The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

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Jim Bedwell

Here's what I LOVE about FNC. Unlike the corrupt media, where all you hear is the same old emotional, non-factual, empty rhetoric, usually repeated verbatim across all the worthless shows, here's the kind of stuff you hear on FNC (this one from Degan McDowell):

"Tony Fauci has passed his expiration date."

Also one of the funniest I remember from the past was when Pelosi was saying you have to pass Obamacare to see what's it in, on FNC some guest who was a doctor said, "Well, that's what we say about a stool sample."

Here's my original (but not that clever really - pretty ordinary).

Joe Biden is a walking poster child for the 25th Amendment.

Jim Bedwell

Chief Steven Toenails,

Sorry I'm so late getting back to you about your HILARIOUS statement about the fence around the Capitol, here are the best Congress jokes I could find from the always reliable Mark Twain - notice how they're all non-partisan and yet (or therefore?) timeless:

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.

Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

Fleas can be taught nearly anything a congressman can.

All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.

No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

Chief Jimi Bob (don't you DARE say as dumb as a.....) Bedpost!!!! hahahahahhaha!!!)

Wayne Gary

All,

My next door neighbor died and before he died he sold the house and the owner will be renting it out,  The neighbor was into gardening and even bloging.  As a result the front yard has a large number of day lilies and irises.  The owner will just have all of the plants scrapped off and sodded. If anyone wants to dig some up let me know and I will send you the address.  The house is in Garland near Jupiter and Arapaho.

Wayne Gary

Holly,

Isent you my e-mail and phone number on the message center.

Wayne Gary

David,

The first code talkers were Chocktaw in WWI.  The Germans were tapping into the phone lines.  The Texas boys started using Chocktaws fro OK to communicate over the lines in Chocktaw.

Now that you are retired you will find you have "2 days each week"  Sunday and 6 Saturdays "to do only what you could do on Saturday,"

Lowell Tuttle

Good for me to see baseball (mlb) having a day for Lou Gehrig to raise awareness and money for Lou Gehrig's disease.   LG4day.com

Mom passed from ALS in 1998 after about 18 months.   Basically, your brain is unaffected yet the signaling connectors to muscles, both involuntary and volunary are "shorted" causing various different body muscle parts to cease functioning gradually.  

She loved basedball until the end.   i don't know why she liked the Rangers, but when i moved to Houston she also began to favor the Astros too.

It was a tough time for us.   I did'nt believe the diagnosis for a long time because she was about 70 when they told her.  It usually affects folks much younger.   

Canadians have a higher tendency to it as do head trauma victims and veterans.

The worst part (in her case, as each case is sligihtly different) was the swallowing and that was preceded by her speech being slurred.

When she refused food, it was only a short time later that she was too week and passed.   I was told if you stop eating for about two weeks, and have no feeding tube, they can't start one.

They had some guests on the Astros game tonight who were suffering it and their outlook was amazing and made me weep.   

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

I noted some interesting comments from readers of the book [1620] written by Peter Wood.

"If THE 1619 PROJECT, a book by Nikole Hannah-Jones, were a term paper, any knowledgeable, fair-minded teacher would give it an "F" and be done with it.  It demonstrates not only incompetence in researching basic facts, but also a total disregard for the importance of using reliable sources."  This was a comment by a retired teacher.

"After the election and re-election of the first Black president, Americans might have thought that they were in a period of reconciliation.  The acquisition of the top spot in American politics could be thought of as proof positive that America in the 21st century has essentially moved beyond its racist past and made good on the promise of equality."

"Alas, that was not to be.  America's political elite have far too much invested in identity politics and racist grievances.  President Obama's acquisition of the presidency was in no small part due to fostering America's guilt about its treatment of slaves, given freedom in 1863 by Pres. Lincoln, and the enormous Black vote bloc for Democrats.  The cultural group that controls the Democrat coalition was obviously not going to give up the power of race-baiting.  However, with the absence of actual racism, the cultural elite have had to play up racist hysteria to disguise the absence of real racism."  (Comments from a conservative, well-informed, American patriot) 

Reading Peter Wood's book, [1620] should be an enlightening experience, I believe.  It has been recommended to me by a professor I admire.

Do any of you have interest in reading the book?  It was written in answer to THE 1619 PROJECT book, now being highly debated and challenged in the US, and given high regard in the NYT newspaper; a paper that so many citizens accept as "the best newspaper" of our country.

Jan Alexander

Better alittle late than never, I posted this on the other site but want to post this on here , too... to honor those who have served in OUR country's military... We owe our lives to all these men and women.

"Anywho..to continue my thoughts on my Dad's World War II post ,  he was born in the Panhandle of Oklahoma during the dust bowl days and got his college degree in French and Spanish. I guess he wanted to get the hell out of Dodge. That is how he landed a job in Colombia , South America when I was 1 year old...

Anywho, who ; his last years were in a little rural town in another state where he lived with his second wife.  Steve , you brought up Jaguars which had 12 cylinders... .. It reminded me of my Dad. He always loved cars. We had a MGB and a Karmann Ghia when I was in my late teens and early 20's.  But later as an old man, he purchased a evergreen colored Jag with camel color leather interior. When there was a little town parade in his agriculture town , they would always ask him to drive his car in the Memorial Day Parade . He even drove a retired Rear Admiral around for the crowds.

Anywho ,who , who.... as I watched the movie, MIDWAY, I remembered Dad's little town paper wrote a big article on my Dad's life... I guess to draw attention away from otherwise the prices of wheat and grain for the day... So I dragged it out of my files . It is weird how we aren't really interested in our parent's past as we grow up , it is always all about US.  As I re-read the article , there are things I never knew about or even inquired about his military history . I am now very grateful the journalist who interviewed him , published the article. 

Alexander recalls U.S. Navy experiences in World War II

......."In 1941 he joined the Navy , " to keep from getting drafted" and was assigned to the Navy's V7 Reserve Officers Training Program. After graduating,  his first job was in New Orleans in Naval Intellligence .  He continued  the assignments of Officer in Charge of the Habor Entrance Control post , the assigned duty commanding a small patrol craft of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and the assigned duty on a coastal transport which sailed for the Soloman Islands in South Pacific. 

"Promoted to Lt. (jg) , he was given command of LCI 336 , as small craft designed for landing and beaching operations which participated in landings at New Georgia Is and Bouganville in the South Pacific. In 1944 , Lt. (jg) was promoted to Lieutenant  and transfered to the Amphibious training Base at Solomons, Md. to train a crew but then training was cut short to replace a Ship's Captain who was taken off for medical reasons.  His new ship was a  Landing Craft Support 21 used for close inshore troop support and fighting. The LCS had 70 enlisted men and 6 officers.  In November 1944 , he took the ship back to the South Pacific to get ready for the invasion of Okinawa. In March 1945 ,the massive US invasion fleet began it's northern journey towards Okinawa. It was a difficult trip with waves peaking at 25 to 30 feets.  On April 1, 1945 , together with 1,500 other ships, they began the invasion of Okinawa. Alexander and his crew would soon experience a new type of War-fare - fanatical Japanese suicide Kamikaze planes. His LCS was used as a "Marker" that tells the ships with troops where to go in for landing. With 1,500 ships in the invasion fleet, the Japs suicide planes had plenty of targets; usually they went for the larger ships, aircraft carriers , battleships and cruisers. Alexander's gunnery crew had alots of shooting to do, firing away at suicide planes, hoping to shoot them down before the planes had a chance to crash into the US Navy ship.  Alexander's ship was ordered to "picket duty", standing guard north and west of Okinawa to shoot down any suicide planes.  Nearly 5,000 Navy personnel were killed or wounded from the Kamikaze air attacks. Hundreds of sailors in the invasion fleet suffered psychological problems from their seemingly helplessness of defending themselves against the air attacks.  

After the Battle of Okinawa , Lt. Alexander received his Honorable Discharge on Jan. 2 1946. He received the Pacific Campaign Ribbon with 4 bronze stars and the WW II Victory Medal and promoted to Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.

                                AND NOW YOU HAVE THE REST OF THE STORY !

One last note, I think he would rise from his ashes if he had witnessed those sorry son's of bitches storming the Capital this past January ... who were fighting against our country instead of fighting for the preservation of our country . 

United we stand , divided we loose.

AND now you also know why I cuss... My father was a sailor man. He cussed up a storm. 

Steve Keene

Wayne,

Let me know when the crowd thins out that you have invited to come dig bulbs up in the mud.  I doubt there will be any left by then.   Not that I have any interest in doing physical labor in the mud, I just want to know about the crowd.  I was thinking of inviting people to dig milkweed out of my fields, so that they could transplant them and have Monarch butterflies at their house, too.  I don't have any spots left for picking the ripe peaches at my house.  Those filled up pretty quickly.

Wayne Gary

Steve,

Nobody wants to dig them up.  Only 3 or 4 workers hired to clean up the yard.  No mud here.

When do you want to pop the cork on the sparkling grape juice?

Jim Bedwell

The latest economic report came out today and the Dems are surprised it's not as good as expected!! What else is new?

I spoke too soon. Now Israel has also gotten rid of their WONDERFUL leader Netanyahu. So now I list Israel with the rest of the FEW marginally & partially on-the-side-of-good nations, including us. And Bibi from what I understand is one of those FEW humans with a genius IQ - give me THAT Jew with a genius IQ over Schumer ANY TIME!!!

For those who never watch FNC, they've just exposed how Fauci is integral to the corruption rampant worldwide now. In his post as quintessential bureaucrat, he helped direct our tax money to the Wuhan lab to test the gain of function experiments (he lied under oath recently to Rand Paul about all this gain of function stuff and how no, they weren't involved in any of that), which involves basically taking known pathogens and making them worse to accomplish new understanding of those, I'm hearing. Then with email proof of all of this exposed the last few days, he's telling his cohorts that he's worried about their exposure since the virus was looking early last year like it was coming. That's the basis of it - not only is he inept, constantly trying to avoid direct answers, flip flopping over time all over the place, but also he's now obviously corrupt. He needs to be fired immediately and perhaps see some legal action, I think. Donald was given him, but he should have gotten rid of him when Fauci advised him BOTH times last year NOT to issue the travel bans against China OR Europe - for that alone, he's in over his head. He's as bought and paid for by the ChiComs as much as the Biden Family Syndicate is - that's another thing readily available to learn about on FNC for those of you on the left who also, in only the story of the millennium so far, missed the news of the attempted coup for THE LAST 5 YEARS. No wonder all the deflection from Biden AND Fauci about China and how the ChiComs are the bad guy since that nation owns both of them (and the NIH, WHO and soon everything else). C'MON, MAN!!

So with Slow Joe the Bumbler we have loss of function. With Fauci we have gain of function. In both instances WE ALL LOSE, even the GREAT IGNORATI, which is my original term for the Marxist left today.

Speaking of our MIA President, Obama's Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the past said publicly about him that he NEVER in his decades of "service" (really self-service - that's probably all Joe can understand, especially now) did Biden make the correct policy decision, NOT EVEN ONCE!!! And that was before the obvious dementia!!!!! YES BIDEN ADVISED OBAMA NOT TO TAKE OUT OSAMA BIN LADEN 10 YEARS AGO!!!! I bet Gates privately to himself and/or others predicted that foolish choice.

We now have, likely irrevocably, 2 systems of justice for the left and right. HilLIARy, Comey, Strzok, Page, ad nauseum will likely all avoid the prison they deserve since I bet NOTHING comes of the John Durham probe into the worse scandal in US history, the attempted soft coup of the GREAT ORANGE MAN, who is now about to be the target of another (3rd and counting, but if this fails as it surely will, don't think that's the end of it!) waste of taxpayer money, more investigations of Donald, by the corrupt Dem politicians behind the fence (to keep us out like all good totalitarians).

So what are the corrupt media discussing this past week? Climate change crisis? Systemic racism? Old white men (hey, media, start with YOUR leader for once, if that's the topic)?

And I didn't even mention the obviously-caused-by-Biden border catastrophe!!! Did you see and hear the young children almost drowning a couple of days ago IN THE DARK like I did in an FNC video? I wonder if the other media showed that video? Hmmmmmmmm..................

So nothing's changed - the world is continuing its seemingly irreversible spiral downward as we speak!

Have a great weekend!

Jim Bedwell

Thanks, Wayne for the info about how Tommy can read the posts on this forum.

Also like so many, I didn't know you AT ALL at RHS so obviously I didn't know you were an Aggie - but don't worry, YOU ARE FORGIVEN OF THAT!!! haahahahahahaha!!! Just kidding, even though I'm UT-Austin, 1974 (OK, so yes, a year late - a have a TON of excuses for that though).

Really though, I couldn't care less about that UT-A&M rivalry. The guy I trained to be a programmer in Alaska, Lake Highlands HS, '69 was also an Aggie, 1973 on-time, AND the kind that refers to my alma mater as "tu" so basically he is a RABID version. But I don't care. In my emails to him, I address him as "Aggie" and sign it "ex-tuer".

By the way, have you ever heard of a spell checker? I found out about those a few days ago!!!! You might look into that! A nurse once found out that I was opening packages with my teeth (like I said, and I thoroughly enjoy repeating, I come from a family where I had a sibling who bit his toenails for a while) - and she told me about something that I told her, yeah, I had heard of those, I think - scissors!

Jim Bedwell

Tommy doubted I was kicked off the annual staff senior year. Yes Tommy it really did happen. You sat with Cordell at the table next to mine; my table (I don't remember my tablemates or what we were supposed to be doing really) was to the west of yours and was on its north-south axis. Don't you remember that?

Also kicked off then were:

Randy Rushing

Melinda Nelson - hurrah - I was associated with beauty & celebrity (Homecoming Queen is a star, right?) - actually she may have sat at my table - how could I have forgotten THAT?!?!?!?!

Laurie McSomething I think her name was, a strawberry blonde girl with braces who was a sophomore. I don't have access to any annuals currently but if you look at the PASF/Spanish Club photo our senior year, you'll see her pushing my laughing/smiling face down with her hand on the left side of that photo - unless it didn't really happen?!?!?!! NNNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Jim Bedwell

I heard the 17 year cicadas are out somewhere. Those happened in the greater NYC area in 1962 when I lived there. They were EVERYWHERE making that LOUD droning noise. Then after just a short time they all died and their dead corpses were also EVERYWHERE. CRUNCH CRUNCH!

If I'm still alive in 2030 I plan on going back to my old home town, Short Hills/Millburn, NJ to check it out.

Tucker Carlson just ate a sweet pastry or such made with some cicadas and said it's delicious. The expert on the show said don't try cicadas if you have a shellfish allergy and don't try other bugs either without checking them out. But cicadas are a good source of protein.

David Cordell

Well, here's something that will help race relations. (You'll have to plow through all the ads, etc.)

https://www.newsweek.com/aruna-khilanani-went-tiktok-push-yale-make-whiteness-talk-public-1597873

That was for FoxNews haters. This FoxNews story provides more information.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/nyc-shrink-tells-yale-audience-she-fantasizes-about-shooting-white-people-in-head

Lowell Tuttle

Better than Tucker

Talia Richman, Staff news reporter for DMN reported or broke the story about the Lake Highlands valedictorain speech about the Texas Leg/Govt move againt women's rights and the anti abortion movement.

She is a graduate of Richardson High School and is or was a close friend of my neice, Berkeley.

Posts lots of stories on Twitter, as well as DMN.

Wayne Gary

Jim B

If you join the Richardson Alumni site the has the 67 & 68 yearbooks on line. Free to join.

https://www.alumniclass.com/richardson-high-school-eagles-tx

The 1969 yearbook is on this website.

Wayne Gary

Jim.

I remember that about 15 years ago when the courts said the UT-Austin could give preference to minorities in admission as a way to increase diversity.  A&M looked at the problem of racial diversity and said that the problem with low minority enrollment was due to those being accepted enrolled at about 1/2 the rate of non-minorities.  They determined one reason was since many of them had parents that were not college graduates and therefore could not afford to move away from home and go to A&M or any college.  A&M came up with a $25,000.00 "First Generation scholarship" that was not based on race.  After 13 years the UT program had no change in percentages where A&M with a growing student population doubled the percentage of minorities.  State Senator Royce West of Dallas said in the beginning that A&M's plan would not work.  Last year UT announced that in order to get more minorities they would not charge tuition to "First Gens".  When the Dallas News asked when A&M would do the same,  their reply "3 years ago".

To paraphrase Papa John's Pizza : Better School, Better Graduates.

Gig-em Aggies

Kurt Fischer

Ron:

This week my daughter and I visited your fair city of Asheville.  It was a wonderful vacation.  And we did all the things that tourists do.

Sunday - Arrived at your international airport in the late afternoon.  It has 7 gates!

Monday - Took the tourist trolley in the morning to get a great overview of the town and historical anecdotes, then walked the downtown area during the afternoon.  Since it was Memorial Day, things were a bit crowded, but it sure is an ecletic area, particularly based on the city size.  Late afternoon we drove out to the Biltmore Estate and checked into one of their hotels.

Tuesday - Took the tour of the mansion in the morning and did the "backstairs" tour in the afternoon.  Humble abode.  

Wednesday - Toured the gardens in the morning and went hiking on the estate in the afternoon.   The area down by the lagoon and the French Broad river were beautiful.

Thursday - Drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway past Mount Pisgah, then took a left down through the national park.  Stopped at the Looking Glass waterfall, then continued to Brevard where we walked around quite a bit.  Continued back to the Blue Ridge Parkway the other direction and went to the Folk Art Center.

Friday - Flew back to Dallas after eating lunch at the only restaurant in the airport.

Again, you've picked a great area to live in.  Sort of reminds me of Dallas, except for the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and your downtown area....

Ron Knight

Kurt

Glad you enjoyed your visit to Asheville. Yeah, it sounds like you took in some great sights. Did you take in the wine tasting at The Biltmore Vineyards? If you like to play golf, next time you may want to stay a night at The Grove Park Inn. You get a round of golf included with your stay. If you don't play golf, just sitting on the open air Great Patio is worth it. Also they have tours of the Grove Park Inn and all of the famous folks who have stayed there. Plus, all of the Art Galleries in the River Arts District of town are great as well.

And the Airport. Now that's a laid back airport for sure!

Wayne Gary

I just found this WWII documentary about the CB's. Done by the War Department and OSS.  I did not know haw much the Navy CBs did in Europe.

As I said before my dad was a CB in HI and Guam.

Jim Bedwell

For any of you with French-Canadian pioneer ancestry, the following website is EXCELLENT!!! In fact, it's the least error-prone of just about anything I've ever seen - obviously there is no such thing as an error-free genealogy website. Also CHECK OUT the picture of hockey player Serge Savard when the screen appears - does Serge look like the late great football coach Hank Stram there or what?!?!?!

https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Serge%20Savard&pid=1299349 

You may have to get back to the 1800's to find your first ancestry here - I did but once you do, you should be able to find all your forebears.

Canada has always had about 10% of our population, and I think the same holds true today. But they must have had, at least the French pioneers & their progeny, some meticulous record keepers and without so much of the loss or damage through fires, accidents & humanness as you see everywhere else.

Plus I've learned a lot of French words dissecting this great info source. But you can click on "English" in the upper right-hand corner too - whoever created this site did a GREAT job!

Jim Bedwell

And Melinda Nelson, if you're reading this, your remark about having had a crush on Mr. Miller was ALMOST as funny to me as when Bob Brown mentioned that his favorite teacher was Mark Boland!!! Yes, indeed, the incomparable sage Dr. Boland was a remarkable humorist as well, as we know.

Jim Bedwell

Here's another goldmine on-line if you have any Cherokee blood. Again like the French Canadian website, I had to find my great grandfather (1844-1906) as the most recent ancestor, but once you connect, you're good.

https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0000-0001.html

This second link is to the same site but for some reason, this guy James R Hicks has a separate thing about the descendants of Scottish immigrant John Vann I - who is my ancestor as he was also for Will Rogers, my 5th cousin, 3x removed - his father's name was Clement Vann Rogers.

https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/GENE1-0001.html

David Cordell

Kurt,

I'm miffed. My wife and I were planning to take a Vicksburg, Nashville, Asheville car trip, but we balked when the pipelne issue arose. Looking at the fall.