(1237,1,'2011-07-04 12:30:34','2011-07-04 19:30:34','It was 50 years ago today.\n\nI was 11 years old, and my dad and I rode the subway from his parents\' neighborhood in Brooklyn across Manhattan and up to the Bronx to see an Independence Day doubleheader between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. There were 74,246 fans at Yankee Stadium that day, and I remember to this day where we sat. We were in the second deck down the right-field line, where we could look down and see Roger Maris in right field and Mickey Mantle in center.\n\nThat Detroit team was one of the best in history <em>not</em> to win the pennant; indeed, the Tigers\' 101 victories left them <em>eight</em> games behind what might have been the best team in baseball history at the end of the season. Frank Lary, who had a reputation as a \"Yankee killer,\" pitched the Tigers to a 4-3, 10-inning victory in the first game, but Whitey Ford cruised to a 6-2 victory and the split in the second game. Ford, who improved his record to 15-2, would win 25 games and lose only four that year.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1236\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maris, batting, and Mantle in 1961\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1236\" title=\"yankee-stadium-006\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI didn\'t remember who had pitched that day -- I had to look it up -- but I did remember that Roger Maris hit his 31st home run on the way to his record 61 off Lary in the eighth inning.\n\nIt\'s funny. I don\'t remember a whole lot of holidays specifically anymore. I remember Thanksgiving 1974 for the horrible memory of Clint Longley\'s late-game touchdown pass that lifted the hated Dallas Cowboys over the Washington Redskins, but except  for that and Independence Day 1961, not so many memories have lasted.\n\nI have a wonderful memory of Maris, of sitting in nearly empty stands in Gastonia, N.C., in August 1982, of watching his son Kevin play while I interviewed him.\n\nHe was dead at the age of 51 a little more than three years later.\n\nCancer.\n\nWhen I\'m asked to describe myself, I always say I love my wife, I love my kids and my granddaughter, my friends and family and I love baseball. It\'s that simple. I have numerous interests, but none of them will ever surpass my love of baseball. Nothing has ever provided me with as many memorable experiences as baseball, or introduced me to as many fascinating people.\n\nI have interviewed Maris, Henry Aaron, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Boog Powell, Vida Blue, Pete Rose, Don Drysdale and numerous others one-on-one. I have covered minor-league teams managed by former big leaguers Lloyd Merritt, Tim Flannery and Marty Barrett. I had great relationships with all three, and one of the friendships that I treasure the most was with Walter Masterson, who pitched 15 seasons in the majors and died three years ago at age 87.\n\nSo many memories.\n\nI remember swearing after the 1994-95 strike that if there was ever another one, I would never attend another ballgame for the rest of my life. It hasn\'t happened yet, but I don\'t think I could keep that promise. My grandfather loved baseball to the end of his life and so did my dad. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll be exactly the same in that respect.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nI wouldn\'t be so selfish as to say that when I die, I\'d like it to be at a ballpark. It\'s kind of selfish to ask people to take your body somewhere. But I certainly wouldn\'t mind falling asleep for the last time with a game -- preferably late at night from the West Coast -- on the radio.\n\n<em>Strike three, you\'re out?</em>\n\nNot at all.\n\nSafe at home.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1235-revision','','','2011-07-04 12:30:34','2011-07-04 19:30:34','',1235,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1237',0,'revision','',0),(1238,1,'2011-07-04 12:32:44','2011-07-04 19:32:44','It was 50 years ago today.\n\nI was 11 years old, and my dad and I rode the subway from his parents\' neighborhood in Brooklyn across Manhattan and up to the Bronx to see an Independence Day doubleheader between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. There were 74,246 fans at Yankee Stadium that day, and I remember to this day where we sat. We were in the second deck down the right-field line, where we could look down and see Roger Maris in right field and Mickey Mantle in center.\n\nThat Detroit team was one of the best in history <em>not</em> to win the pennant; indeed, the Tigers\' 101 victories left them <em>eight</em> games behind what might have been the best team in baseball history at the end of the season. Frank Lary, who had a reputation as a \"Yankee killer,\" pitched the Tigers to a 4-3, 10-inning victory in the first game, but Whitey Ford cruised to a 6-2 victory and the split in the second game. Ford, who improved his record to 15-2, would win 25 games and lose only four that year.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1236\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maris, batting, and Mantle in 1961\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1236\" title=\"yankee-stadium-006\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI didn\'t remember who had pitched that day -- I had to look it up -- but I did remember that Roger Maris hit his 31st home run on the way to his record 61 off Lary in the eighth inning.\n\nIt\'s funny. I don\'t remember a whole lot of holidays specifically anymore. I remember Thanksgiving 1974 for the horrible memory of Clint Longley\'s late-game touchdown pass that lifted the hated Dallas Cowboys over the Washington Redskins, but except  for that and Independence Day 1961, not so many memories have lasted.\n\nI have a wonderful memory of Maris, of sitting in nearly empty stands in Gastonia, N.C., in August 1982, of watching his son Kevin play while I interviewed him.\n\nHe was dead at the age of 51 a little more than three years later.\n\nCancer.\n\nWhen I\'m asked to describe myself, I always say I love my wife, I love my kids and my granddaughter, my friends and family and I love baseball. It\'s that simple. I have numerous interests, but none of them will ever surpass my love of baseball. Nothing has ever provided me with as many memorable experiences as baseball, or introduced me to as many fascinating people.\n\nI have interviewed Maris, Henry Aaron, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Boog Powell, Vida Blue, Pete Rose, Don Drysdale and numerous others one-on-one. I have covered minor-league teams managed by former big leaguers Lloyd Merritt, Tim Flannery and Marty Barrett. I had great relationships with all three, and one of the friendships that I treasure the most was with Walter Masterson, who pitched 15 seasons in the majors and died three years ago at age 87.\n\nSo many memories.\n\nI remember swearing after the 1994-95 strike that if there was ever another one, I would never attend another ballgame for the rest of my life. It hasn\'t happened yet, but I don\'t think I could keep that promise. My grandfather loved baseball to the end of his life and so did my dad. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll be exactly the same in that respect.\n\nhttp://youtu.be/9mjgUK9UAzA\n\nI wouldn\'t be so selfish as to say that when I die, I\'d like it to be at a ballpark. It\'s kind of selfish to ask people to take your body somewhere. But I certainly wouldn\'t mind falling asleep for the last time with a game -- preferably late at night from the West Coast -- on the radio.\n\n<em>Strike three, you\'re out?</em>\n\nNot at all.\n\nSafe at home.\n\n&nbsp;','Wonderful memories from (gulp!) 50 years ago','','inherit','open','open','','1235-autosave','','','2011-07-04 12:32:44','2011-07-04 19:32:44','',1235,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1238',0,'revision','',0),(1239,1,'2011-07-04 12:31:22','2011-07-04 19:31:22','It was 50 years ago today.\r\n\r\nI was 11 years old, and my dad and I rode the subway from his parents\' neighborhood in Brooklyn across Manhattan and up to the Bronx to see an Independence Day doubleheader between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. There were 74,246 fans at Yankee Stadium that day, and I remember to this day where we sat. We were in the second deck down the right-field line, where we could look down and see Roger Maris in right field and Mickey Mantle in center.\r\n\r\nThat Detroit team was one of the best in history <em>not</em> to win the pennant; indeed, the Tigers\' 101 victories left them <em>eight</em> games behind what might have been the best team in baseball history at the end of the season. Frank Lary, who had a reputation as a \"Yankee killer,\" pitched the Tigers to a 4-3, 10-inning victory in the first game, but Whitey Ford cruised to a 6-2 victory and the split in the second game. Ford, who improved his record to 15-2, would win 25 games and lose only four that year.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1236\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Maris, batting, and Mantle in 1961\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1236\" title=\"yankee-stadium-006\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yankee-stadium-006-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI didn\'t remember who had pitched that day -- I had to look it up -- but I did remember that Roger Maris hit his 31st home run on the way to his record 61 off Lary in the eighth inning.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. I don\'t remember a whole lot of holidays specifically anymore. I remember Thanksgiving 1974 for the horrible memory of Clint Longley\'s late-game touchdown pass that lifted the hated Dallas Cowboys over the Washington Redskins, but except  for that and Independence Day 1961, not so many memories have lasted.\r\n\r\nI have a wonderful memory of Maris, of sitting in nearly empty stands in Gastonia, N.C., in August 1982, of watching his son Kevin play while I interviewed him.\r\n\r\nHe was dead at the age of 51 a little more than three years later.\r\n\r\nCancer.\r\n\r\nWhen I\'m asked to describe myself, I always say I love my wife, I love my kids and my granddaughter, my friends and family and I love baseball. It\'s that simple. I have numerous interests, but none of them will ever surpass my love of baseball. Nothing has ever provided me with as many memorable experiences as baseball, or introduced me to as many fascinating people.\r\n\r\nI have interviewed Maris, Henry Aaron, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Boog Powell, Vida Blue, Pete Rose, Don Drysdale and numerous others one-on-one. I have covered minor-league teams managed by former big leaguers Lloyd Merritt, Tim Flannery and Marty Barrett. I had great relationships with all three, and one of the friendships that I treasure the most was with Walter Masterson, who pitched 15 seasons in the majors and died three years ago at age 87.\r\n\r\nSo many memories.\r\n\r\nI remember swearing after the 1994-95 strike that if there was ever another one, I would never attend another ballgame for the rest of my life. It hasn\'t happened yet, but I don\'t think I could keep that promise. My grandfather loved baseball to the end of his life and so did my dad. I\'m pretty sure I\'ll be exactly the same in that respect.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nI wouldn\'t be so selfish as to say that when I die, I\'d like it to be at a ballpark. It\'s kind of selfish to ask people to take your body somewhere. But I certainly wouldn\'t mind falling asleep for the last time with a game -- preferably late at night from the West Coast -- on the radio.\r\n\r\n<em>Strike three, you\'re out?</em>\r\n\r\nNot at all.\r\n\r\nSafe at home.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wonderful memories from (gulp!) 50 years ago','','inherit','open','open','','1235-revision-2','','','2011-07-04 12:31:22','2011-07-04 19:31:22','',1235,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1239',0,'revision','',0),(1240,1,'2011-07-05 13:12:43','2011-07-05 20:12:43','It was 1960 when the first mass-market antidepressant -- Librium -- went on the market in the United States, and three years later that Valium made its entrance.\r\n\r\nBy 2005, nearly 10 percent of Americans were taking one form or another of prescription antidepressant, more than 27 million people, according to the Center for Disease Control.\r\n\r\nIf we add in beer, liquor and the mind-numbing effect of television, it might not be unreasonable to estimate that somewhere near half of adults in our country go through their lives somehow sedated.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why it is, but a quote from \"Animal House\" seems to come to mind.\r\n\r\n<em>It always does with you, Mike.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1241\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"125\" caption=\"Flounder\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1241\" title=\"flounder\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"181\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.\"\r\n\r\n<em>Appropriate here.</em>\r\n\r\nQuite possibly. I\'ll bet that if you did a Venn diagram of all the Americans with weight problems, drinking problems and well, intellect problems, it might encompass as much as 75 percent of the country. If that sounds high, consider that two-thirds of Americans are overweight.\r\n\r\nSo we have an amazingly large number of people who aren\'t coping well with our rapidly changing country. At the very time we need to be lean and mean, we\'re fat, drunk or stupid. And remember, the people in the part of the Venn diagram that overlap are like the hapless Kent Dorfmann -- fat, drunk <em>and</em> stupid.\r\n\r\nOf course, I\'m paranoid enough to believe that was all part of the plan. Not only was there a great deal of money to be made in sedating Americans, whether through pills, alcohol or what passes for entertainment these days.\r\n\r\nI took antidepressants for more than 10 years, starting -- possibly coincidentally -- right around the time the newspaper where I worked was sold to an owner who eventually ran it right into the ground. I took a relatively medium-sized dose of Effexor, but last year in Texas, after two years of unemployment, I decided to quit taking it.\r\n\r\nI\'m glad I did, even if what some people seem to see as my anger or unhappiness at the state of our country may stem from it. At least I feel I\'m fully awake.\r\n\r\nIf we\'re going to cope with this rapidly changing world, we need to be smarter, better informed and better able to recognize how candidates on both sides play us in order to get our votes. Unfortunately, that only seems to happen with the fringe candidates. When a Michelle Bachmann or a Sarah Palin distorts our history, the media is all over them. But when the real leaders on both sides make outrageous statements in the budget talks, some of them even telling outright lies, they\'re rarely called on it.\r\n\r\nI have been a Democrat all my life, but I honestly believe most of the members of my party in Congress put re-election ahead of principles so often that I wonder if they have any principles left. As for the Republicans, don\'t get me started. Their one-note mantra of tax cuts won\'t do anything except redistribute more wealth upward.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1242\" title=\"darcy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>Will we smarten up before it\'s too late?\r\n\r\nI don\'t know. It has been 40 years since John Prine recorded his wonderful song, \"Spanish Pipedream,\" in which he urged us all to \"blow up your TV.\"\r\n\r\nAnd the sad part of that is that television -- at least the broadcast networks -- were much better back then.\r\n\r\nWe need to stop thinking about avoiding life, whether it\'s through sedatives, booze or entertainment. I really don\'t think it\'s too late for people to get aware, and maybe to remember the old expression about thinking globally and acting locally. Maybe you can\'t do much other than vote on national and global issues, but there\'s certainly no reason you can\'t make your own community a better place.\r\n\r\nYou can start with a very easy step, one that anyone in this world is capable of doing.\r\n\r\nResolve to be a little nicer to the people you encounter in your daily life. If the counter kid at Wendy\'s is a little slow getting your order, don\'t get annoyed. Just understand that he or she is doing the best they can.\r\n\r\nDamn, people. Life is tough enough without us contributing to making it worse.\r\n\r\nIf you want to be part of the solution, start by making a decision that you will no longer be part of the problem.\r\n\r\nIt\'s that easy.','Time to stop sleeping and wake up to your life','','publish','open','open','','time-to-stop-sleeping-and-wake-up-to-your-life','','','2011-07-05 13:31:53','2011-07-05 20:31:53','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1240',0,'post','',0),(1241,1,'2011-07-05 12:18:12','2011-07-05 19:18:12','','flounder','Flounder','inherit','open','open','','flounder','','','2011-07-05 12:18:12','2011-07-05 19:18:12','',1240,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1242,1,'2011-07-05 13:00:37','2011-07-05 20:00:37','','darcy','','inherit','open','open','','darcy','','','2011-07-05 13:00:37','2011-07-05 20:00:37','',1240,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1243,1,'2011-07-05 13:12:22','2011-07-05 20:12:22','It was 1960 when the first mass-market sedative -- Librium -- went on the market in the United States, and three years later that Valium made its entrance.\n\nBy 2005, nearly 10 percent of Americans were taking one form or another of prescription antidepressant, more than 27 million people, according to the Center for Disease Control.\n\nIf we add in beer, liquor and the mind-numbing effect of television, it might not be unreasonable to estimate that somewhere near half of adults in our country go through their lives somehow sedated.\n\nI\'m not sure why it is, but a quote from \"Animal House\" seems to come to mind.\n\n<em>It always does with you, Mike.</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1241\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"125\" caption=\"Flounder\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1241\" title=\"flounder\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"181\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n\"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.\"\n\n<em>Appropriate here.</em>\n\nQuite possibly. I\'ll bet that if you did a Venn diagram of all the Americans with weight problems, drinking problems and well, intellect problems, it might encompass as much as 75 percent of the country. If that sounds high, consider that two-thirds of Americans are overweight.\n\nSo we have an amazingly large number of people who aren\'t coping well with our rapidly changing country. At the very time we need to be lean and mean, we\'re fat, drunk or stupid. And remember, the people in the part of the Venn diagram that overlap are like the hapless Kent Dorfmann -- fat, drunk <em>and</em> stupid.\n\nOf course, I\'m paranoid enough to believe that was all part of the plan. Not only was there a great deal of money to be made in sedating Americans, whether through pills, alcohol or what passes for entertainment these days.\n\nI took antidepressants for more than 10 years, starting -- possibly coincidentally -- right around the time the newspaper where I worked was sold to an owner who eventually ran it right into the ground. I took a relatively medium-sized dose of Effexor, but last year in Texas, after two years of unemployment, I decided to quit taking it.\n\nI\'m glad I did, even if what some people seem to see as my anger or unhappiness at the state of our country may stem from it. At least I feel I\'m fully awake.\n\nIf we\'re going to cope with this rapidly changing world, we need to be smarter, better informed and better able to recognize how candidates on both sides play us in order to get our votes. Unfortunately, that only seems to happen with the fringe candidates. When a Michelle Bachmann or a Sarah Palin distorts our history, the media is all over them. But when the real leaders on both sides make outrageous statements in the budget talks, some of them even telling outright lies, they\'re rarely called on it.\n\nI have been a Democrat all my life, but I honestly believe most of the members of my party in Congress put re-election ahead of principles so often that I wonder if they have any principles left. As for the Republicans, don\'t get me started. Their one-note mantra of tax cuts won\'t do anything except redistribute more wealth upward.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1242\" title=\"darcy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>Will we smarten up before it\'s too late?\n\nI don\'t know. It has been 40 years since John Prine recorded his wonderful song, \"Spanish Pipedream,\" in which he urged us all to \"blow up your TV.\"\n\nAnd the sad part of that is that television -- at least the broadcast networks -- were much better back then.\n\nWe need to stop thinking about avoiding life, whether it\'s through sedatives, booze or entertainment. I really don\'t think it\'s too late for people to get aware, and maybe to remember the old expression about thinking globally and acting locally. Maybe you can\'t do much other than vote on national and global issues, but there\'s certainly no reason you can\'t make your own community a better place.\n\nYou can start with a very easy step, one that anyone in this world is capable of doing.\n\nResolve to be a little nicer to the people you encounter in your daily life. If the counter kid at Wendy\'s is a little slow getting your order, don\'t get annoyed. Just understand that he or she is doing the best they can.\n\nDamn, people. Life is tough enough without us contributing to making it worse.\n\nIf you want to be part of the solution, start by making a decision that you will no longer be part of the problem.\n\nIt\'s that easy.','','','inherit','open','open','','1240-revision','','','2011-07-05 13:12:22','2011-07-05 20:12:22','',1240,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1243',0,'revision','',0),(1244,1,'2011-07-05 13:12:43','2011-07-05 20:12:43','It was 1960 when the first mass-market sedative -- Librium -- went on the market in the United States, and three years later that Valium made its entrance.\r\n\r\nBy 2005, nearly 10 percent of Americans were taking one form or another of prescription antidepressant, more than 27 million people, according to the Center for Disease Control.\r\n\r\nIf we add in beer, liquor and the mind-numbing effect of television, it might not be unreasonable to estimate that somewhere near half of adults in our country go through their lives somehow sedated.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why it is, but a quote from \"Animal House\" seems to come to mind.\r\n\r\n<em>It always does with you, Mike.</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1241\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"125\" caption=\"Flounder\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1241\" title=\"flounder\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/flounder.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"181\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.\"\r\n\r\n<em>Appropriate here.</em>\r\n\r\nQuite possibly. I\'ll bet that if you did a Venn diagram of all the Americans with weight problems, drinking problems and well, intellect problems, it might encompass as much as 75 percent of the country. If that sounds high, consider that two-thirds of Americans are overweight.\r\n\r\nSo we have an amazingly large number of people who aren\'t coping well with our rapidly changing country. At the very time we need to be lean and mean, we\'re fat, drunk or stupid. And remember, the people in the part of the Venn diagram that overlap are like the hapless Kent Dorfmann -- fat, drunk <em>and</em> stupid.\r\n\r\nOf course, I\'m paranoid enough to believe that was all part of the plan. Not only was there a great deal of money to be made in sedating Americans, whether through pills, alcohol or what passes for entertainment these days.\r\n\r\nI took antidepressants for more than 10 years, starting -- possibly coincidentally -- right around the time the newspaper where I worked was sold to an owner who eventually ran it right into the ground. I took a relatively medium-sized dose of Effexor, but last year in Texas, after two years of unemployment, I decided to quit taking it.\r\n\r\nI\'m glad I did, even if what some people seem to see as my anger or unhappiness at the state of our country may stem from it. At least I feel I\'m fully awake.\r\n\r\nIf we\'re going to cope with this rapidly changing world, we need to be smarter, better informed and better able to recognize how candidates on both sides play us in order to get our votes. Unfortunately, that only seems to happen with the fringe candidates. When a Michelle Bachmann or a Sarah Palin distorts our history, the media is all over them. But when the real leaders on both sides make outrageous statements in the budget talks, some of them even telling outright lies, they\'re rarely called on it.\r\n\r\nI have been a Democrat all my life, but I honestly believe most of the members of my party in Congress put re-election ahead of principles so often that I wonder if they have any principles left. As for the Republicans, don\'t get me started. Their one-note mantra of tax cuts won\'t do anything except redistribute more wealth upward.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1242\" title=\"darcy\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/darcy-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>Will we smarten up before it\'s too late?\r\n\r\nI don\'t know. It has been 40 years since John Prine recorded his wonderful song, \"Spanish Pipedream,\" in which he urged us all to \"blow up your TV.\"\r\n\r\nAnd the sad part of that is that television -- at least the broadcast networks -- were much better back then.\r\n\r\nWe need to stop thinking about avoiding life, whether it\'s through sedatives, booze or entertainment. I really don\'t think it\'s too late for people to get aware, and maybe to remember the old expression about thinking globally and acting locally. Maybe you can\'t do much other than vote on national and global issues, but there\'s certainly no reason you can\'t make your own community a better place.\r\n\r\nYou can start with a very easy step, one that anyone in this world is capable of doing.\r\n\r\nResolve to be a little nicer to the people you encounter in your daily life. If the counter kid at Wendy\'s is a little slow getting your order, don\'t get annoyed. Just understand that he or she is doing the best they can.\r\n\r\nDamn, people. Life is tough enough without us contributing to making it worse.\r\n\r\nIf you want to be part of the solution, start by making a decision that you will no longer be part of the problem.\r\n\r\nIt\'s that easy.','Time to stop sleeping and wake up to your life','','inherit','open','open','','1240-revision-2','','','2011-07-05 13:12:43','2011-07-05 20:12:43','',1240,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1244',0,'revision','',0),(1245,1,'2011-07-06 18:22:49','2011-07-07 01:22:49','I really hate it when I let people down.\r\n\r\nMaybe that\'s because when I was younger I did it an awful lot, but I have come to like the idea of being dependable, especially when it comes to my children. If they told me they needed to be picked up at a certain time, I was there waiting when they came out. If they needed me to get them something at the store, or proofread a school assignment, I did it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1246\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline, Maddie and Ryan\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC_0117-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1246\" title=\"DSC_0117 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC_0117-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo while I know it disappoints my children when I make a mistake out of stupidity, forgetfulness or neglect, I hope it also surprises them at least a little.\r\n\r\nA few months ago, we learned that our wonderful daughter Pauline is pregnant with her second child. We were excited and happy and we made a fuss about it at the time. I had been asking Pauline when she would learn the sex of the baby, and the date she told me was scheduled to come during our trip to Europe.\r\n\r\nI had no e-mail access during the first week of the trip, and when I learned that the second baby would be a boy, we were in Greece with Virgile and his wife.\r\n\r\nI could have sent an e-mail. Under almost any conceivable circumstance I can imagine, I would have sent an e-mail. All it would have taken is a few words. But for some reason I didn\'t get around to it. It was a difficult trip with a lot of stress, and I wasn\'t sleeping well. But that\'s no excuse. By the time I got around to it, I had hurt Pauline and that\'s something I never want to do under any circumstances.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1247\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"180\" caption=\"It&#39;s a boy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/273625_1053810057_6649899_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1247\" title=\"273625_1053810057_6649899_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/273625_1053810057_6649899_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"135\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI really don\'t like looking at myself in the mirror and seeing a bad guy. Some of the happiest moments in my life -- most of them, in fact -- have come courtesy of my two children, and whatever I can do for them pales next to what they have done for me.\r\n\r\nI have written about this before, but one of the five best hours in my life was sitting on a sofa in Beijing with little Maddie -- 10 days or so old at the time -- sleeping on my chest. I certainly hope there will be moments like that with our grandson. It was truly wonderful.\r\n\r\nBut right now I\'m not feeling too good.\r\n\r\nI do know one thing. As proud as I have always been of my children, I am not going to let them down again.\r\n\r\nFrom now on, I\'ll get it right.\r\n\r\nI wonder if it would be appropriate to mention that from the look of that sonogram, that kid is going to be very popular with the girls.\r\n\r\nNah, better not.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Falling down on the job isn\'t a good feeling','','publish','open','open','','falling-down-on-the-job-isnt-a-good-feeling','','','2011-07-06 18:22:49','2011-07-07 01:22:49','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1245',0,'post','',0),(1246,1,'2011-07-06 17:55:02','2011-07-07 00:55:02','','DSC_0117 (2)','Pauline, Maddie and Ryan','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0117-2','','','2011-07-06 17:55:02','2011-07-07 00:55:02','',1245,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC_0117-2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1247,1,'2011-07-06 18:03:13','2011-07-07 01:03:13','','273625_1053810057_6649899_n','It\'s a boy','inherit','open','open','','273625_1053810057_6649899_n','','','2011-07-06 18:03:13','2011-07-07 01:03:13','',1245,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/273625_1053810057_6649899_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1248,1,'2011-07-06 18:22:30','2011-07-07 01:22:30','I really hate it when I let people down.\n\nMaybe that\'s because when I was younger I did it an awful lot, but I have come to like the idea of being dependable, especially when it comes to my children. If they told me they needed to be picked up at a certain time, I was there waiting when they came out. If they needed me to get them something at the store, or proofread a school assignment, I did it.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1246\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline, Maddie and Ryan\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC_0117-2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1246\" title=\"DSC_0117 (2)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/DSC_0117-2-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo while I know it disappoints my children when I make a mistake out of stupidity, forgetfulness or neglect, I hope it also surprises them at least a little.\n\nA few months ago, we learned that our wonderful daughter Pauline is pregnant with her second child. We were excited and happy and we made a fuss about it at the time. I had been asking Pauline when she would learn the sex of the baby, and the date she told me was scheduled to come during our trip to Europe.\n\nI had no e-mail access during the first week of the trip, and when I learned that the second baby would be a boy, we were in Greece with Virgile and his wife.\n\nI could have sent an e-mail. Under almost any conceivable circumstance I can imagine, I would have sent an e-mail. All it would have taken is a few words. But for some reason I didn\'t get around to it. It was a difficult trip with a lot of stress, and I wasn\'t sleeping well. But that\'s no excuse. By the time I got around to it, I had hurt Pauline and that\'s something I never want to do under any circumstances.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1247\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"180\" caption=\"It&#39;s a boy\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/273625_1053810057_6649899_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1247\" title=\"273625_1053810057_6649899_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/273625_1053810057_6649899_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"135\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI really don\'t like looking at myself in the mirror and seeing a bad guy. Some of the happiest moments in my life -- most of them, in fact -- have come courtesy of my two children, and whatever I can do for them pales next to what they have done for me.\n\nI have written about this before, but one of the five best hours in my life was sitting on a sofa in Beijing with little Maddie -- 10 days or so old at the time -- sleeping on my chest. I certainly hope there will be moments like that with our grandson. It was truly wonderful.\n\nBut right now I\'m not feeling too good.\n\nI do know one thing. As proud as I have always been of my children, I am not going to let them down again.\n\nFrom now on, I\'ll get it right.\n\nI wonder if it would be appropriate to mention that from the look of that sonogram, that kid is going to be very popular with the girls.\n\nNah, better not.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1245-revision','','','2011-07-06 18:22:30','2011-07-07 01:22:30','',1245,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1248',0,'revision','',0),(1249,1,'2011-07-07 17:43:41','2011-07-08 00:43:41','Lately I\'ve seen some lists on Facebook where people are asked to list the number of states they have visited. My old friend and colleague R.B. Fallstrom from St. Louis, an outstanding sportswriter, posted that he has now visited every one of the 50 states. He\'s the first person I\'ve known who has been able to say that.\r\n\r\nThe problem with these lists is that there are so many different ways to calculate the lists.\r\n\r\nMost folks don\'t count being on a plane that lands in a state on the way to their ultimate destination. Many don\'t count driving through a state if you don\'t get out of the car. By the second of those criteria, I have visited 44 states and driven across a corner of Alabama.\r\n\r\nI\'m going to propose a rule that would leave no doubt at all. Don\'t count driving across a state, even if you stop for gas, eat at a restaurant or spend the night in a hotel or motel.\r\n\r\nThe only way you get to count a state is if you traveled there for a purpose -- a purpose that includes doing something in that state, not just using the state as a way to get to your ultimate destination. I think that knocks me down from 44 to 40.\r\n\r\nHere\'s my list:\r\n\r\nAlabama -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state in the northeast corner on the way to Tennessee, but that\'s it.\r\n\r\nAlaska -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\r\n\r\nArizona -- YES. When I worked in Reno, I made trips in both 1989 and \'90 to cover basketball games at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.\r\n\r\nArkansas -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\r\n\r\nCalifornia -- YES. I was born there, traveled there numerous times while working in Reno and, of course, lived in the L.A. area from 1990 to 2010.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1256\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Colorado football\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1256\" title=\"ralphie\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nColorado -- YES. I covered a basketball game in Boulder in 1985 while working in St. Louis and then lived in Greeley for two years from 1986 to \'88.\r\n\r\nConnecticut -- YES. This one was tougher. I spent a weekend in Ledyard in 1964 on an exchange trip between church youth groups.\r\n\r\nDelaware -- YES. I traveled to Rehobeth Beach once or twice in the late \'60s.\r\n\r\nFlorida -- YES. I spent spring break at Fort Lauderdale in 1980, a weekend at spring training in West Palm Beach in 1983 and the better part of a week at Cape Canaveral for the Cassini spacecraft launch in 1997.\r\n\r\nGeorgia -- YES. I covered numerous sports events in Atlanta in 1983-84 when I was working in Anderson, S.C., and of course I live in Georgia now.\r\n\r\nHawaii -- YES. I spent 10 wonderful days in Kauai, the Big Island and Maui on vacation in 1998.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1257\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Idaho football (and basketball) here.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1257\" title=\"interior\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIdaho -- YES. More times than I care to remember. Seriously, two trips each to Pocatello, Moscow and Boise in 1989-90 to cover college basketball games and two more trips to Boise those same years to cover the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament.\r\n\r\nIllinois -- YES. I went to Chicago in the late \'50s for the funeral of an aunt and then covered numerous high school football games in the Alton/East St. Louis/Belleville area in \'84, \'85 and \'86 as a St. Louis sportswriter.\r\n\r\nIndiana -- NO, although it seems like it should a yes. I drove across the state numerous times, and did spend New Years Eve 1987 in a motel outside Indianapolis while going from Sioux Falls, SD, to Washington, D.C.\r\n\r\nIowa -- YES. I covered college basketball games at Ames and Waterloo when I worked in St. Louis and spent four days in Des Moines in \'89 covering the U.S. Olympic Committee site selection meetings.\r\n\r\nKansas -- YES. Big Eight basketball games in Manhattan and Lawrence in \'85 and for some reason, Oklahoma State at Kansas State football in \'84 or \'85.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1258\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bold Forbes turns for home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1258\" title=\"Kentucky Derby-related photographs by James W. Sames III\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nKentucky -- YES. Only twice, but two very memorable trips. I saw the Kentucky Derby in 1976 in Louisville and the Final Four at Rupp Arena in Lexington in 1985. That was the year of Villanova\'s amazing 66-64 victory over Georgetown in the finals.\r\n\r\nLouisiana -- YES. Just once. In 1983, I flew into Baton Rouge to cover the South Carolina-LSU football game.\r\n\r\nMaine -- NO. I haven\'t visited the land of Stephen King yet.\r\n\r\nMaryland -- YES. Numerous times, including concerts at Meriwether Post Pavilion, the 1982 Preakness at Pimlico, Orioles games in Baltimore, events at the Capital Centre and other horse races at Laurel Raceway.\r\n\r\nMassachusetts -- YES. Four trips to Boston for sightseeing, two as a child with my family and one each with both wives. Finally got to see a baseball game at Fenway Park in 1997.\r\n\r\nMichigan -- YES. Flew into Detroit in 1984 to cover Missouri at Michigan State basketball in East Lansing.\r\n\r\nMinnesota -- NO. Spent about six hours at the Minneapolis airport between planes, but that\'s it.\r\n\r\nMississippi -- NO. Never been there.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1259\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Gateway Arch\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1259\" title=\"st-louis-arch-address\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMissouri -- YES. Among other things, lived in St. Louis from May 1984 to October 1986.\r\n\r\nMontana -- YES. Two winter road trips covering college basketball in 1989 and 1990, seeing both the best (Missoula) and the worst (Bozeman) the state has to offer.\r\n\r\nNebraska -- YES. My most memorable time doesn\'t count, racing a snowstorm across the state from Colorado to Iowa in 1987, but I did cover Missouri at Nebraska for college basketball in 1985.\r\n\r\nNevada -- YES. I lived in Reno for 18 months, and I made numerous trips to Las Vegas when I was living in California.\r\n\r\nNew Hampshire -- NO. I\'ve driven through the state, but never went there for the purpose of being in New Hampshire.\r\n\r\nNew Jersey -- YES.  Most of it for me was the Jersey Turnpike, heading to and from New York, but in 1981 I went to the Meadowlands to cover a great football game between the Redskins and the New York Giants.\r\n\r\nNew Mexico -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state twice and I spent one night in a motel in Clovis last July, but I never went TO New Mexico.\r\n\r\nNew York -- YES. Many visits on family vacations to the city, and one trip just before Christmas 1984 to cover the St. Louis Blues hockey team against the Buffalo Sabres. First hockey game I ever covered.\r\n\r\nNorth Carolina -- YES. Among other things, lived in Gastonia in 1982-83.\r\n\r\nNorth Dakota -- NO. Maybe someday, although I have a hunch this will have to be the one to complete my 50 states.\r\n\r\nOhio -- YES. I lived in the Dayton area for a large chunk of my childhood.\r\n\r\nOklahoma -- YES. Trips to Norman and Stillwater to cover Missouri basketball at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Came back in 1987 to cover Colorado football at Oklahoma. If the <em>Daily Oklahoman</em> hadn\'t had a hiring freeze, I probably would have gone there to work in 1983.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1260\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"McArthur Court\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1260\" title=\"Top-level view\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOregon -- YES. Just once that I recall, to cover Nevada basketball at Oregon in 1988. Spent the evening before the game playing pool with the two coaches, Len Stevens and Don Monson.\r\n\r\nPennsylvania -- YES. Several wonderful summer weeks in the \'60s at <a href=\"http://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux/\">Camp Michaux</a>, a trip to Philadelphia to see the Dodgers play the Phillies in 1982 and a few days in what I believe was the Harrisburg area doing political volunteer work with Lisa McGrady in 1980.\r\n\r\nRhode Island -- YES, but just once. I flew into Providence in 1985 and spent three days there covering the 1984 East Regionals that Georgetown won over Georgia Tech.\r\n\r\nSouth Carolina -- YES, mostly living there in 1983-84.\r\n\r\nSouth Dakota -- YES. Spent four or five days there Christmas week 1987 covering Northern Colorado in the North Central Conference holiday basketball tournament.\r\n\r\nTennessee -- YES. I can think of two occasions, covering the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in 1984 in Nashville, and coming back to cover Missouri at Memphis State in 1986 in Memphis.\r\n\r\nTexas -- YES. Numerous trips to cover sports events, including the 1986 Final Four in Dallas, but most memorably 10 weeks in the Hill Country last summer.\r\n\r\nUtah -- YES. Actually at least five trips that I can remember. Three times covering NCAA basketball sub-regionals in Salt Lake City and Ogden, and two other trips to Ogden to cover Nevada at Weber State basketball.\r\n\r\nVermont -- NO. Same as New Hampshire.\r\n\r\nVirginia -- YES. I\'m pretty sure that I\'ve spent more time in Virginia -- high school, college, first marriage, first two years of my career -- than I have spent anywhere other than California.\r\n\r\nWashington -- YES. Three college basketball trips from 1988-90, one to Seattle and two to Spokane, and three weeks visiting Pauline, Ryan and Maddie near Snoqualmie Pass in the summer of 2009.\r\n\r\nWest Virginia -- YES. Mostly trips in 1974 and \'75 to see the horse racing at Charles Town.\r\n\r\nWisconsin -- NO. I can\'t remember ever being there except sitting in a plane on the runway at Madison on the way from St. Louis to Waterloo, Iowa.\r\n\r\nWyoming -- YES. In the fall of \'88, went to Laramie for a college football game between Wyoming and Colorado State.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been doing this from memory, and I think I\'ve gotten all 50. By my count, there 12 Nos on the list. I\'ll start knocking them off by going to Alabama this year.','Working toward visiting each and every state','','publish','open','open','','working-toward-visiting-each-and-every-state','','','2011-07-07 17:44:33','2011-07-08 00:44:33','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1249',0,'post','',0),(1250,1,'2011-07-07 10:58:42','2011-07-07 17:58:42','Lately I\'ve seen some lists on Facebook where people are asked to list the number of states they have visited. My old friend and colleague R.B. Fallstrom from St. Louis, an outstanding sportswriter, posted that he has now visited every one of the 50 states. He\'s the first person I\'ve known who has been able to say that.\n\nThe problem with these lists is that there are so many different ways to calculate the lists.\n\nMost folks don\'t count being on a plane that lands in a state on the way to their ultimate destination. Many don\'t count driving through a state if you don\'t get out of the car. By the second of those criteria, I have visited 44 states and driven across a corner of Alabama.\n\nI\'m going to propose a rule that would leave no doubt at all. Don\'t count driving across a state, even if you stop for gas, eat at a restaurant or spend the night in a hotel or motel.\n\nThe only way you get to count a state is if you traveled there for a purpose -- a purpose that includes doing something in that state, not just using the state as a way to get to your ultimate destination. I think that knocks me down from 44 to 40.\n\nHere\'s my list:\n\nAlabama -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state in the northeast corner on the way to Tennessee, but that\'s it.\n\nAlaska -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\n\nArizona -- YES. When I worked in Reno, I made trips in both 1989 and \'90 to cover basketball games at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.\n\nArkansas -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\n\nCalifornia -- YES. I was born there, traveled there numerous times while working in Reno and, of course, lived in the L.A. area from 1990 to 2010.\n\nColorado -- YES. I covered a basketball game in Boulder in 1985 while working in St. Louis and then lived in Greeley for two years from 1986 to \'88.\n\nConnecticut -- YES. This one was tougher. I spent a weekend in Ledyard in 1964 on an exchange trip between church youth groups.\n\nDelaware -- YES. I traveled to Rehobeth Beach once or twice in the late \'60s.\n\nFlorida -- YES. I spent spring break at Fort Lauderdale in 1980, a weekend at spring training in West Palm Beach in 1983 and the better part of a week at Cape Canaveral for the Cassini spacecraft launch in 1997.\n\nGeorgia -- YES. I covered numerous sports events in Atlanta in 1983-84 when I was working in Anderson, S.C., and of course I live in Georgia now.\n\nHawaii -- YES. I spent 10 wonderful days in Kauai, the Big Island and Maui on vacation in 1998.\n\nIdaho -- YES. More times than I care to remember. Seriously, two trips each to Pocatello, Moscow and Boise in 1989-90 to cover college basketball games and two more trips to Boise those same years to cover the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament.\n\nIllinois -- YES. I went to Chicago in the late \'50s for the funeral of an aunt and then covered numerous high school football games in the Alton/East St. Louis/Belleville area in \'84, \'85 and \'86 as a St. Louis sportswriter.\n\nIndiana -- NO, although it seems like it should a yes. I drove across the state numerous times, and did spend New Years Eve 1987 in a motel outside Indianapolis while going from Sioux Falls, SD, to Washington, D.C.\n\nIowa -- YES. I covered college basketball games at Ames and Waterloo when I worked in St. Louis and spent four days in Des Moines in \'89 covering the U.S. Olympic Committee site selection meetings.\n\nKansas -- YES. Big Eight basketball games in Manhattan and Lawrence in \'85 and for some reason, Oklahoma State at Kansas State football in \'84 or \'85.\n\nKentucky -- YES. Only twice, but two very memorable trips. I saw the Kentucky Derby in 1976 in Louisville and the Final Four at Rupp Arena in Lexington in 1985. That was the year of Villanova\'s amazing 66-64 victory over Georgetown in the finals.\n\nLouisiana -- YES. Just once. In 1983, I flew into Baton Rouge to cover the South Carolina-LSU football game.\n\nMaine -- NO. I haven\'t visited the land of Stephen King yet.\n\nMaryland -- YES. Numerous times, including concerts at Meriwether Post Pavilion, the 1982 Preakness at Pimlico, Orioles games in Baltimore, events at the Capital Centre and other horse races at Laurel Raceway.\n\nMassachusetts -- YES. Four trips to Boston for sightseeing, two as a child with my family and one each with both wives. Finally got to see a baseball game at Fenway Park in 1997.\n\nMichigan -- YES. Flew into Detroit in 1984 to cover Missouri at Michigan State basketball in East Lansing.\n\nMinnesota -- NO. Spent about six hours at the Minneapolis airport between planes, but that\'s it.\n\nMississippi -- NO. Never been there.\n\nMissouri -- YES. Among other things, lived in St. Louis from May 1984 to October 1986.\n\nMontana -- YES. Two winter road trips covering college basketball in 1989 and 1990, seeing both the best (Missoula) and the worst (Bozeman) the state has to offer.\n\nNebraska -- YES. My most memorable time doesn\'t count, racing a snowstorm across the state from Colorado to Iowa in 1987, but I did cover Missouri at Nebraska for college basketball in 1985.\n\nNevada -- YES. I lived in Reno for 18 months, and I made numerous trips to Las Vegas when I was living in California.\n\nNew Hampshire -- NO. I\'ve driven through the state, but never went there for the purpose of being in New Hampshire.\n\nNew Jersey -- YES.  Most of it for me was the Jersey Turnpike, heading to and from New York, but in 1981 I went to the Meadowlands to cover a great football game between the Redskins and the New York Giants.\n\nNew Mexico -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state twice and I spent one night in a motel in Clovis last July, but I never went TO New Mexico.\n\nNew York -- YES. Many visits on family vacations to the city, and one trip just before Christmas 1984 to cover the St. Louis Blues hockey team against the Buffalo Sabres. First hockey game I ever covered.\n\nNorth Carolina -- YES. Among other things, lived in Gastonia in 1982-83.\n\nNorth Dakota -- NO. Maybe someday, although I have a hunch this will have to be the one to complete my 50 states.\n\nOhio -- YES. I lived in the Dayton area for a large chunk of my childhood.\n\nOklahoma -- YES. Trips to Norman and Stillwater to cover Missouri basketball at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Came back in 1987 to cover Colorado football at Oklahoma. If the <em>Daily Oklahoman</em> hadn\'t had a hiring freeze, I probably would have gone there to work in 1983.\n\nOregon -- YES. Just once that I recall, to cover Nevada basketball at Oregon in 1988. Spent the evening before the game playing pool with the two coaches, Len Stevens and Don Monson.\n\nPennsylvania -- YES. Several wonderful summer weeks in the \'60s at <a href=\"http://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux/\">Camp Michaux</a>, a trip to Philadelphia to see the Dodgers play the Phillies in 1982 anda few days in what I believe was the Harrisburg area doing political volunteer work with Lisa McGrady in 1980.\n\nRhode Island -- YES, but just once. I flew into Providence in 1985 and spent three days there covering the 1984 East Regionals that Georgetown won over Georgia Tech.\n\nSouth Carolina -- YES, mostly living there in 1983-84.\n\nSouth Dakota -- YES. Spent four or five days there Christmas week 1987 covering Northern Colorado in the North Central Conference holiday basketball tournament.\n\nTennessee -- YES. I can think of two occasions, covering the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in 1984 in Nashville, and coming back to cover Missouri at Memphis State in 1986 in Memphis.\n\nTexas -- YES. Numerous trips to cover sports events, including the 1986 Final Four in Dallas, but most memorably 10 weeks in the Hill Country last summer.\n\nUtah -- YES. Actually at least five trips that I can remember. Three times covering NCAA basketball sub-regionals in Salt Lake City and Ogden, and two other trips to Ogden to cover Nevada at Weber State basketball.\n\nVermont -- NO. Same as New Hampshire.\n\nVirginia -- YES. I\'m pretty sure that I\'ve spent more time in Virginia -- high school, college, first marriage, first two years of my career -- than I have spent anywhere other than California.\n\nWashington -- YES. Three college basketball trips from 1988-90, one to Seattle and two to Spokane, and three weeks visiting Pauline, Ryan and Maddie near Snoqualmie Pass in the summer of 2009.\n\nWest Virginia -- YES. Mostly trips in 1974 and \'75 to see the horse racing at Charles Town.\n\nWisconsin -- NO. I can\'t remember ever being there except sitting in a plane on the runway at Madison on the way from St. Louis to Waterloo, Iowa.\n\nWyoming -- YES. In the fall of \'88, went to Laramie for a college football game between Wyoming and Colorado State.\n\nI\'ve been doing this from memory, and I think I\'ve gotten all 50.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1249-revision','','','2011-07-07 10:58:42','2011-07-07 17:58:42','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1250',0,'revision','',0),(1256,1,'2011-07-07 17:37:02','2011-07-08 00:37:02','','ralphie','Colorado football','inherit','open','open','','ralphie','','','2011-07-07 17:37:02','2011-07-08 00:37:02','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1251,1,'2011-07-07 15:51:17','2011-07-07 22:51:17','<em><strong>Archy: \"We don\'t stop them there, they could end up here.\"</strong></em>\r\n<em><strong> Camel Driver: \"And they\'re welcome to it.\"\r\n</strong></em><strong>-- GALLIPOLI, 1981</strong>\r\n\r\nThere are movies we remember, ones that stick with us because they move us so much. Many of those are war movies, because the issues at hand are so large and there is so much at stake.\r\n\r\nPeter Weir\'s \"Gallipoli\" is one of the most memorable, particularly when you realize the 1915 battle it commemorates had nothing to do with Americans. On the other hand, the tragedy the ANZAC forces suffered there is the event that is given credit for truly creating a national identity for Australia and also for New Zealand.\r\n\r\nIn fact, April 25 -- ANZAC Day -- is considered a more important holiday in Australia than Armistice Day/Remembrance Day. Eric Bogle\'s wonderful song, \"And the Band Played \'Waltzing Matilda,\'\" is incredibly poignant in describing a veteran who came home from Gallipoli maimed for life.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI\r\n\r\nWeir\'s movie focuses on only one part of the battle, the sacrifice made by ANZAC troops to protect the British landings at Suvla Bay. It has been called anti-English in its tone, but given what happened there it\'s difficult not to feel that way. Australian troops and New Zealanders were sacrificed so that fewer English troops would die.\r\n\r\nI think it\'s actually more about the old definition of war as something in which old men sent young men to die. The characters of Archy and Frank, played by Aussies Mark Lee and Mel Gibson, are athletes who clearly want to live. Archy is more naive, a young patriot who doesn\'t see through the propaganda. One of the funniest moments in the film comes when Archy and Frank meet a camel driver in the middle of the desert.\r\n\r\nSpouting an early version of the Domino Theory, he replies when the camel driver asks why Australia is at war with Germany by telling him that they were fighting in Turkey to keep the Germans from taking Australia. The driver looks around and sees nothing but desert in all directions and replies that they were welcome to it.\r\n\r\nIn Weir\'s film, war isn\'t about honor or glory. Rather it\'s a story of ignorance and waste. When wave after wave of ANZAC troops are cut down almost before getting out of their trenches, it\'s impossible not to despise the officers sending them to their deaths.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1254\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The film&#39;s final shot\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gallipoli.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1254\" title=\"Gallipoli\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gallipoli-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd when Archy, who represents the very best of young Australia, comes out of the trench to do his duty at the end of the film, the pointlessness of war is stated almost perfectly.\r\n\r\nThere have been a lot of movies that call themselves anti-war but don\'t really measure up. Robert Altman\'s great comedy, \"M*A*S*H,\" is a perfect example. The characters seem to be having so much fun that it\'s difficult to believe the Korean War wasn\'t a barrel of laughs.\r\n\r\nBut Weir\'s movie never hits a false note, from the opening scene where Archy recites his runner\'s mantra to the closing one where the same mantra sends him running to his death.\r\n\r\nIf you want a perfect example of the pointlessness of us being in Iraq and Afghanistan, all you need to do is watch.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Weir\'s \'Gallipoli\' is a truly wonderful film','','publish','open','open','','1251','','','2011-07-07 16:45:26','2011-07-07 23:45:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1251',0,'post','',0),(1252,1,'2011-07-07 15:50:26','2011-07-07 22:50:26','<em><strong>Archy: \"We don\'t stop them there, they could end up here.\"</strong></em>\n<em><strong> Camel Driver: \"And they\'re welcome to it.\"\n</strong></em><strong>-- GALLIPOLI, 1981</strong>\n\nThere are movies we remember, ones that stick with us because they move us so much. Many of those are war movies, because the issues at hand are so large and there is so much at stake.\n\nPeter Weir\'s \"Gallipoli\" is one of the most memorable, particularly when you realize the 1915 battle it commemorates had nothing to do with Americans. On the other hand, the tragedy the ANZAC forces suffered there is the event that is given credit for truly creating a national identity for Australia and also for New Zealand.\n\nIn fact, April 25 -- ANZAC Day -- is considered a more important holiday in Australia than Armistice Day/Remembrance Day. Eric Bogle\'s wonderful song, \"And the Band Played \'Waltzing Matilda,\'\" is incredibly poignant in describing a veteran who came home from Gallipoli maimed for life.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI\n\nWeir\'s movie focuses on only one part of the battle, the sacrifice made by ANZAC troops to protect the British landings at Suvla Bay. It has been called anti-English in its tone, but given what happened there it\'s difficult not to f','','','inherit','open','open','','1251-revision','','','2011-07-07 15:50:26','2011-07-07 22:50:26','',1251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1252',0,'revision','',0),(1253,1,'2011-07-07 16:44:40','2011-07-07 23:44:40','<em><strong>Archy: \"We don\'t stop them there, they could end up here.\"</strong></em>\n<em><strong> Camel Driver: \"And they\'re welcome to it.\"\n</strong></em><strong>-- GALLIPOLI, 1981</strong>\n\nThere are movies we remember, ones that stick with us because they move us so much. Many of those are war movies, because the issues at hand are so large and there is so much at stake.\n\nPeter Weir\'s \"Gallipoli\" is one of the most memorable, particularly when you realize the 1915 battle it commemorates had nothing to do with Americans. On the other hand, the tragedy the ANZAC forces suffered there is the event that is given credit for truly creating a national identity for Australia and also for New Zealand.\n\nIn fact, April 25 -- ANZAC Day -- is considered a more important holiday in Australia than Armistice Day/Remembrance Day. Eric Bogle\'s wonderful song, \"And the Band Played \'Waltzing Matilda,\'\" is incredibly poignant in describing a veteran who came home from Gallipoli maimed for life.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI\n\nWeir\'s movie focuses on only one part of the battle, the sacrifice made by ANZAC troops to protect the British landings at Suvla Bay. It has been called anti-English in its tone, but given what happened there it\'s difficult not to feel that way. Australian troops and New Zealanders were sacrificed so that fewer English troops would die.\n\nI think it\'s actually more about the old definition of war as something in which old men sent young men to die. The characters of Archy and Frank, played by Aussies Mark Lee and Mel Gibson, are athletes who clearly want to live. Archy is more naive, a young patriot who doesn\'t see through the propaganda. One of the funniest moments in the film comes when Archy and Frank meet a camel driver in the middle of the desert.\n\nSpouting an early version of the Domino Theory, he replies when the camel driver asks why Australia is at war with Germany by telling him that they were fighting in Turkey to keep the Germans from taking Australia. The driver looks around and sees nothing but desert in all directions and replies that they were welcome to it.\n\nIn Weir\'s film, war isn\'t about honor or glory. Rather it\'s a story of ignorance and waste. When wave after wave of ANZAC troops are cut down almost before getting out of their trenches, it\'s impossible not to despise the officers sending them to their deaths.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1254\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The film&#39;s final shot\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gallipoli.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1254\" title=\"Gallipoli\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gallipoli-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd when Archy, who represents the very best of young Australia, comes out of the trench to do his duty at the end of the film, the pointlessness of war is stated almost perfectly.\n\nThere have been a lot of movies that call themselves anti-war but don\'t really measure up. Robert Altman\'s great comedy, \"M*A*S*H,\" is a perfect example. The characters seem to be having so much fun that it\'s difficult to believe the Korean War wasn\'t a barrel of laughs.\n\nBut Weir\'s movie never hits a false note, from the opening scene where Archy recites his runner\'s mantra to the closing one where the same mantra sends him running to his death.\n\nIf you want a perfect example of the\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1251-autosave','','','2011-07-07 16:44:40','2011-07-07 23:44:40','',1251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1253',0,'revision','',0),(1254,1,'2011-07-07 16:27:16','2011-07-07 23:27:16','','Gallipoli','The film\'s final shot','inherit','open','open','','gallipoli','','','2011-07-07 16:27:16','2011-07-07 23:27:16','',1251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gallipoli.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1255,1,'2011-07-07 15:51:17','2011-07-07 22:51:17','<em><strong>Archy: \"We don\'t stop them there, they could end up here.\"</strong></em>\r\n<em><strong> Camel Driver: \"And they\'re welcome to it.\"\r\n</strong></em><strong>-- GALLIPOLI, 1981</strong>\r\n\r\nThere are movies we remember, ones that stick with us because they move us so much. Many of those are war movies, because the issues at hand are so large and there is so much at stake.\r\n\r\nPeter Weir\'s \"Gallipoli\" is one of the most memorable, particularly when you realize the 1915 battle it commemorates had nothing to do with Americans. On the other hand, the tragedy the ANZAC forces suffered there is the event that is given credit for truly creating a national identity for Australia and also for New Zealand.\r\n\r\nIn fact, April 25 -- ANZAC Day -- is considered a more important holiday in Australia than Armistice Day/Remembrance Day. Eric Bogle\'s wonderful song, \"And the Band Played \'Waltzing Matilda,\'\" is incredibly poignant in describing a veteran who came home from Gallipoli maimed for life.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI\r\n\r\nWeir\'s movie focuses on only one part of the battle, the sacrifice made by ANZAC troops to protect the British landings at Suvla Bay. It has been called anti-English in its tone, but given what happened there it\'s difficult not to feel that way. Australian troops and New Zealanders were sacrificed so that fewer English troops would die.','','','inherit','open','open','','1251-revision-2','','','2011-07-07 15:51:17','2011-07-07 22:51:17','',1251,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1255',0,'revision','',0),(1257,1,'2011-07-07 17:38:31','2011-07-08 00:38:31','','interior','Iadaho football (and basketball) here.','inherit','open','open','','interior','','','2011-07-07 17:38:31','2011-07-08 00:38:31','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1258,1,'2011-07-07 17:39:28','2011-07-08 00:39:28','CURRENT COPYRIGHT HOLDER Â© 2011 BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON.','Kentucky Derby-related photographs by James W. Sames III','Bold Forbes turns for home.','inherit','open','open','','kentucky-derby-related-photographs-by-james-w-sames-iii','','','2011-07-07 17:39:28','2011-07-08 00:39:28','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1259,1,'2011-07-07 17:40:14','2011-07-08 00:40:14','','st-louis-arch-address','Gateway Arch','inherit','open','open','','st-louis-arch-address','','','2011-07-07 17:40:14','2011-07-08 00:40:14','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1260,1,'2011-07-07 17:42:01','2011-07-08 00:42:01','The view from the 4th floor at McArthur Court.','Top-level view','McArthur Court','inherit','open','open','','top-level-view','','','2011-07-07 17:42:01','2011-07-08 00:42:01','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1261,1,'2011-07-07 17:43:22','2011-07-08 00:43:22','Lately I\'ve seen some lists on Facebook where people are asked to list the number of states they have visited. My old friend and colleague R.B. Fallstrom from St. Louis, an outstanding sportswriter, posted that he has now visited every one of the 50 states. He\'s the first person I\'ve known who has been able to say that.\n\nThe problem with these lists is that there are so many different ways to calculate the lists.\n\nMost folks don\'t count being on a plane that lands in a state on the way to their ultimate destination. Many don\'t count driving through a state if you don\'t get out of the car. By the second of those criteria, I have visited 44 states and driven across a corner of Alabama.\n\nI\'m going to propose a rule that would leave no doubt at all. Don\'t count driving across a state, even if you stop for gas, eat at a restaurant or spend the night in a hotel or motel.\n\nThe only way you get to count a state is if you traveled there for a purpose -- a purpose that includes doing something in that state, not just using the state as a way to get to your ultimate destination. I think that knocks me down from 44 to 40.\n\nHere\'s my list:\n\nAlabama -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state in the northeast corner on the way to Tennessee, but that\'s it.\n\nAlaska -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\n\nArizona -- YES. When I worked in Reno, I made trips in both 1989 and \'90 to cover basketball games at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.\n\nArkansas -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\n\nCalifornia -- YES. I was born there, traveled there numerous times while working in Reno and, of course, lived in the L.A. area from 1990 to 2010.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1256\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Colorado football\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1256\" title=\"ralphie\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nColorado -- YES. I covered a basketball game in Boulder in 1985 while working in St. Louis and then lived in Greeley for two years from 1986 to \'88.\n\nConnecticut -- YES. This one was tougher. I spent a weekend in Ledyard in 1964 on an exchange trip between church youth groups.\n\nDelaware -- YES. I traveled to Rehobeth Beach once or twice in the late \'60s.\n\nFlorida -- YES. I spent spring break at Fort Lauderdale in 1980, a weekend at spring training in West Palm Beach in 1983 and the better part of a week at Cape Canaveral for the Cassini spacecraft launch in 1997.\n\nGeorgia -- YES. I covered numerous sports events in Atlanta in 1983-84 when I was working in Anderson, S.C., and of course I live in Georgia now.\n\nHawaii -- YES. I spent 10 wonderful days in Kauai, the Big Island and Maui on vacation in 1998.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1257\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Iadaho football (and basketball) here.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1257\" title=\"interior\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIdaho -- YES. More times than I care to remember. Seriously, two trips each to Pocatello, Moscow and Boise in 1989-90 to cover college basketball games and two more trips to Boise those same years to cover the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament.\n\nIllinois -- YES. I went to Chicago in the late \'50s for the funeral of an aunt and then covered numerous high school football games in the Alton/East St. Louis/Belleville area in \'84, \'85 and \'86 as a St. Louis sportswriter.\n\nIndiana -- NO, although it seems like it should a yes. I drove across the state numerous times, and did spend New Years Eve 1987 in a motel outside Indianapolis while going from Sioux Falls, SD, to Washington, D.C.\n\nIowa -- YES. I covered college basketball games at Ames and Waterloo when I worked in St. Louis and spent four days in Des Moines in \'89 covering the U.S. Olympic Committee site selection meetings.\n\nKansas -- YES. Big Eight basketball games in Manhattan and Lawrence in \'85 and for some reason, Oklahoma State at Kansas State football in \'84 or \'85.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1258\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bold Forbes turns for home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1258\" title=\"Kentucky Derby-related photographs by James W. Sames III\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nKentucky -- YES. Only twice, but two very memorable trips. I saw the Kentucky Derby in 1976 in Louisville and the Final Four at Rupp Arena in Lexington in 1985. That was the year of Villanova\'s amazing 66-64 victory over Georgetown in the finals.\n\nLouisiana -- YES. Just once. In 1983, I flew into Baton Rouge to cover the South Carolina-LSU football game.\n\nMaine -- NO. I haven\'t visited the land of Stephen King yet.\n\nMaryland -- YES. Numerous times, including concerts at Meriwether Post Pavilion, the 1982 Preakness at Pimlico, Orioles games in Baltimore, events at the Capital Centre and other horse races at Laurel Raceway.\n\nMassachusetts -- YES. Four trips to Boston for sightseeing, two as a child with my family and one each with both wives. Finally got to see a baseball game at Fenway Park in 1997.\n\nMichigan -- YES. Flew into Detroit in 1984 to cover Missouri at Michigan State basketball in East Lansing.\n\nMinnesota -- NO. Spent about six hours at the Minneapolis airport between planes, but that\'s it.\n\nMississippi -- NO. Never been there.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1259\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Gateway Arch\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1259\" title=\"st-louis-arch-address\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMissouri -- YES. Among other things, lived in St. Louis from May 1984 to October 1986.\n\nMontana -- YES. Two winter road trips covering college basketball in 1989 and 1990, seeing both the best (Missoula) and the worst (Bozeman) the state has to offer.\n\nNebraska -- YES. My most memorable time doesn\'t count, racing a snowstorm across the state from Colorado to Iowa in 1987, but I did cover Missouri at Nebraska for college basketball in 1985.\n\nNevada -- YES. I lived in Reno for 18 months, and I made numerous trips to Las Vegas when I was living in California.\n\nNew Hampshire -- NO. I\'ve driven through the state, but never went there for the purpose of being in New Hampshire.\n\nNew Jersey -- YES.  Most of it for me was the Jersey Turnpike, heading to and from New York, but in 1981 I went to the Meadowlands to cover a great football game between the Redskins and the New York Giants.\n\nNew Mexico -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state twice and I spent one night in a motel in Clovis last July, but I never went TO New Mexico.\n\nNew York -- YES. Many visits on family vacations to the city, and one trip just before Christmas 1984 to cover the St. Louis Blues hockey team against the Buffalo Sabres. First hockey game I ever covered.\n\nNorth Carolina -- YES. Among other things, lived in Gastonia in 1982-83.\n\nNorth Dakota -- NO. Maybe someday, although I have a hunch this will have to be the one to complete my 50 states.\n\nOhio -- YES. I lived in the Dayton area for a large chunk of my childhood.\n\nOklahoma -- YES. Trips to Norman and Stillwater to cover Missouri basketball at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Came back in 1987 to cover Colorado football at Oklahoma. If the <em>Daily Oklahoman</em> hadn\'t had a hiring freeze, I probably would have gone there to work in 1983.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1260\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"McArthur Court\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1260\" title=\"Top-level view\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOregon -- YES. Just once that I recall, to cover Nevada basketball at Oregon in 1988. Spent the evening before the game playing pool with the two coaches, Len Stevens and Don Monson.\n\nPennsylvania -- YES. Several wonderful summer weeks in the \'60s at <a href=\"http://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux/\">Camp Michaux</a>, a trip to Philadelphia to see the Dodgers play the Phillies in 1982 and a few days in what I believe was the Harrisburg area doing political volunteer work with Lisa McGrady in 1980.\n\nRhode Island -- YES, but just once. I flew into Providence in 1985 and spent three days there covering the 1984 East Regionals that Georgetown won over Georgia Tech.\n\nSouth Carolina -- YES, mostly living there in 1983-84.\n\nSouth Dakota -- YES. Spent four or five days there Christmas week 1987 covering Northern Colorado in the North Central Conference holiday basketball tournament.\n\nTennessee -- YES. I can think of two occasions, covering the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in 1984 in Nashville, and coming back to cover Missouri at Memphis State in 1986 in Memphis.\n\nTexas -- YES. Numerous trips to cover sports events, including the 1986 Final Four in Dallas, but most memorably 10 weeks in the Hill Country last summer.\n\nUtah -- YES. Actually at least five trips that I can remember. Three times covering NCAA basketball sub-regionals in Salt Lake City and Ogden, and two other trips to Ogden to cover Nevada at Weber State basketball.\n\nVermont -- NO. Same as New Hampshire.\n\nVirginia -- YES. I\'m pretty sure that I\'ve spent more time in Virginia -- high school, college, first marriage, first two years of my career -- than I have spent anywhere other than California.\n\nWashington -- YES. Three college basketball trips from 1988-90, one to Seattle and two to Spokane, and three weeks visiting Pauline, Ryan and Maddie near Snoqualmie Pass in the summer of 2009.\n\nWest Virginia -- YES. Mostly trips in 1974 and \'75 to see the horse racing at Charles Town.\n\nWisconsin -- NO. I can\'t remember ever being there except sitting in a plane on the runway at Madison on the way from St. Louis to Waterloo, Iowa.\n\nWyoming -- YES. In the fall of \'88, went to Laramie for a college football game between Wyoming and Colorado State.\n\nI\'ve been doing this from memory, and I think I\'ve gotten all 50. By my count, there 12 Nos on the list. I\'ll start knocking them off by going to Alabama this year.','','','inherit','open','open','','1249-revision-2','','','2011-07-07 17:43:22','2011-07-08 00:43:22','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1261',0,'revision','',0),(1262,1,'2011-07-07 17:43:41','2011-07-08 00:43:41','Lately I\'ve seen some lists on Facebook where people are asked to list the number of states they have visited. My old friend and colleague R.B. Fallstrom from St. Louis, an outstanding sportswriter, posted that he has now visited every one of the 50 states. He\'s the first person I\'ve known who has been able to say that.\r\n\r\nThe problem with these lists is that there are so many different ways to calculate the lists.\r\n\r\nMost folks don\'t count being on a plane that lands in a state on the way to their ultimate destination. Many don\'t count driving through a state if you don\'t get out of the car. By the second of those criteria, I have visited 44 states and driven across a corner of Alabama.\r\n\r\nI\'m going to propose a rule that would leave no doubt at all. Don\'t count driving across a state, even if you stop for gas, eat at a restaurant or spend the night in a hotel or motel.\r\n\r\nThe only way you get to count a state is if you traveled there for a purpose -- a purpose that includes doing something in that state, not just using the state as a way to get to your ultimate destination. I think that knocks me down from 44 to 40.\r\n\r\nHere\'s my list:\r\n\r\nAlabama -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state in the northeast corner on the way to Tennessee, but that\'s it.\r\n\r\nAlaska -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\r\n\r\nArizona -- YES. When I worked in Reno, I made trips in both 1989 and \'90 to cover basketball games at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.\r\n\r\nArkansas -- NO. Never have been there for any purpose.\r\n\r\nCalifornia -- YES. I was born there, traveled there numerous times while working in Reno and, of course, lived in the L.A. area from 1990 to 2010.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1256\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Colorado football\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1256\" title=\"ralphie\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ralphie-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nColorado -- YES. I covered a basketball game in Boulder in 1985 while working in St. Louis and then lived in Greeley for two years from 1986 to \'88.\r\n\r\nConnecticut -- YES. This one was tougher. I spent a weekend in Ledyard in 1964 on an exchange trip between church youth groups.\r\n\r\nDelaware -- YES. I traveled to Rehobeth Beach once or twice in the late \'60s.\r\n\r\nFlorida -- YES. I spent spring break at Fort Lauderdale in 1980, a weekend at spring training in West Palm Beach in 1983 and the better part of a week at Cape Canaveral for the Cassini spacecraft launch in 1997.\r\n\r\nGeorgia -- YES. I covered numerous sports events in Atlanta in 1983-84 when I was working in Anderson, S.C., and of course I live in Georgia now.\r\n\r\nHawaii -- YES. I spent 10 wonderful days in Kauai, the Big Island and Maui on vacation in 1998.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1257\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Iadaho football (and basketball) here.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1257\" title=\"interior\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/interior-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIdaho -- YES. More times than I care to remember. Seriously, two trips each to Pocatello, Moscow and Boise in 1989-90 to cover college basketball games and two more trips to Boise those same years to cover the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament.\r\n\r\nIllinois -- YES. I went to Chicago in the late \'50s for the funeral of an aunt and then covered numerous high school football games in the Alton/East St. Louis/Belleville area in \'84, \'85 and \'86 as a St. Louis sportswriter.\r\n\r\nIndiana -- NO, although it seems like it should a yes. I drove across the state numerous times, and did spend New Years Eve 1987 in a motel outside Indianapolis while going from Sioux Falls, SD, to Washington, D.C.\r\n\r\nIowa -- YES. I covered college basketball games at Ames and Waterloo when I worked in St. Louis and spent four days in Des Moines in \'89 covering the U.S. Olympic Committee site selection meetings.\r\n\r\nKansas -- YES. Big Eight basketball games in Manhattan and Lawrence in \'85 and for some reason, Oklahoma State at Kansas State football in \'84 or \'85.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1258\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Bold Forbes turns for home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1258\" title=\"Kentucky Derby-related photographs by James W. Sames III\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1976-KY-Derby.BoldForbes.JSBL_-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nKentucky -- YES. Only twice, but two very memorable trips. I saw the Kentucky Derby in 1976 in Louisville and the Final Four at Rupp Arena in Lexington in 1985. That was the year of Villanova\'s amazing 66-64 victory over Georgetown in the finals.\r\n\r\nLouisiana -- YES. Just once. In 1983, I flew into Baton Rouge to cover the South Carolina-LSU football game.\r\n\r\nMaine -- NO. I haven\'t visited the land of Stephen King yet.\r\n\r\nMaryland -- YES. Numerous times, including concerts at Meriwether Post Pavilion, the 1982 Preakness at Pimlico, Orioles games in Baltimore, events at the Capital Centre and other horse races at Laurel Raceway.\r\n\r\nMassachusetts -- YES. Four trips to Boston for sightseeing, two as a child with my family and one each with both wives. Finally got to see a baseball game at Fenway Park in 1997.\r\n\r\nMichigan -- YES. Flew into Detroit in 1984 to cover Missouri at Michigan State basketball in East Lansing.\r\n\r\nMinnesota -- NO. Spent about six hours at the Minneapolis airport between planes, but that\'s it.\r\n\r\nMississippi -- NO. Never been there.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1259\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Gateway Arch\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1259\" title=\"st-louis-arch-address\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/st-louis-arch-address-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMissouri -- YES. Among other things, lived in St. Louis from May 1984 to October 1986.\r\n\r\nMontana -- YES. Two winter road trips covering college basketball in 1989 and 1990, seeing both the best (Missoula) and the worst (Bozeman) the state has to offer.\r\n\r\nNebraska -- YES. My most memorable time doesn\'t count, racing a snowstorm across the state from Colorado to Iowa in 1987, but I did cover Missouri at Nebraska for college basketball in 1985.\r\n\r\nNevada -- YES. I lived in Reno for 18 months, and I made numerous trips to Las Vegas when I was living in California.\r\n\r\nNew Hampshire -- NO. I\'ve driven through the state, but never went there for the purpose of being in New Hampshire.\r\n\r\nNew Jersey -- YES.  Most of it for me was the Jersey Turnpike, heading to and from New York, but in 1981 I went to the Meadowlands to cover a great football game between the Redskins and the New York Giants.\r\n\r\nNew Mexico -- NO. I\'ve driven across the state twice and I spent one night in a motel in Clovis last July, but I never went TO New Mexico.\r\n\r\nNew York -- YES. Many visits on family vacations to the city, and one trip just before Christmas 1984 to cover the St. Louis Blues hockey team against the Buffalo Sabres. First hockey game I ever covered.\r\n\r\nNorth Carolina -- YES. Among other things, lived in Gastonia in 1982-83.\r\n\r\nNorth Dakota -- NO. Maybe someday, although I have a hunch this will have to be the one to complete my 50 states.\r\n\r\nOhio -- YES. I lived in the Dayton area for a large chunk of my childhood.\r\n\r\nOklahoma -- YES. Trips to Norman and Stillwater to cover Missouri basketball at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Came back in 1987 to cover Colorado football at Oklahoma. If the <em>Daily Oklahoman</em> hadn\'t had a hiring freeze, I probably would have gone there to work in 1983.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1260\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"McArthur Court\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1260\" title=\"Top-level view\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/4301602884_4768f73e21-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOregon -- YES. Just once that I recall, to cover Nevada basketball at Oregon in 1988. Spent the evening before the game playing pool with the two coaches, Len Stevens and Don Monson.\r\n\r\nPennsylvania -- YES. Several wonderful summer weeks in the \'60s at <a href=\"http://www.schaeffersite.com/michaux/\">Camp Michaux</a>, a trip to Philadelphia to see the Dodgers play the Phillies in 1982 and a few days in what I believe was the Harrisburg area doing political volunteer work with Lisa McGrady in 1980.\r\n\r\nRhode Island -- YES, but just once. I flew into Providence in 1985 and spent three days there covering the 1984 East Regionals that Georgetown won over Georgia Tech.\r\n\r\nSouth Carolina -- YES, mostly living there in 1983-84.\r\n\r\nSouth Dakota -- YES. Spent four or five days there Christmas week 1987 covering Northern Colorado in the North Central Conference holiday basketball tournament.\r\n\r\nTennessee -- YES. I can think of two occasions, covering the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament in 1984 in Nashville, and coming back to cover Missouri at Memphis State in 1986 in Memphis.\r\n\r\nTexas -- YES. Numerous trips to cover sports events, including the 1986 Final Four in Dallas, but most memorably 10 weeks in the Hill Country last summer.\r\n\r\nUtah -- YES. Actually at least five trips that I can remember. Three times covering NCAA basketball sub-regionals in Salt Lake City and Ogden, and two other trips to Ogden to cover Nevada at Weber State basketball.\r\n\r\nVermont -- NO. Same as New Hampshire.\r\n\r\nVirginia -- YES. I\'m pretty sure that I\'ve spent more time in Virginia -- high school, college, first marriage, first two years of my career -- than I have spent anywhere other than California.\r\n\r\nWashington -- YES. Three college basketball trips from 1988-90, one to Seattle and two to Spokane, and three weeks visiting Pauline, Ryan and Maddie near Snoqualmie Pass in the summer of 2009.\r\n\r\nWest Virginia -- YES. Mostly trips in 1974 and \'75 to see the horse racing at Charles Town.\r\n\r\nWisconsin -- NO. I can\'t remember ever being there except sitting in a plane on the runway at Madison on the way from St. Louis to Waterloo, Iowa.\r\n\r\nWyoming -- YES. In the fall of \'88, went to Laramie for a college football game between Wyoming and Colorado State.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been doing this from memory, and I think I\'ve gotten all 50. By my count, there 12 Nos on the list. I\'ll start knocking them off by going to Alabama this year.','Working toward visiting each and every state','','inherit','open','open','','1249-revision-3','','','2011-07-07 17:43:41','2011-07-08 00:43:41','',1249,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1262',0,'revision','',0),(1564,1,'2012-02-18 18:27:08','2012-02-19 02:27:08','This is going to sound strange, but sometimes I wish I didn\'t love my children so much.\n\nYou see, it\'s because I love them so much that I spend so much time missing them. Pauline and Virgile are two of my very favorite people in the world, and I cannot imagine being any more proud of them than they are. They are both intelligent, good-looking, hard-working caring people, and neither one of them smells bad.\n\n<em>Editor\'s note: Where did that come from?</em>\n\nI\'m not sure. I think I was afraid if I didn\'t lighten things up a little, I might start weeping.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1562\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline, Lex and Maddie\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1562\" title=\"387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nPauline is the older of the two, and she has done a wonderful job of trying to do the impossible -- what they used to call having it all.\n\nShe has a good marriage, two wonderful children and is one of the rising stars in the diplomatic corps. She is nearing the end of her third overseas tour -- Cameroon, China and Indonesia -- and her reward is that she\'ll spend three years living in the same time zone with us, albeit a little farther to the south.\n\nShe\'s going to Jamaica, mon.\n\nMaddie will be 4 years old in September, starting her final year of preschool, and baby Lex will celebrate his first birthday in November. By the way, I also wish I didn\'t love my grandchildren so much. Same reason.\n\nVirgile is nearly five years younger than Pauline, so in some respects he has been following in her footsteps. Then again, he has blazed some trails of his own at the same time.\n\nMy son started out with the goal of becoming the next great jazz saxophonist. He was damn good, too, but about halfway through college he made the tough decision that he was only good, not great, and it might make more sense to try something else.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1563\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"from left, Joe, Virgile and Sterling\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1563\" title=\"DSC_0432\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHe wound up following the same route his sister had, into the diplomatic corps, and in 2010 he and his wife Sterling left for their first tour.\n\nGive the kid some credit. He didn\'t pick a boring post for his first. He has been in Athens, Greece, for about 18 months, and will be returning to Washington for language training for his next post later this year.\n\nVirgile is still a few years from turning 30, and he has already received two compliments that are nicer things than anyone has said about me in my entire life.\n\nIn his first year of college, one of his roommates took us aside and told us that Virgile was the nicest person he had met in his entire life.\n\nWow.\n\nThen last year, in his first job evaluation, his boss wrote that Virgile was the finest young foreign service officer he had known in 20 years.\n\nDang.\n\nI\'d have given up a toe -- not an important one -- to have had anyone ever say something like that about me. But actually, I learned something when I heard that second compliment. When you\'re a parent, I think you\'re happier to hear someone compliment your kids than to hear somebody compliment you.\n\nYou see, you get the joy of it and you get to keep all your toes.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1561-revision','','','2012-02-18 18:27:08','2012-02-19 02:27:08','',1561,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1564',0,'revision','',0),(1565,1,'2012-02-18 18:27:56','2012-02-19 02:27:56','This is going to sound strange, but sometimes I wish I didn\'t love my children so much.\r\n\r\nYou see, it\'s because I love them so much that I spend so much time missing them. Pauline and Virgile are two of my very favorite people in the world, and I cannot imagine being any more proud of them than they are. They are both intelligent, good-looking, hard-working caring people, and neither one of them smells bad.\r\n\r\n<em>Editor\'s note: Where did that come from?</em>\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure. I think I was afraid if I didn\'t lighten things up a little, I might start weeping.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1562\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline, Lex and Maddie\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1562\" title=\"387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPauline is the older of the two, and she has done a wonderful job of trying to do the impossible -- what they used to call having it all.\r\n\r\nShe has a good marriage, two wonderful children and is one of the rising stars in the diplomatic corps. She is nearing the end of her third overseas tour -- Cameroon, China and Indonesia -- and her reward is that she\'ll spend three years living in the same time zone with us, albeit a little farther to the south.\r\n\r\nShe\'s going to Jamaica, mon.\r\n\r\nMaddie will be 4 years old in September, starting her final year of preschool, and baby Lex will celebrate his first birthday in November. By the way, I also wish I didn\'t love my grandchildren so much. Same reason.\r\n\r\nVirgile is nearly five years younger than Pauline, so in some respects he has been following in her footsteps. Then again, he has blazed some trails of his own at the same time.\r\n\r\nMy son started out with the goal of becoming the next great jazz saxophonist. He was damn good, too, but about halfway through college he made the tough decision that he was only good, not great, and it might make more sense to try something else.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1563\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"from left, Joe, Virgile and Sterling\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1563\" title=\"DSC_0432\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe wound up following the same route his sister had, into the diplomatic corps, and in 2010 he and his wife Sterling left for their first tour.\r\n\r\nGive the kid some credit. He didn\'t pick a boring post for his first. He has been in Athens, Greece, for about 18 months, and will be returning to Washington for language training for his next post later this year.\r\n\r\nVirgile is still a few years from turning 30, and he has already received two compliments that are nicer things than anyone has said about me in my entire life.\r\n\r\nIn his first year of college, one of his roommates took us aside and told us that Virgile was the nicest person he had met in his entire life.\r\n\r\nWow.\r\n\r\nThen last year, in his first job evaluation, his boss wrote that Virgile was the finest young foreign service officer he had known in 20 years.\r\n\r\nDang.\r\n\r\nI\'d have given up a toe -- not an important one -- to have had anyone ever say something like that about me. But actually, I learned something when I heard that second compliment. When you\'re a parent, I think you\'re happier to hear someone compliment your kids than to hear somebody compliment you.\r\n\r\nYou see, you get the joy of it and you get to keep all your toes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','I\'ve got amazing children and 10 toes to boot','','inherit','open','open','','1561-revision-2','','','2012-02-18 18:27:56','2012-02-19 02:27:56','',1561,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1565',0,'revision','',0),(1561,1,'2012-02-18 18:27:56','2012-02-19 02:27:56','This is going to sound strange, but sometimes I wish I didn\'t love my children so much.\r\n\r\nYou see, it\'s because I love them so much that I spend so much time missing them. Pauline and Virgile are two of my very favorite people in the world, and I cannot imagine being any more proud of them than I am. They are both intelligent, good-looking, hard-working caring people, and neither one of them smells bad.\r\n\r\n<em>Editor\'s note: Where did that come from?</em>\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure. I think I was afraid if I didn\'t lighten things up a little, I might start weeping.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1562\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline, Lex and Maddie\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1562\" title=\"387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nPauline is the older of the two, and she has done a wonderful job of trying to do the impossible -- what they used to call having it all.\r\n\r\nShe has a good marriage, two wonderful children and is one of the rising stars in the diplomatic corps. She is nearing the end of her third overseas tour -- Cameroon, China and Indonesia -- and her reward is that she\'ll spend three years living in the same time zone with us, albeit a little farther to the south.\r\n\r\nShe\'s going to Jamaica, mon.\r\n\r\nMaddie will be 4 years old in September, starting her final year of preschool, and baby Lex will celebrate his first birthday in November. By the way, I also wish I didn\'t love my grandchildren so much. Same reason.\r\n\r\nVirgile is nearly five years younger than Pauline, so in some respects he has been following in her footsteps. Then again, he has blazed some trails of his own at the same time.\r\n\r\nMy son started out with the goal of becoming the next great jazz saxophonist. He was damn good, too, but about halfway through college he made the tough decision that he was only good, not great, and it might make more sense to try something else.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1563\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"from left, Joe, Virgile and Sterling\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1563\" title=\"DSC_0432\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHe wound up following the same route his sister had, into the diplomatic corps, and in 2010 he and his wife Sterling left for their first tour.\r\n\r\nGive the kid some credit. He didn\'t pick a boring post for his first. He has been in Athens, Greece, for about 18 months, and will be returning to Washington for language training for his next post later this year.\r\n\r\nVirgile is still a few years from turning 30, and he has already received two compliments that are nicer things than anyone has said about me in my entire life.\r\n\r\nIn his first year of college, one of his roommates took us aside and told us that Virgile was the nicest person he had met in his entire life.\r\n\r\nWow.\r\n\r\nThen last year, in his first job evaluation, his boss wrote that Virgile was the finest young foreign service officer he had known in 20 years.\r\n\r\nDang.\r\n\r\nI\'d have given up a toe -- not an important one -- to have had anyone ever say something like that about me. But actually, I learned something when I heard that second compliment. When you\'re a parent, I think you\'re happier to hear someone compliment your kids than to hear somebody compliment you.\r\n\r\nYou see, you get the joy of it and you get to keep all your toes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','I\'ve got amazing children and 10 toes to boot','','publish','open','open','','ive-got-amazing-children-and-10-toes-to-boot','','','2012-02-19 16:07:05','2012-02-20 00:07:05','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1561',0,'post','',0),(1562,1,'2012-02-18 18:04:02','2012-02-19 02:04:02','','387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n','Pauline, Lex and Maddie','inherit','open','open','','387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n','','','2012-02-18 18:04:02','2012-02-19 02:04:02','',1561,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/387226_10150524004317122_838372121_8760500_573618796_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1563,1,'2012-02-18 18:17:14','2012-02-19 02:17:14','','DSC_0432','from left, Joe, Virgile and Sterling','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0432','','','2012-02-18 18:17:14','2012-02-19 02:17:14','',1561,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0432.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1265,1,'2011-07-08 20:19:47','2011-07-09 03:19:47','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\r\n\r\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\r\n\r\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\r\n\r\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\r\n\r\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\r\n\r\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\r\n\r\nOr at least we think we do.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\r\n\r\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntt3wy-L8Ok&feature=related\r\n\r\nThis particular video is really moving, with the Fureys singing Bogle\'s wonderful song.\r\n\r\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with the singer speaking directly to the dead soldier.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','\'No Man\'s Land\' an amazing indictment of war','','publish','open','open','','no-mans-land-an-amazing-indictment-of-war','','','2011-07-08 20:26:06','2011-07-09 03:26:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1265',0,'post','',0),(1266,1,'2011-07-08 20:19:11','2011-07-09 03:19:11','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\n\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\n\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\n\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\n\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\n\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\n\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\n\nOr at least we think we do.\n\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\n\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzQ6Am-bbc&amp;feature=related\n\nThis particular video is really moving, with Bogle singing in English and a German singer alternating verses, because yes, 19-year-old boys on both sides died in France for issues that were far beyond their ken.\n\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with Bogle singing directly to the dead soldier.\n\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','','','inherit','open','open','','1265-revision','','','2011-07-08 20:19:11','2011-07-09 03:19:11','',1265,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1266',0,'revision','',0),(1267,1,'2011-07-08 20:23:21','2011-07-09 03:23:21','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\n\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\n\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\n\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\n\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\n\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\n\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\n\nOr at least we think we do.\n\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\n\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzQ6Am-bbc&feature=related\n\nThis particular video is really moving, with Bogle singing in English and a German singer alternating verses, because yes, 19-year-old boys on both sides died in France for issues that were far beyond their ken.\n\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with Bogle singing directly to the dead soldier.\n\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','\'No Man\'s Land\' an amazing indictment of war','','inherit','open','open','','1265-autosave','','','2011-07-08 20:23:21','2011-07-09 03:23:21','',1265,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1267',0,'revision','',0),(1268,1,'2011-07-08 20:19:47','2011-07-09 03:19:47','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\r\n\r\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\r\n\r\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\r\n\r\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\r\n\r\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\r\n\r\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\r\n\r\nOr at least we think we do.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\r\n\r\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzQ6Am-bbc&amp;feature=related\r\n\r\nThis particular video is really moving, with Bogle singing in English and a German singer alternating verses, because yes, 19-year-old boys on both sides died in France for issues that were far beyond their ken.\r\n\r\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with Bogle singing directly to the dead soldier.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','\'No Man\'s Land\' an amazing indictment of war','','inherit','open','open','','1265-revision-2','','','2011-07-08 20:19:47','2011-07-09 03:19:47','',1265,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1268',0,'revision','',0),(1269,1,'2011-07-08 20:23:24','2011-07-09 03:23:24','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\r\n\r\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\r\n\r\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\r\n\r\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\r\n\r\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\r\n\r\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\r\n\r\nOr at least we think we do.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\r\n\r\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzQ6Am-bbc&feature=related\r\n\r\nThis particular video is really moving, with Bogle singing in English and a German singer alternating verses, because yes, 19-year-old boys on both sides died in France for issues that were far beyond their ken.\r\n\r\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with Bogle singing directly to the dead soldier.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','\'No Man\'s Land\' an amazing indictment of war','','inherit','open','open','','1265-revision-3','','','2011-07-08 20:23:24','2011-07-09 03:23:24','',1265,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1269',0,'revision','',0),(1270,1,'2011-07-08 20:25:09','2011-07-09 03:25:09','In 1918, at the age of 22, my grandfather left his home in Ohio and went overseas as part of the American Expeditionary Force.\r\n\r\nHis parents had emigrated to the United States from Germany, and they had spoken German in their home while my grandfather was growing up. That made him valuable to General Pershing\'s staff as an interpreter.\r\n\r\nMy grandfather was fortunate. He returned home from the War to End War and lived until 1985, when he died at the age of 89 after being an important part of my life for 35 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t remember many specifics about the war stories he told me. I know he was proud of his service, and I also know I never asked him about the \"war to end war\" part of it. Because World War I may have been a lot of things, but it didn\'t do much to end war as an instrument of national policy.\r\n\r\nNearly 93 years after the Armistice, we are a very cynical people. The very idea that people would do something like fight a war for idealistic reasons is enough to make us laugh, although many of the young men and women who enlist in the armed forces these days do it for idealistic reasons.\r\n\r\nThey serve. They fight. They die.\r\n\r\nAnd we laugh at their idealism, because we know so much more than they do about why wars are fought.\r\n\r\nOr at least we think we do.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure why I have been thinking about World War I so much the last few days. Maybe it was partly that I discovered the wonderful songs of Eric Bogle, the Scots-Australian singer who wrote \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.\" His song about the ANZAC troops\' sacrifice at Gallipoli is one of the most moving antiwar songs I\'ve ever heard, but it was another wonderful Bogle song that really got me thinking.\r\n\r\n\"No Man\'s Land,\" also known alternately as \"Green Fields of France\" or \"Willie McBride,\" is the story of a man visiting a military graveyard in France and sitting down beside the headstone of Willie McBride, who died in 1916 at the age of 19.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntt3wy-L8Ok&feature=related\r\n\r\nThis particular video is really moving, with Bogle singing in English and a German singer alternating verses, because yes, 19-year-old boys on both sides died in France for issues that were far beyond their ken.\r\n\r\nThe ending is enough to bring tears to your eyes, with Bogle singing directly to the dead soldier.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame, the killing, the dying, it was all done in vain. For Willie McBride, it all happened again, and again and again and again and again.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5s4wjOmW_M&amp;feature=related','\'No Man\'s Land\' an amazing indictment of war','','inherit','open','open','','1265-revision-4','','','2011-07-08 20:25:09','2011-07-09 03:25:09','',1265,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1270',0,'revision','',0),(1272,1,'2011-07-09 08:05:11','2011-07-09 15:05:11','','20110324_19','No. 9, the easiest hole','inherit','open','open','','20110324_19-2','','','2011-07-09 08:05:11','2011-07-09 15:05:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110324_19.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1544,1,'2012-02-02 14:44:57','2012-02-02 22:44:57','What\'s the oldest \"gadget\" you have that you\'re still using?\n\nLet\'s include computers, television sets, VCRs, radios, DVD players, kitchen appliances and personal items in that. Think of everything you have in your house or car that turns on and then does something and tell me the oldest thing you\'ve got.\n\nI\', pretty sure the oldest thing I have is a toaster that I bought in 1991 when I was living in Anaheim. When Nicole and I married in 1992, we went through what we had and got rid of duplications. She liked my toaster, so we kept it and I\'m still using it two or three times a week 20 years later.\n\nThat seems pretty good to me, but it isn\'t even in the same ballpark as the gadget that hangs on the wall in my mother\'s house, the home in which I grew up.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1543\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"185\" caption=\"Different color, same model\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/images-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1543\" title=\"images (1)\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/images-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"273\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a yellow phone with a rotary dial that AT&amp;T installed in the brand-new house my parents bought in January 1963. I seem to recall we had two phones in the house at first, the one in the kitchen and an extension in my parents\' bedroom.\n\nI think they replaced the bedroom phone at some point and added a third one downstairs in the family room. Both of the other phones have been touch-tone for many years, but the one in the kitchen has gone on and on. Next January it will have been in its place for 50 years.\n\nWhy is this significant?\n\nAnyone who had a telephone before the 1980s could tell you that. Until the phone company was forced to diversify, people didn\'t <em>own</em> the phones in their homes. The phone company did, and rented them to us for a small monthly fee.\n\nPhones<em> lasted</em> back then. They were heavier, more solid and better built, because planned obsolescence -- the scourge of the modern world -- didn\'t benefit the phone company back then. The longer your phone lasted, the better off they were.\n\nEver since the Reagan-era diversification, when the folks who sold you the phones weren\'t the same ones who provided service, the phones themselves have gotten flimsier and less dependable. I know I haven\'t owned a phone since then that has lasted 10 years, let alone 50.\n\nCell phones are even worse. I\'ve had two high-end Blackberries and one Android that have all gone bad in less than 18 months.\n\nI remember when I was younger, hearing my grandfather say they didn\'t make things the way they once did.\n\nWho knew?\n\nHe was right.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1542-revision','','','2012-02-02 14:44:57','2012-02-02 22:44:57','',1542,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1544',0,'revision','',0),(1545,1,'2012-02-06 18:48:30','2012-02-07 02:48:30','Every time I look at this picture, I find myself smiling.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1546\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lexington Wesley, Amazing Baby II\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1010498.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1546\" title=\"P1010498\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1010498-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd I can\'t keep myself from looking at it, again and again and again.\r\n\r\nLexington Wesley Kastner, my grandson, is now in his fourth month of life, and he seems to get more and more interesting by the day. His mother does such a good job of posting pictures online and also keeping in touch through Skype at least once a week so that I can see him live.\r\n\r\nI love his name, especially since I believe he might be the only boy in the entire United States with that particular name. His parents, Pauline and Ryan, decided they didn\'t like any of the common names for boys -- the world definitely doesn\'t need any more Michaels -- so they had a problem.\r\n\r\nThey handled it well. They could have named him something like Optimus Prime or Agamemnon, but they gave him a name that, while unique, has a perfectly reasonable nickname. Lex is more commonly known as a nickname for Alexander, but it works really well for this kid.\r\n\r\nI\'ve said some of this in earlier posts, and of course we went through this stage with Madison Nicole, the first grandchild. It makes me a little bit impatient to see Lex advance to some of the next stages -- walking, talking, etc.\r\n\r\nHe\'s going to be such an interesting kid.\r\n\r\nIt\'s wonderful to get so much happiness from someone so small.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Little Lex progressing nicely as Amazing Baby II','','publish','open','open','','little-lex-progressing-nicely-as-amazing-baby-ii','','','2012-02-06 18:48:30','2012-02-07 02:48:30','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1545',0,'post','',0),(1546,1,'2012-02-06 18:01:41','2012-02-07 02:01:41','','P1010498','Lexington Wesley, Amazing Baby II','inherit','open','open','','p1010498','','','2012-02-06 18:01:41','2012-02-07 02:01:41','',1545,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1010498.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1547,1,'2012-02-06 18:47:56','2012-02-07 02:47:56','Every time I look at this picture, I find myself smiling.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1546\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Lexington Wesley, Amazing Baby II\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1010498.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1546\" title=\"P1010498\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P1010498-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd I can\'t keep myself from looking at it, again and again and again.\n\nLexington Wesley Kastner, my grandson, is now in his fourth month of life, and he seems to get more and more interesting by the day. His mother does such a good job of posting pictures online and also keeping in touch through Skype at least once a week so that I can see him live.\n\nI love his name, especially since I believe he might be the only boy in the entire United States with that particular name. His parents, Pauline and Ryan, decided they didn\'t like any of the common names for boys -- the world definitely doesn\'t need any more Michaels -- so they had a problem.\n\nThey handled it well. They could have named him something like Optimus Prime or Agamemnon, but they gave him a name that, while unique, has a perfectly reasonable nickname. Lex is more commonly known as a nickname for Alexander, but it works really well for this kid.\n\nI\'ve said some of this in earlier posts, and of course we went through this stage with Madison Nicole, the first grandchild. It makes me a little bit impatient to see Lex advance to some of the next stages -- walking, talking, etc.\n\nHe\'s going to be such an interesting kid.\n\nIt\'s wonderful to get so much happiness\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1545-revision','','','2012-02-06 18:47:56','2012-02-07 02:47:56','',1545,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1547',0,'revision','',0),(1543,1,'2012-02-02 14:28:13','2012-02-02 22:28:13','','images (1)','Different color, same model','inherit','open','open','','images-1','','','2012-02-02 14:28:13','2012-02-02 22:28:13','',1542,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/images-1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1274,1,'2011-07-09 18:52:26','2011-07-10 01:52:26','<strong><em>\"This is my song, O God of all the nations, A song of peace, for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is, here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine. But other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.\"\r\n</em>-- FINLANDIA</strong>\r\n\r\nThe wonderful British comedian Eddie Izzard was talking to a New York audience about guns and Northern Ireland when he paused and looked out at the audience.\r\n\r\n<em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1275\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Eddie Izzard\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eddie-izzard-7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1275\" title=\"eddie-izzard-7\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eddie-izzard-7-300x265.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" /></a></em>[/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Do you know there are other countries?\"</em>\r\n\r\nThe audience exploded into laughter, but Izzard certainly had a good point.\r\n\r\nThere are too many people in our country ready to claim American exceptionalism above and beyond all other countries when they have never traveled outside the United States.\r\n\r\nBut even if we still are the shining city on a hill, we have reached a point in the world where we aren\'t the only one. There are numerous other countries, particularly in Europe and the British Commonwealth, where folks are every bit as free as we are to pursue happiness.\r\n\r\nBut rather than go on a rant about what\'s wrong, or enumerating what\'s right, I would rather ask a question.\r\n\r\nWhat does America mean to you?\r\n\r\nSince I get very few comments on this site that don\'t come from my two wonderful children, I will post this on Facebook and try for some answers.\r\n\r\nWhat is America to you?\r\n\r\nLand of opportunity or economic oligarchy?\r\n\r\nDefender of freedom around the world or global imperialist?\r\n\r\nTrue to its own ideals or slipping into a society of individuals who look out first for themselves?\r\n\r\nDo we know there are other countries?\r\n\r\nSome of us do.\r\n\r\nI have traveled outside North America eight times in my life, nine if you count Hawaii (outside North America but still in the U.S.). I have been to Europe six times, including living there for 21 months in the \'70s. I have been to the Peoples Republic of China and to French Polynesia.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1276\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"American ideals\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/american-flag-with-liberty-statue.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1276\" title=\"american-flag-with-liberty-statue\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/american-flag-with-liberty-statue-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'ll be honest. I love my country for what it was and what it professes to be, but I don\'t have much use for the direction we have taken since the days of Ronald Reagan. I\'m not going to get specific.\r\n\r\nMostly, I want to know what other people have to say here.\r\n\r\nSo give me a word, a sentence or even a paragraph or two.\r\n\r\nWhat does America mean to you?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><em>\r\n</em></strong>','What does the idea of America mean to you?','','publish','open','open','','what-does-the-idea-of-america-mean-to-you','','','2011-07-09 18:52:26','2011-07-10 01:52:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1274',0,'post','',1),(1275,1,'2011-07-09 18:18:20','2011-07-10 01:18:20','','eddie-izzard-7','Eddie Izzard','inherit','open','open','','eddie-izzard-7','','','2011-07-09 18:18:20','2011-07-10 01:18:20','',1274,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eddie-izzard-7.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1276,1,'2011-07-09 18:46:35','2011-07-10 01:46:35','','american-flag-with-liberty-statue','American ideals','inherit','open','open','','american-flag-with-liberty-statue','','','2011-07-09 18:46:35','2011-07-10 01:46:35','',1274,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/american-flag-with-liberty-statue.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1277,1,'2011-07-09 18:51:33','2011-07-10 01:51:33','<strong><em>\"This is my song, O God of all the nations, A song of peace, for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is, here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine. But other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.\"\n</em>-- FINLANDIA</strong>\n\nThe wonderful British comedian Eddie Izzard was talking to a New York audience about guns and Northern Ireland when he paused and looked out at the audience.\n\n<em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1275\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Eddie Izzard\"]<em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eddie-izzard-7.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1275\" title=\"eddie-izzard-7\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eddie-izzard-7-300x265.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" /></a></em>[/caption]\n\n\"Do you know there are other countries?\"</em>\n\nThe audience exploded into laughter, but Izzard certainly had a good point.\n\nThere are too many people in our country ready to claim American exceptionalism above and beyond all other countries when they have never traveled outside the United States.\n\nBut even if we still are the shining city on a hill, we have reached a point in the world where we aren\'t the only one. There are numerous other countries, particularly in Europe and the British Commonwealth, where folks are every bit as free as we are to pursue happiness.\n\nBut rather than go on a rant about what\'s wrong, or enumerating what\'s right, I would rather ask a question.\n\nWhat does America mean to you?\n\nSince I get very few comments on this site that don\'t come from my two wonderful children, I will post this on Facebook and try for some answers.\n\nWhat is America to you?\n\nLand of opportunity or economic oligarchy?\n\nDefender of freedom around the world or global imperialist?\n\nTrue to its own ideals or slipping into a society of individuals who look out first for themselves?\n\nDo we know there are other countries?\n\nSome of us do.\n\nI have traveled outside North America eight times in my life, nine if you count Hawaii (outside North America but still in the U.S.). I have been to Europe six times, including living there for 21 months in the \'70s. I have been to the Peoples Republic of China and to French Polynesia.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1276\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"American ideals\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/american-flag-with-liberty-statue.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1276\" title=\"american-flag-with-liberty-statue\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/american-flag-with-liberty-statue-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'ll be honest. I love my country for what it was and what it professes to be, but I don\'t have much use for the direction we have taken since the days of Ronald Reagan. I\'m not going to get specific.\n\nMostly, I want to know what\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<strong><em>\n</em></strong>','','','inherit','open','open','','1274-revision','','','2011-07-09 18:51:33','2011-07-10 01:51:33','',1274,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1277',0,'revision','',0),(1309,1,'2011-07-26 19:30:58','2011-07-27 02:30:58','<strong><em>\"Everybody counts or nobody counts.\"</em></strong>\r\n<strong>-- HARRY BOSCH</strong>\r\n\r\nIt\'s perhaps ironic -- to say the least -- that a pretty good motto for life would come from a series of detective novels.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1310\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"212\" caption=\"Some are more equal ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-farm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1310\" title=\"animal-farm\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-farm-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut Michael Connolly\'s archetypal character\'s outlook is one we could use a lot more of these days. We seem to have fallen into a fallacy in our thinking that George Orwell described best in his classic \"Animal Farm.\"\r\n\r\n<em>\"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.\"</em>\r\n\r\nSound familiar? Over the last 30 years or so in this country, we have treated some animals much better than others, and the wealth of our nation has flowed to the top 1 percent as never before in our history.\r\n\r\nWhether they really believed it or not, conservative economists told us in 1981 that cutting the tax rates in the top brackets would result in greater economic activity and a larger total amount of tax revenues for the government.\r\n\r\nIt\'s debatable whether that really occurred, since all other factors couldn\'t be held constant, but one thing is definitely true. Cutting tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent has made the rich even richer. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent had 7.5 percent of national income in 1979. By 2007, that share had increased to 17.1 percent.\r\n\r\nThe middle 20 percent -- the truest definition of the middle class -- had 16.5 percent of the wealth in 1979 but just 14.1 percent in 2007.\r\n\r\nHow can we possibly say that everybody counts -- that everybody<em> matters</em> -- when the way wealth is distributed in this country makes us look more and more like a Third World country all the time?\r\n\r\nThe late George Carlin, who was probably our most biting social critic, said in one of his later tours that the reason we call it the American Dream is that these days, you have to be sleeping to believe in it. There is no question that much of our society, much of what keeps people going, is based more on muyth these days than on reality.\r\n\r\nIt just isn\'t that easy these days to find something that needs to be invented. And as for starting your own business, just try to find a way to get financing.\r\n\r\nIt\'s sad but true that the American Dream of upward mobility has become more fantasy than reality. It has become easier to move from the middle class to the upper class in many of the so-called social democracies of  Western Europe than it is in this country.\r\n\r\nI\'m not talking about Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, in this case. I would honestly support anyone who I legitimately believed in a political philosophy that simply said that everyone in this country matters as much as anyone else. I don\'t want some billionaire hedge-fund director to be treated as if he were any more special than a truck driver or a day laborer by the government.\r\n\r\nThat doesn\'t mean I don\'t believe in progressive taxation. In fact, I believe that the people who have taken the greatest benefit from this country should pay a greater share. And as Warren Buffett put it, there is no legitimate reason he should pay a lower percentage of his income in taxes than his secretary does.\r\n\r\nHere\'s the only question that needs to be answered:\r\n\r\nWhose country is it anyway?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Whose country is America in this new world?','','publish','open','open','','whose-country-is-america-in-this-new-world','','','2011-07-26 19:30:58','2011-07-27 02:30:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1309',0,'post','',0),(1280,1,'2011-07-11 17:47:25','2011-07-12 00:47:25','Last winter I played golf in 28-degree weather. I was bundled up to the max and as it turned out, I was the only person on the golf course for 18 holes.\r\n\r\nLate this spring, I played nine holes in 100-degree heat. I was walking, and I had to stop and rest in the shade three times. I thought I was going to die, but I shot a 39.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure that 28 and 100 aren\'t my limits when it comes to temperature, but I can certainly say that extreme heat and extreme cold not only don\'t stop me from playing golf, they don\'t stop me from enjoying it.\r\n\r\nRain is a different story.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1282\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Cold doesn&#39;t bother me.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1282\" title=\"20101213_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEver since some bad days playing golf in the winter in California, I have hated to play in the rain. Three reasons. First, I don\'t like the rain falling on me when I can\'t use an umbrella. Second, between the ball getting wet and the course getting wet, shots don\'t go nearly as far as they do when it\'s dry.  Third and worst of all, though, is that with wet grips, my clubs keep slipping out of my hands.\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t been on the golf course since we returned from Europe, so it had been almost five weeks since the last time I played. I didn\'t expect much, and I missed two putts in the 6-8 foot range to bogey the first two holes. But heck, I do that a lot.\r\n\r\nThen it started raining.\r\n\r\nWith only a light rain, I struggled and double-bogeyed the third hole. Then the rain started coming down a lot harder. I pulled my cart under some trees to escape the worst of it and sat there for about 15 minutes hoping it would stop.\r\n\r\nIt stopped, but the next few shots I tried were fairly disastrous. Either the club was slipping out of my hands, or shots were landing in puddles of water and not getting any additional roll.\r\n\r\nThe only part of me that was dry was my feet, thanks to my good -- although aging -- pair of golf shoes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"But I don&#39;t like rain\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283\" title=\"20110519_363\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo I gave up -- after three holes -- and I found myself thinking that back home in California it probably hasn\'t rained for at least two or three months.\r\n\r\n<em>\"L.A.\'s fine, but it ain\'t home ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nAll right, who let Neil Diamond into the blog to sing from his worst song ever?\r\n\r\nNo, California isn\'t my home anymore, even though I was a little surprised to realize the other day when I added the numbers up that I had lived longer in California than I had in Virginia.\r\n\r\nIf I live to be 82 -- and live here the whole time -- then Georgia will be the state where I spent the largest portion of my life. And if that\'s the way it\'s going to be, I am either going to have to get used to playing in the rain occasionally or give up some otherwise nice summer days.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. An hour before the storm, it was hot and humid. And an hour after the storm, it was sunny and hot again.\r\n\r\nMaybe if I had been a little more patient, I could have played more than three holes of golf.\r\n\r\nWe live, we learn.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Cold is OK and so is hot, but I really hate rain','','publish','open','open','','cold-is-ok-and-so-it-hot-but-i-really-hate-rain','','','2011-07-11 17:47:39','2011-07-12 00:47:39','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1280',0,'post','',0),(1281,1,'2011-07-11 14:48:18','2011-07-11 21:48:18','Last winter I played golf in 28-degree weather. I was bundled up to the max and as it turned out, I was the only person on the golf course for 18 holes.\n\nLate this spring, I played nine holes in 100-degree heat. I was walking, and I had to stop and rest in the shade three times. I thought I was going to die, but I shot a 39.\n\nI\'m not sure that 28 and 100 aren\'t my limits when it comes to temperature, but I can certainly say that extreme heat and extreme cold not only don\'t stop me from playing golf, they don\'t stop me from enjoying it.\n\nRain is a different story.\n\nEver since some bad days playing golf in the winter in California, I have hated to play in the rain. Three reasons. First, I don\'t like the rain falling on me when I can\'t use an umbrella. Second, between the ball getting wet and the course getting wet, shots don\'t go nearly as far as they do when it\'s dry.  Third and worst of all, though, is that with wet grips, my clubs keep slipping out of my hands.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1280-revision','','','2011-07-11 14:48:18','2011-07-11 21:48:18','',1280,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1281',0,'revision','',0),(1282,1,'2011-07-11 17:28:18','2011-07-12 00:28:18','','20101213_3','Cold doesn\'t bother me.','inherit','open','open','','20101213_3-2','','','2011-07-11 17:28:18','2011-07-12 00:28:18','',1280,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1283,1,'2011-07-11 17:30:10','2011-07-12 00:30:10','','20110519_363','But I don\'t like rain','inherit','open','open','','20110519_363','','','2011-07-11 17:30:10','2011-07-12 00:30:10','',1280,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1284,1,'2011-07-11 17:47:17','2011-07-12 00:47:17','Last winter I played golf in 28-degree weather. I was bundled up to the max and as it turned out, I was the only person on the golf course for 18 holes.\n\nLate this spring, I played nine holes in 100-degree heat. I was walking, and I had to stop and rest in the shade three times. I thought I was going to die, but I shot a 39.\n\nI\'m not sure that 28 and 100 aren\'t my limits when it comes to temperature, but I can certainly say that extreme heat and extreme cold not only don\'t stop me from playing golf, they don\'t stop me from enjoying it.\n\nRain is a different story.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1282\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Cold doesn&#39;t bother me.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1282\" title=\"20101213_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nEver since some bad days playing golf in the winter in California, I have hated to play in the rain. Three reasons. First, I don\'t like the rain falling on me when I can\'t use an umbrella. Second, between the ball getting wet and the course getting wet, shots don\'t go nearly as far as they do when it\'s dry.  Third and worst of all, though, is that with wet grips, my clubs keep slipping out of my hands.\n\nI hadn\'t been on the golf course since we returned from Europe, so it had been almost five weeks since the last time I played. I didn\'t expect much, and I missed two putts in the 6-8 foot range to bogey the first two holes. But heck, I do that a lot.\n\nThen it started raining.\n\nWith only a light rain, I struggled and double-bogeyed the third hole. Then the rain started coming down a lot harder. I pulled my cart under some trees to escape the worst of it and sat there for about 15 minutes hoping it would stop.\n\nIt stopped, but the next few shots I tried were fairly disastrous. Either the club was slipping out of my hands, or shots were landing in puddles of water and not getting any additional roll.\n\nThe only part of me that was dry was my feet, thanks to my good -- although aging -- pair of golf shoes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"But I don&#39;t like rain\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283\" title=\"20110519_363\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo I gave up -- after three holes -- and I found myself thinking that back home in California it probably hasn\'t rained for at least two or three months.\n\n<em>\"L.A.\'s fine, but it ain\'t home ...\"</em>\n\nAll right, who let Neil Diamond into the blog to sing from his worst song ever?\n\nNo, California isn\'t my home anymore, even though I was a little surprised to realize the other day when I added the numbers up that I had lived longer in California than I had in Virginia.\n\nIf I live to be 82 -- and live here the whole time -- then Georgia will be the state where I spent the largest portion of my life. And if that\'s the way it\'s going to be, I am either going to have to get used to playing in the rain occasionally or give up some otherwise nice summer days.\n\nIt\'s funny. An hour before the storm, it was hot and humid. And an hour after the storm, it was sunny and hot again.\n\nMaybe if I had been a little more patient, I could have played more than three holes of golf.\n\nWe live, we learn.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Cold is OK and so it hot, b','','inherit','open','open','','1280-revision-2','','','2011-07-11 17:47:17','2011-07-12 00:47:17','',1280,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1284',0,'revision','',0),(1285,1,'2011-07-11 17:47:25','2011-07-12 00:47:25','Last winter I played golf in 28-degree weather. I was bundled up to the max and as it turned out, I was the only person on the golf course for 18 holes.\r\n\r\nLate this spring, I played nine holes in 100-degree heat. I was walking, and I had to stop and rest in the shade three times. I thought I was going to die, but I shot a 39.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure that 28 and 100 aren\'t my limits when it comes to temperature, but I can certainly say that extreme heat and extreme cold not only don\'t stop me from playing golf, they don\'t stop me from enjoying it.\r\n\r\nRain is a different story.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1282\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Cold doesn&#39;t bother me.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1282\" title=\"20101213_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20101213_3-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nEver since some bad days playing golf in the winter in California, I have hated to play in the rain. Three reasons. First, I don\'t like the rain falling on me when I can\'t use an umbrella. Second, between the ball getting wet and the course getting wet, shots don\'t go nearly as far as they do when it\'s dry.  Third and worst of all, though, is that with wet grips, my clubs keep slipping out of my hands.\r\n\r\nI hadn\'t been on the golf course since we returned from Europe, so it had been almost five weeks since the last time I played. I didn\'t expect much, and I missed two putts in the 6-8 foot range to bogey the first two holes. But heck, I do that a lot.\r\n\r\nThen it started raining.\r\n\r\nWith only a light rain, I struggled and double-bogeyed the third hole. Then the rain started coming down a lot harder. I pulled my cart under some trees to escape the worst of it and sat there for about 15 minutes hoping it would stop.\r\n\r\nIt stopped, but the next few shots I tried were fairly disastrous. Either the club was slipping out of my hands, or shots were landing in puddles of water and not getting any additional roll.\r\n\r\nThe only part of me that was dry was my feet, thanks to my good -- although aging -- pair of golf shoes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1283\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"But I don&#39;t like rain\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283\" title=\"20110519_363\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110519_363-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo I gave up -- after three holes -- and I found myself thinking that back home in California it probably hasn\'t rained for at least two or three months.\r\n\r\n<em>\"L.A.\'s fine, but it ain\'t home ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nAll right, who let Neil Diamond into the blog to sing from his worst song ever?\r\n\r\nNo, California isn\'t my home anymore, even though I was a little surprised to realize the other day when I added the numbers up that I had lived longer in California than I had in Virginia.\r\n\r\nIf I live to be 82 -- and live here the whole time -- then Georgia will be the state where I spent the largest portion of my life. And if that\'s the way it\'s going to be, I am either going to have to get used to playing in the rain occasionally or give up some otherwise nice summer days.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. An hour before the storm, it was hot and humid. And an hour after the storm, it was sunny and hot again.\r\n\r\nMaybe if I had been a little more patient, I could have played more than three holes of golf.\r\n\r\nWe live, we learn.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Cold is OK and so it hot, but I really hate rain','','inherit','open','open','','1280-revision-3','','','2011-07-11 17:47:25','2011-07-12 00:47:25','',1280,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1285',0,'revision','',0),(1286,1,'2011-07-13 10:39:27','2011-07-13 17:39:27','<strong><em>\"Summer smilin\' on the city, another lovely day in Sydney ...\"</em></strong>\r\n\r\nDuring the five years that I worked as a newspaper columnist, I wrote more than 700 columns. The one I wrote for publication on Sept. 17, 1998, wasn\'t the best column I ever did and it wasn\'t the worst, but it is one that stuck with me.\r\n\r\nAn elderly woman living alone in Chino Hills, Calif., had died in her apartment in the middle of March. She apparently died sitting on the sofa and watching television in her living room.Her body wasn\'t found until late May, more than two months later.\r\n\r\nBy then, her body had, well, sort of melted into the carpeting.\r\n\r\nShe didn\'t have any friends and she had never had children. The only reason she was found in late May was that her ex-husband -- who was living in Colorado -- had sent her two alimony checks that had not been cashed. He called the local police and asked that they send someone to check on her.\r\n\r\nIt cost her estate more than $6,000 to clean the room, to get the smell of death out. The carpet couldn\'t be saved.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1288\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1288\" title=\"Mick2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was 48 years old when I wrote that column, a lot younger than I am now. But I remember it very well, and there were few stories that touched me on a more visceral level. Maybe it\'s because I remembered a prediction my best friend Mick had made way back in the early \'80s. He suggested that I might end up old and alone, living in a Skid Row hotel after losing a leg to diabetes.\r\n\r\n<em>This guy was your friend?</em>\r\n\r\nYou have to understand the relationship. At any rate, I could picture myself in that situation, even though I have never had diabetes. I lived alone for most of the 12 years between my two marriages, and while I was much younger, I certainly could have found myself in a situation where I was unable to get help if I needed it.\r\n\r\nBut I had friends and family as close as the end of a telephone line. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a problem and not have anyone to call who knew me or cared whether I lived or died.\r\n\r\nThe quote at the beginning of this piece is from a wonderful song by Aussie singer Eric Bogle, \"A Reason for It All,\" about a Sydney woman named Clare Campbell who died in her apartment and wasn\'t discovered for months. Bogle tells the story, and John Munroe sings in counterpoint that we shouldn\'t feel responsible when something like this happens.\r\n\r\n<em>\"That\'s how it is, don\'t look for a reason for it all.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgjhhUEdozg&amp;feature=related\r\n\r\nIt\'s strange for us to realize that a person dying old and alone, feeling frightened and abandoned by the world, was once a small child who looked at the world in wonder and saw a bright future ahead.\r\n\r\nJust as few people see themselves as villains, it\'s almost impossible to visualize a child thinking that someday she will die alone.\r\n\r\nOur world has become so cold and callous to the suffering of others, and I would imagine that there are far more people singing Munroe\'s words --<em> \"Lonely old people aren\'t my concern, from dust we come and to dust we return\"</em> -- than taking Bogle\'s point of view, that there must be something we can do for the lost and lonely souls among us.\r\n\r\nWe are not born just so we can die. That might be the most powerful line in Bogle\'s song, and that\'s the one that stays with me.\r\n\r\nThirteen years ago, when I wrote the column about the Chino Hills woman, this is how I completed it:\r\n\r\n<em>\"I can\'t get her out of my mind -- wondering what she was thinking just before she died, or if she knew no one would miss her enough to wonder where she was.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"I don\'t know if there are good ways to die, but it\'s difficult to think of a worse one.\"</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','The saddest death of all must be dying alone','','publish','open','open','','the-saddest-death-of-all-must-be-dying-alone','','','2011-07-13 10:39:38','2011-07-13 17:39:38','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1286',0,'post','',1),(1287,1,'2011-07-12 21:33:11','2011-07-13 04:33:11','<strong><em>\"Summer smilin\' on the city, another lovely day in Sydney ...\"</em></strong>\n\nDuring the five years that I worked as a newspaper columnist, I wrote more than 700 columns. The one I wrote for publication on Sept. 17, 1998, wasn\'t the best column I ever did and it wasn\'t the worst, but it is one that stuck with me.\n\nAn elderly woman living alone in Chino Hills, Calif., had died in her apartment in the middle of March. She apparently died sitting on the sofa and watching television in her living room.Her body wasn\'t found until late May, more than two months later.\n\nBy then, her body had, well, sort of melted into the carpeting','','','inherit','open','open','','1286-revision','','','2011-07-12 21:33:11','2011-07-13 04:33:11','',1286,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1287',0,'revision','',0),(1288,1,'2011-07-13 10:07:12','2011-07-13 17:07:12','','Mick2','Mick','inherit','open','open','','mick2','','','2011-07-13 10:07:12','2011-07-13 17:07:12','',1286,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1289,1,'2011-07-13 10:07:52','2011-07-13 17:07:52','<strong><em>\"Summer smilin\' on the city, another lovely day in Sydney ...\"</em></strong>\n\nDuring the five years that I worked as a newspaper columnist, I wrote more than 700 columns. The one I wrote for publication on Sept. 17, 1998, wasn\'t the best column I ever did and it wasn\'t the worst, but it is one that stuck with me.\n\nAn elderly woman living alone in Chino Hills, Calif., had died in her apartment in the middle of March. She apparently died sitting on the sofa and watching television in her living room.Her body wasn\'t found until late May, more than two months later.\n\nBy then, her body had, well, sort of melted into the carpeting.\n\nShe didn\'t have any friends and she had never had children. The only reason she was found in late May was that her ex-husband -- who was living in Colorado -- had sent her two alimony checks that had not been cashed. He called the local police and asked that they send someone to check on her.\n\nIt cost her estate more than $6,000 to clean the room, to get the smell of death out. The carpet couldn\'t be saved.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1288\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1288\" title=\"Mick2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was 48 years old when I wrote that column, a lot younger than I am now. But I remember it very well, and there were few stories that touched me on a more visceral level. Maybe it\'s because I remembered a prediction my best friend Mick had made way back in the early \'80s. He suggested that I might end up old and alone, living in a Skid Row hotel after losing a leg to diabetes.\n\n<em>This guy was your friend?</em>\n\nYou have to understand the relationship. At any rate, I could picture myself in that situation, even though I have never had diabetes.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1286-revision-2','','','2011-07-13 10:07:52','2011-07-13 17:07:52','',1286,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1289',0,'revision','',0),(1290,1,'2011-07-13 10:39:19','2011-07-13 17:39:19','<strong><em>\"Summer smilin\' on the city, another lovely day in Sydney ...\"</em></strong>\n\nDuring the five years that I worked as a newspaper columnist, I wrote more than 700 columns. The one I wrote for publication on Sept. 17, 1998, wasn\'t the best column I ever did and it wasn\'t the worst, but it is one that stuck with me.\n\nAn elderly woman living alone in Chino Hills, Calif., had died in her apartment in the middle of March. She apparently died sitting on the sofa and watching television in her living room.Her body wasn\'t found until late May, more than two months later.\n\nBy then, her body had, well, sort of melted into the carpeting.\n\nShe didn\'t have any friends and she had never had children. The only reason she was found in late May was that her ex-husband -- who was living in Colorado -- had sent her two alimony checks that had not been cashed. He called the local police and asked that they send someone to check on her.\n\nIt cost her estate more than $6,000 to clean the room, to get the smell of death out. The carpet couldn\'t be saved.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1288\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1288\" title=\"Mick2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI was 48 years old when I wrote that column, a lot younger than I am now. But I remember it very well, and there were few stories that touched me on a more visceral level. Maybe it\'s because I remembered a prediction my best friend Mick had made way back in the early \'80s. He suggested that I might end up old and alone, living in a Skid Row hotel after losing a leg to diabetes.\n\n<em>This guy was your friend?</em>\n\nYou have to understand the relationship. At any rate, I could picture myself in that situation, even though I have never had diabetes. I lived alone for most of the 12 years between my two marriages, and while I was much younger, I certainly could have found myself in a situation where I was unable to get help if I needed it.\n\nBut I had friends and family as close as the end of a telephone line. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a problem and not have anyone to call who knew me or cared whether I lived or died.\n\nThe quote at the beginning of this piece is from a wonderful song by Aussie singer Eric Bogle, \"A Reason for It All,\" about a Sydney woman named Clare Campbell who died in her apartment and wasn\'t discovered for months. Bogle tells the story, and John Munroe sings in counterpoint that we shouldn\'t feel responsible when something like this happens.\n\n<em>\"That\'s how it is, don\'t look for a reason for it all.\"</em>\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgjhhUEdozg&amp;feature=related\n\nIt\'s strange for us to realize that a person dying old and alone, feeling frightened and abandoned by the world, was once a small child who looked at the world in wonder and saw a bright future ahead.\n\nJust as few people see themselves as villains, it\'s almost impossible to visualize a child thinking that someday she will die alone.\n\nOur world has become so cold and callous to the suffering of others, and I would imagine that there are far more people singing Munroe\'s words --<em> \"Lonely old people aren\'t my concern, from dust we come and to dust we return\"</em> -- than taking Bogle\'s point of view, that there must be something we can do for the lost and lonely souls among us.\n\nWe are not born just so we can die. That might be the most powerful line in Bogle\'s song, and that\'s the one that stays with me.\n\nThirteen years ago, when I wrote the column about the Chino Hills woman, this is how I completed it:\n\n<em>\"I can\'t get her out of my mind -- wondering what she was thinking just before she died, or if she knew no one would miss her enough to wonder where she was.</em>\n\n<em>\"I don\'t know if there are good ways to die, but it\'s difficult to think of a worse one.\"</em>\n\n&nbsp;','The saddest de','','inherit','open','open','','1286-revision-3','','','2011-07-13 10:39:19','2011-07-13 17:39:19','',1286,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1290',0,'revision','',0),(1291,1,'2011-07-13 10:39:27','2011-07-13 17:39:27','<strong><em>\"Summer smilin\' on the city, another lovely day in Sydney ...\"</em></strong>\r\n\r\nDuring the five years that I worked as a newspaper columnist, I wrote more than 700 columns. The one I wrote for publication on Sept. 17, 1998, wasn\'t the best column I ever did and it wasn\'t the worst, but it is one that stuck with me.\r\n\r\nAn elderly woman living alone in Chino Hills, Calif., had died in her apartment in the middle of March. She apparently died sitting on the sofa and watching television in her living room.Her body wasn\'t found until late May, more than two months later.\r\n\r\nBy then, her body had, well, sort of melted into the carpeting.\r\n\r\nShe didn\'t have any friends and she had never had children. The only reason she was found in late May was that her ex-husband -- who was living in Colorado -- had sent her two alimony checks that had not been cashed. He called the local police and asked that they send someone to check on her.\r\n\r\nIt cost her estate more than $6,000 to clean the room, to get the smell of death out. The carpet couldn\'t be saved.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1288\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Mick\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1288\" title=\"Mick2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Mick2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI was 48 years old when I wrote that column, a lot younger than I am now. But I remember it very well, and there were few stories that touched me on a more visceral level. Maybe it\'s because I remembered a prediction my best friend Mick had made way back in the early \'80s. He suggested that I might end up old and alone, living in a Skid Row hotel after losing a leg to diabetes.\r\n\r\n<em>This guy was your friend?</em>\r\n\r\nYou have to understand the relationship. At any rate, I could picture myself in that situation, even though I have never had diabetes. I lived alone for most of the 12 years between my two marriages, and while I was much younger, I certainly could have found myself in a situation where I was unable to get help if I needed it.\r\n\r\nBut I had friends and family as close as the end of a telephone line. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a problem and not have anyone to call who knew me or cared whether I lived or died.\r\n\r\nThe quote at the beginning of this piece is from a wonderful song by Aussie singer Eric Bogle, \"A Reason for It All,\" about a Sydney woman named Clare Campbell who died in her apartment and wasn\'t discovered for months. Bogle tells the story, and John Munroe sings in counterpoint that we shouldn\'t feel responsible when something like this happens.\r\n\r\n<em>\"That\'s how it is, don\'t look for a reason for it all.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgjhhUEdozg&amp;feature=related\r\n\r\nIt\'s strange for us to realize that a person dying old and alone, feeling frightened and abandoned by the world, was once a small child who looked at the world in wonder and saw a bright future ahead.\r\n\r\nJust as few people see themselves as villains, it\'s almost impossible to visualize a child thinking that someday she will die alone.\r\n\r\nOur world has become so cold and callous to the suffering of others, and I would imagine that there are far more people singing Munroe\'s words --<em> \"Lonely old people aren\'t my concern, from dust we come and to dust we return\"</em> -- than taking Bogle\'s point of view, that there must be something we can do for the lost and lonely souls among us.\r\n\r\nWe are not born just so we can die. That might be the most powerful line in Bogle\'s song, and that\'s the one that stays with me.\r\n\r\nThirteen years ago, when I wrote the column about the Chino Hills woman, this is how I completed it:\r\n\r\n<em>\"I can\'t get her out of my mind -- wondering what she was thinking just before she died, or if she knew no one would miss her enough to wonder where she was.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"I don\'t know if there are good ways to die, but it\'s difficult to think of a worse one.\"</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','The saddest death of all must be dying alone','','inherit','open','open','','1286-revision-4','','','2011-07-13 10:39:27','2011-07-13 17:39:27','',1286,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1291',0,'revision','',0),(1292,1,'2011-07-14 10:22:18','2011-07-14 17:22:18','I have been accused by several of my friends of being stuck in the past when it comes to my taste in music.\r\n\r\nWell, yes and no. I would be the first to admit that I\'m not keyed into the modern pop scene. I did buy a current CD last summer after hearing Lady Antebellum\'s \"Need You Now\" again and again on the radio in Texas, and I bought the \"Songs for Japan\" collection for earthquake benefit on iTunes a few months ago. But no, I\'m not really into the modern pop scene all that much.\r\n\r\nThat isn\'t to say I haven\'t been discovering a great deal of new music -- at least new to me -- lately. I have a ton of French music on my iPod, from troubadours Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour to rockers Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell. I\'ve got Italian songbird Laura Pausini and German crooner Herbert Groenemeyer, and in the last week or so I have started loading up on Australian music.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know exactly how that got going. I watched \"Gallipoli\" and I heard about Eric Bogle\'s song, \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda,\" and I started looking for more music.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1293\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Eric Bogle\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1293\" title=\"eric7thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhat I discovered is that Bogle, who will be 67 years old this fall, could easily be called the Australian Harry Chapin.\r\n\r\nMany people won\'t remember Harry, who died in an automobile accident in 1981 at the age of 38, but he wrote dozens of beautiful story-songs and actually had one chart-topper in the mid \'70s with \"Cat\'s in the Cradle.\"\r\n\r\nBogle was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia in his twenties. Many of his songs are ones I could easily picture Chapin singing, beautiful story songs and songs with plenty of humor as well. \"And the Band Played ...\" is his best known song, but songs like \"The Aussie BBQ Song\" and \"I Hate Wogs\" are funny enough to make me laugh out loud.\r\n\r\nStill, it\'s his story songs that really stay with me, just as it was Chapin\'s story songs like \"A Better Place to Be\" and \"Sniper\" that have been a part of my life for nearly 40 years.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if I have another 40 years to enjoy Bogle\'s music, but I certainly do enjoy it now.\r\n\r\nThe guy has heart -- and soul.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Aussie Bogle has lots to say in his wonderful songs','','publish','open','open','','aussie-bogle-has-lots-to-say-in-his-wonderful-songs','','','2011-07-14 10:22:18','2011-07-14 17:22:18','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1292',0,'post','',1),(1293,1,'2011-07-13 18:45:47','2011-07-14 01:45:47','','eric7thumb','Eric Bogle','inherit','open','open','','eric7thumb','','','2011-07-13 18:45:47','2011-07-14 01:45:47','',1292,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1294,1,'2011-07-13 18:53:51','2011-07-14 01:53:51','I have been accused by several of my friends of being stuck in the past when it comes to my taste in music.\n\nWell, yes and no. I would be the first to admit that I\'m not keyed into the modern pop scene. I did buy a current CD last summer after hearing Lady Antebellum\'s \"Need You Now\" again and again on the radio in Texas, and I bought the \"Songs for Japan\" collection for earthquake benefit on iTunes a few months ago. But no, I\'m not really into the modern pop scene all that much.\n\nThat isn\'t to say I haven\'t been discovering a great deal of new music -- at least new to me -- lately. I have a ton of French music on my iPod, from troubadours Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour to rockers Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell. I\'ve got Italian songbird Laura Pausini and German crooner Herbert Groenemeyer, and in the last week or so I have started loading up on Australian music.\n\nI don\'t know exactly how that got going. I watched \"Gallipoli\" and I heard about Eric Bogle\'s song, \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda,\" and I started looking for more music.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1293\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Eric Bogle\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1293\" title=\"eric7thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhat I discovered is that Bogle, who will be 67 years old this fall, could easily be called the Australian Harry Chapin.\n\nMany people won\'t remember Harry, who died in an automobile accident in 1981 at the age of 38, but he wrote dozens of beautiful story-songs and actually had one chart-topper in the mid \'70s with \"Cat\'s in the Cradle.\"\n\nBogle was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia in his twenties. Many of his songs are ones I could easily picture Chapin singing','','','inherit','open','open','','1292-revision','','','2011-07-13 18:53:51','2011-07-14 01:53:51','',1292,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1294',0,'revision','',0),(1295,1,'2011-07-14 10:21:27','2011-07-14 17:21:27','I have been accused by several of my friends of being stuck in the past when it comes to my taste in music.\n\nWell, yes and no. I would be the first to admit that I\'m not keyed into the modern pop scene. I did buy a current CD last summer after hearing Lady Antebellum\'s \"Need You Now\" again and again on the radio in Texas, and I bought the \"Songs for Japan\" collection for earthquake benefit on iTunes a few months ago. But no, I\'m not really into the modern pop scene all that much.\n\nThat isn\'t to say I haven\'t been discovering a great deal of new music -- at least new to me -- lately. I have a ton of French music on my iPod, from troubadours Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour to rockers Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchell. I\'ve got Italian songbird Laura Pausini and German crooner Herbert Groenemeyer, and in the last week or so I have started loading up on Australian music.\n\nI don\'t know exactly how that got going. I watched \"Gallipoli\" and I heard about Eric Bogle\'s song, \"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda,\" and I started looking for more music.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1293\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Eric Bogle\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1293\" title=\"eric7thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/eric7thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhat I discovered is that Bogle, who will be 67 years old this fall, could easily be called the Australian Harry Chapin.\n\nMany people won\'t remember Harry, who died in an automobile accident in 1981 at the age of 38, but he wrote dozens of beautiful story-songs and actually had one chart-topper in the mid \'70s with \"Cat\'s in the Cradle.\"\n\nBogle was born in Scotland and emigrated to Australia in his twenties. Many of his songs are ones I could easily picture Chapin singing, beautiful story songs and songs with plenty of humor as well. \"And the Band Played ...\" is his best known song, but songs like \"The Aussie BBQ Song\" and \"I Hate Wogs\" are funny enough to make me laugh out loud.\n\nStill, it\'s his story songs that really stay with me, just as it was Chapin\'s story songs like \"A Better Place to Be\" and \"Sniper\" that have been a part of my life for nearly 40 years.\n\nI don\'t know if I have another 40 years to enjoy Bogle\'s music, but I certainly do enjoy it now.\n\nThe guy has heart -- and soul.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1292-revision-2','','','2011-07-14 10:21:27','2011-07-14 17:21:27','',1292,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1295',0,'revision','',0),(1296,1,'2011-07-18 12:12:01','2011-07-18 19:12:01','It\'s easy to forget the importance of living every day of your life.\r\n\r\nThat might sound strange, because of course you are alive every day of your life, but think about it. Think of all the days you have wasted being angry, depressed or maybe just lazy. You stay in bed, or you watch TV or spend the day surfing the Internet.\r\n\r\nAnd while 2010 was a pretty good year for me, one in which I accomplished a great deal, 2011 has been nothing special. I have gotten out of the habit of exercising every day, I have gained back more than half of the weight I worked so hard to lose last year and I have had a difficult time sleeping.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1297\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Sappy but true\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1297\" title=\"quotes,city,inspiration,words,os,mutantes,photography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the 1960s, when I was coming of age, there was a slogan that was so overused that it sounded goofy.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Today is the first day of the rest of your life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nGoofy, but true.\r\n\r\nIf you want to accomplish something, don\'t work yourself up and say you\'ll start in two weeks, or a month, or even tomorrow. Because tomorrow never gets here.\r\n\r\nI have three things I need to do.\r\n\r\n1. Start exercising again and eating properly again so that I can regain the fitness level I reached last year.\r\n\r\n2. Get back to working on \"When I\'m 64,\" with a goal of finishing it before Christmas.\r\n\r\n3. Make each day positive; accomplish something meaningful every day.\r\n\r\nIt starts today.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Time to get back on track and start moving ahead','','publish','open','open','','time-to-get-back-on-track-and-start-moving-ahead','','','2011-07-18 12:12:01','2011-07-18 19:12:01','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1296',0,'post','',2),(1297,1,'2011-07-17 12:51:20','2011-07-17 19:51:20','','quotes,city,inspiration,words,os,mutantes,photography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb','Sappy but true','inherit','open','open','','quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb','','','2011-07-17 12:51:20','2011-07-17 19:51:20','',1296,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1298,1,'2011-07-17 12:51:51','2011-07-17 19:51:51','It\'s easy to forget the importance of living every day of your life.\n\nThat might sound strange, because of course you are alive every day of your life, but think about it. Think of all the days you have wasted being angry, depressed or maybe just lazy. You stay in bed, or you watch TV or spend the day surfing the Internet.\n\nAnd while 2010 was a pretty good year for me, one in which I accomplished a great deal, 2011 has been nothing special. I have gotten out of the habit of exercising every day, I have gained back more than half of the weight I worked so hard to lose last year and I have had a difficult time sleeping.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1297\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Sappy but true\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1297\" title=\"quotes,city,inspiration,words,os,mutantes,photography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1296-revision','','','2011-07-17 12:51:51','2011-07-17 19:51:51','',1296,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1298',0,'revision','',0),(1299,1,'2011-07-18 12:11:20','2011-07-18 19:11:20','It\'s easy to forget the importance of living every day of your life.\n\nThat might sound strange, because of course you are alive every day of your life, but think about it. Think of all the days you have wasted being angry, depressed or maybe just lazy. You stay in bed, or you watch TV or spend the day surfing the Internet.\n\nAnd while 2010 was a pretty good year for me, one in which I accomplished a great deal, 2011 has been nothing special. I have gotten out of the habit of exercising every day, I have gained back more than half of the weight I worked so hard to lose last year and I have had a difficult time sleeping.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1297\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"240\" caption=\"Sappy but true\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1297\" title=\"quotes,city,inspiration,words,os,mutantes,photography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/quotescityinspirationwordsosmutantesphotography-9ad0a0f25ca16e9dbe02b41caf93e483_h_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"200\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn the 1960s, when I was coming of age, there was a slogan that was so overused that it sounded goofy.\n\n<em>\"Today is the first day of the rest of your life.\"</em>\n\nGoofy, but true.\n\nIf you want to accomplish something, don\'t work yourself up and say you\'ll start in two weeks, or a month, or even tomorrow. Because tomorrow never gets here.\n\nI have three things I need to do.\n\n1. Start exercising again and eating properly again so that I can regain the fitness level I reached last year.\n\n2. Get back to working on \"When I\'m 64,\" with a goal of finishing it before Christmas.\n\n3. Make each day positive; accomplish something meaningful every day.\n\nIt starts today.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1296-revision-2','','','2011-07-18 12:11:20','2011-07-18 19:11:20','',1296,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1299',0,'revision','',0),(1302,1,'2011-07-21 20:01:19','2011-07-22 03:01:19','I was surprised the other day when I was reading something posted by a friend on Facebook and I realized he was a rabid fan both of \"Star Wars\" and \"Star Trek.\"\r\n\r\nFunny, I always thought it had to be one or the other. And don\'t get me started on \"Lord of the Rings.\"\r\n\r\nSeriously, though, I was re-watching the most recent \"Star Trek\" movie the other night, and I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it. But what also surprised me was something that never really crossed my mind before. For all the talk about the various things the show was about, what it really comes down to more than anything else is that the original \"Star Trek\" was a show about friendship.\r\n\r\nA friendship between two men, Kirk and Spock.\r\n\r\n<em>\"I have been and ever shall be your friend.\"</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1303\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Friendship\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1303\" title=\"kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nProbably not the best-known line about friendship from a movie. Bogart in \"Casablanca\" probably has that honor with the final line from the picture, but there are few lines that have been so poignant in three different movies. Whether it\'s a dying Spock saying it to a weeping Kirk in \"The Wrath of Khan,\" a reborn Spock with almost no memory remembering it in \"The Search for Spock\" or Spock Prime saying it to a young, unknowing Kirk in the 2009 movie, it is a line that hits the emotions like a sledgehammer.\r\n\r\n\"Star Wars\" never had anything like that.\r\n\r\nI\'m not a huge fan of modern science fiction. I don\'t think I saw more than one episode of the last three \"Star Trek\" series, and even \"Next Generation\" is one that I haven\'t seen half of the episodes.\r\n\r\n<em>Note: I did buy a bootleg DVD version of TNG in Beijing, so if I ever get around to it, I can watch all seven seasons. Of course, I\'ve got nine seasons of \"X Files\" to watch before that.</em>\r\n\r\nI have seen all 79 episodes of the original \"Star Trek,\" although oddly enough, I never saw the show during the three seasons of its original run. I just didn\'t watch that much TV in the late \'60s.\r\n\r\nIt\'s weird to think that both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, the original Kirk and Spock, both celebrated their 80th birthdays earlier this year. But from what I\'ve seen of the new cast, of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, I have a feeling the characters of Kirk and Spock will outlive both of them.\r\n\r\nAt least I hope they will.\r\n\r\nGreat friendships should never die.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','In the end, the movie was all about friendship','','publish','open','open','','in-the-end-the-movie-was-all-about-friendship','','','2011-07-21 20:01:19','2011-07-22 03:01:19','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1302',0,'post','',0),(1303,1,'2011-07-21 19:50:46','2011-07-22 02:50:46','','kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344','Friendship','inherit','open','open','','kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344','','','2011-07-21 19:50:46','2011-07-22 02:50:46','',1302,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1304,1,'2011-07-21 20:01:09','2011-07-22 03:01:09','I was surprised the other day when I was reading something posted by a friend on Facebook and I realized he was a rabid fan both of \"Star Wars\" and \"Star Trek.\"\n\nFunny, I always thought it had to be one or the other. And don\'t get me started on \"Lord of the Rings.\"\n\nSeriously, though, I was re-watching the most recent \"Star Trek\" movie the other night, and I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it. But what also surprised me was something that never really crossed my mind before. For all the talk about the various things the show was about, what it really comes down to more than anything else is that the original \"Star Trek\" was a show about friendship.\n\nA friendship between two men, Kirk and Spock.\n\n<em>\"I have been and ever shall be your friend.\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1303\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Friendship\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1303\" title=\"kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kirk-spock-new-star-trek-2009-5592398-458-344-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nProbably not the best-known line about friendship from a movie. Bogart in \"Casablanca\" probably has that honor with the final line from the picture, but there are few lines that have been so poignant in three different movies. Whether it\'s a dying Spock saying it to a weeping Kirk in \"The Wrath of Khan,\" a reborn Spock with almost no memory remembering it in \"The Search for Spock\" or Spock Prime saying it to a young, unknowing Kirk in the 2009 movie, it is a line that hits the emotions like a sledgehammer.\n\n\"Star Wars\" never had anything like that.\n\nI\'m not a huge fan of modern science fiction. I don\'t think I saw more than one episode of the last three \"Star Trek\" series, and even \"Next Generation\" is one that I haven\'t seen half of the episodes.\n\n<em>Note: I did buy a bootleg DVD version of TNG in Beijing, so if I ever get around to it, I can watch all seven seasons. Of course, I\'ve got nine seasons of \"X Files\" to watch before that.</em>\n\nI have seen all 79 episodes of the original \"Star Trek,\" although oddly enough, I never saw the show during the three seasons of its original run. I just didn\'t watch that much TV in the late \'60s.\n\nIt\'s weird to think that both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, the original Kirk and Spock, both celebrated their 80th birthdays earlier this year. But from what I\'ve seen of the new cast, of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, I have a feeling the characters of Kirk and Spock will outlive both of them.\n\nAt least I hope they will.\n\nGreat friendships should never die.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','In t','','inherit','open','open','','1302-revision','','','2011-07-21 20:01:09','2011-07-22 03:01:09','',1302,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1304',0,'revision','',0),(1305,1,'2011-07-25 16:39:29','2011-07-25 23:39:29','I was sitting in the doctor\'s office the other day, reading Golf Digest and looking at an article that provided 18 ways to enjoy yourself more on the golf course.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1306\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"View from the eighth fairway\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1306\" title=\"20110525_4\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI found that I was already doing two of them -- playing golf by myself and using my iPod to provide a soundtrack of sorts to my round.\r\n\r\nOne of the other ones seemed interesting, although I seriously wonder if it\'s something I could ever do.\r\n\r\n<em>Don\'t keep score.</em>\r\n\r\nThat\'s a tough one for me, although I could argue that I don\'t really keep score accurately as it is. At least a couple of times a round, when I\'ve had a shot completely misfire, I allow myself to take the shot over without a penalty. I couldn\'t do that if I were competing with other people.\r\n\r\nThe last time I went out, I hit my second shot on the first hole into the sand trap just to the right of the green. It\'s pretty rare for me to be in that trap, and then it took me three shots to get out. Throw in three putts and I had a rather nasty-looking eight on a hole that I usually score four or five.\r\n\r\nI wasn\'t too terrible for the rest of the nine holes I played. I double-bogeyed one other hole and parred three holes. But that snowman on the first hole meant that I had a 47 where I usually shoot 41 or 42.\r\n\r\nSo the score -- my worst in at least five months -- was something I couldn\'t enjoy much. But if I hadn\'t been keeping score, I might have been satisfied that I played seven of the nine holes either at par or bogey.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t easy to ignore scores. I tend to be very numerically oriented, and even when I\'m not writing it down, I usually know in my head what my score is.\r\n\r\nBut even on days when I don\'t score particularly well, I\'ll often take away a really good shot on a difficult hole. I have now parred every hole at Sun City Peachtree at least once, and I have birdied maybe a third of them.\r\n\r\nOne thing I have really enjoyed is walking the course, but that has been very difficult recently with the weather, Between the heat and the humidity, the air at its worst feels almost soupy. So it seems like the only way to play is to ride, and to carry an awful lot of drinking water along with me.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s still fun.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Difficult to play golf without keeping score','','publish','open','open','','difficult-to-play-golf-without-keeping-score','','','2011-07-25 16:39:29','2011-07-25 23:39:29','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1305',0,'post','',0),(1306,1,'2011-07-24 19:43:49','2011-07-25 02:43:49','','20110525_4','View from the eighth fairway','inherit','open','open','','20110525_4','','','2011-07-24 19:43:49','2011-07-25 02:43:49','',1305,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1307,1,'2011-07-24 20:04:19','2011-07-25 03:04:19','I was sitting in the doctor\'s office the other day, reading Golf Digest and looking at an article that provided 18 ways to enjoy yourself more on the golf course.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1306\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"View from the eighth fairway\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1306\" title=\"20110525_4\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI found that I was already doing two of them -- playing golf by myself and using my iPod to provide a soundtrack of sorts to my round.\n\nOne of the other ones seemed interesting, although I seriously wonder if it\'s something I could ever do.\n\n<em>Don\'t keep score.</em>\n\nThat\'s a tough one for me, although I could argue that I don\'t really keep score accurately as it is. At least a couple of times a round, when I\'ve had a shot completely misfire, I allow myself to take the shot over without a penalty. I couldn\'t do that if I were competing with other people.\n\nThe last time I went out, I hit my second shot on the first hole into the sand trap just to the right of the green. It\'s pretty rare for me to be in that trap, and then it took me three shots to get out. Throw in three putts and I had a rather nasty-looking eight on a hole that I usually score four or five.\n\nI wasn\'t too terrible for the rest of the nine holes I played. I double-bogeyed one other hole and parred three holes. But that snowman on the first hole meant that I had a 47 where I usually shoot 41 or 42.\n\nSo the score -- my worst in at least five months -- was something I couldn\'t enjoy much','','','inherit','open','open','','1305-revision','','','2011-07-24 20:04:19','2011-07-25 03:04:19','',1305,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1307',0,'revision','',0),(1308,1,'2011-07-25 16:38:59','2011-07-25 23:38:59','I was sitting in the doctor\'s office the other day, reading Golf Digest and looking at an article that provided 18 ways to enjoy yourself more on the golf course.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1306\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"View from the eighth fairway\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1306\" title=\"20110525_4\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110525_4-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI found that I was already doing two of them -- playing golf by myself and using my iPod to provide a soundtrack of sorts to my round.\n\nOne of the other ones seemed interesting, although I seriously wonder if it\'s something I could ever do.\n\n<em>Don\'t keep score.</em>\n\nThat\'s a tough one for me, although I could argue that I don\'t really keep score accurately as it is. At least a couple of times a round, when I\'ve had a shot completely misfire, I allow myself to take the shot over without a penalty. I couldn\'t do that if I were competing with other people.\n\nThe last time I went out, I hit my second shot on the first hole into the sand trap just to the right of the green. It\'s pretty rare for me to be in that trap, and then it took me three shots to get out. Throw in three putts and I had a rather nasty-looking eight on a hole that I usually score four or five.\n\nI wasn\'t too terrible for the rest of the nine holes I played. I double-bogeyed one other hole and parred three holes. But that snowman on the first hole meant that I had a 47 where I usually shoot 41 or 42.\n\nSo the score -- my worst in at least five months -- was something I couldn\'t enjoy much. But if I hadn\'t been keeping score, I might have been satisfied that I played seven of the nine holes either at par or bogey.\n\nIt isn\'t easy to ignore scores. I tend to be very numerically oriented, and even when I\'m not writing it down, I usually know in my head what my score is.\n\nBut even on days when I don\'t score particularly well, I\'ll often take away a really good shot on a difficult hole. I have now parred every hole at Sun City Peachtree at least once, and I have birdied maybe a third of them.\n\nOne thing I have really enjoyed is walking the course, but that has been very difficult recently with the weather, Between the heat and the humidity, the air at its worst feels almost soupy. So it seems like the only way to play is to ride, and to carry an awful lot of drinking water along with me.\n\nBut it\'s still fun.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1305-revision-2','','','2011-07-25 16:38:59','2011-07-25 23:38:59','',1305,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1308',0,'revision','',0),(1310,1,'2011-07-26 16:51:09','2011-07-26 23:51:09','','animal-farm','Some are more equal ...','inherit','open','open','','animal-farm','','','2011-07-26 16:51:09','2011-07-26 23:51:09','',1309,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-farm.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1311,1,'2011-07-26 19:30:44','2011-07-27 02:30:44','<strong><em>\"Everybody counts or nobody counts.\"</em></strong>\n<strong>-- HARRY BOSCH</strong>\n\nIt\'s perhaps ironic -- to say the least -- that a pretty good motto for life would come from a series of detective novels.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1310\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"212\" caption=\"Some are more equal ...\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-farm.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1310\" title=\"animal-farm\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/animal-farm-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut Michael Connolly\'s archetypal character\'s outlook is one we could use a lot more of these days. We seem to have fallen into a fallacy in our thinking that George Orwell described best in his classic \"Animal Farm.\"\n\n<em>\"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.\"</em>\n\nSound familiar? Over the last 30 years or so in this country, we have treated some animals much better than others, and the wealth of our nation has flowed to the top 1 percent as never before in our history.\n\nWhether they really believed it or not, conservative economists told us in 1981 that cutting the tax rates in the top brackets would result in greater economic activity and a larger total amount of tax revenues for the government.\n\nIt\'s debatable whether that really occurred, since all other factors couldn\'t be held constant, but one thing is definitely true. Cutting tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent has made the rich even richer. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent had 7.5 percent of national income in 1979. By 2007, that share had increased to 17.1 percent.\n\nThe middle 20 percent -- the truest definition of the middle class -- had 16.5 percent of the wealth in 1979 but just 14.1 percent in 2007.\n\nHow can we possibly say that everybody counts -- that everybody<em> matters</em> -- when the way wealth is distributed in this country makes us look more and more like a Third World country all the time?\n\nThe late George Carlin, who was probably our most biting social critic, said in one of his later tours that the reason we call it the American Dream is that these days, you have to be sleeping to believe in it. There is no question that much of our society, much of what keeps people going, is based more on muyth these days than on reality.\n\nIt just isn\'t that easy these days to find something that needs to be invented. And as for starting your own business, just try to find a way to get financing.\n\nIt\'s sad but true that the American Dream of upward mobility has become more fantasy than reality. It has become easier to move from the middle class to the upper class in many of the so-called social democracies of  Western Europe than it is in this country.\n\nI\'m not talking about Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, in this case. I would honestly support anyone who I legitimately believed in a political philosophy that simply said that everyone in this country matters as much as anyone else. I don\'t want some billionaire hedge-fund director to be treated as if he were any more special than a truck driver or a day laborer by the government.\n\nThat doesn\'t mean I don\'t believe in progressive taxation. In fact, I believe that the people who have taken the greatest benefit from this country should pay a greater share. And as Warren Buffett put it, there is no legitimate reason he should pay a lower percentage of his income in taxes than his secretary does.\n\nHere\'s the only question that needs to be answered:\n\nWhose country is it anyway?\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Whose country is America in this ','','inherit','open','open','','1309-revision','','','2011-07-26 19:30:44','2011-07-27 02:30:44','',1309,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1311',0,'revision','',0),(1313,1,'2011-07-28 21:34:17','2011-07-29 04:34:17','','colonies','','inherit','open','open','','colonies','','','2011-07-28 21:34:17','2011-07-29 04:34:17','',1312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/colonies.gif',0,'attachment','image/gif',0),(1314,1,'2011-07-28 21:50:06','2011-07-29 04:50:06','I have a friend who says he is against big government, big labor and big business, not necessarily in that order.\n\nMy response is that you can\'t be against all three of those things, yet still live in a big country. The nation that our founders came up with in 1787 had about one one-hundredth as many people as the one we now inhabit, and they all lived in the same time zone.Most of them worked for themselves, mostly as farmers or artisans, and nearly all of them were literate and involved with what was happening in the new nation.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/colonies.gif\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1313\" title=\"colonies\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/colonies-300x169.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" /></a>Since the government wanted to settle the West (which at that time meant Ohio), there was plenty of land available to anyone who wanted it. All they had to do was agree to homestead it for a certain length of time.\n\nEverybody worked.\n\nAnd if you couldn\'t make it where you were, all you had to do was keep moving west -- to the frontier.\n\nMost people didn\'t have debts, and except for purchasing land, most people wouldn\'t have dreamed of incurring debt unless it was absolutely necessary.\n\nThey worked for themselves, their families and their neighbors to make their community a better place. They weren\'t working to drive someone\'s stock portfolio upward. There were two things that are killing our society now that just weren\'t major factors then.\n\nOne is mass media and the other is corporations.\n\nSure, there were newspapers to get information to people, but not only wasn\'t there television, radio, movies or Internet, most folks didn\'t even own books.\n\nYes, there were some corporations, but none like the ones that came along with the Industrial Revolution. None like the ones that practically demanded we change the way we educate people so that they could have plenty of obedient workers.\n\nEducator John Taylor Gatto, one of the foremost critics of the way we run our educational factories, aka schools, had a lot of interesting quotes, but this is one of my favorites:\n\n<em>\"...good things happen to the human spirit when it is left alone.\"</em>\n\nIt has been a long time since we were free people in control of our own destinies, but what the right-wing Teabaggers want in terms of government won\'t make us any more free.\n\nFace it, most of our lack of freedom has nothing to do with big government. Most people\'s chains are forged by their employers and their creditors.\n\nBig business.\n\nBig rich.\n\nAs for big labor, it never competed on an even field, and most of the sectors in which it once mattered either don\'t exist anymore -- or are no longer unionized.\n\nIf you want to be free, tell yourself you\'re not going to participate in the consumer society except when absolutely necessary.\n\nIn other words, stop buying their crap.\n\nThen you\'ve taken a big step in the right direction.\n\nLive for love and happiness, not for a new car or a bigger television.\n\nIf you buy only what you need and not what you merely want, you\'re on your way to true freedom.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1312-revision','','','2011-07-28 21:50:06','2011-07-29 04:50:06','',1312,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1314',0,'revision','',0),(1329,1,'2011-08-05 20:15:46','2011-08-06 03:15:46','It\'s August, and it\'s very hot and humid here in Georgia.\r\n\r\nIt doesn\'t bother me, though, because for the first time in 22 summers, I am living through a summer that is going to end.\r\n\r\n<em>Mike, isn\'t that a little bit of an exaggeration? Summers in California don\'t last forever.</em>\r\n\r\nNo, they just seem to. You cannot imagine how frustrating it is to someone who loves the changing seasons to go outside in the middle of December and find that it\'s 90 degrees outside.\r\n\r\nBy that same token, you cannot imagine how wonderful it was for me last December to play 18 holes of golf here at Sun City Peachtree when it was 28 degrees outside. I was the only person on the entire course, and I was too bundled up to score well, but it was so much fun to feel cold.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1330\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"SCP in December.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20101210_48.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1330\" title=\"20101210_48\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20101210_48-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIn winter, the Bermuda grass is anything but green. When they told me how beautiful it would be in summertime, it was almost impossible to believe. But now, whenever I\'m out on the course, or just when I drive down Spring Forest past the first and ninth holes, the course is the most gorgeous shade of green you could ever imagine.\r\n\r\nAnd me? As much as I like it, I\'m looking forward to seeing the green disappear for the winter.\r\n\r\nI\'m looking forward to the fall, too. For the first time since the \'80s, I\'m back in a part of the country where college football really matters. Folks around here are already talking about the Dawgs (Georgia), the National Champion Auburn Eagles, \'Bama and all the other big programs.\r\n\r\nWe didn\'t get here last year until just about the end of the season, and most of the excitement for Georgia schools was pretty well past. But what\'s great about football Saturdays in the fall is that sometimes they\'re chilly.\r\n\r\nThis might seem like a strange post for the first week in August. Earlier this week, I shot a 39 on the front nine and was only two over par on the back nine when I decided to call it a day because of the heat. I was on track to shoot a 78 or 79, but I play often enough that I could walk away and not feel bad about it.\r\n\r\nAnyway, summer will be over before I know it.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','It\'s summer now, but not summer forever','','publish','open','open','','its-summer-now-but-not-summer-forever','','','2011-08-05 20:15:46','2011-08-06 03:15:46','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1329',0,'post','',0),(1316,1,'2011-07-30 20:31:26','2011-07-31 03:31:26','If you know me, you know I have been thinking a lot about Australia recently.\r\n\r\nI have fallen in love with the songs of <a href=\"http://ericbogle.net/\">Eric Bogle</a>, who is probably the best folk singer who isn\'t that well known in this country, and one of his songs -- a criticism of what has happened in his country in recent decades -- could easily be adapted to the U.S.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Well, once jolly swagmen went humping their swags and stuffed jolly jumbucks down in their tucker bags. These days, jolly junkies go on house-breaking jags and steal to buy the poison they need while the swaggie, he just wanted a feed.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>\"And who\'ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? Hey Banjo, this country\'s not what it used to be. We\'ve changed all your words, and re-written your score and it\'s \'Waltzing Matilda\' no more.\"</em>\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cWlHmyjfc\r\n\r\nBanjo was <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Paterson\">Banjo Paterson</a>, who wrote \"Waltzing Matilda\" and several other epic Australian poems, and just as he might not recognize 21st century Aussies, I\'m pretty sure our Founding Fathers wouldn\'t recognize us anymore.\r\n\r\nI\'m not talking about the government, either. Fully 224 years after the Constitution was written, I have a hunch our founders might be surprised and more than a little amused at how much we\'re still letting 18th century thought run a 21st century country.\r\n\r\nNo, I think it\'s <em>Americans</em> that they wouldn\'t recognize, and I\'m not talking about ethnicity either.\r\n\r\nWe have become a people who seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Compared to our ancestors, we are fat, lazy and stupid. We have apparently decided that anything we\'re <em>allowed</em> to do is something we should do, no matter how destructive it is, either to ourselves or to our country.\r\n\r\nMore from Bogle\'s song that fits our country too:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Saturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel, there stands our future, and it\'s halfway to hell. Kids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell, Hey Australia, what progress we\'ve made! We\'ve come a long way, since Diamond day.\"</em>\r\n\r\nOur biggest problem is that we have lost our religion, and I\'m not talking about God or any supernatural being. Until about 30 years ago, people in both parties, both liberal and conservative, shared what we could call a civic religion. They might not agree on the scope of what government should do, but they believed that government -- the civic marketplace -- was important.\r\n\r\nThey believed that government mattered, and when functioning properly, could make things better.\r\n\r\nBut about 30 years ago, the Radical Right started attacking the very idea of government. They distorted Ronald Reagan\'s comment about government not being the solution to economic stagflation, and they started quoting him as saying something he never said:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Government isn\'t the solution, it\'s the problem.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAs the Radical Right gained more and more control of the Republican Party, all of a sudden there were folks on one side of the equation who didn\'t want government to do anything at all. Even national defense. Many of our \"defense personnel\" overseas now are what we used to call mercenaries.\r\n\r\nAnd as much as it would be easy to blame the right, we all have to share some of the blame. We started celebrating mediocrity, and we lost the distinction between famous and infamous. Why do we even know who the \"Octomom\" is? Why do we tolerate misfits like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan? It\'s certainly not talent. If you\'ve ever heard Spears sing live without lip-syncing, it\'s easy to see that she just has an average voice.\r\n\r\nWe put so much emphasis on what we wanted, not what was right or wrong.\r\n\r\nWe have tens of millions of children living in single-parent homes, even though it has been proven that growing up without a father is the absolute leading indicator for violent criminals. I\'m certainly not criticizing folks who aren\'t single parents by choice, but why on earth did we decide it was acceptable for women to make a rational decision to have a child and raise it alone?\r\n\r\nOur culture is worse than trashy? Go to a movie theater and pick a film at random to see. The chances are pretty good you\'ll leave the theater feeling slimy.\r\n\r\nTelevision is even worse.\r\n\r\nWe don\'t use our culture to uplift people or to set good examples anymore. It\'s all about money.\r\n\r\nIf this sounds pessimistic, it\'s actually not. I have great hope for the generation of young adults currently in their 20s and early 30s. I have great hope that people like my own children and other kids I know like Sean and Kelsey Curran -- my best friend\'s kids -- will demand better. And when people with leadership abilities demand better, eventually things get better.\r\n\r\nThat said, I think it\'s time for my generation and the one that\'s slightly older -- the folks who are pretty much running things now -- to step aside. We are so much a part of the problem that we cannot be part of the solution. And until we do step aside, America is never going to stop debating the \'60s.\r\n\r\nThis used to be a helluva good country, and it can be again. But the people who want that have to demand it. They have to tell the Harry Reids and the Mitch McConnells, the Rush Limbaughs and the Keith Olbermanns, to get the hell out of the way so they can start fixing things.\r\n\r\nA little more from Bogle:\r\n\r\n<em>\"And who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? This country could still be what we want it to be. Perhaps one day soon, the dream will be restored and we\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more.\"</em>\r\n\r\nI\'m sure you get the point.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Future may look grim, but not necessarily','','publish','open','open','','future-may-look-grim-but-not-necessarily','','','2011-07-30 20:31:26','2011-07-31 03:31:26','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1316',0,'post','',0),(1317,1,'2011-07-29 19:55:32','2011-07-30 02:55:32','If you know me, you know I have been thinking a lot about Australia recently.\n\nI have fallen in love with the songs of Eric Bogle, who is probably the best folk singer who isn\'t that well known in this country, and one of his songs -- a criticism of what has happened in his country in recent decades -- could easily be adapted to the U.S.\n\n\"Well, once jolly swagmen went humping their swags and stuffed jolly jumbucks down in their tucker bags. These days, jolly junkies go on house-breaking jags and steal to buy the poison they need while the swaggie, he just wanted a feed.\"\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?\nHey Banjo*, this country\'s not what it used to be\nWe\'ve changed all your words, and re-written your score\nAnd it\'s \"Waltzing Matilda\" no more.\n\nOnce Henry and Mary, on a warm afternoon\nRowed down Reedy River to the broad bright lagoon\nThe song of the river is a long vanished tune\nSince they built the uranium mine\nAnd what\'s left is just toxic slime\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-walting Matilda with me?\nOh, Henry, this country\'s not what it used to be\nDays pass with a whimper, and not with a roar\nAnd it\'s \"Waltzing Matilda\" no more.\n\nWell, we cut down the trees, and the land we reclaimed\nWe ploughed and we planted, then we ploughed it again\nAnd again and again, and again and again\nSo that now on a hot windy day\nWe can watch our topsoil blow away\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nThe desert is marching down to the sea\nOn the day that it stretches\nFrom shore to shining shore\nWe\'ll go waltzing Matilda no more\n\nSaturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel\nThere stands our future, and it\'s halfway to hell\nKids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell\nHey Australia, what progress we\'ve made!\nWe\'ve come a long way, since Diamond day\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nHey Anzac*, is this what you fought to keep free?\nA land fit for heroes, or junkies and whores?\nAnd it\'s \"Waltzing Matilda\" no more.\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nThis country could still be what we want it to be\nPerhaps one day soon, the dream will be restored\nAnd we\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more\nWe\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more','','','inherit','open','open','','1316-revision','','','2011-07-29 19:55:32','2011-07-30 02:55:32','',1316,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1317',0,'revision','',0),(1318,1,'2011-07-30 10:01:48','2011-07-30 17:01:48','If you know me, you know I have been thinking a lot about Australia recently.\n\nI have fallen in love with the songs of Eric Bogle, who is probably the best folk singer who isn\'t that well known in this country, and one of his songs -- a criticism of what has happened in his country in recent decades -- could easily be adapted to the U.S.\n\n<em>\"Well, once jolly swagmen went humping their swags and stuffed jolly jumbucks down in their tucker bags. These days, jolly junkies go on house-breaking jags and steal to buy the poison they need while the swaggie, he just wanted a feed.</em>\n\n<em>\"And who\'ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? Hey Banjo*, this country\'s not what it used to be. We\'ve changed all your words, and re-written your score and it\'s \'Waltzing Matilda\' no more.\"</em>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\nOnce Henry and Mary, on a warm afternoon\nRowed down Reedy River to the broad bright lagoon\nThe song of the river is a long vanished tune\nSince they built the uranium mine\nAnd what\'s left is just toxic slime\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nOh, Henry, this country\'s not what it used to be\nDays pass with a whimper, and not with a roar\nAnd it\'s \"Waltzing Matilda\" no more.\n\nWell, we cut down the trees, and the land we reclaimed\nWe ploughed and we planted, then we ploughed it again\nAnd again and again, and again and again\nSo that now on a hot windy day\nWe can watch our topsoil blow away\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nThe desert is marching down to the sea\nOn the day that it stretches\nFrom shore to shining shore\nWe\'ll go waltzing Matilda no more\n\nSaturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel\nThere stands our future, and it\'s halfway to hell\nKids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell\nHey Australia, what progress we\'ve made!\nWe\'ve come a long way, since Diamond day\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nHey Anzac*, is this what you fought to keep free?\nA land fit for heroes, or junkies and whores?\nAnd it\'s \"Waltzing Matilda\" no more.\n\nAnd who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?\nThis country could still be what we want it to be\nPerhaps one day soon, the dream will be restored\nAnd we\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more\nWe\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more','','','inherit','open','open','','1316-revision-2','','','2011-07-30 10:01:48','2011-07-30 17:01:48','',1316,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1318',0,'revision','',0),(1319,1,'2011-07-30 20:28:44','2011-07-31 03:28:44','If you know me, you know I have been thinking a lot about Australia recently.\n\nI have fallen in love with the songs of <a href=\"http://ericbogle.net/\">Eric Bogle</a>, who is probably the best folk singer who isn\'t that well known in this country, and one of his songs -- a criticism of what has happened in his country in recent decades -- could easily be adapted to the U.S.\n\n<em>\"Well, once jolly swagmen went humping their swags and stuffed jolly jumbucks down in their tucker bags. These days, jolly junkies go on house-breaking jags and steal to buy the poison they need while the swaggie, he just wanted a feed.</em>\n\n<em>\"And who\'ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? Hey Banjo, this country\'s not what it used to be. We\'ve changed all your words, and re-written your score and it\'s \'Waltzing Matilda\' no more.\"</em>\n\nBanjo was <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Paterson\">Banjo Paterson</a>, who wrote \"Waltzing Matilda\" and several other epic Australian poems, and just as he might not recognize 21st century Aussies, I\'m pretty sure our Founding Fathers wouldn\'t recognize us anymore.\n\nI\'m not talking about the government, either. Fully 224 years after the Constitution was written, I have a hunch our founders might be surprised and more than a little amused at how much we\'re still letting 18th century thought run a 21st century country.\n\nNo, I think it\'s <em>Americans</em> that they wouldn\'t recognize, and I\'m not talking about ethnicity either.\n\nWe have become a people who seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Compared to our ancestors, we are fat, lazy and stupid. We have apparently decided that anything we\'re <em>allowed</em> to do is something we should do, no matter how destructive it is, either to ourselves or to our country.\n\nMore from Bogle\'s song that fits our country too:\n\n<em>\"Saturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel, there stands our future, and it\'s halfway to hell. Kids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell, Hey Australia, what progress we\'ve made! We\'ve come a long way, since Diamond day.\"</em>\n\nOur biggest problem is that we have lost our religion, and I\'m not talking about God or any supernatural being. Until about 30 years ago, people in both parties, both liberal and conservative, shared what we could call a civic religion. They might not agree on the scope of what government should do, but they believed that government -- the civic marketplace -- was important.\n\nThey believed that government mattered, and when functioning properly, could make things better.\n\nBut about 30 years ago, the Radical Right started attacking the very idea of government. They distorted Ronald Reagan\'s comment about government not being the solution to economic stagflation, and they started quoting him as saying something he never said:\n\n<em>\"Government isn\'t the solution, it\'s the problem.\"</em>\n\nAs the Radical Right gained more and more control of the Republican Party, all of a sudden there were folks on one side of the equation who didn\'t want government to do anything at all. Even national defense. Many of our \"defense personnel\" overseas now are what we used to call mercenaries.\n\nAnd as much as it would be easy to blame the right, we all have to share some of the blame. We started celebrating mediocrity, and we lost the distinction between famous and infamous. Why do we even know who the \"Octomom\" is? Why do we tolerate misfits like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan? It\'s certainly not talent. If you\'ve ever heard Spears sing live without lip-syncing, it\'s easy to see that she just has an average voice.\n\nWe put so much emphasis on what we wanted, not what was right or wrong.\n\nWe have tens of millions of children living in single-parent homes, even though it has been proven that growing up without a father is the absolute leading indicator for violent criminals. I\'m certainly not criticizing folks who aren\'t single parents by choice, but why on earth did we decide it was acceptable for women to make a rational decision to have a child and raise it alone?\n\nOur culture is worse than trashy? Go to a movie theater and pick a film at random to see. The chances are pretty good you\'ll leave the theater feeling slimy.\n\nTelevision is even worse.\n\nWe don\'t use our culture to uplift people or to set good examples anymore. It\'s all about money.\n\nIf this sounds pessimistic, it\'s actually not. I have great hope for the generation of young adults currently in their 20s and early 30s. I have great hope that people like my own children and other kids I know like Sean and Kelsey Curran -- my best friend\'s kids -- will demand better. And when people with leadership abilities demand better, eventually things get better.\n\nThat said, I think it\'s time for my generation and the one that\'s slightly older -- the folks who are pretty much running things now -- to step aside. We are so much a part of the problem that we cannot be part of the solution. And until we do step aside, America is never going to stop debating the \'60s.\n\nThis used to be a helluva good country, and it can be again. But the people who want that have to demand it. They have to tell the Harry Reids and the Mitch McConnells, the Rush Limbaughs and the Keith Olbermanns, to get the hell out of the way so they can start fixing things.\n\nA little more from Bogle:\n\n<em>\"And who\'ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? This country could still be what we want it to be. Perhaps one day soon, the dream will be restored and we\'ll go Waltzing Matilda once more.\"</em>\n\nI\'m sure you get the point.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1316-revision-3','','','2011-07-30 20:28:44','2011-07-31 03:28:44','',1316,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1319',0,'revision','',0),(1320,1,'2011-11-19 10:11:29','2011-11-19 18:11:29','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\r\n\r\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\r\n\r\nThe economic system matters. We\'ve seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.\r\n\r\nThat\'s where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don\'t judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.\r\n\r\nThat doesn\'t mean you have to have a Socialist system, but it does mean the government can use tax revenues from a progressive system to make sure that most of its citizens at least have a fair shot at success.\r\n\r\nConservatives love to talk about not wanting to take away people\'s initiative, but the fact is, there are children in this country who did nothing any more wrong than being born into the wrong family who have almost no chance to succeed. Why should my children -- who had four years of college paid for and didn\'t have to take out loans -- get such a leg up on kids whose parents couldn\'t give them any help at all?\r\n\r\nAn awful lot of what I think a country should be  can be summed up in President Franklin D. Roosevelt\'s 1944 State of the Union. We were at war in 1944, but FDR was already thinking about what postwar America should be.\r\n\r\nhttp://youtu.be/KmdW3hFPjC0\r\n\r\nSocialism? Maybe a little, but in 1944, more people seemed to understand that we were all in this together and we ought to at least take care of our country\'s children. That\'s a pretty far cry from a political party that seems to love babies only until they\'re actually born.\r\n\r\nHere they are again:\r\n\r\n<em>\"The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right of every family to a decent home;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;</em>\r\n\r\n<em>The right to a good education.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>America\'s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.\"</em>\r\n\r\nThat\'s where my perfect country would start. When World War II began, FDR told America\'s businessmen that he didn\'t want to see any millionaires created by the war. American business had its duty to do just as America\'s soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. And for the most part, they did it.\r\n\r\nNo, America wasn\'t the perfect country in 1944. If you were black, much of the country had a apartheid ever bit as racist as South Africa. If you were Jewish, anti-Semitism was still the rule rather than the exception. If you were gay, you were deep in the closet. And if you were a woman who didn\'t want to be only a wife and mother, things were tough.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s amazing how many people in those groups and others still saw America as a wonderful place.\r\n\r\nAnd what was most wonderful about it was that there wasn\'t a government that catered to rich businessmen and big political contributors on the scale we do today.\r\n\r\nWe have Ronald Reagan and his followers to thank for that change. I always thought that Reagan\'s tragic flaw was that he believed people got rich -- even when they inherited their wealth -- because they were better people than folks who weren\'t rich.\r\n\r\nRonald Reagan\'s America isn\'t my country.\r\n\r\nI stand with FDR, believing that we are our brothers\' keepers and that America is great when America is good.\r\n\r\nThat\'s my perfect country.','For a perfect country, look to the past','','publish','open','open','','for-a-perfect-country-look-to-the-past','','','2011-11-19 10:16:37','2011-11-19 18:16:37','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1320',0,'post','',0),(1321,1,'2011-07-31 16:45:36','2011-07-31 23:45:36','','road1','Natural beauty','inherit','open','open','','road1','','','2011-07-31 16:45:36','2011-07-31 23:45:36','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1322,1,'2011-07-31 16:48:44','2011-07-31 23:48:44','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision','','','2011-07-31 16:48:44','2011-07-31 23:48:44','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1322',0,'revision','',0),(1323,1,'2011-08-01 19:10:14','2011-08-02 02:10:14','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision-2','','','2011-08-01 19:10:14','2011-08-02 02:10:14','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1323',0,'revision','',0),(1324,1,'2011-08-03 17:03:50','2011-08-04 00:03:50','A few months ago, I was working on a project where I asked a number of people I know what they considered the basic truths of life.\r\n\r\nI got a number of excellent responses, but the most fascinating one came from my daughter Pauline.\r\n\r\n<em>\"My family is my No. 1 priority at all times. Not just when it\'s convenient.\"</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1325\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"An old picture but a great one.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/maddie-mariners.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1325\" title=\"maddie mariners\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/maddie-mariners-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen she said that, Pauline had a little daughter and a husband. Now she\'s nearly two-thirds of the way through her second pregnancy, and by Thanksgiving -- assuming all goes well -- she will have a son.\r\n\r\nHer family loves her, her friends love her and her career in the Foreign Service is going swimmingly.\r\n\r\nI\'m in awe of her, because I don\'t know how she manages to find the energy to do her job so well and still be such a good wife, mother ... and daughter.\r\n\r\nShe has become one of my favorite people to have conversations with, whether the topic is personal or simply current events. She always has something intelligent or insightful to say, and while I have been blessed to know numerous highly intelligent women in my life, Pauline would rank near the top of the list.\r\n\r\nEveryone who knows me knows how I feel about my daughter, but just in case you\'re wondering why this is being written today, well, it\'s Pauline\'s birthday.\r\n\r\nHappy birthday, Pauline. I\'m very proud to be part of your life.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','This young woman knows what matters in life','','publish','open','open','','this-young-woman-knows-what-matters-in-life','','','2011-08-03 17:03:50','2011-08-04 00:03:50','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1324',0,'post','',0),(1325,1,'2011-08-03 16:29:07','2011-08-03 23:29:07','','maddie mariners','An old picture but a great one.','inherit','open','open','','maddie-mariners-3','','','2011-08-03 16:29:07','2011-08-03 23:29:07','',1324,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/maddie-mariners.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1326,1,'2011-08-03 17:03:13','2011-08-04 00:03:13','A few months ago, I was working on a project where I asked a number of people I know what they considered the basic truths of life.\n\nI got a number of excellent responses, but the most fascinating one came from my daughter Pauline.\n\n<em>\"My family is my No. 1 priority at all times. Not just when it\'s convenient.\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1325\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"An old picture but a great one.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/maddie-mariners.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1325\" title=\"maddie mariners\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/maddie-mariners-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhen she said that, Pauline had a little daughter and a husband. Now she\'s nearly two-thirds of the way through her second pregnancy, and by Thanksgiving -- assuming all goes well -- she will have a son.\n\nHer family loves her, her friends love her and her career in the Foreign Service is going swimmingly.\n\nI\'m in awe of her, because I don\'t know how she manages to find the energy to do her job so well and still be such a good wife, mother ... and daughter.\n\nShe has become one of my favorite people to have conversations with, whether the topic is personal or simply current events. She always has something intelligent or insightful to say, and while I have been blessed to know numerous highly intelligent women in my life, Pauline would rank near the top of the list.\n\nEveryone who knows me knows how I feel about my daughter, but just in case you\'re wondering why this is being written today, well, it\'s Pauline\'s birthday.\n\nHappy birthday, Pauline. I\'m very proud to be part of your life.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1324-revision','','','2011-08-03 17:03:13','2011-08-04 00:03:13','',1324,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1326',0,'revision','',0),(1327,1,'2011-08-04 21:20:28','2011-08-05 04:20:28','Baby boomers have been accused of thinking that the world began on the day they were born, and that nothing that happened in \"olden times\" really matters at all.\r\n\r\nIn the last few years, I have been thinking about the relationships between different times, and how things have changed in that respect. I can turn on my satellite radio and listen to Oldies stations that play all Sixties music, all Fifties and even All Forties music. Now there was great music made in the \'40s, but that decade ended nearly 62 years ago.\r\n\r\nI wonder if the folks who were old enough in the \'40s to remember the culture of 62 years earlier were really nostalgic for the 1880s.\r\n\r\nI particularly love music from 1967, the year I graduated from high school and the year I turned 18, but for me to listen to music from 1967 fully 44 years later would be comparable to listening to music from 1923 when I was 18.\r\n\r\nFor one thing, I don\'t think folks had the nostalgia for the past back then that so many of us seem to have now. Baby boomers may be the first American generation to think things were better when they were young and unsettled than now and they are older and established. In some cases, that is because things haven\'t worked out the way they planned, but it seems like more than that with a lot of people.\r\n\r\nMy friend Mick has an amazing amount of nostalgia for things that weren\'t that wonderful at the time. So go figure.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iq5yzJ-Dk\r\n\r\nThe clip here is from 1956, and I never saw it or heard of it until today. I was familiar with \"I\'ve Got a Secret,\" the show this clip is from, but I never knew that in February 1956 they had a show in which one of the guests was the last living witness of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.\r\n\r\nThat\'s something that happened 84 years before I was born, and my life overlapped with the 96-year-old man who saw it. If you consider the fact that Lincoln\'s death came less than 89 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and there were certainly people in America in 1865 who were alive in 1776.\r\n\r\nWhen you put it that way, I am only two lifetimes removed from July 4, 1776, and in all probability, my own life will overlap with someone who will see the dawning of the 22nd century.\r\n\r\nIt\'s enough to make you feel small.\r\n\r\n\r\nBut a lot of the real boomer nostalgia isn\'t from the \'60s. It\'s from the \'50s -- things like Howdy Doody, Davy Crockett and the Mickey Mouse Club. Some of my first really vivid memories are from 1956, the year I started school\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Only one life removed from Lincoln and Booth','','publish','open','open','','only-one-life-removed-from-lincoln-and-booth','','','2011-08-04 21:20:28','2011-08-05 04:20:28','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1327',0,'post','',0),(1328,1,'2011-08-04 21:20:22','2011-08-05 04:20:22','Baby boomers have been accused of thinking that the world began on the day they were born, and that nothing that happened in \"olden times\" really matters at all.\n\nIn the last few years, I have been thinking about the relationships between different times, and how things have changed in that respect. I can turn on my satellite radio and listen to Oldies stations that play all Sixties music, all Fifties and even All Forties music. Now there was great music made in the \'40s, but that decade ended nearly 62 years ago.\n\nI wonder if the folks who were old enough in the \'40s to remember the culture of 62 years earlier were really nostalgic for the 1880s.\n\nI particularly love music from 1967, the year I graduated from high school and the year I turned 18, but for me to listen to music from 1967 fully 44 years later would be comparable to listening to music from 1923 when I was 18.\n\nFor one thing, I don\'t think folks had the nostalgia for the past back then that so many of us seem to have now. Baby boomers may be the first American generation to think things were better when they were young and unsettled than now and they are older and established. In some cases, that is because things haven\'t worked out the way they planned, but it seems like more than that with a lot of people.\n\nMy friend Mick has an amazing amount of nostalgia for things that weren\'t that wonderful at the time. So go figure.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iq5yzJ-Dk\n\nThe clip here is from 1956, and I never saw it or heard of it until today. I was familiar with \"I\'ve Got a Secret,\" the show this clip is from, but I never knew that in February 1956 they had a show in which one of the guests was the last living witness of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.\n\nThat\'s something that happened 84 years before I was born, and my life overlapped with the 96-year-old man who saw it. If you consider the fact that Lincoln\'s death came less than 89 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and there were certainly people in America in 1865 who were alive in 1776.\n\nWhen you put it that way, I am only two lifetimes removed from July 4, 1776, and in all probability, my own life will overlap with someone who will see the dawning of the 22nd century.\n\nIt\'s enough to make you feel small.\n\n\nBut a lot of the real boomer nostalgia isn\'t from the \'60s. It\'s from the \'50s -- things like Howdy Doody, Davy Crockett and the Mickey Mouse Club. Some of my first really vivid memories are from 1956, the year I started school\n\n&nbsp;','Only one life removed fro','','inherit','open','open','','1327-revision','','','2011-08-04 21:20:22','2011-08-05 04:20:22','',1327,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1328',0,'revision','',0),(1330,1,'2011-08-05 19:54:38','2011-08-06 02:54:38','','20101210_48','SCP in December.','inherit','open','open','','20101210_48','','','2011-08-05 19:54:38','2011-08-06 02:54:38','',1329,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20101210_48.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1331,1,'2011-08-05 20:15:39','2011-08-06 03:15:39','It\'s August, and it\'s very hot and humid here in Georgia.\n\nIt doesn\'t bother me, though, because for the first time in 22 summers, I am living through a summer that is going to end.\n\n<em>Mike, isn\'t that a little bit of an exaggeration? Summers in California don\'t last forever.</em>\n\nNo, they just seem to. You cannot imagine how frustrating it is to someone who loves the changing seasons to go outside in the middle of December and find that it\'s 90 degrees outside.\n\nBy that same token, you cannot imagine how wonderful it was for me last December to play 18 holes of golf here at Sun City Peachtree when it was 28 degrees outside. I was the only person on the entire course, and I was too bundled up to score well, but it was so much fun to feel cold.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1330\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"SCP in December.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20101210_48.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1330\" title=\"20101210_48\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20101210_48-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIn winter, the Bermuda grass is anything but green. When they told me how beautiful it would be in summertime, it was almost impossible to believe. But now, whenever I\'m out on the course, or just when I drive down Spring Forest past the first and ninth holes, the course is the most gorgeous shade of green you could ever imagine.\n\nAnd me? As much as I like it, I\'m looking forward to seeing the green disappear for the winter.\n\nI\'m looking forward to the fall, too. For the first time since the \'80s, I\'m back in a part of the country where college football really matters. Folks around here are already talking about the Dawgs (Georgia), the National Champion Auburn Eagles, \'Bama and all the other big programs.\n\nWe didn\'t get here last year until just about the end of the season, and most of the excitement for Georgia schools was pretty well past. But what\'s great about football Saturdays in the fall is that sometimes they\'re chilly.\n\nThis might seem like a strange post for the first week in August. Earlier this week, I shot a 39 on the front nine and was only two over par on the back nine when I decided to call it a day because of the heat. I was on track to shoot a 78 or 79, but I play often enough that I could walk away and not feel bad about it.\n\nAnyway, summer will be over before I know it.\n\n&nbsp;','It\'s summer now, but not for','','inherit','open','open','','1329-revision','','','2011-08-05 20:15:39','2011-08-06 03:15:39','',1329,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1331',0,'revision','',0),(1344,1,'2011-08-14 20:17:58','2011-08-15 03:17:58','[caption id=\"attachment_1346\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Apollo 13\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1346\" title=\"apollo-13-patch\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce was the time we reached out into space and the American people marveled.\r\n\r\nForty years later, we not only don\'t go back, many of our people don\'t even believe we ever went.\r\n\r\nI was watching Ron Howard\'s \"Apollo 13\" earlier today, and the thing that surprised me the most about it is that I was 20 years old when it happened in April 1970 and I have no memory of it at all.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t that I didn\'t care about the space program; I remember the thrill of having a television wheeled into my classroom in fifth grade so that we could watch Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and John Glenn go into space. But eight years later, when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the lunar surface, I was working as an usher at a movie theater.\r\n\r\nAnd nine months later, when Apollo 13 flew, I was right in the middle of having the most fun I had ever had in my life up to that point. I don\'t know if it was the weekend of the liftoff or the weekend of the return, but my first real girlfriend and I went down to Charlottesville for Easters Weekend at the University of Virginia.\r\n\r\nIt\'s hard to explain, but for a few years there -- from about 1968 to 1971 -- I wasn\'t really that involved with what was going on in the outside world. It was a really tumultuous period in my life -- age 18 to 21 -- and not much was going right. I was at war with everyone and everything, but too timid to do anything that really might have constituted taking a chance on something good.\r\n\r\nBut even if I wasn\'t part of it, there were still heroic things happening in the world.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1349\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Safely home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1349\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen Apollo 13 landed safely, it was a happy ending to America\'s greatest space drama up to that time. The only deaths in our space program had been the three astronauts of Apollo 1 in a launching pad fire, although we would lose two shuttles and their inhabitants off in the distant future, after we stopped believing in ourselves.\r\n\r\nOnce was a time we accomplished amazing things. We harnessed American industry to supply the war machine, and we rebuilt the free world after the war. We did something private industry could never have done when we built the Interstate highway system.\r\n\r\nWhen it came time to go into space, of course it was a partnership between government and private industry. It was too big deal to be done for profit.\r\n\r\nThen came the time when we lost faith in ourselves. Conservatives, led by Ronald Reagan, decided that the only way people could be depended upon to do their best work was if there was money in it for them.\r\n\r\nGovernment, they told us, couldn\'t do anything right.\r\n\r\nAnd when they told us we were mean and greedy and venal, we started to believe it and we became meaner, greedier and more venal. Because people tend to live up -- or down -- to the expectations we have for them.\r\n\r\nIf there is one thing the last 30 years have taught us, it ought to be that.','When we ask for greatness, that\'s what we get','','publish','open','open','','when-we-ask-for-greatness-thats-what-we-usually-get','','','2011-08-14 20:18:17','2011-08-15 03:18:17','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1344',0,'post','',0),(1335,1,'2011-08-07 18:18:29','2011-08-08 01:18:29','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\n\nThe economic system matters. We\'ve seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.\n\nThat\'s where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don\'t judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision-3','','','2011-08-07 18:18:29','2011-08-08 01:18:29','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1335',0,'revision','',0),(1336,1,'2011-08-07 18:40:01','2011-08-08 01:40:01','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\n\nThe economic system matters. We\'ve seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.\n\nThat\'s where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don\'t judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.\n\nThat doesn\'t mean you have to have a Socialist system, but it does mean the government can use tax revenues from a progressive system to make sure that most of its citizens at least have a fair shot at success.\n\nConservatives love to talk about not wanting to take away people\'s initiative, but the fact is, there are children in this country who did noth\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision-4','','','2011-08-07 18:40:01','2011-08-08 01:40:01','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1336',0,'revision','',0),(1337,1,'2011-08-08 08:38:30','2011-08-08 15:38:30','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\n\nThe economic system matters. We\'ve seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.\n\nThat\'s where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don\'t judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.\n\nThat doesn\'t mean you have to have a Socialist system, but it does mean the government can use tax revenues from a progressive system to make sure that most of its citizens at least have a fair shot at success.\n\nConservatives love to talk about not wanting to take away people\'s initiative, but the fact is, there are children in this country who did nothing any more wrong than being born into the wrong family who have almost no chance to succeed.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision-5','','','2011-08-08 08:38:30','2011-08-08 15:38:30','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1337',0,'revision','',0),(1338,1,'2011-08-08 12:47:12','2011-08-08 19:47:12','Sometimes people  get things right.\r\n\r\nWhenever people are asked to pick the best of something, we\'re reminded of how popularity rarely translates to quality. Let folks vote on where to get the best hamburger, and an amazing number will pick McDonald\'s or Wendy\'s or Burger King. I worked in Southern California for 20 years, and my newspaper was based in city with a majority Latino population. There were plenty of places to get great Mexican food, but in our annual \"Best of the Valley\" survey, Taco Bell finished<em> second</em> in the competition for Best Taco.\r\n\r\nIt\'s the same logic that always puts \"Star Wars\" high up on the best movies of all time list.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1339\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The legendary Peter Cook\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/princess-bride2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1339\" title=\"princess-bride2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/princess-bride2-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo when I saw there had been a survey to select the best comedian of all time, I was half expecting to see Dane Cook or Larry the Cable Guy at the top of the list. But when I learned that it was a survey in which only comedians were allowed to vote, I had higher hopes.\r\n\r\nImagine my surprise -- and my joy -- to find that this group of comedians from the United States and Great Britain had <a href=\"http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/peter-cook-voted-best-comedian-by-fellow-humorists-486818.html\">selected</a> the late Peter Cook as the funniest man ever. It isn\'t exactly fresh news. The survey was taken in 2004 and announced at the beginning of 2005.\r\n\r\nIt\'s definitely slanted toward English humor -- only six of the top 20 were Americans, and probably the greatest omission from the top 20 is George Carlin.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJNPL8v-DfQ\r\n\r\nIf you\'re not familiar with Cook, this wonderful nine-minute clip from the 2005 show demonstrates why he has been so revered. My own initiation to his work was the hilarious 1967 film \"Bedazzled,\" which he did with partner Dudley Moore.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8tA1wH3cck\r\n\r\n\"Bedazzled\" was one of the funniest, darkest comedy of the \'60s, and the shame of it is that far more people saw the execrable 2000 Brendan Fraser remake than saw the original. By 2000, we had lost enough of our sense of humor that a wonderful film that poked fun at religion, politics, relationships and almost everything else had almost all that stripped out of the remake.\r\n\r\nCook of course was far more than just the few films he did. He was part of the legendary \'60s revue, \"Beyond the Fringe,\" and its successors, and his later work with Moore as the scabrous Derek and Clive is some of the funniest stuff ever to come out of Britain.\r\n\r\nHe died too young, of course. So many of the great funnymen do, and Cook was just 57 when he died in 1995 from liver damage, the result of a lifetime of drinking.\r\n\r\nHe\'s not as well remembered as some of the names after him on the list, names like John Cleese, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor and Steve Martin, but listen to his albums or watch what\'s available on video and he can more than hold his own with any of them.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbnkY1tBvMU\r\n\r\n\"One Leg too Few,\" from the original \"Beyond the Fringe,\" is perhaps Cook\'s best known comedy routine.\r\n\r\nAmazingly, he wrote it as a teenager.\r\n\r\nA truly funny guy, and I\'ll bet 90 percent of American comedy fans under 40 have no idea who he is.\r\n\r\nOnce again, popular and great aren\'t always the same thing.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Not that surprisingly, the funniest comedian ever','','publish','open','open','','not-that-surprisingly-the-funniest-comedian-ever','','','2011-08-08 12:47:12','2011-08-08 19:47:12','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1338',0,'post','',0),(1339,1,'2011-08-08 11:42:38','2011-08-08 18:42:38','','princess-bride2','The legendary Peter Cook','inherit','open','open','','princess-bride2','','','2011-08-08 11:42:38','2011-08-08 18:42:38','',1338,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/princess-bride2.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1340,1,'2011-08-08 12:46:41','2011-08-08 19:46:41','Sometimes people  get things right.\n\nWhenever people are asked to pick the best of something, we\'re reminded of how popularity rarely translates to quality. Let folks vote on where to get the best hamburger, and an amazing number will pick McDonald\'s or Wendy\'s or Burger King. I worked in Southern California for 20 years, and my newspaper was based in city with a majority Latino population. There were plenty of places to get great Mexican food, but in our annual \"Best of the Valley\" survey, Taco Bell finished<em> second</em> in the competition for Best Taco.\n\nIt\'s the same logic that always puts \"Star Wars\" high up on the best movies of all time list.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1339\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The legendary Peter Cook\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/princess-bride2.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1339\" title=\"princess-bride2\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/princess-bride2-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nSo when I saw there had been a survey to select the best comedian of all time, I was half expecting to see Dane Cook or Larry the Cable Guy at the top of the list. But when I learned that it was a survey in which only comedians were allowed to vote, I had higher hopes.\n\nImagine my surprise -- and my joy -- to find that this group of comedians from the United States and Great Britain had <a href=\"http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/peter-cook-voted-best-comedian-by-fellow-humorists-486818.html\">selected</a> the late Peter Cook as the funniest man ever. It isn\'t exactly fresh news. The survey was taken in 2004 and announced at the beginning of 2005.\n\nIt\'s definitely slanted toward English humor -- only six of the top 20 were Americans, and probably the greatest omission from the top 20 is George Carlin.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJNPL8v-DfQ\n\nIf you\'re not familiar with Cook, this wonderful nine-minute clip from the 2005 show demonstrates why he has been so revered. My own initiation to his work was the hilarious 1967 film \"Bedazzled,\" which he did with partner Dudley Moore.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8tA1wH3cck\n\n\"Bedazzled\" was one of the funniest, darkest comedy of the \'60s, and the shame of it is that far more people saw the execrable 2000 Brendan Fraser remake than saw the original. By 2000, we had lost enough of our sense of humor that a wonderful film that poked fun at religion, politics, relationships and almost everything else had almost all that stripped out of the remake.\n\nCook of course was far more than just the few films he did. He was part of the legendary \'60s revue, \"Beyond the Fringe,\" and its successors, and his later work with Moore as the scabrous Derek and Clive is some of the funniest stuff ever to come out of Britain.\n\nHe died too young, of course. So many of the great funnymen do, and Cook was just 57 when he died in 1995 from liver damage, the result of a lifetime of drinking.\n\nHe\'s not as well remembered as some of the names after him on the list, names like John Cleese, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor and Steve Martin, but listen to his albums or watch what\'s available on video and he can more than hold his own with any of them.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbnkY1tBvMU\n\n\"One Leg too Few,\" from the original \"Beyond the Fringe,\" is perhaps Cook\'s best known comedy routine.\n\nAmazingly, he wrote it as a teenager.\n\nA truly funny guy, and I\'ll bet 90 percent of American comedy fans under 40 have no idea who he is.\n\nOnce a\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1338-revision','','','2011-08-08 12:46:41','2011-08-08 19:46:41','',1338,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1340',0,'revision','',0),(1341,1,'2011-08-12 21:09:55','2011-08-13 04:09:55','Nothing ever goes away anymore.\r\n\r\nI can listen to just about any song I ever liked on satellite radio, and if it doesn\'t show up I can buy it on iTunes. I can buy seasons of just about any TV show I ever liked -- except, inexplicably, for \"LA Law\" -- and I can find 99 percent of the movies I love on DVD.\r\n\r\nBut perhaps the strangest part of it all is people. When you spent 60-plus years on the planet, you find that a fairly large number of people seem to pass in and out of your life. Some of them, you make the effort to maintain contact. Others, you avoid. Still others avoid you.\r\n\r\nThe Internet has changed all that, and what it didn\'t change, Facebook did. Over the last five years or so, I have re-established contact with people I hadn\'t seen in more than 40 years. And within the last year or so with Facebook, I touched base with my wonderful friend Christine Miller, who I hadn\'t seen since before I was married.\r\n\r\nMarried for the first time -- in 1975.\r\n\r\nThere are three women on Facebook who are friends of mine that I actually thought at one time or another -- long ago and far away -- I might marry. For whatever reason, it didn\'t happen, but I feel no bitterness toward any of them and I don\'t think they feel bitterness toward me. Time may not heal <em>all</em> wounds, but I suppose the fact that I\'m happily married and so are all three of them probably helped.\r\n\r\nMy oldest friend of all isn\'t on Facebook, at least as far as I know, but he and I made contact again in 2007 at our 40th high school reunion, and I\'m glad to know he\'s got a good life and a happy family going for him. Gary and I became friends in 1963, and even though you could count our meetings in the last 30 years on one hand and have fingers left over, we always seem to pick up where we left off.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1342\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"180\" caption=\"Pauline, Madison and little Gustav\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/211618_838372121_3430228_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1342\" title=\"211618_838372121_3430228_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/211618_838372121_3430228_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"227\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nMostly what I appreciate all these additional forms of communication is how much they help me stay in touch with the people I love. My daughter Pauline and her family are on the other side of the world in Indonesia, but through Skype we talk nearly every week and through pictures she posts to her Facebook account, I get to see my little granddaughter Madison grow up. She\'ll be 3 next month, and her little brother is expected to join the family in November.\r\n\r\nPauline won\'t tell us what the new baby\'s name will be, which is her prerogative, but as a grandfather and a writer, I have to call him something.\r\n\r\nFor now he\'s little Gustav.\r\n\r\nI certainly hope <em>he</em> never goes away.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','With modern communications, nothing goes away','','publish','open','open','','with-modern-communications-nothing-goes-away','','','2011-08-12 21:09:55','2011-08-13 04:09:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1341',0,'post','',2),(1342,1,'2011-08-12 21:07:36','2011-08-13 04:07:36','','211618_838372121_3430228_n','Pauline, Madison and little Gustav','inherit','open','open','','211618_838372121_3430228_n','','','2011-08-12 21:07:36','2011-08-13 04:07:36','',1341,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/211618_838372121_3430228_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1343,1,'2011-08-12 21:09:35','2011-08-13 04:09:35','Nothing ever goes away anymore.\n\nI can listen to just about any song I ever liked on satellite radio, and if it doesn\'t show up I can buy it on iTunes. I can buy seasons of just about any TV show I ever liked -- except, inexplicably, for \"LA Law\" -- and I can find 99 percent of the movies I love on DVD.\n\nBut perhaps the strangest part of it all is people. When you spent 60-plus years on the planet, you find that a fairly large number of people seem to pass in and out of your life. Some of them, you make the effort to maintain contact. Others, you avoid. Still others avoid you.\n\nThe Internet has changed all that, and what it didn\'t change, Facebook did. Over the last five years or so, I have re-established contact with people I hadn\'t seen in more than 40 years. And within the last year or so with Facebook, I touched base with my wonderful friend Christine Miller, who I hadn\'t seen since before I was married.\n\nMarried for the first time -- in 1975.\n\nThere are three women on Facebook who are friends of mine that I actually thought at one time or another -- long ago and far away -- I might marry. For whatever reason, it didn\'t happen, but I feel no bitterness toward any of them and I don\'t think they feel bitterness toward me. Time may not heal <em>all</em> wounds, but I suppose the fact that I\'m happily married and so are all three of them probably helped.\n\nMy oldest friend of all isn\'t on Facebook, at least as far as I know, but he and I made contact again in 2007 at our 40th high school reunion, and I\'m glad to know he\'s got a good life and a happy family going for him. Gary and I became friends in 1963, and even though you could count our meetings in the last 30 years on one hand and have fingers left over, we always seem to pick up where we left off.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1342\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"180\" caption=\"Pauline, Madison and little Gustav\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/211618_838372121_3430228_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1342\" title=\"211618_838372121_3430228_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/211618_838372121_3430228_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"227\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nMostly what I appreciate all these additional forms of communication is how much they help me stay in touch with the people I love. My daughter Pauline and her family are on the other side of the world in Indonesia, but through Skype we talk nearly every week and through pictures she posts to her Facebook account, I get to see my little granddaughter Madison grow up. She\'ll be 3 next month, and her little brother is expected to join the family in November.\n\nPauline won\'t tell us what the new baby\'s name will be, which is her prerogative, but as a grandfather and a writer, I have to call him something.\n\nFor now he\'s little Gustav.\n\nI certainly hope <em>he</em> never goes away.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1341-revision','','','2011-08-12 21:09:35','2011-08-13 04:09:35','',1341,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1343',0,'revision','',0),(1345,1,'2011-08-14 18:28:27','2011-08-15 01:28:27','','apollo-13-patch','Apollo 13','inherit','open','open','','apollo-13-patch','','','2011-08-14 18:28:27','2011-08-15 01:28:27','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1346,1,'2011-08-14 18:29:30','2011-08-15 01:29:30','','apollo-13-patch','Apollo 13','inherit','open','open','','apollo-13-patch-2','','','2011-08-14 18:29:30','2011-08-15 01:29:30','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1347,1,'2011-08-14 18:49:25','2011-08-15 01:49:25','[caption id=\"attachment_1346\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Apollo 13\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1346\" title=\"apollo-13-patch\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOnce was the time we reached out into space and the American people marveled.\n\nForty years later, we not only don\'t go back, many of our people don\'t even believe we ever went.\n\nI was watching Ron Howard\'s \"Apollo 13\" earlier today, and the thing that surprised me the most about it is that I was 20 years old when it happened in April 1970 and I have no memory of it at all.\n\nIt isn\'t that I didn\'t care about the space program; I remember the thrill of having a television wheeled into my classroom in fifth grade so that we could watch Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and John Glenn go into space. But eight years later, when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the lunar surface, I was working as an usher at a movie theater.\n\nAnd nine months later, when Apollo 13 flew, I was right in the middle of having the most fun I had ever had in my life up to that point. I don\'t know if it was the weekend of the liftoff or the weekend of the return, but my first real girlfriend and I went down to Charlottesville for Easters Weekend at the University of Virginia.\n\nIt\'s hard to explain, but for a few years there -- from about 1968 to 1971 --','','','inherit','open','open','','1344-revision','','','2011-08-14 18:49:25','2011-08-15 01:49:25','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1347',0,'revision','',0),(1363,1,'2011-08-22 19:18:58','2011-08-23 02:18:58','There has been a great deal written over the centuries about how the idea of a story almost always breaks down into one of seven great plots.\r\n\r\nThose are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, voyage and return, rebirth, the quest, tragedy and comedy. If you make it broad enough, almost every story fits into one of those categories. Even a teenage slob comedy where a bunch of kids are trying to lose their virginity. Hey, it\'s a quest.\r\n\r\nOf course, after a while almost all of the various plots get done to death. The two that seem to fascinate audiences the most -- particularly the young male demographic Hollywood seems to love so much -- are overcoming the monster and the quest. But as I said earlier, when the particular quest is nothing more than getting laid, it\'s tough to have too good a movie.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure there has ever been a more interesting age for film than the 1940s, the last decade before television took center stage and destroyed movie attendance. It was pretty much the last decade when nearly all films were made for people of all ages. Sure, there were movies just for kids, but there were none that would have been rated, R, X or NC-17.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/143805.1020.A.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1367\" title=\"143805.1020.A\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/143805.1020.A-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" /></a>Not everything, of course, was \"Gone With the Wind\" or \"Casablanca.\"\r\n\r\nThere were plenty of what were known as \"B\" movies that were shot quickly with second-string actors, and if Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride never won Oscars for their roles in the Ma and Pa Kettle films, they certainly made plenty of people laugh.\r\n\r\nThese films were part of an interesting little genre, in which city people were able to laugh at the simple country folks and country people laughed at the city fish out of water in the country.\r\n\r\nThe Kettles were the subject of 10 films between 1949 and 1957, and if you think they don\'t make movies like that anymore, remember the dozen or so \"Ernest\" movies starring Jim Varney in the 1990s.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t just an American thing, either. A few weeks ago I wrote about Australian singer Eric Bogle and his song, \"The Waltzing Matilda Waltz.\"\r\n\r\nOne of the later verses, in which he bemoans the immorality of young Australians ends with what what I thought was the line, \"We\'ve come a long way since Diamond Day.\"\r\n\r\nThe actual verse went like this:\r\n\r\n<em>\"Saturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel, There stands our future and it\'s halfway to hell. Kids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell, hey Australia, what progress we\'ve made. We\'ve come a long way since Dad and Dave.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1368\" title=\"DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S-137x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"137\" height=\"300\" /></a>I had never heard of Dad and Dave, but when I Googled \"Dad and Dave,\" I found out it referred to a pretty large chunk of Australian entertainment. There were films -- movies like \"Dad and Dave Come to Town\" (1938) -- and a radio series that ran from 1932-52. Oh, and there were plenty of jokes in that special Aussie vein.\r\n\r\nHere\'s one:\r\n\r\n<em>Dad and Dave are walking in the bush when they come upon a dingo crouched over licking its testicles.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Dad smiles and says, \"I\'ve always wanted to do that.\"</em>\r\n\r\n<em>Dave is taken a bit aback. \"I don\'t know, Dad. Those dingoes can be pretty vicious. You\'d probably better pet it for a while before you try.\"</em>\r\n\r\nGreat plots?\r\n\r\nHeck, comedy is always a great plot, whether it\'s Woody Allen, Ma and Pa Kettle or just Dad and Dave.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','\'Dad & Dave\' were the Aussies\' Ma and Pa Kettle','','publish','open','open','','dad-dave-were-the-aussies-ma-and-pa-kettle','','','2011-08-22 19:18:58','2011-08-23 02:18:58','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1363',0,'post','',0),(1349,1,'2011-08-14 19:56:59','2011-08-15 02:56:59','','images','Safely home.','inherit','open','open','','images-6','','','2011-08-14 19:56:59','2011-08-15 02:56:59','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1350,1,'2011-08-14 20:17:26','2011-08-15 03:17:26','[caption id=\"attachment_1346\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Apollo 13\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1346\" title=\"apollo-13-patch\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOnce was the time we reached out into space and the American people marveled.\n\nForty years later, we not only don\'t go back, many of our people don\'t even believe we ever went.\n\nI was watching Ron Howard\'s \"Apollo 13\" earlier today, and the thing that surprised me the most about it is that I was 20 years old when it happened in April 1970 and I have no memory of it at all.\n\nIt isn\'t that I didn\'t care about the space program; I remember the thrill of having a television wheeled into my classroom in fifth grade so that we could watch Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and John Glenn go into space. But eight years later, when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the lunar surface, I was working as an usher at a movie theater.\n\nAnd nine months later, when Apollo 13 flew, I was right in the middle of having the most fun I had ever had in my life up to that point. I don\'t know if it was the weekend of the liftoff or the weekend of the return, but my first real girlfriend and I went down to Charlottesville for Easters Weekend at the University of Virginia.\n\nIt\'s hard to explain, but for a few years there -- from about 1968 to 1971 -- I wasn\'t really that involved with what was going on in the outside world. It was a really tumultuous period in my life -- age 18 to 21 -- and not much was going right. I was at war with everyone and everything, but too timid to do anything that really might have constituted taking a chance on something good.\n\nBut even if I wasn\'t part of it, there were still heroic things happening in the world.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1349\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Safely home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1349\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhen Apollo 13 landed safely, it was a happy ending to America\'s greatest space drama up to that time. The only deaths in our space program had been the three astronauts of Apollo 1 in a launching pad fire, although we would lose two shuttles and their inhabitants off in the distant future, after we stopped believing in ourselves.\n\nOnce was a time we accomplished amazing things. We harnessed American industry to supply the war machine, and we rebuilt the free world after the war. We did something private industry could never have done when we built the Interstate highway system.\n\nWhen it came time to go into space, of course it was a partnership between government and private industry. It was too big deal to be done for profit.\n\nThen came the time when we lost faith in ourselves. Conservatives, led by Ronald Reagan, decided that the only way people could be depended upon to do their best work was if there was money in it for them.\n\nGovernment, they told us, couldn\'t do anything right.\n\nAnd when they told us we were mean and greedy and venal, we started to believe it and we became meaner, greedier and more venal. Because people tend to live up -- or down -- to the expectations we have for them.\n\nIf there is one thing the last 30 years have taught us, it ought to be that.','','','inherit','open','open','','1344-revision-2','','','2011-08-14 20:17:26','2011-08-15 03:17:26','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1350',0,'revision','',0),(1351,1,'2011-08-14 20:17:58','2011-08-15 03:17:58','[caption id=\"attachment_1346\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Apollo 13\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1346\" title=\"apollo-13-patch\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/apollo-13-patch1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce was the time we reached out into space and the American people marveled.\r\n\r\nForty years later, we not only don\'t go back, many of our people don\'t even believe we ever went.\r\n\r\nI was watching Ron Howard\'s \"Apollo 13\" earlier today, and the thing that surprised me the most about it is that I was 20 years old when it happened in April 1970 and I have no memory of it at all.\r\n\r\nIt isn\'t that I didn\'t care about the space program; I remember the thrill of having a television wheeled into my classroom in fifth grade so that we could watch Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and John Glenn go into space. But eight years later, when Neil Armstrong took that first step onto the lunar surface, I was working as an usher at a movie theater.\r\n\r\nAnd nine months later, when Apollo 13 flew, I was right in the middle of having the most fun I had ever had in my life up to that point. I don\'t know if it was the weekend of the liftoff or the weekend of the return, but my first real girlfriend and I went down to Charlottesville for Easters Weekend at the University of Virginia.\r\n\r\nIt\'s hard to explain, but for a few years there -- from about 1968 to 1971 -- I wasn\'t really that involved with what was going on in the outside world. It was a really tumultuous period in my life -- age 18 to 21 -- and not much was going right. I was at war with everyone and everything, but too timid to do anything that really might have constituted taking a chance on something good.\r\n\r\nBut even if I wasn\'t part of it, there were still heroic things happening in the world.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1349\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"150\" caption=\"Safely home.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images.jpg\"><img class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1349\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen Apollo 13 landed safely, it was a happy ending to America\'s greatest space drama up to that time. The only deaths in our space program had been the three astronauts of Apollo 1 in a launching pad fire, although we would lose two shuttles and their inhabitants off in the distant future, after we stopped believing in ourselves.\r\n\r\nOnce was a time we accomplished amazing things. We harnessed American industry to supply the war machine, and we rebuilt the free world after the war. We did something private industry could never have done when we built the Interstate highway system.\r\n\r\nWhen it came time to go into space, of course it was a partnership between government and private industry. It was too big deal to be done for profit.\r\n\r\nThen came the time when we lost faith in ourselves. Conservatives, led by Ronald Reagan, decided that the only way people could be depended upon to do their best work was if there was money in it for them.\r\n\r\nGovernment, they told us, couldn\'t do anything right.\r\n\r\nAnd when they told us we were mean and greedy and venal, we started to believe it and we became meaner, greedier and more venal. Because people tend to live up -- or down -- to the expectations we have for them.\r\n\r\nIf there is one thing the last 30 years have taught us, it ought to be that.','When we ask for greatness, that\'s what we usually get','','inherit','open','open','','1344-revision-3','','','2011-08-14 20:17:58','2011-08-15 03:17:58','',1344,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1351',0,'revision','',0),(1352,1,'2011-08-16 15:28:45','2011-08-16 22:28:45','Did we know it was the Sixties when we were living through them?\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1353\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Wild times\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/thesixties.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1353\" title=\"thesixties\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/thesixties-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOn one level, of course we did. When the calendar flipped from 1959 to 1960, we knew it was the beginning of a new decade, and when John F. Kennedy won election as president later in the year, we knew things were changing.\r\n\r\nBut \"the Sixties?\" A decade of upheaval and wild times? JFK didn\'t live long enough, because the \"Sixties\" part of the 1960s started -- by most accounts -- when the president died in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The race riots started the following summer, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident heated Vietnam up to the boiling point.\r\n\r\nBy that same token, when Dec. 31, 1969, because Jan. 1, 1970, the Sixties weren\'t really over yet. While there are certainly some people who think the Sixties ended earlier in December with the rioting and death at Altamont Raceway, I tend to agree with the folks who call May 4, 1970, the end of the decade.\r\n\r\nThat was the day that the Ohio National Guard killed four people on the campus of Kent State University.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we\'re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio.\"</em>\r\n\r\nBut did we know we were living through that fabled decade at the time? Did we know that more than 40 years later, the main dividing factor in the baby boom generation is between people who think the Sixties were a positive force and those who think it was a negative force.\r\n\r\nA look at the first two baby boomer presidents shows the divide clearly, with Bill Clinton on one side and George W. Bush on the other.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1354\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kent, Ohio, 5/4/70\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/kent_state1253913500.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1354\" title=\"kent_state1253913500\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/kent_state1253913500-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhat I remember most about the divide -- even at the time -- was how much anger there was in the country against \"those damn kids\" who wanted to change the world.\r\n\r\nI remember in the days after Kent State how many people there were who blamed the demonstrators for their own deaths, saying that if they hadn\'t been raising a ruckus, they would still have been alive.\r\n\r\nOf course, if Nixon hadn\'t expanded the war into Cambodia, there wouldn\'t have been demonstrations either.\r\n\r\nIt\'s funny. Richard Nixon was the great villain to our generation, but we never dreamed how much worse it would get. At least Nixon didn\'t try to redistribute wealth upward and destroy the middle class. We have Ronald Reagan and W. Bush to thank for that.\r\n\r\nBut to answer the question posed earlier?\r\n\r\nMy guess is that the Sixties hit their stride -- and we knew it -- in 1968. Once Gene McCarthy challenged Johnson, and Johnson withdrew ... Once Bobby Kennedy got into the race and first Martin Luther King and then Bobby himself were murdered ... Once the rioting at the convention in Chicago happened and once Nixon and Agnew won in November, once all that happened, the Sixties were in full stride.\r\n\r\nFor all the talk now of hippies, drugs, peace and love, with a couple of exceptions, the era from November 1963 to May 1970 was not a particularly pleasant time.\r\n\r\nMost of what happened was bad.\r\n\r\nReal bad.\r\n\r\nThere was Woodstock, true, and there was the Summer of Love -- 1967 in San Francisco -- and Scott MacKenzie\'s \"San Francisco.\" If you were around in \'67, you probably heard that song a thousand times. But I would be willing to bet that most of you have never heard the version of the song by Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis.\r\n\r\nI\'ll end this post with a video of that, but I\'ll say one more thing about the Sixties.\r\n\r\nAs bad as it was in many ways, I would love to do it all again.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Symx3ysyq4U','Did we really know it was \'the Sixties?\'','','publish','open','open','','did-we-really-know-it-was-the-sixties','','','2011-08-16 15:28:45','2011-08-16 22:28:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1352',0,'post','',0),(1353,1,'2011-08-16 14:16:09','2011-08-16 21:16:09','','thesixties','Wild times','inherit','open','open','','thesixties','','','2011-08-16 14:16:09','2011-08-16 21:16:09','',1352,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/thesixties.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1354,1,'2011-08-16 14:33:01','2011-08-16 21:33:01','','kent_state1253913500','Kent, Ohio, 5/4/70','inherit','open','open','','kent_state1253913500','','','2011-08-16 14:33:01','2011-08-16 21:33:01','',1352,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/kent_state1253913500.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1355,1,'2011-08-16 15:28:37','2011-08-16 22:28:37','Did we know it was the Sixties when we were living through them?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1353\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Wild times\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/thesixties.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1353\" title=\"thesixties\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/thesixties-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOn one level, of course we did. When the calendar flipped from 1959 to 1960, we knew it was the beginning of a new decade, and when John F. Kennedy won election as president later in the year, we knew things were changing.\n\nBut \"the Sixties?\" A decade of upheaval and wild times? JFK didn\'t live long enough, because the \"Sixties\" part of the 1960s started -- by most accounts -- when the president died in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The race riots started the following summer, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident heated Vietnam up to the boiling point.\n\nBy that same token, when Dec. 31, 1969, because Jan. 1, 1970, the Sixties weren\'t really over yet. While there are certainly some people who think the Sixties ended earlier in December with the rioting and death at Altamont Raceway, I tend to agree with the folks who call May 4, 1970, the end of the decade.\n\nThat was the day that the Ohio National Guard killed four people on the campus of Kent State University.\n\n<em>\"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we\'re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio.\"</em>\n\nBut did we know we were living through that fabled decade at the time? Did we know that more than 40 years later, the main dividing factor in the baby boom generation is between people who think the Sixties were a positive force and those who think it was a negative force.\n\nA look at the first two baby boomer presidents shows the divide clearly, with Bill Clinton on one side and George W. Bush on the other.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1354\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"225\" caption=\"Kent, Ohio, 5/4/70\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/kent_state1253913500.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1354\" title=\"kent_state1253913500\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/kent_state1253913500-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhat I remember most about the divide -- even at the time -- was how much anger there was in the country against \"those damn kids\" who wanted to change the world.\n\nI remember in the days after Kent State how many people there were who blamed the demonstrators for their own deaths, saying that if they hadn\'t been raising a ruckus, they would still have been alive.\n\nOf course, if Nixon hadn\'t expanded the war into Cambodia, there wouldn\'t have been demonstrations either.\n\nIt\'s funny. Richard Nixon was the great villain to our generation, but we never dreamed how much worse it would get. At least Nixon didn\'t try to redistribute wealth upward and destroy the middle class. We have Ronald Reagan and W. Bush to thank for that.\n\nBut to answer the question posed earlier?\n\nMy guess is that the Sixties hit their stride -- and we knew it -- in 1968. Once Gene McCarthy challenged Johnson, and Johnson withdrew ... Once Bobby Kennedy got into the race and first Martin Luther King and then Bobby himself were murdered ... Once the rioting at the convention in Chicago happened and once Nixon and Agnew won in November, once all that happened, the Sixties were in full stride.\n\nFor all the talk now of hippies, drugs, peace and love, with a couple of exceptions, the era from November 1963 to May 1970 was not a particularly pleasant time.\n\nMost of what happened was bad.\n\nReal bad.\n\nThere was Woodstock, true, and there was the Summer of Love -- 1967 in San Francisco -- and Scott MacKenzie\'s \"San Francisco.\" If you were around in \'67, you probably heard that song a thousand times. But I would be willing to bet that most of you have never heard the version of the song by Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis.\n\nI\'ll end this post with a video of that, but I\'ll say one more thing about the Sixties.\n\nAs bad as it was in many ways, I would love to do it all again.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Symx3ysyq4U','Did we really know it was ','','inherit','open','open','','1352-revision','','','2011-08-16 15:28:37','2011-08-16 22:28:37','',1352,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1355',0,'revision','',0),(1356,1,'2011-08-19 20:12:19','2011-08-20 03:12:19','I\'m not sure it\'s possible to explain to anyone under 30 just how different the world was before Telstar.\r\n\r\nThese days we take for granted that a television image uplinked to a satellite from anywhere in the world can be seen instantaneously almost anywhere else in the world. We also take for granted that as long as we know the number, we can call from our own phone and reach phones anywhere else in the world.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1357\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Telstar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1357\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"254\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nBut even though there had been a transatlantic telegraph cable since the middle of the 19th century, telephone calls across the Atlantic had to be completed by radio signal until the first cable was completed in 1956. Even then, calling Europe was a huge deal.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\'t that Telstar changed all that in 1962, but it was the beginning. Nearly 50 years later, folks might not realize that Telstar was the first joint private-government venture in the space program, and Telstar itself was the first commercial satellite.\r\n\r\nMaybe the biggest effect it had for average folks was that it made coast-to-coast television broadcasts possible, and eventually worldwide broadcasts were feasible as well.\r\n\r\nThe world became a much smaller place, especially when you figure that the most popular way to travel to Europe in 1962 was still by sea and took seven days from New York to Southhampton. If you remember the old \"I Love Lucy\" show, you may recall that when the Ricardos went to Europe, they traveled by ocean liner. When they returned, it was by place.\r\n\r\nThe world was changing.\r\n\r\nThe original Telstar lasted less than a year. Damage from U.S. nuclear testing in outer space fried some of its circuits, and Telstar 2 was sent up to replace it in 1963.\r\n\r\nOne interesting fact is that both of the original Telstars are still orbiting the Earth.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1358\" title=\"Telstar\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" /></a>Why was Telstar on my mind? When I was 12, the first year I really listened to rock \'n\' roll radio, there were two wonderful instrumentals that were popular. One of them -- Acker Bilk\'s \"Stranger on the Shore\" -- still shows up in movies from time to time. The other one isn\'t heard all that often anymore, but it was a milestone of sorts.\r\n\r\n\"Telstar,\" by the Tornadoes, was the first song by a British band ever to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.\r\n\r\nBefore the Beatles, before the Stones, before all the great solo artists, there was Telstar.\r\n\r\nLong may it fly.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Back in the day, Telstar changed our lives forever','','publish','open','open','','back-in-the-day-telstar-changed-our-lives-forever','','','2011-08-19 20:12:19','2011-08-20 03:12:19','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1356',0,'post','',0),(1357,1,'2011-08-19 19:51:00','2011-08-20 02:51:00','','images','Telstar','inherit','open','open','','images-7','','','2011-08-19 19:51:00','2011-08-20 02:51:00','',1356,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1358,1,'2011-08-19 20:06:30','2011-08-20 03:06:30','','Telstar','','inherit','open','open','','telstar','','','2011-08-19 20:06:30','2011-08-20 03:06:30','',1356,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1359,1,'2011-08-19 20:12:02','2011-08-20 03:12:02','I\'m not sure it\'s possible to explain to anyone under 30 just how different the world was before Telstar.\n\nThese days we take for granted that a television image uplinked to a satellite from anywhere in the world can be seen instantaneously almost anywhere else in the world. We also take for granted that as long as we know the number, we can call from our own phone and reach phones anywhere else in the world.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1357\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Telstar\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1357\" title=\"images\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/images1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"254\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nBut even though there had been a transatlantic telegraph cable since the middle of the 19th century, telephone calls across the Atlantic had to be completed by radio signal until the first cable was completed in 1956. Even then, calling Europe was a huge deal.\n\nIt wasn\'t that Telstar changed all that in 1962, but it was the beginning. Nearly 50 years later, folks might not realize that Telstar was the first joint private-government venture in the space program, and Telstar itself was the first commercial satellite.\n\nMaybe the biggest effect it had for average folks was that it made coast-to-coast television broadcasts possible, and eventually worldwide broadcasts were feasible as well.\n\nThe world became a much smaller place, especially when you figure that the most popular way to travel to Europe in 1962 was still by sea and took seven days from New York to Southhampton. If you remember the old \"I Love Lucy\" show, you may recall that when the Ricardos went to Europe, they traveled by ocean liner. When they returned, it was by place.\n\nThe world was changing.\n\nThe original Telstar lasted less than a year. Damage from U.S. nuclear testing in outer space fried some of its circuits, and Telstar 2 was sent up to replace it in 1963.\n\nOne interesting fact is that both of the original Telstars are still orbiting the Earth.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1358\" title=\"Telstar\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Telstar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" /></a>Why was Telstar on my mind? When I was 12, the first year I really listened to rock \'n\' roll radio, there were two wonderful instrumentals that were popular. One of them -- Acker Bilk\'s \"Stranger on the Shore\" -- still shows up in movies from time to time. The other one isn\'t heard all that often anymore, but it was a milestone of sorts.\n\n\"Telstar,\" by the Tornadoes, was the first song by a British band ever to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.\n\nBefore the Beatles, before the Stones, before all the great solo artists, there was Telstar.\n\nLong may it fly.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Back in the day,','','inherit','open','open','','1356-revision','','','2011-08-19 20:12:02','2011-08-20 03:12:02','',1356,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1359',0,'revision','',0),(1360,1,'2011-08-20 21:03:44','2011-08-21 04:03:44','There are a lot of reasons to be upset with what is happening to our country, but one of the things that bothers me the most is that political candidates feel they have to pander to our worst instincts.\r\n\r\nI\'m not even talking about the ones who play on our fears, but the candidates who say things they must know cannot possibly be true just because they think they can get votes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1361\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Rick Perry\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1361\" title=\"s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAt one recent Republican presidential debate, the moderator asked how many of the candidates believed in evolution.\r\n\r\nNone of them raised their hands.\r\n\r\nNow I\'m not sure how many of them believe the Earth is just 6,000 years old, or that Jesus had a pet dinosaur. I have a real hard time believing that all these people who had enough on the ball to become senators or governors or CEOs know that little about science.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s pretty obvious that a lot of GOP voters -- whether because of ignorance, religious beliefs or both -- don\'t believe in science. And rather than educate them, the candidates prefer to play to their fears.\r\n\r\nThat\'s a problem for our country. We\'re in an era when we need to be smarter, yet our politicians seem to celebrate stupidity.\r\n\r\nThey seem intent on making one of H.L. Mencken\'s  most outrageous predictions come true. In 1922, Mencken said that he doubted the American republic would last another hundred years.\r\n\r\nMencken cited ignorance and greed as the reasons for the downfall, and we seem to be doing pretty well on both counts.\r\n\r\nIf we want to turn it around, we ought to at least demand one thing.\r\n\r\nWe ought to ask our presidential candidates to try to be smarter than we are.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','We really need to eliminate the stupid candidates','','publish','open','open','','we-really-need-to-eliminate-the-stupid-candidates','','','2011-08-20 21:03:44','2011-08-21 04:03:44','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1360',0,'post','',0),(1361,1,'2011-08-20 20:42:23','2011-08-21 03:42:23','','s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300','Rick Perry','inherit','open','open','','s-rick-perry-evolution-large300','','','2011-08-20 20:42:23','2011-08-21 03:42:23','',1360,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1362,1,'2011-08-20 21:03:17','2011-08-21 04:03:17','There are a lot of reasons to be upset with what is happening to our country, but one of the things that bothers me the most is that political candidates feel they have to pander to our worst instincts.\n\nI\'m not even talking about the ones who play on our fears, but the candidates who say things they must know cannot possibly be true just because they think they can get votes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1361\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Rick Perry\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1361\" title=\"s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/s-RICK-PERRY-EVOLUTION-large300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt one recent Republican presidential debate, the moderator asked how many of the candidates believed in evolution.\n\nNone of them raised their hands.\n\nNow I\'m not sure how many of them believe the Earth is just 6,000 years old, or that Jesus had a pet dinosaur. I have a real hard time believing that all these people who had enough on the ball to become senators or governors or CEOs know that little about science.\n\nBut it\'s pretty obvious that a lot of GOP voters -- whether because of ignorance, religious beliefs or both -- don\'t believe in science. And rather than educate them, the candidates prefer to play to their fears.\n\nThat\'s a problem for our country. We\'re in an era when we need to be smarter, yet our politicians seem to celebrate stupidity.\n\nThey seem intent on making one of H.L. Mencken\'s  most outrageous predictions come true. In 1922, Mencken said that he doubted the American republic would last another hundred years.\n\nMencken cited ignorance and greed as the reasons for the downfall, and we seem to be doing pretty well on both counts.\n\nIf we want to turn it around, we ought to at least demand one thing.\n\nWe ought to ask our presidential candidates to try to be smarter than we are.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1360-revision','','','2011-08-20 21:03:17','2011-08-21 04:03:17','',1360,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1362',0,'revision','',0),(1364,1,'2011-08-22 12:24:39','2011-08-22 19:24:39','There has been a great deal written over the centuries about how the idea of a story almost always breaks down into one of seven great plots.\n\nThose are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, voyage and return, rebirth, the quest, tragedy and comedy. If you make it broad enough, almost every story fits into one of those categories. Even a teenage slob comedy where a bunch of kids are trying to lose their virginity. Hey, it\'s a quest.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1363-revision','','','2011-08-22 12:24:39','2011-08-22 19:24:39','',1363,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1364',0,'revision','',0),(1365,1,'2011-08-22 16:43:51','2011-08-22 23:43:51','There has been a great deal written over the centuries about how the idea of a story almost always breaks down into one of seven great plots.\r\n\r\nThose are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, voyage and return, rebirth, the quest, tragedy and comedy. If you make it broad enough, almost every story fits into one of those categories. Even a teenage slob comedy where a bunch of kids are trying to lose their virginity. Hey, it\'s a quest.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1363-revision-2','','','2011-08-22 16:43:51','2011-08-22 23:43:51','',1363,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1365',0,'revision','',0),(1370,1,'2011-09-02 21:27:55','2011-09-03 04:27:55','About 20 years ago, I had a really productive year when it came to writing. I either finished or started four different novels, and at the end of the period, I had four completed manuscripts.\r\n\r\nNone have yet sold, and two of them no longer exist except in my mind. I had them on 3.5-inch floppies, and at some point those floppies ceased to exist.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1371\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking wounded\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wounded-marines-iwo-jima.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1371\" title=\"WAR &amp; CONFLICT BOOKERA:  WORLD WAR II/AID &amp; COMFORT\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wounded-marines-iwo-jima-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nOne of the stories was not particularly well-written, but it had what I thought was a really original premise. It was called \"Walking Wounded,\" and it was based on the premise that once we have had bad experiences in our lives -- particularly in relationships -- that we carried the wounds with us for the rest of our lives. Just like the soldiers who were wounded in battle but still able to return to action, those wounds became part of us and stayed with us forever.\r\n\r\nA good friend reminded me of that story this week. He had just been to a high-school reunion -- his 40th -- back in Virginia, and maybe without intending to, he used the occasion to evaluate the good things and the bad things that have happened to him in his life.\r\n\r\n\"I thought about your book,\" he told me.\r\n\r\nI had my own 40th reunion nearly four years ago, so I understood what he meant. By the time you\'re pushing 60 -- from one side or the other -- you have to be really careful about your past. You\'ve got so many more years behind you than in front of you that if you don\'t watch out, the past can gobble you up alive.\r\n\r\nGo to a reunion and you see the girls you dated and the ones you wish you could have dated, the friends you made and the enemies as well. Generally by the 40th, those old rivalries don\'t mean what they once did. Forty years after high school, you have something in common that you never did when you were 16 or 17.\r\n\r\nYou both survived the same things -- Vietnam and Nixon, inflation and gas lines, Carter and Reagan, Watergate and Iran Contra, the Challenger explosion and the Gulf War, 911 ...\r\n\r\nAnd the further you go down time\'s long and winding road, the more old acquaintances who slip away. I used to get notifications that my friends\' parents had passed away, but now, more and more frequently, the death notices are for the classmates themselves.\r\n\r\nYou sort of have to fight it.\r\n\r\nYou have to remind yourself that you live in the present, and look forward to the future. I have a wife I dearly love, two children of whom I am completely in awe and a beautiful grandchild with another one on the way.\r\n\r\nWalking wounded or not, it is the present that matters.\r\n\r\nMy friend has had a rough life. In fact, I\'d be willing to say he has been to hell and back at least twice. But he is a good man and the best friend I ever had, and if I have to put two dollars on him, I\'m betting him to win in the end.\r\n\r\nAfter all, wounds do heal -- if you give them a chance.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wounds can be painful, but they can also heal','','publish','open','open','','wounds-can-be-painful-but-they-can-also-heal','','','2011-09-02 21:27:55','2011-09-03 04:27:55','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1370',0,'post','',0),(1367,1,'2011-08-22 18:33:11','2011-08-23 01:33:11','','143805.1020.A','','inherit','open','open','','143805-1020-a','','','2011-08-22 18:33:11','2011-08-23 01:33:11','',1363,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/143805.1020.A.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1368,1,'2011-08-22 19:13:34','2011-08-23 02:13:34','','DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S','','inherit','open','open','','dadanddavecometotown60s','','','2011-08-22 19:13:34','2011-08-23 02:13:34','',1363,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1369,1,'2011-08-22 19:18:10','2011-08-23 02:18:10','There has been a great deal written over the centuries about how the idea of a story almost always breaks down into one of seven great plots.\n\nThose are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, voyage and return, rebirth, the quest, tragedy and comedy. If you make it broad enough, almost every story fits into one of those categories. Even a teenage slob comedy where a bunch of kids are trying to lose their virginity. Hey, it\'s a quest.\n\nOf course, after a while almost all of the various plots get done to death. The two that seem to fascinate audiences the most -- particularly the young male demographic Hollywood seems to love so much -- are overcoming the monster and the quest. But as I said earlier, when the particular quest is nothing more than getting laid, it\'s tough to have too good a movie.\n\nI\'m not sure there has ever been a more interesting age for film than the 1940s, the last decade before television took center stage and destroyed movie attendance. It was pretty much the last decade when nearly all films were made for people of all ages. Sure, there were movies just for kids, but there were none that would have been rated, R, X or NC-17.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/143805.1020.A.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1367\" title=\"143805.1020.A\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/143805.1020.A-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" /></a>Not everything, of course, was \"Gone With the Wind\" or \"Casablanca.\"\n\nThere were plenty of what were known as \"B\" movies that were shot quickly with second-string actors, and if Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride never won Oscars for their roles in the Ma and Pa Kettle films, they certainly made plenty of people laugh.\n\nThese films were part of an interesting little genre, in which city people were able to laugh at the simple country folks and country people laughed at the city fish out of water in the country.\n\nThe Kettles were the subject of 10 films between 1949 and 1957, and if you think they don\'t make movies like that anymore, remember the dozen or so \"Ernest\" movies starring Jim Varney in the 1990s.\n\nIt isn\'t just an American thing, either. A few weeks ago I wrote about Australian singer Eric Bogle and his song, \"The Waltzing Matilda Waltz.\"\n\nOne of the later verses, in which he bemoans the immorality of young Australians ends with what what I thought was the line, \"We\'ve come a long way since Diamond Day.\"\n\nThe actual verse went like this:\n\n<em>\"Saturday night outside a King\'s Cross hotel, There stands our future and it\'s halfway to hell. Kids with hard drugs and young bodies to sell, hey Australia, what progress we\'ve made. We\'ve come a long way since Dad and Dave.\"</em>\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1368\" title=\"DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DADANDDAVECOMETOTOWN60S-137x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"137\" height=\"300\" /></a>I had never heard of Dad and Dave, but when I Googled \"Dad and Dave,\" I found out it referred to a pretty large chunk of Australian entertainment. There were films -- movies like \"Dad and Dave Come to Town\" (1938) -- and a radio series that ran from 1932-52. Oh, and there were plenty of jokes in that special Aussie vein.\n\nHere\'s one:\n\n<em>Dad and Dave are walking in the bush when they come upon a dingo crouched over licking its testicles.</em>\n\n<em>Dad smiles and says, \"I\'ve always wanted to do that.\"</em>\n\n<em>Dave is taken a bit aback. \"I don\'t know, Dad. Those dingoes can be pretty vicious. You\'d probably better pet it for a while before you try.\"</em>\n\nGreat plots?\n\nHeck, comedy is always a great plot, whether it\'s Woody Allen, Ma and Pa Kettle or just Dad and Dave.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1363-revision-3','','','2011-08-22 19:18:10','2011-08-23 02:18:10','',1363,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1369',0,'revision','',0),(1371,1,'2011-09-02 21:17:03','2011-09-03 04:17:03','They did their part.  Wounded Marines are helped to an aid station by Navy corpsmen and Marine walking wounded.  Iwo Jima, ca.  February/March 1945. Cpl. Eugene Jones. (Marine Corps)\r\nExact Date Shot Unknown\r\nNARA FILE #:  127-G-110244\r\nWAR & CONFLICT #:  908','WAR & CONFLICT BOOKERA:  WORLD WAR II/AID & COMFORT','Walking wounded','inherit','open','open','','war-conflict-bookera-world-war-iiaid-comfort','','','2011-09-02 21:17:03','2011-09-03 04:17:03','',1370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wounded-marines-iwo-jima.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1372,1,'2011-09-02 21:27:42','2011-09-03 04:27:42','About 20 years ago, I had a really productive year when it came to writing. I either finished or started four different novels, and at the end of the period, I had four completed manuscripts.\n\nNone have yet sold, and two of them no longer exist except in my mind. I had them on 3.5-inch floppies, and at some point those floppies ceased to exist.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1371\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Walking wounded\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wounded-marines-iwo-jima.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1371\" title=\"WAR &amp; CONFLICT BOOKERA:  WORLD WAR II/AID &amp; COMFORT\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/wounded-marines-iwo-jima-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nOne of the stories was not particularly well-written, but it had what I thought was a really original premise. It was called \"Walking Wounded,\" and it was based on the premise that once we have had bad experiences in our lives -- particularly in relationships -- that we carried the wounds with us for the rest of our lives. Just like the soldiers who were wounded in battle but still able to return to action, those wounds became part of us and stayed with us forever.\n\nA good friend reminded me of that story this week. He had just been to a high-school reunion -- his 40th -- back in Virginia, and maybe without intending to, he used the occasion to evaluate the good things and the bad things that have happened to him in his life.\n\n\"I thought about your book,\" he told me.\n\nI had my own 40th reunion nearly four years ago, so I understood what he meant. By the time you\'re pushing 60 -- from one side or the other -- you have to be really careful about your past. You\'ve got so many more years behind you than in front of you that if you don\'t watch out, the past can gobble you up alive.\n\nGo to a reunion and you see the girls you dated and the ones you wish you could have dated, the friends you made and the enemies as well. Generally by the 40th, those old rivalries don\'t mean what they once did. Forty years after high school, you have something in common that you never did when you were 16 or 17.\n\nYou both survived the same things -- Vietnam and Nixon, inflation and gas lines, Carter and Reagan, Watergate and Iran Contra, the Challenger explosion and the Gulf War, 911 ...\n\nAnd the further you go down time\'s long and winding road, the more old acquaintances who slip away. I used to get notifications that my friends\' parents had passed away, but now, more and more frequently, the death notices are for the classmates themselves.\n\nYou sort of have to fight it.\n\nYou have to remind yourself that you live in the present, and look forward to the future. I have a wife I dearly love, two children of whom I am completely in awe and a beautiful grandchild with another one on the way.\n\nWalking wounded or not, it is the present that matters.\n\nMy friend has had a rough life. In fact, I\'d be willing to say he has been to hell and back at least twice. But he is a good man and the best friend I ever had, and if I have to put two dollars on him, I\'m betting him to win in the end.\n\nAfter all, wounds do heal -- if you give them a chance.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1370-revision','','','2011-09-02 21:27:42','2011-09-03 04:27:42','',1370,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1372',0,'revision','',0),(1382,1,'2011-09-25 15:54:20','2011-09-25 22:54:20','When you get older, it\'s real easy to get grouchy about how much better everything used to be when you were younger.\r\n\r\nMy friend Mick is perhaps the best example I know of that. Rarely does a week go by that I don\'t get an e-mail from him extolling all the wonders of the \'50s and \'60s, when we baby boomers were kids.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1385\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline and Maddie\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pauline.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1385\" title=\"Pauline\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pauline-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s one thing when he sings the praises of the crummy little baseball field where we played in the summertime. Eaton Field, which we called \"Eats-it Field\" at the time, has now grown to rival Wrigley Field and Fenway Park for sheer nostalgia. That\'s bearable, but when I get the e-mails calling \"Gilligan\'s Island\" and \"Leave it to Beaver\" as some sort of Golden Age of television, hey, we didn\'t even take those shows seriously<em> then</em>.\r\n\r\nSure, some things were better. We could go out and play without being kidnapped, molested or murdered three times before lunch, and comic books were only 10 cents. But the only form of portable music was the transistor radio -- which only got AM -- and no one I knew actually had sex until about 1970.\r\n\r\nThings definitely have changed, and not always for the worst. I\'m not a huge fan of cell phones, but there\'s a huge difference between free long distance and the previous \"Talk fast, the charges are piling up\" approach to calls from more than 10 miles away.\r\n\r\nAs recently as 1979, I remember paying $10 a minute for a long-distance call between McLean, Va., and Beijing, China. In 2008-09, when my daughter was stationed there in her job as a foreign service officer, Skype made the cost of the calls slightly less than nominal. And those were <em>video</em> calls.\r\n\r\nThe saddest thing about my life right now is how little I see my two wonderful children. With Pauline and her family in Indonesia and Virgile and his wife in Greece, the world seems very large to me. I haven\'t seen Pauline -- except through Skype -- in more than 20 months, although the plan right now is to spend three weeks with the Kastners later this year in Seattle after Pauline gives us our second grandchild.\r\n\r\nWe saw Virgile and Sterling for two weeks in June when we went to Europe, and that was nice too, but it will be nearly a year before they return to the U.S., and we don\'t have a Skype relationship with them.\r\n\r\nStill, it\'s there and I am confident that at some point we\'ll be talking regularly.\r\n\r\nSo the world may be going straight to hell in some ways, and it may be hard for me to find a movie made after 1979 I can bear to watch, but the improvement in communications makes up for a lot of it.\r\n\r\nI may miss my kids a lot, but at least we can stay in touch.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','He\'s grumpy, but he loves good communication','','publish','open','open','','hes-grumpy-but-he-loves-good-communication','','','2011-09-25 15:54:20','2011-09-25 22:54:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1382',0,'post','',0),(1374,1,'2011-09-11 12:36:48','2011-09-11 19:36:48','In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, there were two images that were difficult for me to get out of my head.\r\n\r\nFirst and foremost were the displays of photos and notices put up by people whose friends or relatives were missing and/or presumed dead. The collapse of the Twin Towers wasn\'t an event in which it was easy to figure who had been inside and who hadn\'t, and the attack had happened early enough in the day that it wasn\'t too much of a stretch to hope that a loved one hadn\'t yet arrived at work.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1375\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"265\" caption=\"Dead ... or perhaps alive?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/posters.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1375\" title=\"posters\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/posters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"265\" height=\"202\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nHope dies hard.\r\n\r\nAmid all the horror of that day, it\'s easy to forget that initially, we expected the news  to be much worse than it actually turned out to be. The initial speculation was that there might have been as many as 25 or 30 thousand people in the towers when they collapsed. I remember one of the more poignant quotes from that week came from New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani when someone asked him what the ultimate death toll would be.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Almost too much to bear.\"</em>\r\n\r\nFor all the talk about the damage done that day to our economy and to our national fabric, all that seems insignificant next to the tens of thousands of Americans who lost husbands or wives, mothers or fathers, sons or daughters or just close friends.  Economies recover, national fabrics are re-woven, but the personal losses suffered on that day are the kind many people never recover from.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1376\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"230\" caption=\"The falling man\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fallingman-lg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1376\" title=\"fallingman-lg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fallingman-lg-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe second picture is even more poignant. While the images most people see again and again are of the planes hitting the towers, or of the towers collapsing, the pictures I will never forget are of people on the upper floors, knowing they had no hope of surviving, choosing to meet death in their own way.\r\n\r\nSome who jumped were more than 90 stories up.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been that high in the World Trade Center. In 1979, my first wife and I ate at Windows on the World on the 106th floor of the North Tower. I\'m uneasy enough with heights that I wouldn\'t even have gone near a window, so I can only imagine how  desperate a choice it must have been for someone to step off into space.\r\n\r\nI remember thinking about how long it must have taken to fall, and I remember what I wrote about it at the time.\r\n\r\n<em>It took a very long time. It took the rest of their lives.</em>\r\n\r\nI don\'t know their names, but 10 days after the attacks, I wrote a Web column in which I said we needed to remember people like Claudia Martinez Foster and Jeannine Damiani-Jones, Lynne Morris and Monica Goldstein. I said our challenge in the weeks, months and years ahead would be to remember Nigel Thompson, who had a Superman tattoo on his left ankle. To remember Pete Ortiz, the father of 6-month-old twins who will never know their dad. To remember Gerald Baptiste, one of the firefighters who went into the building to try and save lives and didn’t come out.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if we imagined then the twists and turns fate would take over the next 10 years. I don\'t think history will view us kindly for going to war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks, or with our government doing so much to restrict our civil liberties or with the massive deficits we have run so that we could keep taxes low on the rich.\r\n\r\nSadly, I don\'t think any of that had much to do with Sept. 11, 2001. I think the folks running our government used the attacks as excuses to do what they would have done anyway, and besides, I have always believed that we get the government we deserve.\r\n\r\nWhat happened then and what has happened since wasn\'t about governments.\r\n\r\nIt was about people.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','The real cost of 911 was to families, friends','','publish','open','open','','the-real-cost-of-911-was-to-families-friends','','','2011-09-11 12:36:48','2011-09-11 19:36:48','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1374',0,'post','',0),(1375,1,'2011-09-11 11:47:29','2011-09-11 18:47:29','','posters','Dead ... or perhaps alive?','inherit','open','open','','posters','','','2011-09-11 11:47:29','2011-09-11 18:47:29','',1374,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/posters.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1376,1,'2011-09-11 12:07:43','2011-09-11 19:07:43','','fallingman-lg','The falling man','inherit','open','open','','fallingman-lg','','','2011-09-11 12:07:43','2011-09-11 19:07:43','',1374,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fallingman-lg.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1377,1,'2011-09-11 12:36:06','2011-09-11 19:36:06','In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, there were two images that were difficult for me to get out of my head.\n\nFirst and foremost were the displays of photos and notices put up by people whose friends or relatives were missing and/or presumed dead. The collapse of the Twin Towers wasn\'t an event in which it was easy to figure who had been inside and who hadn\'t, and the attack had happened early enough in the day that it wasn\'t too much of a stretch to hope that a loved one hadn\'t yet arrived at work.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1375\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"265\" caption=\"Dead ... or perhaps alive?\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/posters.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1375\" title=\"posters\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/posters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"265\" height=\"202\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nHope dies hard.\n\nAmid all the horror of that day, it\'s easy to forget that initially, we expected the news  to be much worse than it actually turned out to be. The initial speculation was that there might have been as many as 25 or 30 thousand people in the towers when they collapsed. I remember one of the more poignant quotes from that week came from New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani when someone asked him what the ultimate death toll would be.\n\n<em>\"Almost too much to bear.\"</em>\n\nFor all the talk about the damage done that day to our economy and to our national fabric, all that seems insignificant next to the tens of thousands of Americans who lost husbands or wives, mothers or fathers, sons or daughters or just close friends.  Economies recover, national fabrics are re-woven, but the personal losses suffered on that day are the kind many people never recover from.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1376\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"230\" caption=\"The falling man\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fallingman-lg.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1376\" title=\"fallingman-lg\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fallingman-lg-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThe second picture is even more poignant. While the images most people see again and again are of the planes hitting the towers, or of the towers collapsing, the pictures I will never forget are of people on the upper floors, knowing they had no hope of surviving, choosing to meet death in their own way.\n\nSome who jumped were more than 90 stories up.\n\nI\'ve been that high in the World Trade Center. In 1979, my first wife and I ate at Windows on the World on the 106th floor of the North Tower. I\'m uneasy enough with heights that I wouldn\'t even have gone near a window, so I can only imagine how  desperate a choice it must have been for someone to step off into space.\n\nI remember thinking about how long it must have taken to fall, and I remember what I wrote about it at the time.\n\n<em>It took a very long time. It took the rest of their lives.</em>\n\nI don\'t know their names, but 10 days after the attacks, I wrote a Web column in which I said we needed to remember people like Claudia Martinez Foster and Jeannine Damiani-Jones, Lynne Morris and Monica Goldstein. I said our challenge in the weeks, months and years ahead would be to remember Nigel Thompson, who had a Superman tattoo on his left ankle. To remember Pete Ortiz, the father of 6-month-old twins who will never know their dad. To remember Gerald Baptiste, one of the firefighters who went into the building to try and save lives and didn’t come out.\n\nI don\'t know if we imagined then the twists and turns fate would take over the next 10 years. I don\'t think history will view us kindly for going to war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks, or with our government doing so much to restrict our civil liberties or with the massive deficits we have run so that we could keep taxes low on the rich.\n\nSadly, I don\'t think any of that had much to do with Sept. 11, 2001. I think the folks running our government used the attacks as excuses to do what they would have done anyway, and besides, I have always believed that we get the government we deserve.\n\nWhat happened then and what has happened since wasn\'t about governments.\n\nIt was about people.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1374-revision','','','2011-09-11 12:36:06','2011-09-11 19:36:06','',1374,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1377',0,'revision','',0),(1378,1,'2011-09-13 18:55:56','2011-09-14 01:55:56','<em>Editor\'s note: This is the third or fourth time this has been published since some readers and I put this together on an earlier website about five years ago. It came from a serious of discussions about America needing a third party that worked in favor of the middle class. It\'s ironic now that the document never mentions levels of taxation as a valid issue. Tea Partiers will see this as too liberal, especially in its demand that children shouldn\'t have to suffer without health care because of their parents, but I think the heart of the document is in these words: </em>\r\n\r\n\"We know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\"\r\n\r\n<em>We called it the Western Independent Party, with the idea that it could be \"A Mighty Wind.\"</em>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>***</strong></p>\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1379\" title=\"Patriotism0b\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b-300x282.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"282\" /></a>There are times in history when groups established to further the aims of people either become unresponsive to those aims or inconsistent with the legitimate objectives they were conceived to pursue.\r\n\r\nThis has happened before, but few have become so distorted or misdirected as in the modern two-party system. We believe both the Democratic and Republican parties have been corrupted to the point where their only real value is to the large contributors who finance their operations and those who hold office under their banners.\r\n\r\nWe are convinced that while there are good people in both parties, the organizations themselves are corrupted beyond redemption and utterly unsuited to serving as vessels for change to benefit society at large.\r\n\r\nIt is because we as Americans are guided first and foremost by love of our country that we seek to find a middle ground where all men and women of good will can work for the common good.\r\n\r\nWe do this in the belief that in a successful political system, whether broken or healthy, no one is exempt from the effort to find common ground.\r\n\r\nAs Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\r\n\r\nWe recognize today, as Jefferson did in 1776, that men and women cannot choose to surrender these rights, and that as Benjamin Franklin said, people who would yield their freedom in hope of gaining security deserve neither. It is the responsibility of the government to protect its citizens, but it must do so in a way that respects our rights as Americans.\r\n\r\nWe have no complaint with the American system. Our \"experiment in Democracy\" that began in 1776 is the wonder of the civilized world and an example to all mankind. It is only the ways in which our current political system perverts that experiment that we intend to change.\r\n\r\nWe know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\r\n\r\nFirst and foremost, America relies upon individuals and groups taking positive action. We admire those individuals whose priorities include personal sacrifice for the greater good, those who willingly share their bounty with the less fortunate and work to improve the lives of those people with whom they come into contact.\r\n\r\nWe believe that government must not stand in the way of an individual\'s legitimate drive to succeed, that intelligence, determination, hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit are all positive qualities that should be encouraged. But we also believe that no one succeeds more nobly than when he or she improves the lives of others, particularly those who are less capable or less fortunate.\r\n\r\nWe recognize that most Americans are neither so rich that they never require assistance or so poor that assistance is always necessary. Most people consider themselves part of the middle class, needing help at times and giving help at others. There should be no actions taken by the government except in times of dire emergency that hurt the middle class to benefit others.\r\n\r\nWe encourage the behavior commonly known as the Golden Rule, stated in one form or another in almost every religion known to man, that actions toward others are best when they are those we would not object to others doing to us. Human improvement, love, respect for others and sharing other people\'s suffering are qualities agreed upon by people of good faith everywhere.\r\n\r\nWe understand that religion is an important part of life for many Americans and we believe that government must never stand in the way of religious practice in appropriate situations. We are disappointed that government often becomes bogged down in attempts to prohibit relatively innocuous displays of faith that offend only the most fanatical and believe, for example, that Christmas displays not supported by public funds should be allowed. Yet we also understand that America is a nation of many different religions, and we respect whatever peaceful, life-affirming ways people choose to express their faith in God.\r\n\r\nWe believe America stands tallest in the world when it stands for American principles. Those principles include working peacefully with friends and allies, standing up for human rights and helping other nations improve the lives of their citizens.\r\n\r\nWe have no desire to impose our system on anyone, but we gladly encourage those who wish to emulate our freedoms.\r\n\r\nWe insist that our government perform its fundamental responsibility or defending our territory and borders from outside invasion, whether that invasion is for the purpose of damaging America or simply of entering the country illegally.\r\n\r\nWe believe that those people who come here from other countries seeking better lives must do so legally, but they should not be scapegoated for political reasons or used by unethical employers looking to keep the cost of doing business down.\r\n\r\nWe demand that our government make efficient, effective use of the money provided for national defense. We reject sweetheart deals and no-bid contracts and believe that the so-called \"military-industrial complex\" is often a counterproductive force in the critical task of national defense.\r\n\r\nPublic service is an honor, and a career in public service should never be undertaken as a means for enriching oneself. While we do not expect political figures and government employees to take a vow of poverty, we recognize that corruption has added dollars to the national debt and subtracted from the public\'s trust of the people who serve it.\r\n\r\nWe recognize that all Americans have rights stemming from life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we believe those rights should include basic health care, basic sustenance, basic shelter and the opportunity to get a free education that will help them compete in the modern world.\r\n\r\nWe hold no brief for those who have the ability to provide for their own needs yet choose not to do so, but there are too many times in recent memory that innocent children have paid for the shortcomings of their parents. That any children should go hungry, become ill or die because of lack of wealth is an abomination in a wealthy society.\r\n\r\nWe recognize that the problem of providing health care is a difficult one, and we believe that a society that spends one of every seven dollars on health care is dysfunctional in that area. This is a problem that must be addressed by people of good faith. As an intermediate step, however, we insist that no child be denied the right to basic preventative or remedial care, and that vaccinations and other such care be readily available to all Americans.\r\n\r\nWe know that our educational system has become dysfunctional and that too much money is being spent for purposes that are not productive. As parents and as community members, we demand that a way be found to better educate our children.\r\n\r\nWe believe that a system based on test scores only encourages \"teaching the test\" at the expense of other subjects and a system that discourages the natural desire of a child to learn is a complete and total failure.\r\n\r\nWe believe that bad teachers should be encouraged either to improve or leave and that good teachers, teachers who make children love learning, must be rewarded.\r\n\r\nWe accept that learning is a lifelong progress and we expect that our culture will encourage rather than ridicule that process. Although we respect the profit motive in entertainment and understand the goal of reaching the most people possible, we do not approve of a culture that exacerbates the problems of society and plays to our worst instincts as human beings.\r\n\r\nWe recognize that race should play no role as a determining factor in modern life, and that far too often, programs intended to encourage the integration of racial or ethnic groups into the mainstream have served exactly the opposite purpose. We encourage the efforts of immigrants to become part of the mainstream of American life.\r\n\r\nWe demand an end to discrimination, but believe that set-asides and most affirmative action programs no longer work. If such programs are to continue, they should be based economically rather than racially or ethnically.\r\n\r\nEven those who argue for a limited system of government agree that the infrastructure is the responsibility of the government, and that one of the greatest domestic successes of the last half-century was the building of the Interstate Highway System. We have been living off money spent on our infrastructure in previous generations, and roads, bridges and tunnels from Maine to California are crumbling. We support a reasonable public works program to rebuild America for the needs of the 21st century.\r\n\r\nWe support a healthy respect for responsible, peer-reviewed science and are critical of those who attempt to twist facts to suit their political agenda. While there are certainly issues on which people of intelligence can disagree, not everything in this world is a matter of opinion. We support sound environmentalism and reject extremism on both sides.\r\n\r\nWe understand that both within our country and our world, there are a plethora of troubling issues on which Americans have not been able to compromise. Many of those are so-called \"moral issues, and rather than take a stand on issues that really no have more than one side, we ask only that people come to their conclusions for reasons that exalt our common humanity rather than abase it.\r\n\r\nWe reject the politics of fear and hatred.\r\n\r\nMore than a thousand years before the United States of America was founded, a great philosopher was asked if there was one word that could serve as a principle for life. Confucius replied that the word was \"reciprocity.\"\r\n\r\n\"Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.\"\r\n\r\nWe accept this as a guiding principle for our efforts, and it is in that spirit that we establish the Western Independent Party.','A quest for a viable political middle','','publish','open','open','','a-quest-for-a-viable-political-middle','','','2011-09-13 18:55:56','2011-09-14 01:55:56','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1378',0,'post','',0),(1379,1,'2011-09-13 18:44:25','2011-09-14 01:44:25','','Patriotism0b','','inherit','open','open','','patriotism0b','','','2011-09-13 18:44:25','2011-09-14 01:44:25','',1378,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1380,1,'2011-09-13 18:46:57','2011-09-14 01:46:57','<em>Editor\'s note: This is the third or fourth time this has been published since some readers and I put this together on an earlier website about five years ago. It came from a serious of discussions about America needing a third party that worked in favor of the middle class. It\'s ironic now that the document never mentions levels of taxation as a valid issue. Tea Partiers will see this as too liberal, especially in its demand that children shouldn\'t have to suffer without health care because of their parents, but I think the heart of the document is in these words: </em>\n\n\"We know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\"\n\n<em>We called it the Western Independent Party, with the idea that it could be \"A Mighty Wind.\"</em>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>***</strong></p>\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1379\" title=\"Patriotism0b\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b-300x282.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"282\" /></a>There are times in history when groups established to further the aims of people either become unresponsive to those aims or inconsistent with the legitimate objectives they were conceived to pursue.\n\nThis has happened before, but few have become so distorted or misdirected as in the modern two-party system. We believe both the Democratic and Republican parties have been corrupted to the point where their only real value is to the large contributors who finance their operations and those who hold office under their banners.\n\nWe are convinced that while there are good people in both parties, the organizations themselves are corrupted beyond redemption and utterly unsuited to serving as vessels for change to benefit society at large.\n\nIt is because we as Americans are guided first and foremost by love of our country that we seek to find a middle ground where all men and women of good will can work for the common good.\n\nWe do this in the belief that in a successful political system, whether broken or healthy, no one is exempt from the effort to find common ground.\n\nAs Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\n\nWe recognize today, as Jefferson did in 1776, that men and women cannot choose to surrender these rights, and that as Benjamin Franklin said, people who would yield their freedom in hope of gaining security deserve neither. It is the responsibility of the government to protect its citizens, but it must do so in a way that respects our rights as Americans.\n\nWe have no complaint with the American system. Our \"experiment in Democracy\" that began in 1776 is the wonder of the civilized world and an example to all mankind. It is only the ways in which our current political system perverts that experiment that we intend to change.\n\nWe know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\n\nFirst and foremost, America relies upon individuals and groups taking positive action. We admire those individuals whose priorities include personal sacrifice for the greater good, those who willingly share their bounty with the less fortunate and work to improve the lives of those people with whom they come into contact.\n\nWe believe that government must not stand in the way of an individual\'s legitimate drive to succeed, that intelligence, determination, hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit are all positive qualities that should be encouraged. But we also believe that no one succeeds more nobly than when he or she improves the lives of others, particularly those who are less capable or less fortunate.\n\nWe recognize that most Americans are neither so rich that they never require assistance or so poor that assistance is always necessary. Most people consider themselves part of the middle class, needing help at times and giving help at others. There should be no actions taken by the government except in times of dire emergency that hurt the middle class to benefit others.\n\nWe encourage the behavior commonly known as the Golden Rule, stated in one form or another in almost every religion known to man, that actions toward others are best when they are those we would not object to others doing to us. Human improvement, love, respect for others and sharing other people\'s suffering are qualities agreed upon by people of good faith everywhere.\n\nWe understand that religion is an important part of life for many Americans and we believe that government must never stand in the way of religious practice in appropriate situations. We are disappointed that government often becomes bogged down in attempts to prohibit relatively innocuous displays of faith that offend only the most fanatical and believe, for example, that Christmas displays not supported by public funds should be allowed. Yet we also understand that America is a nation of many different religions, and we respect whatever peaceful, life-affirming ways people choose to express their faith in God.\n\nWe believe America stands tallest in the world when it stands for American principles. Those principles include working peacefully with friends and allies, standing up for human rights and helping other nations improve the lives of their citizens.\n\nWe have no desire to impose our system on anyone, but we gladly encourage those who wish to emulate our freedoms.\n\nWe insist that our government perform its fundamental responsibility or defending our territory and borders from outside invasion, whether that invasion is for the purpose of damaging America or simply of entering the country illegally.\n\nWe believe that those people who come here from other countries seeking better lives must do so legally, but they should not be scapegoated for political reasons or used by unethical employers looking to keep the cost of doing business down.\n\nWe demand that our government make efficient, effective use of the money provided for national defense. We reject sweetheart deals and no-bid contracts and believe that the so-called \"military-industrial complex\" is often a counterproductive force in the critical task of national defense.\n\nPublic service is an honor, and a career in public service should never be undertaken as a means for enriching oneself. While we do not expect political figures and government employees to take a vow of poverty, we recognize that corruption has added dollars to the national debt and subtracted from the public\'s trust of the people who serve it.\n\nWe recognize that all Americans have rights stemming from life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we believe those rights should include basic health care, basic sustenance, basic shelter and the opportunity to get a free education that will help them compete in the modern world.\n\nWe hold no brief for those who have the ability to provide for their own needs yet choose not to do so, but there are too many times in recent memory that innocent children have paid for the shortcomings of their parents. That any children should go hungry, become ill or die because of lack of wealth is an abomination in a wealthy society.\n\nWe recognize that the problem of providing health care is a difficult one, and we believe that a society that spends one of every seven dollars on health care is dysfunctional in that area. This is a problem that must be addressed by people of good faith. As an intermediate step, however, we insist that no child be denied the right to basic preventative or remedial care, and that vaccinations and other such care be readily available to all Americans.\n\nWe know that our educational system has become dysfunctional and that too much money is being spent for purposes that are not productive. As parents and as community members, we demand that a way be found to better educate our children.\n\nWe believe that a system based on test scores only encourages \"teaching the test\" at the expense of other subjects and a system that discourages the natural desire of a child to learn is a complete and total failure.\n\nWe believe that bad teachers should be encouraged either to improve or leave and that good teachers, teachers who make children love learning, must be rewarded.\n\nWe accept that learning is a lifelong progress and we expect that our culture will encourage rather than ridicule that process. Although we respect the profit motive in entertainment and understand the goal of reaching the most people possible, we do not approve of a culture that exacerbates the problems of society and plays to our worst instincts as human beings.\n\nWe recognize that race should play no role as a determining factor in modern life, and that far too often, programs intended to encourage the integration of racial or ethnic groups into the mainstream have served exactly the opposite purpose. We encourage the efforts of immigrants to become part of the mainstream of American life.\n\nWe demand an end to discrimination, but believe that set-asides and most affirmative action programs no longer work. If such programs are to continue, they should be based economically rather than racially or ethnically.\n\nEven those who argue for a limited system of government agree that the infrastructure is the responsibility of the government, and that one of the greatest domestic successes of the last half-century was the building of the Interstate Highway System. We have been living off money spent on our infrastructure in previous generations, and roads, bridges and tunnels from Maine to California are crumbling. We support a reasonable public works program to rebuild America for the needs of the 21st century.\n\nWe support a healthy respect for responsible, peer-reviewed science and are critical of those who attempt to twist facts to suit their political agenda. While there are certainly issues on which people of intelligence can disagree, not everything in this world is a matter of opinion. We support sound environmentalism and reject extremism on both sides.\n\nWe understand that both within our country and our world, there are a plethora of troubling issues on which Americans have not been able to compromise. Many of those are so-called \"moral issues, and rather than take a stand on issues that really no have more than one side, we ask only that people come to their conclusions for reasons that exalt our common humanity rather than abase it.\n\nWe reject the politics of fear and hatred.\n\nMore than a thousand years before the United States of America was founded, a great philosopher was asked if there was one word that could serve as a principle for life. Confucius replied that the word was \"reciprocity.\"\n\n\"Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.\"\n\nWe accept this as a guiding principle for our efforts, and it is in that spirit that we establish the Western Independent Party.','','','inherit','open','open','','1378-revision','','','2011-09-13 18:46:57','2011-09-14 01:46:57','',1378,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1380',0,'revision','',0),(1381,1,'2011-09-13 18:55:58','2011-09-14 01:55:58','<em>Editor\'s note: This is the third or fourth time this has been published since some readers and I put this together on an earlier website about five years ago. It came from a serious of discussions about America needing a third party that worked in favor of the middle class. It\'s ironic now that the document never mentions levels of taxation as a valid issue. Tea Partiers will see this as too liberal, especially in its demand that children shouldn\'t have to suffer without health care because of their parents, but I think the heart of the document is in these words: </em>\n\n\"We know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\"\n\n<em>We called it the Western Independent Party, with the idea that it could be \"A Mighty Wind.\"</em>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>***</strong></p>\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1379\" title=\"Patriotism0b\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Patriotism0b-300x282.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"282\" /></a>There are times in history when groups established to further the aims of people either become unresponsive to those aims or inconsistent with the legitimate objectives they were conceived to pursue.\n\nThis has happened before, but few have become so distorted or misdirected as in the modern two-party system. We believe both the Democratic and Republican parties have been corrupted to the point where their only real value is to the large contributors who finance their operations and those who hold office under their banners.\n\nWe are convinced that while there are good people in both parties, the organizations themselves are corrupted beyond redemption and utterly unsuited to serving as vessels for change to benefit society at large.\n\nIt is because we as Americans are guided first and foremost by love of our country that we seek to find a middle ground where all men and women of good will can work for the common good.\n\nWe do this in the belief that in a successful political system, whether broken or healthy, no one is exempt from the effort to find common ground.\n\nAs Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\n\nWe recognize today, as Jefferson did in 1776, that men and women cannot choose to surrender these rights, and that as Benjamin Franklin said, people who would yield their freedom in hope of gaining security deserve neither. It is the responsibility of the government to protect its citizens, but it must do so in a way that respects our rights as Americans.\n\nWe have no complaint with the American system. Our \"experiment in Democracy\" that began in 1776 is the wonder of the civilized world and an example to all mankind. It is only the ways in which our current political system perverts that experiment that we intend to change.\n\nWe know that the ability of government to solve problems is far from unlimited. We believe that while there are few problems for which government action should be the first option, there are equally few in which it should never be considered as an option of last resort.\n\nFirst and foremost, America relies upon individuals and groups taking positive action. We admire those individuals whose priorities include personal sacrifice for the greater good, those who willingly share their bounty with the less fortunate and work to improve the lives of those people with whom they come into contact.\n\nWe believe that government must not stand in the way of an individual\'s legitimate drive to succeed, that intelligence, determination, hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit are all positive qualities that should be encouraged. But we also believe that no one succeeds more nobly than when he or she improves the lives of others, particularly those who are less capable or less fortunate.\n\nWe recognize that most Americans are neither so rich that they never require assistance or so poor that assistance is always necessary. Most people consider themselves part of the middle class, needing help at times and giving help at others. There should be no actions taken by the government except in times of dire emergency that hurt the middle class to benefit others.\n\nWe encourage the behavior commonly known as the Golden Rule, stated in one form or another in almost every religion known to man, that actions toward others are best when they are those we would not object to others doing to us. Human improvement, love, respect for others and sharing other people\'s suffering are qualities agreed upon by people of good faith everywhere.\n\nWe understand that religion is an important part of life for many Americans and we believe that government must never stand in the way of religious practice in appropriate situations. We are disappointed that government often becomes bogged down in attempts to prohibit relatively innocuous displays of faith that offend only the most fanatical and believe, for example, that Christmas displays not supported by public funds should be allowed. Yet we also understand that America is a nation of many different religions, and we respect whatever peaceful, life-affirming ways people choose to express their faith in God.\n\nWe believe America stands tallest in the world when it stands for American principles. Those principles include working peacefully with friends and allies, standing up for human rights and helping other nations improve the lives of their citizens.\n\nWe have no desire to impose our system on anyone, but we gladly encourage those who wish to emulate our freedoms.\n\nWe insist that our government perform its fundamental responsibility or defending our territory and borders from outside invasion, whether that invasion is for the purpose of damaging America or simply of entering the country illegally.\n\nWe believe that those people who come here from other countries seeking better lives must do so legally, but they should not be scapegoated for political reasons or used by unethical employers looking to keep the cost of doing business down.\n\nWe demand that our government make efficient, effective use of the money provided for national defense. We reject sweetheart deals and no-bid contracts and believe that the so-called \"military-industrial complex\" is often a counterproductive force in the critical task of national defense.\n\nPublic service is an honor, and a career in public service should never be undertaken as a means for enriching oneself. While we do not expect political figures and government employees to take a vow of poverty, we recognize that corruption has added dollars to the national debt and subtracted from the public\'s trust of the people who serve it.\n\nWe recognize that all Americans have rights stemming from life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and we believe those rights should include basic health care, basic sustenance, basic shelter and the opportunity to get a free education that will help them compete in the modern world.\n\nWe hold no brief for those who have the ability to provide for their own needs yet choose not to do so, but there are too many times in recent memory that innocent children have paid for the shortcomings of their parents. That any children should go hungry, become ill or die because of lack of wealth is an abomination in a wealthy society.\n\nWe recognize that the problem of providing health care is a difficult one, and we believe that a society that spends one of every seven dollars on health care is dysfunctional in that area. This is a problem that must be addressed by people of good faith. As an intermediate step, however, we insist that no child be denied the right to basic preventative or remedial care, and that vaccinations and other such care be readily available to all Americans.\n\nWe know that our educational system has become dysfunctional and that too much money is being spent for purposes that are not productive. As parents and as community members, we demand that a way be found to better educate our children.\n\nWe believe that a system based on test scores only encourages \"teaching the test\" at the expense of other subjects and a system that discourages the natural desire of a child to learn is a complete and total failure.\n\nWe believe that bad teachers should be encouraged either to improve or leave and that good teachers, teachers who make children love learning, must be rewarded.\n\nWe accept that learning is a lifelong progress and we expect that our culture will encourage rather than ridicule that process. Although we respect the profit motive in entertainment and understand the goal of reaching the most people possible, we do not approve of a culture that exacerbates the problems of society and plays to our worst instincts as human beings.\n\nWe recognize that race should play no role as a determining factor in modern life, and that far too often, programs intended to encourage the integration of racial or ethnic groups into the mainstream have served exactly the opposite purpose. We encourage the efforts of immigrants to become part of the mainstream of American life.\n\nWe demand an end to discrimination, but believe that set-asides and most affirmative action programs no longer work. If such programs are to continue, they should be based economically rather than racially or ethnically.\n\nEven those who argue for a limited system of government agree that the infrastructure is the responsibility of the government, and that one of the greatest domestic successes of the last half-century was the building of the Interstate Highway System. We have been living off money spent on our infrastructure in previous generations, and roads, bridges and tunnels from Maine to California are crumbling. We support a reasonable public works program to rebuild America for the needs of the 21st century.\n\nWe support a healthy respect for responsible, peer-reviewed science and are critical of those who attempt to twist facts to suit their political agenda. While there are certainly issues on which people of intelligence can disagree, not everything in this world is a matter of opinion. We support sound environmentalism and reject extremism on both sides.\n\nWe understand that both within our country and our world, there are a plethora of troubling issues on which Americans have not been able to compromise. Many of those are so-called \"moral issues, and rather than take a stand on issues that really no have more than one side, we ask only that people come to their conclusions for reasons that exalt our common humanity rather than abase it.\n\nWe reject the politics of fear and hatred.\n\nMore than a thousand years before the United States of America was founded, a great philosopher was asked if there was one word that could serve as a principle for life. Confucius replied that the word was \"reciprocity.\"\n\n\"Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.\"\n\nWe accept this as a guiding principle for our efforts, and it is in that spirit that we establish the Western Independent Party.','A quest for a viable political middle','','inherit','open','open','','1378-autosave','','','2011-09-13 18:55:58','2011-09-14 01:55:58','',1378,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1381',0,'revision','',0),(1383,1,'2011-09-23 19:15:24','2011-09-24 02:15:24','When you get older, you have to really work to keep your life -- and your world -- from shrinking.\n\nWhile you\'re still working, while you\'re raising a family, you\'re on the move all the time. You drive to and from work, you get involved with your kids and their activities. Sometimes you find yourself <em>too</em> busy, and you find yourself thinking how much fun you\'ll have when your kids are grown and gone.\n\nBe careful what you wish for.\n\nSomeday the kids <em>will</em> be grown and gone, and you won\'t be driving to and from work. The way things go these days, it\'ll probably happen sooner than you think.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1382-revision','','','2011-09-23 19:15:24','2011-09-24 02:15:24','',1382,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1383',0,'revision','',0),(1385,1,'2011-09-25 15:52:18','2011-09-25 22:52:18','','Pauline','Pauline and Maddie','inherit','open','open','','pauline-3','','','2011-09-25 15:52:18','2011-09-25 22:52:18','',1382,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pauline.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1395,1,'2011-10-02 19:40:36','2011-10-03 02:40:36','','Downtown America-1950','Downtown','inherit','open','open','','downtown-america-1950','','','2011-10-02 19:40:36','2011-10-03 02:40:36','',1394,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1386,1,'2011-09-25 15:53:39','2011-09-25 22:53:39','When you get older, it\'s real easy to get grouchy about how much better everything used to be when you were younger.\n\nMy friend Mick is perhaps the best example I know of that. Rarely does a week go by that I don\'t get an e-mail from him extolling all the wonders of the \'50s and \'60s, when we baby boomers were kids.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1385\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Pauline and Maddie\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pauline.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1385\" title=\"Pauline\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Pauline-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s one thing when he sings the praises of the crummy little baseball field where we played in the summertime. Eaton Field, which we called \"Eats-it Field\" at the time, has now grown to rival Wrigley Field and Fenway Park for sheer nostalgia. That\'s bearable, but when I get the e-mails calling \"Gilligan\'s Island\" and \"Leave it to Beaver\" as some sort of Golden Age of television, hey, we didn\'t even take those shows seriously<em> then</em>.\n\nSure, some things were better. We could go out and play without being kidnapped, molested or murdered three times before lunch, and comic books were only 10 cents. But the only form of portable music was the transistor radio -- which only got AM -- and no one I knew actually had sex until about 1970.\n\nThings definitely have changed, and not always for the worst. I\'m not a huge fan of cell phones, but there\'s a huge difference between free long distance and the previous \"Talk fast, the charges are piling up\" approach to calls from more than 10 miles away.\n\nAs recently as 1979, I remember paying $10 a minute for a long-distance call between McLean, Va., and Beijing, China. In 2008-09, when my daughter was stationed there in her job as a foreign service officer, Skype made the cost of the calls slightly less than nominal. And those were <em>video</em> calls.\n\nThe saddest thing about my life right now is how little I see my two wonderful children. With Pauline and her family in Indonesia and Virgile and his wife in Greece, the world seems very large to me. I haven\'t seen Pauline -- except through Skype -- in more than 20 months, although the plan right now is to spend three weeks with the Kastners later this year in Seattle after Pauline gives us our second grandchild.\n\nWe saw Virgile and Sterling for two weeks in June when we went to Europe, and that was nice too, but it will be nearly a year before they return to the U.S., and we don\'t have a Skype relationship with them.\n\nStill, it\'s there and I am confident that at some point we\'ll be talking regularly.\n\nSo the world may be going straight to hell in some ways, and it may be hard for me to find a movie made after 1979 I can bear to watch, but the improvement in communications makes up for a lot of it.\n\nI may miss my kids a lot, but at least we can stay in touch.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1382-revision-2','','','2011-09-25 15:53:39','2011-09-25 22:53:39','',1382,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1386',0,'revision','',0),(1394,1,'2011-10-04 20:08:49','2011-10-05 03:08:49','I wonder if there was ever a better, more optimistic time for Americans than the 1950s.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1395\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Downtown\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1395\" title=\"Downtown America-1950\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI\'m not saying things were perfect -- Joe McCarthy and Jim Crow come to mind, not to mention the threat of nuclear war -- but I don\'t know if there was ever a better time to be an American as compared to a citizen of any other country.\r\n\r\nEurope was being rebuilt, while Asia, Africa and South America were still emerging.\r\n\r\nAmericans had it all.\r\n\r\nAnd what we had, more than anything else, was the confidence that we could do anything. There was an old saying that an Englishman walked the world as though he owned it, but an American walked the world as if he didn\'t give a damn who owned it.\r\n\r\nOur parents told us to eat our vegetables because children in Europe were starving, even though they were probably 5-10 years late on that. Everybody who could afford one drove a big American car, and everybody\'s dad -- even some who hadn\'t finished high school -- had at least a good blue-collar job.\r\n\r\nOf course it wasn\'t that simple. In parts of the country, we had every bit as effective a system of apartheid as South Africa. Gay people were still firmly hidden in that closet, and women who didn\'t want to stay at home, keep house and raise a family were still waiting for Betty Friedan to tell them about the feminine mystique. In the \'50s, all they had was Simone de Beauvoir telling them they were the<em> Other</em> in her book \"The Second Sex.\"\r\n\r\nSo yeah, not so perfect.\r\n\r\nBut for kids, especially the ones who had been born after World War II, it was pretty special. Children of the 21st Century, who are guarded like the treasure they are and over-activitied and over-organized to the max, would be surprised to learn that in the \'50s, kids pretty much had the run of the neighborhood.\r\n\r\nI couldn\'t have been much older than 9 or 10 -- right at the end of the decade -- when I would visit my grandparents in the tiny city of Crestline, Ohio, for a couple of weeks in the summer. I walked all over town by myself, looking for pop bottles that could be turned into baseball cards and comic books or going to the public library and checking out four or five books at a time.\r\n\r\nMy own son was that age in 1995, and I\'m not sure there was a place left in the world where I would have felt comfortable letting him just goof around all day.\r\n\r\nThe world <em>has</em> changed, and it\'s not changing back.\r\n\r\nIt\'s ironic. When I was 15 or 16, I used to dismiss Crestline as boring, as Hicksville USA. Now I think of my grandparents\' home, which was sold 20 years ago after my grandmother died, as a wonderful place that I sort of appreciated but probably didn\'t appreciate enough. I\'ve written before about the conversation my cousin Peter Kindinger and I had the day we buried my grandmother, about all the wonderful times we had enjoyed in that house and how we would probably never set foot in it again.\r\n\r\nOf course that\'s the way it worked out.\r\n\r\nI\'m very happy living with my wife Nicole in our lovely home in Georgia, but there is a part of me -- not the serious part -- that thinks if I ever found myself a widower, I might see if I could buy that old house in Crestline. There is something fascinating about the first home I ever remember, from when I was 3 0r 4 years old, being the place where I spent the final years of my life.\r\n\r\nIt\'ll never happen. I know I could get back to the place, but not the time, and both are equally important.\r\n\r\nStill ...\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Yes, children, things really were different then','','publish','open','open','','yes-children-things-really-were-different-then','','','2011-10-04 20:08:49','2011-10-05 03:08:49','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1394',0,'post','',0),(1388,1,'2011-09-28 16:56:12','2011-09-28 23:56:12','I\'m having something of a strange day, at least in one respect.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR20212315_.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1389\" title=\"MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR2,0,212,315_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR20212315_-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" /></a>I was watching a DVD of one of my favorite movies from the mid \'80s -- 1984\'s \"Electric Dreams\" -- and I found myself curiously fascinated by the primitive home computer that star Lenny von Dohlen bought and took home with him.\r\n\r\nIt would be five years after that before I got my own first computer, which cost me $1,200 through American Express and didn\'t even have a hard drive. All the work I did on it -- whether it was a few primitive games or word processing -- was through two 5.25-inch disk drives. It wasn\'t real fast, either -- just 286 mHz.\r\n\r\nI used that computer for two years, and I wrote four novel-length manuscripts on it. I don\'t think I was ever more prolific than I was in those two years, on that primitive computer.\r\n\r\nI didn\'t even have Internet.\r\n\r\nI\'m not sure there even was Internet for the public in 1989.\r\n\r\nThese days I\'ve got a computer countless times faster and more powerful, a laptop I rarely use that\'s just as good, an iPod with 8,500 songs and nearly 50 audiobooks , a BlackBerry and a brand-new iPad 2. Not one of them excites me or gives me as much pleasure as that goofy little 286 PC with no hard drive did.\r\n\r\nI never had a computer like Miles did in the movie, one that talked to him and fell in love with his girlfriend. Of course, I never got to live in San Francisco either. That had always been my California dream, but my friend Mick lured me south to Los Angeles and everything changed.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','The old computers we had weren\'t all that bad','','publish','open','open','','the-old-computers-we-had-werent-all-that-bad','','','2011-09-28 16:56:12','2011-09-28 23:56:12','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1388',0,'post','',0),(1389,1,'2011-09-28 16:31:28','2011-09-28 23:31:28','','MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR2,0,212,315_','','inherit','open','open','','mv5bnju5nze0njg4of5bml5banbnxkftztcwmjexmtyymq-_v1-_sy315_cr20212315_','','','2011-09-28 16:31:28','2011-09-28 23:31:28','',1388,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR20212315_.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1390,1,'2011-09-28 16:55:30','2011-09-28 23:55:30','I\'m having something of a strange day, at least in one respect.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR20212315_.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1389\" title=\"MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR2,0,212,315_\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/MV5BNjU5NzE0Njg4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjExMTYyMQ@@._V1._SY315_CR20212315_-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" /></a>I was watching a DVD of one of my favorite movies from the mid \'80s -- 1984\'s \"Electric Dreams\" -- and I found myself curiously fascinated by the primitive home computer that star Lenny von Dohlen bought and took home with him.\n\nIt would be five years after that before I got my own first computer, which cost me $1,200 through American Express and didn\'t even have a hard drive. All the work I did on it -- whether it was a few primitive games or word processing -- was through two 5.25-inch disk drives. It wasn\'t real fast, either -- just 286 mHz.\n\nI used that computer for two years, and I wrote four novel-length manuscripts on it. I don\'t think I was ever more prolific than I was in those two years, on that primitive computer.\n\nI didn\'t even have Internet.\n\nI\'m not sure there even was Internet for the public in 1989.\n\nThese days I\'ve got a computer countless times faster and more powerful, a laptop I rarely use that\'s just as good, an iPod with 8,500 songs and nearly 50 audiobooks , a BlackBerry and a brand-new iPad 2. Not one of them excites me or gives me as much pleasure as that goofy little 286 PC with no hard drive did.\n\nI never had a computer like Miles did in the movie, one that talked to him and fell in love with his girlfriend. Of course, I never got to live in San Francisco either. That had always been my California dream, but my friend Mick lured me south to Los Angeles and everything changed.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1388-revision','','','2011-09-28 16:55:30','2011-09-28 23:55:30','',1388,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1390',0,'revision','',0),(1391,1,'2011-09-29 20:26:03','2011-09-30 03:26:03','It\'s funny how certain dates stick in your mind.\r\n\r\nI\'m not talking about birthdays, or wedding anniversaries, or things like that. I\'m talking about dates on which something relatively insignificant happens that turns out to be the beginning of something a lot more significant. For example, my first date with my wife Nicole was on Sept. 12, 1992, and that led to our wedding on Nov. 2, 1992. The wedding anniversary is the one that is celebrated, but the earlier date is remembered fondly.\r\n\r\nI had another anniversary to remember in earlier years, but my first marriage was celebrated on the same day of the year as Waco (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995). It could have been worse. If we had been married one day later, we would have shared our anniversary date with Adolf Hitler\'s birth (1889) and the Columbine school shootings (1999).\r\n\r\nIt\'s odd -- maybe because the marriage failed -- but I remember the wedding anniversary a lot less fondly than I remember the first date.\r\n\r\nOf course it was on Sept. 29.\r\n\r\nWith one exception, all the relationships with women that mattered to me started in the last four months of the year. The one outlier started on Lincoln\'s birthday in 1980 and lasted longer than any others except my marriages.\r\n\r\nThe thing I find funny about Sept. 29, 1973, isn\'t what it turned into. I think I\'ve written before that if I knew how it would play out, I might have done things very differently. It\'s just that what I did was so unlike me.\r\n\r\nI was 23, and I hadn\'t been dating anyone regularly for more than a year. Most of the time I went out, it was to the bars of Washington, D.C., with friends. On this night, none of my friends were available and I was drinking alone at the Crazy Horse in Georgetown. At about 10:30 p.m., after four or five drinks (weak ones), I decided I would call her and see if she wanted to have a drink with me.\r\n\r\nWe had never gone out. She had been dating one of my friends a year or so earlier, and I had been attracted to her.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/agraf.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1392\" title=\"agraf\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/agraf-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" /></a>I certainly wasn\'t expecting her to be at home on a Saturday night, but she was. I asked. She accepted. We actually wound up going to a midnight showing of \"American Graffiti,\" and then for a drink afterward.\r\n\r\nWe dated for the next seven months -- a few bad times but mostly good ones -- then got engaged and married a year later.\r\n\r\nOne reason I remember that night so fondly is that I was not at all confident in the dating scene. The idea of calling someone late on a Saturday night probably would never have occurred to me without the help of a few drinks.\r\n\r\nAs I said earlier, I was 23, and maybe the strangest part of it all as I look back 38 years into the past is that in some ways I can hardly imagine being that person, and in other ways I am still that person. I remember asking my mother once when you start to<em> feel</em> older, and she said in some ways you never do. She told me that inside, she still felt like the same person she was when she was 16.\r\n\r\nI found that oddly comforting.\r\n\r\nIn a little over two months, I will be eligible to start collecting Social Security.\r\n\r\nBut even when I do, a part of me will still be 23.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Memories come from the strangest places','','publish','open','open','','memories-come-from-the-strangest-places','','','2011-09-29 20:26:03','2011-09-30 03:26:03','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1391',0,'post','',1),(1392,1,'2011-09-29 20:13:18','2011-09-30 03:13:18','','agraf','','inherit','open','open','','agraf','','','2011-09-29 20:13:18','2011-09-30 03:13:18','',1391,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/agraf.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1393,1,'2011-09-29 20:24:10','2011-09-30 03:24:10','It\'s funny how certain dates stick in your mind.\n\nI\'m not talking about birthdays, or wedding anniversaries, or things like that. I\'m talking about dates on which something relatively insignificant happens that turns out to be the beginning of something a lot more significant. For example, my first date with my wife Nicole was on Sept. 12, 1992, and that led to our wedding on Nov. 2, 1992. The wedding anniversary is the one that is celebrated, but the earlier date is remembered fondly.\n\nI had another anniversary to remember in earlier years, but my first marriage was celebrated on the same day of the year as Waco (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995). It could have been worse. If we had been married one day later, we would have shared our anniversary date with Adolf Hitler\'s birth (1889) and the Columbine school shootings (1999).\n\nIt\'s odd -- maybe because the marriage failed -- but I remember the wedding anniversary a lot less fondly than I remember the first date.\n\nOf course it was on Sept. 29.\n\nWith one exception, all the relationships with women that mattered to me started in the last four months of the year. The one outlier started on Lincoln\'s birthday in 1980 and lasted longer than any others except my marriages.\n\nThe thing I find funny about Sept. 29, 1973, isn\'t what it turned into. I think I\'ve written before that if I knew how it would play out, I might have done things very differently. It\'s just that what I did was so unlike me.\n\nI was 23, and I hadn\'t been dating anyone regularly for more than a year. Most of the time I went out, it was to the bars of Washington, D.C., with friends. On this night, none of my friends were available and I was drinking alone at the Crazy Horse in Georgetown. At about 10:30 p.m., after four or five drinks (weak ones), I decided I would call her and see if she wanted to have a drink with me.\n\nWe had never gone out. She had been dating one of my friends a year or so earlier, and I had been attracted to her.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/agraf.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1392\" title=\"agraf\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/agraf-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" /></a>I certainly wasn\'t expecting her to be at home on a Saturday night, but she was. I asked. She accepted. We actually wound up going to a midnight showing of \"American Graffiti,\" and then for a drink afterward.\n\nWe dated for the next seven months -- a few bad times but mostly good ones -- then got engaged and married a year later.\n\nOne reason I remember that night so fondly is that I was not at all confident in the dating scene. The idea of calling someone late on a Saturday night probably would never have occurred to me without the help of a few drinks.\n\nAs I said earlier, I was 23, and maybe the strangest part of it all as I look back 38 years into the past is that in some ways I can hardly imagine being that person, and in other ways I am still that person. I remember asking my mother once when you start to<em> feel</em> older, and she said in some ways you never do. She told me that inside, she still felt like the same person she was when she was 16.\n\nI found that oddly comforting.\n\nIn a little over two months, I will be eligible to start collecting Social Security.\n\nBut even when I do, a part of me will still be 23.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1391-revision','','','2011-09-29 20:24:10','2011-09-30 03:24:10','',1391,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1393',0,'revision','',0),(1396,1,'2011-10-02 20:00:50','2011-10-03 03:00:50','I wonder if there was ever a better, more optimistic time for Americans than the 1950s.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1395\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Downtown\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1395\" title=\"Downtown America-1950\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m not saying things were perfect -- Joe McCarthy and Jim Crow come to mind, not to mention the threat of nuclear war -- but I don\'t know if there was ever a better time to be an American as compared to a citizen of any other country.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1394-revision','','','2011-10-02 20:00:50','2011-10-03 03:00:50','',1394,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1396',0,'revision','',0),(1398,1,'2011-10-04 20:08:19','2011-10-05 03:08:19','I wonder if there was ever a better, more optimistic time for Americans than the 1950s.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1395\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Downtown\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1395\" title=\"Downtown America-1950\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Downtown-America-1950-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI\'m not saying things were perfect -- Joe McCarthy and Jim Crow come to mind, not to mention the threat of nuclear war -- but I don\'t know if there was ever a better time to be an American as compared to a citizen of any other country.\n\nEurope was being rebuilt, while Asia, Africa and South America were still emerging.\n\nAmericans had it all.\n\nAnd what we had, more than anything else, was the confidence that we could do anything. There was an old saying that an Englishman walked the world as though he owned it, but an American walked the world as if he didn\'t give a damn who owned it.\n\nOur parents told us to eat our vegetables because children in Europe were starving, even though they were probably 5-10 years late on that. Everybody who could afford one drove a big American car, and everybody\'s dad -- even some who hadn\'t finished high school -- had at least a good blue-collar job.\n\nOf course it wasn\'t that simple. In parts of the country, we had every bit as effective a system of apartheid as South Africa. Gay people were still firmly hidden in that closet, and women who didn\'t want to stay at home, keep house and raise a family were still waiting for Betty Friedan to tell them about the feminine mystique. In the \'50s, all they had was Simone de Beauvoir telling them they were the<em> Other</em> in her book \"The Second Sex.\"\n\nSo yeah, not so perfect.\n\nBut for kids, especially the ones who had been born after World War II, it was pretty special. Children of the 21st Century, who are guarded like the treasure they are and over-activitied and over-organized to the max, would be surprised to learn that in the \'50s, kids pretty much had the run of the neighborhood.\n\nI couldn\'t have been much older than 9 or 10 -- right at the end of the decade -- when I would visit my grandparents in the tiny city of Crestline, Ohio, for a couple of weeks in the summer. I walked all over town by myself, looking for pop bottles that could be turned into baseball cards and comic books or going to the public library and checking out four or five books at a time.\n\nMy own son was that age in 1995, and I\'m not sure there was a place left in the world where I would have felt comfortable letting him just goof around all day.\n\nThe world <em>has</em> changed, and it\'s not changing back.\n\nIt\'s ironic. When I was 15 or 16, I used to dismiss Crestline as boring, as Hicksville USA. Now I think of my grandparents\' home, which was sold 20 years ago after my grandmother died, as a wonderful place that I sort of appreciated but probably didn\'t appreciate enough. I\'ve written before about the conversation my cousin Peter Kindinger and I had the day we buried my grandmother, about all the wonderful times we had enjoyed in that house and how we would probably never set foot in it again.\n\nOf course that\'s the way it worked out.\n\nI\'m very happy living with my wife Nicole in our lovely home in Georgia, but there is a part of me -- not the serious part -- that thinks if I ever found myself a widower, I might see if I could buy that old house in Crestline. There is something fascinating about the first home I ever remember, from when I was 3 0r 4 years old, being the place where I spent the final years of my life.\n\nIt\'ll never happen. I know I could get back to the place, but not the time, and both are equally important.\n\nStill ...\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1394-revision-2','','','2011-10-04 20:08:19','2011-10-05 03:08:19','',1394,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1398',0,'revision','',0),(1399,1,'2011-10-09 20:30:32','2011-10-10 03:30:32','<em>“Up until the 1950s, American children yearned for adulthood. When their time came to be adults, they stepped into the role proudly, leaving childhood behind and taking up the mantles of responsibility, honor and dignity. They embraced and championed the ideals of those who came before them while valiantly tackling new ideas and problems that their families, communities and nation faced. Those days were long gone.</em>\r\n\r\n<em>“Americans now shunned adulthood, preferring to remain in a state of perpetual adolescence. By failing to move forward with grace and dignity, they left a gaping hole in American society. They treated relationships like disposable lighters, tossing marriages away when they ran out of gas. Children were left without families, and even worse, they were left without adults who could be role models of responsible behavior.”</em>\r\n\r\nI first read that fascinating appraisal of the baby boom generation in 2009, in Brad Thor\'s book, <a title=\"The Last Patriot\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Last-Patriot-Thriller-Brad-Thor/dp/141654383X\">\"The Last Patriot,\"</a> and it was something that has stayed on my mind -- at least on the fringes -- ever since. There are so many things that are important in my life and the lives of people my age that would come under the heading of recreation or fun that my father or my grandfather would have called silly or childish. The older I get, the more I find myself agreeing with them.\r\n\r\nMy grandfather never had a personal computer, and my dad didn\'t have one till the latter part of his life, but I can\'t imagine either of them ever sitting at their screen for hours playing computer games or conversing with friends on Facebook. Both of them worked hard in the daytime and then read, watched television or listened to music or the radio in the evenings. Unless it was something educational or useful -- my dad teaching me to play chess, for example -- they didn\'t share the same recreational activities as their children.\r\n\r\nI don\'t ordinarily read books by the right-wing pundits, although I will admit to reading Rush Limbaugh\'s two \"books\" about 20 years ago. I\'ve never bought a book by Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter or Michael Savage or Glenn Beck. I did read Mark Steyn\'s \"America Alone,\"  which speculated on a world in which a Judeo-Christian America essentially stood alone against Islam, and I recently downloaded his \"After America,\" a more apocalyptic view of the future.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1400\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"210\" caption=\"After America\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/After-America-by-Mark-Steyn.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1400\" title=\"After-America-by-Mark-Steyn\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/After-America-by-Mark-Steyn-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s an interesting book, but I think Steyn only sees one side of the story and misses an important part. He writes about government spending and the unconscionable growth of the federal debt. He writes of the contempt that the ruling class -- mostly liberal, in his view -- has for average working people, and how much time and money is wasted getting the government out of the way of people who are trying to accomplish things.\r\n\r\nThere is truth in what he says, but ignoring 10 years of war and the money that has been wasted on it, ignoring the constant pressure to keep lowering the taxes that the wealthiest Americans pay, ignoring those factors and the effect they have on average people is missing a big part of the point.\r\n\r\nWe live in a culture in which the media and the entertainment industry treat American adults like children, and we respond by acting more and more like children. And the ones who don\'t are treated like fanatics or weirdos. Tens of millions of Americans who are not fundamentalists go to church on Sundays, but you\'ll never hear anything about them in the media. You have to kill doctors, bash gay people or attend mega-churches that tell you Jesus loves rich people best to get any airtime.\r\n\r\nHard-working people who aren\'t fanatics or weirdos might as well not exist in this country for all the attention they get.\r\n\r\nBut America has clearly gone off track. Businesses cut jobs not to keep from losing money, but to increase their profits and bolster their stock price. Employees aren\'t asked to find ways to help their employers save money; they\'re not really part of a team or a family anymore.\r\n\r\nWill America fall? Will there be an \"after America\" world?\r\n\r\nIn some ways, we are already there.\r\n\r\nWhen you have a country where 1 percent of the people control nearly 40 percent of the wealth, that\'s slipping dangerously close to the way things are in a lot of Third World countries.\r\n\r\nI think the first step needs to be deciding that our government could be doing a lot less than it does to make the rich even richer.\r\n\r\nThen we can take it from there.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Facing the future with a very immature country','','publish','open','open','','facing-the-future-with-a-very-immature-country','','','2011-10-09 20:30:32','2011-10-10 03:30:32','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1399',0,'post','',8),(1400,1,'2011-10-09 19:51:07','2011-10-10 02:51:07','','After-America-by-Mark-Steyn','After America','inherit','open','open','','after-america-by-mark-steyn','','','2011-10-09 19:51:07','2011-10-10 02:51:07','',1399,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/After-America-by-Mark-Steyn.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1401,1,'2011-10-09 20:29:51','2011-10-10 03:29:51','<em>“Up until the 1950s, American children yearned for adulthood. When their time came to be adults, they stepped into the role proudly, leaving childhood behind and taking up the mantles of responsibility, honor and dignity. They embraced and championed the ideals of those who came before them while valiantly tackling new ideas and problems that their families, communities and nation faced. Those days were long gone.</em>\n\n<em>“Americans now shunned adulthood, preferring to remain in a state of perpetual adolescence. By failing to move forward with grace and dignity, they left a gaping hole in American society. They treated relationships like disposable lighters, tossing marriages away when they ran out of gas. Children were left without families, and even worse, they were left without adults who could be role models of responsible behavior.”</em>\n\nI first read that fascinating appraisal of the baby boom generation in 2009, in Brad Thor\'s book, <a title=\"The Last Patriot\" href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Last-Patriot-Thriller-Brad-Thor/dp/141654383X\">\"The Last Patriot,\"</a> and it was something that has stayed on my mind -- at least on the fringes -- ever since. There are so many things that are important in my life and the lives of people my age that would come under the heading of recreation or fun that my father or my grandfather would have called silly or childish. The older I get, the more I find myself agreeing with them.\n\nMy grandfather never had a personal computer, and my dad didn\'t have one till the latter part of his life, but I can\'t imagine either of them ever sitting at their screen for hours playing computer games or conversing with friends on Facebook. Both of them worked hard in the daytime and then read, watched television or listened to music or the radio in the evenings. Unless it was something educational or useful -- my dad teaching me to play chess, for example -- they didn\'t share the same recreational activities as their children.\n\nI don\'t ordinarily read books by the right-wing pundits, although I will admit to reading Rush Limbaugh\'s two \"books\" about 20 years ago. I\'ve never bought a book by Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter or Michael Savage or Glenn Beck. I did read Mark Steyn\'s \"America Alone,\"  which speculated on a world in which a Judeo-Christian America essentially stood alone against Islam, and I recently downloaded his \"After America,\" a more apocalyptic view of the future.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1400\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"210\" caption=\"After America\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/After-America-by-Mark-Steyn.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1400\" title=\"After-America-by-Mark-Steyn\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/After-America-by-Mark-Steyn-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s an interesting book, but I think Steyn only sees one side of the story and misses an important part. He writes about government spending and the unconscionable growth of the federal debt. He writes of the contempt that the ruling class -- mostly liberal, in his view -- has for average working people, and how much time and money is wasted getting the government out of the way of people who are trying to accomplish things.\n\nThere is truth in what he says, but ignoring 10 years of war and the money that has been wasted on it, ignoring the constant pressure to keep lowering the taxes that the wealthiest Americans pay, ignoring those factors and the effect they have on average people is missing a big part of the point.\n\nWe live in a culture in which the media and the entertainment industry treat American adults like children, and we respond by acting more and more like children. And the ones who don\'t are treated like fanatics or weirdos. Tens of millions of Americans who are not fundamentalists go to church on Sundays, but you\'ll never hear anything about them in the media. You have to kill doctors, bash gay people or attend mega-churches that tell you Jesus loves rich people best to get any airtime.\n\nHard-working people who aren\'t fanatics or weirdos might as well not exist in this country for all the attention they get.\n\nBut America has clearly gone off track. Businesses cut jobs not to keep from losing money, but to increase their profits and bolster their stock price. Employees aren\'t asked to find ways to help their employers save money; they\'re not really part of a team or a family anymore.\n\nWill America fall? Will there be an \"after America\" world?\n\nIn some ways, we are already there.\n\nWhen you have a country where 1 percent of the people control nearly 40 percent of the wealth, that\'s slipping dangerously close to the way things are in a lot of Third World countries.\n\nI think the first step needs to be deciding that our government could be doing a lot less than it does to make the rich even richer.\n\nThen we can take it from there.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1399-revision','','','2011-10-09 20:29:51','2011-10-10 03:29:51','',1399,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1401',0,'revision','',0),(1403,1,'2011-10-26 11:24:02','2011-10-26 18:24:02','','DSC_0309','Maddie in 2009','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0309','','','2011-10-26 11:24:02','2011-10-26 18:24:02','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DSC_0309.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1569,1,'2012-02-19 19:59:23','2012-02-20 03:59:23','<strong><em>“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.\"\r\n</em>-- NEIL POSTMAN</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><em><a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/amuse.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1567\" title=\"amuse\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/amuse-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" /></a>\r\n</em></strong>Do you know what the two most destructive words in the English language are?\r\n\r\n<em>\"Now ... this.\"</em>\r\n\r\nNeil Postman wrote books that are literally painful to read, and none are more painful than \"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.\"\r\n\r\nIn a way, he says, Aldous Huxley turned out to be far more correct than George Orwell was. And while it may surprise anyone under the age of 40 to learn that prior to 1974, there were no mainstream magazines devoted to news of celebrities and their lives. That was when <em>People</em> made its debut, with Mia Farrow on the cover. And prior to 1981, there were no television shows devoted to news of the entertainment industry. <em>ET</em> (Entertainment Tonight) made its appearance one year before ET (the extraterrestrial).\r\n\r\nEven then, though, we hadn\'t gone one toke over the line. Shows like <em>ET</em> and magazines like <em>People</em> were what they were and no one was looking to either of them for serious news of the world. But with the advent of hour-long local newscasts and newspapers like <em>USA Today</em>, the line kept getting farther and farther from real news.\r\n\r\nIt would be difficult for anyone who spent nearly 30 years as a print journalist not to think <em>USA Today</em> was a slippery slope all in itself. One can argue chicken/egg here as to whether the shorter stories and bigger photos filled a desire of readers or whether the format dumbed down readers all by itself.\r\n\r\nBut there\'s no arguing the disaster most local newscasts have been.\r\n\r\nPostman describes \"Now ... this\" as a way of informing viewers that it\'s time to stop thinking about the previous story and move on to something else. Yes, that school fire that killed eight children was sad, but 45 seconds is enough time for that. And we\'ve got Sally out at the zoo to report on the baby hippo that was just born.\r\n\r\nI gave up on local television news in 1994 when I watched an entire 30-minute late news show on one of the major networks. There wasn\'t one story that didn\'t involve either car chases, celebrities, crime or some local scandal. Then we had a couple minutes of weather, a few minutes of sports and some happy-talk feature to finish with.\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder we have the attention span of hummingbirds?\r\n\r\nNow ... this.\r\n\r\nYou hear me? Stop thinking about the hummingbirds. Lindsay Lohan had another meltdown, the governator fathered an illegitimate child and there\'s a new <em>\"Star Wars\"</em> movie coming out.\r\n\r\nAgainst all odds against people hearing foreign news, Iran has been in the news lately. How many of you know the language they speak in Iran? How many of you know the ethnic background or Iranians? <em>Hint: They\'re not Arabs.</em> How many of you know who the real leader of the country is? <em>Hint: It\'s not Ahmadinejad.</em>\r\n\r\nFace it. We\'ve got the neo-con chorus screaming for war with Iran, and 80 percent of us couldn\'t even find it on a map.\r\n\r\nOrwell was wrong. The year 1984 came and went.\r\n\r\nHuxley was right, even if there isn\'t much that\'s brave about our new world.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','It\'s really scary how \'amusing\' our culture has become','','inherit','open','open','','1566-revision-2','','','2012-02-19 19:59:23','2012-02-20 03:59:23','',1566,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1569',0,'revision','',0),(1418,1,'2011-11-04 19:33:06','2011-11-05 02:33:06','Wow.\r\n\r\nThe little guy wasn\'t supposed to show up until next Friday, which would have made his birthday real easy to remember. Nov. 11, Veterans Day. Instead, Lexington Wesley Kastner, my second grandchild and first grandson, was born late in the evening on November 3rd.\r\n\r\nAs I look around my office at a dozen autographed baseballs, most of them Hall of Famers, at my autographed Johnny Bench jersey on the wall, at my autographed Pete Rose bat in my bookcase, I\'m thinking I may finally have someone to leave them to.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1419\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The man on the scene\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1419\" title=\"379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI really shouldn\'t rule out Maddie being a baseball fan, but when she grows up to be a) a real heartbreaker and b) president of the United States, I don\'t think baseball memorabilia will be a big part of her decor.\r\n\r\nBut at least several people today, upon learning of my grandson\'s rather unique (yes, I know there\'s no such thing as \"rather unique\") name, said it sounded like a great name for a baseball player.\r\n\r\nI\'m figuring the 2032 season, when he\'s 20 years old, will be his debut in center field for the Seattle Mariners. If I can make it to 82 going on 83, I\'ll get to see it.\r\n\r\nThat\'s one of the difficult parts of being two generations ahead. Under normal good circumstances, you get to see maybe half of your grandchildren\'s lives. So the odds that I\'ll be around in 2057 for his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame (.325 career batting average, 550 home runs, four World Series rings) aren\'t real good.\r\n\r\nI\'d be 107 years old.\r\n\r\nHis parents will be pushing 80, but that won\'t be that big a deal by the middle of the century.\r\n\r\nAnyway, this kid is going to be something special.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Another kid who\'ll be somebody real special','','publish','open','open','','another-kid-wholl-be-somebody-real-special','','','2011-11-04 19:33:06','2011-11-05 02:33:06','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1418',0,'post','',0),(1406,1,'2011-10-28 16:53:43','2011-10-28 23:53:43','Of course, it could never happen.\r\n\r\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\r\n\r\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\r\n\r\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1411\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"296\" caption=\"For Love of the Game\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1411\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-296x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\r\n\r\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\r\n\r\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\r\n\r\nOf course that could never happen.\r\n\r\nBut it did.\r\n\r\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wonderful moments, real and fictitious','','publish','open','open','','wonderful-moments-real-and-fictitious','','','2011-10-28 17:00:08','2011-10-29 00:00:08','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1406',0,'post','',0),(1407,1,'2011-10-28 16:39:22','2011-10-28 23:39:22','','For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335','Jena Malone in \"For Love of the Game\" ','inherit','open','open','','for-love-of-the-game-jena-malone-212219_775_335','','','2011-10-28 16:39:22','2011-10-28 23:39:22','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1408,1,'2011-10-28 16:53:22','2011-10-28 23:53:22','Of course, it could never happen.\n\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\n\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\n\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrqdqBfqcw\n\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\n\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\n\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\n\nOf course that could never happen.\n\nBut it did.\n\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1406-revision','','','2011-10-28 16:53:22','2011-10-28 23:53:22','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1408',0,'revision','',0),(1409,1,'2011-10-28 16:59:13','2011-10-28 23:59:13','Of course, it could never happen.\n\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\n\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\n\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\n\n&nbsp;\n\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\n\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\n\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\n\nOf course that could never happen.\n\nBut it did.\n\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\n\n&nbsp;','Wonderful moments, real and fictitious','','inherit','open','open','','1406-autosave','','','2011-10-28 16:59:13','2011-10-28 23:59:13','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1409',0,'revision','',0),(1410,1,'2011-10-28 16:53:43','2011-10-28 23:53:43','Of course, it could never happen.\r\n\r\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\r\n\r\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\r\n\r\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLrqdqBfqcw\r\n\r\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\r\n\r\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\r\n\r\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\r\n\r\nOf course that could never happen.\r\n\r\nBut it did.\r\n\r\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wonderful moments, real and fictitious','','inherit','open','open','','1406-revision-2','','','2011-10-28 16:53:43','2011-10-28 23:53:43','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1410',0,'revision','',0),(1411,1,'2011-10-28 16:59:34','2011-10-28 23:59:34','','For-Love-of-the-Game','For Love of the Game','inherit','open','open','','for-love-of-the-game','','','2011-10-28 16:59:34','2011-10-28 23:59:34','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1412,1,'2011-10-28 16:57:53','2011-10-28 23:57:53','Of course, it could never happen.\r\n\r\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\r\n\r\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\r\n\r\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\r\n\r\nhttp://youtu.be/WLrqdqBfqcw\r\n\r\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\r\n\r\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\r\n\r\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\r\n\r\nOf course that could never happen.\r\n\r\nBut it did.\r\n\r\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wonderful moments, real and fictitious','','inherit','open','open','','1406-revision-3','','','2011-10-28 16:57:53','2011-10-28 23:57:53','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1412',0,'revision','',0),(1413,1,'2011-10-28 16:59:54','2011-10-28 23:59:54','Of course, it could never happen.\r\n\r\nA pitcher on a mediocre team, at the end of a great career, 40 years old and sore-armed, thrown in to pitch against the mighty Yankees on the next to last day of the season.\r\n\r\nHe knows that it probably will be the last time he ever pitches in the major leagues. So of course he pitches a perfect game.\r\n\r\nFew things are more rare in baseball history. Only 20 perfect games have been pitched in major league history, from Lee Richmond for Worcester back in 1880 to Roy Halladay for the Phillies in 2010. So if it were to happen under the circumstances described earlier, you would have to figure it would be a movie.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1411\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"296\" caption=\"For Love of the Game\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1411\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-296x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nKevin Costner\'s<a title=\"For Love of the Game\" href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/\"> \"For Love of the Game\"</a> is probably the most lightly regarded of his three wonderful baseball movies, but that says more about how wonderful the other two -- \"Bull Durham\" and \"Field of Dreams\" -- are than anything else. It\'s the only one of the three in which the protagonist is a big league ballplayer. Pitcher Billy Chapel is not just a big leaguer, he\'s one who has already punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame.\r\n\r\nBut he\'s at the end of the line in a game he has played since he was 8 years old, and what comes after baseball is very much up for grabs. The story of the game is intertwined with the story of a five-year, on-off love affair with Jane Aubrey, well played by Kelly Preston. Jane is leaving for a job in London, and she is watching the game in an airport lounge. Her daughter Heather, played by Jena Malone, is watching from her dorm room at college. Heather and Jane represent the family Billy might have had, and their reactions during the game -- particularly at the end -- are some of the best moments.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1407\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Jena Malone in &quot;For Love of the Game&quot;\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1407\" title=\"For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/For-Love-of-the-Game-jena-malone-212219_775_335-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nIt\'s a movie with two endings, the first to resolve the game and the second to resolve the relationship, and if the first matters the most, it says something about the hold baseball has on the people who love it.\r\n\r\nI said earlier that there have been only 20 perfect games in baseball history, and the irony of it is that I missed covering one of them by taking a day off in 1991. I was covering the Dodgers, and I had been amassing a lot of overtime. My boss made me take the last weekend of July off, and on Sunday, Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitched a perfect game.\r\n\r\nOf course that could never happen.\r\n\r\nBut it did.\r\n\r\nIn baseball, absolutely anything can happen -- and often does.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Wonderful moments, real and fictitious','','inherit','open','open','','1406-revision-4','','','2011-10-28 16:59:54','2011-10-28 23:59:54','',1406,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1413',0,'revision','',0),(1414,1,'2011-11-04 08:05:11','2011-11-04 15:05:11','The call came at about 2 a.m.\r\n\r\nIt was my son-in-law Ryan, reporting that his son -- our grandson -- had been born just a few minutes ago.\r\n\r\n<em>\"So are you finally going to tell us the name?\"</em>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1415\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"George Bailey lassos stork.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stork-carrying-baby.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1415\" title=\"stork carrying baby\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stork-carrying-baby-300x233.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"233\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nFor whatever reason, Pauline and Ryan had been very closed-mouthed about what the name of their second child would be. They had been saying all along that they weren\'t going to tell anyone their selection until after the baby was born. I was a little bit afraid they were going to pick something really odd, like Gustav, Wilbur or Melvin.\r\n\r\n<em>\"Lexington Wesley Kastner.\"</em>\r\n\r\nAn interesting name, and even though it was a unique enough name that it didn\'t even appear on the <a title=\"Nameberry\" href=\"http://www.nameberry.com\">Nameberry.com</a> site of baby names, I found myself sort of liking it. Even if naming their first child Madison and their second Lexington did leave me wondering if all my Kastner grandchildren would be names after streets in New York City.\r\n\r\nI\'m hoping they\'ll run out of children before they get around to Flatbush Avenue Kastner.\r\n\r\nSo the baby will probably be known as Lex, and although I tried to think of someone famous named Lex, the only one I could come up with was arch-villain Lex Luthor from the \"Superman\" comics.\r\n\r\nOf course, his name was short for Alexander.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1416\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"The most famous Lex\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LexLuthor.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1416\" title=\"LexLuthor\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LexLuthor.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAnd he was also serious warped after a lab accident left him bald at a very young age.\r\n\r\n<em>Editor\'s note: Lab is for laboratory in this context, not Labrador Retriever.</em>\r\n\r\nMy grandson\'s middle name has several family connections, even though only one of them was intended. Wesley is Ryan\'s middle name, which I am sure is why they gave it to him. Oddly, it\'s also the first name of someone I haven\'t seen since 1952, the man who provided half of my genetic makeup.\r\n\r\nI\'m pretty sure Ryan and Pauline weren\'t even aware of that.\r\n\r\nAnyway, I have two grandchildren now, and the only thing better than that would be to have three. We\'re planning a trip to see them in a couple of weeks, God willing and the creek don\'t rise. Pauline took three months off from her job as chief consul at the American Consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia, to have her baby in Seattle, and they\'ll be in the U.S. till just after Christmas.\r\n\r\nSeeing them -- baby Lex, big sister Maddie, Pauline and Ryan -- will make for a wonderful time in what has been a very challenging year.\r\n\r\nVery few years are all good or all bad, and this one should end very well.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Grandchildren seem to be in a \'N.Y. State of Mind\'','','publish','open','open','','grandchildren-seem-to-be-in-a-n-y-state-of-mind','','','2011-11-04 08:05:11','2011-11-04 15:05:11','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1414',0,'post','',0),(1415,1,'2011-11-04 07:21:10','2011-11-04 14:21:10','','stork carrying baby','George Bailey lassos stork.','inherit','open','open','','stork-carrying-baby','','','2011-11-04 07:21:10','2011-11-04 14:21:10','',1414,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stork-carrying-baby.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(1416,1,'2011-11-04 07:32:56','2011-11-04 14:32:56','','LexLuthor','The most famous Lex','inherit','open','open','','lexluthor','','','2011-11-04 07:32:56','2011-11-04 14:32:56','',1414,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LexLuthor.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1417,1,'2011-11-04 08:04:56','2011-11-04 15:04:56','The call came at about 2 a.m.\n\nIt was my son-in-law Ryan, reporting that his son -- our grandson -- had been born just a few minutes ago.\n\n<em>\"So are you finally going to tell us the name?\"</em>\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1415\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"George Bailey lassos stork.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stork-carrying-baby.png\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1415\" title=\"stork carrying baby\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stork-carrying-baby-300x233.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"233\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nFor whatever reason, Pauline and Ryan had been very closed-mouthed about what the name of their second child would be. They had been saying all along that they weren\'t going to tell anyone their selection until after the baby was born. I was a little bit afraid they were going to pick something really odd, like Gustav, Wilbur or Melvin.\n\n<em>\"Lexington Wesley Kastner.\"</em>\n\nAn interesting name, and even though it was a unique enough name that it didn\'t even appear on the <a title=\"Nameberry\" href=\"http://www.nameberry.com\">Nameberry.com</a> site of baby names, I found myself sort of liking it. Even if naming their first child Madison and their second Lexington did leave me wondering if all my Kastner grandchildren would be names after streets in New York City.\n\nI\'m hoping they\'ll run out of children before they get around to Flatbush Avenue Kastner.\n\nSo the baby will probably be known as Lex, and although I tried to think of someone famous named Lex, the only one I could come up with was arch-villain Lex Luthor from the \"Superman\" comics.\n\nOf course, his name was short for Alexander.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1416\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"200\" caption=\"The most famous Lex\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LexLuthor.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1416\" title=\"LexLuthor\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LexLuthor.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAnd he was also serious warped after a lab accident left him bald at a very young age.\n\n<em>Editor\'s note: Lab is for laboratory in this context, not Labrador Retriever.</em>\n\nMy grandson\'s middle name has several family connections, even though only one of them was intended. Wesley is Ryan\'s middle name, which I am sure is why they gave it to him. Oddly, it\'s also the first name of someone I haven\'t seen since 1952, the man who provided half of my genetic makeup.\n\nI\'m pretty sure Ryan and Pauline weren\'t even aware of that.\n\nAnyway, I have two grandchildren now, and the only thing better than that would be to have three. We\'re planning a trip to see them in a couple of weeks, God willing and the creek don\'t rise. Pauline took three months off from her job as chief consul at the American Consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia, to have her baby in Seattle, and they\'ll be in the U.S. till just after Christmas.\n\nSeeing them -- baby Lex, big sister Maddie, Pauline and Ryan -- will make for a wonderful time in what has been a very challenging year.\n\nVery few years are all good or all bad, and this one should end very well.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','Grandchildren seem to be in N','','inherit','open','open','','1414-revision','','','2011-11-04 08:04:56','2011-11-04 15:04:56','',1414,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1417',0,'revision','',0),(1419,1,'2011-11-04 19:04:10','2011-11-05 02:04:10','','379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n','The man on the scene','inherit','open','open','','379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n','','','2011-11-04 19:04:10','2011-11-05 02:04:10','',1418,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1420,1,'2011-11-04 19:32:25','2011-11-05 02:32:25','Wow.\n\nThe little guy wasn\'t supposed to show up until next Friday, which would have made his birthday real easy to remember. Nov. 11, Veterans Day. Instead, Lexington Wesley Kastner, my second grandchild and first grandson, was born late in the evening on November 3rd.\n\nAs I look around my office at a dozen autographed baseballs, most of them Hall of Famers, at my autographed Johnny Bench jersey on the wall, at my autographed Pete Rose bat in my bookcase, I\'m thinking I may finally have someone to leave them to.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1419\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The man on the scene\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1419\" title=\"379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/379736_10150392352777122_838372121_8284094_534871671_n-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI really shouldn\'t rule out Maddie being a baseball fan, but when she grows up to be a) a real heartbreaker and b) president of the United States, I don\'t think baseball memorabilia will be a big part of her decor.\n\nBut at least several people today, upon learning of my grandson\'s rather unique (yes, I know there\'s no such thing as \"rather unique\") name, said it sounded like a great name for a baseball player.\n\nI\'m figuring the 2032 season, when he\'s 20 years old, will be his debut in center field for the Seattle Mariners. If I can make it to 82 going on 83, I\'ll get to see it.\n\nThat\'s one of the difficult parts of being two generations ahead. Under normal good circumstances, you get to see maybe half of your grandchildren\'s lives. So the odds that I\'ll be around in 2057 for his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame (.325 career batting average, 550 home runs, four World Series rings) aren\'t real good.\n\nI\'d be 107 years old.\n\nHis parents will be pushing 80, but that won\'t be that big a deal by the middle of the century.\n\nAnyway, this kid is going to be something special.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1418-revision','','','2011-11-04 19:32:25','2011-11-05 02:32:25','',1418,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1420',0,'revision','',0),(1437,1,'2011-11-14 19:56:10','2011-11-15 03:56:10','When I was in high school in the mid \'60s, I didn\'t watch much television.\r\n\r\nI listened to the radio nearly all the time, especially in the evening when I was trying to fall asleep. My clock radio only got AM, and with directional broadcasting at night, I wasn\'t able to get either of the two big rock \'n\' roll stations in the Washington, D.C., area -- WEAM/1390 or WPGC/1580.\r\n\r\nThat forced me to pick up stations from hundreds of miles away, some of which came in pretty well all the time and others that I had to struggle to get. I listened to WKBW out of Buffalo, WCFL (\"The voice of labor\") out of Chicago and CKLW from Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit. On occasion I was able to get a good signal for WLS in Chicago or WABC in New York, which featured the legendary Cousin Brucie.\r\n\r\nThose stations were all pretty much Top 40, but eventually I discovered WBZ in Boston. It had one of the most powerful signals of all the East Coast stations, and rumor had it that when the atmospherics were right, it could even be heard in England.\r\n\r\nWBZ was much more eclectic, playing a lot more British Invasion stuff and also a lot of what would be called folk music now. I first heard Tom Rush on WBZ, and his performance of Joni Mitchell\'s \"Urge for Going\" puts me back into that time and place in a way few songs of that period do.\r\n\r\nhttp://youtu.be/e0_RZZoREC4\r\n\r\nThose were the days, when Rush didn\'t mean Limbaugh, and when I heard him do \"Ladies Love Outlaws\" in 1974, I knew it was another song I would never forget. It\'s on my iPod now, and on several of my playlists.\r\n\r\nIn Stephen King\'s wonderful \"Hearts in Atlantis,\" the closest he ever came to writing about the \'60s, he refers to the music we grew up with as \"the fabled automatic,\" for the good feeling it always gives us to hear it. And while there are too many songs from the \'50s, \'60s and \'70s that I have heard too many times to ever enjoy them again, there are dozens of others that put me directly into the place and time where I heard them.\r\n\r\nAnd when you\'re coming up on your Social Security years, it\'s nice to be able to do that once in a while.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Just a song on the radio, but it lasts forever','','publish','open','open','','just-a-song-on-the-radio-but-it-lasts-forever','','','2011-11-14 19:56:10','2011-11-15 03:56:10','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1437',0,'post','',0),(1422,1,'2011-11-05 22:13:12','2011-11-06 05:13:12','This is going to be an angry post, filled with self-loathing.\r\n\r\nWell, maybe not self-loathing, but I am very angry with myself.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1423\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Sixteen months ago.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSC_0277.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1423\" title=\"DSC_0277\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSC_0277-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nA year ago, I was one skinny bastard, one good-looking guy for age 60.\r\n\r\nI\'ve written before about how I worked to lose 112 pounds, to go from 280 to 168 in six months. I was damned proud of myself and I felt really good. Good enough, in fact, to post a picture where I still weighed 213 pounds.\r\n\r\nBy November, when I went to two college reunions -- fraternity and college newspaper -- I was skinnier than I had been in 20 years. I had bought myself a whole new wardrobe, all pretty good quality stuff. I was in a good routine -- walking six miles for exercise almost every day.\r\n\r\nSo what happened?\r\n\r\nWe had some tough times here in Georgia. My beloved wife has been suffering from various health problems for much of the year that we have been here. We\'ve argued more than usual, I have fallen completely out of my routine and -- horror of horrors -- I have gained back almost all of the weight I lost.\r\n\r\nI could play Jabba the Hutt or Fat Bastard without needing more than a little help from prosthetics.\r\n\r\nWhen we go to Seattle later this month to see our new grandson, his first glimpse of me won\'t be impressive. If he was talking, he might say, \"Who\'s the fat guy?\"\r\n\r\nIf we go to Virginia for Christmas, my mother and my siblings -- who last saw me thin in November 2010 -- will doubtless look at me and wonder if I have some sort of disease.\r\n\r\nI\'ve done big diets before, but losing weight, gaining it back and then losing it again right away is something I have never done before.\r\n\r\nWell, there needs to be a first time.\r\n\r\nOtherwise, I\'ll never be able to look in a mirror again.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','This one is where I say how ashamed I am','','publish','open','open','','this-one-is-where-i-say-how-ashamed-i-am','','','2011-11-05 22:13:12','2011-11-06 05:13:12','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1422',0,'post','',0),(1423,1,'2011-11-05 22:02:44','2011-11-06 05:02:44','','DSC_0277','Sixteen months ago.','inherit','open','open','','dsc_0277-2','','','2011-11-05 22:02:44','2011-11-06 05:02:44','',1422,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSC_0277.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1424,1,'2011-11-05 22:12:16','2011-11-06 05:12:16','This is going to be an angry post, filled with self-loathing.\n\nWell, maybe not self-loathing, but I am very angry with myself.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1423\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"199\" caption=\"Sixteen months ago.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSC_0277.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1423\" title=\"DSC_0277\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSC_0277-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nA year ago, I was one skinny bastard, one good-looking guy for age 60.\n\nI\'ve written before about how I worked to lose 112 pounds, to go from 280 to 168 in six months. I was damned proud of myself and I felt really good. Good enough, in fact, to post a picture where I still weighed 213 pounds.\n\nBy November, when I went to two college reunions -- fraternity and college newspaper -- I was skinnier than I had been in 20 years. I had bought myself a whole new wardrobe, all pretty good quality stuff. I was in a good routine -- walking six miles for exercise almost every day.\n\nSo what happened?\n\nWe had some tough times here in Georgia. My beloved wife has been suffering from various health problems for much of the year that we have been here. We\'ve argued more than usual, I have fallen completely out of my routine and -- horror of horrors -- I have gained back almost all of the weight I lost.\n\nI could play Jabba the Hutt or Fat Bastard without needing more than a little help from prosthetics.\n\nWhen we go to Seattle later this month to see our new grandson, his first glimpse of me won\'t be impressive. If he was talking, he might say, \"Who\'s the fat guy?\"\n\nIf we go to Virginia for Christmas, my mother and my siblings -- who last saw me thin in November 2010 -- will doubtless look at me and wonder if I have some sort of disease.\n\nI\'ve done big diets before, but losing weight, gaining it back and then losing it again right away is something I have never done before.\n\nWell, there needs to be a first time.\n\nOtherwise, I\'ll never be able to look in a mirror again.','','','inherit','open','open','','1422-revision','','','2011-11-05 22:12:16','2011-11-06 05:12:16','',1422,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1424',0,'revision','',0),(1425,1,'2011-11-10 14:37:20','0000-00-00 00:00:00','There are few things that fascinate people more than time travel.\r\n\r\nFrom H.G. Wells\' \"The Time Machine\" to Robert Grimwood\'s \"Replay\" to Jack Finney\'s \"Time and Again\" to Richard Matheson\'s lovely \"Bid Time Return,\" traveling into the future (Wells) or the past (the other three) has been fodder for some wonderful stories.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1426\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Time travel for a purpose\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x300.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1426\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nThis week, with the release of \"11/22/63,\" the master of modern storytelling has taken his own shot at time travel. Stephen King said he first had the idea for this novel in 1972, when he was still an unpublished novelist. He didn\'t feel qualified to write it then, so he went on to become one of  the best-selling novelists of his generation, with more than 300 million copies in print.\r\n\r\nKing wisely doesn\'t try to explain how his character is able to travel into the past. There\'s just a gate that someone discovered that always takes the person walking through it to the same day and time in September 1958.\r\n\r\nThe character\'s goal is to stay in the past until Nov. 22, 1963, what he calls one of those watershed moments in history, and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating President Kennedy.\r\n\r\nCan it be done?\r\n\r\nAnd if so, what would the consequences be?\r\n\r\nCould we assume that a continuing Kennedy administration would have meant a lesser role in Vietnam, fewer urban riots and no Nixon administration? Or would things change in far more basic, cataclysmic ways?\r\n\r\nOne of the continuing themes in the book is that the past resists being changed, and the more important the change is, the more it resists. Trying to prevent a young girl from being paralyzed in a hunting accident might draw only a little resistance, while saving Kennedy from being killed might mean that the hero of the tale has to figuratively walk through hell to do it.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the very idea of time travel is highly problematic. If we accept time as we know it, the past no longer exists to be visited and the future hasn\'t happened yet. To accept time travel, we almost have to believe that each instant in time creates some sort of parallel universe. For \"11/22/63\" and its premise','','','draft','open','open','','','','','2011-11-10 14:37:20','2011-11-10 22:37:20','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?page_id=1425',0,'page','',0),(1426,1,'2011-11-10 13:32:21','2011-11-10 21:32:21','','11-22-63-197x300','Time travel for a purpose','inherit','open','open','','11-22-63-197x300','','','2011-11-10 13:32:21','2011-11-10 21:32:21','',1425,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x300.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1427,1,'2011-11-10 14:02:41','2011-11-10 22:02:41','There are few things that fascinate people more than time travel.\n\nFrom H.G. Wells\' \"The Time Machine\" to Robert Grimwood\'s \"Replay\" to Jack Finney\'s \"Time and Again\" to Richard Matheson\'s lovely \"Bid Time Return,\" traveling into the future (Wells) or the past (the other three) has been fodder for some wonderful stories.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1426\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Time travel for a purpose\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x300.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1426\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nThis week, with the release of \"11/22/63,\" the master of modern storytelling has taken his own shot at time travel. Stephen King said he first had the idea for this novel in 1972, when he was still an unpublished novelist. He didn\'t feel qualified to write it then, so he went on to become one of  the best-selling novelists of his generation, with more than 300 million copies in print.\n\nKing wisely doesn\'t try to explain how his character is able to travel into the past. There\'s just a gate that someone discovered that always takes the person walking through it to the same day and time in September 1958.\n\nThe character\'s goal is to stay in the past until Nov. 22, 1963, what he calls one of those watershed moments in history, and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating President Kennedy.\n\nCan it be done?\n\nAnd if so, what would the consequences be?\n\nCould we assume that a continuing Kennedy administration would have meant a lesser role in Vietnam, fewer urban riots and no Nixon administration? Or would things change in far more basic, cataclysmic ways?\n\nOne of the continuing themes in the book is that the past resists being changed, and the more important the change is, the more it resists. Trying to prevent a young girl from being paralyzed in a hunting accident might draw only a little resistance, while saving Kennedy from being killed might mean that the hero of the tale has to figuratively walk through hell to do it.\n\nIn fact, the very idea of time travel is highly problematic. If we accept time as we know it, the past no longer exists to be visited and the future hasn\'t happened yet. To accept time travel, we almost have to believe that each instant in time creates some sort of parallel universe. For \"11/22/63\" and its premise','','','inherit','open','open','','1425-revision','','','2011-11-10 14:02:41','2011-11-10 22:02:41','',1425,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1427',0,'revision','',0),(1428,1,'2011-11-10 20:02:50','2011-11-11 04:02:50','Some days just suck.\r\n\r\nI\'m exaggerating here, because even my bad days would be wonderful for a lot of folks. I don\'t have to work, I live in a nice house and I don\'t have to worry about money. I\'m even in decent health.\r\n\r\nBut some days are worse than others.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1429\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The &quot;good&quot; car\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Recent-038.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1429\" title=\"Recent 038\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Recent-038-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen I went out to my car this afternoon to go to the grocery store, I noticed that my right rear tire was flat. I knew I was going to have to call Triple-A to get it changed and then go out and buy a new tire, but I figured I would take the other car and delay calling Triple-A till later.\r\n\r\nJust one problem. We\'ve only driven our second car once or twice in the year we have been in Georgia. It\'s a 2000 Ford Contour with nearly 120,000 miles on it, while our main car is a 2009 Hyundai Tucson with about 33,000 miles on it.\r\n\r\nWell, the car got me to the store. I went in and got my groceries, carried them out to the car and then started the engine. It ran roughly for a few seconds and then died. After that, it would turn over but not catch. I couldn\'t start the car.\r\n\r\nTo make matters even worse, I didn\'t have my cell phone with me. So after struggling to find a pay phone and some change to use it, I called to have my car towed to a Ford dealer to be repaired. The driver was nice enough to bring me home, but there was one last indignity to the evening. When I got out of the tow truck, I apparently dropped my driver\'s license and my Triple-A card. I\'ll have to call tomorrow to make sure they have it, and of course I\'ll have to get that flat tire fixed.\r\n\r\nSome days just suck.','Sometimes life is like a really bad movie','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-life-is-like-a-really-bad-movie','','','2011-11-10 20:02:50','2011-11-11 04:02:50','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1428',0,'post','',0),(1429,1,'2011-11-10 20:01:31','2011-11-11 04:01:31','','Recent 038','The \"good\" car','inherit','open','open','','recent-038','','','2011-11-10 20:01:31','2011-11-11 04:01:31','',1428,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Recent-038.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1430,1,'2011-11-10 20:01:59','2011-11-11 04:01:59','Some days just suck.\n\nI\'m exaggerating here, because even my bad days would be wonderful for a lot of folks. I don\'t have to work, I live in a nice house and I don\'t have to worry about money. I\'m even in decent health.\n\nBut some days are worse than others.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1429\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"The &quot;good&quot; car\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Recent-038.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1429\" title=\"Recent 038\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Recent-038-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nWhen I went out to my car this afternoon to go to the grocery store, I noticed that my right rear tire was flat. I knew I was going to have to call Triple-A to get it changed and then go out and buy a new tire, but I figured I would take the other car and delay calling Triple-A till later.\n\nJust one problem. We\'ve only driven our second car once or twice in the year we have been in Georgia. It\'s a 2000 Ford Contour with nearly 120,000 miles on it, while our main car is a 2009 Hyundai Tucson with about 33,000 miles on it.\n\nWell, the car got me to the store. I went in and got my groceries, carried them out to the car and then started the engine. It ran roughly for a few seconds and then died. After that, it would turn over but not catch. I couldn\'t start the car.\n\nTo make matters even worse, I didn\'t have my cell phone with me. So after struggling to find a pay phone and some change to use it, I called to have my car towed to a Ford dealer to be repaired. The driver was nice enough to bring me home, but there was one last indignity to the evening. When I got out of the tow truck, I apparently dropped my driver\'s license and my Triple-A card. I\'ll have to call tomorrow to make sure they have it, and of course I\'ll have to get that flat tire fixed.\n\nSome days just suck.','','','inherit','open','open','','1428-revision','','','2011-11-10 20:01:59','2011-11-11 04:01:59','',1428,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1430',0,'revision','',0),(1431,1,'2011-11-18 20:54:45','2011-11-19 04:54:45','Stephen King said in an afterword to his newest novel that he first had the idea for \"11/22/63\" back in 1972, when he was a young, unpublished novelist.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1432\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Traveling through time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1432\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nAt that point, King said, he didn\'t feel he had the expertise -- or the knowledge -- to write the book. So he set it aside, but never forgot the idea.\r\n\r\nNow, nearly 40 years later and with nearly 350 million copies of his books in print, we finally get King\'s thoughts on the possibility of changing history by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a good story that will take its place in the pantheon of good novels involving time travel, even if the ending isn\'t all that surprising to those who like the genre. But what I found the most interesting was when King brought up the idea of watershed moments in history, moments in which whether a particular event happens or doesn\'t happen can have a tremendous impact on everything that follows.\r\n\r\nIf JFK hadn\'t died in Dallas, King opines, we might never have become as deeply involved in Vietnam. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy might not have died in 1968, and Richard Nixon might never have become president. A lot spun out from that one moment at 12:32 p.m. CST on 11/22/63, when Oswald\'s third and fatal shot killed Kennedy.\r\n\r\nBut things like that are almost too big to comprehend.\r\n\r\nWhat\'s clear to me is that there are watershed moments in people\'s lives as well, and sometimes they take us so much by surprise that we don\'t realize how important they were until years later.\r\n\r\nIf we ever do.\r\n\r\nOf course it\'s silly to make a big deal about it, because unless our lives are a total mess, wishing for them to have turned out differently means throwing away what is good about them as well as bad. I believe they call it throwing the baby out with the bath water.\r\n\r\nIf my life had turned differently at what I now believe to be its watershed moment, I would have had a very different career. I don\'t know if my first marriage would have been a success -- or whether I would actually have fathered any children -- but I\'m pretty sure I never would have lived in Los Angeles, or met Nicole, or become a dad to Pauline and Virgile. I think losing the first thing on that list wouldn\'t have been horrible, but I cannot imagine losing the three most important people in my life.\r\n\r\nThe person who might just know the vicissitudes of my life better than anyone is my closest friend Mick, and I would be willing to bet he could have five guesses and not identify my watershed moment. I don\'t think I understood it myself until just recently.\r\n\r\nSo for now I think I\'ll be coy and not reveal it.\r\n\r\nI\'ll let Mick check in with his guesses -- month, year and event.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','King\'s \'11/22/63\' raises fascinating questions','','publish','open','open','','kings-112263-raises-fascinating-questions','','','2011-11-18 20:54:45','2011-11-19 04:54:45','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1431',0,'post','',0),(1432,1,'2011-11-11 15:00:40','2011-11-11 23:00:40','','11-22-63-197x300','Traveling through time','inherit','open','open','','11-22-63-197x300-2','','','2011-11-11 15:00:40','2011-11-11 23:00:40','',1431,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1433,1,'2011-11-11 20:09:00','2011-11-12 04:09:00','Stephen King said in an afterword to his newest novel that he first had the idea for \"11/22/63\" back in 1972, when he was a young, unpublished novelist.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1432\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Traveling through time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1432\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt that point, King said, he didn\'t feel he had the expertise -- or the knowledge -- to write the book. So he set it aside, but never forgot the idea.\n\nNow, nearly 40 years later and with nearly 350 million copies of his books in print, we finally get King\'s thoughts on the possibility of changing history by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy.\n\nIt\'s a good story that will take its place in the pantheon of good novels involving time travel, even if the ending isn\'t all that surprising to those who like the genre. But what I found the most interesting was the reaction of his main character -- who was born in 1976 -- when he stepped out of 2011 into September 1958.\n\nWe all know the technological changes -- no cell phones, no personal computers, only three channels of television and none at all that broadcast 24 hours a day. But what about some of the other differences? What about food and drink that isn\'t loaded with preservatives? It may not keep for long, but it tasted a whole lot better.\n\nWhat about an economy that still included millions of good-paying blue-collar jobs\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1431-revision','','','2011-11-11 20:09:00','2011-11-12 04:09:00','',1431,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1433',0,'revision','',0),(1434,1,'2011-11-12 17:16:51','2011-11-13 01:16:51','<em>I wrote this nine years ago, just after the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. I was re-reading it today and thought it was worth a second look.</em>\r\n\r\nI made one promise to myself this week that I was able to keep.\r\n\r\nOn Sept. 11, even though it was difficult, I managed to avoid completely the wall-to-wall coverage television gave to the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. I went to work and then I went to a special Wednesday evening Mass to commemorate the anniversary.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/190.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1435\" title=\"190\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/190-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>I enjoy going to Mass under any circumstances, because it\'s one of the few times during a busy week that I actually get the chance to sit and think about things greater than my mundane concerns. That was especially important this week, I think, as our country looked back at terrorism and ahead to a possible war with Iraq. I\'m sure there were eloquent moments in the ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington or in the field near Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 went down. I didn\'t see any of them, though, and I don\'t feel as though I missed anything.\r\n\r\nI prayed, both alone and with the congregation, for the souls of those who died on Sept. 11 and for the families they left behind. I prayed for guidance for those misguided fools who think murder of innocents is any sort of path to salvation. I prayed that our own leaders would see that war – an unprovoked war of the type America has never fought - is rarely the road to any meaningful sort of peace.\r\n\r\nOne of the responsorial prayers was particularly illuminating.\r\n\r\n<em>\"I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.\"</em>\r\n\r\nStrangely enough, I do believe exactly that. I believe it is possible for men and women to learn, to gain enlightenment and to be good to one another.\r\n\r\nIt would be difficult to explain where I get that feeling. Our culture is in a shambles, with the quest to appeal to the lowest common denominator the only goal most people in charge of media companies seem to have. Our films are soaked in blood and sex; our television shows smothered in innuendo. If there is a lowest common denominator, it appears to be that everyone can be degraded if they\'re offered enough money and that there are no real heroes anywhere anymore.\r\n\r\nPeople who run businesses are seen as maximizing profits at the expense of all else, while those who run for office are seen as being willing to sink to any level to win their election.\r\n\r\nOne thought people had in the wake of Sept. 11 last year was that what had happened would somehow mark an end to cynicism and irony in this country. Ironically, both seem to be stronger than ever. We have become more cynical, more ironic, in the days since the planes hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I have no doubt that individual families, especially those touched by the tragedy, might be living their lives differently, but I don\'t see any sign of a sea change in our national psyche.\r\n\r\nDo we see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living? I would like to believe so. I know people who devote their weekends to working at food banks or building houses for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. I know others who devote time they really don\'t have to coaching youth sports or working with the Boy Scouts.\r\n\r\nIt may be a slow process, but I believe race relations are getting better. I believe my children look at people without immediately pigeonholing them by race or ethnic group, and I see more mixed couples with multiracial children all the time. I believe we are seeing less hatred toward people of different ethnicities, religions or sexual preferences. Again, a slow process. Again, real progress.\r\n\r\nDuring the Wednesday evening mass, one of the hymns we sang was Katherine Lee Bates\' lovely \"America the Beautiful,\" the song many people feel should be our national anthem. I love the melody and the words, particularly the fourth verse.\r\n\r\n<em>\"O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears ...\"</em>\r\n\r\nWhen Bates wrote the final version of her song in 1913, I doubt it would have been possible to imagine the Twin Towers that climbed so far toward the skies above New York City. Even though I didn\'t watch the television coverage the other day, I seriously doubt New York was \"undimmed by human tears.\"\r\n\r\nWe didn\'t sing the fourth verse, which is my favorite. We sang the third, the most overlooked one.\r\n\r\n<em>\"O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!\"</em>\r\n\r\nI know we see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I know it when I read of firefighters, police officers and medical personnel who ran into the Twin Towers and up the stairs, all the while knowing there was a very good chance they would never make it out. &lt;p&gt;I know it when I read of the people who devoted days, weeks and months to the search for the missing after Sept. 11, those who rededicated themselves to working for more than just their own personal gain.\r\n\r\nWe have been through a terrible time in this country, a time that started long before the planes hit. For several decades, we have made money and success our twin gods and have used whatever means necessary to achieve them.\r\n\r\nGreed was never good, despite what Gordon Gekko said, but we convinced ourselves that maybe it wasn\'t really one of the Seven Deadly Sins. While we were at it, lust and gluttony were sort of fun too.\r\n\r\nWell, no matter how much we may rationalize, good remains good and evil remains evil. And whether you believe in a higher power or not, whether you take your philosophy of life from the Bible or from \"Bill and Ted\'s Excellent Adventure,\" life all boils down to one thing.\r\n\r\nCall it \"love your neighbor as yourself\" or \"be excellent to one another.\" It\'s really the same thing. If you live your life for your own happiness, you probably won\'t see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you live for others and the good of your community, you\'ll be part of the solution.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if there\'s any great lesson to be gleaned as we start the second year after the attacks, but part of that one verse keeps going through my mind.\r\n\r\n<em>\"... who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life.\"</em>\r\n\r\nTwenty years after completing her first version of the song, Bates commented on its success. \"That the hymn has gained, in these twenty odd years, such a hold as it has upon our people, is clearly due to the fact that Americans are at heart idealists, with a fundamental faith in human brotherhood.\"\r\n\r\nI don\'t believe giants ever walked the earth in this country. I don\'t believe the patriots who founded America were somehow better men and women than we are in 2002. I do believe we have taken the easy road for far too long.\r\n\r\nIt\'s time we stop selling ourselves short and really look for the goodness of the Lord ... in the land of the living.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Our future is about more than the money we make','','publish','open','open','','our-future-is-about-more-than-the-money-we-make','','','2011-11-12 17:16:51','2011-11-13 01:16:51','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1434',0,'post','',0),(1435,1,'2011-11-12 17:14:37','2011-11-13 01:14:37','','190','','inherit','open','open','','190','','','2011-11-12 17:14:37','2011-11-13 01:14:37','',1434,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/190.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1436,1,'2011-11-12 17:15:55','2011-11-13 01:15:55','<em>I wrote this nine years ago, just after the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. I was re-reading it today and thought it was worth a second look.</em>\n\nI made one promise to myself this week that I was able to keep.\n\nOn Sept. 11, even though it was difficult, I managed to avoid completely the wall-to-wall coverage television gave to the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. I went to work and then I went to a special Wednesday evening Mass to commemorate the anniversary.\n\n<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/190.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1435\" title=\"190\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/190-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" /></a>I enjoy going to Mass under any circumstances, because it\'s one of the few times during a busy week that I actually get the chance to sit and think about things greater than my mundane concerns. That was especially important this week, I think, as our country looked back at terrorism and ahead to a possible war with Iraq. I\'m sure there were eloquent moments in the ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington or in the field near Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 went down. I didn\'t see any of them, though, and I don\'t feel as though I missed anything.\n\nI prayed, both alone and with the congregation, for the souls of those who died on Sept. 11 and for the families they left behind. I prayed for guidance for those misguided fools who think murder of innocents is any sort of path to salvation. I prayed that our own leaders would see that war – an unprovoked war of the type America has never fought - is rarely the road to any meaningful sort of peace.\n\nOne of the responsorial prayers was particularly illuminating.\n\n<em>\"I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.\"</em>\n\nStrangely enough, I do believe exactly that. I believe it is possible for men and women to learn, to gain enlightenment and to be good to one another.\n\nIt would be difficult to explain where I get that feeling. Our culture is in a shambles, with the quest to appeal to the lowest common denominator the only goal most people in charge of media companies seem to have. Our films are soaked in blood and sex; our television shows smothered in innuendo. If there is a lowest common denominator, it appears to be that everyone can be degraded if they\'re offered enough money and that there are no real heroes anywhere anymore.\n\nPeople who run businesses are seen as maximizing profits at the expense of all else, while those who run for office are seen as being willing to sink to any level to win their election.\n\nOne thought people had in the wake of Sept. 11 last year was that what had happened would somehow mark an end to cynicism and irony in this country. Ironically, both seem to be stronger than ever. We have become more cynical, more ironic, in the days since the planes hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I have no doubt that individual families, especially those touched by the tragedy, might be living their lives differently, but I don\'t see any sign of a sea change in our national psyche.\n\nDo we see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living? I would like to believe so. I know people who devote their weekends to working at food banks or building houses for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. I know others who devote time they really don\'t have to coaching youth sports or working with the Boy Scouts.\n\nIt may be a slow process, but I believe race relations are getting better. I believe my children look at people without immediately pigeonholing them by race or ethnic group, and I see more mixed couples with multiracial children all the time. I believe we are seeing less hatred toward people of different ethnicities, religions or sexual preferences. Again, a slow process. Again, real progress.\n\nDuring the Wednesday evening mass, one of the hymns we sang was Katherine Lee Bates\' lovely \"America the Beautiful,\" the song many people feel should be our national anthem. I love the melody and the words, particularly the fourth verse.\n\n<em>\"O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years, Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears ...\"</em>\n\nWhen Bates wrote the final version of her song in 1913, I doubt it would have been possible to imagine the Twin Towers that climbed so far toward the skies above New York City. Even though I didn\'t watch the television coverage the other day, I seriously doubt New York was \"undimmed by human tears.\"\n\nWe didn\'t sing the fourth verse, which is my favorite. We sang the third, the most overlooked one.\n\n<em>\"O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!\"</em>\n\nI know we see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I know it when I read of firefighters, police officers and medical personnel who ran into the Twin Towers and up the stairs, all the while knowing there was a very good chance they would never make it out. &lt;p&gt;I know it when I read of the people who devoted days, weeks and months to the search for the missing after Sept. 11, those who rededicated themselves to working for more than just their own personal gain.\n\nWe have been through a terrible time in this country, a time that started long before the planes hit. For several decades, we have made money and success our twin gods and have used whatever means necessary to achieve them.\n\nGreed was never good, despite what Gordon Gekko said, but we convinced ourselves that maybe it wasn\'t really one of the Seven Deadly Sins. While we were at it, lust and gluttony were sort of fun too.\n\nWell, no matter how much we may rationalize, good remains good and evil remains evil. And whether you believe in a higher power or not, whether you take your philosophy of life from the Bible or from \"Bill and Ted\'s Excellent Adventure,\" life all boils down to one thing.\n\nCall it \"love your neighbor as yourself\" or \"be excellent to one another.\" It\'s really the same thing. If you live your life for your own happiness, you probably won\'t see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you live for others and the good of your community, you\'ll be part of the solution.\n\nI don\'t know if there\'s any great lesson to be gleaned as we start the second year after the attacks, but part of that one verse keeps going through my mind.\n\n<em>\"... who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life.\"</em>\n\nTwenty years after completing her first version of the song, Bates commented on its success. \"That the hymn has gained, in these twenty odd years, such a hold as it has upon our people, is clearly due to the fact that Americans are at heart idealists, with a fundamental faith in human brotherhood.\"\n\nI don\'t believe giants ever walked the earth in this country. I don\'t believe the patriots who founded America were somehow better men and women than we are in 2002. I do believe we have taken the easy road for far too long.\n\nIt\'s time we stop selling ourselves short and really look for the goodness of the Lord ... in the land of the living.\n\n&nbsp;','Our future is about more than the money we make','','inherit','open','open','','1434-revision','','','2011-11-12 17:15:55','2011-11-13 01:15:55','',1434,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1436',0,'revision','',0),(1438,1,'2011-11-14 19:55:49','2011-11-15 03:55:49','When I was in high school in the mid \'60s, I didn\'t watch much television.\n\nI listened to the radio nearly all the time, especially in the evening when I was trying to fall asleep. My clock radio only got AM, and with directional broadcasting at night, I wasn\'t able to get either of the two big rock \'n\' roll stations in the Washington, D.C., area -- WEAM/1390 or WPGC/1580.\n\nThat forced me to pick up stations from hundreds of miles away, some of which came in pretty well all the time and others that I had to struggle to get. I listened to WKBW out of Buffalo, WCFL (\"The voice of labor\") out of Chicago and CKLW from Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit. On occasion I was able to get a good signal for WLS in Chicago or WABC in New York, which featured the legendary Cousin Brucie.\n\nThose stations were all pretty much Top 40, but eventually I discovered WBZ in Boston. It had one of the most powerful signals of all the East Coast stations, and rumor had it that when the atmospherics were right, it could even be heard in England.\n\nWBZ was much more eclectic, playing a lot more British Invasion stuff and also a lot of what would be called folk music now. I first heard Tom Rush on WBZ, and his performance of Joni Mitchell\'s \"Urge for Going\" puts me back into that time and place in a way few songs of that period do.\n\nhttp://youtu.be/e0_RZZoREC4\n\nThose were the days, when Rush didn\'t mean Limbaugh, and when I heard him do \"Ladies Love Outlaws\" in 1974, I knew it was another song I would never forget. It\'s on my iPod now, and on several of my playlists.\n\nIn Stephen King\'s wonderful \"Hearts in Atlantis,\" the closest he ever came to writing about the \'60s, he refers to the music we grew up with as \"the fabled automatic,\" for the good feeling it always gives us to hear it. And while there are too many songs from the \'50s, \'60s and \'70s that I have heard too many times to ever enjoy them again, there are dozens of others that put me directly into the place and time where I heard them.\n\nAnd when you\'re coming up on your Social Security years, it\'s nice to be able to do that once in a while.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1437-revision','','','2011-11-14 19:55:49','2011-11-15 03:55:49','',1437,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1438',0,'revision','',0),(1440,1,'2011-04-29 17:59:54','2011-04-30 00:59:54','[caption id=\"attachment_1081\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Five miles from here.\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110429_31.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1081\" title=\"20110429_3\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110429_31-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen the South was hit by storms the other day, most of the news -- the bad news anyway -- came from Alabama and points west of here.\r\n\r\nSince I don\'t watch television, listen to radio news or subscribe to a newspaper that has news less than 48 hours old, I had no idea that any of the tornadoes has hit near here. But yesterday, when we were heading north to Atlanta for a couple of doctor\'s appointments, I caught sight of the view in the accompanying photograph.\r\n\r\nIt is -- or was -- a flimsy warehouse a little more than five miles from our home in Sun City Peachtree. It isn\'t easy to see in the photo, but there were at least five or six recreational vehicles from a lot next door that were also destroyed.\r\n\r\nThat\'s a little too close for comfort.\r\n\r\nI\'m certainly not complaining. As of this evening, the death toll across the South is reported at more than 300 people, and as least as far as I can see, there was no damage at all here in Sun City.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1083\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"199\" caption=\"My little peach tree\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110429_1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1083\" title=\"20110429_1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110429_1-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nSo today, with the sun out and with only a few clouds in the sky, I dug a hole and planted my peach tree.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know how big it will get -- technically it\'s only a dwarf peach tree -- but living in Georgia, there was no way in the world I would plant anything other than a peach tree as my first fruit tree.\r\n\r\nSo now I\'ve got three tomato plants, one peach tree and two flower pots containing impatiens.\r\n\r\nI\'m going to have to depend on the kindness of neighbors when we go to Europe this summer. I\'m pretty sure my tomato plants wouldn\'t thrive during three weeks without watering, although I have hopes for the tree.\r\n\r\nStill, if the tornadoes come to call, I have a hunch my ltitle tree may not fare too well.','Torandoes came fairly close, but no damage here','','inherit','open','open','','1078-revision-4','','','2011-04-29 17:59:54','2011-04-30 00:59:54','',1078,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1440',0,'revision','',0),(1441,1,'2011-11-16 19:17:31','2011-11-17 03:17:31','Sometimes, things happen that are so strange that all you can do is hold them in your heart and ponder them until God grants you some insight into them.\r\n\r\nOne of those things happened to me the other day. I received a message on Facebook from someone whose name I will not divulge. If you know me well enough, you\'ll know who it is, but I don\'t want to embarrass him. All I can say is that there may be only two people in the world it would have surprised me more to hear from. One is the man who provided half of my genetic material, a man I haven\'t seen or heard from since the fall of 1952.\r\n\r\nI was 2.\r\n\r\nThe other is my first wife, who I haven\'t seen or heard from since the spring of 1982. Ironically, those two people have first names that rhyme.\r\n\r\n<em>Huh?</em>\r\n\r\nNever mind. The person who messaged me was my last employer, who fired me in January 2008. We had had run-ins before, and I always felt like we had a difficult relationship. I\'m not going to go into any details, because it truly is old news and I worked very hard to put it behind me. I had never heard from this man, and I was frankly stunned to hear from him when I did.\r\n\r\nHe wrote me to say he had been fooling around on his iPad and had come across this Website. My most recent post that he saw was one in which I expressed disgust with myself for letting myself go this year. He told me I needed to remember I was a good man, and that my love for my wife and children clearly show that. Then he wished me the best.\r\n\r\nI answered him by saying how surprised I was to hear from him, and that I appreciated his kind words and had no hard feelings about what had happened four years ago.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1443\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Where I once worked\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSCN0073.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1443\" title=\"DSCN0073\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSCN0073-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\r\n\r\nI honestly didn\'t know what else to say.\r\n\r\nI\'ve been thinking about it on and off ever since, and I\'ve come to the conclusion that this is one of those things that is very possible to over-think. I got fired in January 2008 -- I thought unfairly -- but dozens of other employees were let go in the next couple of months in an effort to cut the payroll.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the company has never stopped cutting back ever since.\r\n\r\nSo the idea that I would have continued working there isn\'t worth considering. I chose an industry that, if it isn\'t dying, is certainly shedding jobs only slightly slower than the buggy whip companies did after Henry Ford came along.\r\n\r\nI loved my job for a long time, but by 2008 it had changed enough that most of the joy I previously felt had disappeared.\r\n\r\nI found myself retired earlier than I had hoped, but the fact is, my wife and I are very well-off financially and -- 3 1/2 weeks before my 62nd birthday -- I am very happy not to be punching a time clock.\r\n\r\nLast year in Texas, when I had my epiphany, I realized that only three things really matter in the way we live our lives. If we love God, if we let go of past regrets and if we love others as we love ourself, we can\'t really go wrong.\r\n\r\nSo why my former employer wrote me doesn\'t matter.\r\n\r\nAll that really matters is that it was a nice thing for him to do.\r\n\r\nMaybe someday I\'ll hear from Wesley and Leslie, although I\'m not holding my breath.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;','Sometimes surprises can take us completely aback','','publish','open','open','','sometimes-surprises-can-take-us-completely-aback','','','2011-11-16 19:17:31','2011-11-17 03:17:31','',0,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1441',0,'post','',0),(1442,1,'2011-11-16 18:31:13','2011-11-17 02:31:13','Sometimes, things happen that are so strange that all you can do is hold them in your heart and ponder them until God grants you some insight into them.\n\nOne of those things happened to me the other day. I received a message on Facebook from someone whose name I will not divulge. If you know me well enough, you\'ll know who it is, but I don\'t want to embarrass him. All I can say is that there may be only two people in the world it would have surprised me more to hear from. One is the man who provided half of my genetic material, a man I haven\'t seen or heard from since the fall of 1952.\n\nI was 2.\n\nThe other is my first wife, who I haven\'t seen or heard from since the spring of 1982.\n\nThe person who messaged me was my last employer, who fired me in January 2008. We had had run-ins before, and I always felt like we had a difficult relationship.\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1441-revision','','','2011-11-16 18:31:13','2011-11-17 02:31:13','',1441,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1442',0,'revision','',0),(1443,1,'2011-11-16 19:05:53','2011-11-17 03:05:53','','DSCN0073','Where I once worked','inherit','open','open','','dscn0073','','','2011-11-16 19:05:53','2011-11-17 03:05:53','',1441,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSCN0073.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(1444,1,'2011-11-16 19:16:49','2011-11-17 03:16:49','Sometimes, things happen that are so strange that all you can do is hold them in your heart and ponder them until God grants you some insight into them.\n\nOne of those things happened to me the other day. I received a message on Facebook from someone whose name I will not divulge. If you know me well enough, you\'ll know who it is, but I don\'t want to embarrass him. All I can say is that there may be only two people in the world it would have surprised me more to hear from. One is the man who provided half of my genetic material, a man I haven\'t seen or heard from since the fall of 1952.\n\nI was 2.\n\nThe other is my first wife, who I haven\'t seen or heard from since the spring of 1982. Ironically, those two people have first names that rhyme.\n\n<em>Huh?</em>\n\nNever mind. The person who messaged me was my last employer, who fired me in January 2008. We had had run-ins before, and I always felt like we had a difficult relationship. I\'m not going to go into any details, because it truly is old news and I worked very hard to put it behind me. I had never heard from this man, and I was frankly stunned to hear from him when I did.\n\nHe wrote me to say he had been fooling around on his iPad and had come across this Website. My most recent post that he saw was one in which I expressed disgust with myself for letting myself go this year. He told me I needed to remember I was a good man, and that my love for my wife and children clearly show that. Then he wished me the best.\n\nI answered him by saying how surprised I was to hear from him, and that I appreciated his kind words and had no hard feelings about what had happened four years ago.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1443\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Where I once worked\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSCN0073.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1443\" title=\"DSCN0073\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSCN0073-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI honestly didn\'t know what else to say.\n\nI\'ve been thinking about it on and off ever since, and I\'ve come to the conclusion that this is one of those things that is very possible to over-think. I got fired in January 2008 -- I thought unfairly -- but dozens of other employees were let go in the next couple of months in an effort to cut the payroll.\n\nIn fact, the company has never stopped cutting back ever since.\n\nSo the idea that I would have continued working there isn\'t worth considering. I chose an industry that, if it isn\'t dying, is certainly shedding jobs only slightly slower than the buggy whip companies did after Henry Ford came along.\n\nI loved my job for a long time, but by 2008 it had changed enough that most of the joy I previously felt had disappeared.\n\nI found myself retired earlier than I had hoped, but the fact is, my wife and I are very well-off financially and -- 3 1/2 weeks before my 62nd birthday -- I am very happy not to be punching a time clock.\n\nLast year in Texas, when I had my epiphany, I realized that only three things really matter in the way we live our lives. If we love God, if we let go of past regrets and if we love others as we love ourself, we can\'t really go wrong.\n\nSo why my former employer wrote me doesn\'t matter.\n\nAll that really matters is that it was a nice thing for him to do.\n\nMaybe someday I\'ll hear from Wesley and Lesl\n\n&nbsp;','','','inherit','open','open','','1441-revision-2','','','2011-11-16 19:16:49','2011-11-17 03:16:49','',1441,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1444',0,'revision','',0),(1445,1,'2011-11-18 20:54:38','2011-11-19 04:54:38','Stephen King said in an afterword to his newest novel that he first had the idea for \"11/22/63\" back in 1972, when he was a young, unpublished novelist.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1432\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Traveling through time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1432\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt that point, King said, he didn\'t feel he had the expertise -- or the knowledge -- to write the book. So he set it aside, but never forgot the idea.\n\nNow, nearly 40 years later and with nearly 350 million copies of his books in print, we finally get King\'s thoughts on the possibility of changing history by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy.\n\nIt\'s a good story that will take its place in the pantheon of good novels involving time travel, even if the ending isn\'t all that surprising to those who like the genre. But what I found the most interesting was when King brought up the idea of watershed moments in history, moments in which whether a particular event happens or doesn\'t happen can have a tremendous impact on everything that follows.\n\nIf JFK hadn\'t died in Dallas, King opines, we might never have become as deeply involved in Vietnam. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy might not have died in 1968, and Richard Nixon might never have become president. A lot spun out from that one moment at 12:32 p.m. CST on 11/22/63, when Oswald\'s third and fatal shot killed Kennedy.\n\nBut things like that are almost too big to comprehend.\n\nWhat\'s clear to me is that there are watershed moments in people\'s lives as well, and sometimes they take us so much by surprise that we don\'t realize how important they were until years later.\n\nIf we ever do.\n\nOf course it\'s silly to make a big deal about it, because unless our lives are a total mess, wishing for them to have turned out differently means throwing away what is good about them as well as bad. I believe they call it throwing the baby out with the bath water.\n\nIf my life had turned differently at what I now believe to be its watershed moment, I would have had a very different career. I don\'t know if my first marriage would have been a success -- or whether I would actually have fathered any children -- but I\'m pretty sure I never would have lived in Los Angeles, or met Nicole, or become a dad to Pauline and Virgile. I think losing the first thing on that list wouldn\'t have been horrible, but I cannot imagine losing the three most important people in my life.\n\nThe person who might just know the vicissitudes of my life better than anyone is my closest friend Mick, and I would be willing to bet he could have five guesses and not identify my watershed moment. I don\'t think I understood it myself until just recently.\n\nSo for now I think I\'ll be coy and not reveal it.\n\nI\'ll let Mick check in with his guesses -- month, year and event.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','King\'s \'11/22/63\' raises','','inherit','open','open','','1431-revision-2','','','2011-11-18 20:54:38','2011-11-19 04:54:38','',1431,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1445',0,'revision','',0),(1446,1,'2011-11-18 20:55:58','2011-11-19 04:55:58','Stephen King said in an afterword to his newest novel that he first had the idea for \"11/22/63\" back in 1972, when he was a young, unpublished novelist.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1432\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"197\" caption=\"Traveling through time\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1432\" title=\"11-22-63-197x300\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/11-22-63-197x3001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nAt that point, King said, he didn\'t feel he had the expertise -- or the knowledge -- to write the book. So he set it aside, but never forgot the idea.\n\nNow, nearly 40 years later and with nearly 350 million copies of his books in print, we finally get King\'s thoughts on the possibility of changing history by preventing Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy.\n\nIt\'s a good story that will take its place in the pantheon of good novels involving time travel, even if the ending isn\'t all that surprising to those who like the genre. But what I found the most interesting was when King brought up the idea of watershed moments in history, moments in which whether a particular event happens or doesn\'t happen can have a tremendous impact on everything that follows.\n\nIf JFK hadn\'t died in Dallas, King opines, we might never have become as deeply involved in Vietnam. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy might not have died in 1968, and Richard Nixon might never have become president. A lot spun out from that one moment at 12:32 p.m. CST on 11/22/63, when Oswald\'s third and fatal shot killed Kennedy.\n\nBut things like that are almost too big to comprehend.\n\nWhat\'s clear to me is that there are watershed moments in people\'s lives as well, and sometimes they take us so much by surprise that we don\'t realize how important they were until years later.\n\nIf we ever do.\n\nOf course it\'s silly to make a big deal about it, because unless our lives are a total mess, wishing for them to have turned out differently means throwing away what is good about them as well as bad. I believe they call it throwing the baby out with the bath water.\n\nIf my life had turned differently at what I now believe to be its watershed moment, I would have had a very different career. I don\'t know if my first marriage would have been a success -- or whether I would actually have fathered any children -- but I\'m pretty sure I never would have lived in Los Angeles, or met Nicole, or become a dad to Pauline and Virgile. I think losing the first thing on that list wouldn\'t have been horrible, but I cannot imagine losing the three most important people in my life.\n\nThe person who might just know the vicissitudes of my life better than anyone is my closest friend Mick, and I would be willing to bet he could have five guesses and not identify my watershed moment. I don\'t think I understood it myself until just recently.\n\nSo for now I think I\'ll be coy and not reveal it.\n\nI\'ll let Mick check in with his guesses -- month, year and event.\n\n&nbsp;\n\n&nbsp;','King\'s \'11/22/63\' raises fascinating questions','','inherit','open','open','','1431-autosave','','','2011-11-18 20:55:58','2011-11-19 04:55:58','',1431,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1446',0,'revision','',0),(1447,1,'2011-11-19 10:10:51','2011-11-19 18:10:51','If you could start the perfect country, what would you do?\n\nI would start with what real estate agents always say matters most -- location, location, location. I would want a mild climate in a location that is not near too many other countries with expansionist views, a location blessed with good weather, arable land and a reasonable amount of natural resources.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_1321\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\" caption=\"Natural beauty\"]<a href=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1321\" title=\"road1\" src=\"http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/road1-300x219.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"219\" /></a>[/caption]\n\nI don\'t want to focus too much on the material part of it, although it\'s a pretty good bet that Ethiopia would be screwed no matter what the political system was. If you can\'t feed your people, that\'s a big handicap.\n\nThe economic system matters. We\'ve seen in the last 30 years in this country that an unrestricted,<em> laissez-faire</em> free market system can create an amazing amount of wealth, but when there is no government involvement at all, that wealth seems to gravitate toward the top.\n\nThat\'s where a progressive tax system seems to work the best. The greatest period of egalitarianism -- our strongest middle class -- came in the 1950s, when the top tax rate was 90 percent. We don\'t judge the success of a country by how rich its richest people are, but by how many of its people are able to raise happy, healthy families and hope for a better future for their children.\n\nThat doesn\'t mean you have to have a Socialist system, but it does mean the government can use tax revenues from a progressive system to make sure that most of its citizens at least have a fair shot at success.\n\nConservatives love to talk about not wanting to take away people\'s initiative, but the fact is, there are children in this country who did nothing any more wrong than being born into the wrong family who have almost no chance to succeed. Why should my children -- who had four years of college paid for and didn\'t have to take out loans -- get such a leg up on kids whose parents couldn\'t give them any help at all?\n\nAn awful lot of what I think a country should be  can be summed up in President Franklin D. Roosevelt\'s 1944 State of the Union. We were at war in 1944, but FDR was already thinking about what postwar America should be.\n\nhttp://youtu.be/3EZ5bx9AyI4\n\nSocialism? Maybe a little, but in 1944, more people seemed to understand that we were all in this together and we ought to at least take care of our country\'s children. That\'s a pretty far cry from a political party that seems to love babies only until they\'re actually born.\n\nHere they are again:\n\n<em>\"The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;</em>\n\n<em>The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;</em>\n\n<em>The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;</em>\n\n<em>The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;</em>\n\n<em>The right of every family to a decent home;</em>\n\n<em>The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;</em>\n\n<em>The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;</em>\n\n<em>The right to a good education.</em>\n\n<em>All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.</em>\n\n<em>America\'s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.</em>\n\n<em>For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.\"</em>\n\nThat\'s where my perfect country would start. When World War II began, FDR told America\'s businessmen that he didn\'t want to see any millionaires created by the war. American business had its duty to do just as America\'s soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. And for the most part, they did it.\n\nNo, America wasn\'t the perfect country in 1944. If you were black, much of the country had a apartheid ever bit as racist as South Africa. If you were Jewish, anti-Semitism was still the rule rather than the exception. If you were gay, you were deep in the closet. And if you were a woman who didn\'t want to be only a wife and mother, things were tough.\n\nBut it\'s amazing how many people in those groups and others still saw America as a wonderful place.\n\nAnd what was most wonderful about it was that there wasn\'t a government that catered to rich businessmen and big political contributors on the scale we do today.\n\nWe have Ronald Reagan and his followers to thank for that change. I always thought that Reagan\'s tragic flaw was that he believed people got rich -- even when they inherited their wealth -- because they were better people than folks who weren\'t rich.\n\nRonald Reagan\'s America isn\'t my country.\n\nI stand with FDR, believing that we are our brothers\' keepers and that America is great when America is good.\n\nThat\'s my perfect country.','','','inherit','open','open','','1320-revision-6','','','2011-11-19 10:10:51','2011-11-19 18:10:51','',1320,'http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/?p=1447',0,'revision','',0),