Dear Senator Doctor Paul

 

by Pa Rock 

Citizen Journalist

Dear Senator Doctor Paul,

I can understand people who are already in the throes of a life-threatening illness rushing about trying to find any possible cure, regardless of how spurious the evidence of its effectiveness might be.  The most unlikely hope would be better than no hope at all.  But what I cannot understand are people who pursue wild and risky measures to prevent the disease in lieu of tested and proven prevention measures like wearing masks and the use of COVID vaccines.

First people should avail themselves of what works, and if that fails, then turn to the quackery.

But when a sitting United States Senator, a man who also happens to be a physician, speaks out against government health mandates to curb a raging pandemic -  mandates on things like wearing masks and getting vaccinated - and at the same time criticizes the government and researchers for not being more open to studying an animal de-wormer to treat COVID patients, well that is just beyond my powers of comprehension!

Let's avail ourselves of the research that has been completed.  Masks help to limit the spread of the COVID virus, so let's quit telling people that they do not work.  Lying is not helpful, and, in fact, it can be deadly.  Then let's quit trying to interfere with a plan to defeat the pandemic through mass inoculations.  Our military should have one more mandatory vaccine, the one to fight COVID, both for the health of our military members as well as for the health of our nation.  Interference in that effort poses a threat not only to the lives of our service men and women, but to our national defense as well.  Stand down, Senator Doctor!

And while we are at it, Senator Doctor Paul, please do not try to profit off of this awful situation.  Your wife's $15,000 purchase of Gilead stock, the first stock purchase that either of you had made in over ten years - and a purchase that came after you had been briefed on the developing pandemic as a part of your Senate duties, but three weeks before the World Health Organization declared the situation to be a pandemic, was almost as "inside" as "insider trading" can get.  Serving in the United States Senate is an honor, sir, not a get-rich-quick scheme.  

As a physician and a United States Senator, you are in a unique position to influence and enhance the lives of countless people.   Please use that privilege and responsibility wisely.  It's not just about you, Senator Doctor Paul, it's about all of us.

With all due respect, I am

Pa Rock

DeJoy Oversees Another Rise in the Price of Stamps

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The United States Postal Service, quietly and with plenty of malice aforethought, raised the price of a first-class stamp by over five percent yesterday.    The jump in actual money was three cents - from fifty-five to fifty-eight cents per letter.

Three cents is significant, at least to me, because that was the entire cost of mailing a first-class letter when I was but a lad in the 1950's.  I can still hear that righteous howl that rose from the land when the government, our government, raised the price of a first-class stamp from three cents to an outrageous four cents on August 1st, 1958!  

When that raise in postage occurred, I had a step-uncle-by-marriage who was functioning as a mailman in California.  I remember him regaling us with stories about how certain people had reacted to the increased price of stamps.  He told about one elderly lay who had gone out and purchased hundreds of three-cent stamps before the rates went up, because she believed that she could keep using them until she ran out!

Oh how we laughed about that one!

But sometime about half-a-century later the US Postal Service gave that a rethink and decided that perhaps it might be a workable idea to not put a price on stamps, and actually let people use their old stamps even if the rates went up.  They called them "Forever" stamps, and once they were purchased, at whatever price, they were good forever, no matter how much the rates increased in the interim.

That sounded like a better deal than it actually was.  Ordinary consumers might be able to stockpile a sheet or two of stamps, but most went on just buying them as they needed them.  It was the rich folks and corporations who could buy in gross and actually save lots of money on postage.  

"Forever" stamps had one other huge advantage for the Postal Service.  By removing the price from the stamps, most people lost track of what stamps actually cost, and it became much easier for that government bureaucracy to slip in a rate hike - as it did yesterday!

The current head of the US Postal Service is our "postmaster general," a major Republican political donor from North Carolina by the name of Louis DeJoy.  He was appointed to that post by Donald Trump in a blatant attempt to destabilize and cripple the one government  agency which much of the country relies upon daily.  Trump, who was feuding with Amazon.com and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, thought that if he could gain some political control over the post office with the appointment of DeJoy, he could then interfere with shipping agreements between that agency and Amazon and thus get into Bezos's pocket.   He also saw control of the post office as a way to curb voting-by-mail, a process that tended to favor Democratic candidates.

DeJoy did embark of what appeared to be a program to wreck the US Postal Service by destroying equipment, selling off vehicles, closing facilities, and not replacing essential staff.    In addition to hobbling the agency that he was, at least in theory, hired to manage, DeJoy has also been accused by some of using that position to feather his own nest.  Earlier this month the USPO revealed that it has signed a contract that will pay $120 million over the next five years to a logistics company that used to be owned by DeJoy and his family - and which still has financial ties to DeJoy's family through expensive rent agreements.

Many thought that Biden entered the White House earlier this year with a public mandate to remove DeJoy from his oversight of the USPS, but as of yet Team Biden has been unable to get rid of him.

In this age of electronic communication, wealthy plutocrats may mot be as dependent on the hard-working men and women of the US Postal Service as they once were, but millions of their country cousins still find a bit of happiness and hope in their daily walks out to check the mail.  Joe Biden needs to figure out a way to fire Louis DeJoy before the man completes the mission that Donald Trump brought him in to do.

America needs a fully functioning postal system.  Anything less will impact our ability to stand tall as a free and vibrant democracy.

Karma Comes for the Radio Anti-Vaxxers

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Stories have been flooding social media for months about outspoken anti-vaxxers and COVID conspiracy nuts who wind up contracting the dreaded disease and then spend weeks writhing in extreme pain and discomfort before finally expiring.   Herman Cain led the way and countless others have since followed along in his footsteps.  Karma, it seems, has become almost as prolific as the virus itself.

This morning there was a story at Dailykos.com which discussed three radio talk show hosts and one evangelizer who had all spoken out against COVID vaccinations - and who all died of COVID within the past few weeks.  I found it so interesting that I decided to do a little more digging and see what I could learn about those individuals.

The four, all white, conservative men, were headquartered in just two states - two in Tennessee and two in Florida - and they passed away within a twenty-four day period.   Three were in their sixties, and the fourth was eighty.  All had used their radio perches to downplay the pandemic, take potshots at government efforts to control the spread of the disease, and to speak out against getting vaccinated.

The first to go was Dick Farrell, a 65-year-old talk show host out of Palm Beach County, Florida, who died of the effects of the virus on August 4th.    Farrell had referred to the spread of COVID as a "scamdemic" and had called Dr. Anthony Fauci a"power-tripping, lying freak."  And while Dick Farrell continued to minimize the situation even after becoming sick, he did quietly call his close friends and encourage them to get vaccinated. 

The next up was "Pastor" Jimmy deYoung, 80, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who died on August 15th.  DeYoung, whose syndicated radio program, "Prophecy Today," ran internationally on an estimated 1,500 stations, and who was an occasional resident of Jerusalem, had discouraged his followers from getting vaccinated, and he had referred to the vaccine program as a "government control."  DeYoung also reportedly said that taking the Pfizer vaccine would make women sterile.

The third talk show host to succumb to COVID this month was Phil Valentine of Nashville, Tennessee.  Valentine, at just 61, was the youngest of the four, and he perhaps suffered the most.  He had been ill with the disease since July 11th and died on August 21st.  Valentine had spoken against getting the vaccinations, and at one point he had even recorded a parody song about getting vaccinated.  To his ultimate credit, he changed his mind after contracting the virus.

The final one to go was Mark Bernier of Daytona Beach, Florida, who died yesterday at the age of sixty-five.  Bernier, who had said on-air that he would not take the COVID vaccine, caught the disease and spent the final three weeks of his life in the hospital.

And that's it for radio talk show hosts who have died from COVID during August of 2021 - so far.  There are, of course, nearly three full days left in the month, so those sitting in front of microphones might want to show some restraint because karma truly is being a bitch right now!

Those who openly defy science do so at their own peril.

Tales of Two Public Enemies, Both with Professional Licenses

 

by Pa Rock

Licensed Professional

I have had several licenses over the course of a lifetime that have enabled me to practice multiple professions with the express permission of the state.  I had to go through specialized training to receive specific degrees - and pass rigorous examinations - in order to receive those licenses.  During the course of my work career the state of Missouri has granted me certificates or licenses to teach various subjects in public schools and to serve in those institutions as an educational administrator - principal and superintendent.  I have also been licensed by the state to sell real estate and to act as a real estate broker, and late in life the state recognized me as a competent mental health professional by granting me a hard-won license as a state certified clinical social worker (LCSW).

A license to practice a profession was - and is - a significant achievement, one that carries a great deal of responsibility.

This week there have been two stories in the news about licensed professionals who behaved badly.  One involved an elementary teacher in Marin County, California, who did not get vaccinated against COVID and who later broke school masking requirements for teachers by removing her mask at times when she read to her class.  There were twenty-two students in her class last May when the problem occurred.  Even though the children's desks were placed six feet apart, of the twenty-two students in that teacher's class, twelve were diagnosed with COVID - including every student who was sitting in the front two rows of the class

Fortunately none became seriously ill, but twelve children did come down with the virus which was likely introduced into the classroom by a teacher who chose not to get vaccinated and also chose to break school policy by removing her mask during the instructional day - and those kids took that virus home to share with their family and friends.  That teacher had a duty to protect the children in her care, she was employed by the school district to do so, and she was licensed by the state to serve that function.   Not only did the children look to her to keep them safe, so did their parents, the school district that hired her, and the state that licensed her.  She let them all down.

The other tale involves an emergency room physician at a hospital in Tallahassee, Florida.  Being new to the medical profession, and likely with plenty of school debt, the young and relatively inexperienced doctor came up with a plan to boost his income, and he began advertising on social media that he would would write letters - on appropriate stationery - that would allow parents to opt their children out of having to wear masks at schools where they were required - and parents could acquire these opt-out letters at the bargain price of just fifty dollars each!  What a deal!

The doctor was quickly fired by his hospital employer.

As someone who has earned and depended on the privileges of several state-issued licenses over the course of his work career, I understand the gravity and of messing with someone's ability to practice their profession and earn a living, but in both of these cases, the California teacher and the Florida doctor, the licensees appear to have openly broken the public trust conveyed by their state-issued licenses, and in both cases those licenses should probably be suspended or revoked.  

Endangering the public during an international health crisis is something that should not be condoned.  Hopefully the offenders will use more caution and common sense in their next careers.

Hit the Road, Hawley - Resign!

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

A suicide bombing by a rebel ISIS group outside of of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday evening killed thirteen US Marines and at least a hundred Afghans, a horrible and tragic event in an evacuation effort that has already airlifted more than 100,000 individuals to sanctuary abroad.   And while the overall evacuation effort has been a remarkable success, a group of Republican politicians were quick to paint the terrorist bombings as an indication of mission failure and to call for President Biden's resignation.

Two notable howlers in the chorus of jackals were United States Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Josh Hawley of Missouri.  Tennessee can deal with Blackburn, but being a Missouri native and lifelong voter in the "show-me" state, I feel some personal responsibility for Hawley, a young man who claims to represent my state in the US Senate.

Hawley, an Arkansas native and Virginia resident who has no actual Missouri residence, began stepping out of Donald Trump's shadow last year - on December 30th - when he became the first member of the US Senate to announce that he would have challenges to the votes of the electoral college when Congress met on January 6th to certify the results.  Hawley wound up voting to reject the votes of two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania.  

But as if turning his back on American democracy wasn't enough, on that same fateful day - January 6th, 2021 - the day Trump extremists overran the US Capitol and people, including a Capitol policeman, died in the halls of Congress, Hawley also posed outside of the building with his fist in the air lending support to the terrorists.

Now that same sorry excuse for a Senator, a man who apparently had neither the time nor the inclination to serve his country in uniform, is calling on our Commander in Chief to resign because of another terrorist attack.

I am old enough to remember when Americans pulled together in time of crisis, a time when politicians knew better than to try and turn a tragedy to political advantage.  How sad it is that this crop of political opportunists, people like Josh Hawley, did not have the privilege of growing up in that same America.

Josh Hawley, you have now tried to use an attack on our nation - not once, but twice - to further your political ambitions.   That is despicable behavior and well below what should be expected or tolerated from a sitting United States Senator.  

It's time for you to do the honorable thing, Josh, and resign.   Your intolerance and authoritarian tendencies are out-of-step with American values and the basic tenets of democracy.  You have become a political joke and an on-going embarrassment - and Missouri deserves better.  

The United States of America deserves better.

Hit the road, Josh.  Resign!

The Outer Banks, Then and Now

by Pa Rock

Tourist in Time

Back in the early days of 1975, January or February, I was a young US Army lieutenant stationed at Ft. Eustis, Virginia,  (just outside of Williamsburg), and preparing to leave the military service in April.  One of the things that I wanted to accomplish before my discharge was to get my "wisdom" teeth extracted by an army dentist - whose dental work would be free.  It turned out not to be a "wise" decision at all, taking two trips and requiring one tooth to be split and re-split several times before they could get it all out of my poor, abused gums.

After the second visit I was in a great deal of pain, but for some reason my wife and I decided to pack up the VW bus, bundle up Baby Nick who was about a year-and-a-half old, and head out on a weekend drive south, down past Virginia Beach and on into North Carolina.  Ultimately we ended up on the long chain of islands off of North Carolina's Atlantic coast that are known as the "Outer Banks," the place where pirates once partied hearty and where the Wright Brothers made the first airplane flight.

We drove through Kitty Hawk and on to Nag's Head - in fact I think that is where we stayed - and on down south to Cape Hatteras where we climbed the famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  The reason the Wright Brothers chose to make their first flight on the Outer Banks was the wind - which is always blowing and would help lift their plane.  And the wind was really blowing that day at Hatteras.  

As I remember it, there were only a few people visiting the lighthouse that winter day, and we decided to enter and climb the metal spiral stairs to the top.   I carried Nick, who, although he was not yet two-years-old, was a chunk - and I was plenty tired by the time we reached the top.  At the top I remember pushing the big door open and stepping out. onto the platform that surrounded the outside of the chamber where the lights were - and when I stepped out, with Nick in my arms, the wind caught me and it was all I could do to get back inside!  The experience was traumatic enough to remain clear in my memory nearly fifty years later!

(Years later as beach erosion threatened the famous lighthouse, residents and others - though a system of jacks and logs - literally, and manually, moved (rolled) the massive lighthouse several hundred yards further inland!)

Back then the Outer Banks were more primitive than they apparently are today, with lots of cottages (and shacks) right out on the beaches resting on stilts - cottages that routinely got washed away each time a hurricane came too near the islands.  I'm sure even then those cottages and shacks were expensive, and today they seem to have been largely replaced with brick and stone mansions that sit further back from the beaches - and I'm sure those are well beyond the financial reach of 98% of Americans.

I never made it back to the Outer Banks following that initial visit, but another trip there remains on my bucket list.  

What I know about the Outer Banks today comes from watching the Netflix series of the same name. "Outer Banks" is an action-packed teen drama that bears some resemblance to "Stranger Things," another Netflix series that also appeals to a young audience, but is also well enough done to resonate with older viewers as well.    The show also brings to mind "Riverdale," yet another Netflix teen drama, one based very loosely on Archie Andrews, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica, and the gang from Riverdale High School, a cohort also familiar to those of us of a certain age.    They all feature disaffected teens out trying to solve oddball mysteries or find missing treasures - and there are always villainous adults out to thwart their efforts and get the gold, or power, or whatever the prize is, for themselves.

I watched season one of "Outer Banks" last year because I wanted to relive that trip from all of those years ago and get some sense of how things had changed on those thin, sandy islands in the interim.  And the first season was good - it pulled me right in.  Then, a few weeks ago, the second season came out - and it is even better!

The show involves a group of young people who live on the poorer side of Ocracoke Island at the south end of the Outer Banks and who interact with the children of the island's rich people in the local school and the businesses.  The poor teens refer to themselves as "pogues," an appellation that apparently goes back generations on the Outer Banks, and when they aren't in school, which is often, they are busy partying, stealing their parents' vehicles, and roaring around the islands solving crimes and looking for treasure.

And while that all may sound like light fare, the show is very well written, and the tales compelling, and the acting first rate.

(I told my son, Tim, the professional screenwriter, how much I was enjoying the show, and he replied that he hadn't seen it - but that it was one on his daughter's favorites.  Olive is nine!)

One more note:  I have now officially taken to referring to Ralph, the king rooster, and his merry band of banties and guineas as "the pogues" as they race about the yard in a never-ending search for juicy bugs, worms, and all sorts of edible treasure. 

It's a "pogue" life here at The Roost!

Alexa, toss me another cold one!

Cuomo's Dog Deserves Better

by Pa Rock

Evangelist in Training

New York's most recent governor, Andrew Cuomo, who was forced to resign and leave office a couple of days ago amid a barrage of sexual misconduct allegations made by current and former staff members, apparently created one more media firestorm as he exited the Governor's Mansion in Albany on Monday evening.   Cuomo was overheard asking staff members if anyone would like to keep his faithful dog, Captain.

While it was generally well known that Andrew Cuomo has the bent moral compass of a Donald Trump or a Bill Clinton, what wasn't public knowledge was that he was using his beautiful German Shepherd as a political fashion statement, something akin to what Paris Hilton used to do with her chihuahua.

Well, IMHO, the state of New York and Cuomo's dog both deserve better than that with which they had been stuck.  Governor Kathy Hochul is a fresh and vibrant political breeze blowing into Albany and across the Empire State, and Captain is a far better canine than his previous "owner" is a human being.

I am hopeful that Captain is settling into a kind and loving home by now, but on the off chance that no one stepped forward to claim the noble creature, call me and I will come get him.  He can run and play to his heart's content at The Roost and be secure in the knowledge that Pa Rock isn't trying to win anybody's vote!

Be safe and be happy, Captain.  You deserve so much better than what you have had!

And if by chance you ever come across your previous owner, lift up that hind leg and give him a big, wet salute for me!

Ancestor Archives: Sinai Lewis (1815-1893)

by Rocky Macy

Sinai LEWIS was born on October 11th, 1815, in the state of Kentucky.  She was the daughter of George Washington LEWIS and his wife, Macy MANKINS.  Sinai (who was often called “Sina” or “Siney,”) married Thomas COOK on February 9th, 1832, in Vermillion County, Illinois, when she was sixteen-years-old.   She died on January 28th, 1893, in Arkansas, at the age of seventy-seven.

Sinai LEWIS was my g-g-g-grandmother.

Sinai, whose middle name may have been “Lucinda,” and Thomas moved to Washington County, Arkansas, sometime not long after their marriage in 1832 because they were located there by the time their first child, Macy Mary COOK, was born on January 11th, 1833.  Over the next twenty-four years they had ten more children, all born in the state of Arkansas.

The children born to Thomas and Sinai (LEWIS) COOK included Macy Mary COOK (1833-1915), John COOK (1834-1915), George Washington COOK (1837-1921), William Cook (1839-1865), Matilda J. COOK (1842-1904), Henry Clay COOK (1844-1862), Jasper “Doc” COOK (1847-1932), Jesse COOK (1849-1940), Philander Moses COOK ((1851-1929), Margaret “Kate” COOK (1854 - ?), and Isaac Newton COOK (1857-1915).

Of those children, Mary Macy COOK married Christian C. SAGER, John COOK remained single, George Washington COOK married Martha C. WANN, William COOK remained single, Matilda J. COOK married William J. ELLIS (my g-g-grandparents), Henry Clay COOK remained single, Jasper “Doc” COOK married 1.) Mary Ann ELLIS, and 2.) Leonora Matilda GODARD, Jesse COOK married Martha E. LUKER, Philander Moses “Mose” COOK  married Esther “Elizabeth” MILES, Margaret “Kate” COOK (marriage information unknown), and Isaac Newton COOK married Mary Alice BARNES.

The couple and their growing family were at home in White River Township in east central Washington County when the 1840 and 1850 censuses were taken, but by 1860 they had relocated to a farm in Brush Creek Township, the northeastern-most township in the county.  Brush Creek Township borders Benton and Madison Counties, and although the COOK farmhouse was located in Washington County, part of their land extended into Madison County - and both parents were buried at the Austin Cemetery in extreme southeastern Benton County.  War Eagle Creek meanders through the area where the three counties converge.

The entire family was still intact when the 1860 US census was taken in Brush Creek Township of Washington County. Listed on that census were: Thomas (age 49), "Lini" (44), John (34 - an error), George (33 - also an error), William (21), Matilda (18), Henry (15), Jasper (14), "Jessee" (12), "Filander" (9), "Cathorise" (6), and Isaac (3).

Some of the Civil War came almost to the doorstep of the COOK farm.  The Battle of Pea Ridge happened just a couple of hours north (on a good horse) of their location, and there were undoubtedly many local skirmishes and incidents related to the war, with neighbors joining in both sides of the conflict.  

The COOKs appear to have lost two children as a result of the Civil War.  Henry Clay COOK, the sixth child of eleven, died at the age of eighteen in 1862 when he was reportedly killed by bushwhackers somewhere in the vicinity of War Eagle Creek.  Henry’s older brother, William, the fourth child in the family, was reported to have died on March 14th, 1865, at the age of twenty-six as a Confederate prisoner in the Alton (Illinois) Military Prison.   The dates and details of those deaths have yet to be confirmed by this researcher.

The 1870 census, the first census taken after the death of Thomas COOK and sons Henry Clay and William, found the widow “Senia”  (Sinai) living in Clear Creek Township of Washington County.  (Clear Creek Township was the township that adjoined Brush Creek Township to the west.  In 1876 its name was changed to Springdale Township.)  Sinai had five of her children living at her residence in 1870:  John (age 34, who never married), Jesse (22), “Phil” (Philander Moses, 19), "Kate" (Margaret, 16) and Newton (11).

By 1880  Sinai was again listed in Brush Creek Township.  That census enumerator recorded her as “Sinie” (age 66), along with her bachelor son, John (46).

On February 3, 1883, Sinai COOK received title from the US government to eighty and 93/100s acres of land in Madison County, Arkansas.  That land transfer was recorded at the land office in Harrison, Arkansas.

Sinai passed away on January 28th, 1893, in Arkansas.  She is buried next to her husband, Thomas, at the Beacon Addition of the Austin Cemetery in southeastern Benton County, Arkansas.  Her life had taken her from Kentucky to Illinois and on south into Arkansas.  She had known the rigors of long migrations in covered wagons, homesteading, subsistence farming, giving birth to eleven children, losing children in a war, and running a family as a fairly young widow.  

Sinai (LEWIS) COOK led a hard life, of that there can be no doubt, but her pioneering struggles helped to pave the way for countless individuals and descendants who followed her across the hardscrabble trails of life. Many today are in her debt.

Thoughts Regarding Hospital Beds, Insurance Benefits, and Medical Providers

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I don't want to sound hateful or mean-spirited, and I certainly don't want to step on anyone's civil liberties because I have plenty to do in just looking after my own, but . . .

I am becoming increasingly irritated with - or angry at - the people who ridicule science, intentionally place themselves and others at risk by refusing to take basic health precautions, and then expect first-class service at their local hospitals when they become ill due to their own negligent behaviors.

Yes, I understand the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I absolutely believe that we should always be alert to the needs of others, but doggone it I am bothered by the notion of a bed in an overcrowded hospital going to someone who has refused the basic preventative care of getting a free vaccination or wearing a face mask in a crowded setting - not if there is anyone else around who has followed the safety protocols and needs that same bed.

Yes, I realize that it does sound like a Nazi wet dream to have some government - or hospital - official sitting around choosing who gets to live and who dies, but when people have made conscious decisions to ignore basic safeguards, haven't they already opted themselves off of the priority health care rationing lists?  To my way of thinking, they have.

As someone who pays health insurance premiums into a highly predatory system, it also bothers me that these same people who have ignored getting vaccinated, wearing masks, and social distancing, suddenly suck up large amounts of health insurance benefits when they come down with COVID, and will, in the long-term, increase the rates for everyone else.  

Insurance companies should not pay benefits to people who have refused to take reasonable prevention measures.

And while I am ticking off my "dislikes," I am also angered with medical "professionals" who seem to have a dangerous disregard of science.  I'm not just talking about the "doctor" in the US Senate who entertains the press almost daily with his quackery, I am also focused on working doctors and nurses who undermine efforts to curtail the pandemic with statements that are profoundly ignorant.  Some have posted on social media their concerns about microchips being implanted in vaccines - total hogwash - yet when it comes from a doctor or nurse, regardless of how spurious the accusation or how weak their credentials, people of a certain mindset rush to proclaim it as evidence that their own ignorance is, in fact, cunning brilliance.

This morning there was a tale on the internet of a "surgical tech" whose employer, probably a hospital, had "forced" her to get a vaccination against COVID.  She was comparing her situation in being forced to take a shot to the "holocaust."   I guess that I suffered my own personal holocaust when I was in elementary school and forced to take those polio shots - and just didn't realize how hard my "rights" were being trampled.

Well, those polio shots were a good thing, nay, a great thing.  They eliminated a dreadful disease that had impaired children and adults for generations.  We needed to get those shots, and for the disease to be eradicated there was no room for dissent.  I did not have a right to refuse the shot, and in so doing, place myself and others in danger.

And doctors and nurses who can't set their personal or political feelings aside for the health and benefit of their patients should be barred from the practice of medicine.

There, that's all.  I've said my piece, for this morning at least.   And it wasn't too radical, was it?

Darwin Files: Using Horse De-Wormer to Prevent COVID

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Mississippi has one of the highest rates of COVID infections in the nation, and not surprisingly, it also  has one of the lowest rates of vaccination against the virus.   People in Mississippi don't trust the vaccine, often because of things they hear from national newscasters and politicians, most of whom are vaccinated against COVID.    But whether they will admit it openly or not, most of those same people now know the virus is real and so is the danger - and many also know people who have actually died or at least been extremely ill from COVID.

It's a fine line - maintaining the glossy patina of outward ignorance while, at the same time, protecting one's self against the dreaded virus that actually is spreading through the population and killing people.  If only there was some way to stay safe without wearing masks, hiding indoors, and taking that awful vaccine that the lefties are promoting.  

It is a situation that just begs for quack cures.

This past week there has been yet another medical crisis in Mississippi.  Calls to the state's poison control center have risen dramatically - and at least seventy percent of those calls have been related to the ingestion of "Ivermectin," a horse de-wormer that is purchased in feed stores.  And why are all of these dull-witted sons and daughters of Jefferson Davis suddenly being poisoned with a horse de-wormer?  It turns out that these geniuses who fear vaccines which have passed rigorous clinical trials and widespread public usage with flying colors, are eagerly swallowing a medicine intended for large farm animals, one that has no proven benefits in dealing with COVID and could, in fact, be fatal to humans, all because social media rumors and half-baked "journalists" are touting it as a legitimate weapon in the fight against COVID.

Here is a sampling (from the Maddowblog) of what the Fox Wall-of-Noise has been blasting at them:

Laura Ingraham:  "We know that our FDA has in many ways failed us by not allowing for the use of Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, both of which are used around the world to reduce COVID hospitalizations and death."

Sean Hannity:  "I pelted them with questions about COVID-19 and the vaccine and therapeutics hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin ... as well as other proactive treatments and practices that are already helping COVID -19 patients all across the country."

Tucker Carlson:  "On June 5th [Bret] Weinstein discussed the benefits of a drug called Ivermectin, which can and is used around the world to treat and prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

 

Quack, quack, and more quack!

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is literally begging people not to use Ivermectin in an effort to protect themselves from COVID.

Mississippi, of course, isn't the only state in which media and political dishonesty combine with general gullibility to create an even more dangerous public health crisis, but is is a state that is already overburdened with low vaccination rates, high infection rates, a complete lack of available hospital beds, and a shortage of equipment and medical personnel to handle the emergency health crisis that is already overwhelming  the state.  The good people practicing medicine in Mississippi really don't have the time or the resources to waste on fighting the results of human consumption of horse de-wormer.

Fox News personalities are themselves taking the legitimate COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna - and they are not taking Ivermectin - although their dancing horses probably are!

Speaking of Corndogs, Gaetz and Greene Do the Iowa State Fair

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

With the Iowa Caucuses being the very first test of every presidential election year, politicians who are suffering from the national itch look for any excuse to scratch themselves the cornfields of Iowa.   Usually Iowa becomes infested with political vermin during the year preceding the presidential election year.

By that standard things should be fairly calm for Iowans until 2023, but it's beginning to look like some of the professional politicians aren't going to wait around two more years before assaulting the sensibilities and picking the pockets of corn-fed Iowans.

Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida who is being investigated by the FBI on sex-trafficking charges, was in Iowa this week putting in appearances at the Iowa State Fair as well as speaking to small groups of supporters.  Gaetz likely figures that he should get to Iowa early - just in case he happens to be in prison when all of the other big name Republicans are trudging thought the state in 2023.

Gaetz was accompanied to Iowa by his opening act, GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Q-Anon conspiracy nut who has been traveling with Gaetz and stirring the rabble in multiple states throughout much of the summer.  At this point, even three full years out from the next presidential election, it must be assumed that both have at least a mild interest in eventually expanding their grift to the presidential level.

And Iowa welcomed them warmly.  When they weren't strolling the state fair's midway sucking on corndogs and acting interested in farming, the two GOP sideshow attractions were holding meetings with members of the public.   One news report focused on a meeting of supporters that the two addressed, and noted that most of the attendees were wearing Trump gear and none were wearing face masks.  It was a crop just begging to be harvested.

Praise Jesus and pass the collection plates!

Gaetz and Greene will undoubtedly continue their roadshow as long as they are able.   Neither one apparently has a job or people back home that require their attention.  Just imagine the fun they could have and the trouble they could instigate if they were able to fly free on Air Force One!

Ancestor Archives: Thomas Cook (1813-1867)

 

by Rocky Macy

Thomas COOK was born in either North or South Carolina in September of 1813.  He was the son of John COOK and his wife, Hannah MACY.  Thomas married Sinai LEWIS on February 9th, 1832, in Vermillion County, Illinois.  He passed away on January 20, 1867, in northwest Arkansas.

Thomas COOK was my g-g-g-grandfather.

Thomas COOK’s dates of birth and death were established by information on his tombstone, and his marriage to Sinai (“Sina,””Siney”) LEWIS is a matter of public record in the state of Illinois and attested to by parental permission notice for Sinai to marry (she was sixteen-years-old) and a wedding license signed by the clerk of Vermillion County at Danville, Illinois.    Thomas was only alive for two US censuses in which place of birth is noted (1850 and 1860), and the first of those listed his birthplace as “NC,” while the second noted it as “South Carolina.”

Thomas and Sinai (LEWIS) COOK relocated to Washington County, Arkansas, during their first year of marriage.  That is where their oldest child, Macy Mary COOK, was born on January 11, 1833.   (Macy Mary COOK could have been named after her paternal grandmother, Hannah (MACY) COOK or after her maternal grandmother, Macy (MANKINS) LEWIS, or possibly both of those individuals.)

According to the federal census Thomas and Sinai were in White River Township of Washington County in 1840 and 1850.  White River Township is located in the central-eastern part of the county.   By the time of the 1860 census the COOK family was living in Brush Creek Township in extreme northeastern Washington County.  Their farm home was, in fact, in Washington County, and part of the farm was situated in Madison County.   The couple were eventually buried in nearby Austin Cemetery in extreme southeastern Benton County. War Eagle Creek runs through the area where those three counties converge.

Thomas and Sinai (LEWIS) COOK had a total of eleven children, all born in Arkansas.   They included Macy Mary COOK (1833-1915), John COOK (1834-1915), George Washington COOK (1837-1921), William Cook (1839-1865), Matilda J. COOK (1842-1904), Henry Clay COOK ((1844-1862), Jasper “Doc” COOK (1847-1932), Jesse COOK (1849-1940), Philander Moses COOK ((1851-1929), Margaret “Kate” COOK (1854 - ?), and Isaac Newton COOK (1857-1915).

Of those children, Mary Macy COOK married Christian C. SAGER, John COOK remained single, George Washington COOK married Martha C. WANN, William COOK remained single, Matilda J. COOK married William J. ELLIS (my g-g-grandparents), Henry Clay COOK remained single, Jasper “Doc” COOK married 1.) Mary Ann ELLIS, and 2.) Leonora Matilda GODARD, Jesse COOK married Martha E. LUKER, Philander Moses “Mose” COOK  married Esther “Elizabeth” MILES, Margaret “Kate” COOK (marriage information unknown), and Isaac Newton COOK married Mary Alice BARNES.

The Civil War undoubtedly had a major impact on the family of Thomas and Sinai (LEWIS) COOK because some of the fighting occurred very close to their home (the Battle of Pea Ridge, for instance), and several of their children were young adults during the war.  Some family accounts say that their son, Henry Clay COOK, who died at the age of eighteen, was, in fact, murdered by bushwhackers in the vicinity of War Eagle in Benton County in 1862, a crime that was most likely related to hostilities of the war.  There are also family stories saying that their son, William COOK, was a Confederate prisoner of war who died in the Alton (Illinois) Military Prison, on March 14th, 1865.   This researcher has yet to confirm either of those accounts.

Thomas COOK died on January 20th, 1867, shortly after the end of the Civil War.   He and Sinai (who died twenty-six years later in 1893) are both at rest in the Beacon Addition of the Austin Cemetery, in Benton County, Arkansas.  Thomas’s brief sojourn on Earth had brought him from the Carolinas to Illinois and on to Arkansas where he had established a homestead and fathered eleven children in turbulent times.  When Thomas died in 1867 at the relatively young age of fifty-three, he had outlived two of his sons, and had six children still at home with five of those being under the age of twenty.

Clearly Thomas COOK had work still to be completed when he passed away.

To Boost or Not to Boost?

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

At first our government was issuing assurances that two COVID shots would be enough to keep most people from getting the dreaded disease, and a "booster" shot would not be necessary.  But then minds began to change as the new "delta variant" raced across the country and around the globe, and some who had had the double dose of vaccine began testing positive for the enhanced virus.   Generally, those who did test positive after two doses of the vaccine did not become nearly as sick as those who had remained unvaccinated.  

But the rise in the numbers of vaccinated people who were diagnosed with COVID was concerning, and recently Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health updated his agency's advice and came out in favor of a "booster" dose of the vaccine.  Our government immediately moved to get shots to those of our fellow citizens who had medical issues and were already "immuno-compromised," and yesterday President Biden announced that the United States would begin providing booster shots to all Americans (over the age of twelve) eight months after they had their second shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.  

The first round of booster shots for the general public will begin September 20th.

And this aging, diabetic American will dutifully report to the local Walgreen's on October 19th, eight months to the day after I received my second Pfizer shot, and roll up my sleeve for the booster jab.  I will do it for myself, for my family, and for the few locals with whom I occasionally share air.

But I will also have a guilty conscience as I hog my third dose of the life-saving vaccine because I am fully aware that there is a global equity problem with COVID vaccine distribution, and millions of people in the poorer countries of the world have yet to receive their first dose, much less even have a faint hope of getting an eventual "booster."  And I also realize that I am old, bordering on ancient, and I will be hogging a third dose when routine inoculations have not even been offered to kids in our country who are under the age of twelve -  a group that contains four of my six grandchildren.  I get a third shot while they are being denied their first two - at a time when young children are getting ill and dying from COVID.

I am very concerned about the "fairness" of it all.  Yes, I will get there early on October 19th to get my booster shot, but I would stand aside and wait awhile if I knew that same shot could instead go into the arm of a third-world human being who wanted and needed it, or into the arm of some youngster in an overcrowded, underfunded US public elementary school.

I have enjoyed an abundance of privilege in my lifetime, and now would be a good time to enjoy the rare privilege of giving my place in line to someone who has not been so fortunate.

Equity should come before boosters.

US Backed Afghan President Took the Money and Ran

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist 

As the government of Afghanistan collapses, it is becoming exceedingly clear that Joe Biden was right.  We were never going to prevail there because the government that we helped to install was motivated by grandiosity and cash.  The leaders of Afghanistan were on our payroll, and many used their positions to grow obscenely rich.  When the US pulled out, they quit - and many disappeared, leaving the people to fend for themselves.

When the Taliban reached the capital of Kabul earlier this week, the president of the country, Ashraf Ghani, placed a letter of resignation on his desk, packed a few bags, and hurriedly left the country.   Today we learned that several of his bags were stuffed with US dollars - a hundred and sixty-nine million US dollars!  Apparently Ghani and his (our) money are currently in the United Arab Emirates.  

Afghanistan's Defense Minister has asked Interpol to arrest former president Ghani.  

The United States spent twenty years pouring at least two trillion dollars into the rathole that was Afghanistan.   We were "nation building," or creating an Afghan military and police organization capable of defending and running the country, and we were strengthening local governments and building schools and hospitals.  But even with all of that "nation building," much of the US money that flooded into Afghanistan never reached the ordinary citizens.  It was siphoned off by greedy political and military leaders who used it for their own comfort and security.

So we left (or are leaving), and they packed their bags and headed for the border as well - and Ashraf Ghani was undoubtedly not the only Afghan leader who was busy getting large amounts of US currency out of the country.

What a shame our government takes less interest in the money it throws at despots than it does in monitoring our meager incomes.   War comes with tremendous costs, and the costs of twenty years of war are damned near incalculable.  

Ashraf Ghani should be arrested and his (our) money seized.  $169 million would feed, clothe, and house many people in need in Afghanistan - or many of the refugees pouring out of Afghanistan. It could even do a lot of good right here in the United States, where it originated.   Leaving those millions of dollars with a thief is unacceptable and immoral.    

And the next time we get stampeded into one of these bloody circuses, accountants should be imbedded at every level of operation.   Free-flowing money brings corruption, and corruption brings defeat!

Hunting Forebears in Huntsville

 

by Pa Rock

Grave Robber

Yesterday afternoon in my never-ending quest to dig up more dirt on my ancestors, I drove over to the town of Huntsville, Arkansas, which is in the northwest part of the state just a few miles from Eureka Springs, often referred to as the "gayest town" in the "Natural State."   Mother Carrie Nation, a sweet older lady who gained fame for swinging an axe as she destroyed saloons, once lived in Eureka Springs, and several of my ancestors once lived in and around Huntsville.

My grandfather, Dan SREAVES, and his family left Huntsville in 1901 in two covered wagons and moved to McDonald County, Missouri.  He didn't return until sixty some years later when one of his daughters and her family drove him there - in a car!  (The wagons took the better part of three days with two nights of camping under the stars.)  When Granddad returned after six decades of absence, he was able to locate his old one-room schoolhouse, which by that time was being used to store hay, and he found one of his boyhood friends and spent quite a bit of time catching up with him.

I drove my mother to the Huntsville area in the 1980's, and we spent several hours walking through cemeteries looking for our ancestors - but somehow I don't think we ever drove into the actual town.

Huntsville, Arkansas, of Madison County, was founded in the 1830's by a group of pioneers who moved to the area from Huntsville, of Madison County, Alabama.  One of the neighboring communities today is a speck just off of the main road called "Alabam."  Huntsville, Alabama, is today a key player in the aerospace industry, and Huntsville, Arkansas, has a "Butterball" turkey processing plant.

My primary reason for visiting Huntsville, Arkansas, was to check out the Madison County Genealogical and Historical Society's library - which I was able to do this morning.    I was impressed with their extensive collection of materials, and the lady who manages the library was very courteous and helpful.  The library is only open from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. three days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday - and it is a little more than a three-hour drive from my home in West Plains, Missouri, so I had to plan my trip carefully.  

I drove over on Monday afternoon and stayed at what I believe to be the only motel in town, an older place - but freshly remodeled and reasonably priced - called the Madison Motel.  It had formerly been known as the Faubus Motel.   (For those who aren't history majors, or as old as me, Orval Faubus was the governor of Arkansas who, when school started in September of 1957, called in the National Guard to surround Central High School in Little Rock to prevent nine black students from enrolling.   President Eisenhower, however, one-upped Faubus by sending in the 101st Airborne Division to escort the "Little Rock Nine" into the building and to their classes!)

Orval Faubus was a native of Madison County, Arkansas, and is buried in the county.  The manager of the motel told me that she thought his family had owned the business at one time.

Visiting the library and doing the research was the easy part of the trip, but the journey itself involved a lot of high drama.  First of all I got off to a later start than I had planned and felt rushed.  Then ten miles out of West Plains I realized that I had forgotten my meds and the clothes that I planned to wear the next day, so I had to turn around and backtrack to the house.   Altogether, I lost about thirty minutes in that maneuver - so then I really felt rushed!

My sister, who lives forty miles from Huntsville in Rogers, Arkansas, drove over to join me for dinner.   It was about five-thirty in the evening and we could not find a restaurant that was open, so we ate at the local Sonic.  It was my treat - and as I was putting my billfold back in my pocket, I apparently dropped it onto the floor of her car - a fact that I did not discover until my sister was already back at her house.  I telephoned her and said that I would come over and get it, but she said that she would bring it back the next morning and have breakfast with me at what looked to be a nice restaurant (and was) which was only open for breakfast and lunch.  So she made her second trip to Huntsville in two days to bring the wallet back to its clumsy owner.

Incident number three occurred when I tried to leave town this afternoon.   For those who are not familiar with the area, Eureka Springs is called "Little Switzerland, and with good reason.  It has hills everywhere and all of the roads are up-and-down-curvy, making driving a real challenge - as well as finding one's way around the town - and Huntsville is almost as bad.  The roads wrap around the hills, and a "straight stretch" of road might be no more than a couple of dozen yards in length.   As I was leaving today I thought I was on the right highway, but there were no markings.  I drove a full five miles before finally seeing a sign that let me know I was heading the wrong way - so I went back to town and tried again.

The second effort at getting out of town was even worse than the first.  I wound up on the town square, which has a tricky pattern or entering and exiting, and I exited wrong but managed to get in a flowing lane of traffic and headed in what I thought was the right direction.  A minute to two later the policeman who pulled me over for exiting the square wrong, told me that I was again headed the wrong way.  He spent ten minutes examining my license and car paperwork, and undoubtedly "running" me to make sure that I wasn't some Missouri desperado like Jesse James, and then (very kindly) told me that he was just giving me a warning because I wasn't from around there and didn't have a grasp of their very tricky traffic patterns.

Then, God bless him, the nice policeman led me out of town and sent me on my way.   (And I drove like the parson's grandmother all the way back to West Plains - and kissed the driveway when I arrived at the house!)

So much for my late summer vacation!  (The good news was that I did dig up a few tidbits about a couple of very "great" grandparents that I will be incorporating into the "Ancestor Archives" - so the trip wasn't a total wash!)

But be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!

At Least New Missouri Stamp Ignores St. Louis Arch!

 

by Pa Rock

Missourian

Missouri celebrated its 200th anniversary as a state last Tuesday, and on that same date the US Postal Service issued a stamp honoring the event.   The stamp features the pre-Civil War "Bollinger Mill" which is located in the community of Burfordville, in Cape Girardeau County - in the southeastern corner of the state.  

The mill looks like an old brick institutional structure and is not really appealing for artistic value, although the nearby covered bridge, also pictured on the stamp, is interesting.  The image was taken from a stock photograph of landscape photographer Charles Gurche and designed by the USPS Art Director, Greg Breeding, with apparently no involvement from actual Missourians.  As US postage stamps go, it is a very "plain Jane."

Alley Springs Mill near Eminence, Missouri, was used on one of the state quarters (Ozark Scenic Riverways in 2017) and has a much more rustic mill appearance than does Bollinger.   Hodson's Mill near Dora, Missouri, also has more natural charm that Bollinger.  

But, at least the designer had the good sense to forgo using the St. Louis Arch on his version of Missouri history.  The arch, which was completed on October 28, 1965, is used on virtually all art work highlighting Missouri, and it was the centerpiece of 2003 Missouri state quarter with a depiction that seemed to show it spanning a river - which in reality it does not do.  The "Gateway to the West" arch is completely  in Missouri along the Mississippi River at St. Louis, and does not span anything other that riverfront land.

But the St. Louis Arch is iconic, and when it is featured on anything people instinctively think of St. Louis, and sometimes even Missouri.

I'm not planning on being around for the my state's sestercentennial (250 years) anniversary in 2071, but here is my nomination for that stamp:  Old Matt's Cabin on Highway 76 near Branson.  It was the focal point "Shepherd of the Hills," the 1907 novel by Harold Bell Wright which alerted much of the world to the natural beauty of the Ozarks, and that story has since gone on to foster the country music and tourism industry of Branson and southwest Missouri.

And, Old Matt's Cabin evokes a far more realistic depiction of Missouri's rugged history than does a four-story brick mill with no visible waterwheel.  Just sayin . . . 

Freedumb Files: Parent Assaults Teacher Over Face Mask

 

by Pa Rock

Former Teacher and Principal

 I remember the first day of the school year as being an exciting time, especially when I was in elementary school:  fresh school supplies, new clothes, old friends, meeting the teacher and becoming acclimated to the classroom.  It was a wondrous time.  Years later as an elementary school principal I still found the first day of school to be one of the most exciting and rewarding of the school year.    Weeks of hard work by teachers suddenly came together as the doors opened to another crop of children eager to get back to the exciting task of learning.

Great times!

But times change, and I am quite certain that being a teacher or running a school is not the joyful experience that it was just a few short years ago.  People have more pent-up anger today and seem to approach every situation ready to boil over at the slightest provocation.  The lingering pandemic is undoubtedly behind some of this frustration, but the situation is also being inflamed by scurrilous politicians and pundits who seem eager to keep their followers in turmoil.

Last Wednesday was the first day of school at the Amador County Unified School District in northern California, and as that first day of classes was coming to a close there was a serious incident between a parent and staff members at one of the district's elementary schools.   A parent was waiting to pick up his daughter at the Sutter Creek Elementary School (K-6) when he saw her leave the building wearing a face mask.  The parent had apparently sent the little girl to school that morning without a mask and had intended for her to remain unmasked.   

(The California state health department has mandated that masks be worn inside of the state's schools, and the district superintendent says that the school has no discretion over the matter.)

The angry father chose to confront the female principal on the spot, with countless parents and children undoubtedly watching, and was expressing his outrage when a male teacher interceded, obviously with the intent of protecting the principal.  That made the parent even angrier, and he assaulted the teacher leaving him with lacerations on the face and a "knot" on the back of his head.   

The parent has been barred from the campus, and the child is welcome back at school.   A police report was filed and school officials are currently working the the country district attorney's office to determine whether or not to file charges against the parent.

In a letter to parents telling of the incident, the school's superintendent gave this snippet of very sound advice:

"If I ask nothing more of you this school year it is this. Take a breath, pause, listen and walk away if necessary." 

The superintendent also noted that the school had two primary objectives with regard to the pandemic situation:  to keep everyone safe - and to keep the schools open.

She also had this to say

"I beg that we do our best to set all feelings aside and look at what is best for students. We know emotions are high, and conversations are intense. We must promote and support school environments that are compassionate and sympathetic. I encourage you to connect with someone in our school community you feel comfortable confiding in to create a safe place to vent and obtain clarification as needed. The mandates are forever changing so understanding current requirements is critical. Staff will support you and listen at all times when communication is appropriate."

One parent had his say, his way, and probably earned bragging rights down at the local honkey-tonk, and he may or may not go to court, and ultimately to jail.  But he also has a child who has been traumatized and may now develop a twisted view of what school, and even life, is all about.   And others have been traumatized as well:  the parents who watched the incident unfold and now have to worry about random outbreaks of violence in which their own children might get hurt, the other children who saw their friend's dad get crazy and hit a teacher, and the teachers and staff members who now have to do their jobs, with smiles on their faces, all the while knowing they could be the next ones to run afoul of a deranged parent.

Schools should be places of joy and hope, and not gauntlets of fear.  

God bless the dedicated teachers, administrators, and other school personnel who have the courage and determination to show up for work in these awful times, and who constantly strive to educate and protect the children in their care.   They are true heroes!

Bush's Middle East Wars are Ending

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Today US embassy personnel in Kabul, Afghanistan, are busy shredding documents, destroying computers, and throwing their lives into suitcases and garbage bags as they prepare for a hasty exit from the place that some of them have called home for the better part of the past two decades.  Within the next couple of days they, and some of their Afghan employees and friends, will be flown out of the country in a US military airlift.  And before those rescue planes even make it safely to their destinations, agents of the Taliban will be posing for pictures inside of the embassy offices and homes that the fleeing diplomatic corps have left behind.

Biden officials are worried that the rushed exit is going to look like the horrific images of the United States' frenzied exit from Saigon - and it will.

Joe Biden shouldn't take the impending calamity too personally.  He didn't get us into the twenty-year mess in the Middle East - that was George W. Bush and his evil puppet master, Dick Cheney.  And Biden wasn't the one to actually announce that we would be leaving Afghanistan - that was Donald John Trump. But Joe Biden is the one who had to pull on his Big Boy pants and ultimately make the exit happen.

If Dick Cheney had ever cracked open a history book, he might have saved his country from two decades of death and sacrifice in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan - as well of trillions of dollars in US taxpayer money that has now been effectively flushed down the crapper.  History could have taught him that Afghanistan, in modern times, had survived major invasions three times before - twice from Great Britain in the 1800's, and then the long slog of the Russian invasion from 1979 to 1989.   

The British won some battles and lost some battles before suffering a major defeat in their first invasion (1839-1842), and they also won a few and lost a few during their second foray into the country (1878-1880), but ultimately installed a puppet government and then made a fast exit.  Forty years later the Afghans had regrouped to the point that they were able to come after the British and attack them in India.

The Afghan people are resilient - and not easily cowered.    

When the Soviet government flew divisions of troops and war equipment into Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan) on Christmas Eve of 1979, Afghan fighters took to the hills and committed to a hit-and-run strategy against the invaders that went on for a decade and denied the Soviets effective control of the country.  Many regard the extraordinary Afghani (Taliban) resistance as one of the major contributing factors that played hell with Russian morale and helped to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And the US government assisted the Taliban fighters  - usually surreptitiously -  to defend their homeland.

Now, more that thirty years after the Soviets were driven from Afghanistan, another invader is being sent packing.

(Yes, the United States shepherded some social advances during the years that it propped up a government in Afghanistan, perhaps most notably in the education of its female citizens, and hopefully some of those advances will take root and help to bring about permanent change.   But during those same years that society was showing some signs of advancement in Afghanistan, America continued to turn a blind eye to the plight of women in the oil kingdoms - like Saudi Arabia - where appeasing a corrupt monarchy was deemed to be in our national best interest - or at least in our corporate best interest.)

US forces are tentatively scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of this year, and at that point the failed presidency of George W. Bush can officially be put to rest.  Perhaps then we will be able to return some of our national treasure to domestic uses - things like free and accessible health care for all, free college for all, green energy, real mass transit, and a thousand other things which we have been told - over and over - that we cannot afford.  

Maybe now we can afford a few nice things in life.

And maybe now Afghanistan can begin to heal and chart it's own destiny without outside interference.

White Dominance in the US is Winding Down

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The US Census Bureau released demographic population data yesterday that will be used by the states in drawing their congressional districts for the next decade.  Some progressive states have devised independent agencies to draw those districts with an eye toward limiting decisions based on politics, but the majority have systems in place where the legislatures and governors ultimately determine district lines, and those systems are, by-and-large, completely political.

Republicans generally expect to use the redistricting to enhance their position in Congress, but when it comes to designing the make-up of the House of Representatives, this time may prove to be conservative white America's last hurrah.

The census data release yesterday showed more than just how many Americans were living where, it also gave other factors like educational level, income, and race - things that will also be taken into account as politicians carefully craft districts designed to benefit themselves and their political parties for the next ten years.

It was the area of race that generated the most headlines, with the overall thrust being that on the basis of race the United States is steadily becoming a more diversified nation.  The new numbers show that while non-hispanic whites still represent the majority in the US - at 58% of the population, the percentage of non-hispanic whites has decreased over the past two censuses.  In 2000, non-hispanic whites represented 69% of the total population, and in 2010 that same demographic was 63.7% of the population - or in simpler terms, non-hispanic whites as a percentage of the total US population were decreasing about five percent every ten years.

That would appear to be a fairly significant drop.  

But, even more surprisingly, the actual number of non-hispanic whites dropped for the first time in the US Census history, counts which have been taken every ten years since 1790.  In 2010 there were 224 million non-hispanic whites in the United States, and the 20s0 census revealed only 204 million non-hispanic whites.  A highly significant drop in actual numbers of people in that racial category.

Newser.com had a headline this morning which read:  "For the First Time in History, White Population Shrinks."  It shrank not only as a percentage of the total population, but in actual numbers as well.  It was a true headline, and the ramifications of that truth are likely to exacerbate the racial paranoia that helps to fuel the country's political anger.    Politicians will work even harder at crafting laws to limit the rights of non-whites, rabid racists will become even crazier in their war on immigrants from south of the border,  trust in government will continue to decrease, and gun sales will continue to increase.

It's very hard to accept that more than two centuries of cultural, social, economic, and political dominance is coming to an end.

Ancestor Archives: Sarah Ann Kelly (1817 - After 1880)

 

by Rocky Macy

Sarah Ann KELLY was born on August 5th, 1817, in North Carolina.   She married Joshua Calvin ELLIS on February 28th, 1837, in Forsyth County, Georgia.  Sarah passed away sometime after the 1880 census was taken, probably in northwest Arkansas.

Sarah Elizabeth KELLY was my g-g-g-grandmother.

The fact that Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS was born in North Carolina is established by the four existing US census records in which she was recorded by name (1850 in District 31 of Forsyth, Georgia;  1860 in War Eagle and Walnut, Benton, Arkansas;  1870 in White River, Benton, Arkansas;  and, 1880 in Prairie, Madison, Arkansas.)  It also appears likely that she was the daughter of Hiram KELLY and Elizabeth McGEE who were married in Burke County, North Carolina, on August 19th, 1813.  If that is the case, Sarah may have been born in Burke County, North Carolina.

Sarah’s marriage to Joshua Calvin ELLIS is a part of the Georgia public record, and it is noted in the Ancestry.com record:  “Georgia Marriages 1699-1944.”

Sarah and Joshua had seven children, and census records indicate that all of them were born in the state of Georgia.  They were:  William J. (born 1840 - died after 1880), Hiram Kelly (1842-1912), Joshua “Thomas” (1844-1914), Mary Ann (1846-1888), James Calvin (1848-1907), Adeline (1851-1916), and Sarah Clementine (1853-1911).

The oldest son, William J. ELLIS, married Matilda J. COOK, and they were my great-great grandparents.  Hiram Kelly ELLIS married Susan LANE;  Joshua “Thomas” ELLIS  married 1.) Mary Palestine PHILLIPS, and  2.) Georgianne ROBERTS;  Mary Anne ELLIS married Jasper COOK;  James Calvin ELLIS married Nancy Ellen NELSON;  Adeline ELLIS married Charles O’CONNOR;  and, Sarah Clementine ELLIS remained single.

The family moved north to Arkansas, undoubtedly in pursuit of cheap government land, sometime between the birth of Sarah Clementine ELLIS on May 27th, 1853, and the enumeration of the 1860 US census.  The census of 1860 showed the family complete, with father, mother, and seven children ranging in age from seven (Sarah Clementine) to twenty (William J.)  That was the only census in which all nine family members were residing under the same roof.

Only two of the family’s children were still at home when the 1870 US Census was taken:  “Adline” (age 19) and Sarah (13).  (Sarah Clementine would have actually been seventeen.)

When the 1880 US Census was taken, the only “children” still in the home were again Adeline, listed as “Adaline O Conner” (age 28) who was living there with her one-year-old daughter, Alice P. (Pauline) “O Conner” (age 1), and the youngest of Joshua and Sarah’s offspring, Sarah Ellis (age 25).  Joshua ELLIS died of a heart attack in December of that same year.

Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS has not been found in the public record after the 1880 US census.  (The 1890 US census was almost entirely destroyed by a fire.)  It is unknown at this time when and where she died.  Three family researchers at Ancestry.com list Sarah’s date and place of death as July 27th, 1890, in Madison County, Arkansas, but none of the three provide a source for that information.

Aside from the fact that Sarah Elizabeth (KELLY) ELLIS has not been located on the 1900 US Census, another indicator that she was likely dead by that time is that her youngest daughter, the unmarried Sarah Clementine who had been twenty-five (probably twenty-seven) and living at home when the 1880 census was taken, was, in 1900, living in the household of a widowed physician, E.F. (Edward Forest) ELLIS and his two sons, ages thirteen and eight, where she was listed as a “servant.”  (The family connection, if there was one, between Sarah Clementine ELLIS and Dr. ELLIS, is unknown.)  Dr. ELLIS and his sons were residents of Fayetterville, Washington County, Arkansas, in 1900.

(The 1910 US Census lists Sarah Clementine ELLIS, the youngest child of Joshua and Sarah ELLIS, as a member of the household of her brother, Joshua “Thomas” ELLIS  of McLennan County, Texas.  She died and was buried there the following year.)

If Sarah Clementine’s mother had been alive in either 1900 or 1910, it seems likely that she and her youngest (unmarried) daughter would have been residing in the same household.  Therefore it would also seem likely that Sarah Ann (KELLY) ELLIS died sometime prior to 1900.

Wherever and whenever Sarah Ann (Kelly) ELLIS passed away, she saw a great deal of the newly forming United States during her lifetime, undoubtedly experienced many of the hardships imposed by the Civil War, and helped to carve out a life for herself, her children, and their descendants in the wooded hills and valleys of northwest Arkansas and beyond.  She was a true pioneer, both in spirit as well as deed.