Who are these people in the press that are dumping all over Israel for attacking the terrorists in the Gaza strip? Why are they sitting back in their comfy office chairs and writing such garbage as “Israel has no right to attack Hamas and kill civilians”? Where have they been over the past year when Hamas was firing rockets over the border indiscriminately killing Jewish citizens along with some Palestinians that reside inside Israel? Let us for instance say that that Quebec wanted to take over Eastern Ontario and decided to do it via terrorism. Then they started to fire rockets randomly over the border landing anywhere between Kingston and Toronto. These rockets explode, kill and injure residents on a daily basis as well as damaging a large part of the infrastructure. Would these reporters and other critics of Israel put a finger to their nose, contemplate for a moment and then say, how about we do nothing for 6 months and during this time we will try and negotiate with these guys to stop bombing us. Then after 6 months we will retaliate but we will be careful to only fire the exact type of rockets at the same frequency that the Quebecers have been doing for 6 months. Do you really believe any government on this continent would put up with that type of daily carnage on their citizens without responding in the same way the Israel military has done. Of course they wouldn't, because the local press and the people would be outraged if their Government didn’t respond appropriately to protect its citizens. Not one of these talking heads on TV would dare live in a region being bombed indiscriminately much less try to raise their families there. So why do they continue to espouse this inane drivel? The argument always goes back to 1949 and the apportioning of land for the birth of Israel and the consequential suffering of the Palestinians. Using the past as the sole basis for continuing an ongoing conflict rarely has solved any issue but these terrorists do not care. Their sole purpose in life is to wipe Israel and its people off the face of the earth as they have said time and time again. The Palestinians elected them to be their leaders so why should anyone feel badly for them because they are now getting exactly what they wanted. Until they rise up against Hamas and choose leaders that will try and find solutions for the future instead of revenge for the past, this scenario we are seeing today will go on and on. A representative from the United Nations said today that Israel is going to lose the support of the Global community if they continue their assault on Hamas. So what! The Global community has never supported Israel and they surely won’t protect her citizens. Look at the genocide happening in Africa in several different locales and that will show you what kind of support you will get from the “Global Community”. The only hope is that somewhere at sometime a leader will arise out of the Palestinian population that is interested only in securing a healthy future for their citizens. One free from bitterness and killing, one dedicated to improving the quality of life for all people living within its borders and a future free from the decades of hatred and suicide bombers. Unless and until this person arrives I’m afraid we will have to continue to stomach these hypocrites spouting what they believe are politically correct opinions.

Here I go again dipping into the memory well to pull out a few stories from the days of my youth. Back in the early 60’s there were very few laws prohibiting the type of vehicles you could drive and none involving the condition they were in, other than a need to have fenders and brakes. I believe I owned 15 cars between the ages of 16 and 22 and none of them would have come close to passing today’s safety or emissions tests. The group that I hung around with used to have drag races at night out on any country concession roads that were paved and reasonably straight for about a quarter of a mile. Can you imagine a 51 Chevy overhead 6 up against a 53 Ford flathead 8? I can guarantee you that no track records were in danger of being broken within our crowd. During these so called races it was easy to blow a rear end or drop a transmission during the transition from 1st to 3rd gear but the good news was that changing a transmission on these 50’s crates was not a difficult or time consuming ordeal. We all knew the local farmer who had a “car wrecker” business on the side so it was "get towed to the 3rd, put it up on a hoist and get things fixed and ready to hit the road again". I remember one time about 5 of us were lined up in our cars behind two buddies ready to drag up the highway. As soon as they took off red lights starting flashing and it turns out one of the other 4 cars waiting with me was the local town cop who we hadn’t noticed. Unfortunately his Dodge Dart couldn’t catch the two racers so he decided to grab one of the onlookers and guess who that happened to be. My father wasn’t too happy coming down to the Police station at 2 am to pick me up and explain to the officer that I was really a good kid at heart. One other time my best buddy at the time decided that his mother’s 56 Ford would perform well on country gravel roads at high rates of speed. Luckily he spun out (wait) and went headfirst into a ditch with 4 ft of water in it without seriously damaging the car. As we were unable to get the car out of the ditch I decided to go home (3 mile walk) and borrow my Dad’s keys to the Service Station so I could get to our pickup truck. Being courteous I of course did not wake him up at 2:30am in the morning just to inform him that I was providing a towing service for my friend. After securing the truck we proceeded back to the scene of the unfortunate accident. I then proceeded to hook up the tow rope to the undercarriage of the green Ford in the ditch while noticing it had sunk another two feet into the mud since we had left earlier. Our 52 Chevy pick-up truck could not pull the car out no matter how much I tried. In fact without realizing it I burned through the rubber of both back tires leaving us on rims only. It now being close to 4 AM I decided to drive the truck back to the Station albeit at only 20 MPH. On the way back you might guess who we would run into,….the local cop of course. He followed us all the way to the Service Station and watched us put the truck in the bay and close the doors. At this point I figured it might be better not to leave to go home but the local gendarme felt differently as he proceeded to bang on the locked door and tell us to come out. Thinking that I was already going to be in hot water with my father, what more can I suffer by disobeying a police officer. Needless to say my judgment at that age wasn’t very good. Let’s just say it was one of those things that is funny to look back on now but at the time it was a whole different story. Maybe one day I’ll relate the story of rolling the Dodge in a farmer’s field and still beating our local cop home.

The debate continues although now people prefer to call it evolution vs intelligent design. I guess the words “intelligent design” sounds more scientific to the Darwin believers than the phrase “belief in God”. After some research into the present day arguments I have definitely remained on the side of “intelligent design”. While there are quite a few tangible arguments against Darwin’s theory I will deal with just a few of the very strong ones that convince me that he was wrong. First the theory that man evolved from the ape is taken for granted by the Darwinists but they can’t answer the question as to why there are still apes? Why didn’t the current day apes evolve into human beings like the rest of us seems like a viable question but I haven’t seen a viable answer. The second reason that makes me think Darwin got it wrong was there are no explanations as to how certain complex organs in the body came about. I can understand and I do believe that certain aspects of a living being can evolve to fit their environment. We see this in many animals that adopt features that fit their habitat and even human beings evolve different characteristics such as light and dark skin depending on the climate in which they live. But how do you explain the evolution of the eyeball for instance? This is a very complicated organ of the body and it is hard to believe it developed all by itself with no guiding hand. If you take the time to look into the basis for Darwin’s theory you will find more of these very difficult questions that have no reasonable explanations. For instance the theory is based upon the belief that one day two things floating in space collided and formed the solar system. The planet earth was a piece of rock broken off in the massive explosion that resulted and it ended up in a favorable proximity to the sun which allowed life to begin. Over millions of years amoebas developed into animal life and then one day a human being evolved from one of the animals. Animals, insects and fish basically eat, defecate, breed and die without so much of a thought to designing an airplane. So how did man suddenly evolve a powerful brain with no living link to his ancestry? As Judge Judy always says “if it doesn’t make sense then usually it isn’t true”. There are certainly parts of Darwin’s studies that do make sense as they relate to animals and environment and the changes required for a species to survive but in my opinion they don’t provide the answers as to how it all started. I am not an overly religious person but I do believe that there is a power greater than we little people here on earth espouse and this belief provides the only real and practical answers to the who, what, why and when of the tiny world in which we live. Therefore as “God” is the basis of most every religion then this recognition of a higher power makes them the clear winner of the debate, in my humble opinion of course.

The use of terror has been around for centuries, although called by many other names, it is an effective military weapon for a small group to use against a much larger group. It is effective because the smaller group strikes randomly and targets civilians as well as military which make it very difficult to defend against. This of course creates” terror” and puts pressure on the military and government of the larger group. Unable to differentiate the terrorists from the innocents the larger group faces the choice of striking back at the terrorists selectively which is difficult and less effective or attacking en masse and creating an enormous amount of collateral damage and loss of life. While this decision wasn’t as great an issue in times past it certainly is an important one in today’s world. Political pressure from all around the world can rain down on a group for using the en masse technique in the absence of an acceptable amount of provocation. Although the Middle East gets the most press there are actually multiple terrorist groups in many countries around the world using the exact same tactics on the ruling governments of the day. Many of these governments have no qualms about collateral damage and actually use genocide as a means of eradicating their foes. Israel , however, has always used the selective attack as their response to terrorist attacks except for the last semi-war against Lebanon several years ago. Even though they have chosen this strategy it does not garner them any favor within the international community and the reasons are many but in the end it usually comes down to racism. Fortunately for the terrorists the government of Israel is made up of coalitions which contain religious fundamentalists as well as the usual span of left to right wing ideologues. This causes many compromises and slows down the entire process of governing. I am afraid that one day, after absorbing the constant attacks on its citizens, a strong right wing bloc will arise and decide enough is enough. They will employ the other tactic which will cause the loss of much life and destabilize this entire area for many years to come. Given Iran’s supposed nuclear capability another holocaust could be on the horizon and not necessarily a Jewish one. GW Bush and the US military tried to free Iraq with as little collateral damage as possible and they have encountered the same thing that Israel found “it doesn’t work”. After several frustrating years they eventually added more boots on the ground and obtained some measure of success in pushing the insurgents (terrorists) out of the main centers of population. The question however is “Will the Iraqi’s be able to deal with these groups once the USA ‘s main forces leave?” Because of its geography Afghanistan is becoming another quagmire with the Taliban (terrorists) chipping away at our troops and our resolve. A strong and effective military has only two functions 1) to break things and 2) to kill people and if we limit teir ability to do either they will not be totally successful. The terrible truth is that unless the military uses everything at its disposal, without concern for collateral damage, this current so-called war against terror will go on indefinitely. This belief that we can’t lower ourselves to their level is an illusion that sounds good and compassionate but our soldiers and the innocent civilians in these countries pay with their lives every day because we choose this route of political correctness. You can argue whether it’s right or wrong but the truth is, we have become too soft, lazy and sheltered from the realities of life on the outside of the “Western world” to stomach what it takes to win a war. I am optimistic however as history has shown time and time again this pendulum will swing and the need to survive will outweigh the need to be "PC".

Having had the opportunity to reside in all three sizes of towns and cities I believe there are positives and negatives with all of them but at this stage of my life I yearn for only one. Growing up in a small town was a magnificent experience as I had many friends within a 2 to 5 minute walk and the farthest was a 10 minute bicycle ride away. I could walk to both public and high school in 15 minutes tops. My house backed onto a farmer’s field and hundreds of acres of bush-land was just 5 minutes due south. There were a number of creeks where we could skate in the winter and fish in the summer. Everybody pretty much knew everyone else if not personally at least by way of gossip or from other acquaintances who knew them etc. Most stores employed locals and they were known to all by first names regardless of age. There were some downsides as you had to drive to the city of Windsor or over to Detroit to buy clothes if you were a style conscious teenager. Once the Liberty Theater on the main street closed up the same applied to seeing the latest movies. However, up to the age of 13 the small town was a utopia for kids and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Living in the big city of Toronto was also an amazing experience but for other reasons. As a young adult there was a plethora of entertainment to be experienced which included pro hockey, large cinemas, live theater, and an incredible amount of restaurants featuring foods from all over the world. Shopping was an ever changing experience as there were an abundance of retail outlets on every other block. Live entertainment abounded in large arenas including acts such as the Beatles, Marty Robbins, the Ringling Bros Circus and many more. It was an exciting place to live when you were young and adventurous but it had its downsides as well. Where serious crimes were almost non-existent in the small town environment it was an eye opener to see the type of felonies perpetrated on the citizens of “Hog Town”. While Toronto was considered a “safe” city compared to others its size the level of crime was still a shock to those arriving from small town Canada. As the years past my family moved to a medium sized town east of Toronto and while it was 5 times larger than my birth town it still retained some of those values I remembered from the “olden days” as my grandson always says. Sadly this didn’t last as our town has grown from a population of 25,000 to just over 100,000 since we moved here in 1976. The big city has expanded and it is gradually absorbing the medium towns all around it. There are now mass transit connections to Toronto and this has allowed people and a certain inner city criminal element to travel easily to and from the towns outside the Toronto border. We are now looking to relocate for one last time and the objective is to find a house we like in a small community such as a hamlet or a small farming community. We don’t want to be totally isolated so it would have to be near enough to a reasonably sized town in order to secure the necessities of life but far enough away to enjoy the small town lifestyle I remember as a child. We have also been blessed with the fact that both of our sons and their families live within a 15 to 20 minute drive and this is something we don’t want to lose so our search will be contained to a small area north and to the east of where we are now. Perhaps I can find a 53 Chevy to rebuild…mmmmmm I wonder.

Today is Saturday and it is the one day of the week that I read the front section of the Toronto Star. On the first page staring back at me was a column written by some writer of which I had never heard. His point seemed to be that because the USA electorate had elected Obama they had now returned to an era of intelligence. Therefore he surmised they were moving away from the politics of trying to appeal to the “lowest common denominator”. Now I will concede that most Liberals tend to be a touch arrogant and condescending, however Canadian Liberals take the words to new levels. This elite bunch of “know it all's” have very little respect for anyone that disagrees with them and their outlook on life whether it be politics, education or anything else. Now if you consider that approximately 129 million people in the USA voted and Obama won by 52% that would mean this writer has just called roughly 62 million citizens of the United States of America the “lowest common denominators” and what’s more offensive he has labeled them “unintelligent”. I’m taking a guess but I’ll bet this guy is an academic of some sort who feels his university education gives him the right to demean other groups of people because he is “above” the fray so to speak. There are some simple facts about this election that most of the main stream media choose to ignore. The Republican Party has only itself to blame by choosing to stray away from the strong conservative principles that kept them in power throughout the 80’s, and most of the 2000 decade. They would have probably been in power in the 90’s if it weren’t for the Ross Perot following that split the Republican vote in both 1992 and 1996. Then there was GW Bush who became a “big spender” during his tenure as he never vetoed a spending bill up until his final several months in office. Even before the financial crisis in the last ¼ of 2008 he and the Democratic Congress had built up the highest deficit in US history both in terms of pure dollars and as a percentage of GDP. Then they keep moving left by electing a presidential candidate like John McCain to contest the 2008 election. John McCain is a war hero but he is no Conservative. He has constantly voted against his own party and many conservative policies over his years in the Senate. He was supposed to bring over the Democrats who were in the so-called middle (so the press said). Yes he was the media darling until he won the Republican primary and then they turned on him and he became a decrepit old man who was a heartbeat away from dying in the Oval Office. Sarah Palin brought some energy to the race otherwise McCain would have lost by much more than he did. Of course the main stream media crucified her and made her out to be a dummy like they did with GW Bush, Dan Quayle, and Ronald Reagan etc. You can see the pattern if you look at how the mainstream media portrays Republicans as the dumbest leaders regardless of their University degrees etc. The bottom line is that the Republican Party will not win another election in the USA unless they go back to their roots in Conservatism and develop a strong and articulate leader. No one really knows how Obama will govern but based on his past history it will be far left of center. As a leader we will have to wait and see how he deals with 2 wars, the biggest financial crisis since “the Great Depression” and an enormous deficit. Regardless, of his politics I wish him the best because whatever he does will affect all of us. Next Saturday I’m buying the “Sun”.

The faith of Global warming has all the trappings of a new religion designed to recruit followers through a bombardment of information, usually unsubstantiated and only part true. It has its main evangelist, Al Gore and its legion of followers in the media. They use a most powerful lever to try and convince people to join their sect and of course it is the common Liberal weapon, fear. I will admit I am no expert but I have chosen to look at both sides of the argument and I, as have many other people, have decided that is a monumental hoax. First let’s start with the argument that global warming is a fact due to a consensus of scientists. By definition science is fact, it either is or it isn’t and cannot be something decided by a vote, a consensus or anything else other than fact. The reality is that there are thousands of scientists who are on the other side of the argument seem to make no difference to the mainstream media or the Government. I certainly am not arguing that we as human beings do not pollute as this is a fact but what is so arrogant is the thought that we as part of the human race can do anything that would counteract the universe, the Sun or the planet of earth. Second is the constant barrage of print and video information that promotes the destruction of the planet along with some very visible members of the animal community. Did you know that the film clip in Al Gore’s movie about the Polar Bear on an ice flow was staged? This fact was released a year after the movie came out and was buried very quickly. The main threat to polar bears in recent decades has been from hunting, with estimates as low as 5,000 to 10,000 bears in the 1950s and 1960s. But thanks to conservation efforts, and some cross-border cooperation among the U.S., Canada and Russia, the best estimate today is that the polar bear population is 20,000 to 25,000. The following is a quote from one of the leading experts on the polar bear, Mitchell Taylor, the manager of wildlife resources for the Nunavut territory in Canada: “I have found that the Canadian polar bear population has actually increased by 25% -- to 15,000 from 12,000 over the past decade.” Mr. Taylor also tells us that in many parts of Canada, "polar bears are very abundant and productive. In some areas, they are overly abundant. I understand that people not living in the North generally have difficulty grasping the concepts of too many polar bears, but those who live here have a pretty good grasp of what that is like." Those cuddly white bears are the Earth's largest land carnivores. Third you may ask, why would anyone be against conservation or recycling etc? I and most other people who think this Global warming is scaremongering, are not against these things and in fact I support them wholeheartedly. What I don’t support is burdening our taxpayers with the cost of illogical programs like the “Kyoto Accord” and our industries with more regulation that will do nothing but raise their costs and force them to move to business friendlier climates. Finally the issue of smog and the argument that it is caused exclusively by automobile exhaust needs to be understood. Yes auto emissions contribute to the smog seen over most large cities but it is also made up of ozone (made by the sun) that drops down to lower levels (like clouds and fog) on very hot and humid days. This drives the index up and causes the warnings to be issued for people like asthmatics etc. Have you ever seen this happen in the winter? Of course not because of the temperature and another thing to look for is the fact that not everyday is the smog at warning levels and yet I would speculate that the number of cars on the road doesn’t change that much on a daily basis. Back in the 50’s Nat King Cole sang “ the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” so this is not a phenomenon that has just started in the past two decades. All I ask is that you research this subject for yourself and don’t automatically believe the talking heads and GW evangelists without some personal knowledge of the subject.

It seems like every other day I read in the newspaper or see on the TV news a case involving a child being harmed in some way by an adult. The most egregious of these cases are those that concern child sex abuse by pedophiles. As with most other crimes the Liberal judiciary first looks to rehabilitation before punishment and the rights of the criminal before the safety of citizens. While I believe we need to strengthen our laws and particularly our sentencing practices for all crimes there should be no debate on how society should deal with these scumbags who prey on children. The fact that they have a defect in their brains that has given them an abnormal sexual desire is no reason or excuse for their behavior. Yet there is always some “do gooder” that buys into this argument that their preferences can be changed (brains rewired) or at least controlled. Time after time we hear about repeat offenders and how they just couldn’t control their urges and had to attack another child generally with drastic results. There is no one that requires protection more than our children as they are the most vulnerable members of our society. There are reams of statistics that indicate recidivism is almost a certainty with this inherent behavior characteristic so why does the Justice System keep beating their heads against a wall trying to swim upstream. This is a Liberal theory that doesn’t work and we can’t keep experimenting while kids die. There is currently no cure, therefore these people cannot be allowed to enjoy freedom and liberty within our society…period. Lock these people up and keep them away from our children. There is no other answer at this time and until we can find one that is foolproof we cannot allow our kids to be prey for these deviants. Like most other realities of life that escape the elitists that believe they have all the answers this is one area where they must wake up and do the right thing not the politically correct thing. The “wee ones” are the only innocent human beings on the face of the earth and they represent our future. Let’s not take a chance on losing even one to this type of crime and let us force our Justice System to change before its too late for another child. I want to live to see the day where we never have to watch parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters or anyone else crying over a child lost to this horrendous crime.

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from
its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have
All The Leaders Gone?'.
Lee Iacocca Says: 'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?
Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've
got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff,
we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up
after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad,
everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay
the course.'
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the
damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and
maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country
anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys
in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning
and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms'
instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America'
my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How
about you?
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're
not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest
C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis
being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis.
It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or
send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield
yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other
time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes.
A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.
We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan
for leaving.
We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.
We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great
companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy
policy. Our schools are in trouble.
Our borders are like sieves.
The middle class is being squeezed every which way.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the
leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the
people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I
may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than
making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and
all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the
hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in
the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen
again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan.
Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can
restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car
companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do
about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down
the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care
problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating
away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on
your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being
hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is
everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a
name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom
here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I
believe in America. In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of
our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean
War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil
crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.
If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by
standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether
it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we
all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book.
It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America'. It's
not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap
and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Since I was a youngster and then all through my teenage years up until I was 40 or so I always had a nickname and I used them regularly as well to identify certain close friends. Then as we aged and seemed to get more sophisticated or whatever you want to call it, the nicknames seem to fade away into oblivion. To be honest I am not sure if kids or teenagers use nicknames these days. I know the Rappers use the nickname process to come up with their stage names but I’m not sure they use a lot of ingenuity after looking at the results. I was always saddled with “IMEE” because of my name but later I was annointed TC within my close group of friends. My best buddy at an early age was Benny better known as John to his Mom and some of the other guys were “Brains” and his brother “Fancy”. Brains (Charley) was tagged because of his supposedly average grades at school and Gary became Fancy because of his large waterfall hairdo and his button down collar shirts. If you were a fan of the TV cartoon show “Top Cat” you will recognize the names from his motley crew of alley cats. Then there was “Rat” who lived next door. I could never figure out where that came from nor could I figure out why one of his sisters was called “Rat” as well. I played ball with “Stump” and “Maynard” who got their names from different places. Stump was a very short guy but built like a brick wall and therefore got dinged with that descriptive title. Maynard came from the Dobie Gillis TV show and those of you who remember it know that M was a very cool cat. There were a lot of ballplayers that I knew that had names like “Slick”, “Porky” and “Stonehands” and you can probably figure out why if you think about it. Pro sports used to be loaded with nicknames such as Bullet Bob, Whitey, LT, Mean Joe, Da Fridge, Crazy legs and on and on. I must admit I do have affection for these weird handles and so I also take liberties with my family's names by tagging them with their own personal titles. My boys were Torvie Dosh and Regional Waterhouse, my nephews were Sean Sean the Irishmon, Daniel rode the boat ashore, Matt the Rat and I can’t forget about my niece Robin Robinowitz. My grandsons are Griffanso and Tylermon and last but not least my wife is affectionately called budda. I think they still use nicknames quite a bit in the southern USA as I have a friend in Columbia that has a beautiful wife named M’ Sue short for Mary Sue and every other farm boy you see in Georgia is called Bubba. It’s sad that we don’t use the nickname as much as we used to because I always felt that it provided everyone with a special identity that elevated them above the crowd of boring everyday handles. Now of course if your name is Alowishus ………………………………………..