Immortality Reality Check

I was recently researching the survival rate for my duodenal cancer, which has a history of returning. I found out at one website that I had a 30 percent chance of living past five years.

The oncologist when told about this survival rate gave me a reality check, by telling me the average life span for an American male is only 76. Since I will be 69 later this year that means I may be down to my last seven years of life, regardless of how the cancer situation may change. The five years survival rate doesn’t sound so bad, when I may have only seven years left anyway.

Chemotherapy has gone well during the first ten weeks, which ends tomorrow leaving me with fourteen more weeks left. If the Catscan shows that the cancer has returned when the chemotherapy ends, then I may be forced into making some very difficult decisions. Don’t know whether I would want to start a new round of surgery, if surgery is even an option and whether continuing chemotherapy would even be an option.

It would be easy to be selfish and continue to pursue any surgery or chemotherapy, that may rid my body of the cancer. This cancer has reduced me to a man who has ostrich legs, which really indicate that something is seriously wrong with my health.

One of the main reasons for me to try to go to any length to keep fighting cancer, if it has returned would be to see my grandsons a few more years. I have a grandson who was 14 yesterday that dreams of playing major league baseball. He will be trying out for his high school team in Texas in the spring of 2014. I would like to be around if and when he plays baseball on the professional level.

His brother who will be 12 in October likes to play soccer and does extremely well in school, since he loves to read books. I would like to see him grow up and start a career, while I am still living.

The worst thing about leaving this world is those I would leave behind, including my two sons and daughter and my wife Rhonda and my stepson Justin.

My father is 98 and will be 99 in November of this year. It is now a possibility that he may outlive me and I am happy for him. He made the right health choices to eat almost exclusively healthy meals and very seldom ate out at fast food places. He worked in his garden till well into his 90′s and also mowed the yard.

What really matters the most is that whatever happens will be God’s will, so I am ready to accept whatever God has in store for me.

I may live another 10 or 15 years, but on the other hand I may not even be around this time next year.

I want to see all the baseball and football games I can see while I am still around. I want to listen to some of my 17,000 old-time radio shows from the 1920′s through 1962 when old-time radio died on September 30 of that year.

There is a lot of music I would like to hear again, while I am still around and enjoy nature and see the stars in the night sky.

Only God knows what my future holds and how much time I have left. Time will tell how all of this plays out.

One of my main objectives is to be the same person I have always been, no matter how good or bad the news may be about my cancer as the years roll by. I don’t want anyone feeling bad for me, because I will be worried about the ones being left behind more than myself.

Memories of a Lifetime: 1991-1995

1991 – Visited my sister Jane and her family during the summer of 1991 in Pueblo, Colorado. My son Kenny and brother Tom also were on the trip.  My brother Daniel drove us up Pike’s Peak and will never forget how cold it was at the top. The brakes overheated on the way down, so had to let them cool off a few minutes.

Driving through Raton Pass with an altitude of 7,834 in a four-cylinder Toyota was not easy as we gained altitude. Enjoyed the time with my sister and her family while in Colorado. Jane is an executive with the Pueblo Library and we had the chance to visit the library.

911 emergency number was being tested during the year and the airbag was invented. Gasoline was being sold for $1.12 a gallon.

1992 – This was a sad year as my 22 year marriage to Elaine ended, with her moving back to Texarkana, Arkansas. Had to file bankruptcy after she left, so I could pay bills. It would be the first of six years with no air conditioning. We had one, just never used it, since had to choose between air conditioning and eating and eating won that battle. Ate cheese sandwiches most of the time and can’t remember going out to eat during this time.

With the Town Talk garnishing my wages to pay the bankruptcy and paying child support there was little money left for anything, but the bare necessities of life.

The divorce was finalized and it was sad to spend Christmas without the family for the first time since 1972, the year when Steve was born.

Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992 and Miley Cyrus was born and will be 21 in November of 2013.  The cost of gasoline dropped from $1.12 in 1991 to $1.05 in 1992.

1993 – Flew to Knoxville, Tennessee this year with the financial assistance of my brother, to be present when Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee honored my dad by naming a chemistry laboratory after him. Enjoyed hearing his students and others tell of my dad’s contributions to the Chemistry department at Tusculum. Then they served a dinner in his honor, which capped off a great evening.

My daughter Debbie missed by one word of making the National Spelling Bee in 1993. I was there that night in my alma mater Pineville High School auditorium, as she battled round after round before misspelling the final word.

I don’t handle change well and had a major change at Town Talk, when I was moved from composing room to camera shop, after having worked in composing room since 1966. I have to admit I was lost as I had to learn how to operate a full-page camera, tone photos and strip in negatives using the four-color process. The negatives had to have perfectly matched register marks, or the photos would be out of focus, which could be seen easily by readers if not aligned properly.

The price of gasoline rose to $1.16 a gallon, an increase of 11 cents a gallon compared with 1992 prices. Movie tickets had risen to $4.14 and a loaf of bread cost $1.57.

Harley Davidson motorcycles observed their 90th anniversary in 1993, which means they will observe their 110th anniversary in 2013. Beanie babies were first sold in 1993 and are now collector’s items twenty years later.

1994 – Remember watching O.J. Simpson and the low-speed chase by police as they followed him to his home. He was eventually arrested and charged with the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. This is the year that Tonya Harding had someone hit her ice skating opponent Nancy Kerrigan in the knee, hoping to gain an advantage over her injured opponent.

Can remember Bud Selig saying the dreaded words that there would be no 1994 World Series, due to a lengthy baseball strike. I had the feeling Selig almost enjoyed cancelling the World Series, as he seemed to be letting the players know that he was in charge.

The cost of gasoline dropped to $1.09 a drop of seven cents from the 1993 price.  The first satellite digital television service was launched in 1994 and Netscape was the leading browser that year.

1995 – College Drive Baptist Church lost their pastor Mark Norwood who had accepted another job with a church in North Louisiana, when Warren Steadman became the pastor that fall.

1995 was one of my favorite years since the Atlanta Braves, who I had been following since 1978 defeated the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 World Series. It was the first Braves win in a World Series, since the 1957 Milwaukee Braves defeated the New York Yankees in the 1957 World Series. The win over the Indians was only the second World Series championship for the Braves in the last 55 years.

Gasoline was still selling at $1.09 the same price as the 1994 price. Postage stamps were now selling for 32 cents. I remember back in 1963, when I was selling stamps for a nickel each and a book of 20 stamps cost only a dollar. 32 years later the same 20 stamp book sold for $6.40. Fast forward to 2013 and stamps are approaching 50 cents a stamp and a book would cost $10 for a 20 stamp book.

The biggest tragedy of 1995 was when a truck bomb exploded, while killing 168 people at the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Timothy McVeigh would later be executed for his part in the crime.

750 Chicagoans would die in a heat wave, when temperatures reached 104 degrees for five straight days.

Windows 95 is released by Microsoft and DVD’s are introduced.

O.J. Simpson is found innocent of the Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman murders and vows to catch the REAL killer. He searched golf courses all over the United States looking for the real killer, but was unsuccessful in locating the killer. He could have saved all that time and energy by looking at the mirror and finding the REAL killer there.

Grocery prices skyrocketed in 1995 as bread was selling for $1.15 a loaf. The days of buying five loaves for a $1 at the bread thrift store were now officially over. Ground coffee could be purchased for $4.07 a pound.

Average income was $35,900 a month except for Town Talk employees. I retired from Town Talk nine years later and never earned more than $28,000 a year, while working for the Town Talk.

Recollections of General Robert E. Lee Review

I recently downloaded the Kindle book Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, written by his son Captain Robert E. Lee. The Kindle edition is free and readers can start reading the 504 page book a minute, after it is purchased for free. The book is in the public domain, which is why it is free at Amazon.com.

General Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford Hall, Virginia. He graduated second in his class from West Point in 1829. He married Mary Custis the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington in 1831. He later would be he appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1852.

General Robert E. Lee 1807-1870

Lee loved to communicate through letters and this book includes the text of many letters, that he wrote to his wife, sons and daughters and others he had contact with during his life. He wrote often even during the Civil War years of 1861-1865. When he wrote home he would ask his relatives to send socks for the Confederate troops, many of whom had neither shoes or socks. It had to be a real hardship for Confederate troops, to not have shoes and socks and even blankets during the winter months of the Civil War. He writes in 1862 about the death of his daughter, Anne Carter Lee who died of typhoid fever at the age of 23.

You could feel the compassion for his troops as he pleaded in his letters, for his relatives to send socks for the troops. He wrote about the death of General Stonewall Jackson and how he would be missed by the Confederate Army. He writes in one letter about how outnumbered the Confederate troops were before surrendering to General Ulyssses Grant at Appomatox.  By surrendering Lee prevented the deaths of thousands of Confederate troops, who would have surely died at the hands of the Federal Army, who vastly outnumbered them.

His letters after the war relate how he was offered the presidency of Washington University, which was named Washington and Lee University in later years. His leadership was instrumental in making Washington University, one of the leading collegiate institutions of the south. His wife Mary who suffered from rheumatism often went to places with healing springs and these trips separated her from General Lee, who was living in Lexington, Virginia as the president of Washington University.

He often wrote his sons  after the war and gave them advice, about how to be a successful farmer. He gave them money to help them acquire what they needed for their farms. He even told his son Robert Jr. that Robert needed to find a wife so he could settle down on a farm.

After reading these letters, a reader can tell how much family meant to General Lee and his concern for the welfare of his wife, sons and daughters and the confederate troops, who had served in the Confederate Army under his leadership.  It is evident too how much his faith in God mattered to him.

Sadly, Lee only lived five years after the Civil War ended and died on October 12, 1870 in Lexington, Virginia at the age of 63 of heart disease.  He is buried at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

General Lee may have been a great general for the Confederate Army, but this book, doesn’t dwell on that as much, as it does on his character which is exemplified in his letters. Numerous books have been written about Lee, but due to his untimely death he was unable to write the memoirs of his life.

The entire book can be heard since there is an option to hear a reader read the book aloud. This book may not be a book Civil War buffs may want to read, since it is more about Robert E. Lee the person, rather than being about Robert E. Lee the Confederate general, but it is still a book worth reading.

Andy Griffith Before and After Andy Griffith Show

The late Andy Griffith in a scene from No Time For Sergeants.

 

The first time I heard of Andy Griffith was when he appeared in the movie No Time For Sergeants. He played Will Stockdale a mountain boy, who is drafted into the U.S. Army. He had already played the part in the Broadway play by the same name three years, before the 1958 movie was released.

The funniest scene of the movie to me was when he was named PLO (Permanent Latrine Orderly). He rigged the toilet seats to stand up all at once, which shocked the inspecting officer to say the least. However, this scene of him being tested by a corporal for manual dexterity may be even funnier. Don Knotts plays the corporal, who is utterly frustrated by the way Andy’s character Will Stockdale puts the two links together. Don Knotts appears at about the 1:15 mark.

I hadn’t even known Andy Griffith had appeared in A Face in the Crowd in 1957, in a dramatic role unlike the Andy Griffith I had known in No Time For Sergeants and on the Andy Griffith show.

Andy received top billing in the movie portraying an Arkansas hobo Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes who becomes rich overnight. This is a scene from A Face In The Crowd:

Made Television Debut On U.S. Steel Hour

Andy had made his television debut on the U.S. Steel Hour when he played Will Stockdale on television. He played the role on Broadway, on television and in the movies, which probably has not been done very often, by any actor in the same role.

He also made the movie Onionhead in 1958, so it was a very busy year for him.

Danny Thomas Show Role As Sheriff

Andy got a big break when he appeared on a Danny Thomas episode in 1960, where Danny is given a ticket, by a small-town sheriff.  Andy is perplexed when he finds out that Andy is not only the sheriff, but also the justice of the peace.

The Danny Thomas episode led to the formation of the Andy Griffith show which was shown that same year, on the CBS television network.  249 episodes later the Andy Griffith show would complete its run.

He appeared on Mayberry RFD for two years, then had two series fail in short order, when Headmaster lasted 13 episodes in 1970, followed by the New Andy Griffith show which lasted only 10 episodes. He didn’t return to another series until 1979 when Salvage One only last 19 episodes. He had appeared in three series since leaving Mayberry RFD, but only 42 shows were made of those three series combined.

Seven years later Andy tried again for a hit series and he struck gold with Matlock which ran from 1986-1995. He appeared in various television series and movies till he made his last acting appearance in Play the Game in 2009 at the age of 83.

Andy non only was an actor, but recorded gospel songs. This is Andy singing How Great Thou Art:

I looked at Andy Griffith and saw a role model, for the right way to live life.

My wife and daughter surprised me in 2006, when we went to Mt. Airy, N.C. to see Andy’s boyhood home. I didn’t know we were going to stay there that night and it was the surprise of my life, when I found out we were actually spending the night there. Hampton Inn rents out the home to tourists and it was something I will never forget. I even played baseball with my grandson in Andy’s backyard.

The late Andy Griffith’s boyhood home in Mt. Airy, NC.

Andy had also made some comedy records early in his career. I had the record that has him giving his impression of seeing his first football game. He said in his monologue that 5 or 6 convicts were running up and down the field blowing whistles.  The game was played in a cow pasture and Andy concludes saying that the object of the game must be to keep from being knocked down or stepping in something.

The only remaining actors still alive from Andy Griffith are Jim “Gomer Pyle” Nabors and Betty “Thelma Lou” Lynn.

I was 15 when the first Andy Griffith show was televised in 1960 and was 23 when the last show aired, so have been watching Andy Griffith during the first eight original years and in 44 years of re-runs.

Andy, Thanks for the memories and RIP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Griffith Dies At 86 On Roanoke Island, North Carolina

Andy Griffith 1926-2012

Andy Griffith died this morning at his home on Roanoke Island, North Carolina at the age of 86.

Death has taken another star of the Andy Griffith Show. George Lindsey who portrayed Goober on the show had passed away on May 6.

Andy Griffith’s character Andy Taylor was one of the most beloved characters on television. The show revolved around him and he saw early in the show’s run, that it would be better to play the straight man for off the wall characters like Barney Fife played by Don Knotts, Gomer Pyle who was portrayed by Jim Nabors, Otis Campbell being portrayed by Hal Smith and the aforementioned George Lindsey as Goober.

Life Lessons Taught

Andy taught his son Opie Taylor well, trying to bring him up without a mother in the home. Many shows dwelt on Andy telling Opie, how to deal with life’s problems the right way.

Whatever problem Opie may have been experiencing Andy always had the right solution , to any problem that might arise. This video from the show in which Opie killed a bird with a slingshot is an excellent example of  how Andy taught his son to do the right thing.

 

The interplay between Andy and Barney Fife was a huge part, of the success of the show. Don Knotts suggested that the show needed a deputy and that move guaranteed the success of the show. Andy asks Barney about the Emancipation Proclamation, which shows how Andy could rile up Barney.

 

When Don Knotts left the show after five years, Andy proved he could still draw the fans. as the show’s ratings stayed strong, after the departure of Knotts.

 

I can remember watching Andy Griffith and Don Knotts in No Time For Sergeants movie, many years ago and we watched the movie three times in a row, since that was allowed in the 50′s.

We have lost an American icon in Andy Griffith, one day before the July 4th holiday. Andy Griffith represented everything, that is great about America. He leaves a rich legacy behind of television shows and movies, in which he appeared.

Andy Griffith will be missed.

 

The New York Times obituary for Andy Griffith:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/arts/television/andy-griffith-actor-dies-at-86.html?pagewanted=all

 

Speer Family Singing After Receiving Bad News

The Speer Family singing What A Meeting In The Air after receiving word, that their brother Brock was near death in a Nashville hospital.

The song was part of the Bill Gaither video Good News.

If there was ever a group that could turn bad news into good news, it would be the Speer Family as they celebrate the possible home going of their brother.

Brock Speer starts off Old Fashioned Meeting.

The Speer Family singing my favorite Speer Family song I Never Shall Forget The Day, in the Ryman  Auditorium in Nashville.

 

Battle of Mansfield : Last Confederate Victory of the Civil War in Louisiana And Aftermath

Map depicting Civil War battles fought in Louisiana from Americancivilwar.com.

The March 14, 1864 battle at Fort DeRussy marked the beginning of a series of seven battles, between the Union and the Confederacy in the state of Louisiana. Union forces defeated the Confederate forces and opened the Red River to Alexandria.

 

It would be 25 days later before the Union and Confederates would battle next. The Battle of Mansfield was fought on April 8, 1964 after Union forces led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, who had traveled 150 miles up the Red River, encountered Major General Richard Taylor commanding the Confederate forces.

 

Banks Retreats Toward Alexandria

Taylor attacked the Union forces despite being outnumbered and Banks finally retreated back toward Alexandria. The battle marked the last victory for the Confederates in Louisiana and preceded five consecutive defeats by the Union troops, including a defeat at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 9, 1864.

 

Union troops had suffered 2,900 casualties at the Battle of Mansfield while the Confederate forces incurred had 1,500 casualties. The Confederate forces would have 2,000 casualties, which almost half the casualties of the Union forces, who had 1,100 during the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

 

Confederates Lose 200 Troops At Blair’s Landing

Union forces overwhelmed the Confederates at Blair’s Landing, with only seven casualties compared to 200 by the Confederates. Brigadier General Tom Green leading the Confederate forces lost his life in the battle.

 

Two weeks later in another crushing defeat on April 23,1864 in another battle at Monett’s Ferry, the Union forces would have 200 casualties while the Confederates suffered 400 casualties.

 

Banks Leads Union Forces To Victory In Mansura

It would be May 16, 1864 before the enemies encountered each other again in Mansura, where General Banks would lead a flank attack on Confederate troops that gave the Union another victory. Battlefield casualties are unknown.

 

The battle at Yellow Bayou would commence on May 18, 1864. The battle was the last of the Red River Campaign and ended with 360 Union casualties and 500 Confederate casualties. It was regarded as a strategic victory for the Union as their forces lived to fight another day.

 

For complete descriptions of every battle fought in Louisiana during the Civil War:

 

 http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/louisiana.html

 

The following website has many photos of places in Central Louisiana, which had to do with the Civil War. There is also a possible explanation of why the Kent House survived the burning of Alexandria by Federal troops.

 

Burning of Alexandria

Retreating Union troops burned 90 percent of Alexandria on May 13,1864. Kent House and a Catholic church were the only prominent landmarks still standing after the savage burning of Alexandria. Father J.P. Bellier brandished a sword when federal troops attempted to burn the Catholic church, with them deciding to not kill Father Bellier or harm the church.

 

 The federal troops helped themselves to anything they wanted, while the fires were burning. Cows ran through the streets of Alexandria along with chickens who had been scorched by the fire.

 

By the time the fire had subsided, there was no record of any legal transaction filed before May 13, 1864 that existed after the fire. It took 36 years before Alexandria would reach a population of 5,000 again.

 

For many more details of the burning of Alexandria:

 

 

http://www.libertychapelcemetery.org/files/a_burns.html

 

 

 

 

Prohibition: Died At the Age of 13 in 1933

The pledge signed by many children and adults to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages.

 

Frances Willard died on February 17, 1898, which was 22 years before the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead Act went into effect in 1920.

She had a firsthand knowledge of the effects of alcohol, when her brother became an alcoholic in the 1860′s. Willard would be one of the founders of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1874 and then became the president of the worldwide WCTU in 1888.

While concentrating mostly on her fight against the use of alcohol, Willard also became active in the fight against the international drug trading.

Her life came to an end at the age of 58 due to being an influenza victim. However, she had laid the groundwork for both the 18th amendment, which would prohibit the use of alcohol in the United States and the 19th Amendment which also was known as the Women’s Suffrage amendment.

Prohibition Becomes Law

Congress passed the Volstead Act (18th Amendment) on October 28, 1919, over-riding the veto of President Woodrow Wilson. 36 of the 50 states had ratified the 18th Amendment and went into effect on January 17, 1920.

While prohibition was a good idea, it was almost impossible to enforce with 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasies, in New York City in 1925. A speakeasy could be closed in one location, then would pop up in another location, within days of last place being closed.

The amendment was not only not being obeyed, but the U.S. government lost millions of dollars in tax revenue, while the bootleggers were keeping all the money for themselves and the speakeasy owners and patrons also avoided paying any tax.

Al Capone's power was at its heights during Prohibition with him drawing $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927 and bribing politicians with his profits to keep his machine going.

Organized crime saw that Prohibition would be a huge moneymaker for them and would deliver the alcohol and take payments, upon delivery of that alcohol, unless other arrangements had been made, prior to the delivery.

Gangsters like Al Capone saw a chance to take their cut from the illicit alcohol sales. Capone raked in $60 million in alcohol sales in 1927.

Prohibition Turns Citizens Into Criminals

The same citizens that patronize legal bars, now flocked to speakeasies to drink their alcohol, which turned them into criminals. The magnitude of lawbreakers was too much for law enforcement to contend with. Women started drinking in larger numbers, than ever before.

These speakeasy patrons from the Prohibition era don't look too concerned about being raided by law enforcement officials.

We have seen videos of the Roaring 20′s, showing women dancing the Charleston and other dance of that era. Problem is that almost all of those women were violating the 18th amendment, but in the PBS series Prohibition, by Ken Burns, these women didn’t seem to be worried about being caught by law enforcement agencies.

Why Prohibition Didn’t Work

The main reason is that Americans who wanted to drink, found ways to purchase alcohol, whether it be from an individual selling from their home, from a speakeasy where alcohol was readily available and some resorted to making their own alcohol through the moonshining process.

Moonshine stills being destroyed by law enforcement officials.

The failure to prevent organized crime, from becoming involved in sale of bootleg alcohol, may have been one of the major reasons, that bootlegging operations were so successful, despite the bootleggers, sometimes only being neighbors supplying moonshine to their neighbors in rural America.

Joseph Kennedy, the father of President John F. Kennedy and the patriarch of the Kennedy family, has been rumored for years to have gotten rich in the bootlegging industry. Frank Costello of the Mafia even testified that Joseph and him had been partners in the bootlegging industry. However, no concrete evidence of Kennedy being involved in bootlegging, has never been made public.

Law enforcement officials could only pick and choose which speakeasies to close and what moonshine stills to destroy, but the problem was that there were thousands of criminals, violating the 18th amendment and there was not enough jails and prisons, to house all the violators.

Prohibition ended when it was evident that there were millions of Americans, who were going willing to risk, although not a serious risk in most cases, going to jail, rather than stop drinking.

75 Bible References Regarding Drinking

The 75 Bible references from the Signal Press in Evanston, Illinois clearly show that God’s laws prohibit drinking. Here are just a few of them from the tract:

1) Genesis 9:20-26 – Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble.

3) Leviticus 10:9-11 – God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and the unholy.

6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 – God gave no grape juice to Israel nor did they have intoxicating drink in the wilderness.

10) 1 Samuel 25:32-38 – Nabal died after a drunken spree.

11) 2 Samuel 11:13 – By getting Uriah drunk, David hoped to cover his sin.

12) 2 Samuel 13:28-29 – Amnon was drunk when he was killed.

13) 1 Kings 16:8-10 – The king was drinking himself into drunkenness when he was assassinated

14) 1 Kings 20:12-21 – Ben-Hadad and 32 other kings were drinking when they were attacked and defeated by the Israelites.

17) Proverbs 4:17 – Alcoholic drink is called the wine of violence.

18) Proverbs 20:1 – Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.

20) Proverbs 23:21 – Drunkenness causes poverty.

21) Proverbs 23:29-30 – Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.

22) Proverbs 23:31 – God instructs not to look at intoxicating drinks.

23) Proverbs 23:32 – Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent, sting like an adder.

24) Proverbs 23:33 – Alcohol causes the drinker to have strange and adulterous thoughts, produces wilfulness, and prevents reformation.

There are too many to list them all, but the entire list can be found at:

http://www.scionofzion.com/drinking.htm

 

 

 

National Security After 9/11

Our nation was in a state of shock and disbelief, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Americans didn’t know if these attacks would be followed by other attacks.

Nobody really knew what to expect at the time. I don’t think anyone expected, that we would be safe from terrorist attack,for the next ten years.

When Osama bin Laden’s computer was seized after he was killed in Pakistan, it was found to mention upcoming terrorists attacks, that were to be carried out on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

So while we were commemorating the attacks, on the tenth anniversary, we were also wary of another attack ten years later, but it never happened.

The American intelligence community deserves praise for keeping our nation safe from terrorist attacks during the last 10 years. I am sure there have been some close calls, that were never revealed to the public, to avoid alarming our citizens.

We can never be complacent though, since the terrorists may strike again, if we revert to our lax security that was in place on 9/11. Airport security since 9/11 has been ratcheted up and has received some criticism, for being too invasive. However, as much as we dislike the stricter measures, taken by airport security, it does make it safer to fly.

It remains a mystery 10 years later to, how 19 hijackers could have boarded planes, in American airports the morning of September 11, 2001. If there had been patdowns, then the boxcutters may have been found, that they used as weapons aboard those flights.

However another mystery is how the box cutters got by airport security. It seems like they would have sounded the buzzer, at the checkpoint causing the boxcutters to be found.

We may be having to wait longer to get through the checkpoints, but it is much better than being on a plane, that has been hijacked and that is being flown into a building. It is questionable whether the passengers on those flights, should have been told by relatives and friends, that planes had already flown into other buildings.

It was bad in that the passengers had to be scared beyond belief, but on the other hand it is probably what saved Flight 93 from hitting the White House or the Capitol Building. We will never know if those were the next targets, but those were likely targets.

Nothing would have been more dramatic, than a plane hitting the White House with almost full tanks of jet fuel, especially if President Bush had been in the White House. If not for cell phones being widely used even back in 2001, the passengers aboard Flight 93 would not have known, that the other planes had already hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. That knowledge is what caused the passengers to storm the cockpit, causing the plane to crash in Pennsylvania.

We should have known when the terrorist pilots were attending flight schools, that for them not to be worried about landing the planes was a major red flag.

President Bush and President Obama both have been targets of  criticism during their presidencies, but both presidents have put in place intelligence gathering agencies, that have prevented another 9/11 attack.

We must be ever vigilant though and plan on the terrorists planning future attacks. It may not be the same type of attacks, but we can’t be too careful, since good intelligence saves lives and bad intelligence puts our nation at jeopardy.

How Former American Idols Are Selling at Amazon.com

We may see several American Idols from Season 10 making albums. That doesn’t mean those albums will sell well as this list of former American Idols and their current ranking among all music sales at Amazon.com shows:

Lee DeWyze – Live it Up – November, 2010 – 857th in sales

Crystal Bowersox – Farmer’s Daughter – December 2010 – 32nd in sales

Kimberly Caldwell – No Regret – April 2011 – 625th in sales

Danny Gokey: Danny Gokey: My Best Days – March 2010 – 2.216th in sales

Allison Areheta – Allison Areheta: Just Like You – December 2009 – 9,369th in sales

Jason Castro – Jason Castro – April 2010 – 4,641st in sales

Kris Allen – Kris Allen – November 2009 – 6,358th in sales

Constantine Maroulis – Constantine – August 2007 – 48,975th in sales

Adam Lambert – Adam Lambert: Glam Nation Live -  March 2011 – 130th in sales

David Cook – David Cook – November 2008 – 1,115th in sales

Melinda Doolittle – Coming Back to You – February 2009 – 7,938th in sales

Brooke White – High Hopes and Heartbreak – July 2009 – 20,620th in sales

Katherine McPhee – Unbroken – January 2010 – 18,743rd in sales

Chris Daughtry – Leave This Town – July 2009 – 1.094th in sales

Paris Bennett – Princess P – May 2007 – 95,703rd in sales

Taylor Hicks – Taylor Hicks – 2006 (no month shown) – 324,392nd in sales

Ruben Studdard – Soulful – December 2003 – 99,525th in sales

Blake Lewis – Heartbreak on Vinyl – October 2009 – 90,540th in sales

David Archuleta – The Other Side of Down – October 2010 – 7,791st in sales

Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts – November 2005 – 468th in sales (which is amazing considering it was released about 5 1/2 years ago.)

Kellie Pickler – Kellie Pickler – September 2008 – 14,943rd in sales

Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted – March 2009 – 1,842nd in sales

There were too many American Idols to include them all in the list. This list shows being the American Idol doesn’t always translate into album sales as Taylor Hicks has found out. He may have sold the least albums of any American Idol, but I look for Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze to also have trouble selling their albums.

So when Ryan Seacrest announces the winner of Season 10 next month, don’t feel too bad for the runner-up as they may outsell the winner.

Nostalgic Memories From the Past

These are just some of my memories of the good old days:

When the  ice man brought ice to place in your icebox.

When milkmen brought your milk to the house with cream at the top of the bottles.

When attic fans were the only way of getting any air in a house.

When we would walk on the Murray Street Bridge and see the Red River below, when there were missing slats.

When we were hot and didn’t think about it being hot because it was all we knew since nobody had air conditioners then.

When television shows didn’t come on  till 3:30 PM.  Howdy Doody and Pinky Lee started the telecast day on KALB-TV in Alexandria, Louisiana in the 50′s.

When we listened to old time radio shows like Dragnet and Breakfast Club on the radio, while my mom listened to her soap operas like Just Plain Bill, Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones and Guiding Light.

When people would go to local appliance store at night and watch television through the display window at Jimmie Walker’s Appliances on Main Street in Pineville.

When we would come home from school and watch our cowboy heroes in action.

When nativity scenes could be seen in public places before ACLU raised such a fuss, that you can’t find one in a mall today.

When stores like Penneys, Sears and Montgomery Ward were located in free standing stores, before the advent of the shopping centers and malls.

When kids would trick or treat until 10PM at night, filling grocery bags full of candy, with no special Halloween bags.

When families went to drive-in movies together, while teenagers would sneak a extra kid in the trunk, to avoid paying for them.

When theatergoers would throw tomatoes at the movie screen if they were upset with a bad movie.

When Larry McHale of KALB – TV was advertising cigarettes and started coughing, but regrouped and said “Just thinking of those other brands makes me cough.”

When eating TV dinners were more popular than fast food.

When McDonald’s had 15 cent hamburgers.

When you could get a haircut for less than a dollar.

When it cost a dime to see a movie.

When it cost a dime for a school lunch in 1950 at Pineville Elementary in Pineville, Louisiana.

When kids collected baseball cards and put them in bicycle spokes.

When families would go on picnics at the city park, letting the kids play on the playground equipment.

When going to stores we would see white and colored water fountains. One black man tried both kinds and said they tasted the same.

When we watched No Time For Sergeants three times in a row at the movie theater. (One of the funniest movies ever, with Don Knotts being a dexterity expert, that became discombobulated by Andy Griffith’s character.)

When we used to drink Hawaiian Punch and Delaware Punch.

When we used to pay a nickel for a 6 ounce coke out of a machine. Now they charge over a $1.50 for a 20 ounce coke, when in the old days a 24 ounce coke would cost 20 cents.

When we walked a mile to school everyday for the entire 12 years of elementary and high school.

When there was no middle school back in the 50′s.

When Gov. Earl K. Long of Louisiana gave free chickens to voters during a gubneratorial election.

When going fishing meant taking a cane pole and not a expensive rod and reel.

When I bought a $6.50 Nokona baseball glove for $6.00 when the hardware store owner found out I didn’t have enough money to pay the full price.

When we celebrated Christmas by running around with sparklers.

When we would see the miniature church on the city square in Alexandria every Christmas.

When Christmas music was played downtown during the Christmas season.

When we used to play marbles in school.

When playing with a yo-yo was cool.

When hula hoops were the hot fad.

When high school kids rode bikes to school instead of driving cars.

When familes went to church together.

When families actually ate dinner together at a table, instead of in front of the television.

When kids made money by delivering newspapers on bicycle.

When we drank grapefruit juice at breakfast even though we didn’t like it.

When we ate Wheat Chex at breakfast even though we didn’t like it.

When we used to get excited about another school year starting.

When we went to special Christmas Eve services on a cold night in December and watching Christmas movies on television when we got home.

When we had a train set over our bed as a kid.

When we took a trip in 1957 and saw the Howard Johnson restaurants with the orange roofs.

When we got together as a family to hear mother read from the Bible.

When we used to listen to records on the record player.

When homemade ice cream was better than any ice cream bought in a store.

When pizza was delivered to the house the first time.

When mom and pop stores went out of business because of Wal-Mart.

When there used to be neighborhood groceries scattered around in residential neighborhoods.

Yes, those truly were the good old days.

9 Year Old Tells Bible History in Nutshell

Nine year old Davis Burton tells what he learned after studying the Bible for a year and recaps in eight minutes some of the key events in the Bible.

It is amazing that he is able to relate what he learned, at such a young age, about the Bible. It also speaks highly of his comprehension of the Bible. His teachers had to teach him very well for him to remember Biblical events so well.

The following article tells more about Davis who attends the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ in Little Rock Arkansas:

http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2011/01/video-9-year-old-recaps-what-hes-learned-reading-the-bible/

Favorite Southern Gospel Song: The Lighthouse

Kenny Hinson and the Hinsons sing The Lighthouse in a concert before his death.

There have been many great southern gospel songs written and sung in the history of southern gospel music but the song that is my personal favorite is The Lighthouse sung by the Hinsons.

This song is southern gospel music at its best and when the rest of the Hinsons join in with Kenny for the chorus it gets even better. Then the crowd joins in at the end to sing the chorus.

Mickey Rooney Testifies in Washington

Mickey Rooney testified before Congress about senior abuse and his passionate testimony told of how he personally has been abused himself.

From the news reports I have read, there has been no mention of him naming his son-in-law Chris Aber as the one who abused him but Aber is under a restraining order preventing him from being in close proximity to Rooney.

Aber’s attorney John O’Meara has stated that these charges of abuse are untrue. However he is saying that more than likely on his talks with Aber who isn’t going to say he abused Rooney. Therefore, O’Meara’s statement can be taken with a grain of salt.

I can’t believe Rooney would go before Congress making up a story about his son-in-law. I am sure Rooney’s testimony will be backed up in a court of  law soon.

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/02/6173269-mickey-rooney-gives-passionate-testimony-before-congress

Mickey Rooney testifying before Congress as he tells how senior abuse left him with no control over his life.

After seeing his testimony it makes me feel terrible knowing that man who entertained us for about 70 years wasn’t enjoying his golden years because a family member allegedly has taken away control of his life leaving him a helpless 90 year old man.

He may have been Andy Hardy to us for many years back in the 30′s and 40′s but today he is a man reduced to nothingness because of senior abuse.

May God grant Mickey Rooney and others like him a peaceful life in the years remaining for them on earth. It is not asking much to be treated with respect and love because that is all Rooney and the other victims of abuse are asking for.

The Duggars: 19 Kids and Counting

The Duggar family can be seen on 19 Kids and Counting on the TLC network.

 

On July 21, 1984 Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were married. 27 years later they have 19 children. They didn’t want to have children until 1988 but they lost the first baby due to a miscarriage.

Both Jim and Michelle are successful real estate agents. They built a 7,000 square foot house to accomodate the children. Amazingly they built it debt free which has helped them afford to raise the kids without a huge house note.

Even then, it has to be a huge expense to feed and buy clothes for so many children. It is difficult to comprehend how they can afford the expenses connected with raising children today plus pay the huge utility bills for a 7,000 square foot house.

They do buy used merchandise to save money, shopping at thrift stores.

Besides the financial expense, raising that many young children has to be extremely tiring even though some of the older children assist in the care of their younger brothers and sisters.

It is easy to criticize them for having so many children to raise considering if anything were to happen to the mother and/or father the state and federal government would probably have to spend large sums of money to support them.

So far, I have never seen an episode in which they discussed money problems but not saying that hasn’t happened.

One episode showed Michelle demanding that one of the children look her in the eyes when she was speaking to them. That way she had the undivided attention of that child. We can all learn from the way they raise their children.

The logistics involved in preparing meals for that many children has to be overwhelming but with a schedule for each activity of the day they make good use of their time.

They have raised their children well. If they hadn’t Supernanny would have found out she wasn’t so super if she had 19 misbehaving kids to teach how to behave.

I have the utmost respect for Jim and Michelle Duggar. They have succeeded in raising their kids with Christian values.

May God bless their family as the children grow into adults in the coming years.

Jane Russell Dies at 89

Jane Russell has died at the age of 89 at home in Santa Maria, California of respiratory failure.

Jane Russell has died at the age of 89 with her family beside her in Santa Maria, California. The actress who was discovered by Howard Hughes when she was 19 and working in a doctor’s office. Hughes would cast her in The Outlaw in her first movie appearance.  She appeared in nineteen movies between 1943 and 1957. She would only appear in four more movies, with her last movie appearance coming in 1970 in Darker Than Amber. She was 49 the year her last movie was filmed.

Russell was born in Bemidji, Minnesota on June 21, 1921. Her family moved back to United States from Canada so she would be born a U.S. citizen.

She co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953. Then in 1955 she received top billing in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.

Television appearances were few and far between for Russell as she appeared in only seven television appearances with her last appearance being in a 1986. She hadn’t acted in movies or television in the last 25 years of her life.

Russell  would pursue a singing career that started in 1947 but she was more famous for her movie career. She did have a very listenable voice which was very soft. She was part of this singing group that included big band singer Connie Haines and actress Rhonda Fleming:

Jane Russell singing One For My Baby.

Allmusic.com has short  clips of many of her songs:

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jane-russell-p443225/songs

While going to church she became involved in singing with a group that included big band singer Connie Haines and would later include Rhonda Fleming another famous Hollywood actress.

Her first husband Bob Waterfield was a football player who won the Heisman Trophy and would later play quarterback in the NFL for the Cleveland Rams and Los Angeles Rams. He would be inducted later into the NFL Football Hall of Fame. Their marriage lasted twenty four years.

Roger Barrett an actor was her next husband but died only three months after their wedding. She next married John Peoples in 1974 and they would be married till his death in 1999.

Russell battled a drinking problem that got worse after his death but eventually conquered alcoholism and she had this to say about her reliance on God in the last paragraph of her New York Times obituary:

A higher power was always there, she wrote, “telling me that if I could just hold tough a little longer, I’d find myself around one more dark corner, see one more spot of light and have one more drop of pure joy in this journey called life.”

Archive.org: Great Multimedia Website

Archive.org will keep a reader entertained for hours.

Archive.org is probably the best source for audio and video online this side of YouTube.  The home page for the website as I write this article has a link to an audio version of a Grateful Dead concert at Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum at New Haven, Connecticut on May 11, 1981.

The concert is only one of 803,305 audio recordings at the website.  There are 2,214 old time radio related links to old time radio shows and magazines that were printed during the height of the popularity of old time radio.

One Roy Rogers episode has been downloaded 74,882 times showing that the website is available for downloading many of the old time radio shows we grew up with.

Old time radio fans will love looking at list after list of old time radio shows available for downloading including some of the more obscure shows which have very few episodes in existence.

The live music archive features 88,813 archives while the moving image archives total 451,934.

Avid readers will enjoy knowing that there are 2.694,639 texts including books and ebooks. The new Bookreader at the site includes Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin and is the example shown of how the Bookreader works.

http://blog.archive.org/2010/12/10/2685/

There is an audio version of some books but the one I listened to was not of the best quality and seemed to be a computer generated voice which probably would be tiring to listen to for an entire book.

Most readers may not enjoy the voice and instead opt to read the books without sound. For those that like the audio they should enjoy the feature that highlights the portion of the book being read by the voice.

The Mega Reader iPhone app provides access to the 1.8 million free books at archive.org so they each iPhone user can have their own personal reader.

Each volume of the Warren Report investigation of the assassination of  President John F. Kennedy is available to read.

The site is an excellent source of reading material for educators and students who are looking for books that are no longer copyrighted.

One word of caution: it could take hours just to look at what is available at archive.org. This website may have the most content of any website online and is worth going to the website to see for yourself what is available.

http://www.archive.org/

Charlie Louvin Dies at 83

Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Louvin has died at 83.

Charlie Louvin longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry died at 83 at his home in Wartrace, Tennessee on January 26 from complications due to pancreatic cancer.

Louvin teamed with his brother Ira to form the Louvin Brothers and  sing gospel music but they later switched to secular music and would become part of the Grand Ole Opry in 1955. The Louvin Brothers broke up in 1963. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 but Ira was admitted posthumously having been killed by a drunken driver in 1965.

Charlie was still a member of the Grand Ole Opry at the time of his death having been a Grand Ole Opry member for 56 years.

Charlie Louvin singing Just Between the Two of Us.

The world of country music has lost another pioneer that I grew up listening to. Charlie still sang for 46 years after the death of his brother. Both the Louvin Brothers have died and the following obituary in the N.Y. Times tells how much Emmy Lou Harris enjoyed listening to their music and gives more information about his life and death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/arts/music/27louvin.html

Western Stars of the Past: Lash LaRue

Alfred "Lash" LaRue 1921-1996

Lash LaRue was born on either June 14, 1921 according to Wikipedia and on June 15, 1917 according to the Internet Movie Database and there is a question about his birthplace but he is generally listed as having been born in Gretna, Louisiana but Michigan has also been mentioned as a possible birthplace for LaRue.

He was known for using a bullwhip in his movies although his first attempts to use one resulted in several lash marks on his body before he was trained by Snowy Baker an expert with the bullwhip.

He had been told by director Robert Tansey who looking for an actor for his movie Song of Old Wyoming that he needed someone that knew how to use a bullwhip so LaRue lied and said he had been using one for years while in fact he had never used one in his life.

When Tansey saw the scars from LaRue futile attempt to learn on his own was when the PRC studio hired Baker to teach LaRue the tricks of the trade.

He was credited as Al LaRue in Song of Old Wyoming and Jennifer Holt the sister of western star also appeared in the movie with LaRue playing the Cheyenne Kid in the movie.

First Movie Credited as Lash LaRue

Three movies later in Law of the Lash he was credited as Lash LaRue for the first time. He once stated that he changed his name to Lash and his mother called him Lash.

LaRue did his own stunts since the PRC studio was famous for its penny pinching so they were paying LaRue for being an actor while probably not paying him any extra for doing his own stunt work.

Re-Used Scenes From Previous Movie

Scenes from Frontier Revenge were re-used in his next movie The Black Lash saving the studio money. He continued to star in movies until 1952.

He then portrayed seven different characters in seven episodes of the Judge Roy Bean television show in 1956.

Then from 1958-59 he played Sheriff Johnny Behan on the Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp television show. That would be his last appearance on television in a series.

Like most actors LaRue had a couple of movies he would rather not have appeared in like Alien Outlaw and Dark Power. He used the bullwhip to fight zombies in Dark Power which influenced one reviewer of the movie at Amazon.com to toss their DVD of the movie into Tampa Bay.

The movie’s claim to fame, the casting of Lash LaRue, was yet an additional painful addition. It was as if someone found a washed out drunk at a biker bar (no offense to Harley enthusiasts), threw a whip in his hand and said “go nuts”–and he did, with no attention to content, directive or acting. But then, he was tied for worst actor in the film…with every other actor involved.

It’s not that this movie was bad. It’s that it was so bad that it made me want to take the chopsticks (with which I was eating while suffering through this film), jam them in my eyes, swirl them all around, and force them through to my brain to end the suffering.

I will offer one olive branch to those who may disagree with me. I am someone who knows that, when watching B-movies, one should surround himself with friends and adult beverages. I did not do this (a rookie mistake for which I would normally scold others) and, as a result, I side-armed this dvd like a discus off my balcony into Tampa Bay. To my credit, however, normally I can identify those which would be good drinking movies under any circumstances and there are simply too many other options to consider Dark Power. (I guess I just stomped on that olive branch–sorry)

Baptized in Shreveport, Louisiana

This paragraph from Wikipedia tells about how LaRue came to be baptized in Shreveport, Louisiana and also about him being in Alexandria:

He was a born-again Christian who was baptized at Shreveport Baptist Tabernacle by pastor Jimmy G. Tharpe. Tharpe initially met La Rue inAlexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish, when LaRue was visiting the home of his daughter. He and another minister, Don Chelette of Alexandria, were at the time knocking doors to win souls to Jesus Christ, when they met LaRue and his daughter. Tharpe thereafter declared a “Lash LaRue Day” at his church at which LaRue gave his Christian testimony: “He came, and we had a wonderful service in our gymnasium. There were thirty-seven people saved in the gym that day. He cut paper from the mouth of Debbye, my daughter, with his whip. We all rejoiced over Lash LaRue and his testimony. I introduced Lash to others, and several churches invited him to give his testimony, and he accepted.”^[3]

New York Times Obituary

The New York Times obituary for Lash LaRue stated that he had died on May 21, 1996 at Burbank California and that he had recently undergone triple bypass surgery and had suffered from emphysema. The obituary also noted that when he took a screen test for Warner Brothers that he been rejected because he too closely resembled Humphrey Bogart who was already signed by Warner Brothers.

The article also tells of how he was arrested in 1966 for vagrancy with only 35 cents in his pocket. His wife at the time of his death Frances Bramlet LaRue said that he didn’t the names of his family disclosed upon his death but he did claim at one time that he had been married ten times.

For those interested in learning more about  the life of Lash LaRue can find more information and photos at:

http://www.b-westerns.com/lash.htm

Life in the 1940′s

A young Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower is shown in the above photo as the Louisiana Maneuvers involving 400,000 U.S. soldiers took place north of Pineville, Louisiana in 1941. Four years later Col. Eisenhower would be a general commanding the D-Day invasion as the U.S. would enter the European theater of World War II on June 6, 1944. Less than a year later the war would be over in Europe when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Three months later on August 15,1945 the Japanese would surrender.

The war was just part of 1940′s history but affected the daily lives of those who stayed home during the war. In 1943 automobile production was halted so those materials could be used in the war effort.

American citizens experienced rationing of food supplies in 1943. Travel was limited in order to make tires last longer and drivers were told to not drive over 35 MPH to extend the life of tires.

Interesting Facts From the 40′s

The U.S. population was 122 million in the 1940′s and is as of this moment at over 311 million an increase of  189 million since the 1940′s.

The national debt in the 40′s was $43 billion but the national debt today stands at over $14 trillion. The minimum wage was 43 cents an hour and in 1966 when I started work at the Alexandria Town Talk in Alexandria, Louisiana the minimum wage was $1.40 an hour an increase of about a dollar an hour over what American workers were earning in minimum wage in the 40′s. The minimum wage today is $7.25

Many Had No Indoor Plumbing

Only 55 percent of  American homes had indoor plumbing in the 1940′s and outhouses were still being widely used.

The first commercial television stations went on the air in the 1940′s. The first digital computers weighed 30 tons.

Big Band Music Dominated

Big band music dominated the music scene during the 40′s as the bands traveled across the U.S. entertaining fans of big name bandleaders like Glenn Miller, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.

The 1940′s would be the last decade in which old time radio ruled  the airwaves as television began to convert radio listeners into television viewers.

1945 would see the development of the first TV dinner. At the end of World War II there were only 5,000 television sets in existence. In 1951 that number would increase to 17 million sets being used.

Window Air Conditioners Gained Popularity

Only 74,000 window air conditioners were sold in 1948 and that number increased to 1.45 million by 1953.  We didn’t buy our first air conditioner till about 1967 so was 9 years old when we first bought a television and 23 when we bought our first air conditioner.

I don’t ever remember being hot though since that was all we knew and didn’t have anything to compare it with.

The following website has even more details about the 1940′s and the events and entertainment from that decade.

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html

No Modern Electronics in the 40′s

Back in the 1940′s the cell phone,  MP3 players, HD televisions, DVD players, laptops, notepads and electronic readers were not yet in use leaving time for other activities. Life was simpler then with no ringtones being heard from a cell phone when a phone call or message was being sent.

The 40′s saw the birth of my oldest brother in 1941, my birth in 1944, the birth of a younger brother in 1947 and a younger sister in 1947.

No War at End of Decade

The decade ended without another major war but June of 1950 would see the start of the Korean War the war which has been more of a forgotten war except for the veterans of that war and their family members.

You seldom see any television documentaries about the Korean War while you can always find film from World War II and the Vietnam War on television programs.

The 1940′s ended 62 years ago but for those of us who lived during that decade it will be forever etched in our memories.

Christmas and Lord’s Prayer Connection

This clip from the Amos and Andy television shows reminds us of the what the words in The Lord’s Prayer mean. The entire program can be found on YouTube but the most meaningful part starts at the 3:55 mark on the video.

The show was heard on old time radio before the television show debuted.

Connie Smith, Martina McBride: Once a Day

Connie Smith and Martina McBride singing Once a Day written by Bill Anderson. It was at No.1 on the Billboard Country Music charts for more weeks than any song recorded by a female country artist.

It was Smith’s debut single after signing with RCA Victor Records. Ironically it was her only single to reach No.1 on the charts although she had 17 songs to reach the Top Ten.

Connie Smith singing a couple of gospel songs highlighted by her rendition of How Great Thou Art which she sings better than anyone I have ever heard sing it.

Farther Along: Florida Boys, Brad Paisley Versions

Farther Along is best known for the slower version but this faster version by the Florida Boys featuring the late  bass singer Billy Todd who later joined the Dixie Echoes later in his career delivers the same message as this slower version.

Brad Paisley singing Farther  Along in a much slower audio only version that is more traditional. Paisley sings this song as well as anyone I have heard sing it.

All Quartets Radio

Southern gospel fans who love to hear southern gospel quartets can listen to these quartets 24/7 on their computer in stereo. I have listened to the station for just a few minutes have already heard such well known southern gospel favorites as Till the Storm Passes By, Turn Your Radio On and The Old Country Church.

http://www.allquartetsradio.com/listenfree.html

Elvis Presley: How Great Thou Art

Elvis Presley singing How Great Thou Art in June of 1977. Elvis died two months after singing this song.

Talley Trio and Jason Crabb: Searchin’

The Talley Trio does a great job on Searchin’ but when Jason Crabb takes the stage and when he and Lauren Talley both are featured at the end the song has an even bigger impact on the southern gospel fans at the concert.

Red Skelton: Pledge Of Allegiance

Red Skelton explains each word of the Pledge of Allegiance in this video from the January 14, 1969 Red Skelton Show on the CBS Network.

Dove Brothers Quartet: Get Away Jordan

I will never forget seeing the Dove Brothers Quartet singing Get Away Jordan the first time in Texarkana, Texas in 1999.  I have never seen a crowd so much into a song as they were when this song was sung.

The video is from a Bill Gaither Homecoming video and Burman Porter the bass, John Rulapaugh the tenor and Richard Simmons the pianist are no longer with the quartet.

Dove Brothers Quartet: I Can Pray

Dove Brothers Quartet singing I Can Pray one of the best songs written.

Statesmen Quartet: You Sho Do Need Him Now

Hovie Lister and the Statesmen Quartet sing the You Sho Do Need Him Now one of the southern gospel classics.

Blackwood Brothers: The Old Country Church

The Blackwood Brothers singing The Old Country Church at the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion. The group at this time was comprised of tenor Bill Shaw, lead James Blackwood, baritone Cecil Blackwood, bass J.D. Sumner and pianist Wally Varner.

The highlight for me was when Bill Shaw is featured on the last verse. I liked the song so much I that I wore out the record and had to order another one.

I have been fortunate to have seen the Blackwood Brothers a few times in concert but not with this configuration since J.D. Sumner was no longer with the group and Wally Varner had left the group in 1963.

Varner was one of the best southern gospel pianists to sit down at the keyboard. The following video shows him playing Looking For The City and he is in top form as he shows his piano wizardry.

This is southern gospel music at its best with Vestal Goodman, Johnny Cook, Wally Varner and the Bill Gaither homecoming singers singing the classic Looking For A City on the Turn Your Radio On video. This video was the fifth in the Bill Gaither Homecoming series and was released in 1993.

Wikipedia has more information about the homecoming videos and even lists how many videos each of the performers appeared on.

It was surprising to me that Jake Hess was on 38 videos while James Blackwood only appeared in 10 of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaither_Homecoming

Dove Brothers Quartet: When I Move To Hallelujah Square

John Rulapaugh featured on When I Move to Hallelujah Square in this video from an appearance in Kentucky when the original lineup for the Dove Brothers was still together with Burman Porter singing bass, Eric Dove singing baritone, McCray Dove singing lead, Rulapaugh singing tenor and Richard Simmons playing the piano.

Only McCray Dove and Eric Dove remain out of the original five Dove Brothers. Jerry Martin tenor, David Hester bass and Adam Harman are rest of the group as it is comprised today.

The Lighthouse – Buddy Mullins

Buddy Mullins singing the southern gospel classic The Lighthouse one of the most loved songs ever recorded. Mullins sings the song with the late Kenny Hinson’s wife in the audience. Hinson had died of cancer.

The Ryman Reunion Homecoming Concert is my favorite of the Gaither homecomings. Christianbook.com has clips of the songs which were sung at the concert and the sound of these great songs will evoke memories of southern gospel at its best.

http://www.christianbook.com/bill-gaither/ryman-gospel-reunion/7474000458/pd/CD5383

Church Signs

These are a few of the church signs I have seen online. There is not too much to say about them since they speak for themselves: