wonderland

WINTER WONDERLAND

It is almost winter but it does not seem to be like a “wonderland’! We have had an ice storm followed by a 9 inch snow. This has resulted in a devastation of many trees but most disrupting has been many people without power. There have been downed power lines and transformers knocked out for a week or more. The outages have been spotty and here at Drury Place we lost the use of the elevator, but all other electricity has been functioning. Everyone is helpful and supportive. Perhaps a “small” disaster once n a while is good to be reminded of the intrinsic goodness of people. However, wars and fanaticism with man’s inhumanity to man must be eliminated. It will happen in time. Education is the major key. One effort I that direction is the OLPC—One laptop per child program.

http://laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.

The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.

Since November 12th, OLPC has been offering a limited-time Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During Give One Get One, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. Thanks to a growing interest in the program, we have extended Give One Get One through the end of the year. You may also donate laptops via our Simply Give and Give Many options. Through the increasing public interest in OLPC, we hope to give many more children the opportunity to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

The XO laptop is designed to be indestructible.

The last couple of months have been somewhat hectic. I have had a cataract removed from my right eye. Mary has had a problem with jaundice due to restriction of her common bile duct by the pancreatic tumor. A plastic stent was inserted with endoscopic technique to remove the blockage, at least temporarily. We are looking into Cyberknife treatment.

In this Christmas Season, Cleo joins us in wishing all of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BEGINNING FALL

I am finally getting around to writing another blog, there is no excuse for the delay except for my lack of motivation. I am motivated now to alert all of my correspondents that the lady who has been maintaining the “Baghdad Burning” blog for all of these years has now made a new posting in September!! See the link in my Sidebar. She and her family have emigrated to Syria. Even tho they are now “displaced persons” she notes that now there are no labels of Sunni, Shiite, Kurd and the associated fears for living in Baghdad and all of that is just short drive away. It is all hard to comprehend. I had feared that she may have been a victim of the continued violence in Iraq, as her previous posting had been back in April. General Petraeus has made his report to the Congress. I have just finished reading “The Glorious Cause—a novel of the American Revolution 1776 to1783” by Jeff Shaara. Establishing a new government was a

very difficult job and seems almost impossible in Iraq.

An interesting book was highlighted last Sunday in the afterwords segment of booktv on cspan2--After Words: Raymond Ibrahim, editor and translator of "The Al Qaeda Reader"

This is a translation of Ben Laden’s and his henchman’s writings. There is a podcast and it can be seen on www.booktv.org.

A new resident here in Drury place is an artist and she has been using colored pencils. I am very interested in the effects she has been able to get. We may be able to get a group together and learn something about using that medium. It willl be fun to try. It is simpler and does not require so much stuff, such as a mixing palette, water, etc. Also one can combine the pencil with watercolor.

The symphony season will start in October. We are looking forward to that.

Richard was here for a couple of days last week. He is getting together with some of his old buddies in Topeka and will have a good time and do a little sailing. The GE merger previously mentioned fell through.

Healthwise, we are still plugging along. I will have a cataract removed in Oct.

The presidential election’s drums are increasing in tempo and volume—we will have to get ear plugs before it is all over!!

I am trying to learn how to use a cell phone. We are on Philip’s family plan so are gradually moving into the 21 century. I am still trying to get some of the residents here at Drury to learn something about using the computer—so far, not very much success.

Well I will close for this posting and hope that it finds all well with all of you—

HAF; AKA HAPPY DOC

JULY

Title: INDEPENDENCE DAY

“Self-evident truths…all men are created equal---freedom…liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”. Noble sentimentsbut not existent in much of the world today. We think of dear Bich and her family who enriched our lives in 1975, but what a travail for them to leave their home and friends in Viet Nam. And we have compassion for the author ot “Baghdad Burning” blog whose last posting in April was of the trials and concern of finally deciding the need to leave their home in Baghdad for an uncertain future.—see the link in the side-bar—“Baghdad Burning”.

----and then there is DAFUR---!

Summertime is the time to see some of the family. Richard was here for a couple of days last month—his branch at Abbott is being purchased by General Electric. John and Gail were here for a couple of days. Bill and Peggy will be visiting sometime in September. Phil and Jane as always a big help. Lynn keeps in touch with regular phone calls.

The 2008 presidential election is heating up. We should have something like England and have only about 6 weeks of campaigning before the election instead of 18 or so months as we are having. I did hear a talk by a Rep. Hunter of san Diego and he sounded very good, but he wont get anywhere probably. The amount of mony that is spent is almost indecent. The money would be better spent to help out some of the troubled areas of the world.

The annual tennis highlight of the year –Wimbledon—is playing out this week and Venus Williams is back to her old form and won the ladies title for the third time. There are no American men in contention for the mens title.

We are doing fine here at Drury Place. Mary will have a repeat CAT scan the last of this month. I will have a cataract evaluation the last of Aug. We probably eat too much and do not get enough exercise.

I read an interesting book recently. “THE SECRETE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE.—economic hit men, jackals, and the truth about global corruption.” By John Perkins. It is about the excessive power and control of the corporatocrasy. There is need to develop corporate accountability.

The unifying principle is to create a stable sustainable, and peaceful world for all people everywhere.

BIKER TALKS TO GOD! A little levity

A man riding his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.

The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want." The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it , but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, "Lord, I
wish that I and all men could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can
make a Woman truly happy.

The Lord replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?

__________________________________

Hope that this finds everything going well with all of you.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!

May was the wettest month on record for this area and as of the first of June we are 11 inches above the normal! The wheat prod8cton appears to be hurt, first with a late freeze and then there have been some fields which have been drowned.

We are doing well. Mary saw the oncologist and he said that sometimes the best thing to do is to just stand still. So, we are standing still and will get a CAT scan in 3 months. The important thing is that we are still doing well—both of us. We are hoping to have some company this summer; visits from Rich, John and Gail and later Bill. Phil and Jane have been a great help. Lynn keeps in touch with the telephone.

The theaters last production of the season is this month, ANYTHING GOES with Cole Porter’s music. It should be fun. The symphony season has been really great this year.

As usual we enjoy the library. Currently I am getting a history lesson. The book is POWER, FAITH AND FANTASY; America in the Middle East from 1776 to the present. This is a 700 page book but is well written and enlightening. It is of interest that one of the major reasons for the founding fathers to call the constitution convention and establish a federal government is that the Barbary Muslim Pirates were capturing our ships, imprisoning and selling our people a slaves etc and demanding ransom etc. At one time 20% of the gross national product was paid to the powers of N. Africa. It was necessary to have a central government and to develop a Navy to protect the ships and commerce.

I thought that this was worth passing on.

Here SHE is, the USS New York

[]

USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopers and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry and Amite, LA , to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured in the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there."

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

The ship's motto? "Never Forget"

Also, this URL which was sent to me as an attachment was worth sharing.

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/know-about-jihad/

I hope that this finds all of you in good health and happy.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

APRIL SHOWERS

Spring has come, in fact it may have almost gone! We are having some very warm temperatures this week.

In my March posting, I made note of the book by Newt Gingrich. This posting for April will be mostly about that book.

TITLE: WINNING THE FUTURE: a21st century contract with America. AUTHOR: Newt Gingrich. internet web page. www.newt.org

21st Century Contract with America

Gingrich Communications

Newt Gingrich

We are committed to a safe, healthy, prosperous, and free America. We believe our children and grandchildren deserve the opportunities our parents and grandparents gave us.

In a rapidly changing world with new threats and new competitors, we must implement policies that will ensure America’s leadership, safety, and prosperity. And we must reinvigorate the core values that have made an exceptional civilization.

We do not believe the traditional instruments of government will reform themselves fast enough and thoroughly enough for the twenty-first century.

The entrenched lobbyists and entrenched bureaucracies will do all they can to minimize the changes no matter how vital those changes are to America’s future. Self interest will dominate national interest if the normal political system operates with business as usual. The pressure of daily events will keep both the news media and most politicians focused on the immediate and the trivial rather than the long-term and the profoundly important.

Only a grassroots citizens’ movement can insist on the level of change that is needed for our children and grandchildren to have a successful future.

Such a citizens’ movement would have to be focused on goals rather than on interest groups. The goals define the America we want our children and grandchildren to have.

To achieve this future we will:

I.

Defend America and our allies from those who would destroy us. To achieve security, we will develop the intelligence, diplomatic, information, defense, and homeland security systems and resources for success.

II.

Transform the Social Security system into personal savings accounts that will enable every worker to have higher retirement incomes from their own work and avoid the need for financial support from their children.

III.

Recenter on the Creator from Whom all our liberties come. We will insist on a judiciary that understands the centrality of God in American history and reasserts the legitimacy of recognizing the Creator in public life.

IV.

Establish patriotic education for our children and patriotic immigration for new Americans. To achieve this, we will renew our commitment to education about American citizenship based on American history and an understanding of the Founding Fathers and the core values of American civilization. We will insist that both our children and immigrants learn the key values and key facts of American history as the foundation of their growth as citizens.

V.

Meet the triple economic challenges of an explosion in scientific and technological knowledge, an increasingly competitive world market, and the rise of China and India by implementing:

1. A new system of civil justice to reduce the burden of lawsuits and to incentivize young people to go into professions other than the law.

2. A dramatically simplified tax code that favors savings, entrepreneurship, investment, and constant modernization of equipment and technology.

3. Math and science learning equal to any in the world and educating enough young Americans to both discover the science of the future and to compete successfully in national security and the economy with other well-educated societies.

4. Investing in the scientific revolutions that are going to transform our world—particularly in energy, space, and the environment.

5. Transforming health care into a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that improves our health while lowering costs dramatically. In the process, American health care will become our highest value export and foreign exchange earning sector.

VI.

Work to include every American in a system of patriotic stewardship so every person has a real opportunity to pursue happiness as their Creator endowed. Prepare for the aging of the baby boomers and their children so we can have active healthy aging with the best quality of life, the longest period of independent living, and the greatest prosperity. We will:

1. Develop a system in which those who wish to stay economically active are encouraged and incentivized to do so because active people live longer and healthier, have a greater opportunity to pursue happiness, and are less of a burden on their fellow citizens;

2. Develop a system of independent living and assisted living that increases the years in which people can be on their own and in most cases enables people to live their entire lives with freedom and dignity;

3. Develop a new model of quality long-term care in which both the care and the quality of life are compatible with a twenty-first century American expectation of progress and innovation;

4. Use the new technologies and new scientific knowledge to turn disabilities into capabilities and change government regulations and programs to help every American achieve the fullest possible ability to pursue happiness.

VII.

Change the mindset of big government in Washington by replacing bureaucratic public administration with Entrepreneurial Public Management so government can operate with the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of the information age.

VIII.

Balance the federal budget and insist on a lean government, low tax, low interest rate economy to maximize growth in a competitive world.

IX.

Insist on congressional reform to make the legislative branch responsive to the needs of the 21st century.

X.

Ensure an election process that is honest, accountable, accurate, and free from the threat of illegal votes or subsequent litigation.

If we insist on these goals and insist on electing leaders at all levels dedicated to these goals, we will be able to leave our children and grandchildren an America of safety, health, prosperity, and freedom that would make our parents and grandparents proud. We too will have done our duty to our country and our achievements as citizens will be worthy of the America we inherited.

The run-up to election will be interesting. I am sure that we all will be tired of it before it is over.

We are doing fairly well here. We still have not determined the course of action, if any, regards the tumor found on Mary's pancreas. The recent CAT scan did not show it! We will see an oncologist May 9th.

This isenough for this posting. Wishing all the very best

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

VERNAL EQUINOX

The vernal equinox has come and the flowering

trees are busting into bloom and the jonquels are

blooming, so I think that we can definitely say that

Spring has sprung.
Cleo has almost become a lap cat now. The first

thing in the morning she gets up on the arm of the

love seat, next to my chair, and says "comb my fur".

Then she crawls onto my lap and gets her "hair"

dressed for the day. Afterall, a lady can not start

the day all frousy!
We enjoyed the youth symphony performance this

month. There are two orchestras- the junior high

and the highschool- when they played combined

peformance the stage was really full with over a

100 musicians. Both groups really performed very

well. It is good to see the young folks becoming

involved with something other than "rap" .
____________________
The last "Atlantic" magazine had an interesting

article regarding global warming. The web page:

www.theatlantic.com has also an interview with

the author.


Global Warming: Who Loses—and Who Wins?
Climate change in the next century (and beyond)

could be enormously disruptive, spreading disease

and sparking wars. It could also be a windfall for

some people, businesses, and nations. A guide to

how we all might get along in a warming world
by Gregg Easterbrook

INTERVIEWS As the World Warms
Gregg Easterbrook talks about his cover story,

"Global Warming: Who Loses—and Who Wins?," and

the unexpected by-products of climate change.
by Timothy Lavin [Web only]
_________________________
I have read a really great book.

TITLE: NOW THEY CALL ME INFIDEL, Why I renounced jihad for America, Israel and the war on terror. Author: Nonie Darwish-A muslim Shahdid's daughter.
library #- 962.054 DARWISH
The book is an autobiography of an Egyptian lady who spent the first 30 years living in a restrictive muslim society and then came to America and was totally amazed at the freedom, especially for the women and many things that we take for granted. Her father was a high military person in the Gaza. He was assasinated when the author was 8 yr old. He was declared a martyr or a Shahdid. She draws a good picture of the muslim life especially for the family and women. Being upper middle class she did get a good education but she questioned many of the Islam doctrines.

EXCERPTS FROM “NOW THEY CALL ME INFIDEL”
The author lectures at universities now in the US regarding the dangers of Islam. She warns that the young people are being indoctrinated by the mosques into the fundamental beliefs.
“My life has been a journey from hatred to love, from a culture that stifled joy and creativity to a life of freedom and endless possibilities. Because I love my adopted country, I have a duty to alert my fellow Americans to a real and present danger.
“Radical Islam has declared war on America and on the West and the majority of Muslims either support or make excuses for the terrorism”
…….not all Muslims are terrorist, but the fear, defensiveness and silence of the majority is “heard” loud and clear as agreement by the radicals…….religion is the game the radical leadership plays as a camouflage to greed..
“Most moderate Muslims choose to blend with American society and do not want to be associated with radical clerics or mosques imported from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and paid for by a wealthy Saudi government. But they cannot simply look the other way and ignore what is happening to radical mosques across this country. It is time to reject the politicization of Islam, the subverting of the call to prayer into calls for jihad, and changing American’s Constitution to the Koran. Having thrived financially in the United States for decades, American Muslims can well afford to pay the salaries of their religious leaders and maintain their own mosques. They need to choose preachers who are more in tune to the value system of the society they have chosen to call home, values such as compassion and tolerance and responsible freedom of speech. We owe it to America to return back its generosity and kindness.”
__________________________
Newt Gingrich has a new book out but it was checked out. I have my name on the reerve list so I should be able to have read it by the time of my next posting next month. The name of the book is "Winning the Future".
____________________
I have my new hearing aids --Mary likes them as now I do not have the TV volume turned up so loud!! I do think that they will be ok but it will take some getting used to them.
I send best wishes to all and I hope that you enjoy the blog. It is a way to keep in contact.
HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

TRANSITION TO SPRING

BLOG FEB.

Title Transition to spring

February is the month for transition to spring. Mother Nature however does not make the change sedately. She rustles her skits and stomps her heels. We had a long spell of cold and snow, but now we are having some spring like days with warmer temperatures and the snow has melted. We were very fortunate however in that we did not get the brunt of storms like they did in the north-east part of the country. Here, we have seen a few robins and the early bulbs are poking some green shoots out of the ground.

The political climate is also heating up. It would be nice if Washington politicos could concentrate on some important issues rather that re-election. It will be a long nearly two years. In a way it will be interesting, but the people will get tired of it before it is over.

The Iraq situation does not seem to get any better. The report from inside by the author of the “BAGHDAD BURNING” blog (see link in the side-bar) is totally discouraged. Many of the people who could be the backbone for rebuilding are fleeing (and they can not be blamed). The current government does not prosecute rapists, women are second class citizens. And then, there is Iran, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Somalia etc. The last ATLANTIC magazine had an article giving the details of the trials of the Burnhams who were kidnapped and held for over a year in the Philippines. It almost makes one

feel guilty to complain about the weather—but we will!

We are enjoying the Symphony season and it is the highlight of each month. In March the Youth symphony will perform and that is always very interesting. In Feb we had the Classical 3B’s—Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. The guest soloist was a virtuoso violinist from Dallas.

February is the month of love and valentines and Mary and I were honored to be chosen Valentine king and queen at the valentine party here at Drury Place. It was fun. The main card game that they play here is Pitch, which we have never played. So, we have taken our first lesson and will learn how and perhaps enter into the game on card night. They seem to have a lot of fun and pitch is not very taxing mentally, which may or not be good. Relaxing fun however is good. That is like reading “fluff” books which we do part of the time. I have read a couple of Danielle Steel’s books this month. I have the book “BLINK” checked out but have not progressed very far. The concept of “adaptive unconscious” is interesting.

The mainstream media publishes a lot about the gangs and the problems of the youth of this country but the good things that they do get little attention. The project of the Overlake school in Redmond Wash. deserves publishing.

PAILIN, Cambodia, Feb. 1, 2007 — In an extremely poor town in Cambodia, children are being robbed of their childhood by poverty, illiteracy, sex trafficking and AIDS.

Yet, down one dirt road, lines of neatly dressed children are now marching into a school with new chalk boards, books, computers and a connection to the Internet.

The Overlake School students raised $15,000 through bake sales, talent shows and raffles to build the Cambodian school. Once the school was built, they kept raising funds for teachers, books and the computers.

Kun Sokkea, 13, said she's in school for the first time and can finally dream of a better future.

She lives in a one-room shack and her mother is dying of AIDS, but she is now e-mailing her American friends to update them on her studies and progress as she learns English.

"What I want to take away is the knowledge that one person, a high school student, can make this huge difference in someone's life," said 11th grader Nathan Cocanour.

And in a remote corner of Cambodia, the students of the Overlake School have certainly done just that.

_____________________

This school was built through "American assistance for Cambodia", which is the organization that we established the "Pearl and Mary Flanders " school in Cambodia.

www.camnet.com.kh/cambodiaschools/schools_map/school_139.

I will close with best wishes for a happy Spring.

HAF AKA HAPPYDOC

NEW YEAR

TITLE: NEW YEAR & NEW TIMES

A new year has started. A new congress has begun with the democrats in the driver’s seat and with the associated responsibility. The leaders wanting to be president are beating the drums for 2008. A new approach is in progress in Iraq with a new commander and with hopes that the Iraqis will be able to control the violence and the internecine killing.

2007 may be a watershed year not only politically, but also personally. I am back to where I was as far as any evidence of heart failure, Mary still has some unresolved issues, but we are doing well. We are glad that we are living in Drury Place, especially with the cold weather and the snow that we have had. We are also glad that we did not have the snow that Denver had!

The weather is conducive to spending time reading. Books that I have read – The end of Faith, by Sam Harris; The truth about Mohammad, by Robert Spencer; The Creation, by Edward O Wilson; a couple of “cat who” books by Lillian Jackson Braun, and I have started another book by Edward Wilson—The diversity of life.

Wilson is a biologist at Harvard University. Following is my notes on the book “The Creation”.

THE CREATION:An appeal to save life on earth

Author: Edward O. Wilson Library 331.951 WILSON

The author is a biologist at Harvard U. He has written several books he is an entomologist.

"More respect is due the little things that run the world" (insects)

"the more biologists learn about the biosphere in its full richness, the more rewarding the image. Similarly, the more psychologists learn of the development of the human mind the more they understand the gravitational pull of the natural world on our spirit, and on our souls"

we have a long way to go to make peace with this planet and with each other.

"Life on this planet can stand no more plundering. Quite apart from obedience to the universal moral imperative of saving the Creation, based upon religion and science alike, conserving biodiversity is the best economic deal humanity has had placed before it since the invention of agriculture. the time to act is now."

The earth has had 5 cataclysmic destruction of life, due to cosmic actions. The sixth is now beginning but due to human activity. Causes: habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, over population, and over harvesting, gathering.

Next week our grandson, Zach is going to Europe to spend a semester in Germany. He has set up a blog in which he will post some of his experiences. For those of you interested, the address is.

www.zachflanders.blogspot.com

It will be interesting to see how the blogosphere and the internet will be used in the political climate the next two years. It is getting pretty hot already and it is just beginning. An example is the false report the Obama attended a Madrassa school as a child. So we can expect spurious information. The next question is what is Iran going to do in the next 2 years. At least we can joke and laugh at our leaders and not worry about being shot or throats cut! I think that I should set up a blog or page for Cleo. She would probably have some interesting things to say.

I hope that all of you have a great 2007.

HAF AKA HAPPY DOC