Puffs

A little trip down memory lane this week.

Numbers . . . I may give up watching the national news on TV. It seems that nothing appears on TV news unless it involves many, many people. I guess I can understand that since they cover the world and want to tell their stories to as many people as possible because the event involved so many people.

Many local news items involve maybe 10, or 50 people, but that is a ‘big’ event. I guess I’d rather tell the ‘local’ stories, rather than the big stories.

Going to Alvin Schott’s graveside services last Saturday reminded me of the funeral I attended back in 1973. It was for a simple, dryland farmer, and the St. Stephen church was filled to overflowing. Alvin’s service was sort of the same way.

Neither man was known for national or state fame, they were just good people remembered by friends and relatives in great numbers . . . for a local event.

A O

I heard another word last week that I haven’t heard for some time. “Ozone.”

Remember the 1990’s dire emergency of an ‘Ozone Hole’ and we were all going to die?

Well, how often have you heard of the ozone hole?

I’ve thought of this several times over the past few years. I concluded that maybe the Liberal Press just thought they raised as much excitement as they could with this subject and moved on to other things they could excite the public about.

Well, I looked a bit for information and found the following:

“Today, the ozone hole still exists, forming every year over Antarctica in the spring. It closes up again over the summer as stratospheric air from lower latitudes is mixed in, patching it up until the following spring when the cycle begins again.”

Seems that it is a natural event that happens every year and has been doing so for many, many years. In the 1990s some scientists thought the situation was getting worse, resulting in the near panic of the time.

Today, it seems the actions of governments have seemed to alter what they called the negative effects, and life will go on.

I suspect the “crisis” was overblown by the national press, but who’s to know.

A O

Polio . . .

There’s a word I haven’t heard of for a long time.

If the 1950’s outbreak of Polio happened today, I suspect it would have been labeled a “pandemic.”

I have just not heard anything about it for some time, but last week there was a confirmed case of Polio in New York. About 20 years ago there were medical discussions of what they called “Post-Polio Syndrome.” After that, no news at all.

Many, if not most, folks might wonder about this and may not have even heard of Polio. However, I became very involved with it, having contacted the disease, along with fellow Lawrence citizens Ernest Snell and Ron Ostdiek.

I pray they keep the disease contained to New York. Those were not fun days.

A O

“Don’t Worry . . . Be Happy.”

How many of you remember that song. I’m not sure why it came to mind this morning, but I’m thinking it was because of the national news.

Seems that on the Sunday TV shows a number of the current president’s “men” tried that old method of describing what’s going on in the world of economics.

They change definitions of words.

For years it seems people who try to explain what is happening in the economic world had definitions for when things happen . . . like recessions.

These ‘smart’ people are now saying that the economic indicators do not now mean the same thing they used to mean.

I was amused by part of the explanation they gave as to why we should not be concerned about inflation.

They explained the price of gasoline has been coming down consistently for a little while now. They didn’t say “we should be happy.” But that is what they were saying.

The $4.00+ we are paying now is much better than the $5.00+ we were paying just a short while ago.

So, we should be happy that the price of gasoline in now lower that it was.

Ya, but they did not mention that it is still more than a $1.00 or more than it was just two years ago.

A O

Don’t worry, be happy!

I admit my final topic this morning was not in any weekend news I saw, but it is something that keeps popping up in the national media.

Election Integrity.

Liberal Democrats contend there has not been voter fraud in our system in the past and, therefore, no need to start voter I. D. today.

“The Heritage Foundation” has done a study of recent elections and their database now contains 1,365 proven instances of election fraud. The database is not an exhaustive list of all election fraud in the states, rather it presents a sampling of recent, proven instances of election fraud from across the country.

The few examples listed cover the states from New York to California. A lot of the examples involve absentee voting, but not all. People are voting for dead people, people are being paid to vote in more than one polling location, etc.

The legal system is doing what it can as prosecutions are taking place. In Philadelphia a man faces up to 60 years in prison and more than $1 million in possible fines when sentenced this September.

Our current president is among those Liberal Democrats who don’t want voter I. D. required. While they continue to ‘steal’ elections they just want you to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

A O