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Wednesday, April 16, 2014
New Links for my Law Office
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Monday, April 14, 2014
Jerry Norton's Funeral at Arlington National Cemetary, April 11, 2014
From The Barron:
On a clear, cool and bright spring morning, when Washington’s cherry blossoms were at their peak, dozens of family and friends gathered to memorialise former Reuters colleague Jerry Norton on Friday at Arlington National Cemetery, one of America’s most revered places, writes Greg McCune.
The 30-minute ceremony in Section 60 of the famous cemetery, which is located on what was once the estate of Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was led by a military chaplain who spoke of Norton’s valour in serving his country, and read scripture passages.
“You cannot buy your way into this hallowed ground,” he said to the mourners, led by Norton’s wife Kim and son Michael. “You have to earn it.”
Surrounded by a sea of white tombstones, a seven-member rifle squad fired the traditional 21-gun salute, and a lone bugler intoned “Taps”. Then a Marine honour guard holding an American flag carefully folded it into a triangle and presented it to Kim.
Army Specialist Norton earned the right to be interred at Arlington because of his service in the Vietnam War, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded during a mortar attack at Song Be. Kim said he dived out of a window during the rocket attack to save his life. He was hit with shrapnel in his shoulder, wrist and back, and a piece was lodged in his arm for the rest of his life.
Typical of self-effacing Norton, he never mentioned to some of his friends that he had been wounded in battle and won the Purple Heart, as well as other commendations. Kim said he kept the medals in a drawer and when she asked about them, he mumbled something and put them away.
Several family and friends remarked about this humility and reticence during a reception at the National Press Club that followed the solemn graveside ceremony. Friends and family remembered Norton as a father, brother, uncle, friend and journalist – including comments from former Reuters colleagues Peter Bohan, Greg McCune and Brian Bain.
Norton died at age 67 in December after an inoperable brain tumour was discovered within months of his retirement from Reuters in 2011. Several people who spoke at the reception remarked how he had been taken from them too soon.
He served in the US Army from 1968 to 1970 including a one year tour in Vietnam and was first assigned to an artillery unit, where he sustained the injuries. His great Army friend Terry Turner was not able to be at the memorial, but wrote that he believed both their lives were saved because they could type, which qualified them to be assigned to public information units. Norton became editor of the division magazine, a coveted post because it involved a 30-day trip to Tokyo to assemble and print the magazine.
Such was Norton’s devotion to fairness and balance in journalism that many of his colleagues at Reuters never knew of his avowedly libertarian political views, or that he had once run for the Virginia legislature as a Republican. He won the primary but lost the general election in a heavily Democratic district. He also worked for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom both after leaving the Army and again after he retired from Reuters.
Journalism took him back to Asia where he would work for Unicom, the South China Morning Post and then Reuters. In Asia, he also met and married Kim, who was born and raised in Vietnam.
He joined Reuters in 1986 as a filing editor at then regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and over a 25 year career was news editor in Japan, bureau chief in Singapore and Indonesia, deputy desk editor and deputy political and general news editor for Asia. He returned to Washington in 2010, where he worked for the startup Reuters America service aiming to compete with AP. He retired at the end of 2011.
Peter Bohan, the Singapore bureau chief before Norton, and his last supervisor before Norton retired, spoke of the important part he played in launching a new service in the United States in 2010 and how he quietly mentored journalists and stringers.
Brian Bain noted how Norton distinguished himself covering and directing the coverage of some of the biggest stories in Asia over the last 20 years including the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Bali bombing.
Bain read out comments from colleagues who had worked with Norton in Asia including Kim Coghill, Tony Winning, Rodney Pinder and Eric Hall.
“The frequent and controlled, curved smile could have meant a few things, but the crow’s feet at the corner of the glistening eyes always told you that Jerry Norton was on your side, if you wanted him to be,” Bain read from a note written by Hall, a longtime colleague of Norton. “Perhaps Jerry would not mind if we said he was a great American, with all the values and disciplines that phrase imparts in the best sense,” Hall wrote.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Wish I could be there for the Ceremony old buddy!
Jerry Norton, 67, longtime journalist, National Press Club member, and Vietnam war veteran, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on April 11.
His family invites friends and colleagues to join them at Arlington at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. service, followed by a reception in his memory in downtown D.C.
Norton was a Commodity News Services/Unicom News reporter in Washington before becoming regional editor in Hong Kong and executive editor in London. He spent 25 years in Reuters as a senior correspondent or veteran editor in Hong Kong and Tokyo; was bureau chief in Singapore; bureau chief in Indonesia; and lastly, editor in Washington.
He joined CNS and the NPC in 1974, soon after gaining his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University. Before that, he served in the Army in Vietnam, after having graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon. He left Vietnam with shrapnel in his body and with a purple heart and other decorations.
Between his UNICOM years and his 25-year career at Reuters, Norton served as business editor of the South China Morning Post. He was twice based in Singapore and twice president of Singapore’s Foreign Correspondents Association, besides being a member of the FCC in Hong Kong and the FCCJ and Overseas Press Club in Japan.
Norton worked for Phillips Publishing in Washington at one point early in his career.
After retiring in 2011 from Reuters in D.C., he worked as executive director of the Young America’s Foundation National Journalism Center until he became ill. He had served on the Young Americans for Freedom national board while at the U of Oregon and was active in YAF after his Vietnam service until his journalism career began.
He died Dec. 15, 2013, after a 14-month battle with a brain tumor. Norton is survived by his wife, Kim, and son, Michael.
Picture of Jerry when he was an undergrad at the University of Oregon featured in a Eugene Register Guard newspaper story dated Sunday, Feb 25, 1968. Jerry is quoted as saying: on politics" the majority of YAF members support Gov. Reagan for the 1968 Republican nomination" Jerry was ahead of his time. Reagan wouldn't get the nomination for 12 more years until 1980!
Friday, March 28, 2014
Great Ted Cruz Video
Not your timid politician! This man is a LEADER! He may be too "hot" for the general public but if this country continues on it's downward spiral the times may be so desperate the nation will look to Ted Cruz!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
"Nothing is too good for the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
This was director John Ford's last great movie and has the usual John Ford "Stock Company " of actors. John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart are both too old for their characters but this doesn't matter because this movie is about lost love and the coming of civilization to the American West. The story starts in 1910 when a United States Senator, Jimmy Stewart, and his wife (Vera Miles) return to the town of Shinbone somewhere in the American West for the funeral of the John Wayne character. The story then goes into flash back to when Jimmy Stewart is the new young lawyer in town and he and Wayne are both in love with Vera Miles. Lee Marvin plays the most villainous man this side of the "Picket Wire" river. Ford uses his usual broad humor much as Shakespeare did. "Ann Rutledge's Theme" used by Ford in Young Mr. Lincoln in 1939 is used again here to represent the lost love aspect of the movie.
Don't expect the grand scenery of Monument Valley. Much of the movie takes place at night and many scenes were filmed in a studio back lot . Blu ray does make it much less dark pictorially than prior releases with a crisp clear picture.
The movie has been referred to "as an old man's film" and I agree considering my reaction in 1962 verses last night. Ford was an old man when he made it. Many have critiqued the move as "imbued with cynicism, pessimism, and irony" and it has all of that but it also looks back to the past with nostalgia. As one character states near the end: "Sir this is the West, when legend becomes fact print the legend"
Monday, February 17, 2014
Republican War Against Tea Party
This is a great segment on Sunday with Pat Caddell on Fox News that the reason the Republican leadership in Congress has not pushed for high level investigation of the IRS for targeting the Tea Party is because they want the IRS to go after the Tea Party.
I will support the nominee of the Republican Party but it's time to take on the establishment Republican party one more time.
I support Senator Ted Cruz because he wants to take the fight to the Democrats.
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Jerry Norton & Vietnam
How the Ability to Type Saved the Lives of Two Skytroopers!" I first met Jerry Norton in the second week of February, 1970, in the tropical paradise of Phuoc Vinh, South Vietnam. How we got there is a story for the ages and the fact that we both survived Vietnam came down to a unique weapon--the typewriter, proving once again that words are mightier than the sword. Both of us were drafted, he from Oregon and me from Ohio. Jerry did basic training at Ft. Lewis, Washington and artillery school at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. I did basic at Ft. Dix, New Jersey and infantry/81mm mortar school at Ft. Lewis. We both were assigned to the lst Air Cavalary Division. Jerry to Vietnam several months before me and was assigned to a lst Cav artillery battery in Song Be. (The Cav operated in III Corps with brigade headquarters in Son Be, Quan Loi and Tayninh. The division commander operated out of Phuoc Vinh), Jerry was part of a l05mm howitzer crew and fired that gun daily as the enemy constantly blasted Song Be and sent the bad guys through the wire on a regular basis. Jerry's first lucky day came when he learned the battery commander had no clerk who could type. Jerry quickly volunteered, being a renowned typist, and he came off the line. However, he was not completely safe, which became apparent one night when the VC attacked Song Be yet again. Jerry grabbed his M-16 and headed for the Green Line, but incoming rockets splashed schrapnel every where and Jerry was hit, but not very badly. He won the purple heart and I believe he carried at least one piece of schrapnel forever. Jerry's second lucky day came shortly thereafter when he read a recruitment ad in the Cav's weekly newspaper, advertising for people with journalism degrees and real-world experience for assignment to the Cav's Public Information office in Phuoc Vinh (In its infinite wisdom, the Army never trained enough people to be clerk/typists or PIO types, which is why they had to be recruited in Vietnam). Jerry sent a resume to the PIO commanding officer, Major J. D. Coleman, was interviewed by Coleman and bingo, Jerry was out of the artillery and sitting pretty in the PIO office in Phuoc Vinh. Having dodged rockets and survived, there is no doubt his assignment to Cav PIO saved his life. Likewise, being able to type saved my life. I was two days away from being sent to the "boonies" with an infantry company to kill the bad guys. A personnel corporal appeared out-of-nowhere and announced that if anyone could type 30 words a minute and had a college degree, come see him immediately. I did. The corporal reviewed my personnel file, saw that I had a BA in journalism from Ohio State; a MA in journalism from Wisconsin plus real-world experience working for the Wisconsin State Journal and a secondary Army job title of 71Q (Information Specialist) and called the very same Major J. D. Coleman in Phuoc Vinh. I didn't even have to interview. The next day I was in Phuoc Vinh, out of the infantry and the mortar platoon--all because I could type. It saved my life! Jerry and Terry, both saved because they could type .Because of that bond, we remained friends for 44 years. Life in the 1st Cav PIO was interesting and boring. We had reporters, photographers, artists and broadcast people preparing stuff for the weekly newspaper and four-color magazine. We had PIO offices in Phuoc Vinh, Song Be, Quan Loi, TayNinh and Bien Hoa. All of us competed to get stories, pictures and art work in the weekly newspaper or our four-color magazine. The broadcasters did taped interviews with "Skytroopers" and sent them to hometown radio stations, which was a big hit. There were four "plum" jobs in Cav PIO: 1) 90-120-day temporary assignment to the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network in Saigon; 2) 90-120-day temporary assignment to the military newspaper "Stars & Stripes" (to the bureau office in Saigon; 3) editor of the weekly newspaper which put you in Saigon every Thursday and Friday to put the newspaper together for printing and, the most coveted job of all--editor of the division magazine, which included a 30-day temporary assignment, usually to Tokyo, to assemble and print the magazine. There was never any doubt in my mind that Jerry would get the magazine job and he did. And absolutely nobody complained. Jerry let me write one of the stories for his issue. I got the job as editor of the newspaper and later, when I extended my tour in Vietnam to qualify for an immediate discharge, I got the magazine job. The money had finally run out, so I was down-graded to 30 days in Taipei, Taiwan. While in Phuoc Vinh, Jerry and I learned just how boring it was being stationed at a base in the middle of nowhere. The base was several hundred acres, complete with its own airfield for countless helicopters and three-different Air Force prop planes (no jets). Only helicopters were allowed to spend the night. We only had "outhouses" and bathing took place standing below a 55-gallon drum of water with one spicket. Entertainment consisted of drinking (beer, liquor and cigarettes could only be bought with a GI ration card); your own 8-track tape machine and you own radio; one television in the 1st Cav Press Camp (complete with a bar (beer only sales) and the infamous "After Chow" jungle volleyball games (no rules-kill or be killed). We had a large press contingent pass through our press camp, including reporters from ABC, NBC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post and just about every big-city newspaper. More times than not, we sat in our editorial shop, talking politics, going home and what we missed the most. Jerry always headed up the political talks and his conservative outlook was not always appreciated but everyone soon learned that if you want to argue politics with Jerry, you had better have your facts well in hand. In fact, if you wanted to talk about anything with Jerry, you had to be up-to-date and relevant in your thoughts. One night Dave from Michigan tried to argue with Jerry (Oregon) about which state was the better to live in and which was better to visit as a tourist--kind of a Chamber-of-Commerce shoot-out! Dave never understood that his gun wasn't loaded and he didn't have a chance against Jerry. Those of us who witnessed this epic battle of words were convinced, when the smoke cleared, that when we returned to the "World" we should move to Oregon. Lesson learned: don't mess with Oregon or Jerry! When I left the Army, a friend helped me get a journalism job in DC (bad recession in 1971) and Jerry and I were roommates He in two different apartments in Alexandria. He was working for YAF at the time in various editorial positions. Politics was his love and he ran for the House of Representatives in the Virginia legislature. I had moved on to work in the national trade association world with the lobby for the distillers. My generous boss passed along some of the "good stuff" and I sold cocktails at fundraisers for Jerry's election. He won the Republican primary but lost the general election. If he had won, I am convinced Jerry would have remained in politics forever. His focus changed and off he went to the Columbia School of Journalism and his second wife. Believe it or not, after escaping Vietnam, Jerry went back to gather material for his thesis. His wife was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines and he flew at virtually no cost. Jerry arrived back in Vietnam after U.S. forces pulled out and before the North Vietnamese took control of the entire country. Jerry rode buses all over South Vietnam, most notable Route l, the only north-south paved road in the country. How he could go back there is beyond me, but Jerry had a nose for the story, the travel and adventure. I believe the Foreign Correspondent bug invaded him during this second posting to Vietnam. Jerry got his MA from Columbia and returned to DC where he took a job with Phillips Publishing Company as vice president and chief editor. But he wanted to be a daily reporter and he wanted to write about business and economics. A fellow Buckeye, Linda Vance, bureau chief for Commodity News Service, gave Jerry his first daily reporting job and the career began. He moved to London with CNS and then on to the Far East, highlighted by a 25-year career with Reuters. It was hard to stay in touch with Jerry (no email), but we crossed paths in the 80s when I passed through Hong Kong and Jerry was the Business Editor the South China Morning Post, the most prominent English-language daily in Hong Kong. The first night, Jerry gave me a tour after work (the job and the story always came first). My second and last night, we were to going to have dinner at one of Jerry's favorite joints. But a story came up and he didn't get to my hotel until 9:00 p.m. So we sat in my room looking out over Hong Kong Harbor, eating $15 burgers and fries with countless bottles of Heineken. We told more stories and lies then most mortal men could imagine; talked about all our buddies from the lst Cav and laughed until we cried. At one point, I just stopped, looked at Jerry and said, "Norton, we are a one hellua long way from Phuoc Vinh." Ever the suscint reporter, Jerry simply said, "No Shit!" And then we laughed until we could no longer breathe. The Bond of theTyping Fools of Phuoc Vinh had been reconnected, re-established and reconfirmed despite years of not seeing each other. I didn't see Jerry again until 2011 when he took a Reuters job in DC but Email kept us up to date. I was visiting my son and daughter and Jerry and I had lunch together in Shirlington with another old buddy, Dave Collogan, who had just retired as the 40-year editor of the publication, "Business Aviation." The stories, the lies and the BS were endless, but priceless. I talked to Jerry regularly after, exchanging emails, too. But little did I know that it would be the last time I would see him. There is no doubt in my formerly military mind that Jerry is sitting up there at the right hand of the Editor-in-Chief, writing his speeches, proclamations, press releases, blogs and all social-media material. Maybe Jerry can get me a job on his staff when my time comes? Not likely, as Jerry rode the "Up" escalator and I think the "Down" escalator has my name inscribed in fire and brimstone. But I learned long ago to never underestimate Jerry. He could work with anyone and accomplish anything! Jerry was a tremendously talented journalist and reporter, but more importantly, he was a great guy. Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee and nobody didn't like Jerry Norton. His sense of humor, his wry smile that covered his face when he cracked off yet another pun and his ability to get along with everyone are rare qualities in this divided country. Jerry and I are tied together at the hip because we were brought together reluctantly by our Uncle Sam and the simple fact we could both type. The typewriter, I firmly believe, saved out lives Out of those old Royal and Remington typewriters came a story of brotherhood that lasted 44 years but should have lasted much longer. If ever one man deserves to rest in eternal peace in the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, it is Jerry William Norton. Rest in peace Skkytrooper. Gary Owen, mo fo!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Un Cover Oregon "Drinking Game"
The Oregon Collage Republicans have come up with a satirical and humorous "drinking game" as the Oregon Legislator, controlled by the Democrats, attempts to "cover up" the disaster that is Cover Oregon. The Cover Oregon website has been in "operation" 4 months( yes 4 months) and still has not registered ONE person in Obamacare.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Abortion!
I often feel guilty about not doing more to end or at least limit the number of abortions in this country. I sometimes feel like those that hated slavery before the Civil War but didn't want to speak of it in "polite society" because it was such a divisive subject. Brit Hume of Fox News gave this commentary yesterday on abortion:
Small wonder these protesters still come every year to register their continuing objections. Some estimates are that as many as 55 million abortions -- 55 million -- have occurred since the Court acted. In that time, science has given us an ever clearer picture of just how much of a baby a fetus is. At 20 weeks, we now know, these tiny creatures can hear, even recognize a mother's voice. Their toenails are growing and their hearts beat loud enough to be heard by a stethoscope.
The moral case for allowing such beings to be killed grows ever weaker and its advocates resort to ever more absurd euphemisms to describe what they support. They're not really pro-abortion, they've long said, they're pro-choice. This isn't about killing unborn babies. it's about reproductive health. And the biggest chain of abortion clinics in the country refers to itself as Planned Parenthood.
In 2012, this organization says it carried out -- quote -- "abortion procedures" 329,445 times. Whatever that number represents, it's not parenthood. These protesters here today understand that there is something deeply false and wrong about all this. They come each year to remind the rest of us.
Yes, it is wrong and I am against it and it is evil and barbaric !
Monday, December 23, 2013
Home for Christmas
My Friend Jerry Norton RIP
Jerry Norton who died in Maryland, a week ago on Sunday, of brain cancer was my friend, political mentor and hero. From afar Bill Buckley was my mentor however I only met him once. On a personal level it was Jerry Norton.
Here is the obituary from the YAF website:
Early Sunday morning on December 15, Jerry Norton lost his battle with brain cancer. He fought for 14 long months but was unable to overcome the pneumonia that developed during these past few weeks.
Jerry most recently served as the executive director of Young America's Foundation's National Journalism Center from 2012 to 2013 before he became ill. We will miss his sharp mind, great sense of humor, half crooked smile and mild-mannered presence.
Jerry served on the board of Young Americans for Freedom in college after working on the YAF staff as college chapter and publications director, and also served as editor of YAF's New Guard magazine from 1971 to 1973.
He had been a Reuters bureau chief in Indonesia and Singapore, Reuters news editor in Japan, and one of its editors in Hong Kong, Singapore and Washington. He traveled on assignments for Reuters to China, East Timor, Malaysia, Australia, the Philippines and other countries.
As Asian deputy editor in charge for political and general news from 2007 through 2010, with a brief for South Asia coverage, he oversaw coverage in India and the rest of the Subcontinent, reinforcing in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and several times in Pakistan.
Prior to his career of more than 25 years with Reuters, Norton was the business editor of Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper; worked in Asia, Europe and the U.S. for another news agency; was vice president and managing editor of Phillips Publishing in the Washington area.
An Oregon native, Norton graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon Honors College. After service in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, where he won a Purple Heart and other decorations, he attended Columbia University, earning a master's degree from its Graduate School of Journalism.
He was a long-time member of the Philadelphia Society and was twice elected president of the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Association.
Jerry is survived by his wife, Kim Thoa, and son, Michael Norton.
Jerry will be buried as he requested at Arlington Cemetery.
Jerry was in the class of 1964 at Marshfield High in Coos Bay, Oregon. I was in the class of 1965 at North Bend High a few miles away. We met in the heady days of the draft Goldwater campaign in 1963. Jerry formed the first chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in the Coos Bay area. I followed him as President when he left for collage at the University of Oregon. At Oregon he formed another chapter of YAF and I followed him there and again succeeded him as president. After graduation from the U of O he entered the Army and I followed him a year later after my graduation. In the years that followed when he worked overseas as a journalist I treasured the phone calls, letters and brief visits we had. Jerry was my mentor and I will miss him and his quiet wisdom. Being a conservative on a collage campus was very lonely during the turbulent 60's but having Jerry on our side made all the difference. The fight goes on for individual liberty.
Jerry most recently served as the executive director of Young America's Foundation's National Journalism Center from 2012 to 2013 before he became ill. We will miss his sharp mind, great sense of humor, half crooked smile and mild-mannered presence.
Jerry served on the board of Young Americans for Freedom in college after working on the YAF staff as college chapter and publications director, and also served as editor of YAF's New Guard magazine from 1971 to 1973.
He had been a Reuters bureau chief in Indonesia and Singapore, Reuters news editor in Japan, and one of its editors in Hong Kong, Singapore and Washington. He traveled on assignments for Reuters to China, East Timor, Malaysia, Australia, the Philippines and other countries.
As Asian deputy editor in charge for political and general news from 2007 through 2010, with a brief for South Asia coverage, he oversaw coverage in India and the rest of the Subcontinent, reinforcing in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and several times in Pakistan.
Prior to his career of more than 25 years with Reuters, Norton was the business editor of Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper; worked in Asia, Europe and the U.S. for another news agency; was vice president and managing editor of Phillips Publishing in the Washington area.
An Oregon native, Norton graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon Honors College. After service in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, where he won a Purple Heart and other decorations, he attended Columbia University, earning a master's degree from its Graduate School of Journalism.
He was a long-time member of the Philadelphia Society and was twice elected president of the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Association.
Jerry is survived by his wife, Kim Thoa, and son, Michael Norton.
Jerry will be buried as he requested at Arlington Cemetery.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
"CIVIL WAR WEEK"
"No time to wallow in the mire" Forget the bad new at home and abroad. Forget the results of last weeks games, forget the record books, forget Thanksgiving ,Forget "Black Friday" sales !!!
Here in Oregon this is Civil War Week. The week of the game between the University of Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State University Beavers. The game will be on FoxSports1 on "Black Friday" in Eugene at Oregon's Autzen Stadium. The game will be on Fox Sports 1 at 4:PM PST.
Someone said the "Civil War" game "is for the right to live in the State of Oregon" or at least the right to live in the State of Oregon with your head held high. This is one of college footballs oldest rivalries. The oldest west of the Mississippi. Here in Oregon, Ducks and Beavers can be found in most offices, families and neighborhoods. It's brother vs brother, neighbor vs neighbor and coworker vs coworker so it truly is a Civil War. These two teams and their fans do not like each other.
One of my favorite Civil War stories is from World War II. One of the Band of Brothers featured in the HBO mini series, Don Malarkey, is a University of Oregon alum. His studies were interrupted by World War II and he was in the paratroopers in England preparing for the D-Day landings. Eisenhower and Churchill came to view his unit before the beginning of the invasion and Ike asks Malarkey what he did before the war. He said he was a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and Ike asks him who won the last Oregon vs Oregon State Football game. Of course Ike played football for Army at West Point.
It is fun to walk around the tailgate parties before the game because you see Ducks and Beavers together. There is a scene in the movie Gettysburg where a confederate general tells a British Army officer who is there as an observer just before Pickett's charge that "All Virginia is here today". At each Oregon vs Oregon State Football game I like to think "all Oregon is here today."
Jon Wilner, of the San Jose Mercury news in California rates the rivalry football games in the Pac-10 and rates the "Civil War" game as the #1 rivalry game when he writes:
"1. The Civil War.
These days, Oregon-Oregon State has the best combination of passion, significance and competitiveness.
The passion takes the form of hatred — much closer to the Arizona-ASU situation than a healthy dislike.
OSU looks with jealousy at its richer, more-famous, more hip neighbor and wonders what might have been if Phil Knight had gone to OSU. The Ducks hate OSU because they’ve been told to hate OSU for decades.
The games are usually high scoring, although not always close, and the home team has dominated this decade.....
Without question, Oregon and Oregon State have been the most successful natural rivals in the conference in recent years. And that makes the Civil War the league’s best rivalry."
I first learned to hate the Beavers in the late 1960's when the Beavers, regularly under coach Dee Andros,( The Great Pumpkin) beat the shi* out of Oregon Duck Teams and did it with such relish.
A number years ago Dee, long retired, not too long before his death, came to a joint Duck/Beaver "Civil War" lunch in Medford and gave a passionate speech about the "Civil War" game that made me want to strap on a helmet and start playing right there. When Dee Andros walked into the banquet room he was wearing a god awful bright orange blazer and a black and orange striped tie. A local young TV sports reporter, who had probably just moved to this area, walked up to him and asked him if he was an Oregon State fan ..... it brought a smile to my face.
(Dee Andros was a veteran of World War II where he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was awarded the Bronze Star and spent more than a month under heavy fire on Iwo Jima. He was present at the famed moment when Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.)
In my lifetime I can remember twice when the Duck were denied a trip to the Rose Bowl because of a loss to the Beaver..... The first, was in 1964 when I was in high school and listened to the game on a transistor radio at a speech tournament I was competing in. The Beavers won and went to the Rose Bowl. The second, was in 2000 when I spent part of the game at a hospital with a dying relative.
This has been a bad season for the Beavers and they would dearly love to beat the Ducks while we are "down" A win by them will make their season and Oregon fans will hear about it from our Beaver "friends" for the next 12 long months.Oregon should remember they hate our guts ! They always cheer for us to lose regardless of who we are playing. There is no Pac 12 Championship to play for, there is no Rose Bowl or National Championship to play for; BUT, there is "the right to live in the state of Oregon!!!
Just remember Ducks, the Beavers will come at us like mad dogs !
Let's go Ducks Win the Day!
Go Ducks beat the Beavers.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
50 Years Ago!
Every "Baby Boomer" remembers where he was 50 years ago when he first heard the news. This is my story.
I was a junior in high school at North Bend High in North Bend, Oregon on the Oregon coast. I was in my Junior English class, the last class, before our "activity period" which would be followed by the lunch break. Class was interrupted by an announcement by our Principal, R.V. Wilson, over the school's intercom system, that "President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas Texas". The very first words spoken in my class were from fellow student D*** O****** sitting in the desk right behind mine, who said: "Wickre, it was you right wing extremists!" Our English teacher Rudy Sellei, who had been in the 1956 Hungarian Uprising against Soviet occupation, replied: "we don't know who did it."
The radio coverage of the news was then piped into the school's intercom system for the rest of the day. A TV was then set up in our cafeteria during the lunch period and school continued. Because of my well known opinions on politics, even at that age, I witnessed some very unfriendly looks for the rest of the day.
I was a member of the local chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and was working in the "Draft Goldwater" campaign.
Some fellow YAF members a few miles away at Marshfield High in Coos Bay had similar experiences. Two of them were caught laughing over an unrelated joke and the rumor spread like wildfire through the school that they were happy about the assassination.
Only later did we learn that Oswald was a Communist who had lived in the Soviet Union and was a supporter of Fidel Castro.
I also remember that day the tears that flowed from our female foreign exchange student from Greece. Just the summer before she had joined my family at our cabin on the lake at Lakeside. We had argued that night about Kennedy and Goldwater. At the end of the school year she wrote this this in my high school annual:
"Boy, I will never forget the fight we have had about Kennedy and Goldwater that night on your cottage on Lakeside. Remember? ......"Yes, I remember
Like most Americans we spent the next few days, through the weekend, glued to the TV as events unfolded. Our collective hearts broke to watch little John-John salute his dad's coffin!
Regardless of my dislike of John Kennedy I was crushed that our political system could be corrupted by an assassination. Things like that did not happen in modern America. It would not be the end.... we still had 1968 before us!
Going back in time, I had been a supporter of Richard Nixon in the campaign against Kennedy in 1960. I had stayed up way beyond my bedtime hoping Nixon would pull it out in California on election night. Only later did I learn Kennedy and LBJ had stolen the election in Texas and Illinois. For the next two years I had a large poster picture of Nixon on the closet door of my bedroom. After Nixon lost his race for Governor of California in 1962, I read Barry Goldwater's book "Conscience of a Conservative" and joined Bill Buckley's YAF and started to work in the Draft Goldwater movement.
I was unimpressed by the so called Kennedy coolness and was repulsed by how journalist fawned over him. Some things never change. I believed he deserted the Cuban Freedom Fighters at the Bay of Pigs, gave up too much to the Soviets to end the Cuban Missile Crisis* and used thug tactics in sending the FBI to make midnight calls to intimidate steel executives to end the steel strike. It was only later that we learned about Marilyn Monroe and an affair with mob boss mistress Judith Exner.
The assassination guaranteed the election of LBJ in 1964 which led to his incompetent leadership in conducting the Vietnam War and the not so "Great Society." This led to the destructive 1960's that damaged the fabric of American society which we are still witnessing today.
*a little over a year before as a sophomore, I had been in the high school library when the school administration issued a flyer on what their plans were for school evacuation if the Soviets launched a nuclear strike against the United States. Depending on the amount of warning we would either be sent home or kept at school.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
He LIED
By Lisa Myers and Hannah RappleyeNBC News
President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.
President received 4 Pinocchio's from the Washington Post .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2013/10/30/obamas-pledge-that-no-one-will-take-away-your-health-plan/?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffercf4d4&utm_medium=twitter
Has National Review gone "Establishment Republican"?
Erick Erickson of the Red State Blog writes:
In William F. Buckley’s mission statement for National Review, written in 1955, he did not mention winning elections. That’s not to say it is unimportant, unneeded, or unwanted. But it was not mentioned. In fact, Buckley wrote, “We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience.”
What was mentioned was standing athwart history yelling stop. Buckley sought to build a National Review that provided commentary on the landscape of American politics and culture, building an intellectual case for conservatism. Today’s National Review is willing occasionally to yell Stop. It did so notably on the proliferation of porn in culture. But on many of the day’s fights, the editorial positions read more like those of the Republican National Committee than the standard bearer of American conservatism.
In 1955, William F. Buckley wrote,
Conservatives in this country — at least those who have not made their peace with the New Deal, and there is serious question whether there are others — are non-licensed nonconformists; and this is dangerous business in a Liberal world, as every editor of this magazine can readily show by pointing to his scars. Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity.The present editors of National Review, over the last several years, have made it clearer and clearer that they now speak mostly for the well-fed right
and not for conservatives hungering for a fight against the leviathan.
Read the rest here: http://www.redstate.com/2013/10/29/the-hungry-and-the-well-fed/
I love the ending:
National Review once believed, “that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience.” The truth is that Obamacare is deeply destructive and an assault on individual liberty. It should be fought by all means, with or without a Senate majority or White House. The fight should not depend on electoral outcomes and should not be delayed pending reinforcements, many of whom will flee the field once elected.
I await the well-fed editors apologizing for the Goldwater candidacy. At this point, it is only a matter of time.
Me: I long for the old National Review....... I miss Bill Buckley!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
A Young Judy Collins sings "Bob Dylan's Dream"
Rainbow Quest (1965–66) was a U.S. television series devoted to folk music and hosted by Pete Seeger. It was videotaped in black-and-white and featured musicians playing in traditional American music genres such as traditional folk music, old-time music, bluegrass and blues. The show's title is drawn from the lyrics of the song by Seeger "Oh, Had I A Golden Thread".39 shows, each 52 minutes long, were recorded in 1965–66 at WNJU-TV (Channel 47), a New York City-based UHF station with studios in Newark, New Jersey. The shows were broadcast by Channel 47, primarily a Spanish-language outlet, to a very limited audience because only televisions equipped with a UHF antenna and tuner could receive them, and reception was difficult in an age prior to cable. For a few years in 1967–68, the shows were repeated on public television station WNDT (Channel 13, now WNET.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
WHY THEY FIGHT by By Brit Hume
bureaucracy. They are not interested in Republican policies that merely slow the growth of this leviathan. They want to stop it and reverse it. And they want to show their supporters they'll try anything to bring that about."
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/special-report-bret-baier/2013/10/14/what-tea-party-really-trying-get-out-slimdown
Monday, October 14, 2013
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Washington Week Part III: It took a Duck to deliver the "W"
The Washington Huskies are very proud of the remodel of the "Mistake by the Lake" but it took an Oregon Duck to delivery their "W" to the remade stadium.
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Washington Week Part II "THE PICK"
Washington Week Part II: "The Pick"
On October 22, 1994, Oregon football changed. The 1994 season didn't start out that way. Oregon lost to Hawaii, Utah and Washington State. There were only 25,000 fans at Autzen for Utah. At that game I looked around the parking lot and wondered "where is everybody?." The Ducks had beaten U$C in LA but we thought it was a fluke. Then came the Washington game in Eugene on October 22, 1994. I didn't want to drive three hours from Medford to Eugene to watch another Washington "blow out" of the Ducks. ( see post below) I had been there too many times before. In those days with two teenage children at home my kids took turns going to the games with me as we had two season tickets. It was my daughter's turn and so we drove to Eugene. I always like to park on the campus side of the Willamette River and take the footbridge over to Autzen. On a nice day it's a wonderful walk over the river and through the woods to Autzen. I parked on Franklin Blvd. and walked by the New Oregon Motel. It was full of Husky fans. We had also stopped by the book-store on campus and it was full of Husky fans. We got to the game and took our seats in SECTION 13 and the game started. Washington was ranked the # 9 team in the nation. Oregon kept it close. Oregon was leading by four points when Washington scored to go ahead 20 - 17 with 7:44 minutes to play. The game seemed to unfold as it had so often. "nice try"..." a moral victory" ... "close but no cigar". NOT THIS TIME. Danny O'Neil Oregon's QB led the Ducks on a 98 yard drive to regain the lead. It will forever be known as "The Drive." The Ducks now led 24-17 with 2:40 to go in the game. Washington then started their own drive and advanced to the Duck 8 yard line with 1:09 to play. With each yard the Huskies made, every Duck fan knew that Washington would score and win the game as they had so many times before. " So close, but no cigar." Then there was a play that will live forever in every Duck heart. Washington had plenty of time to give the ball to heralded tail back Napolean Kaufman. Instead, QB Damon Huard threw the ball in the flat toward Dave Janoski. Kenny Wheaton the Oregon CB timed the throw perfectly and stepped in front of the Washington receiver and intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back for another Duck touchdown to win the game 31-20. I was standing watching the play with my daughter. We both began to jump up and down!!! We then hugged as we both jumped up and down!!!. It was redemption! My daughter and I will always have that moment in time. On my dying day I will remember it. The play became known as "THE PICK". It is shown on the big screen at every Oregon home game just as the team comes on the field. Jerry Allen, the radio broadcaster's call of the play, has become a favorite of Duck fans... "KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE....KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE" I have a framed print of the play hanging in my office.(See picture above) After the game the many Husky fans looked crushed. The three hour trip back to Medford was like floating on air. Oregon went on to win the Pac 10 Championship that year and the entire family went to the Rose Bowl. It was the Ducks first time since 1958.
It was the beginning of the Golden Age of Duck Football ! Lets Go Ducks!... Beat the Huskies!
Here is "The Pick" on YouTube!
Monday, October 07, 2013
Washington Week Part I (or How I Learned to HATE the HUSKIES!)
This is a re post of a post I make every year when the Oregon Ducks play the Washington Huskies with a few minor changes.
To every Oregon Duck Fan "Washington Week" is the week the University of Oregon Ducks play the University of Washington Huskies in football. This year the game will be Saturday in Seattle at the "Mistake by the Lake." 1 PM (PT) on FOX SPORTS 1 on TV. To make it even more special ESPN Gameday will be there earlier in the morning.
There has been bad blood between these two schools for years.. It started in 1948 when there was a tie between Cal and Oregon to go to the Rose Bowl. In those days ties were settled by a vote of the Pac 8 schools. (the Arizona schools were then not part of the conference.) Oregon expected the Northwest schools to stick together but Washington voted for Cal and as a consolation the Ducks led by QB Norm Van Brocklin went to the Cotton Bowl. Before Autzen stadium was built Oregon would play some of it's home games against Washington at Multnomah Stadium in Portland. In the 50's it was not unheard of for fistfights to erupt in the stands between Duck and Washington fans. In 1968 I drove to Seattle to watch Oregon beat Washington 3 to 0 on a Ken Woody field goal during a rain swept game. During the 1970's, 1980's and into the 1990's Washington dominated the Ducks and were the premier team in the Northwest. Husky fans would descend on Eugene and Autzen Stadium in their god awful purple and would almost outnumber the Duck yellow and green. They would fill up Eugene hotels like locusts and bring their large band. Husky fans became known for their arrogance. Once on a trip to Seattle I ask a Husky fan the outcome of a game and was treated like a fool to expect anything but a Husky win. My Dad, not a football fan, was treated the same way when he struck up a conversation with a Husky fan at a hotel before an Oregon/Washington game. I know it's only a game but I learned to hate the Huskies and their fans.( Every time I start to get too smug as an Oregon fan I always try and tell myself "remember don't be like a Husky fan") At Husky home games they would blow their siren after each score as they beat the sh** out of hapless Oregon Duck teams. That all ended on October 22,1994, and I was there!!! (Has it been 19 years!) To be continued... Lets Go Ducks
Win the Day
Friday, October 04, 2013
House GOP Taking Steps to Fund Our Government
“Republicans continue to listen to the American people and take steps to keep critical parts of the government running,” said Speaker Boehner.
Here’s a running tally of recent measures passed by the House of Representatives, almost all of which are being blocked by Senate Democrats and President Obama who refuse to negotiate with Republicans to fund our government. We’ll continue to add to this list in the days ahead.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels and strengthens our economy by defunding the president’ health care law.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2013
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels and strengthens our economy by delaying the president’s health care law by one year, and permanently repealing ObamaCare’s tax on pacemakers and children’s hearing aids.
Pay Our Military Act (H.R. 3210): ensures our troops would be paid in the event of a government shutdown.
SEPTEMBER 30, 2013
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels; ensures there’s no special treatment for Congress under the president’s health care law; and delays ObamaCare’s individual mandate, providing all Americans with the same relief the president has given big businesses.
Continuing resolution: insists on plan to fund the government running at current spending levels; ensure there’s no special treatment for Congress under the president’s health care law; delays ObamaCare’s individual mandate, providing all Americans with the same relief the president has given big businesses; and requests a formal House-Senate conference to resolve differences.
OCTOBER 1, 2013
Speaker Boehner appoints negotiators to a formal House-Senate conference.
OCTOBER 2, 2013
Provide Local Funding for the District of Columbia Act (H.J. Res. 71): allows our nation’s capital to continue operating using its own funding.
Open Our Nation's Parks and Museums Act (H.J. Res. 70): opens all of our national parks and museums, including the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC that was initially closed to veterans by the administration.
Research for Lifesaving Cures Act (H.J. Res. 73): provides funding for the National Institute of Health, which is responsible for lifesaving medical innovations and cancer research.
OCTOBER 3, 2013
Pay Our Guard and Reserve Act (H.R. 3230): ensures the government shutdown doesn’t affect pay for our National Guard and Reserve.
Honoring Our Promise to America’s Veterans Act (H.J. Res. 72): provides immediate funding for critical veterans benefits and services, including disability claims, education and training, and more.
OCTOBER 4, 2013
National Emergency and Disaster Recovery Act (H.J. Res 85): provides immediate funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Nutrition Assistance for Low-Income Women and Children Act (H.J. Res. 75): provides immediate funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which “serves nearly 9 million mothers and young children,” and provides “vital nutrition that poor families might otherwise be unable to afford.”
Here’s a running tally of recent measures passed by the House of Representatives, almost all of which are being blocked by Senate Democrats and President Obama who refuse to negotiate with Republicans to fund our government. We’ll continue to add to this list in the days ahead.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2013
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels and strengthens our economy by defunding the president’ health care law.
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels and strengthens our economy by delaying the president’s health care law by one year, and permanently repealing ObamaCare’s tax on pacemakers and children’s hearing aids.
Continuing resolution: keeps the government running at current spending levels; ensures there’s no special treatment for Congress under the president’s health care law; and delays ObamaCare’s individual mandate, providing all Americans with the same relief the president has given big businesses.
Speaker Boehner appoints negotiators to a formal House-Senate conference.
Provide Local Funding for the District of Columbia Act (H.J. Res. 71): allows our nation’s capital to continue operating using its own funding.
Pay Our Guard and Reserve Act (H.R. 3230): ensures the government shutdown doesn’t affect pay for our National Guard and Reserve.
National Emergency and Disaster Recovery Act (H.J. Res 85): provides immediate funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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Since hearing of Jerry's passing I have seen many of his friends from various times in his life come forward with their wonderful stories about Jerry and their friendship and how he touched so many people. That speaks well of a man!