took a look at his face, took a look at my work and said nothing. I did them all over again.

About 2 A.M. as I remember, the senior Mess Sergeant, an E-8, stopped by and asked why I was still at the pots and pans. I told him my sad tale. This grizzled veteran of Korea and two tours in Vietnam sat down with me and said this: "Son, you are training to be a United States Army officer. Probably you are going to be leading men into combat. Their lives depend on your skill, integrity and judgement. If you're willing to do a half-assed job on something as simple as scrubbing a pot, you're setting yourself up to do a half-assed job on the more important things, things that could get people killed. I hope you'll remember this".

And you know what Sergeant...to this day, 35 years later, I do.

Hangin' with the Doobies....the full story

Julie and me with Doobie Pat Simmons

The Doobie Brothers were in town and we were there. Wouldn't have missed it. And as you may have read several weeks ago, we were provided backstage passes by Cris Simmons, wife of co-head Doobie Pat Simmons. We wouldn't have missed it even without this special invitation.

The concert was magnificent, especially in a smaller venue which allows an upclose experience. The darkened stage was awakened by the gut wrenching rumble of a Harley and when the lights came up, there were the Doobies into the first chords of "Rockin' down the highway"

Got those highway blues, can't you hear my motor runnin', Flyin' down the road with my foot on the floor

The crowd went bonkers as they transitioned into "Jesus is just alright with me.." Non-stop hits for about 30 minutes and then somewhat of a respite as they performed some of their more recent cuts including Pat Simmons on a Hawaiian slack key guitar number and some blues. Great stuff.

The final half an hour was filled with some of their biggest hits, and as the beer and hard rock n' roll worked it's magic on the crowd people started edging towards the stage. And so did we as the time had come for us to worry about getting backstage after the frenzy. So for 15 minutes or so, we stood about 25 feet in front of the Doobies, but very near the backstage entrance.

I had prepared myself for a throng of perhaps 100 people backstage and probably just the chance to say a quick hell-o to Pat Simmons and tell him the "We Were Soldiers" photos I had sent to Cris and him were on the way to his home. And maybe get one quick photo with him. We had met the Doobies road manager a few moments earlier and he quickly ushered us back without much of a wait.

What we found backstage had us dumbstruck. Instead of a hoarde of wellwishers, Julie and I basically found ourselves alone with the Doobies and only three or four other VIP's including the kid who had bought the Doobies signed guitar at the auction before the show. We walked into the room and there were my rock n' roll heroes all eating dinner. I introduced myself to Cris Simmons and then we decided to give the guys some privacy while they finished their steaks.

As we stepped out of the room back towards the stage, I spied drummer Mike Hossack and introduced myself. After explaining who I was we got into a friendly conversation about the military [he is a Vietnam Vet..Navy] and the subject of the movie "We Were Soldiers" came up [I had my WWS movie hat on]. Turns out he has seen the movie 6 or 7 times and when I told him that I would be glad to get him an autographed book and photo similar to the one I gave to Pat Simmons, he was so overjoyed he gave me his home mailing address...with instructions that he'd kill me if it got into the hands of groupies.

Mike, Julie and I walked back into the performers lounge and had a nice chat with Cris Simmons who led us over to hubby Pat with the comment, "this is Wallace, the one who's sending the WWS photos". This intitiated the start of a great talk with Pat, photos all around and my mentioning that the We Were Soldiers survivors have a reunion in Washington every year, and how would the Doobies like to attend sometime. And knock me down....but Pat said, "We'd like to try and come, when is it, let me check our schedule and please email me with the details."

While I was talking to Pat, Julie had made her way over to the groups super bass player, "Sky", a name aptly applied to the big guy. As I made my way into the conversation with him I found out that he also has a military connection, his Dad was a career Air Force NCO.

The night turning late and with the Doobies off for Ft. Worth early in the morning we decided to take our leave after another round of thank you's and autographs. Our trip home had us talking about what a great group of people these were, and I'm still agog about the experience. After being on the road for days and having just finished playing a knock down concert I wouldn't have blamed Pat, Mike, Sky or the other Doobies for being polite, saying "hi" to us and then, "sorry we gotta' go". But they stayed as long as we cared to talk. Hope I get to see them again in Washington soon. Here are some photos of the evening...Hangin' with the Doobies

Guantanamo......

Julie directed my attention to this NY Times article via The Drudge Report. I was interested in perusing it mainly because my good friend Gen. Tom Hill [photo] is quoted several times. Tom is the commander of SouthCom, the major command for Central and South America and under which the Guantanamo Prison falls.

The article is worth a read, though lengthy, and for the most part lays out the facts and both sides of the opinion about the prison facility. But...being the NY Times, one gets the feeling that the opinions of choice are those on the negative side. The report cites a litany of evidence from the lack of useful intelligence information that some say comes from the prison, to abuse, to the innocents being held.

However, as the authors lay out their negative comments, the facts keep shooting them in the feet. Such as the fact that at least 5 of the 57 Afghan detainees released have returned to the battlefield as Taliban commanders or fighters. One is now a notable commander known to be responsible for 13 deaths in Afghanistan including two aid workers. Or the fact that for all of the purported lack of intelligence, the so called 20th hijacker, Mr. Kahtani, was finally smoked out after lengthy interrogation. And one of the abuse cases cited is comical. A poor detainee was abused by being questioned for 20 hours in front of an air conditioner. Horrible. I'll bet any U.S. soldier serving in the heat of summer in the Iraqi desert would volunteer for such abuse.

As Tom Hill sums it up...."We weren't sure in the beginning what we had; we're not sure today what we have," said Gen. James T. Hill, the head of the Army's Southern Command. "There are still people who do not talk to us. We could have the keys to the kingdom and not know it."

So why is there any discussion? Perhaps the real debate should be, "do we shoot ten of these criminals for every American murdered in Iraq"?

Bubba goes to space....

Congragulations to Burt Rutan and the StarShipOne. These forward thinkers are not really Bubba's, but certainly they are first "regular" folks to fly to the official edge of space and for a total cost that probably is less than one of John Kerry's family homes.

The "mother ship" and the actual "space ship", StarShipOne, look like something out of a 1930's comic book or the drawings from a 12 year olds fantasy. In fact they looked a tad flimsy to be going to such heights and speeds particularly when compared to the massive proprortions we are used to in NASA vehicles. This made the attempt all the more exciting in my thinking. And, frankly, they made it look somewhat too easy, not withstanding that I realize that they've been working on this for years.

It was an historic event in aviation and truthfully one of my first thoughts was this. Here in the U.S. the government has been launching humans into space since the early 1960's and now we also have private citizens building spacecraft and leaving the planet. I wonder why the superior cultures of Europe have never put one, not one, person in space? While we are pushing the envelope of exploration, I wonder why the morally superior Imams and Potentates in the Middle East can't even provide most of their citizens with shoes or clean drinking water? Well no, I don't really wonder, I know. I hope they think about this too.

Clinton defends successor's push for war...

That headline on CNN online grabbed my attention. Here's CNN reporting on Bill Clinton doing the right thing and supporting the country and it's present leader in time of crisis. Speaking up because while in office he suspected full well, just as President Bush did at the time, that in all likelihood Saddam possesed WMD or had the means to produce them quickly. For once I praise Bill Clinton's honesty for speaking up. But one has only to read a few short sentences down in the article to let CNN's true colors shine through.

CNN) -- Former President Clinton has revealed that he continues to support President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq but chastised the administration over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

If you read the article you'll note that Clinton did not utter these phrases as one statement. They are taken from an extensive interview in Time Magazine next week. Clinton supports the war in Iraq. Clinton abhors the prison abuse. Clinton did not link the two events. CNN does that. No, CNN could not just print the story that the mentor of the liberal Democrats supports the war in Iraq without dredging up references to the prison abuse affair and making them one and the same. A liberal leader speaking up for the war effort...let's negate that by adding that somewhere else he mentions the nasty affair at Abu Ghraib prison.

But CNN, we are probably smarter than you think we are. We're really sorry that some misguided juvenile perverts acted out at the prison....but this is what we'll remember from your article.

Clinton, who was interviewed Thursday, said he did not believe that Bush went to war in Iraq over oil or for imperialist reasons but out of a genuine belief that large quantities of weapons of mass destruction remained unaccounted for.

Commander Cody...

A short note of congratulations are in order for my good friend and old army pal Dick Cody. That's General Dick Cody, now wearing four stars and named by SecDef Rumsfeld to be the new Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. For people without a military background that means that Dick is now second in the chain of command of the army. And a note. The "commander" refered to above was never Dick's rank, nor an ego trip of some kind for him. The knickname was given to him by us in reference to Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, a band of some repute at the time. But the name has stuck; I understand his troops over the years have called him thus, and Dick himself signs his mail that way.

Dick and I go back to 1972 when he and I were lieutenants together in the 25th Infantry Division. Dick and I ran in the same young officer crowd, both had Corvettes and became quite good friends over the years. The photo above is one I took when Dick and I went fishing in Hawaii about 1973. We caught a 200 lb. marlin that day...that photo lost to posterity. And, of course, I had purchased a bed from Dick in '72 that remained with me until last year as chronicled here

Dick had been in the Transportation Corps. when we were in the 25th Div. while I was in the Infantry. He commanded trucks, I commanded infantrymen. So I was surprised some years later when he phoned me in Dallas saying that he was passing through town ferrying Cobra gunships from point A to point B. Dick had yearned for a little more excitement than trucks had to offer and had become a helicopter pilot. And he became a noted one at that.

During the first Iraqi War, Desert Storm, it was Dick's Apache gunships that fired the first shots of the conflict, slipping in at sand dune top level to take out Iraqi radar sites prior to the unleashing of the air war the next day. Dick later went on to command the 101st Airborne Division and most recently has been Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army for operations, the G-3.

It is interesting that in the international aviation hall of fame organization, A Gathering of Eagles, two of the seven modern army aviators enshrined are good friends of mine. Dick Cody and Bruce Crandall.

Also interesting, and noteworthy, is the fact that my only two good friends still on active duty in the army are now both of four star rank. Gen. Tom Hill, commander of SouthCom, and now Dick. I think the only conclusion one might draw is that they both took to heart the leadership example I set for them all those years ago.

Who would you rather have quarterbacking America?

Gentleman, Start your engines...!

If you are a motor sports fan, this weekend is for you with all forms of auto racing happening and on the air!

We started off today by watching qualifing for the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada, where amazingly my man Ralf Schumacher has won the pole position for Sunday's race. Ralf is the driver I use on our amazingly great PlayStation2 Formula 1 game so I'm glad to see him finally overshadowing his brother Michael. We are glad to see Formula 1 finally get to the Americas. No more getting up at 6 A.M. to watch the race live.

Next we switched to the 24 Hours of LeMans and the sports car scene, my favorite. You have to be a true aficionado of the sport to follow this one. The coverage gets confusing unless you know the car classes and can follow drifting, lilting reports from track and the pits. As I write late Saturday night, two Audi teams were leading. It's always interesting to get up in the morning and see how things have changed in the preceeding hours. Sorry to say, our buddies at Panoz had "abandoned" with gear box failure.

The other races I'm not so excited about, but we'll try and catch some of those too. The Indy Racing League event should be fun, though Indy Car racing has done great injury to their fan base by the division of the series into two seperate leagues. Funny how big money will ruin things. But....since Julie wants to go to racing school at the Texas Motor Speedway next fall, this will give her a chance to size up the track!

Lastly there is NASCAR from Pocono. I know that NASCAR is by far the most popular form of auto racing with the general public, and I do watch, but I was taught proper English and it just galls me listening to the commentators. "Whee doggies, he don't know it but his engine just blowed up". Besides I can't identify with many of the young drivers are more media stars than good ol' boys. Still it's racing and I'm for it.

So Sunday will be a big day. The nice thing about the Formula 1 races are that young Jack and I drive the courses on the PlayStation so we're pro's at knowing the course. Though I'm a little more sophisticated in my cornering and braking points, Jack is coming along just fine.

The Final Farewell.....

It was a truly remarkable day, from morning in the East till Sunset in the West, as I'm sure most Americans who saw any part of the final ceremonies for President Reagan will agree. Julie, Jack and I caught significant portions of the final day of remembrance as we went about our day in and out of the house.

We, all three together, started watching the services from the National Cathedral and when I had to go to the office, I concluded by listening on Internet radio and then from my car as I went to meet them for lunch. I turned on the car radio just in time to hear the hymn "Mansions of the Lord" from the film We Were Soldiers being played at the cathedral. It was a personal connection to the services for me....having met the song writer [movie producer Randy Wallace] and knowing what the hymn means to many of my friends whom the film was about. Very special.

Julie and I have just turned off the TV tonight after watching the burial services from the Reagan Presidential library in California. A sunset ceremony just as the President himself had planned. And one with a more personal character which was a fitting way to end the week after all the state affairs had been concluded. It was just beautiful and a little strange with heads of state mixed with the likes of Bo Derek and Scott Baio. But I'm very glad that we got to hear the words spoken by the Presidents children; it put a nice personal finishing touch on the week and to be honest, my first true feelings of genuine sadness about his passing.

What I really want to comment on was the TV coverage. For all it's legions of faults, this is one thing that television is still good at far above all other media. And of which there is far too little. Involving the nation in a live event that both entranced and educated viewers without the need for debate or political correctness is something that is almost non-existant today..how sad.

And if you didn't watch the coverage of the ceremonies on Fox News, I offer that you were watching the wrong channel. It was so astounding that I made a comment to Julie about it this morning. I watched at least an hour of the ceremonies in Washington before I left for work and what I noticed was that there was no commentary, no talking heads blathering on with the assumption that the public was just to stupid to grasp the details. Fox was just letting us watch the events in real time without explanation.

I found no need to switch channels to the other big networks, but I can only imagine what they were offering. Peter Jennings feeling inadequate if there was more than 30 seconds of silence, Peter abhorbs silence. Peter telling us what kind of tires are on the hearse, Peter explaining who Lady Thatcher is and why she is important. I can just hear Tom Brokaw droning on about why Ronnie Reagan, from the Greatest Generation, was born to be a leader.

What Fox News did was just to lend us their cameras, allow us to be there and to think our own thoughts without distraction. For this I thank them. Is it any wonder why their ratings are high. Perhaps it's because they don't assume that we're morons incapable of viewing the boob tube without a constant flow of explanation.

A memorable day and week indeed and apparently others thought so too. After the services were concluded several of the commentators agreed that this could be compared to the Kennedy funeral so many years ago. I concur and have to, for once, thank television for it's coverage...or rather the Fox News Network.

Well doggonnit!!

"Thanks to the researchers who've proven that people who talk to their dogs are cutting-edge communicators, not just a bunch of eccentrics."

Yes thanks indeed, I'm glad to know I'm not just a kook, a complete kook that is. A new German study cited here says that most dogs understand language at a rate the scientists said was equivalent to that of a 3-year-old child...or an ape or dolphin. I'd prefer to communicate with an ape or dolphin more than with most 3 year olds, but that's another story.

I've always known that dogs have an innate ability to understand, and I've always talked to them. I guess that's why I love dogs so much and we've always gotten along. I've only been bitten by one dog in my life....my brother's French poodle. The reason for the bite is quite obvious; he didn't understand what I was saying.

My Golden Retreivers have been amazing in their grasp of the English language however. Ranger, my dear comrade of the late 80's and 90's had quite a range of vocabulary. When I would say "Duck" [as in a waterfowl] he would immediately look up and start searching the sky for a stray gaggle of mallards. He was a retreiver yes, but I had never ever taken him duck hunting nor been around lakes with ducks. Where he got that trait I don't know, genetics maybe. And we had to spell out C-A-T, for if we uttered "CAT" he was at the front door barking furiously for 20 minutes. The same with "SQUIRREL", only this would send him out the back door trying to climb the mulberry tree. If we were, by chance, to utter the word "BATH" in his presence he would slowly start to slink away and if we made a move in his direction he would shift from "slink" to "haul ass" in a nanosecond.

Ranger was also adept in automotive language. Like most Golden Retreivers he relished being in the family bed. My mean and evil Ex Wife did not relish nor allow a 95 lb. dog in the bed. So whenever she would leave in the morning, into bed he would hop. If I came home first drving my Blazer, he would still be in full repose. However if the mean evil EX came home in her Volvo he was out of the linen in a flash. He knew the sound of a Swedish engine better than most humans I know.

The present Big Gold Dog, Tres, is less communicative than Ranger but in a way, smarter about his understanding of language. Tres knows all the words, but he also has me figured out. His dog notes on me read something like:

Owner: soft touch, easy, pushover; don't have to do a thing he says. Important words to respond to: "Chow", "Ride", "Walk", "Treat". Ingore all else.

Actually Tres is more of a talker than a good listener. Thankfully for us, he's the only dog I've ever had that will tell you precisely when he needs to go out and do his duty so we never worry about him. He will go to the back door and utter one single muffled "woof". That's it..."woof", I need to go. If by chance we don't resond quickly enough, there is a second and very loud "Bark". We know then he really has to go. The same procedure applies when he wants to come back in.

Daphne, Julie and Jack's dog, is another matter entirely. Daphne is an Abyssinian Squirrelhound....aka "Mutt". Mutt's are genetically smarter than most other dogs since they most typically are the strays of the world and have had to fend for themselves over the eons. Daphne is as smart as they come, and like a precocious child is generally a wise ass when it comes to language. She understands everything we say, but does not comply with anything we wish, unless she wants to do it. She learned "sit", "lie down" and "roll over", I'm told, after only one or two training sessions. She knows not to dig, bark at squirrels and to stay out of the flower beds. Her reaction to a command to do, or not do, any of these is to run out of leash range and smirk. A very perturbing and frustrating trait in a dog. And when it comes time to scold her with the old favorite "Bad Dog!"....well she just looks the other way like we are talking to some imaginary other dog.

Ranger: good listener.
Tres: good talker.
Daphne: poor communication skills all around.

The Doobies...dreams do come true...

Several days ago I wrote here about my excitement that The Doobie Brothers were coming to town for a benefit concert. Since then things have happened that lift my level of excitement until it knows no bounds!

While catching up on the history of the band I reviewed The Doobies website. Deep within I found a contact email address which cheerfully stated that, "We try and respond to all mail". So I thought that I would drop an electronic note to them, telling them that I was a veteran and expressing my appreciation for all the good music over the years and for their aid and assistance to veterans organizations.

Last night I found out that they do indeed answer their email. I received the following email...

From: doobiemail@xxxxxx.net [mailto:doobiemail@xxxxxx.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 10:04 PM
To: WCraig


Would you like two passes to the backstage Meet & Greet after this show? We can't give you tickets, but we can offer these (which you can't buy!).
Thanks,

Cris Simmons, for the Doobies

My response, of course, in so many words was, "Hell Yes, I worship the very ground you walk on...thank you, thank you!"

And so Cris wrote back.....

From: doobiemail@exxxxxx.net [mailto:doobiemail@xxxxxx.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 10:19 PM
To: WCraig

Wallace

We will leave your 2 backstage passes, in your name, at the Box Office, or Will Call in some cases. Pick them up before the show. Then, right after the show ask security where you should go. See you there!

Cris

Cris is the wife of Pat Simmons, lead guitarist. Pat and Tom Johnson are the two original founders of the Doobies and have been the heart, soul and continuing musical talent that has kept the band alive and well. Needless to say, I await June 23rd in breathless anticipation!

Why did the Chicken cross the Iraqi road......?

Coalition Provisional Authority:
The fact that the Iraqi chicken crossed the road affirmatively demonstrates that decision-making authority has been transferred to the chicken well in advance of the scheduled June 30th transition of power. From now on the chicken is responsible for its own decisions.

Halliburton:
We were asked to help the chicken cross the road. Given the inherent risk of road crossing and the rarity of chickens, this operation will only cost the US government $326,004.

Muqtada al-Sadr:
The chicken was a tool of the evil Coalition and will be killed.

US Army Military Police:
We were directed to prepare the chicken to cross the road. As part of these preparations, individual soldiers ran over the chicken repeatedly and then plucked the chicken. We deeply regret the occurrence of any chicken rights violations.

Peshmerga:
The chicken crossed the road, and will continue to cross the road, to show its independence and to transport the weapons it needs to defend itself. However, in future, to avoid problems, the chicken will be called a duck, and will wear a plastic bill.

1st Cavalry Division:
The chicken was not authorized to cross the road without displaying two forms of picture identification. Thus, the chicken was appropriately detained and searched in accordance with current SOP's. We apologize for any embarrassment to the chicken. As a result of this unfortunate incident, the command has instituted a gender sensitivity training program and all future chicken searches will be conducted by female soldiers.

Al Jazeera:
The chicken was stripped and forced to cross the road multiple times at gunpoint by a large group of occupation soldiers, according to eye-witnesses. The chicken was then fired upon intentionally, in yet another example of the abuse of innocent Iraqi chickens.

Blackwater:
We cannot confirm any involvement in the chicken-road-crossing incident.

Translators:
Chicken he cross street because bad she tangle regulation. Future chicken table against my request.

U.S. Marine Corps:
The chicken is dead!

Doobie Doobie Doo....!

With so much strife, ill feelings and heartache abounding in the country today it's nice to know that there is a very bright spot looming on the horizon for Julie and Me...especially Me. A trip down memory lane.

The Doobie Brothers are coming to town. I'm ecstatic. They are my group from the dim past. Beach Boys, Beatles, Doobies. This dates me of course, but that's OK, facts is facts and chronologically these were the groups that saw me through the awkward teenage years and into young manhood. By the time The Doobies came along, The Beach Boys and Beatles had morphed into quasi- psychedelic existentialism [you can quote me on that] that may have been "art" but didn't hit the mood of the majority of us teens moving into our 20's. The Doobies filled the void for me. Great music, beautiful harmony combined with some hard hitting Rock and Roll licks.

My love affair with the Doobies began in 1971 when I was in the Army and headed so far West it became East. A new Lieutenant, I had to take my brand new Triumph TR-6 to Oakland to be shipped to Hawaii, my eventual destination after a stop across the Pacific, to await my arrival months later. The trip, taking a couple of weeks, was a grand loitering, roaming trip around the West ala Route 66 style. Just me, the new sports car and the road. I ended up in San Francisco for 3 days and with top down, drove aimlessly around the city and the bay area. The real treat was that I had an FM-Stereo radio! You had to have listened to AM radio, one speaker cars all your previous life to know what this meant. FM stereo was new then and it was heaven. Especially cruising the streets of San Francisco, home of the Doobies, and listening to one of their first big hits, "Listen to the Music". I was hooked.

As time passed the Doobies evolved, many times for the better, with additions like Michael McDonald. While many groups simply fade away the Doobies music stayed above par and did so until they decided to move on to other things as individuals. In 1987 the Doobies decided to re-form the band for a series of benefit concerts. Concerts not to support left-wing 60's ideologies, but instead to become sponsors of Veterans of The Vietnam War, a non-profit group which has evolved into the The National Veterans Foundation of which the Doobies are major benefactors. Great music, great memories, great guys. What can I say, I'm excited.

Short and sweet...

Many things to think about today...and so to me here's the gist of the matter.

D-Day: God Bless all those who sacrificed so much on this day 60 years ago. I've often wondered what must have been going through the minds of those gallant souls as they approached the beach or prepared to jump into the darkness of the French night, knowing full well the perils that would surely face them. Having made numerous night parachute drops myself, I know firsthand the normal jitters one gets....doing so under the worst of combat conditions, I can only imagine and marvel at the bravery and sense of duty of those men of my Dad's generation.

Ronald Reagan: Simply put he was the right man for his times. More than anything else, he turned the spirit of the country around after the abyssmal decade of gloom following the Vietnam War. His politics were direct, to the point and done, generally without being mean spirited. We need more like him today.

The Real Deal....

If you watch, listen to or read most of the mainsteam media you might think that things in Iraq are all death, destruction and abuse. You also would be missing most of the truth about day to day life in the major portion of the country. Here are some photos from Iraq taken by the "Stryker Brigade" on the ground that somehow Peter Jennings seems to miss. Take a look at these photos of U.S. soldiers raping and pillaging! Take a look at the hate filled Iraqis! Thanks to The Mudville Gazette for the tip on this site!

New Mexico Mountain Weekend....

It was a New Mexico mountain weekend filled with history, art, scenic panoramas and...go-karts.

A fun time and hopefully somewhat intellectually stimulating to young Jack who, if he had had things his way, would have spent the entire three day junket racing go-karts at the track in Ruidoso. We did do a fair amount of that, and Jack, the Mother and I had a great time. Jack, being under 16 years of age couldn't drive the super fast karts so Julie and I put in some lap times with him on the "fun track". It was fun...but Julie and I had to give the fast karts a go. And go we did. Julie did well and because I'm a tad heavier in weight I couldn't catch her, but I did catch a glimpse of her ahead, blonde hair pegged straight back by the blinding speed .

Julie and I are history buffs, so Sunday was mostly devoted to a tour of historical sites which abound in the area. Through the mountains we drove down to Capitan and by the Smokey the Bear museum, the original and factual bear cub, Smokey, having been rescued here in 1950. In a sad twist of irony, the picture of Jack and Smokey above was taken with a major forest fire as a backdrop in the same mountains where Smokey was rescued. The fires burned along the entire crest of the Capitan mountains fanned by 30+ mph winds. A fire so large that we could see the smoke overhead when we got home. A distance of over 270 miles.

Our history destination was Lincoln, New Mexico home of Billy the Kid and the famous Lincoln County War of 1878-1881. Lincoln is a great place for history and photography, having changed little since 1888. Many of the historic buildings are now museums with the old courthouse and jail where Billy the Kid was held being of special interest, especially to a ten year old boy. He got to have his picture made with a bullet hole left during Billy's escape...and stand on the exact spot where a deputy sheriff was slain during that episode. The homes in Lincoln range from the original old abode to the territorial style built in the 1870's, but perhaps one of the most interesting structures to us is a large circular adobe tower built in the 1850's as a place of refuge against attacks by the Apaches.

On our return trip we stopped at Ft. Stanton a military post built in 1855 to counter the Apache threat and serving on into the 20th century in a variety of capacities including a German POW camp and tuberculosis treatment center for the merchant marine. It was somber reminder for Memorial Day to see so many flags of various nations in the post graveyard. And then, of course, as a reward for Jack for cramming his head full of so much historical information we......once again raced go-karts before returning to our cottage for a great meal in the cool mountain air.

On the return trip to Midland we could not let opportunities pass for yet more history and art [much to Jack's chagrin......I told him he would thank me in later years]. On the way down from the mountains we stopped in at the Museum of the American West which has a good collection of antique wagons, guns and is now featuring the skelton of Sue, the T-Rex recently found in South Dakota. And a little further down the road in San Patricio we stopped at one of my art Mecca's.....the Sentinel Ranch of artist Peter Hurd. We had a nice chat with the curator of the Hurd Gallery,looked around the gallery and had a chance to nod a brief hell-o to noted artist Michael Hurd, son of Peter Hurd and grandson of N.C Wyeth. We also toured the ranch looking at the suberbly elegant guest homes in anticipation of a return visit this summer.

Then it was a push on to home once again through the flat lands and heat of West Texas. Really a nice short vacation combining all our interests; art, history and racing but most importantly just simple things like enjoying a quiet moment together on the streets of Lincoln.

Memorial Weekend....

We will be in the high mountains of New Mexico for the Memorial Day weekend. While we are gone talk amongst yourselves. And don't forget to remember all those who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

With us or against us...

Mohammed in Baghdad who has lived under Saddam offers some advice....

" The new enemy [Islamic terrorists] differs from all the previous ones in that he doesn’t have or even claim to have any constructive ideology. He doesn’t bring us anything other than the seeds of death and destruction “either you surrender to me or I kill you”. As for an alternative ideology, it doesn’t exist. Moreover the willingness to initiate a dialogue was never expressed or shown to be a possibility"
Read more >>>>>

The energy scholar...

Supposed nominee John Kerry has today come out with some specifics concerning his "energy policy". I suspect that the closest scrape that John has had with the energy markets is ordering his chauffeur to go fill up one of his "family's" SUV's. Some of his brilliance....

"Let's make sure our schools are focused on teaching our children, not heating the classrooms and paying for school bus diesel fuel."

Yes John, no matter what other weighty arguments might be delved into on the issue of energy, let's start out with this. Let's do it for the kids!

Kerry says he would spend $10 billion over 10 years on new plants to manufacture more fuel efficient vehicles

Clarify this please John, do you mean you and your wife's Heinz Pickle fortune are going to build plants, or do you mean that the Federal government is going to get into the hybrid car business. The way I understand a capitalist economy...when there is a viable market for hybrid cars, a private manufacturer will step forward and build a plant.

He says his administration would demand that other oil-producing nations increase supply.

Demand away John, but keep in mind that your demands fall on the ears of a group of sellers who don't particuarly like us and don't mind the Great Satan paying top dollar for their petroleum. Personal note John: I'd put "demanding" more oil way down on my list. And by the way, isn't throwing the weight of the U.S. around and demanding that sovereign nations do things with their own assets in direct violation of the liberals credo?


Kerry planned to focus on the national security threat posed by dependence on Middle East oil.

Playing both sides, as he is wont to do, John suggests that we use less of the foreign oil that he is also demanding that we get more of.

John, I'm sure that there is a brilliant man in there somewhere, but perhaps if you had ever had a real job you might realize how utterly full of gibberish you are when it comes to the real world.

Sir Bubba, kinda'......

It's always nice to know a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Now I do. Gen. Tommy Franks will be presented with the award tonight,though due to his lack of British citizenship he will not be entitled to be called Sir Tommy. I know this will matter not a whit to Tommy as he belongs to a higher order....he's a Texan. I hope this means he'll be bringing all his Knighthood pals to West Texas to participate in his favorite pasttime, quail hunting. I'd love to see Prince Chuck again after all these years.

Who We Fight....

During WWII there was a need to perpeputate in the citizenry of the United States a continuing reminder of why such a great national sacrifice was necessary. One of the most effective bits of propaganda that I recall was a documentary series produced by famed Hollywood director Frank Capra called, "Why We Fight". Today we need to know not only "Why We Fight" but "Who We Fight". Former Navy Secretary John Lehman tells us.

"We are at a juncture today that really is more of a threshold, even more of a watershed, than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was in 1941. We are currently in a war, but it is not a war on terrorism. In fact, that has been a great confusion, and the sooner we drop that term, the better. This would be like President Franklin Roosevelt saying in World War II, "We are engaged in a war against kamikazes and blitzkrieg." Like them, terrorism is a method, a tool, a weapon that has been used against us. And part of the reason we suffered such a horrific attack is that we were not prepared. Let's not kid ourselves. Some very smart people defeated every single defense this country had, and defeated them easily, with confidence and arrogance. There are many lessons we must learn from this.

We were not prepared intellectually. Those of us in the national security field still carried the baggage of the Cold War. We thought in concepts of coalition warfare and the Warsaw Pact. When we thought of terrorism, we thought only of state-sponsored terrorism, which is why the immediate reaction of many in our government agencies after 9/11 was: Which state did it? Saddam, it must have been Saddam. We had failed to grasp, for a variety of reasons, the new phenomenon that had emerged in the world. This was not state-sponsored terrorism. This was religious war.

This was the emergence of a transnational enemy driven by religious fervor and fanaticism. Our enemy is not terrorism. Our enemy is violent, Islamic fundamentalism. None of our government institutions was set up with receptors, or even vocabulary, to deal with this. So we left ourselves completely vulnerable to a concerted attack.

Where are we today? I'd like to say we have fixed these problems, but we haven't. We have very real vulnerabilities. We have not diminished in any way the fervor and ideology of our enemy. We are fighting them in many areas of the world, and I must say with much better awareness of the issues and their nature. We're fighting with better tools. But I cannot say we are now safe from the kind of attack we saw on 9/11. I think we are much safer than we were on 9/11; the ability of our enemies to launch a concerted, sophisticated attack is much less than it was then. Still, we're totally vulnerable to the kinds of attacks we've seen in Madrid, for instance. We face a very sophisticated and intelligent enemy who has been trained, in many cases, in our universities and gone to school on our methods, learned from their mistakes, and continued to use the very nature of our free society and its aversion to intrusion in privacy and discrimination to their benefit.

For example, today it is still a prohibited offense for an airline to have two people of the same ethnic background interviewed at one time, because that is discrimination. Our airline security is still full of holes. Our ability to carry out covert operations abroad is only marginally better than it was at the time of 9/11. A huge amount of fundamental cultural and institutional change must be carried out in the United States before we can effectively deal with the nature of the threat. Today, probably 50 or more states have schools that are teaching jihad, preaching, recruiting, and training. We have absolutely no successful programs even begun to remediate against those efforts.

It's very important that people understand the complexity of this threat. We have had to institute new approaches to protecting our civil liberties-the way we authorize surveillance, the way we conduct our immigration and naturalization policies, and the way we issue passports. That's only the beginning. The beginning of wisdom is to recognize the problem, to recognize that for every jihadist we kill or capture-as we carry out an aggressive and positive policy in Afghanistan and elsewhere-another 50 are being trained in schools and mosques around the world.

This problem goes back a long way. We have been asleep. Just by chance about six months ago, I picked up a book by V. S. Naipaul, one of the great English prose writers. I love to read his short stories and travelogues. The book was titled Among the Believers (New York: Vintage, 1982) and was an account of his travels in Indonesia, where he found that Saudi-funded schools and mosques were transforming Indonesian society from a very relaxed, syncretist Islam to a jihadist fundamentalist fanatical society, all paid for with Saudi Arabian funding. Nobody paid attention. Presidents in four administrations put their arms around Saudi ambassadors, ignored the Wahhabi jihadism, and said these are our eternal friends.

We have seen throughout the last 20 years a kind of head-in-the-sand approach to national security in the Pentagon. We were comfortable with the existing concept of what the threat was, what threat analysis was, and how we derived our requirements, still using the same old tools we all grew up with. We paid no attention to the real nature of this emerging threat, even though there were warning signs.

Many will recall with pain what we went through in the Reagan administration in 1983, when the Marine barracks were bombed in Beirut-241 Marines and Navy corpsmen were killed. We immediately got an intercept from NSA [National Security Agency], a total smoking gun from the foreign ministry of Iran, ordering the murder of our Marines. Nothing was done to retaliate. Instead, we did exactly what the terrorists wanted us to do, which was to withdraw. Osama bin Laden has cited this as one of his dawning moments. The vaunted United States is a paper tiger; Americans are afraid of casualties; they run like cowards when attacked; and they don't even bother to take their dead with them. This was a seminal moment for Osama.

After that, we had our CIA station chief kidnapped and tortured to death. Nothing was done. Then, we had our Marine Colonel [William R.] Higgins kidnapped and publicly hanged. Nothing was done. We fueled and made these people aware of the tremendous effectiveness of terrorism as a tool of jihad. It worked. They chased us out of one place after another, because we would not retaliate".

Address by Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman
The U.S. Naval Institute 130th Annual Meeting and Annapolis Naval History Symposium (2004)

>Book 'em Dano....Murder One! It's my sad duty to inform you that Kono played by Zulu is dead. Or is that Zulu played by Kono? Kono was the crime fighting protege of Kam Fong played by Chin Ho.....or is that Chin Ho played by Kam Fong?

Actually actor Zulu, who played Kono, was really named Gilbert Francis Lani Damian Kauhi and he died May 3rd at the age of 66. I found this out tonight while following some inane link from James Lileks to the very bowels of the Internet. I was shocked, I had not heard. But I suppose that other events took precedence, though why I won't conjecture. Suffice it to say I'll miss Kono, Zulu and Gilbert; we were all close. I took the photo above in Hawaii in 1974. while Zulu, Kono, Gilbert and I were watching Prince Charles play polo on the North Shore of Oahu. People of a certain age will remember that this was at the height of popularity of the TeeVee show "Hawaii 50" and occasionally we used to see the stars around the island. Zulu played Jack Lord's sidekick. I used to see Jack at the supermarket in Hawaii Kai. He looked exactly like he did on TeeVee, except worse. Zulu looked exactly the same, except better. Will miss you Brah, Geev 'um!

High octane B.S......

I've heard it all now. I caught just about 4 minutes of the big network news lead story before I headed out to little league baseball tonight. And this was about 3 minutes too long.

The story was this, "Democrats blame Bush for high gas prices...." I thought that perhaps my tinnitus ridden ears were deceiving me, but no, there was talking head Kerry, lips moving on that horse face, spewing out something blah, blah, blah about the Republicans being at fault for $2 gas. My question to you is this. Have they gone completely insane? Do they really think that they're talking to morons? Even the common folk who send mass emails about vetoing "big oil", I suspect, remember it was the liberal Democrats who have consistantly voted against a national energy policy that would give a few more incentives to us energy producers here in the heartland to develop more Amerkan oil and gas. And wasn't it the liberal Democrats who led the fight against drilling in ANWAR, the artic oil fields, to develop more Amerkan oil? And am I wrong or wasn't it John Kerry hissownself who has a chip in his platform suggesting that we raise the gasoline tax by the small sum of 50 cents per gallon. Payable by you the voter who is assumed to be so stupid as not to remember just who proposed this tariff when it comes time to pay at the pump. The same John Kerry who uses more than his share of fuel powering a fleet of SUV's and a plethora of mansions that "his family" owns.

Have I been living in an alternate parallel universe these last several years or have the Democrats gone completely whacko? This was the most bizarre utterance I've heard from them yet. Or perhaps in turning off the TV I missed the meat of this well thought out arguement. Perhaps their theory now is that since they believed that the war in Iraq was promulgated for the sole reason of obtaining cheap Iraqi oil, Dubya ought to now be delivering the goods. How tragic that oil is at an all time high. I'm going to think about this further as I drive my big car around to empty the tank. I'm going to be filling it up on May 19th.

Don't buy gas on May 19

MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

That was the subject of a recent mass forward email I received from a friend, similar in nature to several others that have passed through my inbox since the price of gasoline has gone up so much. Pardon my saying so but these emails are the most immature, assinine drivel that I've ever read. Generated by wishful thinking SUV drivers I suppose. Somehow my friends forward this palaver without a thought that people they know are in the oil business....like me.

The email in question seeks to have everyone not buy gasoline for a day, thus punishing "Big Oil"...I suppose the same nameless, faceless "Big Oil" that started the war in Iraq.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES

I don't know who calculated this....but he or she is an idiot. Actually I'm betting "Big Oil" would welcome a couple of days for suppply to catch up with demand. But since even, it seems, the most moderate and normally sensible people hold "Big Oil" responsible for having to pay more to drive on important trips to secure their Starbucks Latte, let me explain a few things.

1] Important, remember this: Crude oil is at an all time high. "Big Oil" relies on crude oil stocks to make gasoline and the crude oil market is a truly global one, primarily controlled, still, by OPEC...and OPEC is, still, primarily controlled by the Saudi's.

2] You won't believe this but trust me. If it hadn't been for "Big Oil" over the years you'd be paying buckets full of money more for gasoline today. "Big Oil" has spent trillions of dollars since the '30s opening up new fields of supply in such places as Saudi Arabia, the North Sea, Iraq and Malaysia. If they hadn't and you had to rely on home grown Amerkan oil provided by small operators like me, well it wouldn't be a pretty picture for your wallet. We don't have enough oil or cheap oil in this country to support your driving habits. "Big Oil" provided the world with a sea of cheap oil.

3] For the last 15 years, the average price for West Texas Crude was $18.30. In December of 1998 it was $8.65 a barrel, so cheap it didn't even pay for us small guys to pump it out of the ground, so cheap it put 10's of thousands in our area out of work. At $8.65/bbl. no sane person in Amerka drilled any new wells. Except "Big Oil" who provided all the cheap oil and gasoline you wanted. And, by the way, where were the emailers decrying that oil was to cheap and putting Amerkans out of work? I guess I wasn't on that list.

Why is gasoline so expensive all of a sudden? Well...see #1 above, crude oil is more expensive. And why is crude oil so much more expensive now? Who's to blame. There are a number of reasons.

1] Impoving economies around the world. And not only in the U.S. and Europe, but in economies of banana republic and third world countries that in the past have not needed so much energy. Globalization for better or worse is working. You, indirectly, are paying for your cheaper Wal-Mart goods with higher fuel prices here at home. China is sucking in petroleum supplies at an amazingly higher rate to fuel the factories that make your cheap Wal-Mart 10 Pack of underwear and India needs more power to fire up all the computers that are doing your H&R Block tax returns. You get cheap undies but have to pay more to drive your Lincoln Navigator to go get them.

2] Gasoline plant shortages. Chronically there is a shortage of gasoline refinement capacity. Though overshadowed by high crude prices now, the dearth of gasoline plants exacerbates the problem causing wider swings in gas prices when crude oil prices move. Gas plants are expensive, high liability items and no one wants one in their vicinity.

3] The Saudis. I could have said OPEC, but the Saudi's lead that pack, and the Saudi's are worried, and we should worry about the Saudi's. This price rise could be the Saudi's reply to G.W. Bush for his actions in Iraq...a way to vote against him this Fall. They know he means business about change in the Arab world and that means them...the Sheiks, Emirs and Kumquats who collect all the oil royalty checks. They'd rather things didn't change. And somewhere in the price mix is something you'd rather not hear. The Saudi's know that their production is declining. Without the weight of oil weatlth, they are back to being mere sand beggars. From some inside sources in Saudi Arabia, I have learned that more and more of their oil fields are being "water flooded". This means injecting water into the oil formations to float the oil out. This is what you do when production starts to decline. So....rather than sell off all their oil and it's power at lower prices they may have decided to take the market price to a new level. I'd do the same. To get the same total check every month sell less at a higher price. It keeps them in the game longer.

4] You...and Me. As much as we don't want to blame ourselves, I have to. We Amerkans are still fuel grubbing wasteful people on the whole. I was in gas station lines in 1973 and saw the huge oil boom of 1979 go bust in 1983. Nothing much has changed since. In my home two TV's and two computers and a PlayStation often run at the same time with no one watching, we think nothing of driving 2 miles to the store for a few items. Detroit is building muscle cars again. We waste to much energy, because it's been cheap for to long.

In conclusion I have good news and bad news. First the good news. There is plenty of oil left in the world. As we say in geologic terms....one buttload of it. The bad news is that most all of the easy oil, read that cheaply produced oil, has been discovered and is being produced. The oil in the future will cost more to find and exploit for use. So, although, prices flucuate, be ready to continue paying more. So turn off one of your TV's, turn your thermostat up to 78° get a GEO Prism and stop sending me emails about evil "Big Oil". In 10 years you may really be glad there around to spend the bucks it takes to drill a well 20,000 ft. deep, 30 miles out at sea.

The Art Crowd...

One of the things that Julie and I shared in common from the beginning was our love of art. In fact our second date, the day after our first date, was to the Celebration of the Arts festival in Midland. And by gosh, we were there again today.

This time as a married couple with child. Jack went a little begrudgingly, but we think he had a good time playing on the super sized blow-up amusements that seem to keep getting bigger and bigger. You know the ones. Put a kid in a velcro© suit and throw him up against a velcro© wall sticking him to said wall 7 feet up. Fun. But not having developed our apprecitation of the finer things in life, we were glad he had fun.

Our fun was browsing the art and seeing friends and artists again. We have made a habit of buying at least one painting from our good friend Helen Pogue each year and today we bought two. Helen is a true artiste, painting varied subjects and with several different styles but we love her stock in trade....landscapes and buildings of New Mexico. We have five now. They compliment our house very elegantly.

My big treat was visiting at length with Woody Gwyn [above] who over the last decade has gotten to be a friend. For Midland High grads, he is the artist who painted the mural over the stairs near the main entry hall. The mural was painted when he was youngster in high school and since he has gone on to great things. Today Woody relayed to me how he got started on the road to better things in the art world. It seems he conned noted artist Peter Hurd into granting him an interview at his home in New Mexico...thinking that Woody was an established artist. Mr. Hurd was astonished to see an 18 year old boy step out of the car, but being a gracious man talked with him anyway and advised him to skip college and instead attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. Which Woody did and after long years of work he is now nationally known, his works hanging in finer homes and museums including the Presidents home in Crawford where he did a commissioned work of the ranch for George and Laura Bush. I always enjoy talking with Woody, a very esoteric and funny guy, and we hope to be able to accept his invitation to visit him and his wife at their home in Galisteo, New Mexico this summer.

And no, we didn't buy an original Woody Gwyn. The one in the photo above is priced at $32,000. I didn't feel to humiliated though, as Woody told me, "Hey I can't afford my art either".

Tent People....

I went to another funeral today. This time for Joe Martin, an old friend from high school. JoJo, as he was called by most who know him back in those days, was the little brother of a friend in my class. Although as I was ahead a grade for my age, Joe was only 2 months younger than me. 54 is entirely to young an age to leave the mortal world without a fight.

And Joe had had a fight on his hands the last several years after suffering a stroke during an operation. An over achiever, Joe did not let his frailty conquer his spirit. Though he really didn't look the part he had been a star running back at Midland High School and at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He had been senior class president in high school and voted "most friendly". And he was. He obtained an M.B.A. from SMU and became a CPA. In his last days he had obtained another passion, for art, and in spite of his limitations was attending painting classes at our local junior college. And he was good...and prolific. His sister told us that his garage was lined with his work, all done in only the past several years.

The memorial service for Joe was as I prefer. Not too long but meaningful with stories and laughter offered by friends and family. The service was conducted, coincidentally, by Julie's friend Jan Reid who had married us only months before. And instead of the usual well meaning homily that I barely hear Jan's words were wisdom to my ears. Jan's remarks were that we are merely tent people here on this earth, transient visitors just passing through in temporary quarters until we are called to our permanent home. Perhaps this struck me so because I have actually lived in tents on occasions in my life and I can identify with the luxurious feeling of relocating to more stable quarters....or perhaps as I get older and more of my friends, family and acquaintances leave this earth it seemed to me to be a comforting thought.

Comforting also was the renewal in seeing old friends at the reception held afterwards at the home of Joe's sister Suzanne. Old friends of my family and friends from my high school days that I had not seen in decades. Laughter was endemic and it seemed even in his passing Joe had bequethed us all with the title "most friendly". Thanks JoJo for touching us all.

Mothers.....

It was a grand day, spent with a plethora of Mothers.

As promised young son Jack awakened me at 6:15 to watch the Spanish Grand Prix live and, of course, to prepare the Mother in our lives breakfast in bed. A simple repast, by her request, but accentuated by a grand red rose from our garden. Then every Mothers dream on her special day...we all watched the Grand Prix in bed.

The main event of the day was a lunch put together by Julie with Mothers galore. My Mom, Julies Mom, Mom Julie and her kids, Julies Dad's cousin family and mutual family friends of both my parents and Julies. I have to say, that Julie is a fine and doting Mother...and daughter/daughter-in-law. Bundles of roses awaited all the Moms and her choice of the outside patio at one of the better resaurants in town was superb. The weather and the setting were perfect. Like dining out in San Francisco. Ok, minus the water and view, but fine none the less.

The only drawback to the day was the Big Gold Dog vomiting at my feet as I sat at the computer checking my messages this morning, but not even this could dampen a glorious day. I'm blessed with having some first class Mothers in my life!

What hath I wrought.......?

It's great to have family interests. As a regular reader of Streams could discern in the last several months postings, one of my interests is sports car racing. Not normally an interest that would consume all members of most American families. I have tried to nurture this by interesting Jack in Grand Prix Racing on PlayStation2, by introducing Julie to the beauty, power and grace of Shelby Cobra's and in our family attendance of the Chaparral Racing exhibit at the Petroleum Museum. But perhaps I've gone to far!

Julie not only has not nixed my future plans for a Cobra.....she heartily endorses it and wants one soon.....so she can take it to the Panoz Racing School at the Texas Motor Speedway. Jack is now competing with me for time on the PlayStation and he's getting to be quite the little driver. And, of course, we all have matching Chaparral Racing T-shirts.

So I suppose it should not have come as a complete surprise this Saturday morning at 7:30 to be awakened by a 10 year old voice saying, "Hey Dub [he calls me Dub, short for "W", which is short for Wallace], wake up, the qualifying rounds for the Spanish Grand Prix are on TV live and Ralf Schumacher is about to drive." He knows that Ralf is the driver I use on the PlayStation version and that Ralf and I hold the Circuit de Catalunya PlayStation lap record. So arise I did to watch Ralf with an admirable qualifying drive which put him at pole postition #6.

And so this Saturday evening I must go to bed fairly early as Jack has promised me that he'll be getting me up at 6:30 tomorrow morning to watch the race live. And, of course, this will give us a chance to fix Mom breakfast in bed.......while she watches the race.

But if you're not ready for bed yet, catch the official Formula 1 website. It's a great site with all the info, pictures and data you need....plus track graphics. Try "mousing" over each turn for a picture, looks just like PlayStation2!

Look....it's Ron Ely!

Sometimes we can see things a multitude of times but not see the entire thing at all. The other night I was watching the last hour or so of the movie South Pacific on The Turner Classic Movie channel. One of my all time favorites. Great music, great photography, interesting cast and nostalgic as it reminds me of my time in the South Pacific. So as I watched the full credits unfold, imagine my surprise at seeing the part of the navigator on the PBY "The Bouncing Belch" played by none other than Ronald Ely. Who later became Ron Ely of teevee Tarzan fame.

Interesting because about the time he became Tarzan famous....he had been living in Midland. I carried his groceries out for him several times when I was working a summer job as a stocker at the old Furr's Supermarket here. Seeing as how we were old chums, I wonder why I've never recoginized him in South Pacific before......I've seen it 20 times.

Photo......shop

I've had several nice suprises arising from my Chaparral Racing photos. Last week I was contacted by Paige Summer of the Petroleum Museum saying that she had seen the website and asking if they could use some of the images in their newsletter and possibly the website and some printed material. I was glad to offer them to the Museum and so today I stopped by to allow her to download the digital images into her computer. We had a nice chat during which she added that current Indy 500 winner Gil De Ferran had also seen the website and was interested in prints of my shots of he and his son sitting in the Chaparral. Glad to oblige...so I'll be sending some to he and his wife in Florida.

This proves out some sage advise I was given years ago by a friend Steve Northup, a former combat photographer and now an instructor at the Santa Fe Workshops. In conversation I had asked Steve what was his one secret to taking good photographs. Without blinking Steve said, "take all the shots you can, don't ever let anyone see the really bad ones, you will no doubt take some good ones, and a few great ones and someone will eventually want some of them". Good advice, not that I consider these great shots......but at least someone wants them!

Heroes and Wusses.....

The following comment is from college student Hans Zeiger and was sent to me by another patriotic American, Bob Barker, who commanded an artillery battery at LZ Falcon in 1965 that fired over 18,000 105 mm howitzer rounds in just three days supporting my comrades surrounded by North Vietnamese troops at LZ XRay, Vietnam.

Heroes and Wusses
By Hans Zeiger
May 3, 2004

There are two kinds of Americans in this generation. Former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman was one kind; he fully earned the title of American with his life and earned the distinction of hero with his death. Tillman spilt his blood last Friday after a gun battle with terrorist fighters along a distant road in Afghanistan.

We need only read the vitriol of Pat Tillman's enemies at home to understand that this generation is deeply, intensively divided. In college newspapers and youthful Left-wing internet sites, Pat Tillman is no hero, but a "dumb jock," "Rambo," "baby killer," and an "idiot" who "got what he deserved."

If Pat Tillman was one kind of American in this generation, the notorious Rene Gonzalez, a graduate student at University of Massachusetts at Amherst is another kind. Gonzalez had the audacity to write a column in the April 28 issue of the University of Massachusetts Daily Collegian accusing Tillman of "acting out his macho, patriotic crap, and I guess someone with a bigger gun did him in." His sacrifice, wrote Mr. Gonzalez, "was not heroism, it was prophetic idiocy."

This so-called "idiot" died so that Mr. Gonzalez and his fellow left-wing radicals could call him names in the free press. Tillman rejected a $3.6 million NFL contract to take up service in the U.S. Army following September 11. When Tillman left his promising career in pro-football to defend America in the war on terror, the Department of Defense wanted to market him as their poster-boy, but he refused the glory by turning down thousands of invitations for interviews and photo ops. He sacrificed his life and his fortune, but he did not give up his sacred honor.

Honor is a rare thing in this generation. But Pat Tillman had it. He had it when he went quietly into the Armed Services, for he knew that there is no place for self-adulation among the fellowship of patriots. He had it on the field of battle, for he was convinced that the cause of liberty is just. He had it in his final breaths, for Pat Tillman understood that the fight is eternal. And his dead patriot body may be homebound, but still, in the courts of America's God, his soul has honor.

Yet there is a despicable brand of person that thinks nothing of a hero. Mr. Gonzalez stands for the wusses of American, as do the folks at Indymedia.org, a nationwide media network for the dissemination of radically left-wing alternative news. "Indymedia.org has 50 local chapters in the United States," writes Ben Shapiro in his column this week. "Forty-four of them made no mention of Pat Tillman's death. The other six celebrated it."

"Pat Tillman is gone good riddance," read the banner above an article at the Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Indymedia site. The Washington, D.C. Indymedia site proposed this headline to sum up Pat Tillman's death: "Dumb Jock Dies for Pipeline in Afghanistan." Portland, Oregon Indymedia pitched in with, "Privileged Millionaire, Blinded by Nationalist Mythology, Pisses Away the Good Life," "Cottled Sports Star Allows Nationalism to Foster Jingoistic Irresponsibility Resulting in His Death," and "Capitalist Chooses to Kill Innocents Instead of Cashing Check."

In the ongoing experiment called America, the war on terrorism is this generation's war. But there is another battle between ideas about honor and courage and virtue and faith that must be fought in the minds and souls of young Americans. This great spiritual battle was more pronounced in the days of Vietnam, but neither side has yet won. Whether character and honor shall win out in the minds of young Americans will forever determine whether we as a nation can continue to champion liberty and justice in the world.

Ultimately, it is a question of our responsibility. Someone once told me that if someone violates your freedom, you will fight to defend it. But if someone takes away your responsibility, you will be indifferent to the coming seizure of freedom.

I worry more about the loss of responsibility in my generation than I do about the loss of freedom itself. Rene Gonzalez and Indymedia stand for an America without duty, honor, and heroism. But as long as there are Pat Tillmans in America, we can survive.

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Hans Zeiger is a student at Hillsdale College and president of the Scout Honor Coalition. www.hanszeiger.com

Back Home....

It's been a busy week, mainly spent moving my office and buying new accouterments to go therein.

For the last 6 years I've been in association with EGL Resources, a conglomerate of petroleum geolgists, engineers, and landmen [hence the EGL] and it's been a great association. I couldn't have asked for a better group to bunk with.....and teach me a few things about the oil and gas business. We drilled some wells, bought some wells, bought minerals and had our share of successes and failures, but most importantly it's been singificant in the close relationships we all formed. I'm grateful for their help and support.

But it's time to move on with a new venture I've been working on for almost two years. And time to move back to the oldest office building in town, the Petroleum Building. Built in 1928, it's among the prime reasons that Midland developed into a major player in the oil business, for when it was completed it was the only office space in West Texas near the huge newly discovered oil fields of the Permian Basin. The major oil companies located their staffs in the building to manage their new discoveries. And so with the headquarters personal here, Midland grew when so many other oil field boom towns had their day and then faded. It's a historic building and, I think, a beautiful one compared to the modern glass boxes. Built in a sandstone desert style art deco, it has retained it's charm complete with the painted mural in the lobby.

This marks my third tour in the building. The first came in 1979 when I lived in Dallas but was hired as a real estate consultant by the then owners who were going to construct a 45 story modern office building next to the Petroleum Building. I was flown out on their plane every week to work on the new structure and had an office on the ground floor. But the big oil boom of the late 70's and early 80's was soon followed by the big oil bust of the mid 80's so the new building was never built. My second expeience in the building came almost 20 years later when I started with EGL Resources which had just formed, The building was owned by one of our partners.

And so now I'm back for the third stay this time on the SW corner of the third floor floor. A great space overlooking the park at Centennial Plaza and with tree tops right outside my windows. We were fortunate to get this office as it adjoins my partner Del Sloan and and is adjacent to the two engineers who will also be involved in our new venture, Embar Power LLC. Julie has been helping with the decorating and we never knew it would be so hard to find the appropriate furniture. But we're particular. We finally found a rather old Mission Style desk at an antique store that suits my taste to the "T". The file cabinets were another matter. I had thought that with some diligent searching we could locate the old style wooden ones to go with the rest of the motif. But alas none were to be found, so I had to settle for stock wooden models from Office Depot.

But it's starting to look rather good and I'm excited to be embarking on this new phase of my career. Particularly excited since today I got word from the representative of the two large corporations that are involved in our new venture that they are preparing a letter of intent to signify their handshake agreement on our deal. Hard to believe that after two years of research, stops and starts and toil that our dreams could actually be coming true. We're not ready to announce the project yet, but it involves gas, electricity and a new use for an under utilized fuel. Stay tuned.

Bookish

Usually I don't participate in the latest quirky participation game, quiz, or list passed around on the Internet or email, but since I'm a great believer in books I'm taking the cue from Tim Blair and passing this one on.

Here are the instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Here's mine and believe it or not....when I opened my book, it fell open directly to page 23, strange.

"What do you mean, 'probable'?, Lovell asked, "did they survive or didn't they survive?"

This page 23, 5th sentence quote is from "Lost Moon, My Perilous Voyage on Apollo 13" by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluge. A reference book that was sitting on my desk, a remnent of Jack's school history project on that subject. We'll be looking forward to reading yours.

The death of Oldsmobile....

I read today that the final days had come for Oldsmobile Americas oldest car company, a significant American brand, in business since 1897 and a part of General Motors since 1908. Sad it is and also a lesson in letting a brand with a huge and loyal customer base just slip away.

Back in the good old days of my youth getting an Oldsmobile meant you had moved up a notch in the social and economic conundrum. Until I was 16 we had been a two Chevy family...sedan and station wagon. But with one son headed to college and another soon to go, my Dad decided that with business going well, the lady of the house deserved a better means of transportation than the usual Chevy Bel Aire wagon. She got a nicely fitted out 1967 Cutlass Supreme. And it was nice inside and out, a fairly luxurious med-sized sedan with a big V-8, power windows [a real extra in those days] and well built. Though a family car it was fun to drive...not that I got the opportunity much, it was to nice a car for a teenager, or so the theory went.

After I was on my own, out of the Army and had run through my sports car craze [MGA, Triumph Tr-6, Corvette, Porsche] the first "regular car" I owned in Dallas was an Oldsmobile Cutlass. A beautiful 1976 Black on Black Coupe that was a joy to drive. However, having been gone from Texas for years, I forget that one never wants to own a completely black car here, thus the reason for the sale of the car within a year and a half...and the fact that I found another Corvette.

It was shortly after this period, in my opinion, that Oldsmobile started it's slide to obscurity. The cars started to have a cheap feeling about them and new exciting design was non-existant. They became the classic econoboxes of the late 70s and early 80's. They became the ride of choice for Grandma and Grandpa on a retirees budget. In truth, almost the entire American auto industry fell into this glum depression, but most car makers eventually recovered and starting making models that had, in some form, an air of glamour to them. Cars that young drivers could identify with, which like it or not, is what makes auto lines popular. I can't think of one exciting, glamorous or snob appeal car that Olds has made in the last three decades. And there apparently was no major attempt to revive the brand, no glitz machines, no sexy advertisements, no appeal to snobbery. Oldsmobile had just become the national generic plain vanilla car. No small wonder that the official reason cited for the end of production was lack of sales. Sizzle sells and the fire under Oldsmobile died years ago. To bad.

Step-Dadhood.....

Track [Jack at left] and History Project

It's been a busy week for a kinda' new Step-Dad. Full of baseball, track and history fair projects. Not complaining here.....really love doing it, but they seemed all to come at once. In fact they did.

Baseball: Jack is an above average little league player and gets his chance to show it and improve with a practice every week, and this week four games within 6 days. He goes to the game at about 5:30, we show up for the game by 6:00 and don't get home until 8:00. He pushes through with his homework and sometimes his chore of "pooper scooping" before the game, so by the time we get home it's time for him to shower up and think about bed time.

Track: Jack's school participated in the Christian Schools track meet this last Saturday. A meet of all the private schools in the area. They worked hard and we fit track practice in once a week, wedged into the baseball schedule. The meet was great fun. I'm glad we had a good time [we really did!] because Jack had to report to Ratliff Stadium in Odessa at Zero Early Thirty, 7:30, in the morning and we didn't get home, sunburned and tired, till around 6:00 that evening. It was a good time watching the kids run, spending the afternoon with one of my partners who also had a daughter in the meet, and later in the day, betting on the runners with Paul and my Father-in-Law Don. [not real money....this was a Christian track meet]. Jack did well, winning his 50 yd. dash prelims but losing in the finals. I got to have my first "losing is OK" talk with him, and explaining that not all of us have "fast twitch muscles" like the Neboh kids who won everything. Genetics is important. Their mother is from Kenya and was an Olympic medalist in the hurdles.

History Project: The St. Ann's School history fair was this week. Next year we won't wait till the last day to complete the project. I got to have my first "sports is good, but school comes first" talk with Jack about this. Jack chose the Apollo 13 story as his topic and had done some bit of preliminary work, getting his story board planned out and then emailing my brother who is a Deputy Director at NASA for some web based resources. But the actual construction, printing of pictures and some research was left to the Mom and Me. It looks good, Jack is proud of it, and we got to have an entire Sunday afternoon and on into evening bit of family time.

And tonight, well tonight we get to have our first homecooked, sit down actual familly dinner together in weeks. We get to review Jack's school work and rest. We'll need it.....there's a baseball game coming up soon.

Ranger Tillman....

Pat Tillman gave up a $3.6 million dollar contract as the starting safety with the Phoenix Cardinals to serve his country. Pat was killed in an ambush Thursday while serving with the 75th Rangers in Afghanistan. His coach Dave McGinnis said he felt both overwhelming sorrow and tremendous pride in Tillman, who "represented all that was good in sports."

No coach, that's not quite right. Pat represented all that's good in America. Maybe that's why he left professional sports. And perhaps his death will serve as a reminder that there are some things more important than who wins the Superbowl, or the NBA Championship or the money that come with these. They are called life and liberty.

Julie Moore....

Julie Moore died Sunday at the age of 75. Julie was the wife of Gen. Hal Moore who commanded the 1/7th Cavalry at the battle at LZ Xray in Vietnam. A battle immortalized in the film We Were Soldiers. Mel Gibson played the part of then, LTC. Moore and with almost equal film time the part of Julie was aptly played by Madeleine Stowe. This was a good thing, because Mrs. Moores role in real life was equally as important as her husbands.

I met Mrs. Moore for the first time in November of 2001 at the Washington D.C. reunion of those who survived the battles in the Ia Drang. I introduced myself as a good friend of We Were Soldiers author and correspondent Joe Galloway and was surprised to hear her say that she knew of me and then she proceeded to relate several things about my life that Joe had apparently told her. She was one of those persons whom you instantly feel you've known for a very long time. The photo above was taken on that occasion with my friend Bruce Crandall, who was played by Greg Kinnear in the film.

Over the last three years I saw Mrs. Moore again once and talked to her twice on the telephone during times I had occasion to call Gen. Moore. I'm still humbled that in those times she treated me as a friend of long standing and asked me about current situtions in my life, how my family was and sent a personal note wishing "my" Julie and me the best in our then upcoming marriage. I can see how all those who served under Gen. Moore in Vietnam idolize her, they way they do her husband. And I feel anguish for Gen. Moore, her surviving children and people like Joe Galloway to whom she was more than just a close personal friend, she was a guiding star in their lives.

I won't say anymore, Joe has expressed the feelings of many in his newspaper column. There will never be another Julie Moore. Julie Moore, by Joe Galloway

Chaparral Racing....A tribute

Some things don't change. Like a newly licensed teenaged boy's interest in cars. Fast Cars. For me and my friends, when we starting driving at age 14, those cars were Chaparrals. For two reasons. First, they had just burst upon the racing scene and they were winning. Secondly, they were built right here in our smallish hometown by a young, good looking bon vivant named Jim Hall. Frankly, some of our friends were more interested in hot rods, suped up jalopies and drag racing. This group would later become fans of "The Dukes of Hazzard" and NASCAR. We were interested in sports car racing. We would later become international sophisticates. In the then newly released 007 films, James Bond drove sports cars. That's where we wanted to be.

In those pre-media madness days we followed Chaparrals around the world the best we could by reading Road and Track, Sports Illustrated or by the mention in our local newspaper. We had Chaparral models, Chaparral slot cars, Chaparral posters and pasted Chaparral logos, when we could find them, on our car bumpers. On the occasions that we saw Jim Hall around town he was considered more of a luminary than any Hollywood movie star. We wanted to be like him.

And so this weekend I have been in heaven. It has been a weekend long occasion to honor Jim Hall, his cars and his place in racing and automotive history. Jim's engineering of the Chaparrals was revolutionary at the time, but so effective that it is common place today. Among these are his use of aerodynamics and his development of composite fiber bodies. The model "2J" was so effective it was banned from racing due to complaints from the competition.

Jims vision and achievements are finally getting the honor they are due from his hometown. The newly built Chaparral Gallery at our Petroleum Museum will tell the story of Chaparrals engineering marvels, racing achievements and house all of Jim Halls cars. A wise man, Jim kept all his machines together, housed in the shops where they were built south of town, functional and sparse. The new Gallery is anything but that. It is a magnificent place where frankly I had expected less. And the weekend celebration has been as equally stirring. And as noted by a fellow local Blog correspondent, the cars will be maintained in running order so these great machines will not be allowed to become just static pieces of art.

On Friday I had the good fortune to be seated in the front row, directly in front of Jim, at an afternoon forum discussing the Chaparral's history and significance. The panel consisted of almost every driver who piloted a Chaparral including luminaries like former world driving champion Phil Hill and the current Indy 500 champion, Gil de Ferren. Vic Elford was a star on the Porsche factory team when he accepted an offer to drive the Chaparral 2J, where he blew the competition away until the car was banned. Franz Weiz built engines for Chaparral from almost the very start and on through the Indy car team. He is still in Midland building Indy Series and Formula I engines to this day. He's a genius. The surprise of the day was the appearance of an unannounced panelist, the racing super legend and Jim's old competitor and good friend, Dan Gurney.

Saturday was a day aimed at acquainting the general public with the Chaparral story, and so I took Julie to see the cars and look around. And look around she did, getting excited about a Shelby Cobra that my friends at Panoz Racing had for sale, and with that in mind signing up for the Panoz Racing School at the Texas Motor Speedway. We're thinking September. We also had the opportunity to have a final chat with Vic Elford, a jovial Brit who has lived in the U.S. for the last three decades.

The whole weekend was special for me, but two occasions stand out. One was being able to walk through the exhibit after the forum concluded and chat with Gil de Ferren, his wife and two children. I had followed Gil's career from the time he signed on with the Chaparral Indy car team until he retired last year after winning at Indy. I was able to ask him questions about several races and to make the comment that I thought that he was the best road course driver on the Indy circuit and one of the most unlucky. He agreed. A nice, smart, likeable guy and a devoted family man.

My second, and the most memorable, event occured this morning at the old Chaparral garage complex south of town. I, along with about 20 others, was able to stand not 10 feet away from Jim Hall as he climbed into a Chaparral racer for the last time and drove it out to it's permanent place of retirement. I hope you might take the time to look at a few photos from this memorable experience, and watch a short video clip I shot of Jim driving out of the garage. It's a piece of history. View the photos at: Chaparral Gallery Opening

The War....

"We're a nation at war, and every day we read about the deaths of young Americans like Henry T. Waskow. We're at war but it hardly interrupts our lives. No one demands sacrifice of us.

In Henry Waskow's America, there were scrap metal drives and war bond drives and Victory Gardens, and food and fuel rationing. There was a draft that took 15 million American men into uniform and sent them into harm's way. Women took their places on the factory floors. Everyone had a part to play.

In the strange wars we're fighting today, only one thing seems certain: Until everyone begins paying attention to the wars, and to the threat that global terrorism poses to our way of life, and until all of us begin making some small contributions, we cannot hope for victory."

Thus writes Joe Galloway in his latest column. As you will read, Capt. Waskow died in Italy during WWII and his death was chronicled by the great story teller of the War, Ernie Pyle. This story has always had special significance for me because decades later, after my Regular Army service, I commanded the same company, "B" Company, 1st Bn. 143rd Infantry of the 36th Division, the Texas National Guard. Part of the 36th Airborne Brigade when I had it.

Sentimental connection not withstanding, I could not agree with Joe more on the importance of his message. With the news media full of finger pointers, the BlogWaves full of sites pro and con, the impassioned arguments for and against this and that concerning the "war" on terrorism....the tone and activity of daily life in America has not changed one iota. Whether one is for or against the actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, life for the average person has not been affected. While the troops in those theaters live daily in mortal fear for their lives, our biggest concerns at home revolve around complaining about the price of gasoline for our new SUV or trying to decide what new high tech digital device to buy.

Perhaps the Islamists are right in assuming that our own decadence and apathy will consume us.

This and That.....

9/11 Commission: not that we watch that much TeeVee network news, but now we've about given up on watching any at all. The blather coming from the TV set is too much. From Democratic Senators, Congressmen, "victims" and newsmen. The tone has been of "what did the Bush Administration do wrong, withhold or lie about". Someone to blame instead of finding things to fix. If the purpose of the commission is to assign blame, then the facts are exceeding clear on that point. Dubya and his folks had only been in office for 9 months prior to 9/11. Bill Clinton was in office for 8 years prior, during which time mayhem was perpetrated against the US at the World Trade Center I, the US Embassy in Africa, the USS Cole and Kobar Towers. What did Clinton do? Treat it as a crime, point his finger in the air and promise to bring those responsible to justice, fire a missile at the Afghani desert. Might someone on the commission focus on the failure of that administration to do anything decisive about the problem that was obviously brewing.

Voice from Iraq: Weak hearts who do listen to the major media may be wondering if the cost is worth the effort in Iraq. Perhaps we should listen to more Iraqis like Mohammed who is there.

"And I don’t care what those ‘political experts’ on the newspapers and TV channels, say about the ‘occupation’, deteriorated security and ‘unemployment’. You can’t understand this, because you never experienced real fear this long. Let me tell you about it, as I’m one of those who passed Saddam’s filthy test of life.The statue fell and with it, horror fell. You don’t know what it means to be scared to death most of your life, brothers and sisters. I knew that and I faced it during the reign of evil and darkness. I was afraid to talk, I wasn't allowed to think and I wasn't allowed to feel…I wasn't allowed to love. .......Yes, it’s the 9th of April. I lit the 1st candle today to celebrate my 1st year, as a free man and no one will prevent me from celebrating."

Spring has sprung....Spring srang very early this year and consequently so did my tasks around the well groomed grounds of the estate. Well groomed because I toil like a Trojan this time of year. Today it was the mowing, edging etc., tomorrow I'll be digging up two dead Youpon Holly trees and replacing them along with 8 more Indian Hawthornes. It's work, but I have to say that with the toil and the recent rains, the backyard and tasteful mexican brick patio have never looked better.