THOUGHTS ARE FREE

 Just finished “The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the USS Neosho- A World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea” by Don Keith. What a story of a brave ship, not a massive warship or aircraft carrier, but a workaday oiler attacked by two squadrons of aircraft but who kept herself afloat for four days until rescue arrived.

It is such a thrill to know my beloved U.S. Navy produced such ships and men. If you have never served, you have no idea how disheartening today’s America has become. I'm sure that that the shipmates, men and women, who serve her now want to carry on the tradition.

The top of the Chain of Command, however, is rotten, and I fear that the rot will begin to seep below decks. 

I have no control over our government. But I have the Oath, music, literature, memories, and a wonderful life to make me keep smiling. Oh yes, there is a life-partner whose father fought fascists through France, Belgium and Germany. We have his Combat Infantry Badge and Purple Heart, … and I have a DD 214.

Life is good because thoughts are free.

Salute a brave ship for today.

USS NEOSHO (AO 23)

THE ELDERLY PLANNER

 Notes From The Elderly Planner: Walking with the young dog who rescued us and now manages our house, I thought about some ideas that young urban planners have. Some involve parking automobiles. They’re “agin” it. Some suggest if we eliminate parking requirements, world peace will descend upon us. I’m not so sure.

Truth is, cities do often over-require commercial parking. That’s a topic for another day. Today I’m stuck on residential parking.

On each day’s walk, we often have to take to the street because a car, actually usually a pickup truck, sits athwartships to the sidewalk (when there is one.) This is one of those problems that didn’t plague us so badly 50 years ago. Why? One reason is that people had more concern for their neighbors 50 years ago. Another is that a modern middle or upper middle-class family now with two teenagers may possess four automobiles and a hunting jeep. Visitors usually come in cars.

As Mayor Furlow Thompson of Pot Luck, Arkansas says, “Where the hell you gonna put ‘em?”

It's gonna get worse. Our state just passed a law that requires allowing accessory dwelling units in all residential districts (good idea) but prohibits cities from requiring parking for those extra units (what the hell were they thinking?) Somehow, things will work out. It’s called “pixie dust planning.” That’s the same thinking that allows if we build enough trails, people will walk or ride bikes to work. (Today here: 95 degrees F and 97 percent humidity.)

As Ernest Hemingway said (not about urban planning but it often fits) “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

THE ELDERLY PLANNER

 Notes from The Elderly Planner: Years ago, many years ago, I was present at a public meeting in my hometown. The room was packed. I forget what the original topic was, but the discussion turned to affordable housing, back then called "decent, safe, and sanitary" housing.

As public input progressed, a woman in her late 20s, known about town as a "neo-hippie" rose at one point and said, "I don't think anyone should profit from providing an essential human need like housing."

Everyone in the room laughed. I'm sure I did. With each passing year, I have found the statement less funny.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 America and the world still suffers from the last time a dim-witted American president got us into an unnecessary war.

We can at least blame a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court for that one. The elected him.

This time thought, 77,302,580 Americans will do the "walk of shame."

DEFEAT FASCISM

 The “listen to” book for Bessie and me is now “The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the USS Neosho- A World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea Paperback” – by Don Keith. It is another tale of great heroism, by my beloved Navy.

The name "Neosho" refers to a river in America. They named tankers like the Neosho after rivers for anyone thinking the name sounds Japanese.

Oddly, I’m finding it a precise allegory to our present condition in America. We are now experiencing the historical equivalent of the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The brave protests of last Saturday mirror the fury with which Americans responded to an attack on their country. Anchors Aweigh!

DEFEAT FASCISM

 It appears that people who love America are in for some rough times. A missive (Project 2025) written for a dictator in exile is now the operating manual for our country. (Yes, the similarities are devastatingly terrifying.) Will these times make us hate America the way our current leaders do? They don't have to. Let us consider other groups that have lived through hard times. There are several.

One includes our African American brothers and sisters. They descend from those who suffered the unimaginable effects of raw slavery here from 1619 until 1865, and economic slavery until now.

Do they hate America?

No, they have served honorably in every one of our wars since the one that freed them.

They have contributed to every aspect of story of America's greatness, including science, work, service, art, literature, and sports almost always without the recognition afforded their Caucasian kin.

Role models exist for us as the darkness descends. Let us draw strength from their bravery.

DREAMS

 America has forgotten how to dream. I saw something like that in a quote and it started me thinking. My thoughts: Yes we have. No we have not.

It seems to me that we have forgotten to dream of the things that make our country stronger.

We once dreamed of eliminating poverty. Lyndon Johnson tried. It may have represented a classic example of applying the right solution to the wrong problem. Perhaps the problem wasn’t poor people in poor areas. Perhaps the problem was the exploitation of poor people in almost every segment of our country since 1619.

Ronald Reagan dreamed of accommodating poverty by enabling the rich to become richer and the poor to become ashamed of being poor. More wealth was to trickle downward from the rich to the poor and obviate the need for the ones he pictured as being like his “Welfare Queen.” Wealth, falling from the sky like manna from Heaven would enable those below to free themselves from the quagmire of poverty.

It may have contained a twinge of applying the wrong solution to the right problem. It is a characteristic of the rich that that last thing on earth they want is to share in their hoard.

Our poor still wait like hungry pets for the largesse to fall their way.

Oh, we dream alright. The rich dream of a pure capitalistic society in which they face no regulations or pay any taxes.

The poor dream of not having to make a choice between food or shelter.

Many of the rest of us dream of our state’s college sports team winning a national championship.