Jerry Lewis, Statues, Et. Al.

Jerry Lewis passed away in Las Vegas yesterday.  Although I would not consider myself a fan of his, that guy made me laugh a lot when I was a kid.  It was a real treat to be up late one Friday night during the summer, and learn that a Jerry Lewis movie was on that night.

DC Comics also had a Jerry Lewis series, and those were my favorites.  His dealings with life, his rebellious nephew Renfrew, getting a job at the circus where he was mistaken for a liontamer named Terry Lewis......I am not a comic book collector, but I would love to get my hands on the entire series.

We have lost a legend.

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Tearing down Confederate statues seems to be the big rage these days.  This isn't a burning issue as far as most of the public goes.  Tearing them down will in no way erase the results of slavery or the Civil War itself, yet the malcontents want this done.

I personally have no issue with the statues myself.  I view it as part of our nation's history.  The way I see it, if we have statues in the North to honor those generals who fought for the Union, why can't we have statues in the South that honor those who fought for the Confederacy?

The reality is that both sides of this war had brave men and great generals.  I personally think it's regrettable that a bloody war such as this came about to settle the issues of slavery, secession, nullification, and state's rights.

In the Manassas Battlefield, there is a statue of General Stonewall Jackson, placed where he earned his nickname......"there's Jackson, standing like a stone wall!"  I attended Stonewall Jackson Senior High School when I lived there.  I cringe at the thought that a bunch of malcontents who have never been to Manassas would demand that the high school be named for someone else.

Reality is, is that when the war was over, Abraham Lincoln wanted reconciliation with the South, and not retribution.  When Lee surrendered, General Grant ordered his band to play "Dixie" for the defeated Confederates.

Tearing down statues, in my opinion, runs counter to what Abraham Lincoln would have wanted.

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As I have stated earlier, I have been active again in amateur radio, and I really love it when I get to sit down in front of the rig and try to make contact with somebody.  I put up another antenna, this one for the 20 meter band.  I was able to make contact with two stations each in Indiana, Illinois, and Hawaii.  Yesterday I talked to a station in northern California and another one in Pennsylvania.

Conditions weren't really the greatest.  In fact, I can't remember when they have been worse.  Today they are better, but I am away from home this evening to enjoy them, so all I can do is look at the propagation reports and hope that whoever is out there is having a lot of fun.

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Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat!