A Family Gathering

My Aunt Jo died recently and I traveled home to attend the funeral. I have fond memories of her as she was always a happy person who talked with a very broad Tidewater Virginia dialect which was music to the ears. Sad as these events can be they do provide for an opportunity to catch up with the rest of the family that you seldom see.

I got to meet an old High School classmate....last seen in 1966 along with the cousins and their kids.

The kids remind me of how old we are getting. Cuz Robert's hair is gone white....mine is just gone.

Cuz Betsy is pretty as ever and her sister Dot is the same "Sport" she ever was. To think the two of them are sisters makes you wonder how nature works. The mental image of Dot in a Claribel the Clown suit hugging my Mom in a restaurant still makes me giggle. Mom of course did not recognize the crazy person that was accosting her!

Cuz Robert's son Adam is now an Army 2nd Lieutenant going through Ranger School with orders to an Airborne unit of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell. I gave his charming new bride a 205th Geronimo's Challenge Coin (my unit in Vietnam) and a small Battle Flag that I carried all those years ago for his use should he be deployed to Afghanistan or some other dangerous place.

He is carrying on a family tradition of sorts. His Great Grand Father Chappell was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines during the Philippine Insurrection. He later received the Distinguished Service Cross for going out under enemy fire three times during an ambush to retrieve wounded soldiers and dragging them to safety. If he had been any rank other than Private.....no doubt he would have received the Medal of Honor instead of the DSC.

Grand Dad was a Hero by anyone's definition and a very modest one from what we know about him and his comments about the event. In his letter to his Platooon Leader he responded to the Officer's compliments by saying something along the lines of "It was nothing really....I felt as long as I was in the open and they were aiming at me...I was quite safe!" Granddad must have had a good sense of humor as well as a lot of courage.

The family is proud of young Adam and wish him well in his Army career. His cousin Denise, was recently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and is now a Battalion Commander of a signal unit. She too is doing quite well in her chosen career.

Feline PTSD?

Lord help me but I believe Frady shows signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has a heightened Situational Awareness, an exaggerated Startle Reflex, and last night evidently had a Flashback episode triggered by sounds from a movie.

I had a film about Nelson Mandela playing and when the scene appeared where prisoners were being loaded onto a boat that would be taking them to an island prison.....and the German Shepherd K-9 Dogs began to growl and bark....poor ol' Frady snapped awake from his slumbers on the sofa with a terrified look in his eyes and started looking for a place to run to!

Me thinks the poor lad has been chased by one too many dogs in his life.

The wind is howling again....20-30 gusts to 40 mph and the boat is rocking about in the slip. When the gusts arrive the halyards start their clanging which can be a form of torture that perhaps the CIA should consider. That would probably be considered a war crime now days.

I heard from Gunter Burmeister and Robbie Duff this week. We were together in Iran all those many years ago with Bristow Helicopter's company there known as Iranian Helicopters. Gunter and I flew Alouette III's and Robbie was an engineer (mechanic in American english). Gunter hails from a small town near Dusseldorf in Germany and Robbie is a wee Scot from Perth and now lives just north of Aberdeen. Add in Dan Tyler who reported his recent trip to Vietnam and it has been nice to hear from the old bunch. Dan is an American from Indiana who found his way to Australia and never came back. You would think he is a native Aussie from the way he talks!

It is a small world we live in these days!

Sound Effects

Sound adds to the pleasures of life.

While sitting here updating this blog.... a large Owl landed on a spreader on the main mast and began "hooting"...much to the consternation of the Ship's Cat. What a wonderful sound! Alas, he flew off before I got a good look at him.

The other night a movie was playing and the start of the film had a baby crying. Frady started from a sound sleep and immediately sought out the noise by putting his nose to the speaker. I thought that a bit unusual as he has never reacted to any other movies or music in that way. A few nights later, another movie scene had a baby crying and he did the same thing but this time came all the way from the Vee Berth and his second most favorite sleeping spot. Again he went right to the speaker as though he was looking for the baby. Interesting creatures these felines!

We had a good day out on Sunday, weather was warm and clear with barely enough wind to get the sails up and filled. We motored sailed south along the Cape Fear towards Bald Head Island and then turned around and retraced our path but went on into downtown Wilmington. We did the downtown part of the trip just at Sunset while we had a lovely Curry dinner.

The Moon was full and very bright as we made our way into the marina. Shannon was at the helm, Katie was spotting markers with the spotlight, and I was giving helm orders (as if I knew what I was doing!) The tide was at dead low when we left and we bumped bottom twice but did not get stuck. So much for the six foot minimum in the channel but it was at the lowest tide due to the Moon period.

One of my helmspersons did manage to find a mud bank down by the channel that leads to Snow's Cut but with all hands aft....and a bit of wiggling we were soon out of the mud and back into the channel. I was busily rigging the hammock and did not realize we had gotten into shallow water....but as I said at the time...."This isn't the first time Luna has gotten muddy!"

Katie definitely knows her way around boats and Shannon has the making of a real sailor. When the weather warms up hopefully we will have the opportunity to take Luna out into the oceanan and enjoy some real sailing. I hope I do not have to resort to an old time "shanghai'ing" to recruit Katie and Shannon as crew.

The Visit With the Winston-Salem Journal Editorial Board

Yesterday was an interesting day for sure.

I attended the weekly meeting of the Editorial Board of the Winston-Salem Journal in Winston-Salem. The experience was quite enjoyable and demonstrated how they attempt to serve the best interests of the community as they formulate their Editorials and select articles for the other portions of the Editorial section of the paper and try to coordinate their work with the News department.

Their discussion of issues was interesting and show they are not the complete boobs and loons I have accused them of in the past....far from it actually. Granted, having met them I find it somehow a wonder how some of the articles get written as they are. Perhaps there is a ghost writer living in the Journal building that haunts the hallways or something.

One comment about their on-going relationship with a prominent politician tickled me.....and I wish they could have applied to more than just the one they mentioned. If they could then I would be much more supportive of their work than I am.

I will be reading their work with much more interest now that I have seen the way they go about arriving at their positions they set forth in their Editorials.

I notice I lost Nick Lappos as a follower due to my political rants of the past few days and will miss having him around. Nick and I fall on opposite sides of many issues despite our common background as Army Helicopter Pilots with Vietnam service.

I guess my views about Politicians not paying their taxes must have offended him but in light of recent events....that being two of Obama's Cabinet picks having to withdraw validates my concerns. I certainly am glad to see Daschle gone.....and view that as a huge loss to Obama's goal of nationalizing our health care system. I do find it a bit odd that Geithner remains as the Treasury Secretary with control of the IRS despite his tax problems.

News accounts indicate General Zinni withdrew from his appointment as Ambassador to Iraq without any reason being given....and the Labor Department appointee has problems of undisclosed reasons that might prevent that confirmation.

The Obama administration is beginning to look very bad with the lobbyists being appointed after promises there would be none....and the others being caught for tax law violations.

Now we are confronted with Obama demanding we hurry through this Stimulus Package Bill without getting hung up on the details. The last time we did this under the Bush Administration we wound up with a failure......and I fail to see the wisdom of hurrying into another one that is the largest ever spending Bill in the history of the Nation.

Pennsylvania Governor Rendel today said the non-stimulus spending in the Stimulus Bill was for programs the country needs and that they might not be approved in a standard budget appropriation thus we should include them in the Stimulus Bill.

What amazing logic!

The Democratic Party thinking at its best!

What a Beautiful Day!

Clear Blue and Twenty Two as we used to say in the helicopter world....just an absolutely great day today! Clear, unlimited visibility, a wee bit of wind, cool temperature warmed by the sunshine....a good day to be out and about.

I made my voluntary contribution to the New New Deal yesterday and feel so good about it.....NOT!

I particularly read with interest (poor choice of wording) the portion of IRS Publication 1040 Instructions (page 82-83) that deals with Past Due Returns, Interest and Penalties. No where in there does it suggest there is a Rangel, Geithner, Daschael exemption from penalties and interest for their tax problems.

Quite the contrary, the wording is quite specific....they said "We will charge you interest on taxes not paid by their due date, even if an extension of time is granted. We will also charge you interest on the penalties imposed for failure to file, negligence, fraud, substantial valuation misstatements of tax, and reportable transaction understatements. Interest is charged on the penalty from the due date of the return (including extensions)".

The Penalty is usually 5% of the amount due for each month or partial month your return is late. The Penalty can be as much as 25% of the unpaid amount with the minimum amount being $135 or the amount of the tax you owe whichever is smaller.

If Fraud is the cause of the late return....then they really get after you. The rate goes to 15% per month up to a a maximum of 75% of the money owed.

If you file a "Frivolous" Return.....one that does not contain the correct data to figure the correct tax then you can be assessed a $5,000 fine just for that.

What the heck....now that Geithner is in charge of the IRS...I guess he will ensure "everyone" complies with the tax law as Daschael suggested in a statement well prior to his being caught out on his own taxes.

Another Senator way back in 1913 had some interesting observations about the new Income Tax Law.....

Senator Elihu Root about the complexity the Income Tax

“In 1913 during the debate on the first income tax act under the 16th Amendment, Senator Elihu Root commented about the complexity of that first law: “I guess you will have to go to jail. If that is the result of not understanding the Income Tax Law I shall meet you there. We shall have a merry, merry time, for all of our friends will be there. It will be an intellectual center, for no one understands the Income Tax Law except persons who have not sufficient intelligence to understand the questions that arise under it.”

We wonder why the approval rating of Congress is a whopping 17-20% at the best of times!

The latest polling data shows only 32% of the American people support the Obama/Democrat Stimulus Bill as passed by the House.

Did we not learn somewhere that if you cannot convince the American People the rightness of your plan......you need to re-think your plan? Every President succeeds or fails by paying attention to the People.

Super Bowl Sunday!

I succumbed to Jud Lamphear's invitation to attend the Super Bowl Party at the Winston-Salem American Legion Post I belong to. The members and families were gathering to root for their favorite team and sample the food offerings brought by others.

I did up a batch of meatballs using an old family recipe....Walmart Style. Also, found Jalapeno Peppers on sale for Seventy Five Cents per pound. I split the peppers, raked out the seeds, and filled them with some Pimento Cheese made by a small store in Kernersville that Walmart uses as a supplier. It is the best Pimento Cheese I have ever had!

The Game was a real thriller and was the best Super Bowl game I have ever sat through.....matter of fact it is the only Super Bowl game I have watched from the start to the end.

I view football as being a very big waste of time next only to Pro Basketball, any Golf match, and every Tennis match. Give me a good movie any time....heck...give me a bad movie over televised sports.

As I was rooting for the Steelers (most everyone else was rooting for the Blue Jays, Crows or whatever that other team was) it became very interesting at times. I was sat next to Judley and had to laugh when he and the rest of the guys leapt to their feet....started cheering a non-Steeler runner on.

I had to comment to Judley that I really did not think the runner could hear him being as he was thousands of miles away on the other end of a television broadcast system. But then what do I know about football and modern technology.

A friend sent me a video off YouTube this weekend. It is an interview of Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader and shows Reid explaining to a reporter how the American Income Tax system is a "voluntary" system. I guess it must be for Democrats in light of the past performance by Charlie Rangel, Tim Geithner, and Tom Daschael.

I know the IRS in their dealings with me have made it clear it is anything but "voluntary"! Anytime you face civil and criminal penalties for failing to pay your full tax bill I fail to see where the "voluntary" part comes in. Perhaps I am not being the "Patriot" as Joe Biden tells me I should be.

If I had tried to use the same kind of explanation Reid did when explaining my grades in school to my Momma.....I shudder to think how that would have turned out. Come to think of it....maybe that is what we need to do to straighten out Congress. Every time we catch them telling a bold faced lie....take a belt to their butt!

Now...off to the Federal Court House....strip nearly naked to get through the security checkpoint...and go collect a short twelve page IRS publication to determine how much I owe them out of the Social Security payment I got this year. Funny how they tax you on money you contributed to the system after paying income tax on that very money to begin with. God forbid you die with money in the bank......they will want a share of that too.

When the Liberals get around to raising our taxes as they surely will.....I am going to lobby for a "Penis Tax" as I will be guaranteed a rebate!