Well today its suppose to be in the 50s, and stay that way until Sunday, when it will drop to the 30s, so we shall see.
Cubicle, sweet cubicle. Yep, here is where its all done. I say that jokingly, but I AM the Classified Department for the Columbia Missourian. With the cost cutbacks and everything, it has come down to me. Its good and bad at times. I don't really take a vacation; oh I do a day off here and there, and found that I have to take the time or loose it.
And I have always loved the Sherlock Holmes's look. Organized in a way only he knows it. I had done that when I had the library at the farm. Also, I think, and I am probably the only one, that thinks this is what a newspaper's office/desk should look like. I know, coming from a military school, where inspection was a way of life; I also came to the realization that the saying, "No combat ready unit ever passed inspection" is true. When there is an inspection, I can clean it up and pass. But the day to day running, that's another story.
I am also getting a handle on my new coffee maker. I love Walgreen's. For $10 you can get a decent coffee maker. All I wanted was something that I could have at my desk so I could have coffee. Since I drank about a soda a day, sometimes two, it should pay for itself within the first week. Lets hope.
During the 1970's along the interstate, you could probably find a Nickerson's Farm. It was a franchise whose look was a steeply sharp roof painted red, good cooking, a atmosphere very similar to the Cracker Barrel and bees. They usually had a hive, enclosed in glass, and you could see the bees. They also sold the honey there. But now as I think about it, I wonder, did they take the bees out? They need flowers for pollination, so how did they do it? But I digress.
One of the things that, as a 10 year old found, were books. They were 8x11 and were very much like the Chicken Soup for the Soul. Written or edited by Dan Valentine. I was luckily enough to be able to get 3 of them. One of my favorite was "America Pleads Not Guilty."
There are works of writing that truly touch me, and when they do, I like to express to the author how much I appreciate their working of words to make me feel the way I do after reading what they have written. With the Internet and the almost instance ability to find anyone, I have not been able to find the author. I don't even know if that was his real name or a nom de plume. But no matter what his name, he did a great job. I want to re-work it some to fit today's timeline and numbers, but that's it. The sentiment and the ideology will remain.
America Pleads Not Guilty by Dan Valentine
In the turmoil of the times, Americans have been inoculated with a false feeling of guilt. Some would have us believe we have failed our dreams. They call us greedy, grasping, arrogant, meddlesome...
America Pleads Not Guilty.
Mobs stone our embassies...Americans are ridiculed in foreign lands...Dissenters at home defy our laws and make mockery of our freedom. We are called selfish, smug, self-satisfied, unfair. We are told to hang our heads in guilt and shame.
America Pleads not guilty.
They call us inhumane. But when disaster strikes anywhere in the world; flood, famine, hurricane or earthquake-we are the first to offer aid. Not just sympathy, but food, clothing, medicine, money...
They call us selfish. But each year Americans contribute billions to charity...most of it dimes and dollars from average citizens. They call us "Uncle Shylock." But what other nation in the history of the world fights and wins wars-then taxes itself to the breaking point to restore the war-torn lands of the enemies?
America Pleads Not Guilty.
Critics scoff at our New World ways. But in 200 years we have cleared a wilderness and have become the granary of the world and the arsenal of freedom. Cynics say we are crude and uncultured. But in 200 years we have built a nation of 175,000 schools....2,200 colleges and universities....1,000 symphony orchestras....100,000 libraries.........75,000 hospitals....and 250,000 churches. Two hundred years ago, children worked in the mines and were old at 14...criminals were dipped in vats of molten lead...citizens were chained in dungeons with no hope of a fair trial. Debtors were stripped of their freedom...No man's home was his castle. These are no more...thanks to the American Dream.
America Pleads Not Guilty.
They call us intolerant. But men of other colors and other faiths sit in our Senate and Congress, and rule from the highest judicial court in the land.
America Pleads Not Guilty.
There are 200 million Americans who have never owned a black slave, or any slave. They stem from a million ancestors who have never owned a black slave or any slave. There are 200 million Americans who have never started a war, or envied another man's land....they have never ransacked a nation, looted a stranger's home or forced any man to bow to a loser's yoke. There are 200 million Americans who have never scoffed at another's God...or defied his temples.
Thousands of American soldiers are buried in foreign soil-they died fighting so others could be free. Cynics and dissenters cry: "America is through, the dream is gone." They lie. Millions of Americans still live with their neighbors in peaces and harmony. Millions of Americans still live with the spirit of charity, with compassion in their hearts. Millions of Americans still pray, pay taxes, obey the law and govern themselves. Cynics, scoffers, critics, say what you will about us...
America Pleads Not Guilty.
This is my America. This is my United States. I am an American, and I plead not guilty.
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