Game 1 : Oregon vs Houston: Win 38 to 24

GAME DAY, Thursday, September 1st, Oregon Ducks vs Houston Cougars, 4 pm PDT on ESPN2
Reliant Stadium , Houston, Texas. The college football season starts! Go Ducks!

Link to Bellamy column in the Eugene Register Guard on why this football season is important for the Ducks.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/09/01/c1.sp.bellamy.0901.p1.php?section=sports

Post Game update: Oregon 38 , Houston 24 ..... way to go DUCKS!
Game Stats:Oregon 38 Houston 24; 17-21 at half

Total yards: Oregon 554, Houston 412

Passing: 30 of 49 for 348, Houston 312

Clemens 30 of 47 - 63.8 percent

1st downs: 30, 19

Link to AP report of game: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200509010080
Link to eDuck report of game: http://oregon.scout.com/2/432683.html

2005 Oregon Ducks 2005 Football Schedule

Link to Oregon Ducks 2005 Football Schedule http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=233&SPSID=3377 Go Ducks!

TV Replay Schedule of Oregon Football Games

EUGENE ? All 11 of the University of Oregon?s 2005 regular-season football games will be replayed nationally via ESPNU as well as DirectTV satellite system, according to the Ducks? Senior Associate Athletic Director Dave Heeke.
The rebroadcasts, which will begin with the airing of Oregon?s Thursday night season opener at the University of Houston, can be seen weekly at various times throughout the country and will air twice a week via the DirectTV satelitte system. The replays will air nationally on Wednesdays via ESPNU, which is available on select cable systems throughout the country as well as DirectTV (channel 609), beginning at 10 p.m. (PDT), with the first replay to be shown on Sept. 7. In addition, Comcast SportsNet West (Sacramento, Calif.) also will air the weekly replays throughout Northern California, with those rebroadcasts also shown nationally on DirectTV system (Channel 656). Throughout the state of Oregon, the Ducks? games will be rebroadcast at 11:30 p.m. Saturdays (KEZI - Eugene/Springfield; KDRV - Medford; and KDKF - Klamath Falls) as well as Comcast 14 cable systems throughout the state Saturdays at 11 p.m. and Sundays at 8 p.m. The lone exception from the regular replay schedule calls for the state of Oregon?s Comcast rebroadcast to be aired at 7 p.m. Friday (Sept. 2) and 11 p.m. Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 4). OREGON REBROADCAST INFORMATION ESPNU AND DirecTV (Channel 609): Wednesdays, 10 p.m.Direct TV (Channel 656): Sept. 1: Oregon at Houston - Friday, Sept. 2, 11 p.m. Sept. 10: Montana at Oregon - Sunday, Sept. 11, 1 p.m. Sept. 17: Fresno St. at Oregon - Monday, Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24: USC at Oregon - Monday, Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1: Oregon at Stanford - Sunday, Oct. 2, 1 p.m. Oct. 8: Oregon at Arizona St. - Sunday, Oct. 9, 1 p.m. Oct. 15: Washington at Oregon - Monday, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22: Oregon at Arizona - Monday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5: California at Oregon - Monday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12: Oregon at Washington St. - Sunday, Nov. 13, 1 p.m. Nov. 19: Oregon St. at Oregon - Sunday, Nov. 20 - 1 p.m. KEZI (Eugene), KDRV (Medford), KDKF (Klamath Falls): Saturdays, 11:30 p.m.

DVD collection

My DVD collection can be found at:

http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/duck464 (DVD Profile) or
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?id=james+wickre (DVD Aficionado)

Just one question for opponents of the War!

A link to today's Dennis Pragers Column: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/dp20050830.shtml

Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan

I received this" forward" of an email and it express my views on the subject:

An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan. "As a mother about to see her son head off to Iraq next week, I hope and pray that we thank God, there are young Americans willing to join the military in order to preserve our way of life. Both my children,volunteered and know exactly what they are doing and what they need to do to accomplish that goal. By your actions over the past two weeks it is clear that you missed an important aspect of Civics 101: With rights come responsibilities. You certainly have the right to voice your opinion against the war in Iraq and the President's policies. You even have the right to camp outside the President's home in Crawford and demand he meet with you. Your status as a mother who has lost a child in the war also gives your words and actions a credibility and a larger audience than otherwise would be the case. Now that your supporters have given you a broad forum from which to be heard, making you a national figure, its time you considered your responsibilities to all of us. I have a daughter set to deploy to Fallujah in two weeks and I have a serious concern with how your irresponsible and short sighted actions might impact on her. She is, after all, a volunteer, like your son, and she is going in harm's way because she believes it is her responsibility to protect your rights and freedoms. Well meaning people like you always seem to forget the law of unintended consequences and in your vanity and arrogant self-righteousness never bother to think through what it is you are trying to do versus what you may actually accomplish. I am here to inform you, Ma'am, that you will not change the policy of our government by sitting outside Crawford making a spectacle of yourself in the name of your rights to free speech; what you will do is provide more propaganda for our enemies and cost the lives of even more brave and selfless American warriors. How long do you think it will be before you become a star on Al Jazeera? For all I know, it may have already happened. One thing is certain, though, and that is that your actions and words will further embolden a ruthless and evil enemy and more American blood will be shed and some of it will be on your hands. I pray that my daughter will not be one of them. If she is, then I will hold you and those like you partly responsible. Yes, my daughter's fate will depend mostly on her own courageous decision to serve, but only the most naive among us can deny the impact our own words and actions here in America have in a world grown smaller by the revolution in communications technology. I am sure you believe that you are serving some great cause by putting our servicemen and women in more danger and that you can, by your irresponsible exercise of free speech, help end a policy you disagree with. Your emotion may be compelling but the reality is that you will not set in motion any process that will change or undo what has been done. The war will go on because to end it now would dishonor the sacrifice of all of our fellow countrymen who have died in the cause of fighting terrorism. Rational Americans will not allow that. Too much is at stake. Unfortunately, shallow and irrational ones, such as yourself, will continue to put the lives of our sons and daughters in danger by aiding and abetting an enemy who sees propagandizing in the mass media as its main weapon in a war it could otherwise not win standing on its own wretched and evil justification of radical Islam, or by force of arms. You, Ma'am, have joined forces with an evil you neither understand nor apparently have tried to comprehend. You direct your anger toward our country while the enemy plots to kill and maim the innocent. You make a mockery of responsible free speech while thousands of young men and women fight desperately to preserve your safety. Instead of honoring your son's sacrifice you are inspired to comfort an evil enemy. You clearly do not understand the challenge we face as a nation and have not tried to put it in historical perspective. It is a sad fact that it is those of your thinking that have led us to where we are today. Decades of appeasement to these haters of everything we hold dear has cost thousands of American lives from Beirut to New York and in dozens of other forgotten places. Remember Lockerbie? The Achille Lauro? The USS Cole? We as a people were dragged into this war, much like December 7th, 1941, and we must fight and win it wherever the enemy hides and against whomever would support him. Make no mistake about Iraq. It is both a legitimate and crucial campaign in this much larger, global war of radical Islam's making. These people hate us for who we are, not what we have done. We did not bring this on ourselves, as many would have us believe, by our policies and actions abroad. We brought this on ourselves in 1775 when the Founding Fathers embarked on a course of freedom, tolerance, and liberal democratic and social ideals. These haters of all we hold dear strive to destroy forever a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" that Abraham Lincoln hoped would never "Perish from the earth". They would replace it with an oppressive world theocracy unlike anything modern history has ever seen for its ruthless disregard for personal freedom and liberty. If more appeasement is your answer for an alternative policy, spare us. We have suffered enough from cowardice and inaction. An historical analogy screams to be let out here. It is one of two men, both named Chamberlain. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a school teacher turned soldier in the American Civil War, found himself in the crosshairs of history on a warm July day in 1863 on a small hill in Pennsylvania. Commanding the 20th Maine Regiment on the extreme Union left at Gettysburg he was in a most perilous position. Should he fail to hold against a strong Confederate attack, the Union could be lost. You see, he was serving in an increasingly unpopular war at home against a resurgent enemy, and for a President fighting for his political life. Colonel Chamberlain, stoic but determined, refused to yield. His small regiment held against an onslaught of Confederate attacks, an action many historians believe turned the tide of the war. He was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The other half of this analogy focuses on Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain in the years preceding World War II. His story is widely known. Through his policy of appeasement and a lack of moral courage, he handed Adolf Hitler much of Europe. Which side of history have you chosen, Ma'am ? Your son died in the service of freedom and my daughter will go in harm's way to protect and preserve it. Honor their sacrifice, Ma'am, by exercising it responsibly. I will pray with you and I will grieve with you but I will not stand by silent while you needlessly and arrogantly endanger the life of my daughter and her comrades in arms. Please bless us with your silence and go home. "

There are so many internet hoaxes going around I don't know whether it is true or not but I sure agree with the sentiments.

Can you Remember This?

A friend sent me an email that I really like and so I reproduce most of it here:

Subject: Can you remember this?

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked
every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together
at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my
plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it." ....
"Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a
golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In
their later years they had something called a revolving charge card.
The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND
Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died. "....

"My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly
because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed
probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a
television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one
before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a
piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was
blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The
middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of
fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day.(Uncle Herm bought one of these) Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look
larger. "(I almost bought one of them)

"I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie."
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese
slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned
that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had."

"piazzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was. "

"All newspapers were delivered by boys .

"Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French
kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they
did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't
allowed to see them. "

"If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing. "

"Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it? "

"How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. "

Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the
ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum (no)
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water (Yes)
3. Candy cigarettes (yes)
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles (yes)
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes (yes)
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers (yes)
7. Party lines (yes)
8. Newsreels before the movie (yes)
! 9. P.F. Flyers (yes)
10. Butch wax ( I loved butch wax)
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933) (yes)
12. Peashooters (yes)
13. Howdy Doody (yes.....I loved Howdy Doody)
14. 45 RPM records (yes)
15. S&H Green Stamps (yes)
16 Hi-fi's (yes)
17 Metal ice trays with lever (yes)
18. Mimeograph paper (yes)
19 Blue flashbulb (yes)
20. Packards (Yes)
21. Roller skate keys (yes)
22. Cork popguns (yes)
23. Drive-ins (yes see posts below)
24. Studebakers (yes... my mom had one)
25. Wash tub wringers (yes...my dad sold them)

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16 -25 = You're older than dirt!

"I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best
parts of my life. "

College Trip

This weekend we moved our son back to college at Willamette University in Salem Oregon for his Senior year. Between our two children, this is according to my calculations, is the 16th trip moving them in or out of their college dorms or apartments. My daughter went to college in southern California (Not U$C, duck fans). In those 16 trips I do not believe we have ever moved them into a first floor dorm room or apartment. This year my son has an apartment on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. There were 52 steps up to his apartment. In order to move him back to Willamette and pick up a roll top desk from my sister in Portland we rented a utility van from Budget here in Medford. We picked up the van Friday night and loaded the van with my son's stuff and left Medford at 6 AM on Saturday. My wife followed in our car since the van only had two seats. We met my sister in Salem, at the apartment, and moved our son in. She brought some Krispy Kreem donuts down from Portland to give us some energy. We worked out a system where,I unloaded the van and moved stuff to the steps going upstairs. My son carried everything up the steps. My wife would help on the third floor and then she would move things into his apartment. My sister carried light stuff up the steps. It took about an hour and we then helped him organize things and then made the usual trip to Target and Safeway ( he will be doing his own cooking this year.) The apartment is in a very old building, owned by Willamette University. I pointed out the fire escape to our son. There was plaster falling from the ceiling etc. But, for him, it's his first apartment, and it's a great place with lot's of room.We said our goodbyes and hit I-5 for Portland and checked into a nice motel in Wilsonville near Portland. The Motel was full of squirrelly soccer girls with their parents for a weekend soccer tournament near by. Most of the evening the 6th grade age girls ran up and down the hall way talking in loud voices. Sunday morning they invaded the motels breakfast bar and eat up all the "good" food. Fortunately the motel staff re stocked the donuts and waffle mix. We then drove to my sister's and picked up the desk and drove back to Medford and returned the van. I am going to put the roll top desk in our family room and create a 1940's theme with an old typewriter, old radio, and old pictures including my wife's father's WWII pictures and medals. The desk is an old antique my sister obtained from my father who acquired it when my parents purchased a sewing store in Coos Bay, Oregon in the 1950's .Now we are home alone again , for the fall, and football is about to start! We enjoyed having him for the summer and depending on what he does after graduation there may not be too many more times that he is at home for any extended periods. It always takes me a while to get used to him going but then I move on .... Football for example!

Jefferson in Paris

Last night my son, wife and I rewatched our DVD of Jefferson in Paris. This is a wonderful film. I loved the music and the story deals with so many issues, such as freedom,the French Revolution, slavery, the nature of man, love, and how complicated a man Jefferson was. It deals with the period of time after the American Revolution but before Jefferson was President while he was US ambassador to France during the early period of the French Revolution. He met an English/Italian woman who he fell in love with and had at least a platonic relationship with and it deals with his alleged relationship with his black slave Sally Hemings.I didn't agree with everything in the movie: but, it sure was a sincere attempt to bring the man and period to life. Even if he didn't father a child with Sally he kept her as a slave and do how you reconcile that with his beliefs is interesting and complicated..It's too bad there are so few movies about The Founders and great leaders of of the United States. In fact, when was the last time there was a good theatrical movie about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington or John Adams, or Benjamin Franklin or the signing of the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. Sure John Ford, did Young Mr Lincoln in 1939 and there is Abe Lincoln of Illinois in 1940. There are a few TV movies but no major theatrical movie since 1940. There is even less on George Washington. Again a few TV movies and mini series but no major movie about the father of our country. We have recently had major movies abou Ray Charles, Bobbie Darren , Cole Porter,which I liked, but certainly these werenot as important men as those I listed above. There are two recent movies about Steve Prefontaine ( my family was in a crowd shot of Without Limits.... the other was Prefontaine). Again, I liked these movies but I knew Steve and he was no George Washington. The only recent theatrical movie about the Declaration of Independence is the Musical 1776 done in 1972(I have it on DVD and watch every 4th of July) ;but, no serious movie of one of the most dramatic moments in US history. For more information on Jefferson In Paris go: to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113463/

I Stand with President George Bush

Part of President George Bush's speech August 22,2005 before the National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars:

"Each of these struggles for freedom required great sacrifice. From the beaches of Normandy to the snows of Korea, courageous Americans gave their lives so others could live in freedom. Since the morning of September the 11th, we have known that the war on terror would require great sacrifice, as well. We have lost 1,864 members of our Armed Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 223 in Operation Enduring Freedom. Each of these men and women left grieving families and loved ones back home. Each of these heroes left a legacy that will allow generations of their fellow Americans to enjoy the blessings of liberty. And each of these Americans have brought the hope of freedom to millions who have not known it. We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave their lives for. We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive against the terrorists, and building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us win and fight -- fight and win the war on terror...

The generation of men and women who defend our freedom today is taking its rightful place among the heroes of our nation's history. Once again, America has found patriots who are selfless and tireless and unrelenting in the face of danger. Once again, the American people have been steadfast and determined not to lose our nerve. And once again, we have confidence in our cause, because we know that freedom is the future of every nation, and that the side of freedom is the side of victory." Link to rest of speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050822-1.html

Happy Anniversary!

My wife and I have been married 30 years today, August 23, 2005. We were married on August 23, 1975 in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon. Happy Anniversary Dear! Jim

Congressman Greg Walden

My son and I were invited to a reception last night hosted by Oregon Congressman Greg Walden at the Roxy Ann Winery in Medford, Oregon. Walden represents the 2nd congressional district of Oregon in the United States Congress in Washington DC. The congressional district covers all of eastern and central Oregon and also crosses over the Cascade Mountains to take in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon. The district is so large because so few people live in Eastern and Central Oregon. The Districts largest city is Medford where I live. The Congressman actual lives in Hood River (when he is not in Washington DC) which is in northern Oregon along the Columbia River. The reception was to thank the GOP faithful in southern Oregon for their help in reelecting him to Congress. Walden is known in Washington DC as a very hard worker. He makes many cross country trips to visit his district and in fact his family continues to live in Hood River....... a long commute. There were about 200 people at the reception. The most moving part of the program was when Congressman Walden presented an American flag that had flown over the Capital in DC to a wounded veteran of the war in Iraq. The Congressman talked about how organized the left is becoming in this country. He said his office gets 500 faxes each weekend of which 498 are from Ashland. That got a big laugh as Ashland is a small island of left wing politics in our conservative part of Oregon. Ashland is the home of the Ashland Shakespearian Festival and is very "artsy craftsy." A sort of a southern Oregon "Carmel" without Clint Eastwood. A very nice place to visit and eat in their restaurants and go to their plays .... But very into left wing politics. If you go there and have a Bush bumper sticker on your car it is likely to be "keyed". My car was spit on about a year ago.
My son who is President of College Republicans at Willamette University and his friend John, President of Oregon College Republicans (Both from Willamette) had a good time meeting all of the party officials and "working" the event. I met a friend of mine from The Southern Oregon Duck Club and also met a legislative assistant of the Congressman named Matt Byrne. Matt works with the Congressman in Washington DC but grew up on a ranch near the Oregon /California border in South Central Oregon. It was a nice August night in Southern Oregon and there was even a nice cool breeze. I love hanging out with Republicans. The Congressman's web site is http://walden.house.gov/

Column about Blogs

My daughter sent me a link to a column from the Washington Post about why and what people post on their blogs and since I have just learned to "copy" and "paste" I will "paste" a link to that column right here : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601229.html The column was titled The Tail that Wags the Blog" by Joel Achenbach. He states in his column that if you talk about Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Tom Cruise or Karl Rove that you will be listed higher on Google.http://www.google.com/ I wouldn't stoop that low.

2005 Oregon Football Media Guide

Today the mail brought my 2005 Oregon Football Guide. 208 pages of facts about the Ducks! The front cover has QB Kellen Clemens, TB Terrence Whitehead and DT Haloti Ngata. The back cover has DE Devan Long, CB Justin Phinisee,WR Demetrius Williams, CB Aaron Gipson and TE Tim Day.The Season Outlook section has in bold letters "Looking to Make Amends ducks determined to prove that 2004 was an aberration as 14 returning starters and 40 lettermen provide leadership for post-season return." Ten days till the first game. Music to my ears. More inforamtion at : http://oregon.scout.com/index.html or at http://www.goducks.com/ Go Ducks!

Oregon Lawyers Tarnish Image

While brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces are dying in the field in the war against terroism, the Oregon State Bar leadership voted to deny the Armed Forces the right to purchase advertising, for recruitment purposes, in the organization's magazine . The stated reason for the Bar's policy is the Military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military. This policy is the law. If they disagree with this law, don't discriminate against the military but work to change the law. I have been a member of the Oregon State Bar for over thirty years and have never felt more ashamed of my membership. Unfortunately, to practice my profession I must keep my membership; fortunately, not all Oregon Lawyers agree with this vote. Ultimately, the vote by the Oregon State Bar leadership will do more to tarnish their image than hurt the U.S. Armed Forces. The President of the State Bar said the "vote should not be interpreted as anti-military". . . . and you wonder why we lawyers have such a bad reputation! (link to news story in Oregonian) http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1124621824170500.xml&coll=7

Last Drive In Theaters in Oregon

As a follow up to my post about drive in theaters (on August 2, 2005) the Oregonian newspaper in today's A & E section has a story about the last four drive in theaters in Oregon at: www.oregonlive.com/AandE/coverstory/index.ssf?/base/exclude/112133493191280.xml&coll=7
Unfortunately none are near Medford. At one time there were up to 69 drive in theaters in Oregon.

ROSCOE

My trip to Dogs for the Deaf's training facility (see post below) and an email from my daughter got me to thinking about our dog Roscoe who has been gone for over two years. Roscoe was a "wash out" from Dogs for the Deaf. He was a Wired Haired Fox Terrier. We called him our "Wild Haired" Fox Terrier. We brought him home over 15 years ago, from Dogs for the Deaf, and he was the family dog during the years our children grew up. We always called him our "special needs" dog because he had special needs. He loved to run free every time a door was left open. We once took him to Coos Bay during a visit to my parents home. My dad left a door open and he was gone. I remember the entire family chasing him around the streets of downtown Coos Bay. Needles to say that was the end of his trips out of town. He had a great fenced back yard and a "doggie door" so he had the freedom of our house. He love to go for walks on a leash but he was afraid of strangers. He love barking at the paper boy. He also hated cats. During the last few years of his life we had a cat adopt us. Roscoe lived on the top two floors of our house and the cat lived in the basement with access to our garage and outside. The door down to the basement had to be closed at all times. Once it wasn't, and we had to rescue the cat from the jaws of Roscoe. As much as he hated cats he was a very loving dog with our family. When I went shopping for a sofa for my Big Screen TV room the sales man asked what kind of a sofa I wanted and I said one my dog and I can watch football on. Fortunately both of my children were away at college when Roscoe left us. The other day I was looking through a drawer and found a family picture of the five ( counting Roscoe) of us from when the kids were in in grade school. It was one of those photos people take for their Christmas letter. In the front row sat Roscoe with a red bow around his neck against his white hair perfectly posing for the camera with the rest of us. That picture stays in my mind.There is an essay written by Ben Hur Lampman (who lived in Rogue River down our way for a time) from the Portland Oregonian, dated Sept. 11, 1925, that expresses my feeling for Roscoe. It is titled "The Best Place to Bury a Dog" It goes as follows: "There is one best place to bury a dog. If you bury him in this spot, he will come to you when you call-come to you over the grim, dim frontier of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. .....People may scoff at you , who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no whimper, people who may never really have had a dog. Smile at them, for you shall know something that is hidden from them and which is well worth the knowing. The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master." We all still miss him!

DOGS FOR THE DEAF

This morning I had the opportunity to take an hour tour of the Dogs for the Deaf training facility here in southern Oregon. Even though I have know about the organization for years I came away impressed about the organization and what they do for the deaf and for dogs. The organization saves dogs from animal shelters and pounds where they will likely be put to sleep and trains them free of charge for people who are deaf. The dogs are able to do things such as hear door bells, smoke alarms, telephones, crying baby's etc and warn the deaf person that they need to respond to the sound they can't hear. It takes about six months to train a dog and place the dog in a deaf person's home. During the tour we were able to see the training apartments where the dogs are trained. These are apartment that look like a home were the dogs are trained. The apartments have kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms etc and the dogs are trained for example to respond to door bells etc. We viewed the kennels were the dogs live while in training and best of all I got to meet some of the dogs. The hardest part of training must be to say goodbye to a dog when it is time for placement. The dogs are placed all over the United States and in Canada. The trainer travels to the recipients home and spends five to eight days working with the dog and the new recipient . The trainer live in a motel and the dog stays with the new owner to transition the dog into their new home. This is all done free of charge to the deaf person. They do wonderful work there. This is a link to their web site: www.dogsforthedeaf.org

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to you.... Happy Birtday to you..... Happy Birthday dear (you know who you are)....... Happy Birthday to you!

I marched with Barry Goldwater!

Many liberal baby boomer like to look back on the 60's with nostalgia. They remember the protest marches and of course they were all at Woodstock. I have a different memory of that period. The Goldwater campaign of 1964. In 1963 as a teenager I read Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater and I was hooked.( Later I moved on to The Road to Serfdom). I wanted this man to be President of the United States. In fact, I read somewhere that Hillary Clinton was a "Goldwater Girl"..... But that is before she went over to the "dark side." Long before the campaign started and before Goldwater got the nomination I used my own money and sent away for 50 black and Orange "Goldwater for President" bumper stickers and put them up everywhere. We worked all across the country, on the local level,to take back the Republican Party from what we now call RINO's.(back then we called them the Eastern Establishment) Oh, how I wanted to go to San Francisco to the Cow Palace and watch Goldwater accept his party's nomination. I loved it when he said extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. That was 41 years ago this summer. The victory celebration in San Francisco during the summer, turned into the gloom of the fall campaign when every political prognosticator predicted a LBJ landslide. I remember going door to door working for Goldwater. I remember getting in trouble at school for stuffing the football programs, our high school Speech Club sold at games, with Goldwater campaign materials. North Bend, Oregon was then in the power grip of the labor unions and the true rebel's were the conservative youth. Most of all, I remember in the gloom of that campaign, A speech on TV, late in the campaign, by an actor by the name of Ronald Reagan. He told us about freedom and how we could lose it, in this the United States, the last best hope on earth for freedom. . "The Speech" as it became know , was to us, like Churchill's speeches to the British people in the dark days of WWII. I had a friend who had "The Speech" on record and during college we would gather at his apartment and listen to it. Even though I loved Goldwater I could see his deficiencies as a candidate. After the election one of my social studies teacher at North Bend High told me the Republican Party was on the road to extinction. I wanted to call him 16 years latter on the day Ronald Reagan took the oath of office as President of the United States.

Oregon Duck Season Tickets!

My Oregon Duck Season Football Tickets arrive this afternoon by UPS at 4:30 PM. Now all I need is my Duck Media Guide and I am ready for some football. 17 days to the first game. Each ticket for each home game has the picture of an Oregon player in and action pose. Montana, Fresno State, U$C, Washington, California and Oregon State are all home games this year. For more info go to www.goducks.com Go Ducks!

German Visitors Weekend

This week end our home was visited by Chris Hoyer and his two teen age son's. Chris was a German foreign exchange student at North Bend High School forty(40) years ago during my senior year in High school in 1965. In high school we became good friends. He came over to the United States for our 40th class reunion two weeks ago(see post below) and has been visiting friends in Oregon for the last few weeks. After high school he returned to what was then West Germany and went to college , law school and then served in the West German Army. I also went to college, US Army, and then on to law school. Chris now works as an auditor in the German Defense Ministry. We had a good visit. We disagree on politics but are able to do so in a friendly collegial manner. We were able to go to Jacksonville and took him to our favorite restaurant Bella Union and sat outside on their back deck and enjoyed Saturday evening. Sunday, we had them over for brunch and then took them for a tour of Ashland and Lithia Park. I showed them where my wife and I were married 30 years ago at the Parozzi Fountain area . We stopped at the duck pond and even got into the outdoor Ashland Shakespearian Theater. We stopped at a music store as his sons are interested in music. My son then took his sons to the Rogue Valley Mall to do some shopping. After they left we went to Sears and got a microwave oven for my son's apartment at college. He will be starting his senior year at Willamette an a few weeks. Our daughter called from DC and told us their power was out and about the Neil Diamond Concert she attended. I finished off the weekend watching the DVD of Garden State. My daughter told me it is sort of their generations The Graduate. Well, It at least had a Simon and Garfunkel Song. I enjoyed it and the rest of the music but I am sure it would have meant more if I was in my 20's.

AFI Top 100 Movies

The American Film Institute has a list of the 100 top films of all time at www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx. How many have you seen? Are there any left off the list that you would put on?

Oregon Football , 20 Days and Counting !

It's 20 days till the first Oregon game and counting. Oregon vs Houston in Houston,Texas on ESPN2 on September 1st. Where are my season ticket? Where is my Media Guide? First home game is against Montana on September 10th. Are you ready for some Football? For more information go to the fan site educk at www.oregon.scout.com/index.html
Saturday Update: Just got an email from the Duck ticket office ....... the Season Tickets are in the mail .... UPS ..... should arrive on Monday. Go Ducks!!!!

Lincoln and a Mother's Grief !

I have resisted talking about politics for the last few months. I think I have been "burned out" by the election in November. Bush won what else needs to be said. He has four more years and the liberals don't control the Presidency, nor Congress, they only have control of the Main Stream Media and I don't' have to watch them anymore to get my news. There is Fox News, the internet and of course talk radio.. Sure, Democrats/liberals can delay and obstruct but we will ultimately prevail ( ie the Bolton recess appointment. He Is our UN ambassador and I hope he kicks some ** over there). However, the Cindy Sheehan story has gotten under my skin. This is the mother who lost her son in Iraq and is camping out next to Bush's home in Texas. Wesley Pruden has written a column www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden081205.asp on the subject and describes another mother who was angry at a President for the death of two of her sons. That President was Abraham Lincoln and the war was the Civil War. She was so angry she tore up Lincoln's eloquent letter of condolence. Lincoln would not be deterred from saving the Union and ending slavery and we will not be deterred from fighting terrorism. The Main Stream Media is attempting to use this poor woman for their anti Bush anti War agenda. Casey Sheehan's relatives released a statement yesterday ( you would never know it from watching or reading the Main Stream Media) in which they said they are" silently respectfully grieving" the loss of Casey Sheehan. They go on to say they disagree with his mother. They state: "We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan family supports the troops, our country and our president" So do I. The person who is lost in all of this is Casey Sheehan, regardless of his mother, nothing can damage or tarnish the good name he earned in the service and sacrifice for his country.

The Great Raid ****

Last Saturday night my son and I were able to watch a sneak preview of the movie, The Great Raid, which opens this weekend. It's a movie based upon a true story of the rescue of American solders held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. It starts with documentary footage of the Pearl Harbor sneak attack, the fall of Corregador and Batan in the Philippines and the Batan death march. These prisoners are the survivors of that death march. After watching the Japanese soldiers in this movie you don't feel guilty about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As they used to say" we paid them back with interest" and saved a lot of American lives. As an avid reader of the history of WWII, the acts of the Japanese in this movie are an accurate depiction of what happened during the war. For a good review go to http://www.moviesforguys.com/movie.php?Review=530 or go to www.imdb.com and type in The Great Raid. There are three stories in one that are intertwined. One story deals with the American prisoners, one about the Philippine resistance and one about the American Army Ranger unit that did the rescue. The years may have dulled our memory of the war in the Pacific but we should never forget that evil is something we have had to deal with through out our history. We beat it then and we will beat it now. It really puts Abu Ghurayb and Gitmo in perspective. I enjoyed the move a great deal and give it four stars **** out of five. Hint.... don't leave the movie during the ending credits! No one left the theater at the sneak preview I attended.
Review Update:
Fox News, Roger Ailes, Chairman & CEO: "The best war movie to be produced in years. It's wrapped in courage,patriotism and honor. In these troubled times, young and old alike should see this film. It's a reason to go back to movie theaters!" Even liberal Ebert and Roeper give it "Two thumbs Up"

Computer as Jukebox - Part II

After I had turned my computer into a Jukebox (see post below) I was still dissatisfied as it did not look like a Jukebox. As a kid growing up in the 1950's I loved the look and colored lights of the old fashioned Jukebox. My computer even if it plays great music does not have that look. However, under the "visualization" button on Windows Media Player (Windows XP) you can do fun things with the monitor on your computer. There are a number of choices. When you are playing a song the cover of the album can appear on your monitor screen. You can pick various psychedelic/kaleidoscope color patterns that move in synch to the music. There are computer generated water jets and fireworks that move in synch to the music .I even found two colored bars of blue and red that fill up the screen and move and look like the colored tubes on the old fashioned Jukebox. However, my favorite visualization is a blue sky with moving white puffy clouds in which the album cover of the song being played seems to just appear and float in the sky each time a new song starts. More later

John Wayne Web Site

For John Wayne fans there's a terrific web site at www.jwaynefan.com It even has a John Wayne message board where you can discuss John Wayne films and or John Wayne collecting .It has information on John Wayne books and the latest DVD releases and up coming releases. Now, if we only knew when they were going to release Fort Apache on DVD to complete the Cavalry Trilogy! Rio Grande and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the other two films of the Trilogy, have already been released. All, of course, were directed by John Ford!

Wal-Mart DVD Bargain Bin

One of my guilty pleasures is the $5.50 DVD bargain bin at Wal-Mart stores. Now, normally I have a love/ hate relationship with Wal-Mart.. I hate the dirty stores and the crying kids but I like the cheap prices. In any case, I routinely go to Wal-Mart to check out their DVD's. I have always been a collector of something an now I am collecting DVD Movies. For the uninitiated Wal- Mart near their electronics department has a bin in the middle of the isle approximately 4 foot by 4 foot and 4 feet tall with hundreds of DVD's piled in it in a big heap. The are not stacked but piled up in a tangled mess. In order to look you have to dig into the pile looking for that "classic". Most people dig for a few minutes and wander off. I like to dig to the bottom of the pile. One of the problems in digging to the bottom is "cave ins". I have seen some people who fill up a shopping basket to get to the bottom. When there is more than one customer "digging" there is always the problem of where do you put the DVD's that you have already looked at and rejected. You don't want to cave in your neighbor's hole. In any case it's been a while since I found one of those classic finds. But I can still remember the days I found Gary Busy's The Buddy Holly Story or Richard Gere's Yanks, or Clint Eastwood's Bridges of Madison County. I have links to my DVD collection below in the July archives.

A Mighty Wind

Last month I purchased the Time Life 9 CD set called "The Folk Years Collection." They had an infomercial on TV several year ago that made it sound very attractive and I finally broke down and bought it. This is a collection of folk songs from the late 1950's and early 1960's. It includes the Kingston Trio, New Christy Minstrels , Ian and Sylvia, Peter Paul and Mary etc. As a conservative, some of the words in these songs should be a real turn off; but, the baby boomer in me remembers the hope and innocence of the time. Plus, music is for the emotions and politics is for the mind. In any case, I love this music. After listening to these groups for several weeks I had to go out and buy the DVD movie of The Mighty Wind. I saw the movie at a theater in 2003 when it came out. However after listening to these groups for several weeks on CD the movie was a lot more interesting . The movie is about a reunion concert in the present on PBS by old folk groups to honor their producer who has just died. It's done by the same folk who did Best in Show. All the songs in the movie are new songs made for the movie but the sound and words are very reminiscent of the early 60's time period. To learn more about the movie go the www.imdb.com and type "A Mighty Wind" The movie is great satire but does it with a warm feeling for that time in the past when A Mighty Wind was Blowing in the Wind.

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War, a book by George Crile, is a true and extraordinary story of how the wildest man in Congress and a rogue CIA agent changed the history of our times. George Crile a veteran producer for 60 Minutes has written a true story that is better than Tom Clancy fiction. In fact, Tom Hanks has purchased the film rights to the book and is going to make a movie based upon it. Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a Democratic Texas Congressman and a CIA agent conspired to launch the biggest,meanest and most successful CIA campaign ever to fund the mujahideen in Afghnistan to fight against the Soviet army that had invaded that country. Through his efforts the Soviets were forced to withdraw turning it into their Vietnam! To find more about it go to www.amazon.com and type in" Charlie Willson's War." My daughter who works on Capitol Hill sent me a copy of the book autographed by both the author and by the subject former US Congressman Charlie Wilson. She got to meet him when she helped organize a "good bye" party for him broadcast on C-SPAN as he was leaving DC to return to Texas. Following his retirment from Congress he had been a lobbiest in Washington DC. When I started reading it I could not put it down. It's a must read for anyone interested in Congress or the CIA.

Fall camp - 2005 Oregon Football Season

Today is the start of Fall Camp of the 2005 Oregon Football Season. Media day is today and practice starts tomorrow, Saturday. You can download a pre season Media Guide at www.goducks.com It has lots of information including player stats and a "Projected Depth Chart". Radio station KCMX AM 880 will again broadcast the games in Southern Oregon. The first game is against Houston on Thursday September 1 in Texas on ESPN 2. Go Ducks!!!!

Weddings

Generally I have a rule against posting anything of my professional life on this blog. I am going to make an exception for weddings. As a Municipal Court Judge I perform weddings. It's part of my position I really enjoy. Maybe it's the "ham" in me. In any case doing a wedding is one of the few reasons I would put on a tie on a weekend. I get to go to places all over Jackson County I wouldn't normally visit and meet all kinds of people. I average one or two ceremonies every week. I have performed ceremonies at my office in our conference room, at private homes, backyards, front yards, decks, patios, garages, faternal halls, nightclubs, parks....lots of parks, fields, along the Rogue River, hotels banquet rooms, motel rooms, bed and breakfasts, churches.... yes they rented a church and hired a judge, court rooms, and inside a 1957 classic automobile. I do weddings on weekends, holidays, evenings and during office hours. The bride and groom are usually very nervous but calm down after the ceremony. Some of the weddings are very fancy and the parties or their parents have spent a lot of money and some are very simple. Weddings are a happy time and I enjoy being asked to officiate.

Duck Football Tickets delayed! etc.

Just received an email from the University of Oregon Duck athletic ticket office that season football tickets are delayed and will not be delivered until the week of August 15, 2005. Still waiting for my Duck football media guide too. Summer is slipping away and I am looking forward to football. Looks like this weekend Medford will hit 106 degrees. I guess this is what they call the "dog days" of summer. Half the country is on vacation and the other half wishes they were on vacation. In any case, I enjoyed The High and The Mighty on DVD last night. They did a good job of restoring the movie. It looked good and sounded good. The film and John Wayne were great. It was fun seeing a little boy wearing a cap gun in a cowboy holster at an airport. So politically incorrect. Some of the stories of the passengers on the airplane were a little melodramatic. My favorite scene is the dumping of the luggage to lighten the load on the airplane to save fuel. I still remember that from when I saw the movie 50 + years ago at the drive in. The ending with John Wayne walking off with a limp into the San Francisco airport whistling the theme to The High and The Mighty was worth the cost of the DVD.

Drive In Theaters

My post yesterday about The High and The Mighty reminded me of how much I loved Drive In Theaters as a kid. I grew up in Ogden Utah; Boise, Idaho; Roseburg Oregon; and Coos Bay/North Bend, Oregon. Each of those towns had drive in theaters. I can remember going to two or three movies a week in Ogden in the summer before we had TV. This was when I was 4 or 5. My dad didn't like indoor movies because as he said there was always someone behind him chewing on gum which he hated. My mom would make us sandwiches to eat (usually tuna) along with cool aid in a thermos and cookies. There was always a commercial before the intermission between double features for the snack bar food. I remember an ad for a foreign food I had never heard of called pizza. My dad said it tasted like card board so I never got any. My mom loved pop corn so we always got some. To draw family's the theaters sometimes had special attractions like pony rides or steam engine train rides. They all had playground equipment we would play on till the movie started. I remember running to the car as the cartoon started. I even loved and still love the previews. Before the movie dad's would often turn on their spot lights and play games on the screen.

The movies, or shows as we called them, often were not in retrospect that good. I can remember Ma &Pa Kettle, Here Come the Nelsons ( Ozzie and Harriet before TV) and the Bowery Boys. Not real sophisticated stuff. But their was always John Wayne. I can remember campaigning for weeks to go see Blood Alley. Not because I knew anything about it other than it's name and John Wayne was in it. I loved saying "Blooooood Alley." I knew if Jeff Chandler was in a movie I could talk my mom into going. My sister who still likes to go to bed early would always sleep through the second feature but not me. The sound was usually terrible but I loved the big screen and how it transported me out of small town America in the days before color TV. Most of them are gone now the victim of VCR's and high land prices. I understand they are becoming popular again in Texas.

The High and the Mighty

For John Wayne Fans and those that collect DVD's of his movies tomorrow is a big day. On Tuesday August 2,2005 the DVD of The High and the Mighty will be release for the first time. The Movie has never been released on VHS tape or DVD and has not been shown on TV since the 1980's.The film was owned by the Wayne Estate. After Wayne died his son Michael found the best copy of the 1954 film in water in the film vault. After Michael died last year his widow decided to have the film restored and it will be released tomorrow. For Wayne fan's it's one of the films most requested for release on DVD. (Fort Apache is another one of the few Wayne films still not released on DVD in the United States.) I haven't seen the film since I saw it with may parents at a drive in theater in the 1950's. In 1954 I was 8 years old. Some of my favorite memories of growing up were going to the drive in with my folks.(they didn't like going to indoor movies) To a kid growing up in the 1950's a drive in theater was a place to escape from the Back and White world of TV. According to critics who have reviewed the DVD the picture looks good but the story and characters look dated. Hay, it was the 1950's . In any case, I will be at Circuit City tomorrow to get my copy. The film is the story of a commercial airliner on a flight from Hawaii to San Francisco. Each of the passenger has their own story. Wayne is the co pilot. It was an early "disaster movie."The music by Dimitri Tiomkin is very haunting. They are also releasing tomorrow another Wayne film Island in the Sky.
TUESDAY UPDATE: Because of work I couldn't get to Circuit City till noon. They only had two of The High and the Mighty DVD's left and had sold out of Island in the Sky. The clerk said they were selling like hot cakes. Fred's North was out and I got the last Island in the Sky at Fred's South. Fred's North was also out of The High and the Mighty.