Driving to church today I stopped to buy some newspapers. I also had an old lottery ticket I found last week while cleaning my Jeep (I should note last Sunday I gave the Jeep the most thorough washing since I bought it last year and then we got clobbered by days of heavy rain). While standing in line with my papers my neighbor walked up behind me and struck up a conversation. As I handed the ticket to the clerk he laughed and said, “Just think, you’ll only have to work behind the microphone when you feel like it”. The clerk said something as I stood laughing with him. She was clutching the scanned ticket and I told her she could just toss it in the trash. Then she informed me I hadn’t heard her clearly…

I’ve been playing lotteries periodically for nearly 30 years. I’m not an inveterate gambler but spend the occasional dollar on a ticket. For almost thirty years this has been the story and today I won the largest payout I’ve ever had playing the game. Fifty dollars and on my way to church, where a fellow walks up the aisle and passes a basket not once but usually twice and smiles in an effort to bring forth monetary gifts. This created somewhat of a dilemma for me.

There are churches so disapproving of gambling the money would be refused. Then there are pastors I know who would gladly absolve the money of the sin by telling me turning it over would cleanse my soul. These weren’t the issues for me this Sunday. Last month I publicly vowed I wouldn’t be passing through the doors of a Roman Church for quite some time and I vowed the Church wouldn’t be getting my money. I made these statements on a radio show, which appears to be the most listened to program in its time slot in these parts, after reading the Diocese of Wilmington sought bankruptcy protection in order to better manage the lawsuits it sowed by ignoring internal scandal. In the confessional I’m told to come clean but administrators hold themselves to a different standard.

My pique lasted but for a few days. Then I realized I missed the people I see at mass and I like the local priests. I’ve reached a point in life where I don’t believe my church may be a better church than the one my Methodist neighbor attends and I know some really good Baptists and Wesleyans and would feel comfortable in pews in those churches because of the depth of feeling people have for their faith. Yet I still can’t tear myself from Roman Catholicism, which is and has been for many years the bedrock of my life. It’s the physiological response following communion. The Eucharist remains as unique as to prevent me from cleaving from the faith. It may look the same in Lutheran and Episcopal rites but I don’t believe I would find shared conviction. It’s because I would be looking around those churches and be thinking to myself, “Liberals”. Which isn’t really very nice in church or at least the way I would be thinking about them.

A few years ago I read the comments of a Prince of the Church made during a gathering of the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops. The man was an Archbishop and a household name and he told some reporters Roman Catholicism in the United States was much more a Calvinist institution when compared to worldwide counterparts. What surprised me following was no one was in denial about the remark. There were knowing laughs and some folks nodded heads in the affirmative. Certainly Calvin would disagree but in the United States there is a shared cultural conservatism between the two strains.

It’s bigger and longer lasting than any current scandal and it’s the seed for future hope among many old believers. An observation about today’s mass. Our communion hymn was How Great Thou Art, which rarely have I heard in a Roman Church and yet there were people all around me belting out the lyrics to a song with roots deep in Eastern Europe and made popular by modern descendants of the Protestant Reformation. By the time I accepted the host a second hymn was flowing and I can safely say Amazing Grace is universally accepted across the Christian divides.

Today the man with the wicker basket was the same fellow who helped me find a seat when I arrived. When he came around seeking offerings I dug deeply into my wallet with no hesitation and left a substantial deposit.

This is the end of a horrid day. It started so well. I met a friend for breakfast. He’s a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel and he’s what I believe America should be and was all about. He served his country well as an Executive Officer with the Thunderbirds and later at the Pentagon liaising with Capitol Hill. He’s from Ohio, the home state of the Wright brothers, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. The home state of the Taft family and Paul Brown.

I managed to get to the Long Neck Diner early because I didn’t waste the customary time after getting out of bed today. The morning was calm. The sky was clear and just before 8:30 A.M. I stood outside the restaurant and looked skyward and could see the moon still lingering in the blue of the morning sky. The air was still and the temperature in the high 40s and it was the type of morning you admire because you still have your memory and the image will sustain you when the wind blows and it rains and snows.

Following breakfast I went to the bank and then to work. Many friends had gone to Washington today for a demonstration and during the early afternoon I checked some websites and found pictures of the noon event at the Capitol. It was jacket weather but the skies were clear and there were smiling faces in the crowd. Some of them would be calling me after visiting members of the House and Senate and petitioning for a return of the country they long for. Sure enough, they obliged me from buses during the return trip. Folks called me from Route 50 during my show.

It was getting dark outside when I learned about the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Talk radio is partly about taking a snapshot of a portion of the public’s thoughts during any moment of crisis. There was great speculation about Texas and I was worried about a close friend stationed at the base. It’s 10:00 P.M. and I still haven’t had him reply to a message I sent his way. He’s a man with bedrock convictions. Several years ago he got booted out of graduate school for writing a paper (graded A) in which he suggested multi-cultural education was ripping the country apart. In his words there is just one American culture. It’s the one I remember about the Wright brothers and Robert Taft and the early men in space. I’m a Western New Yorker and as a kid Ohio and its shared Great Lakes culture was just a hop-skip-and-jump away.

Scott eventually was reinstated and graduated with a Masters degree in Education. During his trials he was upbeat and even finagled an invitation to dinner with Michelle Malkin. When his wife had to work late that day, Scott took me along as his guest. During one of his vacations he went home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, which I think is a lot more like Ohio versus Myanmar, Botswana and Paraguay. He spent his vacation at a T.D. Jakes revival meeting. Then Scott went off to a teaching career but he missed his first family, his fellow soldiers. He went back into the U.S. Army and served in Afghanistan. We last spoke 2 weeks ago when he was listening to the show on the web. I don’t remember if I insulted his Dallas Cowboys, which is a sure way to get him to pick up the telephone and call.

It’s too early to consider the ramifications of a Muslim soldier killing his fellow troops. It happened in Kuwait in 2003 and it had nothing to do with an argument about faith.

We live in an “open society”. It’s what the brilliant men we call “Framers” designed, however. In the 1780s the culture was definitely European and Judeo-Christian. Yes, I understand elements from Africa played a major influence and we still hear it in music today but those Africans and their descendents are very much members of the larger American culture. We’ve been sharing the same home for a very long time. The same with the indigenous people who were nothing short of supermen during our nation’s 20^th Century wars.

A guy telephoned me today and praised the troops of Japanese ancestry who fought magnificently for this country in World War Two. They were Americans. Like so many arriving before that desperate time they wanted to be Americans.

I’m never been at all sure about these new folks. In the Southwest they shun English. In Lackawanna, New York they spend vacations at terrorist training camps in Asia. Some folks in our cities live in a parallel universe and shun the traditional bonds of trust and ignore law enforcements offers of protection. Membership in a polyglot culture is always tenuous. It appears we’re headed for 305 million independent countries within one nation. Everybody has a grievance and everybody is a victim.

Then, of course, cooperation can be imposed. Look at history and the man known as “Tito” in Yugoslavia or the man in Spain called Franco. The academics can spin in circles suggesting we can cure ills by enforcing politeness or printing more money to throw in the directions of our problems. I’ve grown old and lost faith in academic institutions as much as I’ve lost faith in churches and government institutions. May God help us, where we’re going?

Frequent readers know the weather is often a metaphor when I write. It was cold and raining when I came home.

I think we’ve swapped out the West Coast for the East Coast. This morning a friend commented weeks have passed since we’ve seen more than two days in a row filled with sunshine.

A Nor’easter came roaring through at one point and gave us 4 consecutive days of deluge. The skies cleared and we settled in expecting some decent weather for cleaning up yards and getting prepared for the winter but then the winds started howling and we found ourselves looking at dark clouds and more rain. A storm this past week dumped 5 inches of water and roads were flooded and some back bay neighbors found themselves living on islands. The water appeared Saturday to be receding and a weather man at Channel 11 in Baltimore said during the 6:00 P.M. newscast there wouldn’t be much heavy rain into Sunday morning.

After sunset my girlfriend came along with dinner and we sat on the deck watching the clouds roll quickly past the moon. There were no trick-or-treaters. The house is at the end of a dead end road. On a windy and partly cloudy evening and hidden among the tall pines it’s an uninviting place, I suppose, for children. It’s where the grumpy old philosopher lives.

Halloween Day was warm and muggy and I propped open skylights and threw open windows but shortly after ten I heard rainfall. As I closed the openings rain began pounding heavily. This morning it was chilly and damp and gray and the leaves falling from the trees are clumped together and wet. Not easy to rake or sweep. The day and many recent days I’ll describe as glum.

It’s also how I’ll describe Halloween for many of the kids in these parts. Working in talk radio offers a window on the community. The window offers a view that a great many parents don’t want their youngsters out on October 31 and not because there may be bullies and tainted candy. It’s because some parents believe putting on a costume greases the slide to Hell. Last night I shared with my significant other a story about a talk show I hosted years ago. People were calling me on-air bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas. One fellow went so far as to say his children received only 3 gifts because it’s what the baby Jesus got from the Wise Men. From a Biblical perspective, what 3 Wise Men? The fable also says among the gifts received by Jesus was gold. Then why didn’t he grow up in a palace with the sudden family wealth? Look, it’s your choice how you celebrate a holiday. Christmas is an arbitrary date set by a clergyman and the way I remember it when I was a kid it was quite joyous. Children and joy and laughter.

As a little boy I recall Halloween as an event filled with joy. One year, when I was 7, I was sick at home on Halloween night. My sister took an extra bucket that night and the resulting sympathy vote put a smile on my face.

Why, in such a sometimes nasty world, filled with recession, floods and famine are some folks looking to steal happiness? Are you trying to prepare young people for the rigors ahead? An alternative would be to make life worthwhile with moments of laughter. The late author and columnist, Jim Bishop, once put this in a perspective I’ve never forgotten. The man was watching from a window on a cold and gray winter day as children were riding sleds down a nearby hill. There were a few seconds of shrieks and laughter and then a long and quiet trudge back atop the snow covered hill. It’s called metaphor and it tells us much about living.

It’s my hope there were children out last night for rare enjoyment. I don’t believe an animal mask, Snickers bars and cavities condemn a 7 year old to the fiery furnace for eternity.

Another friend is scheduled to soon come home from war. He’s a good man. Actually he’s one of the best I’ve ever met. He loves God, his family and his country. What makes him exceptional is that some of us view him as Superman and he’s extremely humble.

His name will remain a mystery. I’m sure you’ve heard there are people in Washington looking to silence those who question the application of the Asian wars. My friend plans to come home, having spent time in two theaters of operation, and to become one of those war veterans who don’t talk about experiences. He’s witnessed too many dead.

This isn’t to say he’s going to become a John Kerry and seek political gain at the expense of his fellow servicemen and women. I adjudged this much from his letter, he realizes there is empty talk in Washington. He realizes it didn’t end 35 years ago. Politics are dictating choices made in the field and the politicians are again mismanaging war for personal gain. And young people are dying as a down payment for political careers. The commanders in the field and the men and women serving with them believe they’re once again fighting with hands tied behind backs. I gather these people believe it could’ve been over long ago and many people would now be home with families and many more would be home alive instead of the alternative.

My friend planned to make the military his life’s vocation. Now he’s looking at year twenty, just around the bend, and ready to join the ranks of civilians. Meanwhile the military will lose brains and experience and the politicians seeking personal aggrandizement will grow in strength. To what long term result?

To recent news items are bouncing around my head. One concerned the leftist writer, Gore Vidal, who told the English press he expects a military dictatorship will seize power in the United States. In another decade such a cabal may be comprised of nothing more than leftist fellow travelers. The genuine patriots are calling it quits. So my country will have its own Trotsky or its own Guevara. We’ll rue the day.

Last week a General in the United States Marine Corp and writing from Hawaii had an op-ed piece in one of the large but dying east coast newspapers. He wondered aloud why the government never asks the average marine or foot soldier for a recommendation. This isn’t a new concept. During World War Two, General Omar Bradley put up a suggestion box outside his office. A soldier suggested telephones be placed on tanks. It simplified battle and the men could talk directly to tank crews directing fire on the enemy. For the enlightenment of the public school graduates, the United States and its allies won a decisive and unquestioned victory.

Now politicians go to the battlefield for campaign photo opportunities and then claim they’ve listened to the views of the men and women at war. Then the politicians come home and tell the commanders, who spend much more time within the ranks, to shut their mouths.

Check your history. The self-aggrandizing political class has once again hollowed out an empire. The jobs are gone. Food distribution is in but a few hands and soon the men and women in uniform will no longer serve the Constitution but the new breed of politically handpicked commanders. The time will come, when like Rome, these people will grab for power in a revolving door. Eisenhower and Reagan were the last to see the threat. The former saw it all slipping away and the latter longed for and was blocked from achieving restoration. All the other leaders of the last 50 years were just the weak bum-of-the-month chumps bringing down a great nation.

No longer can I deny it, I signed the registration card in a ceremony at the Sussex County GOP picnic and there were a barn full of people watching. Eight days after my 47^th birthday I joined the Republican Party, which is to say I’ve been a Republican for years but finally got around to making it official. A little more than twenty nine years ago I turned 18 and registered as a Democrat. In almost 30 years of voting I can only remember voting for one member of that party. Ormie King was a city councilman in Auburn, New York and he once gave me a job at his store when times were tough. He lived a good Christian life and was the definition of public service. Having been unable to vote for the lone Democrat since the early 1990s (I moved) I’ve spent much of my later years as an independent and last week on my program entertained thoughts of getting involved with a strong third party.

Then I started talking with trusted friends and by the end of the week reached another conclusion. In my native New York State the Republican Party is liberal light and a dying light at that. It wasn’t always that way but when the liberal Republican, Nelson Rockefeller, was Governor, the conservatives bolted and formed a separate party. Now there is one large Democrat Party, a smaller and slightly less leftist, emphasize very slightly, Republican Party and a smaller conservative party. Clearly, a recipe for liberal domination of the system.

A friend in Georgia, author and columnist, Phil Kent, suggests in most states the two bigger parties have made it more difficult for smaller parties to have an influence. Fair? No it isn’t but it certainly is reality.

A friend in Delaware, Shaun Fink, believes a third party can be successful but unless there is a crisis of desperation (Do we really want a depression or civil war?) a viable “third way” is still a generation away. Another Delaware friend, John Rieley, offers a party is a reflection of its membership. So, if you fill a party with libertarians or conservatives it will become a libertarian or conservative party.

Critics tell me the GOP has really made a mash of things, going all the way back to 1994 when it made promises and then, like in Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs became just like the human masters. I wholeheartedly agree but then the party could use a few more flamethrowers. If you have people joining and willing to bring forth orthodoxy then you can drag some folks back into the barnyard.

Now, we still have a problem with big money influencing outcomes. Hey, I don’t have an answer for everything but believe some sound heads can percolate some ideas. Some of the conversations I had at the GOP picnic offer there are worries about finding a candidate to run for a vacated seat in the House of Representatives. A friend would do it but believes he can’t raise two million dollars, which may be needed for victory because you must buy TV and radio advertising across the state line in Philadelphia. It isn’t cheap. The longtime Republican serving in the House is vacating the seat in order to run in a special election for U.S. Senate next year. He has money and can win votes from Democrats because for all purposes he is a Democrat. He spoke at Sunday’s picnic. There were a couple of folks who turned their seats around and he spoke to their backs. At my table, no one applauded when he closed his remarks. Again, see the need for conservatives and libertarians to join the party ranks in order to enforce orthodoxy.

Lastly, what type of party do I want? One that respects the intent of the founders, which I believe was more libertarian than conservative. Let the churches work to restore faith and morals. From what I read in Monday’s paper, some churches have a much taller order, having descended to the depths of hell.

Today I was driving along some country roads and looking for some inspiration. No other reason than to brighten my spirits after the assault they’ve taken following several days of rain. We’re waiting out a Nor’easter, the worst of which appeared to pass Thursday night with high winds and heavy rain. The rain yesterday came in cycles between the gloomy skies and this morning I thought it would be dry long enough to sweep the leaves from the front and back decks. Fat chance. By late morning some very heavy rain had moved in. A few miles down the back bay the high tides left some of my neighbors living on newly created islands. The county Republican Chairman sent me an agenda by email for tomorrow’s picnic and included a mention of the water surrounding his home.

Today I had planned to be involved in a tea party protest but it was canceled. The Redhead telephoned this morning and shared her dog is in rough shape. He’s nearly 16 and his life expectancy is being measured in days. He’s been with her since she left Baltimore and has been her friend and protector and unconditional love. Last spring he would see me and dance around and rush to visit. Now his rear hips can barely stay steady. She stayed home this gloomy day. About 11:00 A.M. I got into the Jeep and drove to Milford, where I enriched the Walton family. It’s a quick place to go for an oil change and it’s the largest Wal-Mart store I’ve ever seen. And today, while I waited, I wandered into the Wal-Mart hair salon and got a clipping for below 14 dollars.

Many of us fear Wal-Mart taking over the world and I bet I walk into a Wal-Mart no more than one half-dozen times in a year but today I knew it was a dry place to wander while waiting on the car. I almost bought a Phillies cap while at the store but didn’t. I think Ryan Howard is a baseball immortal but don’t want to be accused of being a bandwagon fan. The Phillies appear to be nice guys. So do the Yankees but it’ll be a cold day in Hades when I’d wear a NY cap.

Can I be political for a moment? The woman who cut my hair is a person of color. On Friday afternoon we had a discussion about race on my radio program. It wasn’t pretty. I worry we may be going in the wrong direction. We generalize a lot when we talk about races. The woman who cut my hair was a good conversationalist. She moved to Delaware from Jersey City, New Jersey. Like any good hair stylist she is a “generalist”, talking about anything and everything customers banter about. Let me tell you something as well about my personal dealings in life and let me generalize. In all my business and personal dealings over the last 47 years I find something I like in the cultural difference. Black people speak with a blunt honesty and the old news guy in me really enjoys hearing it. It makes me feel I’m getting a fair shake when it comes to business.

My dinner is nearly ready and it’s still raining outside. I’m hoping to take a short nap and also hope to find the Navy-SMU football game on TV tonight. Navy has an outstanding right tackle named Matt Molloy. Matt attended Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin, Maryland. The symmetry is wonderful; the old military hero was a Berlin native. Matt’s dad tells me the Midshipmen could win 12 games this year. Matt will graduate in 2011 and then serve his country at sea. Maybe I can introduce him to my daughter? She sure likes Annapolis. It was just about a year ago she wandered the streets there with me on an equally rainy night and I believe she was impressed by the uniformed young men we passed on the streets.

Dinner is ready. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend. The skies will clear next week and we can all get back to business.

Silent for the moment, the tea party event planned for Saturday is on hold. Without pointing a finger at any specific media outlet, let me tell you why. It appears there are some folks making editorial decisions based on petulance. When I was in the news business we dealt with facts and didn’t ignore stories because the people we covered didn’t always like us. Those mainstream media folks like claiming they’re above the fray.

Not the case on Delmarva. Some have distinguished themselves by firing reporters because members of the Cape school board didn’t think they were getting enough in the way of fawning coverage. Some of the eunuchs, excuse me, editors, buckled and made staffing changes to please the powers that be.

Now some of the spineless won’t cover political demonstrations and the like from the right because some members of the right believe the mainstream media has no stones.

Let me explain. See the growth of right-leaning alternatives? It’s a sharp and upward line. See the mainstream media? Cyclonic activity as it circles the drain.

There won’t be any local demonstrations Saturday because the “tough guys” in the mainstream media had their feelings hurt.

I came home from work tonight and turned on the TV to MSNBC. I doubled Keith Olbermann’s audience. I’d go outside and play but a Nor’easter is blowing through and it’s a tad nasty beyond the door. It could be worse. My sister had me check the weather forecast for our hometown in Western New York. There is snow there through Sunday. As a willingly suffering Baptist, she’ll endure.

I’m going to be indoors Sunday. For the second consecutive year I’m the Master of Ceremonies at the county GOP picnic, which is held inside Dave Wilson’s auction barn. The strange thing is that I’m not a registered Republican. I’m an independent and consider myself a libertarian, like the great Republican from Arizona, Barry Goldwater, however. Most of you know I’m the opposite of a RINO (Republican in Name Only). I’m an independent voting for GOP candidates. It’s going to change very soon. I’m taking the plunge and registering as a Republican.

Friends and enemies tell me Republicans share the blame with Democrats for the mess we’re in. Agreed. Friends tell me the GOP has lost its way. Agreed. Friends tell me Republicans are still looking for an identity. Agreed. All the more reason I’m joining. I may not understand and even approve of all the motives behind Mitch McConnell and John Boehner but these men aren’t just sticks in the mud when it comes to stopping the galloping Marxism of the Democrats, Boehner and McConnell could be concrete roadblocks if they could find some party discipline and support from out-of-town.

The Democrat party is often called a coalition. Long ago it even contained a few southern conservatives. A couple of them still reside in Delaware. About 1972, the Democrats jumped on board with radicals and took a sharp left turn. The “regressives” have been gaining in the party ever since and now we see the agenda on full display. You’re going to be losing choice in life. Choice is a synonym for liberty. The only “choice” you’ll still have is the one allowing women to kill their babies. This is called the advance of civilization.

I will say one nice thing about the “regressives”. They realized they could envelope the political coalition known as Democrats.

Political parties aren’t a design of the United States Constitution and aren’t prohibited by the document. We can have one, two or two hundred. Maybe someday, in my lifetime, we’ll have one half dozen but for the moment we’ve got two and are probably a few years away from seriously viable third and fourth. In the meantime I speak with a great many people in my line of work, on-air and off-air. Over the summer frustration turned to action. The former Vice-Chairman of my county Republican Party sums it up very well. If you’re not happy with the direction, then get involved. The other guys did it and the other guys were very patient. They’re reaping the socialist fruits after almost 4 decades of hammering away at the culture and the government.

Cal Thomas, along with Goldwater a co-godfather of my political awakening, spelled it out today in his syndicated column. “This is not an opinion. It is also not a secret. The more radical activists have written and spoken openly about their intentions”, he wrote. Their intentions bode ill for traditional America.

These are the people literally biting the fingers of traditional Americans at town hall meetings. They must be stopped. The Republican Party, for all its faults, is the largest political institution still available with a set of its own teeth. It just needs a few more stones.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bal-sp.fein07oct07,0,1521226.story

Brett Favre shares a birthday with me. I’m 7 years older but on Monday night he made me feel again like a kid. Favre will be 40 Saturday. Me? Do the math. More than 30 years have passed since I played organized football and all I really miss is the camaraderie of the team bus. That is until I watch Favre play like he did on Monday night. He looks like he’s having more fun than anyone else on the field. It also helps that he’s standing behind a line reminiscent of the early years of the Great Wall of China.

Favre never played for my favorite team. He defeated my favorite team as he’s now defeated every team in the league. When I was very young and my football allegiance to Buffalo was still doubtful I lived as well vicariously through Favre’s current club, the Minnesota Vikings. The names were different then. Tarkenton, Tinglehoff and Hilgenberg. They were grown men playing a game I loved as a boy. Now I watch younger men play the same game and while I still can get wrapped up in football I rarely watch it with the same enthusiasm as I did Monday.

Favre wasn’t just good and I saw him overthrow two receivers on pass plays which could’ve resulted in touchdowns. On one the receiver may have run the wrong route, turning in instead of turning for the sideline. On another Favre’s amazing arm strength overshot his man. Across the field his Green Bay replacement, Aaron Rodgers, threw for nearly 400 yards and did so under a much more ferocious pass rush, however. Rodgers looked like an accountant going over a few of his client’s bank balances. Favre looked like the guys I first tossed a football with in a backyard.

Through much of the summer Favre was vilified by a sport media because the man didn’t state unequivocally that he was playing or wasn’t playing. Funny how a 39 year old man in a rough game may have the temerity to put some thought to a decision. Then when the great one decided he would play he was vilified for skipping most of training camp, which may explain a missed pass or two. Yet his team is undefeated through one quarter of the regular season. The Vikings play in a very tough division. The Packers and Bears are playoff caliber teams. In the east the New Jersey Giants look even tougher than they did two years ago, when they were Super Bowl Champions. The man playing quarterback for the Giants is Eli Manning and he’s very good as his family genes would suggest. There are some folks who say a Super Bowl between the Giants and Indianapolis Colts would be the stuff of legend. Eli’s brother quarterbacks the Colts and won the title three years ago.

I agree. It would be a nice match-up but I want to see Brett Favre playing in the last game of the NFL season and I want to see him throw touchdown passes and dance with his teammates like a gang of 12 year olds celebrating in a field off Grove Street some 35 years ago.

Each October I grow a year older and every day I pick up newspapers telling me the end of the planet is near. Not only am I on the other side of the mountain and racing downhill but the merchants of fear are telling me the rest of you will join me and sooner than nature would once have insisted upon.

Then there is a man born in Mississippi and residing this fall in Minnesota and for the moment Brett Favre defies the fear mongers and nature.