Flight School

Little did we know when we bought our new house that a flight school was out back.

They come early in the morning.  Young pilots with little experience can be seen flying carelessly through our back yard, somehow dodging trees and other obstacles.

These pilots are young birds.

Their parents soon arrive to corral the youngsters before they hurt themselves or someone else, or cause property damage.

The lessons begin, and once more the young finches are flying about.  I can't tell whether there is some form to this training, or whether the parents just watch and let the kids do their own thing.  I don't speak finch.

While my wife and I have become accustomed to the phenomenon, our cat is keenly interested, watching through a window and making those weird sounds that cats make when they see birds or other little animals.

Maybe he speaks finch.

O Canada!

When Toronto fans finished the U.S. national anthem after the singer's microphone crapped out before the Leafs' home game against Nashville, we were all impressed.  Oh, those classy Canadians!

Would American hockey fans have done that?  I'd like to think so, but do American hockey fans even know the lyrics to "O Canada"?

Just in case, here is the first stanza:

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

P.S.  When I first heard the Canadian national anthem, I swore that it sounded like, "We stand on God for thee."

You Made It! Now What?

Congratulations, Republicans, on winning control of the Senate.  I hope that you comport yourselves admirably and make us all proud.  However, I'm not optimistic.

After all, you are the same folks who swore to obstruct the Obama administration at every opportunity.  Long before the 2012 elections, you vowed to make him a one-term President.  When that failed, you shut down the government for two weeks just before the holidays.  When that failed to achieve your objectives, you launched a fusillade of bile and hatred that was downright shameful.

Now, at last, you control both houses of Congress.  Next objective: The White House.  Then all will be well, right?

Be careful what you wish for.

If you gleaned nothing else from the recent mid-terms, it is this: We have had it with the political brinksmanship that both you and the Democrats have played.  Enough, already, with the pouting, name-calling and finger-pointing.  This is not 3rd-grade recess.  You're supposed to be the grown-ups.

You want to dismantle Obamacare?  Go for it.  But offer a realistic alternative for the millions who need it.

You want justice for Benghazi?  Go for it.  Bring your case to the courts and let a jury decide.

You want the Keystone XL pipeline?  Go for it.  But first, pass a bill guaranteeing that if the pipeline despoils our environment, you go to jail.  How's that for transparency?

You want to ensure that Hillary doesn't win in 2016?

Don't f*** up.

My History of History

My History of History

I never cared much for history while in school.  It was boring and irrelevant to what was important to me: recess, baseball and playing war with my pals on weekends.  In junior high and high school, it was baseball, the space race, orchestra, band and girls.

However, it was George Santayana's warning that woke me up years later.   The Spanish philosopher wrote in 1905, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

I like to read.  And my library (both hardbacks and e-books) is packed with history books and biographies.  It's not so much to make up for those wasted history classes as it is the genuine interest of a more mature mind.

One of my favorites is C. V. Wedgwood's "The Spoils of Time."  Unlike the academics who wrote those boring textbooks back then, this British historian's 1984 book weaves an intriguing tale of human history from the beginning of civilization through the early Renaissance.

Sounds really boring, I know.  I would never have chosen it; the book came in the mail from a book-of-the-month club I had forgotten to cancel.

A "The New York Times" reviewer liked it.  "Hers is a glowing, substantial, ingeniously organized book."  Here, here.

I have read and re-read this book for two reasons.  First and foremost, I admire her gifted writing.  Second, I inevitably learn (or, retain this time) something I missed in the last read.

Then came Jones and Wilson's "An Incomplete Education" in 1987, which covers 'way more than history.  The two former researchers at "Esquire" magazine subtitled their book, "3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't."  It was a wildly successful book and is now considered a classic.

PBS recently aired Ken Burns' 14-hour series about the Roosevelts.  Some really good writing backed by terrific videos and photos.  I had forgotten that FDR had an affair.

So, what does reading history do for a veteran newscaster?  It helps put the history being made today into perspective.

Most important: Look, Ma! I'm reading history!

Passing

Not long after World War II, my dad ended up in Intelligence with the US Air Force.  He was good at his job and was rewarded with his choice of postings for his last 3-year assignment.  Knowing he would never get to see it in civilian life, he chose Hawaii.

For me, the timing was perfect.  I would finish high school amid the sun, sand and surf of the early 60s just as the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, the Four Seasons, and the Beatles were hitting their stride.

Hawaii was long known as a racial melting pot, and it's true.  I had never seen such a variety of races and skin colors in one place, and I could only marvel at the variety of shades.

In the 1950s, some white grown-ups would cluck about how this "colored man" or that "nigra boy" was trying to "pass," as in trying to pass himself off as white, or any other race but black in order to get along in the white man's world.

In Hawaii, there was no such talk.  Interracial marriage was widespread among the many races there, and no one thought a thing of it.  There was one notable exception.  Many native Hawaiians consciously worked to keep their race pure.  One school would only admit students of Hawaiian blood.  Read the islands' history and you'll understand.

"Passing" began to fade as the civil rights movement emerged and whites were forced to reconsider their racist customs.  Blacks began to embrace their African heritage.  Fewer and fewer tried to disguise their ancestry.

Skin color today is less important to general social acceptance than is how one conducts himself.  Gangsta talk and mannerisms don't help; proper English, good elocution and comportment do.

It is still a white man's world, although it's becoming less so.  The white man will soon become a minority, too.  I wonder if he, too, will eventually resort to passing in order to get along.

Hotel Rules

Did your patents not teach you how to behave in public?

Take hotels.  A hotel is not your house; it is someone else's house.  You are a guest there, and you and those with you are expected to behave yourselves.

So, I propose some basic rules of conduct, which apply equally whether staying at a fancy or less fancy hotel.

When in a hotel, be quiet -- at all times.

It may be two o'clock in the afternoon as you and your friends or family talk loudly on the way to your room, but chances are there's a trucker asleep in the room you just passed.  Your room may be next to that of a soldier getting some shut-eye before an early flight to God knows where.  Or an IT guy from out of town who worked all night fixing some office computer system here in town.

If you have children with you in a hotel, instruct them to be quiet.  Do not let them run down the hall, or squeal and yell.  If you allow such behavior at home, fine; a hotel is not your home.

If you choose to watch TV in your room, keep the sound turned down to just the level you need to hear it clearly.

When you leave your room, catch the door as it closes and don't let it slam shut.

The rest of us guests will appreciate your consideration.