Editor
The Washington Times reported yet another Kerry lie, this one told repeatedly of how he met for hours with all members of the U.N. Security Council just a week before voting in October 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. Since United Nations ambassadors from many of the Security Council nations are saying the meeting never occurred, I guess it will be up to our Main Stream Media to attack these ambassadors in the same way they attacked the Swift Boat veterans. Although the Swifties prevailed and proved John Kerry never spent Christmas 1968 in Cambodia, and by his own journal Kerry admitted he had not yet been in combat until the week after he supposedly was “wounded” for his first Purple Heart, the Main Stream Media continued to warp the truth.
The New York Times continues to fight for Kerry, now running a story about missing Iraqi high explosives even after NBC reported the explosives were gone before U. S, forces captured the site. Kerry and Edwards are making a big deal of the Times treatment of the story, making me wonder if they are saying we should have attacked sooner.
The New York Times sometimes gets it right. The Times just ran an article about President Bush having a higher IQ than Kerry, based on their scores on Officer Qualifying Tests (Bush scored at the 95th percentile, Kerry at the 91st). The article also reported that President Bush’s SAT score was 1206, which relates to an IQ of 129 and supports above a 95th percentile ranking. It is one point below qualifying President Bush for membership in Mensa. President Bush is measurably smarter than almost every liberal now reading this, with a Yale degree and a Harvard MBA for good measure.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Monday, December 22, 2003
Liberal Bias Is A Proven Fact
Steve,
Since Mr. Finz “quoted” his grandmother in an earlier letter, I will “quote” mine: “You can lead a liberal to wisdom, but you can’t make him wise.” If I had known that the ICO would have allowed me more than 300 words for my letter, such as the over 400 words allowed Mr. Harry in his pointless “Hollow Argument” rebuttal, I would have included many more examples of studies documenting liberal bias in the media. Instead, I cited a web site, http://www.mediaresearch.org/ , that provides the results of many studies. I had hoped that open-minded truth seekers would go to the web site, there to learn for themselves the findings of liberal bias. Instead, Mr. Finz focused on just one of the findings I included, and didn’t even mention the others. Quoting myself:
“Also, a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that members of the media were four times as likely to identify themselves as ‘liberal’ than as ‘conservative.’
Over a 16-year period, the Republican presidential candidate always received less than 20 percent of the media’s vote.”
Another study found that 89 percent of Washington-based reporters said they voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. Only seven percent voted for George Bush, with two percent choosing Ross Perot.
I could go on and on, but the ICO will edit me for brevity at the 300-word point, so I trust interested readers will seek truth themselves. I did not make the findings up – the Los Angeles Times, Kaiser Family Foundation, Gallup Poll, Harris Poll, the American Association of Newspaper Editors, the U. S. New and World Report, the Freedom Forum, Editor & Publisher magazine, major colleges and universities, and many others are responsible.
As the studies found, most Americans (including liberals) believe there is a liberal bias in the media. Mr. Finz and Mr. Harry should challenge these studies with facts, rather than opinions.
My oldest son, Sgt Bruce Combs, arrived safely back from Iraq via Kuwait on December 5. Alice and I are very proud of him and all he served with, who are working hard to protect even the ignorant and ungrateful amongst us.
Since Mr. Finz “quoted” his grandmother in an earlier letter, I will “quote” mine: “You can lead a liberal to wisdom, but you can’t make him wise.” If I had known that the ICO would have allowed me more than 300 words for my letter, such as the over 400 words allowed Mr. Harry in his pointless “Hollow Argument” rebuttal, I would have included many more examples of studies documenting liberal bias in the media. Instead, I cited a web site, http://www.mediaresearch.org/ , that provides the results of many studies. I had hoped that open-minded truth seekers would go to the web site, there to learn for themselves the findings of liberal bias. Instead, Mr. Finz focused on just one of the findings I included, and didn’t even mention the others. Quoting myself:
“Also, a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that members of the media were four times as likely to identify themselves as ‘liberal’ than as ‘conservative.’
Over a 16-year period, the Republican presidential candidate always received less than 20 percent of the media’s vote.”
Another study found that 89 percent of Washington-based reporters said they voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. Only seven percent voted for George Bush, with two percent choosing Ross Perot.
I could go on and on, but the ICO will edit me for brevity at the 300-word point, so I trust interested readers will seek truth themselves. I did not make the findings up – the Los Angeles Times, Kaiser Family Foundation, Gallup Poll, Harris Poll, the American Association of Newspaper Editors, the U. S. New and World Report, the Freedom Forum, Editor & Publisher magazine, major colleges and universities, and many others are responsible.
As the studies found, most Americans (including liberals) believe there is a liberal bias in the media. Mr. Finz and Mr. Harry should challenge these studies with facts, rather than opinions.
My oldest son, Sgt Bruce Combs, arrived safely back from Iraq via Kuwait on December 5. Alice and I are very proud of him and all he served with, who are working hard to protect even the ignorant and ungrateful amongst us.
When Did Serbia Attack Us?
Steve,
Since Mr. Finz determined not to waste any more time on an unworthy adversary such as myself, and unilaterally declared victory and an end to dead horse beating, I guess I will just have to find other simple amusements. Mr. Finz and Mr. Wasserman did not comment on any of the studies of liberal bias in the web site I referenced, and continued to write in their fact-free styles. They probably also will not read an excellent article, “War When we’re not attacked – Comparing Serbia with Iraq”, by Tom Campbell, who served five terms in Congress and was a member of the House International Relations Committee. Truth seekers can find the article in the Opinions section of the December 21, 2003 San Francisco Chronicle. Or go to http://www.sfgate.com/ and search for Campbell in Article - archive for December 21, 2003.
I will summarize the article: Serbia and Iraq are both instances of U.S. military action against a country that had not attacked us. Of the two, Iraq posed a greater threat to international peace, since Serbia had never attacked any of its neighbors, did not possess or use poison gas, and had not fired missiles into the territories of U. S. allies. Saddam Hussein gassed, shot, tortured and starved hundreds of thousands of his citizens, compared to the 2,000 killed by Milosevic in Kosovo. The occupation of Kosovo by NATO is in its fifth year. President Bush, contrary to Mr. Finz’s assertion that he directly defied the UN, had UN Security Council resolutions dating back to 1991 for authority, whereas President Clinton had nothing like that authority when he dropped the first bomb on Belgrade. President Clinton said Serbia posed a threat to NATO's security. President Bush said Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Campbell: “I can understand opposing (or supporting) U.S. action in both Iraq and Serbia. I can understand concluding that, on grounds of human rights, attacks on U.S. allies, international law and U.S. Constitutional law, the war in Iraq was a clearer case than the war in Serbia. To support the decision to attack Serbia, but not Iraq, however, is illogical.”
Mr. Campbell concludes: “It seems that it comes down to this: To some, President Bush can do no good, and President Clinton could do no wrong.”
Since Mr. Finz determined not to waste any more time on an unworthy adversary such as myself, and unilaterally declared victory and an end to dead horse beating, I guess I will just have to find other simple amusements. Mr. Finz and Mr. Wasserman did not comment on any of the studies of liberal bias in the web site I referenced, and continued to write in their fact-free styles. They probably also will not read an excellent article, “War When we’re not attacked – Comparing Serbia with Iraq”, by Tom Campbell, who served five terms in Congress and was a member of the House International Relations Committee. Truth seekers can find the article in the Opinions section of the December 21, 2003 San Francisco Chronicle. Or go to http://www.sfgate.com/ and search for Campbell in Article - archive for December 21, 2003.
I will summarize the article: Serbia and Iraq are both instances of U.S. military action against a country that had not attacked us. Of the two, Iraq posed a greater threat to international peace, since Serbia had never attacked any of its neighbors, did not possess or use poison gas, and had not fired missiles into the territories of U. S. allies. Saddam Hussein gassed, shot, tortured and starved hundreds of thousands of his citizens, compared to the 2,000 killed by Milosevic in Kosovo. The occupation of Kosovo by NATO is in its fifth year. President Bush, contrary to Mr. Finz’s assertion that he directly defied the UN, had UN Security Council resolutions dating back to 1991 for authority, whereas President Clinton had nothing like that authority when he dropped the first bomb on Belgrade. President Clinton said Serbia posed a threat to NATO's security. President Bush said Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Campbell: “I can understand opposing (or supporting) U.S. action in both Iraq and Serbia. I can understand concluding that, on grounds of human rights, attacks on U.S. allies, international law and U.S. Constitutional law, the war in Iraq was a clearer case than the war in Serbia. To support the decision to attack Serbia, but not Iraq, however, is illogical.”
Mr. Campbell concludes: “It seems that it comes down to this: To some, President Bush can do no good, and President Clinton could do no wrong.”
Friday, December 19, 2003
California - Revenue Shortage, Spending Surplus
Editor,
Your editorial, Junk Budget, December 12, 2003, was very amusing, since the ICO was not a critic of the Davis administration’s fiscal irresponsibility. When liberals bemoan reducing the regressive car tax just to criticize a Republican (a tax that hits the poor much harder than the rich, and then the rich take it as an itemized tax deduction, adding further salt to the wound!), it is true hypocrisy.
You are not alone in your liberal bias. The San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and other willing accomplices of the Democratic majority that gave California the worst fiscal management of all fifty states (for details of the study that awarded California last place, see USA Today, June 23, 2003, Bad Moves, Not Economy, Behind Busted State Budgets, by Paul Overberg), also never editorialized against the spending that created the problem, but have been all over Governor Schwarzenegger for honoring his campaign promise to throw out the car tax increase. Good thing too, because that was one of the main promises that got him elected!
The problem in California can be summed up neatly. We did not have a shortage of revenue; we had an excess of spending. The only revenue shortage we experienced was due to our inflated expectations of taxes from the rich as they exercised stock options. California budget statistics show: 26% - Increase in state revenue from 1998-99 to 2002-03; 45% - Increase in total state spending from 1998-99 to 2002-03; 37% - Increase in just the General Fund portion of state spending from 1998-99 to 2002-03; and 37,000 - The number of new workers hired as of March 2003 in state government since the Governor's "hiring freeze" was imposed March 2002 (that's 37,000 new hires in ONE year!). Any questions?
Facts, not opinions.
Your editorial, Junk Budget, December 12, 2003, was very amusing, since the ICO was not a critic of the Davis administration’s fiscal irresponsibility. When liberals bemoan reducing the regressive car tax just to criticize a Republican (a tax that hits the poor much harder than the rich, and then the rich take it as an itemized tax deduction, adding further salt to the wound!), it is true hypocrisy.
You are not alone in your liberal bias. The San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and other willing accomplices of the Democratic majority that gave California the worst fiscal management of all fifty states (for details of the study that awarded California last place, see USA Today, June 23, 2003, Bad Moves, Not Economy, Behind Busted State Budgets, by Paul Overberg), also never editorialized against the spending that created the problem, but have been all over Governor Schwarzenegger for honoring his campaign promise to throw out the car tax increase. Good thing too, because that was one of the main promises that got him elected!
The problem in California can be summed up neatly. We did not have a shortage of revenue; we had an excess of spending. The only revenue shortage we experienced was due to our inflated expectations of taxes from the rich as they exercised stock options. California budget statistics show: 26% - Increase in state revenue from 1998-99 to 2002-03; 45% - Increase in total state spending from 1998-99 to 2002-03; 37% - Increase in just the General Fund portion of state spending from 1998-99 to 2002-03; and 37,000 - The number of new workers hired as of March 2003 in state government since the Governor's "hiring freeze" was imposed March 2002 (that's 37,000 new hires in ONE year!). Any questions?
Facts, not opinions.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Our 2003 Christmas Letter
23 December 2003
But there is more. A lot more. By the grace of God and accident of birth, we were born into the most free and freedom loving land ever to grace the Earth, in 1942 when that freedom was most grievously threatened. Evil that should have been nipped in the bud almost destroyed liberty, while good people stood by and allowed it to grow. Hopefully we will never let that happen again.
In July we went on a Baltic cruise and visited the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, and Russia. To me, the highlight was two days spent in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The palaces and museums were unforgettable, Alice loved the colorful onion domed buildings, but my most lasting image was watching the young Russians coping with freedom. Many were fit and trim, stylishly dressed, well spoken and educated, and trying to take advantage of opportunities. Older Russians, however, may have wanted the old ways back. We ended our vacation in London, thoroughly enjoying “Mama Mia” and “time” at Greenwich.
Debbie and Joe had a dog Buddy, who nipped a jogger on the left nipple while Debbie was walking him in a park. Now Buddy is living with us. He jogs three miles with me most mornings, then walks to the beach with Alice in the afternoon. On mornings when Alice goes swimming, Buddy goes to the office with me, and loves showing property. We are both still on the School Board, and by invitation Buddy now goes to all the meetings too, so we don’t have to leave him alone and lonely. He is spoiled.
Other highlights of the year include Granddaughter Leaha visiting for three weeks, visits with friends and relatives here, in the Bay Area, Southern California, and Lake Tahoe, and completing the remodel and moving into our home among the redwoods. We love it here and hope all our friends and family plan to visit us soon.
A very Merry Christmas, and the happiest of New Years!
Monday, November 10, 2003
The Last Word In Liberal Media Bias
Editor,
Since Mr. Finz chose to attack both my intelligence and honesty concerning the media’s leftist bias, I would like to rub his nose in the following surveys by the American Association of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 1988 and 1997. The most recent ASNE study surveyed 1,037 newspaper reporters found 61 percent identified themselves as/leaning "liberal/Democratic" compared to only 15 percent who identified themselves as/leaning "conservative/Republican."
Also, a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that members of the media were four times as likely to identify themselves as "liberal" than as "conservative."
Over a 16-year period, the Republican presidential candidate always received less than 20 percent of the media’s vote.
There are many more polls and surveys on this issue, but a good starting point is www.mediaresearch.org/biasbasics , which gives cites and links to each study.
There are also many quotes from news professionals admitting or pointing out the liberal bias in the news, but as always CBS News' Andy Rooney gets the last word. When discussing Bernard Goldberg's book Bias, which argues that the dominant media are biased in the liberal direction, on CNN's "Larry King Live" in June 2002: "There is just no question that I, among others [in the media], have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions. And I think...Dan [Rather] is transparently liberal. Now, he may not like to hear me say that....But I think he should be more careful."
A postscript: This week we celebrated a man who made cutting taxes a defining moment of his presidency and boosted the U.S. economy to record heights. He also launched preemptive attacks against two brutal dictatorships. Today JFK would not be welcomed in his own party.
My oldest son, Sgt Bruce Combs, left Iraq for Kuwait and may be home in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, we pray.
Since Mr. Finz chose to attack both my intelligence and honesty concerning the media’s leftist bias, I would like to rub his nose in the following surveys by the American Association of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 1988 and 1997. The most recent ASNE study surveyed 1,037 newspaper reporters found 61 percent identified themselves as/leaning "liberal/Democratic" compared to only 15 percent who identified themselves as/leaning "conservative/Republican."
Also, a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that members of the media were four times as likely to identify themselves as "liberal" than as "conservative."
Over a 16-year period, the Republican presidential candidate always received less than 20 percent of the media’s vote.
There are many more polls and surveys on this issue, but a good starting point is www.mediaresearch.org/biasbasics , which gives cites and links to each study.
There are also many quotes from news professionals admitting or pointing out the liberal bias in the news, but as always CBS News' Andy Rooney gets the last word. When discussing Bernard Goldberg's book Bias, which argues that the dominant media are biased in the liberal direction, on CNN's "Larry King Live" in June 2002: "There is just no question that I, among others [in the media], have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions. And I think...Dan [Rather] is transparently liberal. Now, he may not like to hear me say that....But I think he should be more careful."
A postscript: This week we celebrated a man who made cutting taxes a defining moment of his presidency and boosted the U.S. economy to record heights. He also launched preemptive attacks against two brutal dictatorships. Today JFK would not be welcomed in his own party.
My oldest son, Sgt Bruce Combs, left Iraq for Kuwait and may be home in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, we pray.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Women In Black Get Fast Results!
Editor
Independent Coast Observer
This Friday the Women in Black demonstrated for an end to the war in their largest numbers yet. Friday evening I watched Coalition tanks cruising through Baghdad streets. Such fast results!
In a previous letter, I ended that the Iraqis would greet us by asking: “What took you so long?” As I watched TV news showing British soldiers liberating Basrah, and pictures of jubilant Iraqis thanking them and dancing on a British tank, they were shouting, “What took you so long!”
That the Iraqis are glad to see us is a mystery only to the Left. News that the Butcher of Baghdad has finally been overthrown has unleashed a torrent of eye witness accounts of atrocities his cruel regime inflicted on its own citizens: Iraqi death squads killing husbands and children in front of their wives and mothers; forcing civilians to be human shields while the Saddam loyalists attacked Coalition forces; and hiding military equipment in mosques and hospitals.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Saddam was responsible for the deaths of three million Iraqis and over a million Iranians. Along the way, Saddam gassed 5,000 Kurds, mostly women and children, in 1988.
In fact, Saddam is responsible for more Muslim deaths than any other person in history, including the total killed in all of the Crusades. Still, the Left stands up for Saddam, Osama, Yasser, and Fidel, and supports regime change only when discussing President Bush. The Left chants “no blood for oil,” but the French, Germans and Russians have profiteered selling armaments and building bunkers and palaces for Saddam with the oil money meant for sick and starving Iraqis.
I used to tell Leftists that “Saddam is no Boy Scout,” but I stopped saying that when I realized they thought I was complimenting Saddam.
Independent Coast Observer
This Friday the Women in Black demonstrated for an end to the war in their largest numbers yet. Friday evening I watched Coalition tanks cruising through Baghdad streets. Such fast results!
In a previous letter, I ended that the Iraqis would greet us by asking: “What took you so long?” As I watched TV news showing British soldiers liberating Basrah, and pictures of jubilant Iraqis thanking them and dancing on a British tank, they were shouting, “What took you so long!”
That the Iraqis are glad to see us is a mystery only to the Left. News that the Butcher of Baghdad has finally been overthrown has unleashed a torrent of eye witness accounts of atrocities his cruel regime inflicted on its own citizens: Iraqi death squads killing husbands and children in front of their wives and mothers; forcing civilians to be human shields while the Saddam loyalists attacked Coalition forces; and hiding military equipment in mosques and hospitals.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Saddam was responsible for the deaths of three million Iraqis and over a million Iranians. Along the way, Saddam gassed 5,000 Kurds, mostly women and children, in 1988.
In fact, Saddam is responsible for more Muslim deaths than any other person in history, including the total killed in all of the Crusades. Still, the Left stands up for Saddam, Osama, Yasser, and Fidel, and supports regime change only when discussing President Bush. The Left chants “no blood for oil,” but the French, Germans and Russians have profiteered selling armaments and building bunkers and palaces for Saddam with the oil money meant for sick and starving Iraqis.
I used to tell Leftists that “Saddam is no Boy Scout,” but I stopped saying that when I realized they thought I was complimenting Saddam.
Human Shields "Bug Out"
Editor
I'm glad Tom Cahill escaped from Iraq. Other human shields left Baghdad recently, and their experiences were reported by UPI and other news agencies. Two human shields were so shocked by Iraqi descriptions of atrocities committed by Saddam, that they switched from opposition to support of the war. Many other human shields left when they found the Iraqis wanted them to shield military targets.
Cahill's statement that human shields were specifically targeted seems as credible as the statements of Baghdad Bob, the Iraqi information officer who can say that there are no Coalition forces in Baghdad while a camera shot over his shoulder shows Coalition tanks roaming the banks of the Tigris.
During the phase of the war when shields would have been in transit, Coalition targeting was strategic, not tactical. Cahill is paranoid with delusions of grandeur to think that Coalition forces would, or ever could, identify and track the movements of inconsequential noncombatants.
If Cahill truly believes the stories, he was also a witness to a miracle: in fact, a double miracle, given the precision of Coalition missiles and bombs. Targeted buses? Dead human shields! The fact that they are not dead is proof in itself that they were not targeted and bombed.
Cahill will probably find many committed peace activists eager to repeat this story, and many others who lack the common sense to pick it apart. However, he should be careful not to expose the story to someone who can critically analyze it.
("Bug Out" - from the Korean War. When attacked by overwhelming forces, to "bug out" meant to throw your gun and gear away so the weight would not slow down your speedy departure!
"When the Chinese mortars begins to thuggin', the old Deuce Four begins to buggin' ")
I'm glad Tom Cahill escaped from Iraq. Other human shields left Baghdad recently, and their experiences were reported by UPI and other news agencies. Two human shields were so shocked by Iraqi descriptions of atrocities committed by Saddam, that they switched from opposition to support of the war. Many other human shields left when they found the Iraqis wanted them to shield military targets.
Cahill's statement that human shields were specifically targeted seems as credible as the statements of Baghdad Bob, the Iraqi information officer who can say that there are no Coalition forces in Baghdad while a camera shot over his shoulder shows Coalition tanks roaming the banks of the Tigris.
During the phase of the war when shields would have been in transit, Coalition targeting was strategic, not tactical. Cahill is paranoid with delusions of grandeur to think that Coalition forces would, or ever could, identify and track the movements of inconsequential noncombatants.
If Cahill truly believes the stories, he was also a witness to a miracle: in fact, a double miracle, given the precision of Coalition missiles and bombs. Targeted buses? Dead human shields! The fact that they are not dead is proof in itself that they were not targeted and bombed.
Cahill will probably find many committed peace activists eager to repeat this story, and many others who lack the common sense to pick it apart. However, he should be careful not to expose the story to someone who can critically analyze it.
("Bug Out" - from the Korean War. When attacked by overwhelming forces, to "bug out" meant to throw your gun and gear away so the weight would not slow down your speedy departure!
"When the Chinese mortars begins to thuggin', the old Deuce Four begins to buggin' ")
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Our 2002 Christmas Letter
Alice and I both turned 60 this year and the maturity we now exhibit is in consonance with our years. More than at any other time in our lives, we are aware of the uniqueness of life and of the lives about us. We both lost our beloved stepmothers this year, Edna Dickinson in April and Ruth Combs in July, and several other good friends. And yet, life goes on, and our zest for and appreciation of it and of each other increases remarkably with our increasing age. Maybe life does begin at 60!
We enjoyed more travels this past year. We spent last New Year's with great friends in Playa del Carmen and were entertained and educated by visits to Mayan pyramids and temples, Mexican villages, and snorkeling in the warm, clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In June we went to Denver for the 90th birthday celebration of Alice’s Aunt Ruth, and visits with relatives, many living in the Denver area, and many who came from afar to celebrate.
In further reflection on year 2002, like Yogi said, it's deja vu all over again. Alice has been remodeling a house we bought that is just behind our present home. Remodeling a home was the way we started life together in 1989, except then we lived in the house as work went on all about us. About this remodel, suffice it to say that it is taking twice as long, and costing twice as much, as we thought it would. Alice is loving every minute of it! Then in August we began an encore of the four-month bicycle trip we took to Europe four years ago, only this time we went for two months and spent almost the entire time in Scotland, with just a little time in Ireland and England. Early in the second week of our journey we had our hardest day on bikes ever. With our packs that averaged 65 pounds, we began a 32-mile ride from Ballater past Balmoral Castle (the Queen was there, I wonder if she saw us peddle by?) to the Spittal of Glenshee (you have to love Scottish place names). Halfway through the ride, we began a 10-mile steady climb to the 2,000 feet summit at Cairnwell Pass, riding into a headwind that got stronger as we climbed - the gusts at the summit exceeded 50 miles an hour, and at one point blew Alice right off her bike. We rode past the base of ski lifts at the summit, and then flew downhill for six miles to our bed and breakfast lodge. There we arrived just in time for dinner provided by “Angels” as Alice named the six young ladies who invited us to share the BBQ they prepared for a Bachelorette party.
At the end of our bike trip, we joined Alice's high school reunion group for a 60th birthday party and cruise from San Pedro with stops at San Diego, Ensenada, and Catalina island. Unfortunately, during the first night Alice thought she was having a heart attack, and when we arrived at San Diego she was rushed to the UCSD Medical Center. Tony Bennett may have “left his heart in San Francisco,” but Alice left her gallbladder and about 100 gallstones in San Diego.
During the year we exchanged visits with friends and relatives, celebrating birthdays, etc. In October, we arrived in Las Vegas too late to celebrate my eldest son Bruce’s 39th birthday, but in time to celebrate his wedding to Tobe the next day. We wish Bruce and Tobe, Bruce's teenage daughter Leaha, and Tobe’s three sons Brian, Kyle and Shane, all the best, especially if (when) Bruce’s Nevada National Guard Military Police unit is called up for active duty.
Monday, November 11, 2002
Hypocisy Is A Tradition Of The Left
Editor, Independent Coast Observer
I was tempted to accept Peter Lippman's offer of a "Mendonoma" truce, but have chosen not to, since there is still the matter of Mr. Lippman calling me a "hatemonger," and the fact that I still consider him a hypocrite, and a sincere one at that. Actually, based on the tortuous, Clintonesque attempts Mr. Lippman made to define his subjectivity as objectivity, and his odd statement that he and like-minded individuals "think touching and feeling are life and death issues," I thought he had already given up the fight.
The left certainly has, and in fact is in full retreat. Four out of five Americans, including over half the Democrats, are glad that George W. Bush, not Bill Clinton, is leading us in these perilous times. As Bill Clinton "dallianced" through the 90's, the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through streets in Somalia, the World Trade center was bombed in 1993, U. S. military personnel were bombed in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, two U. S. embassies were bombed in Africa in 1998, and the USS Cole was bombed in 2000. After each bombing, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished. However, the only thing he did was have $66,000,000 worth of Tomahawk missiles raise some dust in Afghanistan and destroy a pharmaceutical factory and kill some night watchmen and cleaning ladies in Sudan. No follow-up on this missile strike was made, and much later we tacitly admitted that the Sudan strike was a mistake. If Bill Clinton had not felt the need to distract the public from embarrassing Monica revelations, he would not have made any response at all.
In his response to Alice and my letters, Mr. Lippman exhorted us to also help improve the lives of innocent children (and adults) in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Alice and I concur totally with this wish, since their own oppressive governments inflict their misery on them, and we support and encourage the overthrow of their governments and their replacement by democracies. In fact, if all of the failed socialist governments in the world were replaced by democracies and capitalism, terrorism would die out as prosperity bloomed. The left would not like this. Soon the Peoples' Republic of Berkeley would be the only venue left where proud and unrepentant socialists could be studied.
The left continues to trumpet free speech and diversity, while championing the oppression of same at the University of California at Berkeley. There, the left demanded retractions, apologies, and "sensitivity" training when the student newspaper ran an advertisement against reparations for Blacks, and when a conservative student newspaper ran an editorial cartoon depicting the September 11 highjackers in Hell, instead of being serviced by 72 virgins at the right hand of Allah.
I conclude from the above that hypocrisy is a respected leftist tradition, and that Mr. Lippman is steadfastly following this tradition.
Alice and I thank him for commending us for our "ascendancy to the School Board." However, we are disappointed that a previous writer, Ms. Bullamore, did not provide the ICO a summary of the actions she and like-minded individuals took at the October 4 School Board meeting, where it was reported that volunteers were sought but not found. We trust that other service opportunities will arise, and that concerned citizens will then come forward.
I was tempted to accept Peter Lippman's offer of a "Mendonoma" truce, but have chosen not to, since there is still the matter of Mr. Lippman calling me a "hatemonger," and the fact that I still consider him a hypocrite, and a sincere one at that. Actually, based on the tortuous, Clintonesque attempts Mr. Lippman made to define his subjectivity as objectivity, and his odd statement that he and like-minded individuals "think touching and feeling are life and death issues," I thought he had already given up the fight.
The left certainly has, and in fact is in full retreat. Four out of five Americans, including over half the Democrats, are glad that George W. Bush, not Bill Clinton, is leading us in these perilous times. As Bill Clinton "dallianced" through the 90's, the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through streets in Somalia, the World Trade center was bombed in 1993, U. S. military personnel were bombed in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, two U. S. embassies were bombed in Africa in 1998, and the USS Cole was bombed in 2000. After each bombing, Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished. However, the only thing he did was have $66,000,000 worth of Tomahawk missiles raise some dust in Afghanistan and destroy a pharmaceutical factory and kill some night watchmen and cleaning ladies in Sudan. No follow-up on this missile strike was made, and much later we tacitly admitted that the Sudan strike was a mistake. If Bill Clinton had not felt the need to distract the public from embarrassing Monica revelations, he would not have made any response at all.
In his response to Alice and my letters, Mr. Lippman exhorted us to also help improve the lives of innocent children (and adults) in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. Alice and I concur totally with this wish, since their own oppressive governments inflict their misery on them, and we support and encourage the overthrow of their governments and their replacement by democracies. In fact, if all of the failed socialist governments in the world were replaced by democracies and capitalism, terrorism would die out as prosperity bloomed. The left would not like this. Soon the Peoples' Republic of Berkeley would be the only venue left where proud and unrepentant socialists could be studied.
The left continues to trumpet free speech and diversity, while championing the oppression of same at the University of California at Berkeley. There, the left demanded retractions, apologies, and "sensitivity" training when the student newspaper ran an advertisement against reparations for Blacks, and when a conservative student newspaper ran an editorial cartoon depicting the September 11 highjackers in Hell, instead of being serviced by 72 virgins at the right hand of Allah.
I conclude from the above that hypocrisy is a respected leftist tradition, and that Mr. Lippman is steadfastly following this tradition.
Alice and I thank him for commending us for our "ascendancy to the School Board." However, we are disappointed that a previous writer, Ms. Bullamore, did not provide the ICO a summary of the actions she and like-minded individuals took at the October 4 School Board meeting, where it was reported that volunteers were sought but not found. We trust that other service opportunities will arise, and that concerned citizens will then come forward.
Friday, November 16, 2001
Caucasian Octogenarian Female Suicide Bombers?
Editor
Regarding Mr. Schwab’s comments (ICO, 11/9/01) concerning the dialogue which has developed over my letters, I would ask readers to remember that two suicide Arab bombers attacked the Cole just about a year ago, and that suicide bombers ply their trade almost daily in Israel. Why then would we not expect Arab suicide bombers to attack us? Apparently, many others share my view. In Time, Nov. 8 edition, concerning anthrax and the Sept. 11 attack, Time reports that “…the Federal Government was roundly criticized for its failure to imagine the worst.” I am sure that the “worst” was imagined, but nothing effective was done about it because of Arab sensitivities. Terrorist profiling would of course have included examining young Arab-looking males for possible weapons. Why else would we single them out?
I feel certain that Arab suicide bombing was anticipated because, for eight of my 21 years of Air Force service, I and thousands of others were involved in “war gaming,” basically anticipating an opponents courses of action and devising counters to them. Mr. Schwab’s statements only point to his ignorance of threat assessment and countermeasures development. His statement that: “Changing (to a less volatile jet) fuel would have rendered jets useless as incendiary bombs” was ludicrous. First, suicide terrorists would be satisfied to crash the jet and kill the passengers on board. Secondly, even the less volatile jet fuel burns, and the fires, not explosions, brought down the twin towers.
I was pleased by Ms. Harrison’s excellent reply to Mr. Henderson’s bizarre letter, and to see that it included a paragraph concerning the terrorist attacks on us that went unanswered on Bill Clinton’s sorry watch. The ICO editor had excised similar information from one of my previous letters, and it is wonderful to see that “truth will out.” Let’s roll!
Regarding Mr. Schwab’s comments (ICO, 11/9/01) concerning the dialogue which has developed over my letters, I would ask readers to remember that two suicide Arab bombers attacked the Cole just about a year ago, and that suicide bombers ply their trade almost daily in Israel. Why then would we not expect Arab suicide bombers to attack us? Apparently, many others share my view. In Time, Nov. 8 edition, concerning anthrax and the Sept. 11 attack, Time reports that “…the Federal Government was roundly criticized for its failure to imagine the worst.” I am sure that the “worst” was imagined, but nothing effective was done about it because of Arab sensitivities. Terrorist profiling would of course have included examining young Arab-looking males for possible weapons. Why else would we single them out?
I feel certain that Arab suicide bombing was anticipated because, for eight of my 21 years of Air Force service, I and thousands of others were involved in “war gaming,” basically anticipating an opponents courses of action and devising counters to them. Mr. Schwab’s statements only point to his ignorance of threat assessment and countermeasures development. His statement that: “Changing (to a less volatile jet) fuel would have rendered jets useless as incendiary bombs” was ludicrous. First, suicide terrorists would be satisfied to crash the jet and kill the passengers on board. Secondly, even the less volatile jet fuel burns, and the fires, not explosions, brought down the twin towers.
I was pleased by Ms. Harrison’s excellent reply to Mr. Henderson’s bizarre letter, and to see that it included a paragraph concerning the terrorist attacks on us that went unanswered on Bill Clinton’s sorry watch. The ICO editor had excised similar information from one of my previous letters, and it is wonderful to see that “truth will out.” Let’s roll!
Saturday, November 10, 2001
"No Namecalling" Writer Calls Me "Hatemonger"
Alice and I just returned from over two weeks in Kaua’i, and one of the first things I did was catch up on local activities by reading through the last three weeks of the ICO. I noticed in the September 21 ICO that a Mr. Lippman commented on my September 14 letter and ended by stating that “it is important for us to respect one another, hear each other out, and avoid ‘ad hominem’ arguments.” Earlier in his letter Mr. Lippman, who I never recall meeting, correctly mentioned that in the instance of air travel security that I support racial profiling. He also correctly stated that racial profiling would not protect us from the clean-cut Anglo racists among us who bomb churches. He then noted that a highly likely source of irrational violence is our subpopulation of hatemongers, and then identified me as one of them. Mr. Lippman, I am judgmental, and conservative, and a Republican, support School Choice, and am not politically correct (although political correctness is a form of judgmentalism), but I am not a hatemonger. Mr. Lippman, you then went on to purportedly read my mind, by saying that I would applaud an attack on an Indian Sikh. Mr. Lippman, you are a hypocrite, and you would do well to heed the advice you gave us all in your letter. It is intellectually dishonest, and a personal insult to me, to be called a hatemonger by you and for you to say that I would applaud bigoted violence. Do you frequently assign such low motives and attitudes to people about whom you are totally ignorant? Do you fall back on the bigot’s nostrum, “I know what people like you think.”
Mr. Silverstein then instructs me on freedom and what it means to be an American. Mr. Silverstein, I served in the United States Air Force, first in the enlisted ranks and then as an officer, for over 21 years to protect our freedoms. One of the freedoms I took an oath to defend was the freedom from attack “from enemies both foreign and domestic.” I did not take an oath to protect the freedom of those who are not United States citizens at the price of our security. Although I was retired six years when the Gulf War started, I placed myself on a voluntary Air Force recall roster in the hopes that I would be called up instead of someone with a young family. Alice still hasn’t forgiven me for exposing myself to possible danger and a certain drastic cut in pay. However, Mr. Silverstein, I believe that turning a blind eye to the terrorist threats from individuals who are not American citizens takes freedom from those of us who are.
In the September 28 ICO, Ms. Bullamore applauded Mr. Lippman and Mr. Silverstein, and noted erroneously that I am a member of the Point Arena School Board. Ms. Bullamore, the reason you did not meet me at the October 4 board meeting which, from your implied concerns I assume you attended, is that I am not yet a board member. Actually, Alice and I were unopposed for two positions on the board, and we both will begin our service soon. I applaud Ms. Bullamore’s suggestion that more of us should be attending school board meetings, and I heartily endorse it. As a graduate of both Point Arena Elementary and High Schools (1949-1960), I am keenly interested in helping both schools because I know that improving education in our public schools is the most valuable thing we can do to improve the lives of minority children and children from poor families. It worked for me, and Alice is a volunteer tutor who has worked tirelessly and invested a substantial sum of her time and our own money to improve the reading skills of several children. So Ms. Bullamore, we welcome your concern and your participation, and I am sure that you and others equally concerned will participate actively in school board and other volunteer programs. Maybe you or someone else will even oppose us for election.
Mr. Silverstein then instructs me on freedom and what it means to be an American. Mr. Silverstein, I served in the United States Air Force, first in the enlisted ranks and then as an officer, for over 21 years to protect our freedoms. One of the freedoms I took an oath to defend was the freedom from attack “from enemies both foreign and domestic.” I did not take an oath to protect the freedom of those who are not United States citizens at the price of our security. Although I was retired six years when the Gulf War started, I placed myself on a voluntary Air Force recall roster in the hopes that I would be called up instead of someone with a young family. Alice still hasn’t forgiven me for exposing myself to possible danger and a certain drastic cut in pay. However, Mr. Silverstein, I believe that turning a blind eye to the terrorist threats from individuals who are not American citizens takes freedom from those of us who are.
In the September 28 ICO, Ms. Bullamore applauded Mr. Lippman and Mr. Silverstein, and noted erroneously that I am a member of the Point Arena School Board. Ms. Bullamore, the reason you did not meet me at the October 4 board meeting which, from your implied concerns I assume you attended, is that I am not yet a board member. Actually, Alice and I were unopposed for two positions on the board, and we both will begin our service soon. I applaud Ms. Bullamore’s suggestion that more of us should be attending school board meetings, and I heartily endorse it. As a graduate of both Point Arena Elementary and High Schools (1949-1960), I am keenly interested in helping both schools because I know that improving education in our public schools is the most valuable thing we can do to improve the lives of minority children and children from poor families. It worked for me, and Alice is a volunteer tutor who has worked tirelessly and invested a substantial sum of her time and our own money to improve the reading skills of several children. So Ms. Bullamore, we welcome your concern and your participation, and I am sure that you and others equally concerned will participate actively in school board and other volunteer programs. Maybe you or someone else will even oppose us for election.
Saturday, December 09, 2000
Our 2000 Christmas Letter
December 12, 2000
We labored long and hard (and fruitlessly) in California for the Republican cause (I am the 5th District, Mendocino County Republican Party representative), and Alice and I are finally pleased and happy with the outcome, but we know we have many friends and relatives who aren’t.
As usual, 2000 was a traveling year as well as a political one. Alice and I began the year on the road visiting family and friends in Southern California and Nevada, and then sightseeing in Arizona and the Southern California desert area. We both visited the Grand Canyon for the first time as adults, and revisited parts of Route 66 we had traveled in the 60’s while going from one military assignment to the next. We also hiked and biked over desert trails and visited a variety of places such as London Bridge, Hoover Dam, the Andy Devine museum, Indian cliff dwellings, the Early Man dig, and a whole lot more.
Then we returned to Gualala, to get to know this wonderful place that so many tourists brave Highway 1 to visit. While I dabbled in real estate at Banana Belt Properties in Anchor Bay, Alice carefully made sure that I showed her every potentially desirable parcel in the area. Alice also continues to marvel at how well her business, Vulcan, Incorporated, is performing and expanding.
Alice has been active in Soroptimists, and I am a Lion. We also are active in the Garcia Grange in Manchester, where I was one of the youngest members in the late 1950’s and find that over forty years later I am still one of the youngest members. We both enjoy seeing my old friends and neighbors, and also appreciate our new neighbors who are all interesting and wonderful people.
My personal highlight of the year was working on the Reunion Committee of the Point Arena High School Class of 1960 and helping with a celebration in August of our 40thReunion. Of the 28 graduates, five passed away, 18 were located and contacted, and 12 made it to the Reunion. The Reunion dinner in Gualala, and brunch the next day at our house, was pure pleasure for Alice and me. We plan to have the next Class of 1960 reunion in August 2004, the Friday evening before the next multiyear class reunion.
Not to be outdone, in November Alice’s school, Reseda High in the San Fernando Valley, had its 40th too, and after the reunion dinner/dance in Van Nuys, 84 of us cruised the Mediterranean and vacationed in Spain and Greece for over two weeks. We began in Barcelona, and then toured Pisa, Etruscan ruins, and Pompeii in Italy, followed by Crete, Santorini, and Rhodes, then our favorite, Ephesus, Turkey, and finished with several days in Athens. The weather was great, and nothing was crowded. We felt like we had the Mediterranean to ourselves.
The newest addition to the family, Wade Kelly Combs, was born July 3. Wade and his parents, Scott and Tracy, visited us a week ago and we were pleased and surprised to see how big and strong he was at five months. He got up on his hands and knees, and then crawled backwards. We were able to visit all eight grandchildren this year, although it has been almost a year since we saw Melicia and Leaha in Las Vegas. The other grandchildren, Savannah and Kevin Mone, and Travis, Michael, and Ashley Combs-Beard, live in the Bay Area and we can visit them on a regular basis.
Alice also has three “adopted grandchildren,” two Mexican-American sisters, ages 6 and 8, and a 10-year old boy, and she tutors each of them in reading for an average of six hours apiece each week. A year ago she joined a volunteer tutoring program, and tutored the 8-year old girl and the 10-year old boy twice each week. Alice soon determined that more tutoring was needed and developed an intensive program on her own for each child that included training in phonetics, a lot of reading, and fun activities like cooking, nature and beach walks, hot tubbing, swimming, and bike riding. Alice broke down in tears when the boy demonstrated a dramatic increase in reading ability; he now has a strong appetite to read the “Harry Potter” books Alice introduced him to. She added the six-year old sister since she could tell by her beautiful sad brown eyes she yearned to be tutored also. Alice knows that she has already had a big impact on the future success of each of her “grandchildren,” and continues her tutoring program for them year round.
On this happy and hopeful note, Alice and I close this letter and hope that each and all of you have the most happy and joyous holidays and send our best wishes for the new millennium.
Wednesday, December 22, 1999
Our 1999 Christmas Letter
22 December 1999
Now that it is almost here, Alice and I hope that you and your family are eagerly awaiting the start of the new millennium in the same frame of mind that we are - expecting nothing but a continuation of all that is worthwhile and wonderful in this remarkable journey of life. As proof of our confidence, bordering on arrogance, that nothing terrible will happen, Alice and I will travel to Los Angeles to greet the new millennium. Since Los Angeles just has to be in the top 10 list of places that deserve an Apocalyptic moment when righteous judgment is made, I am sure that many of you feel that we may need your prayers to protect us as we spend the Eve of The New Millennium in the belly of the beast. Fear not. We will spend it in the company of dear friends, who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Somehow, I don’t think we will have anything to worry about.
The past year was another hard-travelin’ year, although we didn’t do anything as challenging as the four-month bicycle tour to Europe we did in 1998. Our travels this year began in late March with a week in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, followed by a week in Branson, Missouri. Arkansas was pretty, and peaceful, and we seemed to be about the only Californians there. We felt right at home, because just about everyone we chatted with shared our low opinion of our National Embarrassment. We got to Branson, Missouri, just as the entertainment season was starting there, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Branson is like Las Vegas, except it is not crude, rude, nude, lewd, and you don’t have to be stewed or a prude dude (don’t stop me now, I’m on a roll!) to have a heck of a good time. In fact, the jokes were funnier, every performance was done with high energy and professionalism, and the prices were “rageous.” My favorite show was the Oak Ridge Boys concert, and Alice’s favorite was Remember When, because we became part of the show, including having to “neck” in the back corner with the spotlight on us. My funniest moment was when the solo fiddler in Spirit of the Dance got his legs caught in the fiddle’s microphone wiring, had to stop fiddling while he got untangled, and yet the fiddle music continued. I never knew the Irish had invented “fiddle-synching.”
After a couple of weeks back home in Gualala to rest up (and repack), we went for a five-week vacation to the Caribbean and Florida. We spent a total of two weeks on Dominica, the Nature Island (not the Dominican Republic). Among the highlights was a grueling six-hour hike to the Boiling Lake and back. Imagine a pot on a stove 100 feet wide, 95 feet deep, boiling water bubbling in the center, enormous clouds of steam constantly rising, with an average water temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Some hot tub!
Signs of volcanic activity were all over Dominica, and we even snorkeled among bubbles coming up from the sea floor in an area aptly named Champagne. We also spent a total of eight days on Guadeloupe and Terre-de-Haut in Les Saintes. We finished the last two weeks of our trip in Florida, in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, which included a short cruise to Nassau, The Bahamas.
Signs of volcanic activity were all over Dominica, and we even snorkeled among bubbles coming up from the sea floor in an area aptly named Champagne. We also spent a total of eight days on Guadeloupe and Terre-de-Haut in Les Saintes. We finished the last two weeks of our trip in Florida, in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, which included a short cruise to Nassau, The Bahamas.
The first big highlight of our year occurred July 3, when Alice’s youngest daughter, Debbie, married Joe Cosentino at the Saint Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. It was a beautiful wedding, Debbie was gorgeous, Alice was radiant, and Joe’s friends and family showed how highly they esteem his loyalty, thoughtfulness and friendly nature by coming great distances (Boston area) and in great numbers for the happy occasion. Alice and I stayed the week in a small hotel in the Fort Mason Officers’ Club near Fishermen’s Wharf and enjoyed good company and sightseeing with Alice’s cousin Sue and husband Bob from Colorado.
For the balance of July and August, some friends and relatives accepted our invitations to visit us in Gualala. Alice and I took advantage of my high school reunion (Point Arena Class of 1960) to have many friends and relatives join us the next day following the reunion to celebrate our 10th Anniversary of the Honeymoon that started at the Presidio in San Francisco on the 5th of August, 1989, and continues to this very day.
At the end of August, we started another trip, this time for two months. We started at Niagara Falls, as many other honeymoon couples have, spent a week in Calabogie near Ottawa, and nearly a week in Montreal. We then visited friends and experienced the fall colors in Vermont and New Hampshire. Hurricane Floyd hit us in Vermont, and we had to leave one place we were staying because of no electricity. We moved on to the Boston and Cambridge area, walked the Freedom Trail, covered Harvard like two undergraduates, stayed a week on Cape Cod near Hyannis, enjoyed great whale watching (one Humpback came so close, we smelled its bad breath), came away feeling like we had a much deeper understanding of our history and of what freedom is and means - we really learned a lot, and we really enjoyed the learning experience.
We also got to spend some time with Debbie’s in-laws, and a finer, warmer bunch of in-laws cannot and will not be found. Joe’s parents, Bill and Julie, hosted a second wedding reception which was great fun and was extremely well attended. In addition, they invited us for dinner twice at their lovely home in Reading, Massachusetts, and at the second dinner we were joined by their two tall, beautiful daughters with their families, and Joe and Debbie.
At this point, our trip was far from over. Alice indulged me by allowing me to visit the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, we both enjoyed the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge, Mass, and Alice visited two homes she lived in up until she was nine years old in the Ithaca, New York, area.
A chill in the air reminded us that it was time to leave for the last part of our trip, the Virgin Islands. A week on St. Croix was about as good as it gets, and then we moved on to St. Thomas, then St. John. Unfortunately, Hurricane Jose headed to join us on St. John, so we left for Tortola, cut a week from our vacation, and returned home to Gualala. We were not back long when the final big highlight of our year occurred. On 10 November, Alice’s oldest daughter, Jeanette, and husband Kieran, had a baby daughter, Savannah Leigh. Alice and I tried to help with the newborn by entertaining her two-year old brother, Kevin, by taking him to the zoo and to parks.
With less than a month remaining until Christmas, we already visited my step-mother Ruth and brother Ron and his wife Kathy for Thanksgiving in Fortuna and will soon leave again to visit Bay Area friends and relatives including my two older boys and their families in Vallejo and Concord. In addition, we are traveling to southern California to visit Alice’s father George and wife Edna, and her brother Rob and wife Melinda and family, and many of Alice’s friends.
In summary, it has been a busy year, it’s not over yet, it’s a big world, we haven’t seen it all yet - guess we better get going. So next year, for the most part, we are going to take a good look at Gualala and Northern California. We’re going to try to find out why so many people come up here to rent our house while we’re off somewhere else in someone else’s house. Therefore, since you know where we are, and where we will be, you should plan on spending some time with us. The book is open, and we are taking reservations now.
707-884-3741
mcombs@pacific.net
www.vulcanincorporated.com
Happy New Year !!
Thursday, December 31, 1998
Our 1998 Christmas Letter
31 December 1998
Not much happened this year, except we both retired, took a four-month bicycle trip to Europe, and lived at various times in Oakland, Alameda, Hayward, Gualala, and with whatever friends and relatives would take us in for a day or two or more. At present, we are living in Walnut Creek in the home of Jeanette, Kieran, and Kevin, while they are visiting Kieran’s parents in Northern Ireland.
First, about retirement. Our goal was to retire at 55 years of age, since only four months, different parents, and other extraneous differences prevent us from being identical twins. Translation: we’re roughly the same age. Alice didn’t make it, but I did. In fact, Alice is working harder in her version of retirement (except for the bike trip), and is making me work harder for her, than I ever did for any of my real bosses. She seems to have a mysterious power over me that none of the others ever had.
About the bike trip. We were not bicyclists. But we are now. In fact, I could write a book, and I think I shall. Why shouldn’t the world (and us) benefit from all the experience we gained overcoming all the mistakes I made. While Alice pored over bicycling books which covered Germany, England, Wales, and all of Ireland, and made plans that would have made the D-Day planners jealous, I cruised the Internet and found us two folding full-sized (26”) bicycles with canvas bags we could take on the flights with us as luggage, plus two large panniers and two small backpacks that we could put everything in that we would need for our four-month holiday.
We left San Francisco on June 9 for Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. We waited at Dover for ten days before we gave up on getting a free flight to Europe and took a Continental flight to Paris. From Paris we immediately went by train to visit my oldest son, Bruce, and granddaughter Leaha at his Army base near Heidelberg, Germany. On the evening of 23 June we set out along the Neckar River, followed by the Rhine, the Zell, the Mosel, the Tauber, and the Zen. After 800 bike miles, several train trips, one bus trip, and lots of castles and museums, on 3 August we caught an Air Force flight (a “hop”), from Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, to Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall, Suffolk County, England.
Mildenhall is near RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge, where I was the Budget Officer from 1970 to 1975. I wanted to share my memories of my favorite bases and job with Alice, but both bases are casualties of peace and are fenced off from the public. We enjoyed visiting my good Budget buddy, Arthur Sharman, and his daughter Valmai, in the charming coastal town of Walberswick, and visiting the Streetfarm, where Marilynn and the boys and I lived in Saxmundham.
On 13 August we went to London via train, and had a wonderful week bicycling all over what we had been told beforehand was an unfriendly city for bikes. We went to the “theatre” for “Beauty and the Beast” and “Miss Saigon”, and Shakespeare at the New Globe Theatre. Also toured Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, visited Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and did many other memorable things too numerous to mention.
Next we went to Windsor Castle, then a farmhouse in the Cotswolds near Cheltenham, followed by more Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon (“The Merchant of Venice” - what a performance!”).
Next stop, the Isle of Man via ferry from Liverpool, 31 August, just in time for the famous - but unknown to us - motorcycle Gran Prix races. We cut short our planned stay, leaving the roads to hundreds of racers and racer wannabes, and arrived in Belfast by ferry on 2 September. Among the highlights of Northern Ireland - the friendliest people in the world, visiting with Kieran’s parents and family in Keady near Armagh, the Giant’s Causeway, and scenery rivaling Scotland.
Then we went to the Republic of Ireland, and on our trip around the Ring of Kerry from Tralee to Killarney, we found more of the friendliest people in the world and more spectacular scenery. Highlights - The Skellig Islands, a couple of forbidding rocks eight miles off the coast where Christian monks operated a monastery from the fifth to the twelfth century and helped preserve Western civilization; the Bog Village, which showed how the Irish used peat for fuel; and Alice coasting down mountain roads at 35 miles per hour after we had pedaled uphill for hours. Better than an E-ticket at Disneyland. Remember?
We went by ferry to Wales on 25 September, and spent a week in Laugharne near Carmarthen, Wales, where Dylan Thomas lived and wrote and drank…and where Alice and I spent a wonderful week at a time-share exchange holiday park. We then went to Bath and its Roman ruins, followed by another highlight, Salisbury, which we had prepared for by reading “Sarum”, by Edward Rutherford. Salisbury Cathedral occupied us for three days, and we also visited Old Sarum and Stonehenge.
During the fourth month of our bike trip, I became tired, homesick, missed the kitty cats we had to leave behind when we sold the ranch, and was eager to get back to California. Alice was just the opposite. She was ready to do another four months, or more. She knew that she had a lot of hard work to do for her company, Vulcan, when she got back. If I had known the work we had ahead of us, I would have voted to just keep on pedaling too. As it was, we went back through London to Cambridge, then returned to Germany via a hop from Mildenhall. One last visit with Bruce and Leaha at Heidelberg, then back to Dover via a hop from Ramstein, and on to the Bay Area and to Gualala.
We have many pictures, and detailed stories, which we hope to share when (if ) asked. As always, more later - happy holidays (belatedly) - and best wishes for the New Year!
Alice and Michael
Monday, December 25, 1995
Feliz Ano Nuevo!
Ajijic street art
Alice and I started thinking and planning retirement not long after our marriage in 1989. In the early 1990’s it looked like we probably would need to find an economical place to retire, because Alice’s business, Vulcan Incorporated, was struggling against tough competition, and I was struggling to stay employed during the period of defense cutbacks following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As we say in defense contracting, “Peace is Hell.”
That’s a joke, you hyper-sensitive Leftists.
Our motto in the Air Force was, "Peace is our Profession."
It wasn't a joke.
Like Teddy Roosevelt said, "Walk softly. But carry a big stick!".
Anyway, we started developing our retirement criteria. Besides inexpensive, we wanted a great climate, and all the comforts of home. We also were looking for an area where we could lead an active lifestyle, and enjoy an interesting culture. Many parts of the world were attractive, but we quickly ruled out many places too.
Europe was variously too expensive, and in Eastern Europe where it was less expensive, the winters were too cold. On the basis of the five years I lived in England (1970-1975), I would have voted for the United Kingdom or Ireland as my number one choice regardless of weather or cost of living, but Alice would never be happy with the cold, damp winters. Or the occassional cold, damp summers.
Africa was interesting, but the political instability and threats of intense sporadic violence scared us off.
We felt the same about Asia, plus Alice vetoed any Muslim nation because of their treatment of women. That eliminated one of my favorites, Turkey, where I had lived a year across the Sea of Marmara from Istanbul in 1964-65.
Australia and New Zealand scored high marks with us, but cost of living wasn’t much lower than in the United States, and the vast distances to travel to visit family and friends were daunting.
South America was a great unknown to both of us, but the political instability and social problems in South America were constantly in the news, and left us with a vague feeling of uneasiness about living there.
The Caribbean interested us, but seemed too expensive, plus the politically stable parts were too touristy, and the less expensive, less touristy parts were too unstable.
Canada was out. Climate.
That left us with Mexico and Central America, and the warm but less expensive parts of the United States. We eliminated the United States because “We’ll save that for when we’re old.”
Central America? We don’t know much about it, it’s probably a lot like Mexico, except it’s further away.
“Mexico, here we come!”
A friend told us of a marvelous bed & breakfast, Los Artistas (now under new owners), operated then by two gay fellows, the “two Steves,” in Ajijic, on the shores of Lake Chapala, near Guadalajara. As confessed in an earlier post, Mixed Company, Alice and I have a stereotypical prejudice about gays. We believe they are the best Bed & Breakfast proprietors, although we have stayed at many “straight” B&B’s we thought were great too. It’s just that we have never had a bad experience at a B&B operated by gays.
I hope someone will read this and be offended and let me know, thereby validating another of my stereotypical prejudices that there is nothing complimentary I can say about gays that won’t offend someone, usually a straight Liberal.
The Guadalajara area had already been brought to our attention because of its year around mild climate and its large colony of American and Canadian expatriates and retirees.
Right after Christmas 1995 we left for a week in Mexico. We were picked up by taxi from the Guadalajara airport and whisked to Los Artistas in Ajijic. Our hosts were warm and congenial, the room “The Studio” was very nice, and the grounds were well kept and inviting. We soon found the meals were excellent also. Everything lived up to our stereotypical expectations.
Ajijic was a marvelous combination of small Mexican village life with a community of Americans and Canadians on the shore of Lake Chapala. The lake itself was a bit of a dissappointment. It was in a lovely setting, with mountains on the other side, but from the shoreline to a point a half mile or more out in the lake it was covered thickly with water hyacinth.
I'm sure that someone someday will find a use for water hyacinth (has a limited use as cattle feed), or a way to control it, but as far as I know, no one has. As it was, all boats could do was plow through it, and small outboard motor boats could barely move in it at all. Sometimes the wind shifted and blew from the land, and the water hyacinth was blown out into the middle of Lake Chapala, but the periods of clear water didn't last long.
We rented horses and rode through Ajijic and along the lake shore, and through a park. As usual, my horse was a bit of a head case, and I never was confident that he would stay on good behavior. He did, but he kept me worried.
Alice got a smile or wave from everyone we met by unfailingly greeting them with a cheery "buenos dias."
We spent a day with a real estate agent looking at houses in Ajijic and were impressed by what we saw. The houses were relatively inexpensive, and were large and comfortable. From what we saw in the furnished homes, life would be as comfortable as in California, with the very welcome added benefit of an affordable cook and house keeper.
We made reservations for New Years Eve at a very nice restaurant at an Ajijic hotel, and dressed up very formally for the occassion. After the Maitre'De met us at the door and seated us, our waiter appeared and Alice wished him a cheery "Feliz Ano Nuevo." He almost hurt himself trying to hold back laughter, but he couldn't hold it, so he burst out laughing.
We looked at him with puzzled expressions, and when he finally regained his composure, with words and a pat on his rear end he indicated Alice had just wished him a "Happy New Asshole." The Spanish word "ano" (pronounced "ah'-no") in English is "anus," and the Spanish word for "year" is "año" (pronounced "ah'-nyo").
What she should have said in greeting was "Feliz Año Nuevo," but if she had we wouldn't have shared such a great laugh.
On New Years Day the two Steves kept trays of delicious hors 'devoures available for their friends and guests all day as we participated in the All-American tradition of Bowl Game watching. Los Artistas had a large satellite dish for television reception, so we started with the Rose Parade, and then I think we glanced at the easily forgetable Cotton Bowl, with Colorado stomping Oregon 38-6.
The highlight for me, and seemingly for most of the guests, was the Rose Bowl, USC against Northwestern. It was a very exciting game, and when Northwestern went ahead 32-31 in the fourth quarter, it was obvious that Northwestern was the favorite of most of us watching. In fact, as a Californian, I may have been the only USC rooter there. However, their joy was short lived as USC scored the next ten points and won 41-32.
The bowl games ended with the Orange Bowl where Florida State beat Notre Dame 31-26, with an incredible fourth quarter comeback. Again the large midwestern contingent watching at Los Artistas was disappointed.
Alice had no interest in the bowl games, as usual, but she was having a great time in the company of several other "football widows," which included a lesbian couple she particularly enjoyed chatting with.
We returned to our home on our five-acre ranch in Livermore, and developments at work for both of us soon had our full attention. Later in 1996 I was laid off at Power Spectra and scrambled to find work as a temporary employee, including several months at Nummi in Fremont before getting on as an Internal Auditor at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.
Alice's company, Vulcan Incorporated, continued to struggle against its fierce competitor until early in 1997. Happily for Alice, the competitor went bankrupt and she was able to sign their top salesman to a sweat equity deal that has since made Vulcan very successful.
We had forgotten totally about retiring in Mexico, and when we finally retired in 1998, Alice's first grandchild was almost a year old and we chose to retire in Gualala to stay close to family and friends.
Now many years later, Mexico is a fond memory as we start each new year wishing each other a "Happy New Anus!"
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Saturday, December 10, 1994
Our 1994 Christmas Letter
December 10, l994
Here is the sixth newsletter from the Combs’ Oak Creek Ranch. For a while we thought we couldn’t keep up with the mortgage as we had some tough times. Since last December Alice took a substantial cut in pay, and Michael feared a Lockheed layoff until March when the fear became a reality.
However, better times are here! Alice’s business is doing better along with the rest of the California economy, and Michael is now happy to be the assistant controller at Power Spectra in Sunnyvale. While Michael was between jobs he tried brokering businesses with an agency called Business Team. He signed up a half dozen listings which Alice has taken over in her “spare” time from Vulcan.
We never got out of the country since last Christmas, but spent some time in the states of Hawaii and Washington and covered California from Eureka down to Garden Grove. Next year should be more exotic with Mexican and Caribbean travel. We also haven't been skiing since last Christmas, but we expect to do a little of that, too, this year.
Last summer Alice’s mother admitted to having memory problems. A brain tumor was discovered and operated on in October. Even though the growth is benign, there are still major mental problems. She comes in and out of various stages of mental awareness, and we are most grateful when she is aware and feeling positive enough to joke and smile.
Our five children and their five offspring are all doing fine. Bruce recently got back from military duty in Haiti. He noted how the media has so many incorrect "facts." Evelyn, Melicia and Leaha are all looking great, and in a recent picture we were amazed how much Melicia looks like Evelyn.
Jeanette and her Irish fiancé, Kieran Mone, are planning a Catholic wedding next April 29th at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They just bought a house in Marin which they will be moving into just before Christmas. Jeanette is still at Cigna, but now she has her own private office with a view!
Scott and Tracy are keeping busy with their three children, Ashley, Mikey, and Travis (l-l-94). Ashley will learn what being a flower girl is like next April 29th at Jeanette’s wedding.
Debbie is back from her foreign travels, and now doing the 8 to 5 routine. She would like a challenging job to apply her education and skills, and all we can tell her is that it will come in time.
Jeffrey is now happily applying his DVC degree and training at his job with a heating and air conditioning company. He has a special girlfriend named Stephanie, who Michael and l are dying to meet when she comes down for Christmas from Washington state. Also, Jeff has a regular haircut!
We hope you all have a joyful Christmas and 1995.
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