Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

  Anyone that knows me well knows that Ronald Reagan is one of my hero's and that I long for another leader of the caliber of a Ronald Reagan. There was a time that I did not trust Ronald Reagan. Once he gained my trust I never doubted that America was in good hands because Ronald Reagan was a patriot and I knew that he loved America as much as I did and that he was a visionary. I don't trust most politicians and I don't think that most of them share the love that I have for this country or the love that Ronald Reagan had for this country. His character was developed by a lot of different things but one thing that had a great impact was his job as a life guard. He worked in this job from 1926 until 1932. When his family moved to Dixon Illinois in 1920 he was only nine years old but he had his mind set on one day working as a life guard in Lowell Park. It was a roped off swimming area on the Rock River. A turbulent river with a strong undertow and currents that had taken ...

The Murfreesboro Mosque   I wrote an editorial to the Murfreesboro Tn. Daily News Journal in October 2010. The paper entitled it "Beware of creep of Islamic faith". At the time I wasn't sure how I felt about a large Islamic Mosque being built in my community. For many years, like most people today, I had been indoctrinated by the public schools to believe in a so-called separation of church and state. That America was to tolerate all religions and that our local, state and federal governments were to be religion neutral. In the early 1990's I read a book by the Reverend Bill Murray called "Let Us Pray". This book challenged my interpretation of the 1st Amendment and it carried a lot of weight since it was written by the son of the notorious atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hare. Bill's mom used him as a pawn in her famous legal case in 1963 that effectively ended organized school prayer in America. Bill described his mom as a bitter, angry, promiscu...

  Saul Alinsky was a modern day Niccolo Machiavelli. This is the opening paragraph to his 1971 book Rules For Radicals. "What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away" Alinsky was born on January 30, 1909 and dropped dead of a heart attack on June 12 1972. He was born into an orthodox Jewish family but became an agnostic. He became probably the most successful community organizer of all time. Remember that Obama got his start as a community organizer. Many leftists were influenced by his writings, including Hillary and Bill Clinton along with Barack Obama. Obama never knew him but he was influenced nevertheless. Leftists were depressed about their lack of influence at the Democratic Convention of 1968. They campaigned for the anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy and riot...

  My nephew, Larry Sircy, is a truck-driver and is very familiar with the wide open vastness of the American West. We were talking about how unforgiving it can be even for the modern traveler. I have driven or ridden various routes to Oregon, California and Colorado numerous times over the last 45 years. Like the time I drove through the desert of northern Nevada and I only saw one gas station and one car in a 200 mile stretch of highway. I was sweating bullets the whole time, fearful of breaking down in the middle of nowhere with a young wife and baby. Or the danger of driving in the winter time in sub-zero cold in blizzards that can strand you and completely bury your car in a few short hours. Larry and I were trying to imagine what the early pioneers traveling by wagon train and other means had to endure during the westward migration.   One such story is of a hardy pioneer woman named Juliette Briers who was married to the Reverend John Wells Briers. Juliette ...

James F. Reed And His Wife   James F. Reed was an Illinois merchant that lived close to Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln in Springfield Illinois. Reed and his family joined a wagon train in 1846 that was headed for California. After reaching Wyoming, Reed's family, along with several other families, decided to break away from the larger wagon train and take a different route. One of the men in Reed's group was named George Donner. This group would eventually come to be known as the infamous Donner party. When the Donner party reached Ft. Bridger it made the mistake of taking a path called the Hastings Cut-Off. This path caused them to lose about forty days which would eventually place them in a life or death situation. During this period some of the men's nerves became frayed causing tempers to run short. An argument broke out between two of Reed's companions. Reed tried to break up the argument but one of the men beat Reed with a bull whip. In an effort to defend him...

Grave of Granny White   Lucinda "Granny" White was 60 years old when she moved to Nashville in 1803 from North Carolina with her two sons Thomas and Willis. Her husband Zechariah died sixteen years earlier in North Carolina. She started selling her baked goods from a stand on Granny White Pike. Lucinda eventually made enough money to buy fifty acres of land in what is now the Inn's of Granny White subdivision. She built a tavern there in 1812 that became known for it's good food, hospitality, comfortable beds and home brewed whisky. The tavern served the travelers coming in from the Natchez Trace four miles to the west. Her children gave her the name "Granny" and the name was soon taken up by her customers. Granny White died about 1816 at the age of 73. This is how Granny White Pike got it's name.   During the battle of Nashville there was a lot of fighting around the site of Granny Whites Tavern. After the collapse of Confederate General John Bel...

  Charlie Parkhurst aka One-eyed Charlie, Cockeyed Charlie, or Six Horse Charlie was born in 1812 in Vermont. Eventually he made his way out west to California where he became a teamster and one of the most skilled stagecoach drivers in history. He was small in stature but tough. Shortly after becoming a stagecoach driver for the California Stage Company he was kicked in the face by a horse and blinded in one eye. Charlie began his reputation as a tough driver when a robber named "Sugarfoot" held up his stage one day. Taken by surprise his only option was to give up his strong box. Six months later the Sugarfoot hit him again but Charlie was prepared this time. He blew him away with a shotgun at point blank range. Without blinking his good eye he rode off at a full gallop leaving the robber dead in the road.   He was an expert shot and an expert with a bull whip. Charlie could cut a cigar in half at fifteen paces while a man held it in his mouth. On one occasion he rolle...

Mattie Ready Morgan and John Hunt Morgan   Confederate General John Hunt Morgan married Mattie Ready on Sunday December 14th 1862. Mattie's father Charles Ready was a former U.S. Congressman and the son of the Charles Ready who was the founder of Readyville The marriage was the result of a a whirlwind romance. During the first occupation by the Union Army of Murfreesboro after the fall of Nashville in February 1862 a Union soldier asked Mattie her name. She had never met Morgan before but she spouted off "It's Mattie Ready now but by the grace of God one day I hope to call myself the wife of John Morgan". When Morgan heard about Mattie's response he felt that he had to meet her. He got his opportunity after Murfreesboro was captured on July 13, 1862 by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Morgan soon made his camp in Murfreesboro and Mattie's father out for a stroll ran into Morgan and invited him to his home for dinner. Charles sent a slave to tell Mattie that Morga...

  "Hammerin" Hank Aaron recently compared the modern day Republican Party with the KKK. Hank is bitter. This was evident in his autobiography that I read a few years ago. He feeds this bitterness by periodically reading the hate mail that he received during his run for breaking "Babe" Ruth's home run record. Hank, it is time to work on forgiveness fella. Forgiveness is for your benefit, not those idiots who wronged you. Secondly, black people resent being judged for the actions of the few blacks that fuel stereotypes. I resent being judged for the few bigots that wrote you those letters. I was a 24 year old white man who was pulling for you to break the record along with the majority of white people in this country. Third, as far as the Republican Party being the modern KKK you need to take a long hard look at the racist past of the Democratic Party first. The Democrats have done a masterful convincing many American's that the Republican Party became a re...