The Friday excerpt from S'mothered

It was very windy and very cold, normal weather for New Jersey in early December. This was a new experience for me.I stood outside on a corner freezing,waiting for elementary school students to cross the street. My hair, straighter than any hair I have ever seen, and parted right in the middle of my head, looked better on a day like this, as it flapped in the wind. My gray mackinaw was zipped right up to my neck.

At the start of the school year last September, my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Reynolds, selected me to be a crossing guard on the safety patrol. Each school day at 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.,I stood on this corner wearing a white band, which stretched across my waist and chest. I was short for a ten year old and skinny, but when I carried out this prestigious duty,I felt six feet tall. The responsibility of stopping the students when they got to my corner,so they could cross the street together,puffed me up.

My cousin, Larry Villani, one year older than I, patrolled the corner across from my station. He wore no hat and his jacket was much lighter than mine was, but he looked warm as toast. I always looked up to Larry but this morning, for the first time, I felt I was his equal. I could remember very few days in my short life when I felt equal to anyone. I never resented Larry; he was more like a big brother to me than a cousin. What I did resent was what he and most other kids in Rose Point had. They had a dad who lived with them.

My sister and I weren’t sure if we had a dad at all. We heard very little about him for the first 10 years of our life. About twice a year, there was this strange man at Grandma Orlando’s house in Elizabeth, but he hardly talked to us, just asked us how we were doing in school. He looked pale and gaunt. I guessed he was my real dad because he called my Grandma, “mom,” but he could have been an uncle.

This man’s sisters, our aunts, called him Johnny and from these visits I gradually figured out why everyone in his family; uncles, aunts and cousins called me Junior. It was strange because no one else here in my neighborhood or at school,called me Junior.I grew to hate that nickname.I grew to hate so many things about my childhood and adolescence.In those rare visits at Grandma Orlando's,however,it at least confirmed to me that this mystery man was my father.

My mother never told me anything about him. Once in a while she would explode in anger, referring to him as "that bum.” Her anger discouraged me from asking about him.

My sister always told me,"Junior you think too much," and sure enough here I was, waiting for my classmates and other school kids to arrive and instead of enjoying my new status, I was thinking too much.

So I grew up knowing very little about my father. He truly was a mystery man. Where did he live, what did he do all day and why wasn’t he living with us? By now,I certainly should have known more specifics. Other kids my age would have insisted on it At least I think they would have.

I guess the reason I didn’t pester my mother about him was because of some hazy images I had of her screaming while he beat her. I was afraid of him. I figured, the less I knew, the better.

Larry lived in the apartment directly under us. He had three sisters and a brother and I spent a good amount of time at his place. His father, my Uncle Joe, was kind of weird. He always wore a blue striped suit, usually with vest and tie, even on weekends. His carefully groomed mustache spooked me a little and he wasn’t a very warm man. He used to work in the same sportswear factory as Uncle Sal, but I heard someone say he was fired for getting into too many fights.

I didn’t think about him much, just when he was home which wasn’t often. Larry said his mother, my Aunt Lucy, was always screaming at his father about his girl friend. She never referred to her as a “girl friend” though. Instead he called her something like a “Gooma.” None of it made sense to me anyhow. I had so many uncles, aunts and cousins; I would have gotten dizzy if I started comparing them, so I didn’t.

Waiting on this corner on this icy day I began to think of happier moments.Each summer I spent a month, usually July, with the Orlando family. They lived only four miles from us, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, but on the bus ride to their house, it seemed more like forty miles.

Grandma Orlando had given birth in her fifties to her final child, Edward. He was one year older than I. Eddie, technically was my uncle, but because we were so close in age, we felt more like cousins or brothers. Whenever I was at Grandma Orlando’s house, we played together from morning until night.

Grandma and Grandpa Orlando seemed to me a mismatched couple. Grandpa worked evenings as a bartender and slept during the day. He would wake up about 3:00 p.m., have dinner and leave for work. I’m sure he must have smiled once or twice at some point in his life, but it certainly wasn’t when I was there to see it. I heard rumors from one of my relatives they were matched up by their parents in Italy.

When Grandpa was eating dinner each day before leaving for work, Eddie and I were normally outside playing. The only time I ever saw Grandpa Orlando was during Sunday dinner, but I never felt comfortable with him. Actually I was in awe of him. He seemed to me quiet, unapproachable and mysterious. I can never remember him reaching out to pat me on the head, ask me a question or show any other concern. Was it because he didn’t want his son to marry my Mom?

Nonetheless, I looked forward all year to the month of July, the time I would spend at Grandma Orlando’s. When I left my home in Rose Point, and arrived at her home, it was as if I was watching a black and white movie, and it suddenly turned to technicolor. My world was transformed from drab to dazzling.

It wasn’t the area they lived in that exhilarated me. It was Grandma Orlando.
Carmella Orlando was an incredibly loving woman, a creature from another world. To compare my grandmother with any other human would be ridiculous.

Each time I arrived at her house, she would have me stand in front of her. She would just stare at me for maybe two or three minutes, silently sighing, and then say with a beautiful smile on her face. “My, how big you got” and then after a pause, “how beautiful you are, my, how beautiful you are.” She said it with such sincerity and love in her heart. It made my skin tingle. Never in my life, before or since, have I felt such love from a human being, male or female.

Whenever I thought of her, I visualized a woman with big sparkling eyes, incredibly white teeth and a soft face. She was always wearing a spotless white apron, sitting on a very light cream-colored sofa in a bright, sun splashed living room with white carpeting. The carpeting was solid white, with no patterns, and no stains. The room always smelled of roses. In the spring and summer she always had some freshly cut, in a vase. At other times of the year she must have sprayed the room with a fragrance.

Her sparkling kitchen smelled even cleaner. Every pot, pan, cup and saucer glistened. I often sat and watched her as she hand dried and then individually polished each piece of silverware and each glass with a clean, cotton hand towel. Each evening before she went to bed, she got down on her hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen linoleum until it was spotless.

Every Saturday night during my summer stay, Grandma Orlando washed my hair. She scrubbed my head with the same gusto and love with which she scrubbed the kitchen floor. It hurt and I dreaded that part of Saturday nights. Later when I went to bed, she sat near me and we said the Lord’s Prayer together. Then she tucked me in and kissed me on the forehead.

For breakfast she made home made cereal; oatmeal, farina, cream of rice. A bowl filled with bananas, oranges and grapes was placed in the center of the table. One day she gave us freshly squeezed orange juice, the next, pineapple or apple juice.
Two or three times a week she made French toast, hot cakes or scrambled eggs with sausage or bacon. Everything was covered with melted butter and hot maple syrup. Nothing like this happened in Rose Point. I guess that’s why it seemed so special.
When July was over, and it was time for me to return to my black-and-white life in Rose Point, Grandma Orlando took me into the living room, stared at me for a few minutes the same way as when I arrived. She hugged me and cried. I left and didn’t see her again until Christmas.

Of course the other important person missing in my sister’s and my life was our Mother, Suzie Villani Chiego. She lived with her husband Hank Chiego, in Riverside, California and had lived there since I was seven. When she went away, she said she would send for my sister and me after she got settled. I guess she never got settled, because she never sent for us. Hank was a soldier on the army base where they lived.

I loved the pictures my mother sent of him in uniform. When I looked at them, I imagined being a soldier some day and driving to California to live with them. Of course, by then I’d have been too old to live with them. Even so it seemed like it would have been great.

The past three years had not been a good period of my life. I’d been sick almost constantly with colds, coughs, sore throats and painful bouts with poison oak. I was absent from school more than I was there.

One summer I stepped on a rusty nail while playing with kids in the back yard. I always had large holes in my shoes. The family was poor, the depression was still plaguing them, and the last thing they thought about was my shoes. The nail pierced the bottom of my foot. Grandma put iodine on the wound and bandaged it.

During the next few days the foot swelled up and started to throb. It hurt so much I couldn’t sleep or go to school. By the time a doctor was called a week later, the wound had become infected with tetanus. I missed ten days of school and became even more morose and withdrawn.

In November of the second year of my mother’s stay in California, one of my frequent sore throats was left untreated for weeks while a low-grade fever persisted. In and out of bed for weeks I missed a month of school. Grandma Villani didn’t believe too much in doctors and couldn’t afford them even if she did. I asked her one day, “Grandma, why don’t you like doctors?”

She stared down at me and replied dourly, “If doctors were free, I would like them, Junior.”

Therefore, she tried to nurse me back to good health with her homemade remedies from the old country.

Finally, Aunt Vera became concerned and took me to Doctor Mallas in Elizabeth, the same town where the man we thought might be our father lived, our dad, the man the Villani’s always referred to as the bum.”

The doctor found I had a bad case of a strep throat, which, left untreated for so long, had developed into rheumatic fever. He immediately put me on an antibiotic, scolded my aunt Vera and asked where my mother was.

Aunt Vera explained to him about her sister’s stay in California with her new husband. Doctor Mallas said he would send a report of this incident to the Union County Health Department and recommend someone periodically stop by the home to see if my sister and I were receiving proper care

After being put on the medicine, I made a rapid recovery and was back to school in a few days. The rheumatic fever left me with a heart murmur I read about in a health book at school. It apparently messed up one of my heart valves, but wouldn’t affect me until I was old. It would never go away.

I missed my mom. Grandma Villani never seemed to know we were alive and Aunt Vera had a new boyfriend, so she wasn’t home much. Grandma dressed all in black since grandpa died a year ago. She was always crying and grouchy. She didn’t even listen to her Italian soap opera on the radio anymore.

I will never forget the day I came home from school and heard grandpa had suffered a heart attack and died. I never really knew grandpa as he was seldom home during the day. I felt sad and scared. All my aunts and grandma were screaming, wailing, and throwing themselves on the coffin.

The wake was in the living room of the house grandpa built 20 years earlier for his large family, which still lived there

A photographer came to the house and took a picture of grandpa lying in the coffin, dressed in a suit, white shirt and black tie, his head lying back on a huge white spooky pillow. His eyes were closed and his hands clasped together with some beads tangled in them. He was pale as a ghost over most of his face and looked pretty dead but his cheeks seemed red.

I thought to myself that since he still had red cheeks, maybe he’s not really dead. I was only eight at the time. I didn’t know a darn thing about death, why people died and where they went when they did. My imagination ran wild.

I didn’t say anything to anyone. In the past, on occasions where I wasn’t sure of what really was happening I would start asking questions. Someone would either laugh at me or scold me. I learned to keep my mouth shut about a lot of things. The redness of my Grandfather’s cheeks bothered me. Why were his cheeks red?

On the night before the funeral, I couldn’t sleep thinking about him being buried and then waking up. It must have been very late because no one was awake. I sneaked in the kitchen, grabbed a half a loaf of Italian bread, shuffled as quietly as I could into the living room where he was still in the coffin, maybe dead, but maybe just sleeping.

What if he woke up in a few days, after they buried him under all that dirt? What if he was hungry? All kinds of weird thoughts raced through my mind. I knew I would never sleep again for the rest of my life thinking of that, so I tucked the bread under the linen sheet, which was all around him and ran back to bed.

They wouldn’t let any of us kids go to the cemetery where they buried him but I overheard them later say my grandmother threw herself into the grave when they lowered the coffin a little. They had to drag her off the coffin and out of the grave.

I once heard my Uncle Sal explaining why he would never get married.
Women smother men from the time they are born,” he said to Aunt Vera.
He was joking and probably said it to get her dander up, but it stuck with me. Was grandma still trying to smother grandpa even when he was being put into the grave? Maybe she thought he was still alive too? I hoped she didn’t find the bread. I never found out and was afraid to ask.

About six months later I was snooping around the house when I was sure there was no one home. I liked to rustle through the bureau drawers seeing what someone might have hidden, or just to smell the cedar. There was an old, faded brown, five-drawer chest in my grandparents’ bedroom with missing drawer pulls. It looked like it had been stored outside for a while.

In the furthest corner of the bottom drawer, under all kinds of clothing I felt a very large cardboard folder, about a foot long and a foot wide. I reached in and dragged it out, laid it on the bed and opened it. I screamed so loud I almost choked. It was the picture of my grandfather lying in the coffin! He was staring right at me and I swear his eyes were open. At that point, I was sure they had buried him alive.

I thought about all these kind of things too much for my age, but on this morning, wearing my crossing guard uniform, I felt pretty good.

WHERE IS THE RIGHT TO LIFE BRIGADE WHEN THESE POOR PREGNANT CONVICTS NEED THEM ?

Nowhere to be seen.

Look at the photo here closely. Does anyone see a sign condemning abortion? Do any of these demonstrators outside the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility last week look like they would be members of that advocacy group for pregnant mothers?

Of course not.

The women in the photo are protesting the treatment of pregnant female convicts inside Bedford Hills who give birth while wearing chains, cuffs and shackles. As they enter labor their legs are restrained and some are shackled to a bed rail. These are not violent offenders. Most are in prison for relatively minor drug offenses.

Some quotes from the Sunday N.Y. Times article by Jim Dwyer on July 12th.
Speaking of a former convict, Venita Pinckney as she left her cell last November on the way to the prison hospital to give birth, “a corrections officer wrapped a chain twice around her waist and handcuffed her to it. Then he covered the handcuffs with a locked black box to further limit her range of motion. Finally, her ankles were shackled.

“I told the officer he’s not supposed to shackle me,” Ms. Pinckney said last week. “He said he was just following procedure.”

Both houses of the N.Y.State legislature passed a bill recently which would bar the shackling of women in labor but it is still awaiting the Governor’s signature.

Another woman at the rally commented on the absurdity of chaining women in labor to prevent any possibility they might use the occasion to attempt escape from the Bedford Hills state prison. They are on the fifth floor of the hospital in scrubs and heavy boots. There are heavily armed guards outside their doors.

One woman said they freed her legs from restraints to allow the baby to exit her womb but as soon as her son was born, the guard shackled her to the bed rail. “I had to push the placenta out with the shackles on. That was the worst,” she said.
Another convict, about to give birth to twins, was cuffed throughout a lengthy C-Section procedure.

And we thought the Abu Ghraib torture could only happen in Iraq, certainly not in the United States of America.

This barbaric treatment has been going on for possibly decades. The article did not say, but the fact that just now, in the year 2009, the state is passing legislation to make it criminal, makes any civilized person froth at the mouth.

However, my anger is directed towards the right wing crazies who did not show up to demonstrate for the signing of this law, post haste. Could it be because most of the pregnant women involved are not white? Or because they are incarcerated?

Why is it that the anti-abortion crowd is most vociferous about the first and second trimesters of pregnancy? As the woman gets closer and closer to giving birth they seem to forget her. What about when the child is two, three, or five years old; when the child is starving because her now ex-convict Mom cannot get a job because of her record. Ever notice that this is when these “holier than thou” advocates completely disappear.

And why did the New York Times.the newspaper of record, bury this extremely important story on page 24? Surely this situation deserved more exposure than the front page article they ran in the same edition on “concrete testing?”

Just asking.

Why are we still watching Seinfeld re-runs 11 years later?

Because it is far and away the best sitcom on TV with The Office the only other show in the same league.

How can this be? What was it and what is it that continues to make this show so special, so historic?

Is it that this show about nothing is a show about all of us? When we laugh so hard at the hum drum plots are we really laughing at ourselves? I am a piker compared to some hard core Seinfeld enthusiasts but I find myself getting hysterical about scenes I have watched at least 20 times over the years.

The show began in 1990 and was the top rated show for most of the next 8 years until the final episode May14,1998.

The non-secret of this series unbelievably consistent success is the cast. There has never been a cast this good and I doubt there ever could be.From the most insignificant role of the doorman to the 4 stars,Jerry,George,Elaine and Cosmo, every actor and every guest are perfect.

Newman,Jerry's mom and dad,George's insane parents,David Putty,Mr. Pitt,Susan,Uncle Leo,Kenny Bania,Tim Whatley,Jackie Chiles, the Soup Nazi,and Mr. Peterman. On and on, the dwarf rolling on the ground wrestling with Kramer,Elaine dancing at the Xmas party,the goofy girl who walked wihtout swinging her arms, the no fat yogurt which almost kills Rudy Guliani.

Jerry and George had different girl friends just about every week and all of them had some distinct character flaw which turned these "nothing" guys off.

I liked the episodes best when the 4 stars were doing something in unison, whether at the parking garage,in the Hamptons,in the bakery on the way to a party,and at the movies.

The producer,Larry David became a mega star in his own right a few years later as did Jerry Stiller who is a 100 times funnier than his son, Ben. Ironically Ben Stiller makes more in one movie than his dad did in his whole career.

When this show was still in it's first season, the critics doubted it would be picked up for a second season. I confess I wasn't watching it at the time. I didn't get it until late in the second season,wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a continuous,on going story ,or each week,a story in itself. Once I caught on I became addicted to it and I still am.

Click on the video clip below and enjoy again the hilarious Soup Nazi episode. I can never watch it just once.



Comment: You will note that yesterday's post on molesting priests has been pulled from the page. I hope to repost it today or tomorrow after I do some rewriting.

Who Is The Best "all around" N.Y. Yankee MLB Player, A-ROD or JETER?

Well the images suggest they both like to play off the field as well.Lol,I have no idea which is the better after the game "PLAYER".

However as far as the play on the field the answerman is going to shock most New York Yankee fans by going with A-ROD in a close battle.

Except for the post-season value,which is obvious,their stats make a pretty good case for either of them.

Here is the comparison of their career stats in some major categories:


PLAYER.............................JETER...............A-ROD
Games Played........................2065.................2098
Home Runs............................216....................568
Hits.......................................2642..............2453
On Base Percentage....................387..................390
Base on Balls...........................853.................1027
Strike-outs..............................1417.................1676
RBI's......................................1038.................1653
Fielding Percentage...................975..................973

Ok, so you can see that A-Rod has better slugging stats and Jeter has more hits.
The surprising stats I think is the OBP, where they are essentially even and the walks, where A-Rod is far ahead.

For a slugger, A-Rod has amazing OBP and Strike-out stats. The great sluggers of MLB history have always been all or nothing swingers but A-Rod breaks the mold. They are equally very good defensive players but I give the nod slightly to A-Rod.

Now for the intangibles:
How do the Yanks fare when one of these 2 players is out of the lineup for an extended time. We don't have to look far for this stat.

A-Rod missed the first 28 games of the current season recuperating from his hip surgery. During those 28 games the NY Yankees record was 13-15. In the 56 games since A-Rod rejoined the team on May 8th the Bombers record is 38-20.

That's the stat that jumps out at me and it is why I think A-Rod is the better overall contributor to the Yanks and not only is he a better player than Jeter but Alex Rodriguez is the best player in MLB history.

Here is where I really get in trouble. I love Jeter as a consistent great player but I think a successful team needs more than that. They need a guy who stirs the pot.

Jeter should not be the Yankee's team captain. It does not jibe with his staid, boring personality. A captain must not only be a great player but also a fiery presence.

That is exactly what A-Rod is. Everyone loves Jeter while about 30% of all fans truly hate A-Rod(more like envy than hate in my book)

Has Jeter ever in his life gone shoes high into second base? A-Rod has. Has Jeter ever dropped his bat and walked towards the mound in his life? A-Rod has. As Leo Durocher said nice guys finish last. I would not go that far but for the past decade, with a nice guy as captain, the Yanks have finished second as far as final season success.

And finally could you ever imagine apple pie Derek Jeter having his girl friend in the stands while he was playing? A-Rod did a few nights ago (Kate Hudson.)

I'll end there and get ready to duck.

A Friday routine. An excerpt from my unpublished novel, S'mothered

This week's excerpt is from an early chapter and takes place in November,1941,a few weeks before the Pearl Harbor attacks by Japan:


At the weekly Friday night dance at the NCO club, Suzie and Hank were dancing the night away. The club was only a few hundred yards from the residence quarters where they had lived since their marriage two years ago.

Both were excellent dancers, moving effortlessly and fluidly to the Glenn Miller “eight to the bar” recording being piped over the ballroom speakers. He was wearing his military NCO uniform while Suzie was in her brand new jewel-toned, ankle length satin gown.

“You look dreamy, Monkey,” Hank whispered, while nibbling her ear. The gown was covered with rhinestone jelly buttons which sparkled in the soft romantic lighting, The front was low cut showing her bosom, but in an appropriate way. “It looks expensive hon,” he said and immediately wished he hadn’t expressed it that way.

Suzie's impoverished upbringing made her sensitive to remarks about her spending habits.

She worked in the Base Commissary and the gown had only cost $5.00 after her employee discount. Money was an issue only because she sent $20.00 a back home to her mother each month to help pay for the kid’s clothing and school expenses. Hank never objected to any help they could send to his mother-in-law. Without her they could not be out here together.

They fully intended to send for the children soon. Suzie told her sister Vera and her mother this before she left home. She reiterated this promise when they made a emergency visit home a few months ago.

She was out here with Hank less than a year when she received word her father had died suddenly. He was only fifty-five. She was saddened but not shocked. He dealt with so many hardships in his life without once letting them affect him emotionally. He was a Rock of Gibraltar to his wife and his children. Inside his strong muscular, seemingly impregnable body his heart absorbed the stress which slowly weakened it. Before she left home, she noticed how easily he tired.

She remembered with sadness the night he approved of her plan to marry Hank and the agreement to take care of the children but “only until they were settled in California.” Hank now was her rock. Her Papa was gone. She sobbed in her new husband's arms the night she learned of his death

When they flew home for the funeral, Vera reminded her of the things she had promised their father before she left for California.

Suzie told her “we have been trying to get permission from the base Commander, Momma; it should only be a few more months.” She was telling the truth, but only partially. Because of rising tensions all over the world, Germany invading Poland and a threat of a conflict in the Pacific, the base Commander temporarily prohibited any children on the base. There was very little likelihood the ban would be lifted in the near future.

Suzie could not tell her Momma this right now. Rose Villani was in deep mourning over the loss of her husband of thirty-eight years, Suzie knew the right thing for her to do would be to move back to New Jersey and take the children off her hands. Many times, she faced similar situations where she let her mind overrule her heart. She no longer was capable of doing this, faced with a choice of staying with her husband or being with her children, she went with her heart.

Suzie was not a deep thinker.When she made a decision her heart told her was right she never brooded about the consequences. She was always aware of her shortcomings as a mother. She laid the blame for this directly at the feet of her own parents.

She did not have a normal childhood; her parents were not affectionate, did not provide her an adequate education, and never really treated her as a child.
She would never abuse her children or deliberately neglect them but she could give them no more, and no less than she was given. Society might consider her cold-hearted, so be it. She was a survivor and dealt with life with the cards dealt her. Society could go to hell.

The band had picked up the tempo and the man she loved was twirling her around the floor, she was laughing and jiving and New Jersey and her children were the last things on her mind.

“Monkey, were any two people ever happier than we are right now?” Hank whispered into her ear.

He had a nice voice and liked to sing to her when they slow danced. He smiled and began singing a song in her ear from the Broadway play they saw before he left for California:

“If they asked me, I could write a book, about the way you walk and whisper and look. I could write a preface on how we met. So the world would never forget, and the simple secret of the plot, is just to tell them I love you a lot. and the world discovers la la ...”

She looked up at him. Now they were both crying unashamedly, hugging, kissing and lost in each other.

They snapped out of their reverie when the band picked up the beat. She scolded him with a smile on her face “no more silly, sappy, weeping monkey, let's show these people how to have fun.” He twirled her around inhaling her fragrance, totally bewitched by her.

After an hour or more of wild dancing and two cocktails each, they now had enough and went back to their quarters. In their bedroom now, Hank waltzed her towards their bed and slowly, gently began to make love to her.

He was an incredibly thoughtful and sensitive lover, always putting her needs first. She loved him for this but sometimes wished he would just take her. She never told him this. She had been too open about this kind of stuff when she was younger. The fewer men knew how much she needed them, the easier they were to keep in line. Any sex, any kind of sex, was better than no sex at all to her. That would never change.

Their weekends were idyllic, touring the wineries, a Saturday night movie and usually a leisurely late Sunday morning breakfast at their favorite cafe overlooking the river.

Their only conflicts arose when she caught him glancing at women. It was as if a
switch was suddenly turned off inside her, a bolt of lightening short circuited the lights and darkened her mood. She turned ice cold and stop talking to him for hours.

He first denied looking at anyone, and then minimized it as inconsequential.
Soon, his pleadings turned to begging, he assured her she was the only woman he could ever love. He would rave about how beautiful she was, cajole and implore her, but it was too late.

Immediately, the very instant she doubted for one second his faithfulness, she withdrew into a protective mode. Images of her ex-husband flashed before her; she despised the very thought of him. When she withheld from her new husband what he wanted sexually, she symbolically struck back at Johnny and all men.

Hank Chiego spent his days at March Air Field preparing to defend his country in the event the looming war became reality. He was in a pursuit squadron being trained to strike back at enemy forces in daring nighttime raids most likely in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

In his position as a tail gunner, his extraordinary night vision and dogged bulldog type patience would serve him well. His supervising Officers greatly admired how calm and yet alert he could be in the almost daily training flights.

These very same qualities kept the marital arguments and subsequent silent spells from escalating into major crises. The intensive physical nature of the routine maneuvers left him little time to brood over his wife’s petulance. He kept busy and did not overreact to her moodiness. Their relationship eventually returned to normal.

What happened on a dreary December Sunday a few months later was anything but normal. At almost the same moment Suzie's son, Johnny Orlando, Jr. was patrolling his 5th grade school patrol guard corner station in New Jersey, every siren at the March air Field was blasting loudly through the base speakers.

Pearl Harbor with all its gory forebodings was bursting rudely into the lives of all Americans and nowhere more spectacularly than at this large U.S. Army Air Corps Base.

Hank jumped from their bed and, while dressing, told Suzie he had to report immediately to a reassigned area. He knew something extremely serious had happened but for now could tell her nothing more.

She was terrified, started crying, and wanted to make him some coffee. There was no time for coffee. Before he left, he told her “Monkey, something is wrong and I’ve got to get to my position fast. I’ll try to get back to you later, give me a kiss quick. I have to get outta here!”

As soon as he left, Suzie turned on the radio and immediately learned why the alarms had sounded and droned on. An announcer, somberly, in a crisply enunciated tone, told the country of the surprise attack. Suzie didn’t read newspapers. The announcer’s mood, and the rapid departure of Hank, shocked her into hyperventilating. She sat down, poured herself a cup of coffee, lit a cigarette and tried to calm down.

Panic began to develop among the civilians later in the day. Rumors spread that Japanese bomber formations were headed toward the California coast. Hank finally called at noon and told her "Calm down Suzie,the reports haven't been confirmed.We are sure they are rumors. Our forces in the Pacific are already starting to respond. But Monkey the base is being put on alert and all dependents living on the base have to leave by the weekend.

Suzie immediately phoned her mother and told her what was going on and to prepare for her return the following week.

Rose Villani had predicted to Suzie two years earlier this would happen and warned she would not take her back this time. Once again, Suzie had her backed into a corner. Following the phone call,Rose slumped in her favorite soft, billowy chair and reflected.

She had given birth to nine children, immigrated to a strange land and survived a depression, illnesses and countless other challenges. Now,she was a widow with eight of her children still living under her roof. Another World War had broken out and she must absorb some of the consequences.

Scrambling through her handbag, she took out her rosary beads and silently prayed for direction to the Virgin Mary. Old Italian women seldom prayed directly to Jesus, His Holy Mother was their spokesperson. She was expected to intercede with her son on their behalf. Rose was raised in this manner by her mother who she never saw again after she sailed to America. The unspoken orders handed down from generation to generation for centuries, ordained women deferred to men but not in issues involving the raising of children.

Alone now, near the end of her life, she could no longer turn to her husband and have him tell Suzie to find her own place to live. She knew in her heart what his decision would have been.

“Rose, we can’t blame Pearl Harbor on Suzie” he most certainly would have argued.
Of course it also wasn’t Suzie’s fault Johnny Sr. was a bum and it wasn’t Suzie’s fault the base Commander wouldn’t let the kids live with them in California.
Whose fault was it Suzie hadn’t stayed in New Jersey? She might have saved her money and been able to afford her own apartment. It was never Suzie’s fault. Rose sighed resignedly. She knew she would take her daughter back in again.

It would be a chaotic home once again. Jenny and Gina would raise a commotion, try to talk her out of it and then grudgingly accept it. Vera was practically living with her boyfriend now and would wed him in the spring. Suzie’s brothers would be okay with their sister’s return and too concerned with their draft status to dwell on it anyhow.

Vera just came in from work a few minutes ago. Rose called to her “Vera, come in here honey, I want to talk with you, your sister is coming back to live here.”

With Sal and Suzie both gone, Vera had been a godsend to her. Especially with Junior. She didn’t know how she would have handled him without Vera.

Vera came into the kitchen and kissed her mother, “Momma I’m so glad. Since I heard about the bombings and maybe war breaking out, I've been worried sick about Suzie”

Vera’s main concern was the two children who had such a hard time adjusting to their mother’s absence when she went to live with Hank. She especially worried about Junior. He had been sick almost constantly since Suzie left, a strep throat, tetanus infection in his foot a horrible poison oak rash last summer. Her mother thought it was because Suzie didn’t breast feed Johnny and compared him to Jaycee who never missed a day of school

Johnny was doing so much better now, making friends, studying hard in school, hardly ever getting sick any more. He seemed happier and healthier than he had ever been. Jaycee would be happy to have her Mom back but she didn’t know about Junior.

“Vera, you helped me so much with Johnny,” Rose said, grabbing her daughter and hugging her, “but still, he needs his mother. I don’t understand how that girl can leave kids who have no father and go gallivanting all over the country?”

Johnny’s father was no help of course. He never called either of the kids. He sent an occasional message to her, or by letter to Suzie. He asked how they were doing, but in the past two years, even these infrequent contacts had ceased.

Vera had heard from a friend of a friend Johnny,Sr. was very ill and in a hospital but this was never confirmed. Rose felt he was too nasty to get sick, it was an old Italian superstition. Was he sick or just trying to dodge the draft?

Back in Riverside, Suzie was packing whatever she could take with her on the plane. Hank would ship the rest by rail. Since he was going to be deployed to an overseas base closer to the war front, they decided to sell any furniture they had purchased. When the war ended, they would buy a house and start from scratch.

Meanwhile, back in Riverside, Hank’s impending departure and the long separation they faced, bonded the couple closer than when they had wed. The unthinkable possibility he might never return at all, changed Suzie’s attitude completely. She realized now how deeply she loved him, and felt ashamed of how she had acted just a few days ago at the Sunday breakfast.

The evening before her flight back home, they dined at their favorite Spanish restaurant inside the Mission Inn and vowed to write to each other every single day.

He was stoic about the dangers he faced, but completely heartbroken over leaving Suzie. Her eyes, normally sparkling were misty tonight.

“I’ve been trying to describe your eyes to other people monkey,” he said,"and now I know the words I’ve been searching for. You have frivolous eyes, carefree eyes. They are not that way tonight though; they look lovely, but more serious. I hate to see them this way.”

They talked about how happy they would be when the war ended and they could start a family. “I love your children Suzie,” he said, gazing into her now tear filled eyes “and I’ll be good to them, but you know how much I want children of my own.”

She assured him they would have at least one child when they were back together again but would not commit to any more than one. "Sweetie," Suzie consoled him,"I don’t think I am made to have too many children.I’m too selfish to take on that much responsibility”

He knew this wasn’t the right time for this kind of conversation and changed the subject. “I’m being reassigned to a Bombardment Group, monkey. For a while, we will be staying here to patrol the coast in case the Japs have any ideas about invading, but eventually we will start training on this new plane, a B-24. Don’t worry about me, the plane is unbelievable and the Commander told us the enemy doesn’t have a plane anywhere near as heavy as this. Wish I could show it to you, but no way now. I shouldn’t even talk about it. Don’t mention it to anybody when you get home.”

Suzie didn’t understand most of the military terms he used but she loved how excited he got when he talked about the upcoming battles. He didn’t have an ounce of fear in him so she felt sure the war wouldn’t last long and they would be together again. It was better neither of them knew what was lay ahead. The next few years were horrendous.

Hank’s crew flew hundreds of extremely dangerous missions over the Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Iwo Jima, and Guam.

Suzie worked with her sister Vera in a rug factory recently converted to a munitions factory. Her brothers fought the Germans in Europe. Soon she would be trying to adjust to being a mother again. The War would affect everyone from children to aging parents.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Why does Senator Sessions view Supreme Court nominee Sotomayer thru a looking glass darkly?

Because he has flirted with a racist mindset most of his public life.

Sessions was turned down for an Alabama district court judgeship appointment in 1986, by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, because of charges of "racial insensitivity".

Now, twenty three years later, he is the ranking Republican of that same Senate Committee which will be holding hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayors nomination.

Sessions is particularly sensitive to charges that Judge Sotomayor may have too much empathy. This humanitarian attitude may block her ability to hand down objective opinions from the highest court.

Wow, here we go again with that dreaded word "empathy", possibly the least understood word in the English language.Conservatives believe the word symbolizes everything "bleeding heart" liberals stand for. Sessions and his ilk, have spent 230 years fighting these humanitarians, the very people who he believes gave this country to the minorities.

I devoted an entire post to the definition of "empathy" on this blog several months ago when I was fighting a lonely battle against fraudulent criminals in the household goods moving industry,a battle I eventually won but at a great and lasting cost. So, forgive me if I get excited when I hear this word tossed around loosely by a do no-gooder like the Alabama Senator.

Empathy simply means a feeling or emotion by which someone expresses that he or she shares a sense of outrage or even shock with victimized beings.It sounds simple but it isn't. I have found that most people lack some genetic ability to share the shock and/or outrage of the oppressed or enslaved or criminalized against.

Even normally upstanding people quickly distanced themselves from me. The feeling left with me was that I had brought it on myself.

This is the very same feeling that the minorities in this country live with.Our black population have this feeling almost inbred in them because of the vicious crimes committed against them for centuries.

When people are viewed as inferior, they will eventually feel that they are indeed inferior and will begin to doubt whether they have invited their misery onto themselves.Of course when their minds clear they will fight back.

Judge Sotomayor was raised by a widowed mother in a project in the Bronx. Sessions and other right wing members of the Judiciary Committee, like the silky Senator Lindsey Graham,Rep.,S.C, assume that her background makes it more likely the Judge will empathize with citizens with similar childhood experiences.

Well la de da ! What's wrong with that?

Well here is how Sessions puts it: "The idea that a judge should use his or her personal feelings about a particular group or issues to decide a case stands in stark contrast to the impartiality that we expect in the American courtroom."

He goes on further in his published quotes but I don't want to bore you with ludicrous statements from a twisted man,stained by his own childhood growing up among rednecks.

Impartial American courtrooms? Hah !

Is that why there are 10 black men rotting in our prisons for every one lily white man?

As for Session's fellow Committeeman,Senator Lindsey Graham, let me remind my readers of his background.

This is the man who stood to the right of John McCain throughout the Presidential election campaign; the man who fed lines to McCain when the candidate stumbled on his words,which was just about every day.

Flanking McCain every day on his left was the Benedict Arnold of the 20Th century, Joe Lieberman, the Senator from anywhere.

Graham is an intelligent,patriotic man, I'll give him that. But ironically this stamps him as a hypocrite for strongly supporting the lipstick mom from Alaska for V.P.. He knew damn well Palin could not even read or write. Pathetic cronyism.

Lindsay, who is so smooth I cannot watch him for more than 30 seconds without having to reach for a tums, made some other news this week. He is a very vocal supporter of Mark Sanford of Argentina and urges him to not give in to those calling on him to resign as Gov.. Of course. the normally holier than thou Senator Graham, was in the forefront of the impeachment process of Bill Clinton.

Clinton should have been impeached by Hillary but she turned the other cheek.Was that an act of empathy? Hell no; she was setting herself up for her presidential run and wasn't about to run as a divorcee. These days ,wives of adulterers get lots more sympathy than divorcees.

So there you have it folks, day after day, crooked politicians and judges judging other judges.

When will we humans start discovering what empathy really means?

WHY IS THE SANSA FUZE 4G MP 3 PLAYER REFERRED TO AS THE NANO KILLER?

Because it is a better player than the the vastly overrated iPod and costs about half as much.

Please bear in mind that this comparison refers to both products functioning specifically as audio MP-3 players.

The devil is in the details:

First of all the iPod is not a safe product for people with high blood pressure as it has more glitches than a weather forecast.

The iPod has a feature called syncing which can delete in one second 800 songs which it took you 10 years to accrue.

It is fragile; drop it and you better be standing on soft ground.

Most importantly you have to put up with the I-tunes application on your PC or your iPod is worthless.I-Tunes has satanic qualities. It can take control of your computer and your Windows media and reduce you to tears.

I lost my I-tunes from my laptop 6 months ago. Every day I searched for it and googled it and visited every geek store within a 50 mile radius. I followed every suggestion, no matter how absurd. I deleted it and all its files and all Quick Time files, bonjour and mobile device files and then reinstalled it. I must have done this at least 50 times to no avail. It would download but would not launch.

Finally I gave up and went shopping for a new MP-3 player, an "anything but iPod" Mp 3 player. I read all the reviews on the web, checked Consumer reports etc etc.

I finally decided on a Sansa Disk Fuze 4-g which is the equivalent in capacity to the iPod Nano 4g. It cost me $89.00 at Best Buy and it is one of the best purchases I have ever made. I have escaped from my I-tunes prison after 10 years of misery.

First of all the Sansa Fuze is better looking than iPod, sturdier and has a clearer screen. It is smaller than a credit card and thinner than a pencil.

It has FM radio with 20 preset stations.Why is this important. Well if you have satellite radio, Sirius or XM, you can set any FM radio in your home to 88.1 frequency and listen to Howard Stern through headphones on your Fuze.I happen to like Stern but i sure don't want my neighbors overhearing some of the language on that show. So now I sit on my patio and listen in private while they wonder what I am guffawing about.

The Sansa Fuze has a built in recorder so I can record reminders to myself of what I have to do on a given day.

It has a 24 hour battery life. Since I normally use it about and hour a day, I can go at least 3 weeks without running out during my morning walk, which happened constantly with my iPod.

It holds 800 songs but is expandable to 10g with the purchase of an inexpensive card.

To load new songs on to your player you simply click and drag your music from your computer's library into the Fuze file. This is a zillion times simpler than Apple's complicated, proprietary music file system.

To sum up, the iPod is more of a status symbol than a practical player. It can't hold a candle to the SanDisk Fuze. Don't be a snob, break free from the mob and light up with the Fuze.

MANIC MONDAY

A POTPOURRI OF STRANGE FIREWORKS THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND:

(some funny and some very serious)

Maureen Dowd, Op Ed,Sunday's NY Times,as usual,sums it up best:

Sarah wants to leave and Sanford wants to stay.

GOP turning gray?

Dowd's tongue in cheek 2012 Ticket....... Palin/Sanford ?

FWIW: Can Ken and Barbi succeed where GW failed?


Great NFL QB(Steve McNair) meets untimely end in possible murder/suicide!


South Carolina serial killer still on the loose.
FWIW: How in hell can one determine who's a serial killer in a state where every citizen carries a gun??

Foreclosures in progress soar to 844,389.

Serena and Roger win again at Wimbledon.
FWIW: No Ken/Barbi here, just two raw talented, legendary tennis greats who deserve all the accolades.

Memorial at Staples Center Tuesday for Michael Jackson.
FWIW:King of pop was King of popsicles and never was my cup of tea.... but memorial is appropriate because of his talent.
Certainly not for the life he lived, no way.

Safety Net Fraying for the Very Poor... Page 15 of Sunday NY Times.
Because of the recession/depression, fewer families are being pulled out of the "deepest poverty" demo., defined as income below half the poverty level threshold.
FWIW: I have lived below the poverty threshold for most of the past 13 years.However I am grateful I do not qualify for the new "deep poverty" level.Thank God for Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

Bernie Madoff,71, sentenced to 150 years.
FWIW: Lenient Judge could have given him life

FWIW: If i was 20 years younger I would marry Maureen Dowd,the smartest woman in America.

That's it for today.