TRULY INDEPENDENT

HOW DO YOU DEFINE RADICAL

   Today's sentiment was launched by thoughtful observations of Jed Duvall and Stephen Hayes who authors the extraordinary blog The Chubby Chatterbox.

   You can read Jed's thoughts in the comments of yesterday's post on the Gettysburg anniversary observations.

    The Chatterbox, which is linked in the column on the right, got my wheels turning.

   This is always a day of melancholy. On the one hand it prompts a childhood sense of joy and delight. On the other it recalls true patriotism, devotion and sacrifice adjoined to how we modern Americans regard the day as little more than a reason to eat, drink, be merry and watch bombs that sparkle instead of those that have more lethal outcomes.

    After all is said, I come down on the thought that more than anything this is a day that should celebrate conviction and principle. John Adam's did not attend 4th of July celebrations, despite his contribution to our birth. He did not because he noted the Declaration was "declared" on July 2nd and he thought that should be the day of observation. The formal declaration was adopted on the 4th, but the actual separation from England occurred on the the 2nd.

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not. (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142).

That is an example of the American spirit. 

JULY 4TH REFERALS

If you have not seen the Gettysburg post

from yesterday,Here is an easy link 

And a true reprise-worth considering again-

A UNIQUELY AMERICAN DAY

Do your self a great favor today.

Take a couple of minutes to read

the Declaration of Independence by linking here.

Here's something to add to your conversation at a barbecue or party today.

Two of the framers and signers of the Declaration

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third 

Presidents of the US, died on July 4th 1826, the 

50th Anniversary of the signing.

Both men had been ill.  Jefferson asked his doctor

"Is it the Fourth yet?"

"It soon will be," Robley Dunglison replied.

Later Jefferson awoke to say,

"I resign my spirit to God, my daughter to my country."

Adams was asked if he knew what day it was.

"Oh yes.  It is the glorious Fourth of July. It is a great day. It is a good day. God Bless it.  God Bless you all."

He lapsed into unconsciousness. Later he awoke and said

"Thomas Jefferson.  Thomas Jefferson survives."

Actually Jefferson had died a couple of hours earlier.

It remains an amazing coincidence that the two men, infirmed and dying  held on to life until the 50th Anniversary of perhaps America's greatest day.

Happy Independence Day!

See you down the trail.

IN DEFENSE OF CRYSTAL-A DRONE STORY-THANKS FOR THE AWARD

GET OVER IT

     Apparently some are upset, or so some would lead us to believe, over Billy Crystal's impersonation of Sammy Davis Jr.  

     First, it is a reprise of a famous sketch he's performed many times, secondly it was in no way disrespectful, and this

particular bit was hilarious. If you were offended, of course you are entitled to your sentiment, but come on, comedy

is all a joke. Lighten up!  There are serious things over 

which to be offended, but these recriminations sound shallow, void of a knowledge of this artist's history, self-serving, contrived and as though someone was just looking
for something to tweet.  

WHEN I WANTED MY OWN DRONE

     Reading Associated Press writer Joan Lowy's piece on drone's going mainstream reminded me of my attempt to put one to work for my news organization.

     In covering national security and intelligence issues I made friends with people with unique skills and job descriptions.  Later when I was a television news executive I got a call from an old contact telling me about some amazing  new technology.  We set up a show and tell.  He, and a retinue, brought a couple of drone aircraft to our conference room.  They played a recording of the craft in flight, showed telemetry data, discussed it's operation system and the budget for flying it.  

      They did not want news coverage, but wanted to let me know, as a favor to an old friend, the system was available.

Well, I was awestruck.  This is years ago, long before there was public knowledge of the technology and certainly long before military applications.  They had rigged a craft with a

camera to show how we could use it in covering critical situation incidents; emergencies, disasters, accidents, hostage situations, surveillance in investigative reporting, and many more possibilities that my mind ran to.  

      Now here the story takes a couple of jogs.  In the contingent in the room were a couple of guys who were very circumspect about who they were and what was their interest. There was the developer, an engineer, a business partner and financial backer and two guys who later I learned

were what I suspected at the time-federal employees watching over this prized technology.  
      My contact was probably not the first to develop such a system, but may have been the first willing to "test it" in a commercial field exercise, in this case assisting journalism.
      The other jog was the broadcast division executive who shot it down even before we could fly it.  He'd "never heard of such a thing," and didn't want to give it a try.  He said we "didn't have a budget" for such a line, though I showed him where and how we could afford it. He was a numbers cruncher, not at all a visionary or creative thinker.  

      So, now as drones are used by police, farmers, power companies and at lot less cost than the helicopter and pilots I kept on staff, I can't help but imagine what if.

THANK YOU CHUBBY CHATTERBOX

      There is only one way into this and it is to resort to 

fully acknowledged copy cat writing.  I was "humbled and honored" to read this weekend that The Chubby Chatterbox,
who's blog link is listed along the side, had nominated me
for an award he had won, that of the Versatile Blogger.
      The Chatterbox is a marvelous writer and an equally superb artist. He has taken blogging to a fine level of creativity, imagination, style and warmth. So I am all the more humbled and honored-- with all sincerity.
       In getting this nomination I am to tell you seven things about myself and to pass along my nomination to other bloggers.
       #1 I am a blessed, lucky, fortunate man, with a wonderful and creative wife, two loving daughters who make me proud and more friends than I deserve.
      #2 I have authored two published historical mystery
and historical thriller novels: The Sanibel Arcanum and The Sanibel Cayman Disc.
      #3  I co-authored a professional guide, Crisis Coverage and News Room Credibility, with US Army Lt. Col. Charles Ricks,retired FBI Executive William Ervin, and the late Benjamin Strout.
      #4  I have recently finished a new manuscript and I am searching for a new agent and publisher.  My previous publisher was purchased by a media conglomerate that did away with the literary imprint.  I was invited to do graphic novels or coffee table books.  I have declined and I am work on a more literary project now, an homage to Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins.
      #5 I spent four decades in journalism and documentary work that took me to far reaches of the globe and/or put 
me at the ringside for important moments in history.
     #6  My idea of the ideal job was to have been a National Geographic photographer.  Never achieving that I now blog
and thus entertain my fantasy of that and my second ideal job-a newspaper columnist.
     # 7 Aside from hiking, I play a lot of tennis, a game I did not pick up until about 3 1/2 years ago which I think bespeaks my faith and pragmatic idealism.  It is probably good to work our butts off in good pursuit, no matter our age. Regardless of the score, what really matters is how we play the game.


      BLOGS I NOMINATE
      ODDBALL OBSERVATIONS by The Catalyst
      Vinylstats by Frank Phillippi
      Artist C.W. Mundy

DAY BOOK

SCENES OF THE SEASON

See you down the trail.

TELLING STORIES & WALKING WITH AN EGRET

THESE TOO ARE GHOSTS
It must be a seasonal vibe. Christmas card letters,
unexpected calls, party chatter, e-mails and 
blog postings all brim with stories this 
time of year.  They are rich in memory and
 evoke emotion and humor. 
It seems blogs have become a 21st Century version
of the cracker barrel or pickle tub pictured in the
general store community gathering spots
in days of yore. A couple of examples
are found in the Vinyl Stats and Chubby Chatterbox
blog posts you can find linked below on the right.
 A good story is a great companion for these days
and nights. Share your own and
be of good cheer.
DAY BOOK

WALKING WITH AN EGRET

On the line near the house I noticed a Hawk

keeping an eye on our youngest kitten, Hemingway.

Once Hemingway was inside, the raptor flew away.

The little polydactyl is growing rapidly and will soon be too big for the Hawks.

See you down the trail.