Remembering Herbert Ford and his musem

The first week  that I became editor of the Guardian-Journal in Homer I visited Herbert Ford and his museum.  I was amazed at the number and variety of exhibits housed in a railroad box car.  Items covered many years with a loom and spinning wheel plus clothing from the time of the War Between the States to an extensive group  of World War I guns.  Ford served over seas during the war and was a founder                   of the American Legion.

One section was devoted to bells of varied sizes, types and histories.  Ford had  isolated bells which together   composed a musical scale.  At times he would arrange the bells on a pickup truck and go through town playing a tune.  Not everyone appreciated the music.  One woman was heard to say, "There goes Herbert Ford and his damn bells again!"    

Typhoon hits us in 1945

I have written that I have few memories of our time in Japan but among those incidents I do remember is  being in a typhoon. The recent typhoon that hit Okinawa brought  this to my mind. We spent most of our time at the small city of Wakanoura awaiting the clearing of mines from the harbor at Nagoya.

To avoid most of the damage from the typhoon we left the port and went to sea.  While the Pickens was driven to pitching and rollong we avoid hitting another ship or being driven into the land.

The most damaging typhoon hit Okinawa November 9, becoming a disaster. A total of 12 ships and craft were sunk,  222 were grounded, and 32 were severely damaged,.            

Our air campaign against ISIS is a sham and a disgrace

The United States air campaign is little more than an annoyance as ISIS continues to gain victory after victory. Americans should be ashamed to allow the murder of thousands of innocents and the enslavement of thousands of women and girls.

Susan Rice, that brilliant lady of Benghazi talking points, says the Obama strategy is working and the administration is pleased with what is going on in Iraq and Syria.  She says they expect the war with ISIS to go on for a long time.

Obama and his cohorts are showing us  something new.  In the past when we entered a war we did all we could to win the war.

A "" peaceful" Sunday baseball game

This story of a baseball game goes back more than 50 years, but something brought it to my mind. 

Before the well-organized Big Eight league (which had contact with major league football as well as  baseball) the Homer Oilers were in a league that played on Sunday afternoon.  On this Sunday we were playing Vivian there.

The score was tied along about the sixth inning when the manager of Vivian, though not in uniform, insisted on challenging the umpire.  He refused to leave and allow the game to proceed so the ump had no choice but to declare a forfeit and the game over.

As  we picked up our equipment and went to leave for home, we were challenged by women waving baseball bats, demanding we take the field and resume the game or there would be a fight. Homer fans disagreed on whether to resume playing or go home.  I was for resuming the game  and avoid a fight while some argued that if we returned to the field, the forfeit would not count.  We did go back to playing, leaving after two innings and  the game still tied.

Days later at a league meeting officials determined that because we had  resumed the game, the forfeit did not count.  I still hold the decision to re-start the game was the right decision. Those women swinging bats meant their threats of violence.

It's always Bush's fault

Of all the problems to make political hay over, ebola is caused by the Republicans,  according to the Democrats.  I have lived a long time and have seen plenty of dirty politicking but this is the lowest.  The nation and much of the world fear this vile disease and we must do all possible to minimize its danger and find ways to eliminate it.

How low can politicians go!

Coincidence or warning?

Can we learn from words of 2500 years ago?  Habakkuk the prophet admitted to God that Israel deserved punishment but questioned why an evil nation (Babylonia) was chosen to administer it.  In the book we read in Sunday School October 5,  Habakkuk asked "Why would you look at the treacherous or keep  silent when the wicked swallows who is more righteous?

Then the writer says imagine if we were told    that  because of the sins of Americans, fanatical terrorists were going to overrun the United States.  "No doubt many of us would protest, saying, We are far from perfect, but the terrorists are much worse than we are."

At present it is going this way -- many are taking the side of ISIS, blaming the country that protects their freedom.  I get sick when I hear news people like Alan Colmes blame America and praise the terrorists.  He went to far as to say Christianity is as radical as Islam at its worst.  Alan, I haven't seen videos of Christians beheading Muslims.

We refuse to help Syrian town

The world, led by the United States, stands idly by as ISIS threatens slaughter in a Syrian town.

Air power cannot alone win a war but it can be effective if used properly and not just for show. In World War II over 200 planes bombed Tokyo one night and caused 100,000 deaths.  Japanese suicide attacks at Okinawa caused so many American casualties people back home in the United States criticized our military leaders.   Those heavy losses helped convince Truman to drop the atom bomb.

Sending over one plane to destroy a truck is disgraceful when 200 planes each destroying a moving vehicle would have great effect, as would fighter planes from our carriers strafing ISIS troops.