May 2019 – Welcome to Phools Country

JESS A. AND IMA TALK

(Some conversations between Jess and Ima from a long time ago…and guess what? They are still relevant, today! Isn’t that amazing that so much time has passed, but the same issues are still with us. )

IMA: Jess, do you know what I heard the other day on the radio?

IMA: I heard that the government is paying some people $2000 a day to store a lot of surplus food. They said they can’t afford to pay $10 a day to distribute it to the needy.

JESS: I can’t imagine.

JESS: Kinda makes you wonder just how much money the government spent in the Poverty Program to get the poor people out of poverty, doesn’t it?

IMA’s comment about the WAR ON DRUGS:

Sometimes it seems the police or law enforcement is at a loss trying to figure out how to get rid of drug dealers, drug houses, prostitution, and other illegal activities that seem to plague certain neighborhoods. Maybe they could just pretend that those ‘undesirables’ were the Black Panthers or the protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, or the Civil Rights Marchers back in the day. They sure did figure out how to deal with them!

Phool’s Viewpoint on INFLATION:

JESS: Ima, I keep hearing on the news that there’s no inflation because the prices for goods are still the same as a few years ago.

IMA: I heard that too, and the last time I shopped I found out that the prices were the same as they were before…except the pound of coffee was now only 15 ounces, and I even saw one brand that was only 13.5 ounces; same size can, same price but a whole lot less coffee.

JESS: Did you find any other things like that?

IMA: Yep; what used to be a 5-pound bag of sugar is now 4 pounds…for the same price it used to be; and a tin of your brown shoe polish now has 1/3 less polish … for the same price it used to be; and even the toilet paper sheets are 13 l/2 by 13 l/2 inches instead of 14 x 14 … and, yep at the same price it used to be!

JESS: Oh yeah, that last candy bar I bought was nearly a dollar but the bar was so thin you could almost see through it.

IMA: I guess the BIG THEY are just trying to convince us that there’s NO INFLATION because the prices are the same; but folks are smart enough to know that we are getting a lot less substance for our money…just like our fixed incomes are purchasing a lot less for the money we’re living on ..; so I guess since our incomes haven’t gotten bigger, there’s no inflation there, either, huh?

JUST FOR FUN

IMA: Jess, do you remember the joke the man told us the other day about the termite?

JESS: Nope, you gonna tell me?

IMA: “What did the termite say when he entered the Tavern?”

JESS: Don’t know!

IMA: He said “Where is the Bartender?”

JESS: Oh, yeah, I remember how much I laughed; and then he told us another one. Do you remember that one?

IMA: Yep. “What do Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common?”

JESS: Cracked me up when he told us “Same middle name”!

(The following are “funnies” we heard a long time ago and they have a name, but we forget. We find ourselves repeating them quite often and thought we’d share these with our readers)

An art student asks his instructor if his canvas is stretched too tight. His instructor replies, “No, it’s TOO LOOSE, LA TREC!”
How can you stand to be seen writing and composing in that LEWD WIG, BEETHOVEN?
VINCENT, where does that green VAN GO? Same place the ESCARGOT!
She’d better return all that marching band music before JOHN PHILLIP SOUSA.
Your Chorale Works provide ZE BASTION, BACH.
You just returned from painting natives on the island and you’re ready to GO AGAIN!
If you don’t stash that violin, ARTHUR, folks may think you want to be a FIEDLER.
No doubt she’s named the Belle of this Ball, because she is a great looking DEB, YOU SEE!

MIXED MESSAGE, PERHAPS?

ATTENTION: THE SURGEON GENERAL REPORTS THAT SMOKING INCREASES THE RISK OF LUNG CANCER BY A LARGE PERCENT …
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGREED TODAY TO SUBSIDIZE THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.

AND ANOTHER …

THE GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDS EACH CITIZEN DECREASE INDIVIDUAL GAS CONSUMPTION BY SEEKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, CARPOOLING AND USING LESS CONSUMPTIVE MEANS OF VACATION TRAVEL.
THE GOVERNMENT VOTED TO DISCONTINUE 3/4 OF THE AM TRAK ROUTES, AND NOT BAIL OUT PENN CENTRAL.

AND ONE MORE … Message instructions delivered over the phone from an automated service…”IF YOU ARE NOT AT HOME AND UNABLE TO RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE PRESS ONE”!

ARMS RACE

Years ago, when Jess and Ima first started some of their weird conversations about what was going on in the world around them, Jess whipped out his tape recorder and started taping. When Ima asked why he was doing that, he said that someday we might want to share our thoughts with other folks. What follows is one of those conversations, started long ago, but all of a sudden coming up in today’s news.

IMA: Jess, I just found some of those old tapes you made, listened to a few and found out how much we’re still talking about the same things.

JESS: So…!

IMA: Well, you said people might want a Phool’s slant on the news, so I thought I’d share this one with them.

JESS: Oh, yeah. Now we got them coming to Phools Country, what better way to share. But do you think that people will really care what we thought then and now?

IMA: Folks are still reading about what people were talking about back in the 18th and 19th Centuries, so maybe they’d at least read about what was going on 50 years ago.

JESS: I guess that’s possible, as long as they realize that these comments are coming from two old PHOOLS – JESS A. AND IMA!

THIS ONE IS ON THE “ARMS RACE”: and what made IMA remember this old tape was that the President recently said he’d like to send astronauts to the moon in 5 years. The media went on to mention that 50 years ago there was this “race” between the US and Russia to achieve military superiority over each other. This is the discussion that occurred 50 years ago.

IMA: Jess, explain this to me again! We’re having all kinds of troubles and the Talkin’ Heads on TV keep saying that the U.S. and Russia are “raising their arms”! For what? To see if their deodorants went home before they did? HA! HA!

JESS: Naw, Ima – they’re saying ‘Race”, “Arms Race”.

IMA: Oh, is that anything like a foot race or a gunny sack race – or like ‘Indian rasslin’ – you know, only using their arms?

JESS: No, no. These arms are military weapons. And the “race” they mean is to see who can have the most guns and stuff — us or them. You see, if Russia has more than us, they’ll come and take us over — or at least that what somebody said.

IMA : Well, who’s ahead so far?

JESS: If you listen to some folks, they say that Russia’s ahead, because they have the power to kill everyone in the world 5 times, while the US can only kill everyone 2 1/2 times. These folks say that Russia is ahead because they can do it on the first strike and we don’t have enough power to keep them from doing it. And some folks are saying that Russia is ahead because our equipment is all outdated and rusty and our soldiers are lazy, incompetent, and those that aren’t are on drugs, and …

IMA: Hold it, hold it, just hold it! So far all you’ve said is that Russia is ahead of us. What about those who say the US is ahead?

JESS: Well, that’s not exactly what some of ’em are saying — what they’re saying is that we’re not behind! I mean they’re saying that we’re equal; since we can kill everybody at least once, we’re not behind … or something like that.

IMA: Okay, but this business about being able to kill off everybody the first time around is strange. If that’s true, what difference does it make who fires second? And if we’ve both got the ability to kill everybody more than once, then what’s the good of 3 or 4 times more ability to do that? I mean, dead is dead, isn’t it?

IMA: And get this – IF it’s true that Russia said she’s gonna bury us or take us over, or something, and IF it’s true that our equipment and soldiers are in such bad shape, then tell me why hasn’t Russia ALREADY done whatever the folks keep saying she’s GONNA do? I don’t think they’re stupid. Seems to me things couldn’t get any better for them than now — so what are they waiting for?

JESS: I have no idea why Russia would wait till we caught up. And I guess those who are against us racing are saying that we may not be in front, but so what, no one can win anyway.

IMA: Well, somebody’s sure sounding like they’re nuts. If the US is already ahead, then we don’t need no more arms. And if Russia is already ahead, why hasn’t she made her move? But, hey, those are smarter folks than me and they oughta be able to figure that out – unless they just want the US public to be the last to know what’s really going on. After all, what do I know — IMA PHOOL!

THE FIRST EMANCIPATOR

The following is taken Verbatim from the Jacket of Andrew Levy’s book, “The First Emancipator”: The Forgotten Story of ROBERT CARTER the Founding Father Who Freed His Slaves:

A GROUNDBREAKING WORK OF HISTORY THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND SLAVERY

Robert Carter III, the grandson of Tidewater legend Robert “King” Carter, was born into the highest circles of Virginia’s Colonial aristocracy. He was neighbor and kin to the Washingtons and Lees and a friend and peer to Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. But on September 5, 1791, Carter severed his ties with this glamorous elite at the stroke of a pen. In a document he called his Deed of Gift, Carter declared his intent to set free nearly five hundred slaves in the largest single act of liberation in the history of American slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation.

How did Carter succeed in the very action that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson claimed they fervently desired but were powerless to effect? And why has his name all but vanished from the annals of American history? In this haunting, brilliantly original work, Andrew Levy traces the confluence of circumstance, conviction, war, and passion that led to Carter’s extraordinary act.

At the dawn of the Revolutionary War, Carter was one of the wealthiest men in America, the owner of tens of thousands of acres of land, factories, iron works — and hundreds of slaves. But incrementally, almost unconsciously, Carter grew to feel that what he possessed was not truly his. In an era of empty Anglican piety, Carter experienced a feverish religious vision that impelled him to help build a church where blacks and whites were equals. In an age of publicly sanctioned sadism against blacks, he defied convention and extended new protections and privileges to his slaves. As the war ended and his fortunes declined, Carter dedicated himself even more fiercely to liberty, clashing repeatedly with his neighbors, his friends, government officials, and, most poignantly, his own family.

But Carter was not the only humane master, nor the sole partisan of freedom, in that freedom-loving age. Why did this troubled, spiritually torn man dare to do what far more visionary slave owners only dreamed of? In answering this question, Andrew Levy teases out the very texture of Carter’s life and soul — the unspoken passions that divided him from others of his class, and the religious conversion that enabled him to see his black slaves in a new light.

Drawing on years of painstaking research, written with grace and fire, The First Emancipator is a portrait of an unsung hero who has finally won his place in American history. It is an astonishing, challenging, and ultimately inspiring book.

(from the jacket)

JESS’S RANT

AT THE CORE OF OUR DISCONTENT

WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE ANGRY; WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DEPRESSED; WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DISSATISFIED; WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DISAPPOINTED; WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DISGRUNTLED. WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DISCONTENT.

NUMEROUS POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, ARE DESIROUS OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, DO NOT FAVOR PERPETUAL WAR OR ASSASSINATION BY DRONE; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT AFFORDABLE COLLEGE COSTS AND RELIEF FROM STUDENT LOAN DEBT; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT DECENT SCHOOLS FOR OUR CHILDREN AND FAIR SALARIES FOR THE TEACHERS OF OUR CHILDREN; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT OUR DAMAGED AND DECAYING INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRED AND RENEWED; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT SAFE, AFFORDABLE AND CONVENIENT MASS TRANSIT; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE – WHOSE ONLY FUNCTION IS TO DENY THE POPULAR WILL OF WE, THE PEOPLE; POLLS SHOW THAT A MAJORITY OF WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT THE PROBLEM OF GERRYMANDERING ADDRESSED AND CORRECTED. WE, THE PEOPLE, WANT CITIZENS UNITED OVERTURNED AND DETERMINED THAT MONEY IS NOT SPEECH.

THESE ARE BUT SOME OF THE CAUSES OF WE, THE PEOPLE’S DISCOMFORT. OUR DISCONTENTMENT COMES FROM OUR GOVERNMENT’S UNWILLINGNESS OR INABILITY TO ADDRESS OUR DESIRES.

AT THE CORE OF OUR DISCONTENTMENT IS THE FACT THAT WE ARE ONE OF THE MOST UNDER-REPRESENTED DEMOCRACIES IN THE WORLD.

WE HAVE ONE REPRESENTATIVE FOR EVERY 700,000 PERSONS.

WHEN YOU DO THE MATH AND DIVIDE OUR POPULATION OF 325,000,000 BY 435 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, IT SHOWS THAT EACH MEMBER OF CONGRESS REPRESENTS 747, 126 PERSONS!

COMPARING THE UNITED STATES WITH OTHER BICAMERAL GOVERNMENTS PRODUCES THE FOLLOWING RESULTS:

COUNTRY…. POPULATION…… POPULATION/SEAT

SWITZERLAND………… 8,061,516 …. 32,770
UK…………… 63,742,977…. 44,173
ITALY………….. 61,680,122…. 64,858
FRANCE………….. 66,259,012…. 71,631
SPAIN………….. 47,737,941…. 78,646
CANADA………….. 34,834,841…. 84,346
AUSTRALIA…………. 22,507,617….. 99,591
GERMANY………….. 80,996,685…. 104,109
JAPAN…………… 126,451,398…. 178,856
MEXICO…………… 120,286,655…. 191,539
RUSSIA…………… 142,470,272…. 231,283
UNITED STATES…………. 318,892,103…. 596.060

THE ABOVE DATA WAS RETRIEVED FROM “https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_legislatures_by.number_of_members&oldid=876745922”

(U.S. population as of 2018 was 326,766,748; if divided by 435 it equals 751,187.9)

ARTICLE 1, SECTION 2 OF THE US CONSTITUTION STATES “THE NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE FOR EVERY THIRTY THOUSAND.”

WE NOW HAVE ONE REPRESENTATIVE FOR EVERY 700,000.

INCREASING THE NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES WOULD RESULT IN A CONGRESS THAT MORE RESEMBLES WE, THE PEOPLE AND WOULD BE MORE RESPONSIVE TO THE PEOPLE’S DESIRES AND WOULD ADDRESS THE CORE ISSUES OF OUR DISCONTENT.

TRIPLING THE NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES WOULD RESULT IN A TOTAL NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES OF 1305 AND A RATIO OF 1/233,333, WHICH WOULD STILL BE LESS REPRESENTATIVE THAN THE AFOREMENTIONED BICAMERAL DEMOCRACIES.

THE NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS HAS BEEN FIXED AT 435 SINCE THE PERMANENT APPORTIONMENT ACT OF 1929, RESULTING IN THE CURRENT RATIO OF ONE REPRESENTATIVE PER 700,000 CITIZENS.THIS WAS NOT AN AMENDMENT, THIS WAS JUST AN ACT OF CONGRESS AND CAN BE CHANGED BY CONGRESS.

BECAUSE OF THE CURRENT STATE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND TRAVEL, THE CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED RATIO OF 1/30,000 MAY BE UNREALISTIC AND UNNECESSARY, BUT A THREE-FOLD INCREASE WOULD BRING US CLOSER TO COMPLIANCE WITH THE FOUNDERS’ WISHES AND THE CONSTITUTION.

ONE ARGUMENT AGAINST CONGRESSIONAL EXPANSION AND HOPEFULLY IT IS A FACETIOUS ONE, IS THAT THE BUILDING CAN’T ACCOMMODATE MORE REPRESENTATIVES, AS THOUGH THE BUILDING CAN’T BE ENLARGED OR REPLACED, IF NECESSARY. ARE WE TO BELIEVE THAT A TRUER DEMOCRACY IS TO BE HELD HOSTAGE TO THE SIZE OF THE BUILDING?

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT THOSE WHO MAKE PEACEFUL EVOLUTION IMPOSSIBLE, MAKE VIOLENT REVOLUTION INEVITABLE.

LET US PRAY THAT EVOLUTION TRIUMPHS.

REFERENCES:

U.S. CONSTITUTION
WIKIPEDIA – LIST OF LEGISLATURES BY NUMBER OF MEMBERS
WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS – 2018
THE BOOK OF RULE – HOW THE WORLD IS GOVERNED.

BOWLING

BOWLING WAS ONE OF MY MOST ENJOYABLE PASTIMES. MASTERING THE ART AND PURSUING THE PERFECT GAME WAS A CONSTANT CHALLENGE. IN ADDITION, THE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES I ACQUIRED WILL LONG BE FAVORABLY REMEMBERED.

IMA RANTS ON CAMPAIGNING

I just heard a media spokesperson deliver the news that Joe Biden had thrown his hat in the ring for President in the 2020 Election and the second sentence out of media’s mouth was how much money Joe Biden had already raised. I don’t recall how much money that was, but it was a significant enough amount for the spokesperson to report it, and it reminded me of an opinion I’d developed way back in 2003 when Dennis Kucinich was running for President. At that time, I heard on a radio talk show that a caller had made the comment “that the coming election was not about ideas, but about money and Kucinich wasn’t able to raise enough money to be considered a viable candidate.” As I recalled, no one on the show challenged that idea which at the time seemed to be the operative idea in recent and possibly future elections.

My mind then leaped to the conclusion that if money is the “operative word” then WHY BOTHER WITH ELECTIONS AT ALL; JUST HAVE A MONEY-RAISING CONTEST AND WHOEVER RAISES THE MOST MONEY WILL BE DECLARED PRESIDENT; the election process can be dispensed with and more money saved at the local levels, because they won’t need to pay for voting machines, clerks, ballots, etc.; and since the biggest beneficiary of most of that money is the media, especially television, due to the cost of the ads, the general public doesn’t reap much benefit; and since (at that time) the REPUBLICANS HAD ALREADY OUT-MONEYED THE DEMOCRATS – THAT SEEMED TO BE A FOREGONE CONCLUSION THAT “GWB” WOULD BE ELECTED … AGAIN … AND, IN FACT, HE WAS!

Then, I found among my writings an update on that idea…in 2008 Barack Obama was elected President, and it was said that he/his party raised more/spent more money than his opponent, John McCain. And I asked myself, “Is that the way we’re going to keep electing Presidents?”

And lo and behold, here we are again, in 2019! If this is the way it’s going to be, a hint to ‘would-be’s’: if you can’t raise the most money, you’ll not make it to the top post…unless something happens in the Congress, in the Courts, in the Streets…to change the way that Election Campaigns are conducted and the BIG money is gotten out of the process!

TAILORING

MY FATHER, OTIS HARRISON McFIELD,WAS BORN IN 1895 ON THE ISLAND OF ROATAN, HONDURAS C.A. HE CAME TO THE UNITED STATES ca.1914 AND GRADUATED FROM TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE IN 1919 HAVING COMPLETED THE COURSEWORK IN TAILORING AND ACADEMICS. HE ESTABLISHED IN 1920, A SUCCESSFUL TAILORING BUSINESS THAT ONLY ENDED AT HIS DEATH IN 1969. HE AND HIS WIFE, RUTH ETHEL HOLMES McFIELD, REARED FOUR SONS ALL OF WHOM LEARNED TAILORING IN THE SHOP. DAD ASSISTED AND SPONSORED HIS YOUNGER BROTHER, HUGH OLIVER McFIELD IN COMING TO THE US AND TAUGHT HIM THE ART OF TAILORING. UNCLE OLIVER MOVED TO LINCOLN, NEBRASKA WHERE HE ESTABLISHED HIS OWN TAILORING BUSINESS ON “Q” STREET IN DOWN TOWN LINCOLN AND WAS IN BUSINESS FOR OVER 40 YEARS.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALTERATION/ REPAIR AND TAILORING HAVE SERVED ME WELL THRU THE YEARS. FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF MY PROJECTS IN CLOTH.

TRANSFORMATION

2009
7″ X 77″
MIXED MEDIA

PROJECTS IN WOOD

A SHOUT-OUT TO MR. McGEE WHO INTRODUCED ME TO SERIOUS WOOD WORKING AT NORTHEAST JR. HIGH SCHOOL AND TO MR. MOWBRAY WHO TAUGHT ME TO APPRECIATE THE BEAUTY IN WOODS AND THE SATISFACTION DERIVED FROM WORKING WITH WOOD AT SUMNER HIGH SCHOOL.

TELEPHONE TABLE 8TH GRADE: NORTHEAST JR. HIGH

PROJECTS THRU THE YEARS

PORT-A-HOUSE PET SHELTER

PORT -A -HOUSE : PET SHELTER 5 (ASSEMBLED)

MENAGERIE IN WOOD

ON MY 60TH BIRTHDAY A FRIEND (BOB SZABO) GAVE ME A MILLED SLAB OF BLACK WALNUT WOOD. ANOTHER FRIEND (GAR STOVIN) GAVE ME A HANDCRAFTED BANDSAW, A BELT SANDER AND A SMALL DRUM SANDER. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE THE RESULTS OF THEIR GENEROSITY.

CAROUSELS

MOBILES

BALANCE CHALLENGES

BALANCE CHALLENGE 2 AFRICA