He who laughs on the way to the bank laughs best

The late, great entertainer Liberace had a favorite saying.  "You know that bank I used to cry all the way to?  I bought it."  Donald Sterling isn't going to cry any tears over how his reign as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers will end, but he will laugh all the way to wherever it is he banks.

That's because he's managed to achieve two things in recent days.  According to a poll conducted by E-Poll Market research, he is now the most disliked man in the United States.  Bernie Madoff, disliked by 90% of the public had been the most disliked, but Sterling's dislike rating is now up to 92%, passing other luminaries such as Conrad Murray, O. J. Simpson and Justin Bieber.

He's also going to realize an incredible windfall from selling the Clippers for an unbelievable $2 billion.  Prior to the video of his conversation with V. Stiviano becoming public knowledge, estimates of the value of the Clippers were in the range of $600 million to $750 million.  Assuming the deal closes as it is being reported, that's an amazing inflation of the value of a sports team over such a short period; especially considering the team doesn't own the arena they play in.

Personally I think Steve Ballmer and company are making a mistake.  The Time-Warner Cable deal with the Dodgers is a problem right now, and many fans are feeling disenfranchised because they can't watch the Dodgers without getting Time-Warner.  TWC isn't getting the income stream they expected from the deal.  There's already a Lakers cable channel and a Dodgers cable channel.  Both are storied franchises whose history can fill some of the airtime when they aren't playing.  The Clippers don't have that history and with several ESPN channels, CBS and NBC having sports network channels, the market is glutted.  No one is going to tune into a Clippers channel to watch the weekly Buzkashi matches from Kabul.

Meanwhile, Donald and Shelly Sterling walk away with much more of a profit than anyone else thought possible.  I'd estimated $1.5 billion as the best possible price they'd get and I was way off.

So a man is discovered to have said hateful things, goes on television and says more dumb and hateful things and his reward is hundreds of millions in extra profits.

What a wonderful nation we live in.

* * *

Thursday was a day that challenged me.  They were serving tomato juice on the drink cart this morning.  I love tomato juice.  My plate, which contains tomato slices each morning so I can get the taste and texture of the juice without the gigantic quantity of sodium needed to preserve the juice was nowhere in sight.  I had just weighed myself and was down 11 lbs since my ER visit from last Friday.

As I sat there, debating whether or not to have just one glass of my absolute favorite thing to drink, I focused on the notion that the reason I've managed to dump that water weight has been by eliminating as much sodium as possible.  So I passed on the juice.

Tonight at dinner, I was with two former colleagues.  People I admire, respect and love, and who I've known for more than 25 years.  It was a wonderful reunion.  We ate at a local deli, convenient to all of us.  My order included a plate of pickles.  I love pickles.  I don't keep them in my home because they are so bad for me.  My old boss, knowing of my illnesses and my need to keep my sodium down asked me if she should move them away from my reach.  I told her not to. 

She's not always going to be there when I'm faced with the choice to enjoy something that is detrimental to my health.  And I know I will not be able to be perfect and make all of the "best" choices, every single time.  In the end, I took one small bite from one pickle and left the rest on the table.  That's a choice I think I can live with in several ways.

* * *

Thursday's news listening involved me catching someone (I can't remember who or which outlet) saying that Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki had promised to do "his best" to fix the problems facing the agency.  As soon as I heard that, I thought of this:

In actuality it turned out that it was a member of Congress, pontificating about how veterans were entitled to the best health-care available and he was going to do his best to make it happen.  The same message applies to him.

The other message that needs to be heard is that while General Shinseki has stepped down, his departure isn't the only one the VA needs in order to solve the long-term problems of the agency.  I spent ten years in the military and it is very easy to see the parallels.  Many of the key players in VA facilities are veterans of the military themselves.  Many of them are hard-workers doing their best.  Some are not. 

ROAD or if you prefer, RSOAD are military acronyms you probably haven't heard before.  Retired On Active Duty, or Retired Serving On Active Duty is an acronym for someone close to retirement on paper, who is already retired in their mind.  They're still on active duty, still drawing full pay but not doing the work.  I encountered this a number of times in my career and while I don't condone it, I understand how people can develop that mindset.  That there are people who are ROAD while working at the VA is only one of the myriad of problems the agency faces.

Tying bonuses to wait times was an invitation for managers to game the system to ensure they collected those bonuses; especially when it became clear that the burgeoning demand for care was outstripping the slow increase in resources that added funding has created in very recent years.

Tuesday morning I was waiting for a prescription to be filled before I could go home.  The out-patient pharmacy has a computer monitor that is supposed to show when a patient's prescription is ready for pickup.  I watched and watched but my name never came up.  Meanwhile I overheard people at the window saying they'd been waiting, their name hadn't appeared on the monitor, and lo and behold, their prescription had been ready for some time.  "A glitch in the system" is how it was explained to me.

The clerk has a full view of the waiting room.  When it became full and then overflowing with people waiting for prescriptions, it should have been obvious something was wrong.  No one behind the glass paid any attention.  They aren't paid to think.  They're paid to do a task and they do the task.  If the names don't show on the monitor, it isn't their fault.  Or their responsibility.

That is a lack of accountability.  A lack of owning the operation you are a part of.  A lack of leadership.  Whoever the supervisor of this very large pharmacy is didn't check to make sure the systems work.  That's endemic at every level of the VA in terms of administration and management.  Not patient care.  I find the doctors and other healthcare providers to be extremely competent and focused on the care of their patients.  The problems are in systems and management.  The "fill the box and do no more" culture.

What the VA needs is managers and leaders who will demand more than just civil service, fill the box and no more from their employees.  A patient standing at a clerk's window isn't an unneeded hassle, it's a problem to be solved.  Solve the patient's problem.  Passing them on to someone else who is equally uninterested in solving that patient's problem isn't the answer.

I've encountered managers and administrators of the fill the box and no more, and the do whatever it takes to solve the problem attitudes at the VA.  The former is annoying and worse, dangerous.  The latter is always a pleasant surprise.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Are Courtney Stodden's breasts each going to get a separate Twitter account?

Gwyneth Paltrow has no concept of what real war is like, or she'd understand what was so utterly wrong with her comparison of being trashed online to war.  It's understandable I guess, very little of what is real penetrates the protective bubble in which she lives.

It's also fortunate for Ms Paltrow that Charlize Theron has stepped forward and said something even dumber than what Paltrow blathered.   Ms Theron was talking about the intrusion of the media into her life and said, “when you start living in that world, and doing that, you start feeling, I guess, raped.”  That is nowhere near rape, and the comparison is odious.

High schools have no business editing yearbook photos of their students.  If they are worried kids will violate the school's dress code, have an administrator there when the photos are being taken and they can make a determination before the photo is shot.  Send the student to change if they are in violation.

It is so sad to see Matt Kemp wasting his talents because he isn't motivated enough to use them to their fullest potential.  Unless of course he's still injured and not letting on. 

I love my work and treasure all my clients.  But I have to admit, I love some of them more than others, particularly those who make me think, challenge me, and keep me fascinated by the work.

I wonder if Jean Kasem will show up in court in Seattle. (update - she did)

Looks like there won't be much chance of the moron who jumped the rope to hit Brad Pitt on the red carpet doing anything similar in the future.  That's probably a good thing.

Shiela Kuehl's campaign mailer excerpting an L. A. Times editorial that endorsed one of her opponents isn't inaccurate, but it's misleading and downright dishonest.  For that reason alone, she's unsuitable to serve.

* * *

May 30th in History:

70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres.
1381 – Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England.
1416 – The Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
1431 – Hundred Years' War: in Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.
1434 – Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany – effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
1510 – During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, Ming Dynasty rebel leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Prince of Anhua rebellion.
1536 – King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1631 – Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper.
1635 – Thirty Years' War: the Peace of Prague is signed.
1642 – From this date all honors granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament.
1806 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition – the Treaty of Paris (1814) is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I is exiled to Elba.
1815 – The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives.
1832 – End of the Hambach Festival in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
1832 – The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is opened.
1834 – Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses of the regular religious orders" in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".
1842 – John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert.
1854 – The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (by "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).
1876 – Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.
1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede that crushes twelve people.
1899 – Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.
1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1913 – First Balkan War: the Treaty of London (1913), is signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
1914 – The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York, New York.
1917 – Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
1925 – May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
1932 – The National Theatre of Greece is founded.
1937 – Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.
1941 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the Nazi swastika.
1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
1958 – Memorial Day: the remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.
1961 – The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1966 – The former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
1966 – Launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body.
1967 – The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.
1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
1972 – In Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
1974 – The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
1998 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
1998 – Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt.
2003 – Depayin massacre: at least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.
2012 – Former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
2013 – Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.

Famous Folk Born on May 30th:

Alexander Nevsky
William McMurdo
Howard Hawks
Irving Thalberg
Cornelia Skinner
Stepin Fetchit
Mel Blanc

 

(he was a regular at my grandfather's bar/restaurant and he always did voices for us)
Benny Goodman
Ralph Metcalfe
Bob Evans
Christine Jorgensen
Clint Walker
Ruta Lee
Gale Sayers
Meredith McRae
P. J. Carlesimo
Colm Meaney
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Ted McGinley
Kevin Eastman
Shauna Grant
Wynonna Judd
Cee Lo Green

The phases of our lives

A good friend shared a video on Facebook that I found amusing and yet telling.  Be warned, there is some profanity in the video.  It isn't gratuitous but drives the point home.

"This doesn't make any f*@)#!g sense to me."  As I sit here today, it doesn't.  But I think back to a time 20 years ago and I see myself in that video.  In June of 1994, I was running every morning, five days a week, before work.  I would be in the gym after work as well, or out on the bike path, doing at least 90 more minutes of cardiovascular exercise. I wasn't obsessed about my diet or weight, but I was definitely in training.  No matter what.

June 12, 1994 is remembered most as the date that O. J. Simpson allegedly murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman.  I remember it because I was on a training ride that afternoon, rushing to get home to shower and change for a blind date.  I wiped out on the bike path in the stretch near the Venice Boardwalk.  I got up, dusted myself off, and rode to the emergency room.  I had cracked ribs, a fractured or severely sprained thumb, and some road rash.  They cleaned me off and I rode the six miles home.  Then I showered and went on my date.

I had already paid to race in a 5K on the Sunday two days hence.  I asked the doctor if I could injure myself more severely by running.  He said no, but that I'd be an idiot if I didn't just skip it and rest.  I decided to be an idiot.  I went out and ran.  I had that mentality.  That Ironman mentality.  I was invincible and I was going to prove it.  The only thing I proved was my capacity for enduring pain and a shortsighted view of what's important.

Our bodies have limits.  We can push them beyond those limits on occasion, in a crisis.  We see this capacity in how elite military units train, to go beyond the limits the body will try to impose.  But this process involves a price and it's a price that shouldn't be paid just for the whim of wanting to run one specific race.  Unless that race won't be back the following year, one's long-term health shouldn't be sacrificed for that short-term goal.  I say that now, having been one who made those sacrifices in the past.

* * *

I want to give retired General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Obama Administration the benefit of the doubt, but in the wake of this interim report from the VA's Inspector General, I can't.  He needs to resign. 

According to the IG's report, 1,700 veterans were waiting for appointments but weren't on either the official, or the secret waiting lists.  These men and women might have never received the treatment they are entitled to, all because bureaucrats were afraid that the truth would win out; that they didn't have the resources to meet the mandated waiting time targets. 

This is all part and parcel of a culture of target setting and adjusting that has ruled the military-industrial complex for decades.  When the military is given a target standard in an area of responsibility, the first response is to try to meet and exceed the standard.  When that isn't possible, then the next response is to find ways to make it appear they are meeting the standard.  If that won't work, altering the standard is the court of last resort.

I worked in a unit where the metric was the status of our aircraft.  We used a system with the following acronyms:

FMC - Fully Mission Capable
PMCM - Partly Mission Capable - Maintenance
PMCS - Partly Mission Capable - Supply
PMCB - Partly Mission Capable - Both
NMCM - Not Mission Capable - Maintenance
NMCS - Not Mission Capable - Supply
NMCB - Not Mission Capable - Both

As long as a sufficient percentage of the aircraft were FMC and another percentage was in one of the various PCM statuses, we were considered mission capable.  When the numbers no longer had that many aircraft in the appropriate status, we were no longer mission capable.  That was a bad thing.

When you're an aircraft maintenance unit on Guam, with a supply chain that reaches back to the now defunct Norton Air Force Base near San Bernardino, CA, at least 18 hours away from being able to fill a supply requisition, what you're allowed to keep on hand is very important.  So when your allotment of brakes for C-141 aircraft is only two and you have four C-141s on the ramp that need brake changes, you've got at least two planes that are NMCB and will remain that way for at least 24 hours.  Easier to lower the standard than it is to find funds to keep four or five sets of brakes in place on Guam for the next very rare occasion when more than two planes are down for brakes at the same time.

The VA has the same problem.  Too many patients coming into the system in need of care, with too few providers to care for them.  So the administrators, faced with being labeled as failures for meeting the requisite standard decide to game the system rather than identify the real problem.  They get bonuses, veterans don't get care and the system collapses.

Time for a new broom to sweep clean.  If possible.  Can't meet standards for getting appointments if there aren't enough appointments to parcel out.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Now that Chelsea Handler has announced she will leave Chelsea Lately in August of this year, look for the E! Entertainment Network to fill the void with a new show modeled on Handler's eponymous program.  Whitney Cummings and Ross Matthews are potential "replacements."

There's a new record for most expensive one cup order from Starbucks, $54.75 for a 60 shot of expresso milkshake that was served in a 128 ounce glass.  The man who set the record is a smart cookie, as he is a member of the chain's loyalty program and this qualified as his "freebie."

The rumor mill has Quentin Tarantino finally taking his friendship with Uma Thurman to the "next level."

I don't mind someone like Levar Burton using Kickstarter, especially for a worthy cause.  He isn't uber-rich and $1 million for a public interest program like "Reading Rainbow" is worthy of support.

I just read an article about the demise of the marriage of Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell, which indicated they began dating in 2004 and married in 2012.  It made no mention of Marilyn Manson, whom the actress was involved with in an on and off relationship from 2006 through 2010.  Revisionist gossiping?

Gwyneth Paltrow says, "You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it's a very dehumanizing thing,  It's almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it."  Maybe she's just tired of the flak she brings on herself.  But she shouldn't think it isn't about her, when she's the one claiming working women have it so much easier than she does.

Edward Snowden was not trained as a spy, or so some who are supposedly in the know are saying.  I say he's full of shit, but that's just my opinion.

It's a good thing rapper 50 Cent makes a good living in music, because it's clear he has no ability on the baseball diamond.

An all-girl team won the championship at a USSSA baseball tournament, against a squad of all boys.  Better still, they won the championship game via the mercy rule.

A veteran in Colorado is giving out free pot to his fellow veterans as his way of helping them replace tons of prescription medications for depression and other mental illnesses by using pot, which he considers safer.  Response from the other vets has been positive.

In Lowell, MA, a 17 year old girl suffering from Lupus was able to enjoy a dream prom experience thanks to friends and family who teamed up to make it happen for her.

A Chicago area track and field coach is recovering after being hit in the head by a 12 pound shot put ball.

Reasonable restrictions on the ownership of guns is allowable under the 2nd Amendment, as determined by the Supreme Court in prior decisions.  But I've yet to hear a proposed tightening of gun ownership restrictions that would have prevented the tragedy in Isla Vista.  No change in gun regulations would have changed things for the three men who were stabbed to death.

* * *

May 29th in History:

363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sassanid capital, but is unable to take the city.
1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under the command of Tamim ibn Yusuf defeat a Castile and León alliance under the command of Prince Sancho Alfónsez.
1167 – Battle of Monte Porzio – A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel
1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France.
1414 – Council of Constance.
1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captures Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1677 – Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives.
1727 – Peter II becomes Czar of Russia.
1733 – The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.
1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States' colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
1852 – Jenny Lind leaves New York after her two-year American tour.
1861 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong.
1864 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
1867 – The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1868 – The assassination of Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, in Belgrade.
1886 – The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal.
1900 – N'Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.
1903 – In the May coup d'état, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
1913 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot.
1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives.
1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.
1919 – Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
1919 – The Republic of Prekmurje is founded.
1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
1932 – World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1939 – The Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.
1940 – The first flight of the Vought F4U Corsair.
1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history.
1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.
1948 – Creation of the United Nations peacekeeping force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
1950 – The St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's (adopted) 39th birthday.
1954 – First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.
1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1969 – General strike in Córdoba, Argentina, leading to the Cordobazo civil unrest.
1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
1985 – Heysel Stadium disaster: 39 association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses.
1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
1988 – The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1989 – Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.
1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1993 – The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.
1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
2001 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
2004 – The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
2008 – A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.
2012 – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.

Famous Folk Born on May 29th:

Charles II of England
Patrick Henry
G. K. Chesterton
Oswald Spengler
Bob Hope

Stacey Keach, Sr.
John F. Kennedy
Clifton James

Grandma Lee (she is really funny)
Fay Vincent
Al Unser
Danny Elfman
John Hinckley, Jr.
La Toya Jackson
Annette Benning
Rupert Everett
Melissa Etheridge
Lisa Welchel
Melanie Brown
Carmelo Anthony
Hornswoggle
Riley Keogh

Some headlines that caught my eye

The Tea Party scored a victory in Rockwall, Texas in a primary run-off election.  As a result, when the 114th Congress convenes in January of next year, it will be the first time that there will be a Congress with no World War II veterans among its membership.  Ralph Hall would have been the last, had he won reelection.  The only other WWII veteran still in Congress is retiring.

Terence Davis owns a home in Malibu that he rents out frequently on a short-term basis.  His neighbors don't like it, but he appears to be incompliance with the city's rules on registering and paying taxes for such rentals.  The city of Malibu is cracking down on others who appear to be renting out their homes without properly registering and paying the hotel tax rate as required by law.

As I write this, the news of the death of Maya Angelou has come across the wires.  She was 86.  She was even more "larger than life" in person than just in the written word, or in hearing/seeing her on TV.  A truly amazing person.  The world is a poorer place with her passing.

If you happen to be watching this summer's Miss Texas pageant (scheduled for July 5th), when you see Miss South Texas, take note.  She was once a size 24, and got motivated to lose the weight after failing a PE test while in Middle School.

The wife of an active duty Marine was denied a 10% discount at a Home Depot and it turns out the manager who denied her request may have made an error. 

A woman was shot at an Indiana WalMart when a gun being carried by another customer fell to the ground and went off.  The man had a permit for the gun and will not be charged.  Reporter's note:  Properly maintained guns don't fire when dropped to the ground.

It had been decades since he had taken to the stage to sing in public, but Steve Perry, former lead singer of the group Journey did just that.  He sang with alternative rock band Eels during a show encore and did their "It's a MotherF***er" before belting out two Journey classics "Open Arms" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'."  Reporter's note:  He hasn't lost a thing, sounded great!

Now Donald Sterling is trying to back out of the deal he arranged where his wife (estranged or otherwise) would sell the Clippers. 

Flex-time is great, but bear in mind that managers and supervisors may have an ingrained negative response to those who use flex time to arrive and leave later in the day.  The old "early bird gets the worm mentality" still colors the judgment of many.

Inquiring minds are wondering if all the fuss of Rob Kardashian's sudden departure from the boring nuptials this past weekend, added to his newfound commitment to fitness and allowing his "followers" to watch him on Twitter and elsewhere; isn't part and parcel of some marketing plan to pump fitness products and services, with the momager at the helm.

Now that Krakow has joined Munich, Stockholm and St. Moritz as cities who have no interest in hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games; few serious bidders remain.  After the debacle of Sochi, this comes as no surprise.  Considering that the city of Nagano, Japan still hasn't fully repaid the debt it took on to host the 1998 Winter Games, why would any sane populace want to take on the risk?

Patty Murray, U. S. Senator from Washington, is pointing out that the current scandal at the VA is nothing more than the obvious outcome from years of budget cutting.  While VA budgets in recent years do show increases in funding, the number of veterans being served by the agency has risen faster than its funding.

It's so easy to call the plays on Monday Morning

The Monday Morning Quarterbacks are out in force, criticizing the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office for failing to do more during a "welfare" check on Elliot Rodger.  Rodger, the 22 year old student who has been identified as the killer of six people in Isla Vista during a rampage he described as his "Day of Retribution" got a visit from sheriff's deputies in April.  A relative had phoned them and expressed concern about their inability to reach him.

Even though he'd been seeing mental health professionals since he was eight years old, apparently Rodger was not diagnosed with an mental health condition that was inconsistent with the ability to legally purchase and own the three handguns that he had in his possession when police performed the welfare check.  The law doesn't allow them to search for or confiscate those weapons, unless there is evidence that the subject of the welfare check is a danger to themselves or others.

This isn't the fault of the sheriff's office.  Nor is it the fault of his parents and their parenting of him.  The blame does not lie with beautiful sorority women who one by one, they made Elliot suffer through one cruel rejection after another.

He had mental health issues.  I don't know enough to conclude that he suffered from a specific illness, nor will I assign one to him.  I just know something was horribly wrong inside this young man.  Something no one felt was a threat to the safety of this man or others, or they might have reported it to the authorities.

* * *

Meanwhile we're hearing the same litany of "better background checks" and the like.  Unless we as a nation are going to set forth very strict standards of what issues in a person's life should legally prevent them from owning a firearm, there would have been no way to prevent the Isla Vista mass shooting incident.  In fact, considering that fully half of the victims who died in this mass shooting weren't actually shot, I'm more comfortable calling it a mass murder.  It isn't really a mass shooting.

Pre-psychosis was mentioned by one mental health professional asked to speculate about Elliot Rodger's condition prior to his going on this rampage.  The details aren't important as long as we remember this.  Under current law, nothing about his physical or mental health would have prevented him from legally buying a gun.  The mere fact that one is taking certain medications for treatment of depression isn't a factor that prevents gun ownership.

Maybe it should.  That's a larger issue.  But no one, up to this point, has been able to propose a solution involving gun ownership and mental health conditions wherein there could be a process to prevent those with mental health issues from legally buying guns.  That's partly because you can't spend an hour, or even a day examining a person and determine their true mental fitness to own a firearm.

Until we can solve that, more "in-depth" background checks won't make a difference.

* * *

Today being Memorial Day, there are movies on cable that we don't see coming around all that often.  "Twelve O' Clock High" just finished and I watched every moment of it.  One of the first, and still one of the best war movies dealing with the psychological effects of war on the soldiers who go into combat.  It's a great film, used by the military to this date, to teach military leadership.

There's a character in the film, one "Lt. Bishop" who is based on a real life recipient of the Medal of Honor.  John C. Morgan was a 2nd lieutenant when he earned his Medal of Honor in a combat situation so harrowing I won't even try to give you a capsule version of it.  Instead, here is the citation that accompanied his Medal of Honor:

"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, while participating on a bombing mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe, 28 (sic) July 1943. Prior to reaching the German coast on the way to the target, the B17 aircraft in which 2d Lt. (sic) Morgan was serving as co-pilot was attacked by a large force of enemy fighters, during which the oxygen system to the tail, waist, and radio gun positions was knocked out. A frontal attack placed a cannon shell through the windshield, totally shattering it, and the pilot's skull was split open by a .303 caliber shell, leaving him in a crazed condition. The pilot fell over the steering wheel, tightly clamping his arms around it. 2d Lt. Morgan at once grasped the controls from his side and, by sheer strength, pulled the aircraft back into formation despite the frantic struggles of the semiconscious pilot. The interphone had been destroyed, rendering it impossible to call for help. At this time the top turret gunner fell to the floor and down through the hatch with his arm shot off at the shoulder and a gaping wound in his side. The waist, tail, and radio gunners had lost consciousness from lack of oxygen and, hearing no fire from their guns, the copilot believed they had bailed out. The wounded pilot still offered desperate resistance in his crazed attempts to fly the aircraft. There remained the prospect of flying to and over the target and back to a friendly base wholly unassisted. In the face of this desperate situation, 2d Lt. Officer Morgan made his decision to continue the flight and protect any members of the crew who might still be in the ship and for 2 hours he flew in formation with one hand at the controls and the other holding off the struggling pilot before the navigator entered the steering compartment and relieved the situation. The miraculous and heroic performance of 2d Lt. Morgan on this occasion resulted in the successful completion of a vital bombing mission and the safe return of his aircraft and crew."

The co-pilot who Lt. Morgan was restraining during this flight died a little over an hour after the plane landed.  The five gunners survived. 

Interestingly, Robert Arthur, who had a small role as the driver of Gregory Peck's character, was the last surviving member of the cast who was billed in the original credits when he died in 2008.  He was a Log Cabin Republican who was active in the fight for gay rights for senior citizens.  Oh the things we learn when we dig into the trivia of a film.

* * *

It's all about how you approach the story.  Here are two different version of a news item about a prolific hacker having his sentence reduced to seven months time served by a federal judge.  First, the TMZ version: 

"One of the most prolific hackers of the last decade has just been sentenced ... after breaking into computer systems and stealing a bunch of confidential data relating to more than 70,000 "X Factor" contestants.

30-year-old Hector Monsegur -- a member of the famed LulzSec hacker ring -- was sentenced Tuesday to in New York to time served (7 months) plus one year of supervised release. His sentence was reduced after he helped the Feds nail a bunch of his cohorts.

Monsegur pled guilty in 2011 to computer hacking, conspiracy, fraud, and a bunch of other stuff.

The 2011 "X Factor" job was just one of his crimes -- Monsegur was also involved in cyber attacks on Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, and several foreign government computer systems.

Meanwhile, Simon Cowell is still rich."

Now the UPI version:

"NEW YORK, May 27 (UPI) --A computer hacker with the group Anonymous has helped disrupt hundreds of cyber-assaults since he switched sides, a U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.
A judge in New York gave Hector Xavier "Sabu" Monsegur a sentence of time served. He has spent about seven months behind bars. In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Monsegur has prevented at least 300 attacks on government and corporate computer networks in the past three years. "The amount of loss prevented by Monsegur's actions is difficult to fully quantify, but even a conservative estimate would yield a loss prevention figure in the millions of dollars," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Pastore told the court. "Moreover, Monsegur provided information about actual and purported vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.""The amount of loss prevented by Monsegur's actions is difficult to fully quantify but even a conservative estimate would yield a loss prevention figure in the millions of dollars," said James Pastore, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Moreover, Monsegur provided information about actual and purported vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure."Monsegur, who used the name Sabu online, worked with Anonymous, LulzSec and InternetFeds. His targets as an outlaw included Sony, the U.S. Senate and PBS, as well as Paypal and other companies who were attacked as retribution for their refusal to process donations to Wikileaks. Prosecutors said Monsegur and his family had to be moved because of threats since he began cooperating with the FBI."

* * *

Since I wrote most of the above on Memorial Day, today's Random Ponderings and This Date in History will deal mostly with Monday, May 25th.

Random Ponderings:

Why is it Bank of America is having such a tough time foreclosing on a home owned by Burt Reynolds? 

People caught a rare sawfish off of the Florida coast.  Sawfish + Shark + Tornado = new SyFy horror film SharkSawNado.

Next time you head to a buffet, bear in mind that one of the ways buffet operators try to keep costs down is by pushing the starchy, cheaper, more-filling foods at the start of the line.

It isn't cheating or infidelity if you are separated; unless you made an agreement not to see others while separated.

Why hasn't the Magic Johnson Prepaid Debit card, with its outrageous monthly and annual fees gotten more press?  It's being allowed to quietly go away.

Are those kneepads Khloe Kardashian is wearing as she returned to the U.S. from the least important wedding of the year?

Those of you contemplating careers in journalism should learn from this example.  A reporter at the French Open congratulated Nicholas Mahut on his first round victory.  Problem is, Mr. Mahut lost a grueling four-set first round match.  What kind of idiot goes to interview someone about a tennis match without knowing the outcome of the match?

Bad enough fans of the L. A. Dodgers can't watch the team on television unless they have Time-Warner Cable.  Now the few of us who can watch the games on television will be denied baseball's all-time best broadcaster, as Vin Scully will miss Tuesday's game due to a chest cold.  Get well soon, Vinny.

There isn't much difference between U. S. Congressman Ralph Hall (R) of Texas and his challenger in a primary run-off election when it comes to the issues.  Both he and John Ratcliffe are just the right kind of conservatives to garner votes in Rockwall, Texas.  But Hall is 91 years old, while Ratcliffe is only 48.  If I were a resident of the 4th Congressional district in Texas, I would not vote for Ralph Hall.  Not just because of his age, but because of his record.

This fluid leaking from the leg thing got old awhile back.  Now it's just downright annoying.

Pot flowing illegally across the border sounds like a news story from the border between the U. S. and Mexico.  But in fact, it's a headline from the states adjacent to the state of Colorado, who are fighting their own border war with pot at the center.  An unintended consequence of the legalization of pot in Colorado and the refusal of the U. S. federal government to consider extending the legalization on a nation-wide basis.

Perhaps with all of the bad news facing the economy of Detroit, the fact that the cost of living in the downtown area is rising rapidly must be a spot of good news.

If I thought 7-11 had poisoned me with their coffee, intentionally or unintentionally, my first reaction would not be to make a flier to warn others.  Seeking treatment would be #1, followed by determining what happened.

May 26th in History:

47 BC – Julius Caesar visits Tarsus on his way to Pontus, where he meets enthusiastic support, but where, according to Cicero, Cassius is planning to kill him at this point.
17 – Germanicus returns to Rome as a conquering hero; he celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti and other German tribes west of the Elbe.
451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Empire defeats the Armenians militarily but guarantees them freedom to openly practice Christianity.
946 – King Edmund I of England is murdered by a thief whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day.
1135 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in the Cathedral of Leon as Imperator totius Hispaniae, "Emperor of all of Spain".
1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 30,000.
1328 – William of Ockham, the Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.
1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
1573 – The Battle of Haarlemmermeer, a naval engagement in the Dutch War of Independence.
1637 – Pequot War: A combined Protestant and Mohegan force under the English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Native Americans.
1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claim victory in the Battle of Montijo.
1647 – Alse Young, hanged in Hartford, Connecticut, becomes the first person executed as a witch in the British American colonies.
1736 – Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under the governor of Louisiana, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.
1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.
1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated end of fighting in American Revolution.
1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano, the gothic cathedral in Milan.
1821 – Establishment of the Peloponnesian Senate by the Greek rebels.
1822 – 116 people die in the Grue Church fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway's history.
1828 – Feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
1830 – The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.
1857 – Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.
1864 – Montana is organized as a United States territory.
1865 – American Civil War: the Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
1869 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
1896 – Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.
1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
1897 – Dracula, a novel by the Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
1900 – Thousand Days' War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.
1906 – Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.
1908 – At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1917 – Several powerful tornadoes rip through Illinois, including the city of Mattoon, killing 101 people and injuring 689.
1918 – The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
1923 – 24 Hours of Le Mans, was first held, and has since been run annually in June.
1936 – In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sits down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken for 10 hours.
1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.
1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo – In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
1940 – World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.
1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
1966 – British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.
1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
1972 – Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
1972 – The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1977 – George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center.
1981 – Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
1981 – An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.
1983 – A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people and injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed.
1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.
1991 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004, a Boeing 767, crashes in an area of western Thailand after a thrust reverser malfunction. All 223 people aboard are killed.
1992 – The blockade of Dubrovnik is broken. Following this, the siege of Dubrovnik ends in the next months.
1998 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
1998 – The first "National Sorry Day" was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
2002 – The tugboat Robert Y. Love collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.
2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
2008 – Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

Famous Folk Born on May 26th:

Pope Clement VII
Prince Koreyasu - Shogun of Japan
Al Jolson
Norma Talmadge
John Wayne
Robert Morley
Henry Ephron
Jay Silverheels
Peter Cushing
Moondog
Peggy Lee
James Arness
Miles Davis
Jack Kevorkian
Brent Musberger
Levon Helm
Aldrich Ames
Cliff  Drysdale
Garry Peterson
Stevie Nicks
Pam Grier
Hank Williams, Jr.
Sally Ride
Genie Francis
Bobcat Goldthwait
Lenny Kravitz
Helena Bonham Carter
Zola Budd
Lauryn Hill

The names

Some of these you may remember.  Others you may have never seen before.

Arthur Bonifas
Mark Barrett
Edward R. Bushnell
Michael P. O'Brien
Kenneth G. Suhr
Gary W Crass
Timothy J. Hoffman
Detlef W. Ringler
Dean Paul Martin
Ramon Ortiz
John E. Simpson
Rudy J. Swiestra
Edward J. Jeruss
Ricardo M. Vallareal
Paul E. Duncan
George P. Petrochilos
Arthur L. Mello
Leroy Price
Robert J. Oshinskie
Archie T. Bourg Jr.
James E. Fergueson
Joel H. Fields
Harold T. Kamps
Gerald C. Maggiacomo
Clement O. Mankins
Gerald H. Medeiros
Robert H. Moore

Who were they?  All of them died while wearing the uniform of the United States military and serving our country.  Bonifas and Barrett were murdered in the Demilitarized Zone (an oxymoron if ever there was one) on the Korean peninsula in the famous "Tree Trimming" incident.  The next six names were the members of Swan-38, the only "Typhoon Chaser" mission ever lost without a trace.  Dean Paul Martin and Ramon Ortiz were on a training mission for their Air National Guard unit in 1987 when they crashed during a snowstorm.  The last 17 names are the crew of a C-130 shot down by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, when their intelligence-gathering C-130 was in Soviet airspace.

I could add tens of thousands of names to this list.  The two less than brilliant guys in my unit on Guam, who swam beyond the "safe zone" barrier in the waters of our on-base beach and whose bodies were never recovered.  The trainee who tried to jump from the roof of his three story barracks into a tree nearby and didn't make it.  William H. Pitsenbarger, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on the day he died in the jungles of Vietnam in 1966.

Memorial Day isn't about three day weekends, trips, picnics and the like.  Or at least it shouldn't be.  It is a day where we pause to reflect on the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.  They gave their lives in the service of our nation.   None of the names on the list above is any more or less deserving than any other for recognition on this date.  Some simply appear more heroic than others, but one can give nothing more valuable than one's life in the service of a nation.

Before you turn that hamburger patty on the grill on Monday, before you crack open another bottle of beer, before you put your feet up and relax on this holiday; please, take a moment to remember and honor those men and women who paid the price for our freedom.  Even if it's just a moment, it's better than no moment.

* * *

Oliver North says that he was once told by the VA to come back in six or seven months to get his "cancer looked at" and that if he hadn't had health insurance from Fox, he would have died. 

The fact that Lt Col "Arms for Hostages" North had a battle with prostate cancer is well-documented.  What is not is any evidence that he initially sought treatment with the VA and was told there was a six to seven month wait for that treatment.

This is easily solved.  Here you are, Lt Col North, the proper paperwork.  http://www.va.gov/vaforms/medical/pdf/vha-10-5345-fill.pdf will authorize the VA to release the medical records concerned with you having sought treatment for prostate cancer and the notes made in the files by your provider at your local VA facility.  We shouldn't have any trouble clearing this up if you'll only fill out the form.

* * *

Another mass shooting.  Another person decided that it was time to end their life and in doing to, to take others with them.  Was Elliot Rogers, the man who made this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRb_emvoiCY the shooter?  We'll have the positive proof soon enough. 

Even if we were to close every store selling guns as of today, there are over 200 million of them out there.  This is a genie that's out of the bottle.  Not sure we can put it back in, with total success.

I've said this before.  Guns aren't needed to engage in mass killing.  Nerve gases, bombs and the like can kill large numbers.  Someone could grow wolf's bane plants (Aconitum) and use the plants to synthesize the toxin bikh aconite and slip it into a keg of beer.  A variant of this was a plot device in a novel by Frank G. Slaughter, "Convention, M. D."

We need to think about all of the facets of these tragedies in trying to prevent more of them from happening.  Getting guns out of the hands of those whose mental health is less than ideal is a good thing to strive for.  So is preventing 22 year olds from feeling that there's something wrong with being a virgin at that age.  So is the overreliance today's physicians have on medicating young men, where it is easier to label them as having ADHD and drug them; rather than using non-drug therapeutic modalities of treatment.

The pundits are already claiming the alleged shooter was suffering from severe mental illness, possibly multiple illnesses.  Maybe we should wait and see what, if any, diagnosis and treatment had been sought before passing judgment?  Just a thought.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

So Rob Kardashian went to all the trouble to travel to Europe for his sister's wedding and then he flies back at the last minute?  Why?  Must need ratings for their reality show.

Bruce Jenner walked his step-daughter down the aisle for her wedding, but refused to confirm or deny if he and she were wearing identical lingerie beneath their wedding outer-clothing.

Kris Jenner carried granddaughter North West down the aisle in front of Kim and Bruce.  Yeah, like there was any chance of this wedding coming off where she didn't get to steal the spotlight for at least a few minutes. 

Maybe it's time for Yahoo and other seach engines to start labeling people as "fame whore" rather than "TV personality".

Thank goodness every college guy who doesn't get laid isn't going out and killing people or there'd be a whole hell of a lot of dead bodies lying around.  Reading the rantings of this sick individual made me want to take a shower, even though I'd taken one only ten minutes earlier.

Give a great big two thumbs up to the Seattle Seahawks football team for being classy and generous.  Their sixth round pick is probably never going to play a single down of professional football, but the team signed the draft pick to his contract before releasing him due to a heart condition.  This way he got his signing bonus and first year's salary. Well played, Seahawks.

This is an actual yearbook quote:  "When the going gets tough, just remember to Barium Carbon Potassium Thorium Astatine Arsenic Sulfer (sic) Utranium (sic) Phospheros (sic)".  Seems innocuous enough until you use the chemical symbols for these elements:  Ba C K Th At As S U P.  School administrators were not amused.  They should have been.  It's clever.

Does the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising offer a program in designing socks, and if so, is Rob Kardashian its most famous graduate?

* * *

May 25th in History:

567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors.
1420 – Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
1644 – Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing.
1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
1738 – A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: The Carnew massacre, Dunlavin massacre and Carlow massacre take place.
1809 – Chuquisaca Revolution: a group of patriots in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) revolt against the Spanish Empire, starting the South American Wars of Independence.
1810 – May Revolution: citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.
1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.
1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.
1837 – The Rebels of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
1895 – The playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
1895 – The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as its president.
1914 – The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee.
1926 – Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which is in government-in-exile in Paris.
1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1936 – The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
1938 – Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
1940 – World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne
1946 – The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their Emir.
1950 – Public Transport: Green Hornet disaster. A Chicago Surface Lines streetcar crashes into a fuel truck, killing 33.
1953 – Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conduct their first and only nuclear artillery test.
1953 – The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
1955 – In the United States, a night-time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
1955 – First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third-highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Charles Evans. Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit on May 25, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather the next day.
1961 – Apollo program: The U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade.
1961 – The biggest fire in Singapore history. The Bukit Ho Swee Fire
1962 – The Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, goes out of business.
1963 – In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
1966 – The first prominent dàzìbào during the Cultural Revolution in China is posted at Peking University.
1967 – Celtic F.C. from Glasgow, Scotland, becomes the first ever Northern European team to win the European Cup; with previous winners being from Spain, Italy and Portugal.
1968 – Gateway Arch Saint Louis Gateway Arch is dedicated.
1973 – HNS Velos (D-16), while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, refusing to return to Greece.
1977 – Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday.
1977 – Chinese government removes a decade old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
1979 – American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground.
1979 – Etan Patz, who is six years old, disappears from the street just two blocks away from his home in New York City, prompting an international search for the child, and causing the U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25 as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983).
1981 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1982 – HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War.
1985 – Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
1986 – Hands Across America takes place.
1997 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
1999 – The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
2000 – Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
2001 – Erik Weihenmayer, 32 years old, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2002 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait. All 225 people on board are killed.
2008 – NASA's Phoenix lander lands in Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.
2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.
2011 – Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her twenty-five-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
2012 – The Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.
2013 – Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.

Famous Folk Born on May 25th:

Emperor Shenzong of Song
Emperor Suko of Japan
John Stuart
Mihn Mang
Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Muldoon
John Mott
Pieter Zeeman
Gene Tunney
Bennett Cerf
Igor Sikorsky
Dean Rockwell
Robet Ludlum
Beverly Sills
Irwin Winkler
W. P. Kinsella
Raymond Carver
Dixie Carter
Leslie Uggams
Frank Oz
Karen Valentine
Connie Sellecca
Hillary B. Smith
Paul Weller
Mike Myers

Anne Heche
Stacy London
Octavia Spencer
Justin Henry
Molly Sims
Cillian Muphy
Alberto Del Rio