Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 30, 2022

13

OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 30, 2022

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

PRODUCTION

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

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WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Stuart Tolchin 

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee

STUART TOLCHIN

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE

 
Tomorrow my house will be tented as a protective precaution 
necessary to ensure safety and security as we attempt to rid 
the house of termites. I don’t know about the termites but already 
I feel unsafe and insecure. Let’s begin. First, I don’t like the fact 
that the President of the United States, an almost eighty year old 
man has been infected with a variant of the Covid Virus. Aren’t 
there appropriate precautions? Why is he travelling around the 
world, going to all sorts of unsafe places and shaking hands and 
bumping fists with known highly questionable people? I know 
the answer—that’s what Presidents do. My response is that highly 
vulnerable people because of age or medical condition should not 
be eligible to run for President. It makes us all unsafe.

 I think of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR, 
soon after his election in1945 died and was unable to attend the postwar Potsdam Conference 
planning the post-war peace which allowed the three leading allies to plan the postwar peace. 
The three attendees were Winston Churchill. Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman. Sounds 
strange, doesn’t it? Truman was added to the Democratic ticket in 1945 because he was little 
known and would not alienate voters who now disapproved of the controversial sitting Vice 
President, Henry Wallace. Pundits have said FDR’s ill-health impaired his participation at the 
Yalta Conference in 1944 and he had died by the time of the Potsdam conference in 1945. The 
end result pundits now say is that American interests were not powerfully represented. The 
end results that a great part of Eastern Europe was handed over to Russia and placed behind 
an “Iron Curtain”. Wars of liberation were later fought in many of these countries and the 
bullet-ridden Capitals became an interesting part of American European vacations. 

 Another important point to remember is that new President, Harry Truman in April 
1945, was faced with the question of whether the atomic bomb should be used against Japan. 
Germany was already defeated and Japan was severely weakened but Truman was told that 
the dropping of the bomb would bring a sooner end to the war. As I understand it, Truman 
was completely ignorant of the possible consequences and that the probability of radiation induced 
cancers. His decision has been characterized as “if we got ‘em we might as well use ‘em” 
and he ordered the dropping of not one but two bombs immediately killing about 200,000 
civilians with others subsequently dying of radiation induced cancers.

 Almost my entire life has been affected by the consequences of the dropping of these 
bombs. Once it was shown that such demonic weapons could in fact be created and used it 
was only a matter of time until our enemies developed their own capabilities and the resultant 
nuclear arms race and stock-piling of nuclear weapons continues on. Maybe if FDR had 
lived, or, if Truman had been better informed, all of our lives would have been different. Most 
senior citizens today remember the forced drop-drills hiding under our desks in elementary 
school as we fearfully waited for the bombs to fall. In a way we are still waiting.

 One more questionable vice president was Dan Quayle who served as Vice-President 
from 1989-1993. According to columnists like Maureen Dowd, Quayle was selected because 
he was photogenic and there was little concern that he was a C student at best who preferred 
the golf course to the classroom. Quayle was famous for saying he was eager to visit Latin 
America because “I always wanted to learn Latin.” He was called President Bush’s “impeachment 
insurance” widely ridiculed in 1989 when he told a TV interviewer that there was water 
on Mars. Everyone laughed but now the presence of flowing water has been confirmed. Even 
more surprisingly James Danforth Quayle has recently emerged as a wise elder statesman who 
advised Vice-President Michael Pence, another unlikely hero) to not surrender to Presidential 
pressure and actually follow the Law!

 I do not believe that it is necessary that we live in a gerontocracy, a society governed 
by old people. It is equally important that electability not be the only qualification of a vice-
Presidential nominee. (Think Sarah Palin). Important decisions should not be in the hands 
of men or women who most of us would not even trust to drive their great grand-children 
around. Age limits are necessary and should be imposed and that limit should apply to Supreme 
Court Justices as well. If a Republican is elected President someone like 92 year old 
Senator Grassley, the President pro-tempore of the Senate could be appointed and approved. 
Can you imagine such a thing?! Maybe potential Georgia Senator Hershel Walker would be a 
better choice; at least he can run. What a World? 


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TOM PURCELL

THE VALUE OF AN OVERBEARING 
FATHER


My father is turning 89 this week and he’s getting especially sentimental 
of late.

The other day, from his hospital bed, he said he hoped he’d been a good 
father. He said these words with a hint of doubt in his voice.

But he got the question backwards. The question he should be asking is: 
“Could his only boy have been a better son?”

The answer to that is a big, hearty “yes.”

His dad died at the age of 34 in 1937. So he never knew what it was like to have a big, stubborn 
fellow like him so heavily involved in your daily young life — someone who’d stop you 
from doing the many very stupid things inquisitive boys are prone to do.

I know now he was often unsure how to manage my stupidity, because his mother was often 
at work and he had always been free to do stupid things without a cranky parent correcting 
him.

When he was about 12, he and his juvenile delinquent pals nearly derailed a trolley car by 
setting a large stone on the tracks — just to see what would happen.

I just turned 60, but I admit that that is something I’d really like to see, too. Jail time and 
public humiliation are the only two things stopping me.

Boys by nature can be really reckless and the best system we’ve ever invented as human beings 
is to have burly, overbearing dads — dads who had been really reckless when they were 
boys — to protect them from themselves.

My dad sure had his hands full with me.

I never did jail time, but in my early years I clogged a toilet with an apple core, shattered a 
picture window with a baseball and hit a golf ball through a neighbor’s window.

As a teen I destroyed more expensive items, such as automotive transmissions, and while 
speeding through the church parking lot to avoid a red light I nearly hit our parish priest 
head-on.

But it wasn’t entirely my fault for driving so fast all the time. It was my father’s fault for buying 
a 1979 Ford Pinto that had a powerful six-cylinder motor — a motor that allowed me to 
burn rubber at will.

At least I was smart enough not to ask him to help me pay for my many speeding tickets, as 
my driving privileges would have been taken away.

In the modern world, many boys are being raised well by their single moms.

But there are also many boys who suffer the consequences of not having a dad around to 
stop them from acting on their worst impulses — or worse, becoming gang members who 
gun each other down for no reason.

When boys 
don’t have fathers 
to agitate 
or drive them 
crazy — and 
when fathers 
aren’t around 
to discipline or 
inflict unpleasantness 
on their 
sons — the 
result can be 
tragic.

But when 
good dads are 
around things 
usually work 
out in the end. 
My dad had the 
satisfaction of 
seeing me turn 
out all right (for the most part!) — and I did so because, ultimately, I didn’t want to let him 
down.

And I still don’t.

Happy 89th birthday, Dad.

I promise to fight every boyish urge to put a rock on the trolley tracks just to see how it 
turns out.

Tom Purcell, creator of the infotainment site ThurbersTail.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-
Review humor columnist. Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.


RICH & 

FAMOUS 

WHAT’S IN A (ROCK) 
GROUP’S NAME?

I’ll continue in my ongoing attempt 
to provide you with (hopefully) 
interesting factoids and bits of information to 
help facilitate conversation around the dinner table.

Anyway, my music was birthed in rock and roll. Rock music 
birthed the phenomenon of weird, often designer drug induced, 
names for rock bands. I thought I might do a little research and try 
to understand the origins of some of these groups. There was less 
drug induced names then I suspected

AC/DC – Bandmates Malcolm and Angus Young blamed their sister, 
Margaret, for their famous name. Margaret saw the letters “AC/
DC” on either her vacuum cleaner or sewing machine and the rest 
is history. Fascinating right?

Aerosmith - was not named after the Sinclair Lewis novel “Arrowsmith”. 
Singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson gets credit. Aerosmith 
drummer, Joey Kramer and his girlfriend heard Nilsson’s song 
“Aerial Ballet” and the rest is history. 

The Beatles – were originally “The Beetles” a play on Buddy Holly’s 
“Crickets.” John changed it later to reflect the popular beat poetry 
and beat music.

The Bee Gees - surprisingly was not a contraction of “Brothers 
Gibb”, but the initials of two men who helped the group early on: 
Bill Goode and Bill Gates (No, not that Bill Gates.)

Bob Dylan – Not his real name. Robert (Bob) Zimmerman was a 
fan of TV’s “Gunsmoke” and Marshal Matt Dillion. So, he became 
known as Bob Dillon. Changed later to “Dylan”. He said it was his 
mother’s maiden name. It wasn’t. Go figure. 

Chicago – In 1968, the band, then known as “The Big Thing” 
moved out to Los Angeles. Changed their name to “Chicago Transit 
Authority” and eventually just “Chicago”.

Eagles - The boys were out in the Mojave Desert consuming mind 
altering drugs and drink when Glenn Frey shouted out “Eagles” 
when he saw some flying by. The name stuck. By the way, they are 
not “The Eagles”. They are simply “Eagles”.

Fleetwood Mac – Early leader Peter Green was trying to keep Mick 
Fleetwood and John McVie. the drummer and the bass player in 
the band. Hence, they became Fleetwood Mac. And it worked lol. 
Except Mick and John are now the only original members still in 
the band.

Foreigner – was originally known as “Trigger”. Half the band were 
from England, half from America. So, they would always be part 
foreigners wherever they played.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - was named after Leonard Skinner, a local gym 
teacher who enjoyed enforcing his school’s policy against boys having 
long hair.

Pink Floyd - originally known as “The Tea Set” combined the 
names of two blues players, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. 
They called themselves “The Pink Floyd Sound.” Shortened eventually 
to “Pink Floyd”.

The Who – were originally called “The Detours.” Then they used 
“The Who” until a manager renamed them “The High Numbers.” 
Realizing the error of their name change they re-became “The 
Who.” Pete Townsend said his grandmother always said, “The 
Who?” due to hard of hearing.

Speaking of music, JJ Jukebox will be performing at Nano Cafe in 
Sierra Madre on Saturday, August 20th from 6:30 to 9:30. Come 
enjoy great dining fare, adult beverages and dancing. (626) 325-
3334 for reservations. Call Wednesday through Saturday after 4pm 
to make reservations.


Mountain Views News

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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com