What Would Jimmy Do?

Both faithful readers of this blog are aware that Maysville, Oklahoma is well known because of two famous past residents — Wiley Post and me. However, few people, even the faithful readers, know that Maysville is well known for another reason throughout the world — especially in the baking industry.

I don’t know all the details, but let me start at the “beginning” and I’ll tell you what I know and remember…..
Earl Burford was born in the neighboring (to Maysville) town of Lindsay — I don’t know the date, but I’m pretty sure it was before Oklahoma became a state in 1907. He was a farmer by trade, but he always had a knack for coming up with labor-saving devices. His first “invention” was a machine that lifted hay bales into moving trucks — that led to him developing a machine to move hay bales into barns.
In 1945, World War II had created a manpower shortage that inspired Burford to invent an automatic wire-tying hay baler. The patent for that machine was later purchased by International Harvester Corp.

After moving his family to Maysville in 1950, he developed a better automatic wire-tie machine for hay balers that is still used all over the world. While living in Maysville, he founded, along with his son, the Burford Company in 1961. They built their plant on their farm north of Maysville, on the bank of the Washita river. They invented the first twist tie machine  for bread wrappers. Just like their machine to tie hay bales, the bread-tie machine is used around the world.

Earl Burford died in 1968. His son, Charles, continued to run the business until his death at the age of 81.
The plant in Maysville employs about 80 people — most of them farmers in the area. Today, the company makes over 30 different products.

So next time you’re thinking about Maysville, remember that it’s not just famous for Wiley and me — the Burford Company helped put it on the map, too.
— 30 —

We live out here in the wilds of West Virginia — a lot of our friends and relatives that have never visited us believe we really live in the boonies. But the fact is, it is a very nice place and not at all uncivilized like some believe.

Just a few days ago a group of raccoons that got drunk from crab apples caused a rabies scare here in West Virginia. The apples caused the raccoons to walk around “staggering and disoriented.”
The police were called and the animals were arrested and then held in custody so that they could sober up before being released back into the wild. No charges were filed.

Does that sound uncivilized? I think not. West Virginia — almost Heaven….
— 30 —

As every good American should, I did my civic duty yesterday and voted. A lot of people did — everyone should.
Unfortunately, yesterday, as in years past, I found myself voting against candidates. I look forward to the day that I can vote FOR someone running for office…..
— 30 —

The news has been full of stories about “bombs,” assignations, mid-term elections, and the usual violence on various city streets, but the President seems intent in focusing our attention on immigration.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard so many terms related to immigration used, that I find it confusing. I’ve heard terms like immigrant, illegal immigrant, legal and illegal alien, foreigner, non-citizen, resident alien or enemy alien and some more terms that I can’t think of right now — seemingly all used interchangeably. So naturally, all this confusion calls for some extensive research on my part.

Seems like in the past, I’d always used the term immigrant when referring to someone that relocated to the US from another country. I thought the term alien applied when talking about someone (something?) from another planet. Of course, that’s wrong. My extensive research proved to be a little confusing itself, but here’s what I think I discovered.

It appears that a lot of people, including newspapers and politicians pretty much interchange the terms immigrant and alien when referring to individuals that are not “natives.” Despite similarities, there are differences between an alien and an immigrant.

In general, an alien is any person or creature that is in the wrong place or does not belong to the place where he/she/it is presently located.
An immigrant is an individual that comes to another country with the intention of settling permanently in that country. So immigrant is a term that is used to refer to all people of foreign origin that have relocated here permanently.

So, I think (maybe) that the following statements are true…
Immigrants are people who decide to move to a foreign country to permanently settle there.
An alien is an individual that is not in a foreign country for permanent settlement because he intends to return to his own country — or at least leave the country in which he presently resides.
A foreigner is anyone from outside the US who currently resides here.

Still confused? Join the club. I guess it really doesn’t matter — the least of the problems with politicians and the government is whether they use the correct terminology.
Someone once said, “Immigrants built our great nation; racists and bigots will destroy it.” Maybe truer than we’d like to think….
— 30 —

Dave has pretty much always been a Redskins fan. I know nowadays he doesn’t have a lot of time, but he watches the Redskins when he can, and Locke watches the games with him.

A couple of weeks ago, the Redskins played the Cowboys. I don’t know how much a 3 year old really knows about football, but Locke seemed to be into the game and made statements like, “ the Redskins need to get the ball.” So he at least had some idea of what was going on. Shortly after the game started, Locke asked who the blue team was. Dave told him that they were the Cowboys. Locke’s response was, “I don’t like the Cowboys.”

With talk like that, I think we have a true Redskins fan for the future…
— 30 —

Seems like there are lots of subjects I’m tired of hearing about lately. One is “the wall.” I’m tired of hearing about the wall, the big beautiful wall that the President wants to build along the US/Mexican border.

He obviously doesn’t believe it, but he’s not the first to come up with the idea of a wall for protection. Athens, the Roman Empire, Denmark and Korea have all built walls in the past. But if the President is really serious about the wall, he’d do well not to antagonize China and talk to them about a wall. The Chinese know some stuff about walls.

Of course, I’m referring to The Great Wall of China… it was built to protect China from its enemies and invaders from the North — primarily the Mongols, a tribal group that would regularly conduct raids into China. Despite the wall (President take note) the Mongols eventually conquered China. It should be noted that the Wall also kept Chinese citizens from leaving China. The Great Wall of China is an awe-inspiring feat of ancient defensive architecture. It is the world’s longest wall (President take note.) The Great Wall winds its way from west to east: across deserts, over mountain peaks, deep into ravines until it reaches the sea.

The Great Wall of China was not built all at one time (President take note.) In the 7th and 8th century BC, battles were frequently fought among the various Chinese states and in order to defend themselves they began to build walls and towers on the borders. It was the state Chu that built the first wall. The Qin Dynasty united the different states into one empire and to defend against the incursions from northern invaders, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered all the walls joined up… thus the Great Wall came into being.

Since the time the walls were joined, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, modified and extended throughout Chinese history for over 2,000 years by millions of Chinese people drafted for the task. Most of the Great Wall that we usually see in photos today was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644.) The “official” length of the Great wall is listed as 5500 miles, but the length of all all the pieces of the the Wall built over thousands of years is estimated to be about 13,170 miles.

Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space (with the naked eye.) It has also been called the longest cemetery on Earth — over a million people died building the Wall and archaeologists have found human remains buried under parts of the Wall. One of the best known of all the legends about the Great Wall is the story of “Men Jiangsu’s Bitter Weeping” whose husband died building the Wall. Her weeping was so bitter that a section of the Wall collapsed, revealing her husband’s bones so she could provide him with a proper burial.

Today, over 10 million people visit the Great Wall of China every year.
In 1972 I visited The Great Wall of China… at that time only a small portion of the Wall was open to visitors and I was “escorted” by a member of the Chinese Diplomatic Service Bureau. The Chinese have a lot of “sayings,” and while we were traveling out to the Wall site, my “escort” told me that the Chinese have a famous saying, “He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man.”
I guess you know what that makes me……
— 30 —

Well, here it is time for some Chinese food again. Today is Ten Ten Day. Anyone that’s been reading this blog over the years, knows what’s coming. For anyone that’s stumbled across this by accident, here’s what I write just about every year.

Ten Ten Day (the 10th of October) is the National Day of the Republic of China. It commemorates the start of the Wuchang Uprising of 10 October 1911 that led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China — and the establishment of the ROC on the island of Taiwan (on 1 January 1912.)
In Taiwan, Ten Ten Day begins with a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Building. After the flag is raised, the National Anthem of the Republic of China is sung.

In Taiwan, nearly all Taiwanese have the day off from work. In Hong Kong, small parades and celebrations are held though they have not been as lavish since the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Overseas Chinese living in cities with large Chinatowns also host Ten Ten Day parades.

In mainland China, Ten Ten Day is referred to as the Anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising and memorial celebrations are often held.

Here in Shepherdstown, we always go out for Chinese food and celebrate with a glass of plum wine to top off the meal. It’s our very own tradition that began in 1972 when we lived in Manila next door to the Taiwanese Embassy and noticed the big parties they always held on Ten Ten Day. Now we look forward to it every year.
Happy Ten Ten Day to all….
— 30 —

Maybe it’s just me, but the Washington routine is getting old… maybe they need some new material. Seems recently — with Hurricane Florence wrecking havoc in the Carolinas, the earthquake/tsunami in Indonesia, the uncertainty of the Supreme Court Justice nomination and all the other important/serious issues kicking around, it’s been all about good and evil in Washington… the President is good, the press is evil, the Republicans are good, the Democrats are evil,

I grew up being taught that things (and people) were good and/or bad. Evil was a term I never heard much when I was younger. It seems it’s being used more lately. I’ve heard that there is a good force in the universe and a bad, or evil, one and that they are at war. I don’t know if that’s true… the “force” appears to be used more since the popularity of ‘Star Wars’. I’m “kind of” of the belief that there are good people and bad or evil people — I’m not sure about this war of the forces.
But I suspect that most of us are a mixture of good and bad.

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles this way: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” I couldn’t have said it better….
— 30 —

Tomorrow is October — the name of the eighth month of the year in the ancient Roman calendar. Octo (in Latin) means eight. When the Romans converted to a 12-month calendar, the name October stuck, even though it’s now the 10th month.

October is noted for Halloween at the end of the month. But this year, more than most, the first Monday of October is probably on most everyone’s mind because the Supreme Court starts its new term. The first Monday of October has marked the start of the Court’s annual sessions since 1917. In case you’re interested, the Court’s start date is mandated by a law passed by Congress. The 1916 law moved the Court term’s start date from the second Monday in October to the first Monday in October. Initially, the Supreme Court held two sessions every year — but how they got to just the one is the subject for another blog post….

Each year a new volume of a textbook on American political theory and practice is published. The textbook is written by a committee of nine members and the committee convenes on the first Monday in October every year to begin drafting the next volume. The textbook is the collected opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will assemble in Washington to commence its 2018-19 term. Next summer, a new volume in the series of textbooks on American government will be published. Will the new textbook, reflecting the committees work, be better next year? No one knows for sure, but probably not. This term, maybe even more so than the last term, the picture of our constitutional system will be muddled and unclear. Principles will be modified or adjusted to fit the facts of particular cases.
The events of the last few days gives us all reason to worry that the Supreme Court will continue to be a body to interpret the Constitution, setting politics aside.

Justice Elena Kagan this past week stated…”The court’s strength as an institution of American governance depends on people believing it has a certain kind of legitimacy — on people believing it’s not simply just an extension of Politics, that its decision making has a kind of integrity to it.”
Let’s hope the Court keeps this in mind when writing the 2018-19 volume of the book…..
— 30 —

I’ve heard people say that “things happen in 3s.” If you’ve read this blog over the years, you’ve figured out that my favorite number is 3 — or at least some variation of it like 30 or 33. But 3 is an interesting number and even though it isn’t specifically mentioned, lots of things wouldn’t be complete if it wasn’t for 3…like, for instance, the past, present and future. That seems complete with three — if you just said, present and future… what happened before? Past and present begs to know what’s next and if there is just past and future, what about now? You need all three to make it complete. Same thing for beginning, middle and end. I think I’ve heard somewhere that three is actually considered the number of completion.

There’s a lot of things we just automatically associate the number 3 with, like 3 strikes and you’re out, a 3 ring circus, the 3 little pigs, the 3 stooges, 3 coins in a fountain, etc.

But a lot of our phrases and terms that we use all the time are made of of threes…
Like — faith, hope and charity; the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; rock, paper, scissors; the good, the bad and the ugly; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; small, medium and large; on your mark, get set, go; hear no evil, see no evil, speak evil; of the people, for the people, by the people; ready aim, fire and so it goes.

The number 3 is used in the Bible 467 times — obviously there’s the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but there were the Three Wise Men who brought three gifts — gold, frankincense and myrrh. As for those 467 Bible references to 3… I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader to check out.

Three is the first number that can mean a few or many… 1 is only a single, 2 is a couple, but when you get to 3, you can start using “few” or “many” and of course 3 is the “least” of few or many. You need at least 3 legs to make a table that will stand by itself. There are 3 primary colors from which you can make the other colors. Under Muslim law, a man can divorce his wife by repeating the phrase “I divorce thee” 3 times, and if you catch a Leprechaun and set him free, the Leprechaun will grant you 3 wishes.

I heard a country singer (I don’t remember which one) once say, “to succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone,a backbone and a funny bone.” And Casey Stengel said, “three things can happen in a baseball game – you can win or you can lose, or it can rain.”

Since we’re now in the home stretch of appointing a new Supreme Court Justice, I think a quote by Ruth Ginsburg is worth pondering: “We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three little words, “We, the people…”
— 30 —