Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 21, 2011

12

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 21, 2011

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

Mountain 
Views

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Publisher/ Editor

Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

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Patricia Colonello

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Richard Garcia

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Lina Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Contributors

Teresa Baxter

Pat Birdsall

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Dorothy White

Webmaster

John Aveny 

Known liars saying 

“Trust us” is not proof!

I THINK IT’S A DREAM

I just woke up from a dream. At least I think 
it’s a dream. In it I’ve been taken to some luxurious 
hotel in some city to be present at some 
ceremony for someone I don’t know very well. 
Now I’m trying to get back to where I was and 
can’t remember where that was or how I got 
there and what it is I’m supposed to be doing. 
Besides that I’m feeling very frightened and traffic 
is going in all directions and sewer pipes are breaking and there 
seems to be water everywhere. I want to ask for directions but I 
don’t know what or who to ask.

All right it’s Sunday morning and I just read the first paragraph 
to my wife and she says, “So what’s new? It’s like everything you’ve 
ever written.” Maybe to her but to me it feels different. It’s Sunday 
and I always go to see my mother on Sundays except that she died 
three and a half months ago and I can’t get used to the idea. Going 
to see her, no matter how old and difficult she became, always 
seemed to be the right thing to do and allowed me to feel responsible 
for a little while no matter how screwed up everything else 
seemed to be.

I used to manage to hit golf balls every week-end but now my 
back hurts and going out to hit them feels kind of pointless. Now 
that I think about it, I realize that friends I used to play with have 
moved or are dying which I really don’t want to think about. What 
about the Lakers? Oops they’re gone too—lost in an early round of 
the play-offs and their Coach is quitting obviously to be replaced 
by someone I don’t know or care about. What about the Dodgers? 
The Mc Courts have messed up the team so badly that I find it unpleasant 
to even think about it. Worse the box-scores in the paper 
seem to have gotten smaller and harder to read. All I can read are 
the articles about the probable strikes and lock outs as the wealthy 
and privileged fight about money that they have and I don’t.

All the newspapers and internet stuff seems to be about the decline 
of America. We seem to be on our way to becoming a wholly 
owned subsidiary of China and are wasting resources fighting 
pointless wars that probably will never end. Long-term political 
marriages are breaking up and the marriages of my friends and 
neighbors don’t seem all that secure or happy. The next generation 
is struggling with huge debts trying to pay for Schooling that hasn’t 
enabled them to even get jobs that they enjoy. The ones who are 
successful financially are working so hard that they don’t seem to 
have time to talk to their families. Meanwhile everyone is running 
and working out and still getting fatter and falling down and kind 
of suffering. It’s hard to know what food to eat and everyone is 
popping prescription meds that I am pretty certain will lead to long 
term problems that probably could be avoided if we all had some 
idea what we were doing.

I guess this is some sort of time of transition. Right after World 
War II America seemed to find its focus. The McCarthy era, the 
Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam were polarizing times that seemed 
to involve everyone. There was a draft and everyone I knew was 
concerned and pretty aware. Today the wars seem perpetual and 
pointless and far away. Nobody has to fight if they don’t want to but 
still every day we read about horrors and mass-killings and it seems 
just like a matter of time until we undergo some attack.

Weather conditions, perhaps connected to global warming and 
climate change, are creating new “natural disasters” every day. 
Who ever heard of mile wide tornadoes and there’s no Wizard to 
help us. I read that food shortages and water shortages are on the 
way. Enough of this! If I wasn’t afraid of another dream I would 
go back to sleep.

All right it’s time to say something positive; something hopeful. 
The thing that helps me is to read a little about history. Times used 
to be tougher. People died in their thirties and giving birth was 
horribly dangerous and life-threatening. Cities stunk and there 
were plagues and disease everywhere. Injustice and cruelty surrounded 
us. The primary diversions of populations were to attend 
public hangings and to participate in riots. Instead of diversions 
there was continual back-breaking work in a non-air-conditioned 
non-centrally-heated, not well-insulated world.

See all that is needed is a little awareness and a little imagination 
and a little tolerance for some inevitable frustration. Maybe 
all I need do is change my golf-swing so my back won’t hurt and 
while I’m doing that perhaps I can try and adjust my mind-swings 
to notice the positive and view the negative as an opportunity for 
change. See how easy that was. Now if I can keep my eye on the 
ball and still watch out for tornadoes I can wake-up from this 
frightening dream. Maybe it’s all make-believe.


President Obama’s 
bravado announcement to 
the nation and the world 
that U.S. military forces had 
killed Osama bin Laden was 
both stunning and incredible. 
After a decade of hunting for the worldwide al 
Qaeda leader, who the U.S. government claims is 
the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 
we had found him under our noses living quietly 
next to the Pakistani national military academy.
Case closed, right? Well... not quite.
Since its announcement, the White House 
has been hard pressed to answer some tough 
questions about why some details have 
changed from the original account of the 
raid that killed bin Laden, and why they have 
not yet shown photographs of his remains. 
Despite its claim of proof-positive DNA evidence 
of his death, many remain skeptical of how and 
when he died.

We were told that Osama Bin Laden had been 
killed and that his body was conveniently lying 
at the bottom of the ocean. The “burial at sea” 
was described as being in line Islamic tradition; 
however, sacred Islamic texts say that only those 
who die at sea, away from land, can be buried at sea.
Given the fact that the U.S. government has 
admittedly lied numerous times to us about 
the war in Afghanistan (as it has about the 
war in Iraq), it would seem that a legitimate 
killing of Osama Bin Laden would require 
an offering of conclusive proof that the deed 
was done just as the generals say it was. 
As more people now question the official story 
of 9/11, offering the body up for an independent 
investigation outside the government’s clutches 
would have been an easy way to alleviate any 
“conspiracy theories” regarding Bin Laden’s real fate. 
With Photoshop and computer-generated 
special effects, politicians and military men 
offering pictures which they’re still debating 
whether or not they’ll even show (new ones, 
not the fake one that’s already been put out 
and debunked) and “DNA” evidence (which 
could have been taken at any time in the past) 
without outside verification means nothing. 
The question isn’t so much whether or not 
Bin Laden is still alive. In all likelihood Bin 
Laden died years ago, his memory kept alive 
by a powerful and well tuned government/
media propaganda machine using the illusion 
of his continued existence as a fear generator 
to keep a 9/11 psych-oped public in line. 
The real question is whether or not this was a 
fake “Wag the Dog” diversionary event designed 
to boost the popularity of an increasingly 
unpopular president before an election, and/
or to bring closure to the “War on Terror” so 
that the U.S. can move onto the next stage of a 
larger global empire plan -- like oil-rich Iran! 
So far the U.S. government hasn’t proven anything 
happened on May 1st other than a building burned 
down in Pakistan. Right from the moment the 
story broke the mainstream media took control 
of the narrative and began bombarding the public 
with the with official line that everyone believes the 
boogeyman died that day, and that if you question 
the lie then you’re alone -- and a bit of a nut. 
To reinforce this view, bloodthirsty Americans 
have been shown celebrating bin Laden’s death as 
if it’s VJ Day (despite the fact that war hasn’t ended) 
while critical analysis has been brushed aside. 
In reality, those questioning this obvious hoax 
are not alone. News stories on the net that allow 
comments are filled with those calling the U.S. 
government on its lie. This is a time for truth 
tellers not to retreat but to step forward and shove 
their collective finger into the U.S. government’s 
face. 

Known liars saying “trust us” is not proof. 
Even if some people remain naive believers in 
the official reports, many more are beginning to 
smell a rat. Instead of bringing closure to 9/11 
Obama has blown open a new can of worms 
with his dismissive conclusion to the Bin Laden 
death story, and the starkly apparent timing of it. 
If the powers that be think this will put to rest the 
controversy surrounding 9/11, they have another 
thing coming. No doubt, if such an announcement 
had been made in the old Soviet Union, we would 
have rolled our eyes and said, “YEAH RIGHT!”

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RICH Johnson


A Simple Explanation of Baseball

Here we are well on our 
way through the 2011 baseball 
season. And yet, it has 
come to my attention there 
are many, many folks who 
still don’t really understand 
America’s favorite pastime. There are several 
subtle nuances of the game this explanation does 
not cover such as the designated owner rule (currently 
being defined through the divorce of the 
owners of the Los Angeles Dodger organization). 

I should point out the following explanation is 
best absorbed by reading out loud in front of at 
least one other person. So here goes:

“A Simple Explanation of Baseball”

This is a game played by two teams, one out, 
the other in. The one that’s in sends players out 
one at a time to see if they can get in before they 
get out. If they get out before they get in, they 
come in, but it doesn’t count. If they get in before 
they get out, it does count. (with me so far?)

When the ones out get three outs from the 
ones in before they get in without being out, the 
team that’s out comes in and the team in goes out 
to get those going in out before they get in without 
being out.

When both teams have been in and out nine 
times, the game is over. The team with the most 
in without being out before coming in wins unless 
the ones in are equal. In which case, the last 
ones in go out to get the ones in out before they 
get in without being out.

The game will end when each team has the 
same number of ins out but one team has more 
in without being out before coming in.

For the last two Tuesday nights, I have strapped 
on my thinking cap and ventured over to Café 
322 for “Trivia Night”. Hosted by the wonderful 
and engaging Deanna Cogan, “Trivia Night” is 
a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a wonderful 
meal and conspire with up to three other friends 
to answer 40 trivia questions in four categories. 
The top three winners win prizes. The entry fee 
is $2.00 per person and categories cover history, 
music, current events, geography, politics, pop 
culture and more. It’s great fun.

REV James L. Snyder 


High inflation reaches a new low

I am not usually given to 
protesting much of anything 
these days. “Live and let 
live,” is the motto I go by and 
up until now, it has served 
me rather well and I have no 
complaints.

 I must confess, however, 
that recently I have been 
challenged in this area of my life. I have tried to keep my 
cool and have succeeded to a minimal success. I know 
one of these days I am going to turn into Popeye where 
he says, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands n’more?” 
Then, look out.

 I will be the first to say that I certainly do not 
understand economics. Balancing my checkbook each 
month, for example, is an act fit for a three-ring circus. 
I remember I did balance my checkbook once but that 
was 1978. My policy has been to run my checkbook until 
it is so completely mixed up I have to close that account 
and open up a new account. It is easier for me to do it 
that way. To spend 97 hours each month balancing my 
checkbook is a waste of time as far as I am concerned. 
For me, it is that time of the month when I come the 
closest to swearing.

 I try to listen to these money and economy experts 
explaining the whole economic situation. I just wish they 
would not speak in Chinese.

 Of course, I am not sure I want to listen to all of these 
financial experts. After all, the Wall Street financial 
wizards are the ones responsible for the financial mess 
our nation is in right now. If they are so smart, why did 
they screw up our national finances so much? I know I 
am not smart along these lines, but then I did not mess 
up the national economy.

 Politicians do not fare any better. I have often 
wondered why it is that a politician can raise so much 
money so quickly while running for office but once in 
office he does not seem to be able to handle the money. 
If we could take all the money politicians raise during 
the campaign cycle and apply it to the national debt we 
would have two blessed results. One, our national debt 
would almost be wiped out, and two, no politician would 
ever be elected. I say, hallelujah, pass the offering plate.

 Last week I accompanied my wife to the store to 
buy groceries. It was there I began understanding the 
influence of high inflation on my personal pocketbook. 
We took our groceries to the checkout counter and, as 
usual, I was not paying too much attention. The cashier 
rang up our groceries and then came to the total. I looked 
at it, looked at my wife, looked back at the total and 
exclaimed, “Are we feeding the Navy Seals?”

 I took my credit card out of my wallet and as I paid the 
grocery bill I said to my wife, “Oh well, we have to eat.”

 Another day this past week, I noticed the fuel gauge 
on my car was pointing towards empty. I took it down 
to get filled up with gasoline and to my deep chagrin, 
and believe me, my chagrin does not get any deeper, it 
was almost $100 to fill it up. As I returned the nozzle 
and replaced the cap on my gas tank I sighed and said to 
myself, “Oh well, I have to drive to get anywhere.”

 On Mother’s Day, I took my wife and 
another couple to a restaurant to celebrate 
Mother’s Day. When I got the check, I almost 
expired. How can any restaurant charge that 
much for food and sleep at night? I put on 
my best smile and said to myself, “Oh well, it’s 
nice to dine with another couple.”

All of this I took in stride, as they say. That 
is part of living and that is part of a depressed 
economy. If you think our economy is 
depressed, come visit me and have a little 
chat and you will find someone who is really 
depressed.

 

Then this inflation business crossed the 
forbidden line.

 

I went up to the bakery department to 
purchase the obligatory Friday morning 
Apple Fritter. I think it is important to 
establish good habits and my Friday morning 
Apple Fritter is one of those good habits.

 I was chatting to the person behind the 
counter who was getting my Apple Fritter and 
did not notice the price. I took it up to the 
checkout counter to pay and noticed it was 
$.79. To say I was shocked is putting it mildly 
I assure you. Seventy-nine cents for my Apple 
Fritter! For over 10 years, I was paying $.70. 
Now, where did this nine cent increase come 
from? Who is getting this extra nine cents?

 Mess with my groceries, mess with my 
gasoline, but brother, do not mess with my 
Apple Fritter. The most dangerous zone on 
planet earth is that area between my Apple 
Fritter and me. It is here that I draw the line. Some things 
in life carry with it the sacredness of, “touch thou not.” 
My Apple Fritter is number one on that list.

 The Bible says, “To every thing there is a season, and 
a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 
3:1 KJV).

 There is a time to stand up, speak up and protest 
loudly.

 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God 
Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives 
with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him 
at 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The 
church web site is www.whatafellowship.com.

The 2011/2012 rendition of “The 
Silly Season” has officially began. 
This is the period in American life 
when politics become very rancorous. 
Tighten your seat belts, because it’s 
going to be a bumpy, mean-spirited and 
unforgettable ride for the next year and 
a half.

My late grandmother scolded me by 
saying “if you don’t want to get mud on 
you, don’t go to a crab’s dance.” As I listen to the incendiary 
remarks being spewed by some politicians, I wonder how many 
of them realize or care that they cannot illuminate themselves 
by speaking ill of their competitors. In other words, they will 
get dirty if they are working in an oil field (pun intended).

Is this kind of behavior suitable for our children and the rest 
of us who are listening and watching?

I am amazed how some politicians pontificate (even lie) to 
specific audiences repeatedly believing that their diatribe will 
find agreeable listeners. The fact is in this era of “real time 
media” every remark can be checked instantly for its validity. 
So politicians attempting to misguide their audience should 
find the undertaking a difficult and foolish act. In my opinion, 
the vicious and hypocritical vitriol that is hurled from one 
politician to the other borders on insanity.

Nevertheless, “The Silly Season” has officially began.

Curbing Bad Behavior:

THE SILLY SEASON

 by Ron Carter


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