Happy Birthday Papa.

Today is the 165th birthday of my grandfather, Benjamin Wilson Baird. He was an interesting man. Born while James Buchanan was president of the United States he was the youngest son of Lt. William Baird. William, as a father of several children did not join the Confederate army, the 53rd Georgia Infantry, until 1863. He was wounded badly in the shoulder as he crossed a fence at the horrific Battle of the Wilderness on May 4, 1864. After a long stay in hospitals in Richmond during the war he made it home to his family in Georgia, but was an invalid for the rest of his life. Wilse was the son who eventually stayed home to care for the farm. In 1902, at 42 years of age Wilse finally got around to getting married -- to my 18-year-old future grandmother. Together they would have eleven children. The eleventh, Ruth, would grow up to become my mother. 

Other than my maternal cousins and my siblings I know of only one of my friends who can claim a pre-Civil War grandparent (George Barton) -- are there others?

One of my favorite stories about Papa, who died 15 years before I was born: As a lay Methodist pastor he was sought out for advice by a young nephew who was feeling a call to ministry. He told my cousin: "Son, remember, you can't scare folks into the kingdom, you have to love 'em into it." I wish more present-day evangelicals would follow that admonition

What process is due

 "To say the administration must observe 'due process' is to beg the question: what process is due is a function of our resources, the public interest, the status of the accused, the proposed punishment, and so many other factors."

The above is an actual quote from the Vice President of the United States. Folks we are in a Constitutional crisis. If you support this fascism you are not merely my political opponent; you are my enemy as surely as a Putin or a Kim or a bin Laden.

What process is due, Mr. Vance, if the accused is your wife or child? Your boss? Your friend or neighbor? For God's sake, your regime, Mr. Vance, has sent letters to Christian refugees, fleeing the Taliban, saying they have a week to get out of the US.

No, Mr. Vance, due process is a foundational principle. I am certain that among those illegally deported folks in the El Salvador concentration camp there are some truly evil guys. Pick the worst one; under the jurisdiction of the United States even he is entitled to due process. That is foundational. That, you unAmerican sellout, is one of the basics that my Daddy risked his life for in the Pacific in 1944 and 45. Your führer, with a decades long record of fraud and sexual predation got HIS day(s) in court.

Our Broadside Sign

 Y'all know what a sentimental ol' fool I can be. We have recently refurbished all four of our porches and repainted the exterior here at our 155-year-old house on the banks of the Oostanaula. This blank wall on one back porch was crying out for some decoration. This five by three foot sign used to hang in front of the building on Maple street where we spent way too many hours once upon a time. It had been stored for decades in a barn a Mike Burton's place till about three years ago. Now it hangs next to our back door.

From very early in 1975 until late spring 1977 we planned and reported and wrote and typeset and laid out and pasted-up and published and delivered and sold ads for and agonized over our weekly newspaper --- often working all night on Wednesdays to get Broadside to the printer on Thursday morning. Financially we lost our shirts but we remain proud of much of the work we did and the stories we told. We started with a slew of partners but in the end it was just Steve & Laurie Craw (still two of our dearest friends) and me & Sheila.

The sign is two sided and sports the original design used as the flag on our the newspaper's front page. The name was an effort to capitalize on the bicentennial celebrations of the era -- the first newspapers in America were call "broadsides".

The stress and financial worries were severe at times, but the decades have made those things fade a bit in my memory. So I'll remember good friends and interesting times from 1975-1977 every time I come in the house - the Craws, Debbie Reece (now Grigsby), Tim Poor, Dick Pierce, Chris Frazier, John Richardson, Candice Tolbert, Tim Shiflett, Marguerite Plank, Steve Myers, Yolanda McGee, Joe Helbing, -- all involved in the newspaper. Then there are the community supporters like Herb McCartney at the phone company, and advertisers like John Schulz, and the big stories - assorted scandals in law enforcement, a prostitution ring, the big tornado of 77, the strange modern Broad Street redevelopment that fell apart before it got going good, lots of politics including a presidential campaign right here in Georgia.

Type "Broadside" into the search box above and you'll find lots of other pictures and bits of info about Broadside.

Hands Off Social Security!

I was in and out in just a minute or so. I got lots of smiles from the staff and also from the clients. Americans like Social Security! Shame on anyone who tries to weaken Social Security. Instead we should require the wealthy to pay their share!

I visited our local Social Security office today. I asked the security guard if I could show my sign to the workers to thank them. He said as long as I stayed out of their glassed in work areas. What a lot of smiles! I am indeed thankful for the public servants who take care of important jobs like helping old geezers like 78-year-old me deal with paperwork and regulations -- not just in Social Security but a myriad of other programs and services that We the People have created. Thank you all!

I had a different message on the other side of my sign. It is intended for a different audience and a much less productive one: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Those three lowlifes want to wreck the great advances made through bipartisan legislation under FDR,Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, and Biden. Hands Off Our Social Security!