The Hubbard Folks will be holding a parade and then attending a memorial service at the Hubbard City Cemetery this weekend. Mom and Aunt Martha will be on the front row.
A college friend shared this story with me this week.
The Old Man... As I came out of the supermarket that sunny day, pushing my cart of groceries towards my car, I saw an old man with the hood of his car up and a lady sitting inside the car, with the door open. The old man was looking at the engine. I put my groceries away in my car and walked over.
He saw me coming and stood straight and as I got near him I said, 'Looks like you're having a problem.' He smiled sheepishly and quietly nodded his head. I looked under the hood myself and knew that whatever the problem was, it was beyond me.
Looking around I saw a gas station up the road and told the old man I would be right back. I drove to the station and went inside and saw three attendants working on cars. I approached one of them and related the problem the old man had with his car and offered to pay them if they could follow me back down and help him. When he saw us he straightened up and thanked me for my help. As the mechanics diagnosed the problem (overheated engine) I spoke with the old gentleman.
When I shook hands with him earlier, he had noticed my Marine Corps ring and had commented about it, telling me that he had been a Marine too. I nodded and asked the usual question, 'What outfit did you serve with?' He had mentioned that he served with the first Marine Division at Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal . He had hit all the big ones and retired from the Corps after the war was over. As we talked we heard the car engine come on and saw the mechanics lower the hood. They came over to us as the old man reached for his wallet, but was stopped by me and I told him I would just put the bill on my AAA card. He still reached for the wallet and handed me a card that I assumed had his name and address on it and I stuck it in my pocket.
We all shook hands all around again and I said my goodbye's to his wife. I then told the two mechanics that I would follow them back up to the station. Once at the station I told them that they had interrupted their own jobs to come along with me and help the old man. I said I wanted to pay for the help, but they refused to charge me. One of them pulled out a card from his pocket looking exactly like the card the old man had given to me. Both of the men told me then, that they were Marine Corps Reserves. Once again we shook hands all around and as I was leaving, one of them told me I should look at the card the old man had given to me. I said I would and drove off.
For some reason I had gone about two blocks when I pulled over and took the card out of my pocket and looked at it for a long, long time. The name of the old gentleman was on the card in golden leaf and under his name....... 'Congressional Medal of Honor Society.' I sat there motionless looking at the card and reading it over and over. I looked up from the card and smiled to no one but myself and marveled that on this day, four Marines had all come together, because one of us needed help. He was an old man all right, but it felt good to have stood next to greatness and courage and an honor to have been in his presence. Remember, OLD men like him gave you FREEDOM for America . Thanks to those who served...& those who supported them. America is not at war. The U.S Military is at war. America is at the Mall.
Remember, Freedom isn't Free, thousands have paid the price so we can enjoy what we have today. God bless our Military.
Think about it on Memorial Day,
Jim
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A Short and Sour Note on the President
"To determine who some people are you should not listen to what they say but watch what they do."
J. D. Phelps
Owner/Operator of the Exxon Station
Hubbard, Texas
Think about it,
Jim
J. D. Phelps
Owner/Operator of the Exxon Station
Hubbard, Texas
Think about it,
Jim
Friday, May 15, 2009
Heroes Applauding Heroes
A Hero is one endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his/her bold exploits, and favored by God.
A lifelong Hubbard friend sent me this article from the McClatchy Newspapers.
FRIDAY MORNING AT THE PENTAGON
By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY
Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals. This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, who recently completed a year long tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.
Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Website. "It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here. This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway.
Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares.
10:36 hours: The clapping starts. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway. A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheel chair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class. Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel. Behind him come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.
11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. My hands hurt. Please! Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30. They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet fora private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. No man in that hallway,walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to see better. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past. These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home.
This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years. Did you know that? The media hasn't yet told the story. And probably never will.
Thanks to McClatchy News for telling this story.
Think about it,
Jim
A lifelong Hubbard friend sent me this article from the McClatchy Newspapers.
FRIDAY MORNING AT THE PENTAGON
By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY
Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals. This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, who recently completed a year long tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.
Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Website. "It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here. This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway.
Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares.
10:36 hours: The clapping starts. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway. A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheel chair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class. Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel. Behind him come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.
11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. My hands hurt. Please! Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30. They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet fora private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. No man in that hallway,walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to see better. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past. These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home.
This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years. Did you know that? The media hasn't yet told the story. And probably never will.
Thanks to McClatchy News for telling this story.
Think about it,
Jim
Thursday, May 14, 2009
A Short and Sweet Note on Torture
"I would rather be waterboarded, any day, than to be a bond holder in either Chrysler or General Motors".
Lightning Sledge
Local Champion Bass Fisherman and Philosopher
Hubbard, Texas
Think about it,
Jim
Lightning Sledge
Local Champion Bass Fisherman and Philosopher
Hubbard, Texas
Think about it,
Jim
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Don't Mess with the Hubbard Kids
We all have our priorities when it comes to things like politics. For example in Hubbard you can get in a debate about National Politics. You can get in an argument about State and Local Politics. And, you can easily get into a fist fight when it comes to the Local School Board Election.
Why? Because small towns are really into the well being of their children. Outsiders really shouldn't mess with them.
In general, Hubbard Folks say “it just makes sense” to take care of four things when it comes to their kids:
1. Protection: Interestingly, this starts with the unborn. The Andersen’s all have large families, and believe that if life doesn’t start at conception, then it certainly does in the first 90 days of a pregnancy. They told me, “they know, because they have seen the pictures”. The folks feel strongly about protecting all children including the unborn.
2. The Family: Aunt Tris just became a Great, Great, Great Aunt (count em that is three). She is a former 4th grade school teacher and the niece of Hall of Fame Baseball Star, Tris Speaker. She has observed generations of children and has personal case studies. These studies prove children "turn out better" when they have both a real Mother and a real Father, who stay together in a family. Hubbard folks strongly support anything that strengthens the family and oppose anything that weakens the family.
3. Education: When I grew up in Hubbard there was a labor union. The members of the labor union consisted of teachers, parents, and the local town’s people. In other words, the only non-union members were-- we the students, and we did the labor. This union’s sole purpose was to ban together to educate and prepare us for the things we would face in this world. The co-operation was air tight. If I was disciplined at school, that discipline was doubled when I got home. The next day all the store keepers heard about it and didn’t hesitate to call it to my attention.
Contrast that with today’s two political parties involvement with public education. One supports the teacher’s union in public schools, at the student and tax payers expense. While the other party works to opt out of the public system by using things like Vouchers. Why do we adults “politicalize” our educational system to the detriment of our children?
4. Inheritance of their Parent's National Debt: The Conservatives at the Hubbard City Café were furious when President George Bush’s administration ran huge deficits for eight years. He was assisted by a Republican Congress (6 years), and then a Democratic Congress (2 years). They were so mad some even decided to vote for Obama and an even larger Democratic Congress in 2008.
Now they are in disbelief that in just one year the deficit will add as much to our children’s debt as it took the Bush Administration seven years to create. Folks in Hubbard like to “pay as you go and even put a little away for the kids”. As Butch Jackson says, “this shit ain’t right”.
Speaking of making sense:
“Horse sense is the thing that a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” W.C. Fields
Think about it.
Jim
Why? Because small towns are really into the well being of their children. Outsiders really shouldn't mess with them.
In general, Hubbard Folks say “it just makes sense” to take care of four things when it comes to their kids:
1. Protection: Interestingly, this starts with the unborn. The Andersen’s all have large families, and believe that if life doesn’t start at conception, then it certainly does in the first 90 days of a pregnancy. They told me, “they know, because they have seen the pictures”. The folks feel strongly about protecting all children including the unborn.
2. The Family: Aunt Tris just became a Great, Great, Great Aunt (count em that is three). She is a former 4th grade school teacher and the niece of Hall of Fame Baseball Star, Tris Speaker. She has observed generations of children and has personal case studies. These studies prove children "turn out better" when they have both a real Mother and a real Father, who stay together in a family. Hubbard folks strongly support anything that strengthens the family and oppose anything that weakens the family.
3. Education: When I grew up in Hubbard there was a labor union. The members of the labor union consisted of teachers, parents, and the local town’s people. In other words, the only non-union members were-- we the students, and we did the labor. This union’s sole purpose was to ban together to educate and prepare us for the things we would face in this world. The co-operation was air tight. If I was disciplined at school, that discipline was doubled when I got home. The next day all the store keepers heard about it and didn’t hesitate to call it to my attention.
Contrast that with today’s two political parties involvement with public education. One supports the teacher’s union in public schools, at the student and tax payers expense. While the other party works to opt out of the public system by using things like Vouchers. Why do we adults “politicalize” our educational system to the detriment of our children?
4. Inheritance of their Parent's National Debt: The Conservatives at the Hubbard City Café were furious when President George Bush’s administration ran huge deficits for eight years. He was assisted by a Republican Congress (6 years), and then a Democratic Congress (2 years). They were so mad some even decided to vote for Obama and an even larger Democratic Congress in 2008.
Now they are in disbelief that in just one year the deficit will add as much to our children’s debt as it took the Bush Administration seven years to create. Folks in Hubbard like to “pay as you go and even put a little away for the kids”. As Butch Jackson says, “this shit ain’t right”.
Speaking of making sense:
“Horse sense is the thing that a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” W.C. Fields
Think about it.
Jim
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Obama: Transfering Wealth in Hubbard?
I don't know if I have mentioned it but the folks that have coffee at the Cafe are generally conservatives, while the coffee drinkers at the Drug Store are more liberal. The reader needs to know this to understand why the Cafe folks are so upset about the Chrysler settlement that is in all the papers. Everybody in Hubbard either drives a Ford or a Chevy, and yet they are still upset. Here is why:
J. P. Dawson grew up in Hubbard and currently lawyers in Waco. He set off alarms at the Cafe by predicting that the Obama administration would take money from the Cafe Folks and transfer it somehow to the Drug Store Folks citing the Chrsyler bailout settlement.
Here in J. P.'s big words is his explanation: "Think carefully about what's happening here. The White House is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people (bond holders) to another group (labor union) that is politically favored. In the process it is setting aside basic property rights in favor of rewarding the United Auto Workers for the support the union has given the Democratic Party.
This, of course, is a violation of one of the basic principles of bankruptcy law, which is that secured bond holder creditors -- those who loaned money only on the contractual promise that if the debt was unpaid they'd get specific property back -- get paid off in full before unsecured creditors get anything."
Well I don't know whether J. P. has a rational concern or not. I do know that there is a run on shovels at the local Hardware Store and withdrawals at the First State Bank. All the while holes are appearing in about 43% of the backyards in Hubbard.
Jim
J. P. Dawson grew up in Hubbard and currently lawyers in Waco. He set off alarms at the Cafe by predicting that the Obama administration would take money from the Cafe Folks and transfer it somehow to the Drug Store Folks citing the Chrsyler bailout settlement.
Here in J. P.'s big words is his explanation: "Think carefully about what's happening here. The White House is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people (bond holders) to another group (labor union) that is politically favored. In the process it is setting aside basic property rights in favor of rewarding the United Auto Workers for the support the union has given the Democratic Party.
This, of course, is a violation of one of the basic principles of bankruptcy law, which is that secured bond holder creditors -- those who loaned money only on the contractual promise that if the debt was unpaid they'd get specific property back -- get paid off in full before unsecured creditors get anything."
Well I don't know whether J. P. has a rational concern or not. I do know that there is a run on shovels at the local Hardware Store and withdrawals at the First State Bank. All the while holes are appearing in about 43% of the backyards in Hubbard.
Jim
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
God, Constitutions, and Obama's Turkey Talk
Joe Frank Dell stirred up the Cafe Folks this week by asking why President Barack Obama went all the way to Turkey to say the following: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
Mom says the dust really started flying resulting in Butch Jackson pulling out his handy copy of the Texas Constitution, which he carries at all times in the left pocket of his jeans, and quotes way too much. Of course in his main pocket, the right one, he totes his Red Man Premium Moist Snuff , which he dips way too much. But back to the controversy.
Butch read the preamble to the Texas Constitution: "We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God." Of course this brought up the question, "what the hell is beneficence"? Aunt Martha, the town librarian and columnist from, the Hubbard City News, whipped out her dictionary and said it meant, "the doing of good." This put them back on track in questioning Obama's epistle.
That night Mom thought maybe since Obama was from Illinois, those Yankee people danced to a different drummer. She googled their preamble: "We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors".
When she reported back to the coffee drinkers the answer to Joe Frank's question became clear to the folks. Obama announced his views in Turkey because he obviously didn't think the Hubbard Folks would find out. It appears that the folks do have a long reach and so does God whose influence on our constitutions, and indeed our society, stretches from Texas to Illinois and all places in between.
Well let's hope that this is one more lesson learned by our young President and that God's influence stretches to the White House as well. The Hubbard Folks sure wish he would go to Church on our National Prayer Day instead of doing what ever he does in private.
Mom says the dust really started flying resulting in Butch Jackson pulling out his handy copy of the Texas Constitution, which he carries at all times in the left pocket of his jeans, and quotes way too much. Of course in his main pocket, the right one, he totes his Red Man Premium Moist Snuff , which he dips way too much. But back to the controversy.
Butch read the preamble to the Texas Constitution: "We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God." Of course this brought up the question, "what the hell is beneficence"? Aunt Martha, the town librarian and columnist from, the Hubbard City News, whipped out her dictionary and said it meant, "the doing of good." This put them back on track in questioning Obama's epistle.
That night Mom thought maybe since Obama was from Illinois, those Yankee people danced to a different drummer. She googled their preamble: "We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors".
When she reported back to the coffee drinkers the answer to Joe Frank's question became clear to the folks. Obama announced his views in Turkey because he obviously didn't think the Hubbard Folks would find out. It appears that the folks do have a long reach and so does God whose influence on our constitutions, and indeed our society, stretches from Texas to Illinois and all places in between.
Well let's hope that this is one more lesson learned by our young President and that God's influence stretches to the White House as well. The Hubbard Folks sure wish he would go to Church on our National Prayer Day instead of doing what ever he does in private.
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