Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is like a bad penny. He just never seems to go away. At today’s United Nations General Assembly he was up at the podium blasting the UN Security Council for … something. Truth be told, it was kind of hard following what he said, even with translators speaking perfectly good English. Gadhafi also has created a stir around New York trying to find a place to pitch his tent. Donald Trump has come up with a place. Of course, a lot of people would just as soon he pitch his tent in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, while others feel Hell would be just the right spot for him.
The better mousetrap. Just when you don't need it.
Someone always seems eager to build the better mousetrap. It certainly wouldn’t be good news to all the mice were it not that the term is used mostly as a metaphor. But people are striving to improve objects, to make them better, to come up with an “improved” version. All kinds of reasons exist for the need to improve but one with a cynical mind would suspect money is a great factor. It does seem that way with the “wares” of computers. You know–hardware, software, underwear. Well, who knows if computers have undies but perhaps you get the point.
Every year or so some tech company comes up with an improved version of this or that. Look at Microsoft. You got your Windows, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows to the World, Dirty Windows and Closed Windows.
But something as simple as Yahoo Mail. It’s been the same for thousands of years in Internet time. Now they are getting around to improving it, to change it. And wouldn’t you know that change has to take place at precisely the time you most need that little piece of technological wizardry to flawlessly perform the mission that it has done so well for so long? The problem is that you have to take time now to learn, or retrain, as to how it functions.
Maybe someone will come up with a better version of time. That’s it: Time 2.0. It sounds downright techie.
Rangers to the rescue. What a riot!
When one makes a rough-and-tumble, shoot-em-up about Texas it would seem that somewhere into the picture would ride the Texas Rangers. That is even if it is only “Walker, Texas Ranger,” as played by Chuck Norris.
But while the storied law enforcement unit — more accurately the investigative arm of the Texas Department of Public Safety — might make for a good movie some wonder how well they will fare against banditos who don’t even pass their way?
Certain local officials from the Mexican border areas of Texas are wondering the same thing. More precisely they are asking something akin to WTF?
Gov. Rick “No One Has Hair As Pretty As Mine” Perry has ordered a special task force of Texas Rangers to the Texas-Mexico border. The governor has also asked President Obama for more National Guard soldiers — funny thing since Perry seemed to be pushing for Texas secession awhile back at Tea Parties — to combat Mexican drug cartel violence. Then, there was that thing about Perry not accepting federal stimulus money for the state awhile back.
That Perry is seeking another term as governor and faces a vicious GOP primary battle with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison surely wouldn’t be cause for sending the Rangers to the border. Maybe he ought to send Chuck along for the extra manpower. That is, if secessionist Chuckles doesn’t end up running for governor (or president) of Texas.
Dancing With the Czars
A new hero
Yes, I have been playing around with a new WordPress theme this afternoon. It is much easier than the one I have used for awhile. We shall see how it goes.
President Obama made his first Medal of Honor presentation today. It was to the family of Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti. He died in June 2006 after heroic action in Afghanistan.
The Army has improved its Web site that hosts the information on all of the almost 3,500 service members (from all services, not just the Army) who have received this honor in the wars of our country. I read, including viewing a multimedia presentation on Sgt. 1st Class Monti, through some of the citations this morning, especially of a few whose name rang a bell for me. For example:
PFC Harold C. Agerholm, USMCR, who was killed in action July 7, 1944 on Saipan. Under a heavy Japanese attack, Agerholm single-handedly evacuated about 45 casualties over a three-hour period. He was killed trying to reach two more casualties he believed were Marines. The U.S. Navy destroyer on which I served from 1977-78 in the Pacific was named after Agerholm. The ship was sunk in a missile test off the Southern California coast several years after its decommissioning in 1978.
Army Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams killed nine German soldiers and knocked out three enemy machine guns during a fierce attack on Oct. 28, 1944, near St. Die, France. Adams helped eliminate hostile forces and reopened supply lines for his unit. Adams grew up in a large Hispanic family in Port Arthur, Texas. He died in 1983 after retiring from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Most every time I drive to Port Arthur on U.S. Hwy. 69/96/287 I pass by the road named for Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams, which just this year became home to the newly opened Port Arthur Memorial High School.
There are many more stories of those who were awarded the Medal of Honor. Some of those stories you may recognize and others you won’t. But one will find in those citations some true tales of inspiration. We may wish that we didn’t have to fight wars, but we need be glad we have those like Adams and Agerholm who have whatever that spark of courage is that makes them do what they do.