My Back Pages

My Back Pages: Thoughts On Independence and the 2012 Election : I’m glad to be an American with a choice of who I can vote for. No matter how stupid someone else might think that my choice is, no matter h...

I’m glad to be an American with a choice of who I can vote for. No matter how stupid someone else might think that my choice is, no matter how stupid I might think that their choice is, we can still make our choice known. I’ve heard people say, and I’ve said myself, that the founders must be rolling over in their graves over the nasty way that these campaigns are run these days, and the mistrust and lack of cooperation there is between the parties involved, but that would just not be true. The truth is, the states battled with each other over independence and whether to totally break from the British Empire, or to continue be a subject of the British Crown, but with a greater say. The declaration almost did not happen. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware were still holding out from signing such a radical document. There were many maneuvers between the colonies, but the reluctant colonies did come around, and the document was signed on July 4th, 1776. This would n...

My Back Pages: Aunt Mary, My Registration, and The Town Of Pelham... : I left my house and realized that I had left my phone behind. I asked Sheryl to run it down to me on her way out. After I left, I still had ...

I left my house and realized that I had left my phone behind. I asked Sheryl to run it down to me on her way out. After I left, I still had this nagging feeling that I had forgotten something. Driving down to Mount Vernon, I noticed that New York State has now purchased a fleet of smaller, unmarked, SUVs for the purpose of traffic code enforcement. This is just to let all who travel the highways of New York State, these SUV's are very nondescript and that the way that they are being placed on the highways makes them look even more like a regular citizen's vehicle. Anyway, not far from where I got on, there was very large, reddish brown coyote on the shoulder, much bigger than the coyotes that I am now so used to seeing in the area.  All the way down to Mount Vernon, I kept having this nagging feeling that I had forgotten something. I just couldn't shake it. I pulled up to my Aunt's Apartment house and called her. While I was waiting for her, I checked and rechecked eve...

You've got to hand it to Verizon. For chutzpah, they manage to exceed every other greedy corporation out there. Today, they have announced a rate increase for all FiOS subscribers. They are increasing the download speeds for some, while increasing the rates that subscribers will pay. Here is the new rate table. Standard 15/5Mbps service: (Was $54.99/mo) now up $10 to $64.99 50/25Mbps service: (Wa s $74.99/mo for 25/25Mbps) remains $74.99 75/35Mbps service: (New offer) $84.99 150/65Mbps service: (Was $94.99/mo for 50/20Mbps) remains $94.99 300/65Mbps service: (Was $199.99/mo for 150/35Mbps) now $204.99 For some subscribers, this means paying $10.00 a month for no increase in speed., and for the top tiered speed, you will go to $204.00 a month. Poor Verizon. It seems that it just cannot get by on the record profits that they are already raking in, they need to stick it to the consumer more. This, on top of cutting more jobs in the US, and shipping more jobs overseas, and the ...

My Back Pages: Memorial Day, 2012 :    Once, they filled our world, these giants among men and women. They were our mothers, our fathers, our aunts, uncles, neighbors. They nev...

   Once, they filled our world, these giants among men and women. They were our mothers, our fathers, our aunts, uncles, neighbors. They never claimed to be heroes. They never claimed to be anything more than what they believed that they were: Americans. We were raised so closely to them that we saw them with their everyday faults. Going to normal jobs, trying to make enough money to raise a houseful  of children. They were born either during, or directly after the ‘Great War: The War To End All Wars’. They toddled through the Roaring Twenties. They suffered through the  Great Depression. They watched the  war clouds gather over Europe and erupt into the horror of the European Theatre, and were surprised and shocked when America was so brutally attacked at Pearl Harbor. One thing that is crystal clear to me: The term "The Greatest Generation" is the only one that could be given those who lived and di ed in those years. They came through the Great Depression and ...