Topic: Commentary

Invaders, patriots and entitlements

By Frank White | July 2, 2011 |

Frank White

A basic principle of war is that a combatant will fight most fiercely when protecting his home. Failure to weigh that axiom has depleted many powers over the centuries.

When building a house last year, we positioned it so that it was enveloped by the trees. We believed we were staking our claim and had the registered deed to prove it.

The natives, however, saw things differently. They had been there for generations and we were invading their home.

We were somewhat benevolent as we provided provisions for the natives through the winter and into the spring. The natives began to see our provisions as entitlements as summer came on. Why should they labor when adequate resources were provided?

When efforts were made to regulate the supply and monitor the recipients, things turned ugly. «Read the rest of this article»

Radio Talk Show Hosts vs. Common Sense: The Lost Article “Left vs. Right”

By Blayne Clements | November 20, 2009 |

I wrote this in July but never posted it…hence the “lost” article.

On the Monday of this last July 4th weekend, I was driving back from visiting my brothers family. I passed the time listening to the satellite radio, particularly both Left and Right political talk channels.

The talk shows on the liberal channels were very similar to the talk shows on the conservative channels. They were talking about the same topics, they had the same sponsors, the same sound bytes, the same timed commercial breaks, the same news at the top and bottom of the hour…for the entire seven hours. I couldn’t take it that long, but I did listen long enough to make some observations. «Read the rest of this article»

Orwell – “….I was no good”

By Blayne Clements | April 24, 2009 |

George Orwell

I recently read the following George Orwell quote:

In a world where the prime necessities were money, titled relatives, athleticism, tailor-made clothes, neatly brushed hair, a charming smile, I was no good.

My initial impression was just WOW; what a great sentence.  My eyes lingered over the last four words, “…I am no good.”   The ending conveyed sense of worthlessness and low self esteem.  But its Orwell, “1984” and “Animal Farm” aren’t exactly “feel good” reads.  But he “was no good” compared to what? «Read the rest of this article»

Kick crime to the curb

June 27, 2008 |

I’ve been looking over the two years’ worth of notes I’ve kept for story ideas, all rooted in what I have observed within the Montgomery County boundaries. From a distance, a temporary vantage point in the northeast, and the rest of the time from the porch of my home in Clarksville, I’ve followed the shootings and killings and robberies in Clarksville, the ones that happen in the dead of night, the ones that happen in broad daylight in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and a string of crimes in between. Crimes of inebriation or addiction, crimes of passion or hate, crimes of despair, crimes of rage, crimes rooted in poverty and need, crimes anchored in greed Am I the only one not surprised?

I feel the strongest sympathy and sadness for the families, the residents involved, the innocent bystanders with lives sometimes forever shattered. But I do believe this escalation in violent crime is a tragedy waiting to happen, one that will repeat itself many more times if the city, the schools, the police and all of us — everyday citizens — don’t become involved in our community, if we fail to stand behind a call to get tough and enforce the laws already on the books, and toughen up the sentencing and cut off the “deals” that spew offenders back onto the streets with minimal sentences and penalties too easily shrugged off. «Read the rest of this article»

Our Most Important Voice: My Letter On S1487

By Debbie Boen | July 24, 2007 |

I am providing testimony or comments for submission into the record of S1487 hearings. Debbie Boen, Clarksville, TN 37040

After the election of 2004 mainstream media would not research or publish the following accusations about electronic voting. Along with no mainstream media attention or public outcry, these facts still exist.

• 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
• There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
• The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
• The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”
• Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines. «Read the rest of this article»

The End of the World on Drive-In Saturday Night

July 6, 2007 |

The Apocalypse. Nuclear Holocaust. We cold-war babies grew up with the concept. In fourth grade it was “duck and cover” and survival skills that included wiping nuclear fallout off canned good before opening and consuming them. Right. Okay. Got it. Then there was the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, when teachers had us write our names in our clothes so that if we were nuked while walking home from school our bodies could be identified (we lived at the bottom of a hill, less than a mile from a strategic site). Yup. Got that too.

It all seems so silly now. But those times spawned a generation of classic films, some a lot better than others, but all eminently entertaining (and some still downright scary)!

At the top of my list is Testament. It didn’t get wide play, so I am continually surprised at how many people know this film.

Testament is understated. It doesn’t have the huge explosions, the mushroom clouds and the flattening of buildings. It’s much subtler. Ordinary people, ordinary families, going about their lives. It all changes in a flash. Literally. A quick burst of emergency warnings, a brilliant light, and the world changes forever.

«Read the rest of this article»

Journeys on Drive-In Saturday Night

June 29, 2007 |

We’ve traveled to outer space already this summer. How about inner space now? With Pat Boone as a headliner, how could this version of H.G. Wells’ Journey to the Center of the Earth be anything but a lightweight sojourn. James Mason is the dedicated Professor Lindenbrook, who believes another explorer, Arne Saknussen, has already reached the earth’s core. He’s got a rock with marking to prove it. Entering the earth through an Icelandic volcano, he is accompaned by a stocky Swede, a white duck, the widow of another explorer, and a student (Pat Boone). Along the way, they encounter prehistoric creatures, have a close encounter with a salt mine, and battle their way through a magma flow. Outrageous? Of course. That’s the fun of it. (1959).

«Read the rest of this article»

Burkhart Termination Hearing Will Haunt City Coffers

June 5, 2007 |

The recent appeal hearing of former Asst Fire Chief Jeff Burkhart is likely to be costly to the taxpayers. A wrongful termination lawsuit can be expected to land on City Hall’s doorsteps. A review of the proceedings would give even Jose Feliciano the chills. Insubordination- not in a coon’s age or a horse’s derriere. Hurricane Katrina would have steered clear of this farce. «Read the rest of this article»

The Gods visit Drive-In Saturday Night

June 1, 2007 |

Drive-In Saturday Night will be posted weekly on Fridays through Labor Day. May the Gods be kind to those who celebrate a little bit of yesterday in films now showing in your living room.

My first pick is a film that made it’s debut at the end of the drive-in theater era. It’s an award-winning but far-from-mainstream “what if” flick called The Gods Must be Crazy. Written, directed and produced by James Uys, the story is set in Africa, where a Sho in the Kalahari comes face to face with modern technology in the form of a Coke bottle (back when such bottles were glass) that falls from the sky.

It is a wonder, a “gift” from the Gods that becomes the treasured possession of the tribe, used by all for many things. But greed steps in, and the members of the tribe begin to fight over the treasure, so it is decided the bottle must be thrown over the edge of the earth. So begins one man’s journey to save his people from this now unwanted “gift.”

«Read the rest of this article»

Perchance a Pirates IV?

May 25, 2007 |

In the beginning there was Errol Flynn. Then Tyrone Power in The Black Swan. And always, a fiesty, pretty woman. A generation ago. Our next swashbucklers were intergalatic — the light saber play between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Father and son. With pretty woman Princess Lea in between.

Today Johnny Deep swooshes and swaggers (more swoosh than swagger) across the big screen in Pirates of the Caribbean III: At World’s End, another theme-park-ride swashbuckler that is better than Pirates II, but a long way from the charm and manic humor and first run surprises of the original film.

(Photo: Barbossa (Rush), Will Turner (Orlano Bloom), Jack Sparrow (Depp), (Elizabeth (Knightly) and Sao feng (Chow-Yung-Fat)

In the audience on opening night (5/24), fans decked out in Sparrow regalia were at least as amusing and swaggering as the on-screen original, and seemed to be having as much fun as Depp & Co did making this movie in the Bahamas. «Read the rest of this article»

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