Peace in the Middle East??

     The title of my blog is “HigginsUnhinged,” but in most cases I’ve managed to remain “hinged.” But the chaos in the world is beginning to “unhinge” me. The savagery of ISIS in Iraq may be the most brutal in history. Perhaps too brutal to be described in my blog.

      The purge of Christians and Jews is ramping up and not just in Iraq. Nevertheless, I want to focus on Israel. Our closest ally in the region is under attack while we watch passively. The people of Israel have been persecuted for thousands of years, yet they survive and attained statehood in 1948. I doubt if much of this will be news to my readers, many of whom know more about these things than I do.

      I think what happens with Israel has consequences far beyond what we can envision. Unfortunately, the mainstream media only provides us with a minimum of information and what it feeds us is always colored by its bias.

      The Hamas propaganda machine is pumping out a barrage of photos of Palestinian children killed by Israel, despite the fact that the Israelis continue to go further than any nation in history to avoid killing civilians. They are more careful in this regard than even the U. S. has been throughout our history. Israelis drop pamphlets, they radio ahead of attacks, and contact citizens by every means possible to give them time to leave areas where munitions and weapons are stored and targeted.

      Unfortunately Hamas rounds up innocent Palestinians civilians, herding them to missile launch sites as human shields in anticipation of an Israeli counter attack. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, and crowded communities to place their weapons in order to maximize civilian casualties when Israel retaliates. This is all designed to depict Israel as the evil aggressor. And the world sucks it up. It provides fodder for a growing anti-Semitism.

     “Israel uses rockets to protect its people. Hamas uses people to protect its rockets.” I believe Benjamin Netanyahu made that statement and it summarizes the current situation accurately.

      Israelis live their lives under a constant barrage of thousands of missiles, protected, so far, by the Iron Dome. This is the missile shield the U. S. helped Israel develop for the protection of its citizens. Despite that defense, some missiles still get through and citizens in Israel have only 15 seconds to run to the safety of bomb shelters when the alarms sound. Bomb shelters are part of their communities, kind of like fire hydrants are in ours.

      Can you imagine living under a constant barrage of missiles day and night? When venturing out in public, Israelis must be aware of the closest bomb shelter, considering the few seconds they will have to get to it when the sirens blare. Highly sophisticated tunnels extend from Gaza into Israel for use in infiltrating Israel to kill or capture civilians.

      Ironically, Israel provided the cement and other material meant to help Palestinians build their infrastructure, including buildings and schools but the material was diverted by Hamas into the construction of these death tunnels. There are roughly 40 of these tunnels, some of which open up under schools where Israeli children are vulnerable.

      Our Secretary of State went to Qatar for help in negotiating a peace plan and came away with exactly what Hamas wanted. Qatar is the richest country per capita in the Arab world and provides aide to Israel’s enemies. Amazingly, Kerry even asked Israel to halt the destruction of the death tunnels used by terrorists to infiltrate Israeli communities. Naturally Israel rejected the plan.

      A coalition of countries fearful of Hamas should have been enlisted for support – not Qatar. As I write this, another “time out” has been called with Egypt’s help, but again, Hamas broke the cease fire. Peace talks sound good, but will always be futile. Hamas has as its goal the total destruction of Israel and the death of every Jew. This is stated clearly in their charter. That’s who they are and it won’t change. A rattle snake is what it is.  It can’t change.

      Israel, as the only democracy in that part of the world, wants to be left alone to live in peace. Yet our cowardly government won’t stand with our only ally in the region, Israel. There is one simple solution to the current fighting - demilitarize Gaza. If Hamas stopped the missile attacks on Israel, that would be the end of it. Israel does not want Palestinian territory. But how do you trust terrorists who break their own cease-fire agreement, once within 90 minutes of its acceptance by Israel?

      Peace treaties are an exercise in futility in view of the Hamas charter. Unfortunately, the innocent Palestinians in the Gaza strip are suffering the consequences of the Hamas terrorists and their use of civilians as shields. They also lack basic supplies needed for everyday life. It’s a tragic situation for the Palestinian people.

      Anti-Semitism is growing world-wide – even in America. It’s like the thirties all over again, especially in Europe. Look at our own government – this is the first American administration to fail to back Israel. The minions in the administration and the press admonish the Israelis for simply protecting their people and their country and seem to sympathize with the radical Islamists.

      Valerie Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to the President and his closest Presidential Assistant. Jarrett was born in Iran and a surprising number in governmental officials have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Obama’s approach to all things “Muslim” makes one wonder where his loyalties lie. Recently Nancy Pelosi stated what she had been fed by the Qataris stating that “Hamas is a humanitarian organization.” Hillary Clinton’s stated brilliantly that “Hamas uses human shields because Gaza is pretty small.” Dingbat city.

      As long as over half of Americans remain uninformed and ignorant of history and international events, the juggernaut of apathetic and naïve “sheep-like” voters will push America over the cliff, just as the Arab nations intend to push Israel into the sea.

High School - 1957 vs. 2014

I don’t think I’ve ever posted something I received via email, but this comparison is so true that I’m posting it.  This was on the internet, so many of you may have read it.  As a former high school teacher myself and a student during this time frame, I find this comparison to be accurate.  If you went to high school sometime during the ‘40s or ‘50s, you will see the truth in this.  I’ve even had the obligatory fist fight after school and always made friends with former adversaries, as depicted in this piece.  

In past posts, I’ve alluded to the “feminization of our culture” and I think this is a prime example. 

*   *   *

HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2014

Scenario 1:

Jack goes duck hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.

2014- School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario 2:

Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.

2014 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario 3:

Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2014 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The family gets extra money (SSI) from the government because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario 4:

Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.

2014 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse; Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario 5:

Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.

2014 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario 6:

Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.

2014 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario 7:

Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.

2014 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents - and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny's dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario 8:

Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 – In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2014- Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

*   *   *

I might add that my dad had a razor strap he used to correct misbehavior.  It hung ominously in the bathroom as a reminder.  “Time out” was only heard in athletic endeavors.  I think my generation turned out just fine.

Fractured Foundation

  

With too much travel, visits with friends and family, and local activities, I’ve been remiss in writing for my blog.  Being the lazy old guy that I am, I’m going to cheat and give you a post I wrote back in January of 2013.  Since it has application to today’s events and since most of you haven’t read it, I decided to post it again.  It’s worth some thought.  

*     *     *

            "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.”   This is a quote from John Adams’ address to the military in 1798.
 

            We’ve all seen pictures of men standing in soup lines during the Great Depression.   People were lined up for rations to feed their families.  Some tried to get menial work.  Anything to provide for their families.  My dad told me his family made soup out of chicken feet.

            What can we expect to happen in our cities if we had a depression today?  Would people sell an apple, line up for rations, or would the “uncivilized” element go on a looting rampage?  Remember the rioting in Los Angeles in 1992 and the post Katrina riots and looting in New Orleans? What has changed since the Great Depression?  

            Japan went through a tsunami with devastation beyond belief and there wasn’t a single report of looting, killing, riots…nothing.  Why?

            A brief glance at countries around the world provide a blatant picture of atrocities beyond belief, but here in the U.S., where our country was founded on Judeo/Christian principles, we expect more.  But do we still hold to those values?

            Do we have such a thin veneer of civilization in this country that a brief loss of electricity, a flood, or a trial verdict, for example, can provide a catalyst for the savages among us to plunder, rape, and kill? What does Japan have that we no longer have?  

            Are we as civilized as we pretend to be?  Are white collar crimes or government malfeasance different than looting from a moral perspective?  Could this relate to the lack of a commonly agreed upon moral code?  Japan has its problems, but evidently they agree on a moral standard of some kind.

            I’ve come to believe that the basis of every problem in our modern culture is based on moral ambiguity.  That belief is reinforced daily by what I see happening in this country. 

            The concept of moral relativism and the rejection of any authority higher than man could result in nothing less than confusion and a “disconnect” from a moral standard based on something outside of one’s own personal design.  By definition, morals are standards outside of ourselves that we believe in and strive to live by.  Personal opinions don’t count.

            Back when I was a kid in the ‘50s we knew what was right and what was wrong.  The fact that we chose “wrong” didn’t make it “right” and we knew it.  That moral gyroscope might have failed to inhibit us on many occasions, but it functioned as an essential guide and still does for many of us, despite our personal fallibility.

            If you take every aspect of our culture, from economics and social issues to politics and the media, at the root of any problem you will find a missing or compromised moral imperative.  Something has changed. 

            Now that we as a society have thrown off the shackles of “that old time religion,” God, and any accountability to a higher authority, we are free to set our own rules; free to establish our own personal “morality.”   Fyoder Dostoevsky said, “If there is no God, everything is permitted.” 

            Law has replaced our former moral underpinnings.  If it’s legal, it must be moral. Legality equals morality to many.  Abortion may be legal, but is it moral?  And laws can always be changed to be more accommodating. 

            Morality restrains us from inside.  The law restrains us from outside.  In other words, if there is no internal moral restraint, the law will apply controls externally. 

            We have a culture that has filled our vacuous morality with flexible legality.

            In short, we have managed to destroy America’s primary moral construct. As John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  In my opinion, that’s why we are where we are.

            

Death Stalk - Chuck Montgomery, Editor

  

     This is a follow-up on my previous post that compared starting and running a business today to a restaurant I built roughly forty years ago called the Relay Station.  I mentioned that movie crews would eat at my steak house when they happened to be filming in the Sonora area.  I received an interesting phone call from a good friend immediately after the blog was published.

            Chuck Montgomery has been a buddy of mine since kindergarten.  That may be hard to believe, but many of my friends today go back to the elementary school years.  My friendship with Chuck actually started at about 5 years of age.  Our mothers were best friends.

Life-long buddies.  Chuck Montgomery,
the ape man (me), John Chaffin and 
Jeff  Rochin, behind the camera.

            I want to feature Chuck in this article.  Chuck and I have had some good times through the years. There is a large group of us who have been friends since childhood.

Chuck receiving Eddie Award with wife Linda

            Chuck retired as a film editor in Hollywood and received the prestigious Eddie Award for his film editing.  Recently he was the editor for the COPS TV series, along with other movie and TV credits.  Chuck doesn’t talk about his achievements, but I watched him make his acceptance speech on TV (see photo).  He told me his tux didn’t fit right and I think he said he was concerned about his pants falling down, or that they were too long or something like that.  Fortunately there were no  "wardrobe malfunctions" and he made a good speech.

            Anyway, he called me after reading my post to tell me that one of the movie crews that ate at my restaurant was the crew from a 1975 film called, “Death Stalk.”  You may remember the movie.  Much of the action took place on the Tuolumne River, which was close to my restaurant. 

            He mentioned that he was the film editor on that movie, which surprised me.  He mentioned a number of the stars in the film, but I was only familiar with a few.  I had no idea that he was editing the film.  And that’s not the only major film he has edited.  As I said, he doesn’t talk about his accomplishments.

            Two of the main stars in that movie were Vince Edwards, who also played Dr. Ben Casey on TV, and Neville Brand, who has made over 40 movies and numerous TV shows, including the Laredo series in the ‘60s. 

Neville Brand

            Brand is particularly interesting to me, because he was said to be the fourth most decorated WWII soldier, close behind Audie Murphy, who was the most decorated.  You would recognize Brand’s gravely voice as the tough guy he normally played in movies.  

Vince Edwards 
as Dr. Ben Casey

            Both men were among the movie crew from “Death Stalk,” who ate at our place.  I remember my partner in the restaurant business telling me that Vince Edwards was an arrogant jerk, who wanted to buck the line and be seated ahead others.  Our hostess angered him by refusing him special privileges.  He would always order a baked potato with the skin hollowed out and filled with butter.  Very weird.  That could be why he died in his sixties.

            Brand, on the other hand, was a very nice guy, who was always pleasant, very down-to-earth and modest, yet he had reason to be proud as the war hero he actually was.  It’s interesting to see how differently people react to fame. 

            I only visited my Sonora restaurant once a month or so, due to teaching and writing projects back in San Jose, so I missed most of the action at the restaurant.  It was interesting to me that Chuck confirmed my restaurant staff’s description of the difference between Edwards and Brand.

           Interestingly, I didn’t know that Chuck was the editor on the film even though he and I sat together at the Relay Station bar roughly 40 years ago, around the time the filming took place.  He didn't mention it then and only told me this week.  I'm proud of the little kid who sat in the circle with me as our kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Smith, read us stories.  I think that's what they did in kindergarten back then.  Now that kid is involved in the telling of stories.

            Chuck has always been very modest, a great guy, and a good friend.  He’s more like Neville Brand than Vince Edwards.

Business Then and Now

     Retirement has its advantages, but it can also been boring at times; especially if you’ve had an active life, full of challenges and adventures.  Lately I’ve been thinking of starting another business.  I’ve started several in the past, but that idea runs into a wall when I consider the regulations and government rules designed to discourage entrepreneurial endeavors.  I guess I’m too old to put up with it all.

            The last business I owned was a gas station, mini mart, car wash, and deli operation that I bought to give me something to do in retirement.  The financial books looked good and the previous owner told me that the “business runs itself.” The books were accurate, but no business runs itself.

            I hired managers and too many employees, so in addition to overhead costs, I spent the five years of ownership dealing with the ABC, the Dept. of Weights and Measures, the EPA, the Health Department, the ATF, the IRS, and a few other governmental agencies that don’t come to mind at the moment. 

            I remember that in the early ‘70s, when I was teaching high school, writing books, and playing in night clubs to support my family of seven, I decided to build a restaurant in Sonora, California.  I called it the “Relay Station” playing on the Pony Express theme.

            I leased a building that was once a feed store and later a strip joint and took a summer to convert it into a rustic restaurant, reminiscent of the old west.  A year or so later a liquor license became available at a reasonable price, so we added a full bar. I took an option on the real estate, which I exercised after one year.  I had a partner, who ran a restaurant in Santa Cruz, and with a few friends, we converted the building into a very cool steak house. 

            We scoured the hills for barn wood and antiques for an “old west” feel.  We used an ocean buoy as a pressure tank to pump water up the hill from a well to the building and dug a trench by hand in 100 degree-plus heat for the pipe. 

            We made our own tables out of hatch covers and built the facade of old western buildings along the inside walls with authentic antique porcelain doorknobs. Customers could feel like they were eating on the front porch of an old western building.  We even had the traditional swinging doors leading into the bar.

The name designed to be "eye-catching."  (Prior to the fire) 

            I painted the name at an angle in huge letters on the side of the building, purposely leaving off part of the last letter as a way of drawing attention.  It was so hot that I almost passed out standing on the ladder and the paint dried as soon as it hit the wall.  I remember a drunk running up to me trying to warn me that I didn’t have room for that last letter of “Relay Station.”    

            We slept on the saw-dust covered floor, tossed pieces of wood at rats for fun, bathed in the river, and lived on Cool-Aid and bologna sandwiches.   We bought chairs, ovens, stoves, refrigerators, ice machines, dishes, and all the equipment needed for a restaurant operation from restaurant supply stores in San Francisco.  Amazingly, in six weeks time we opened for our first meal. 

Sitting in front of a western facade with my mother.

            I have to admit that I had some pretty creative marketing ideas that resulted in a packed house on opening night.  None of us knew what we were doing as we stumbled over each other trading off as waiters, cooks, or dishwashers. 

            Waiters crashed into each other through the swinging door of the kitchen.  But it was a huge success.  Once we got our balance the restaurant became known as the best place for steaks in the entire county and when film crews made movies in the vicinity, the crew and stars always ate at the “Relay Station.”

            At the end of that very tough summer, I turned the operation of the business over to my partner and went back for the start of the school year as a teacher and band director.

Talking to a vendor with my mother.  Note barn wood walls

           
           My restaurant concept was to have a 
string of these “Relay Stations” throughout the “Mother Lode,” primarily at the small former mining towns along Highway 49.  

            Unfortunately a fire destroyed the building sometime during the height of our success. We immediately rebuilt and expanded our menu to include lobster and other more expensive items.  This was a mistake. Food costs and labor costs buried us after previous successful years.  In addition, I was hired to write music books for a major New York publisher and lost focus on the restaurant.

View from across the highway.  Note 40 cent gas price.

            But the clincher was that I heard about drug dealing out of the bar.  I put a lock on the business that same day.  We sold the building and equipment and I spent the next two years paying off creditors.  But it was a great adventure and that’s what I like about life – the adventure.

            I got carried away with this story.  The purpose of the article was to demonstrate how easy it was, even in the early ‘70s, to get through all the permits and requirements to build and open a full restaurant operation in six weeks time.  We had room to improvise, like the water pressure tank, and we had building permit latitude.  You sure can’t do something like that today. Our benevolent government shuts down children’s lemonade stands due to permit requirements. 

            The more I think about it, in today’s business environment, retirement may actually make sense.