Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

 In May 1861 three escaped slaves from Virginia made their way to Fortress Monroe in Norfolk which was still under Union control. The Federal commander, General Benjamin Butler refused to return these slaves to their owners because they had had been building artillery positions for the Confederate Army along the James River. Butler coined a new term. He declared them "contraband of war". Under the Fugitive Slave Law passed in 1850 he was required by law to return these slaves to their masters. Virginia had recently seceded from the Union and he considered the state a hostile foreign country. Under the rules of war Federal law did not apply in this case. This decision by Ben Butler was at odds with Lincoln's view of the war. Lincoln didn't consider Virginia to be a foreign country. In his view Virginia was still in the Union and they had no legal right to secede. Butler's action, however; was the first step in the direction of the future Emancipation Proclamation. ...

  I am proud of all of our children, our grandchildren, and we love them very much. All of them are good moral people and talented in some way or the other. My oldest boy Rob not only looks like my father but like him he is a great father himself. My father was a great father before he succumbed to mental illness. Rob, and his wife Lisa, have spent much time and money allowing their boys Robbie and Blaine to pursue their sports interests over the years. Just like Rob they are great athletes. Rob is very laid back and nothing seems to bother him. He has always seemed to have his head screwed on right and is very smart. He has a great sense of humor. I hate that he lives in Vero Beach Florida and I only get to see him a couple of times a year but he seems to be very happy. He is also a U.S. Navy veteran. Our daughter Misty is a survivor because she has been through a lot. I have worried much about her over the years. She has always been a stunningly beautiful girl. Misty could have ...

    We have been fortunate by having had the opportunity to travel so much over the course of our lives. In 2008 we took a vacation in Corpus Christi Texas and I finally got to see not only the Alamo, but where Sam Houston won Texas independence at the battle of San Jacinto. I can confirm here that the Alamo does not have a basement. There was, however; a restaurant across the street named The Basement. We also got to meet the father and sister of Salena in Corpus Christi. Her father gave us a tour of his recording studio and he was a really nice guy. There was also a Salena museum there at the recording studio. The recording studio and museum was in a bad part of town and about the only way that you could tell there was anything there was a painting of Salena on the side of the building that looked more like graffiti than anything.   In 2012 we were able to go back to Colorado Springs after 40 years. It was a dream come true for us because we enjoyed it so much when...

 In the early months of 2017 I had a couple of episodes with my heart. I was averaging about 2 or three a year and I got to where I hated the routine of going to the ER and having to wait in an exam room for hours at a time. Usually, my heart would convert on it's own. My heart has only been shocked once to get it back in rhythm. So after a while when it would go out of rhythm I started hanging out at the house instead of running to the ER. After a few hours my heart would convert on it's own. Most of my episodes happened after I went to sleep at night. A few occurred while I was awake and it seemed to be related to how late I ate supper and the kind of food that I ate. Foods high in sodium or spicy foods seemed to be the worst for me. The doctor told me that my heart was showing some signs of enlargement. Nothing to really worry about in the short term but in the long term it could lead to heart failure. My heart rhythm specialist told me a few years ago about a heart procedur...

   The following incident gave me an up close and personal look at media bias and fake news. We had another incident that illustrates the difference between the leftist media and conservative media. I got a call from an officer one night that he had asked a woman that was wearing a shirt with profanity written on it to turn her shirt inside out or to cover it up with something. He said that she was very cooperative and agreed to do it. About 30 minutes later he saw the same woman and she was still wearing the shirt. She was with a man and this time my officer told her to leave the mall because she had not complied. The man spoke up and said that she wasn't leaving the mall because she had a 1st Amendment right to wear it. I told my officer to  call the police and have her removed.   This couple, who were man and wife, bombarded Twitter with posts saying that they were forced to leave the mall because they were wearing Trump MAGA hats. Until these Twitter posts I...

  I am working for my fifth security company since I came to work at the mall in June 2010. Management had asked me numerous times to become the site supervisor since then but I declined for two reasons. The first reason is that I considered this job to be my retirement job and I did not want the stress of management. Second, I couldn't even if I wanted the job because from the age of 62 when I began drawing my social security, until the age of 66, I was only able to work 32 hours or less each week. I had a yearly wage cap that averaged 15,000 a year.   When Allied-Barton took over the contract I was asked to be a site supervisor but instead I agreed to be a Lieutenant, or the assistant site supervisor. During this time I had several supervisors that I was able to get along with okay, and was happy not to have that responsibility. Two of my supervisors were no more than 19 or twenty 20 years old but I actually enjoyed working for them. My daughter Misty, to my delight, be...