tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278259342012-01-26T20:13:07.366-05:00An online magazine offering a pastiche of articles on current affairs, history, technics, opinion, writing, advice, humor and trivia.audaxnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-38489716770145836282012-01-23T09:00:00.001-05:002012-01-23T15:17:28.883-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY Historians have long puzzled over Anthony’s Nose, the name of the granitic prominence at the southern gateway to the Hudson Highlands that serves as the eastern anchor of the Bear Mountain Bridge.     Two possible origins are recorded for the odd name of this topographic feature. One is Spanish, the other, Dutch. Let’s explore the Spanish claim first. Spanish ClaimsFrom time

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BIOGRAPHY  The honeymoon of Chester Smith and the newly elected Mackay administration in 1940 was short-lived. As in many marriages, the split came over money. During the campaign, Mackay and his Democratic Common Council candidates had promised economies in government. Once in office, however, they surprised Smith and other supporters by proposing a 1941 Peekskill budget that called for spending

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-7659949203535188962012-01-03T09:00:00.003-05:002012-01-03T11:04:09.999-05:00

BIOGRAPHY When the Southern states decided to leave the Union in 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott offered this mollifying advice to the North: "Say to the seceding states, ‘Wayward sisters, depart in peace.’" Similar concessionary words were not heard in the town of Cortlandt or in Westchester County 75 years ago when Peekskill, an incorporated village since 1816, wanted to become a city. The town

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-91192207771392369722011-12-26T09:00:00.004-05:002011-12-26T11:38:54.801-05:00

HISTORY Historical research is sometimes characterized disparagingly as rummaging around in the dustbin of history. But historical researchers are actually more like detectives, seeking evidence, uncovering clues, relying on hunches or educated guesses and sometimes solving mysteries.While researching the building of the Bear Mountain Bridge for an article published recently in these pages, I

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-72580175350837803272011-12-23T08:33:00.004-05:002011-12-23T08:50:22.837-05:00

We at Postscripts send our warmest wishes for an old-fashioned Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our friends everywhere.

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HISTORY It may come as a surprise, but there are actually three Christmases. The first, treated previously, reviewed the religious celebration of Christmas as it was adapted to the needs of America in the 19th century. The second, described here, concerns the cultural celebration of the Christmas season in art, music, books and films. The third is the shameful consumerism that pervades the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-36197093342809758272011-12-12T09:00:00.005-05:002011-12-18T09:57:32.173-05:00

HISTORY Christmas is almost upon us, bringing its customary observances. Millions of Americans will eagerly decorate trees, sing carols, shop for gifts, impatiently wait for the arrival of Santa Claus, and spend long hours in hot kitchens preparing festive meals. Some may even dash through snow-covered fields to the homes of relatives.Few will pause to reflect on the holiday’s history in our

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-32215398962947389942011-12-05T09:00:00.007-05:002012-01-07T16:56:31.182-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY The Bear Mountain Bridge officially opened 87 years ago--on Nov. 27, 1924, to be exact--and wrought great changes in travel patterns over a wide area. Until that date, the only way a motorist or trucker could cross the formidable barrier of the Hudson River anywhere south of Albany was on a ferry.But ferry service was woefully inadequate. Ferries were agonizingly slow. They

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-2213220775755913202011-12-03T13:00:00.002-05:002012-01-26T20:13:07.379-05:00

THE ARNOLD-ANDRE AFFAIR 'How Hard Is My Fate': The Arnold-André Affair, 3 'Treason of the Blackest Dye': The Arnold-André Affair, 2 Ill Met by Moonlight: The Arnold-André Affair, 1 BIOGRAPHY Walter W. Law: Founder and Laird of Briarcliff Manor 'I Invented the Automobile': The Bitter War over the Selden Patent, 1 'I Invented the Automobille': The Bitter War over the Selden Patent, 2 Richard

audaxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-41621201300165241382011-11-21T09:00:00.003-05:002011-11-23T08:39:21.270-05:00

HISTORY All cities eventually acquire nicknames. Chicago has been called “The Windy City,” but not because of persistent breeziness. The explanation is even more prosaic: Its citizens were regarded as overly talkative.New Orleans has been dubbed  ”The Big Easy,” thanks to its relaxed lifestyle and its willingness to look the other way at the shenanigans of citizens and visitors..San Francisco is

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-61943781092181449462011-11-14T09:00:00.008-05:002011-11-16T23:15:26.056-05:00

HISTORY What was it like to be a traveler on Westchester’s Albany Post Road when the Stagecoach Era began? Join me now on a hypothetical jaunt up this early highway.The 1790 federal Census showed 33,131 persons to be living in the country’s largest city, New York--almost all at the southern tip of Manhattan Island below the present Houston Street. Philadelphia, formerly the most populous city,

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-81984634447320669242011-11-04T09:00:00.002-04:002012-01-06T15:47:22.494-05:00

HISTORY Among the 136,516 Americans who died in the 19 months that America participated in the First World War, the next-of-kin of 101,143 dead servicemen chose to have their remains returned to the United States for burial. The next-of-kin of 30,921 war dead elected to have their remains buried in Europe. Remains that could not be identified were also buried in Europe. The names of the missing

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-36979484909792809952011-10-31T09:00:00.014-04:002012-01-06T16:06:29.184-05:00

HISTORY This year the holiday known as Veterans Day will be observed on Friday, November 11th.  First proclaimed in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson to be celebrated on November 11th as a holiday called Armistice Day, it marked the cessation of hostilities  between the Allies and Germany in the First World War. Signed in a railway car at Compiègne, France, the armistice had taken effect in 1918

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-47768553062840649192011-10-24T09:00:00.003-04:002011-10-26T19:38:36.377-04:00

HISTORY  Halloween! It is still a time when ghosts and goblins walk.  Once it was a rowdy time for letting loose, for marking the end of the fruitful year and the beginning of winter. A time to howl, to rage, to scream. To raise the dead and frighten the living long into the dark October night and beyond. A time for raising hackles and goose bumps. A time when the cemetery on the hill in every

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-15427020807093036702011-10-17T09:00:00.001-04:002011-10-20T11:55:32.663-04:00

HISTORY Taverns played a little-known but vital role as a center of community life in Colonial America. By definition, they offered food, alcoholic drink, and often overnight accommodations for a price, serving both the local citizenry and travelers.Early settlers were mostly British, and the public house was one of the many long-standing traditions directly imported to the colonies from the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-43928502747257042842011-10-11T17:03:00.011-04:002011-10-17T09:37:21.202-04:00

BIOGRAPHY How does one begin to recreate the life of a polymath and many-sided friend? Once his was a household name recognized by newspaper readers in Ossining, Croton and Cortlandt. Today he lives on in the memories of those who knew and loved him. But we are legion.There were several Lou Brennans. One was the author who could create stories that laid bare the secrets of small town life or

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-52066114124709066082011-10-11T15:15:00.006-04:002011-10-15T06:06:42.629-04:00

BIOGRAPHY These pages previously recorded the bare bones of Lou Brennan's biography. It was replete with facts any competent researcher could uncover in the public record. But no mere biography, however detailed, can capture the man. This is an attempt to flesh out a portrait of him.       After several years of living in Turkey, my family and I arrived in Croton. Turkey is one vast

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-71372964872431946372011-10-10T09:00:00.008-04:002011-10-10T15:14:57.540-04:00

HISTORY       Stagecoaches were the common form of transport on roads in the 19th century. Coaches provided the glue that held the young nation together by bringing news and mail to remote communities. For those isolated on lonely farms, a gaily-decorated coach speeding by regularly was a reassuring link with the outside world that lessened the pangs of solitude       The Rolls Royce of coaches

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-35358564003334653552011-10-03T09:00:00.023-04:002011-10-10T15:12:09.364-04:00

HISTORY       Look about you. You won’t have to go very far from your dooryard to find them. Post roads are everywhere, unnoticed reminders of the past.       They began as Indian paths. Improved as horse trails for use by post riders, they were later widened to accommodate wagons and stagecoaches.       Eventually, dirt roads became all-weather roads, often financed with the proceeds of

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-49426942865613801662011-09-26T09:00:00.000-04:002011-10-10T16:06:06.446-04:00

HISTORY It has been said that any culture that fails to appreciate and understand its past cannot have much of a future. Westchester’s forgotten history is a good example of this dictum. Although the Dutch occupied the Hudson Valley for only fifty years, they nevertheless left us a lasting maritime legacy. Many nautical terms, for example, have come down to us from the Dutch. Captains of Dutch

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-69512751357234296662011-09-07T09:42:00.001-04:002011-09-07T09:43:10.019-04:00

OP ED      Who doesn’t recall the centuries-old rhyming proverb that portrays how one small item can touch off a chain of reactions with serious consequences? For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-48149443492013929742011-08-29T08:45:00.005-04:002011-10-10T12:09:13.912-04:00

HISTORY       Every war produces its share of heroes. The American Revolution, the most desperate of our conflicts, was unusual because many brave women participated alongside their men and even took an active part in battle.       Controversy still rages today about the role of women in combat. It is perhaps fitting to examine the lives of three women and their spontaneous heroism more than

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-18424410794882740252011-08-02T12:42:00.004-04:002011-08-15T09:45:59.566-04:00

CURRENT AFFAIRS       There are 3,141 counties or county equivalents (Louisiana calls them “parishes”) in the United States. Westchester has the unenviable record of paying the highest taxes of any of these tax-collecting entities in the nation. Not just in the state of New York, or the Northeast—the highest taxes among all of the nation’s 3,141 counties.Why this should be so can be ascribed in

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-56978907472025491562011-08-02T12:39:00.025-04:002011-09-03T15:37:00.903-04:00

  CURRENT AFFAIRS       Westchester residents pay the highest taxes of any county in the United States. That’s an incontrovertible fact. Why this is so—and why residents do nothing about it—is less obvious. As a result of living in an incorporated village, about a fifth of a million residents of Westchester villages pay four levels of taxation, one more than the rest of Westchester County.

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-83203672806308681632011-08-01T11:15:00.000-04:002011-08-02T14:25:33.812-04:00

CURRENT AFFAIRS       If you think census numbers are of scholarly interest only to statisticians and demographers, you’ve got another think coming. Careful analysis of the 2010 Census results being dribbled out by the Census Bureau reveals some startling and unanticipated trends. The most notable statistic is the degree to which Westchester’s population balance has been affected by international

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-11259059722958433762011-07-15T11:50:00.000-04:002011-07-30T12:16:02.777-04:00

OP ED Let’s not kid ourselves. We are all living in a fool’s paradise. The reality of peak oil is upon us now. The first oil well drilled by Colonel Edwin L. Drake in Pennsylvania in 1859 ushered in the modern oil industry. After nearly a century and a half of almost uninterrupted growth, in 2005, world production of crude oil reached a record daily output of some 73 million barrels, and the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-69533428482206134432011-07-15T11:48:00.000-04:002011-07-30T12:13:58.997-04:00

OP ED Thanks to the peaking in the world’s supply of oil and the growth of the middle class elsewhere on our planet, the cost of discovering, extracting and refining the world’s diminishing supply of oil will inevitably rise. Life in Suburbia, as we know it will change in a series of seven wrenching stages. At some point in the inescapable rise in the price of gasoline, the government will

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-1155555637468577212011-01-23T09:35:00.008-05:002011-05-23T11:11:26.310-04:00

LITERARY LORE Book club wars! "What book club wars?" you may ask. Unless you were associated with book publishing or book selling in the twentieth century, chances are you are unaware of the friction and bitterness generated between book clubs on one hand and book publishers and booksellers on the other in the years immediately after book clubs were born. Although the book publishing industry

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-1155557325363057052011-01-23T09:30:00.005-05:002011-05-23T11:12:04.810-04:00

LITERARY LORE As we learned in Part One, the Book-of-the-Month Club had lost money during its first year of operation, largely because of the volume of returned selections. The Literary Guild prospered almost immediately but soon found itself in financial difficulty as the "Roaring Twenties" bubble burst, and the worldwide economic picture deteriorated . In 1929, Nelson Doubleday, son of the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-70839896321236368432010-11-30T11:42:00.014-05:002011-08-20T11:52:20.439-04:00

MOVIE TRIVIA On a warm July day in 1939, a young man sat in the Hollywood office of George J. Schaefer, president of RKO Radio Pictures. His name was Orson Welles. Barely 24 years old, he had been summoned to discuss a contract. Only eight years before he had been in the graduating class of 1931 at the Todd School for Boys, a toney prep school in Woodstock, Illinois. Welles’s Early Life

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-88947434777815570872010-11-04T14:12:00.013-04:002010-11-13T21:15:56.850-05:00

BIOGRAPHYIf Briarcliff Manor ever adopts a sister community, it would have to be Kidderminster in England.Kidderminster?Yes, Kidderminster. Walter W. Law, the modest founder of Briarcliff Manor, was born in the little English village of Kidderminster, the birthplace of postal-reformer Rowland Hill, who introduced flat-rate postage in Great Britain (the so-called "Penny Post"), a revolutionary

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-15997479014282977442010-10-14T13:17:00.009-04:002011-09-11T11:36:08.513-04:00

BIOGRAPHY "Who was Harry Chapin?" some readers may ask. Unfortunately, a whole generation has grown up never hearing his music, and he is remembered today largely by baby-boomers. Musician. Singer. Poet. Songwriter. Recording artist. Filmmaker. Political activist. Hunger fighter. Dreamer. Doer. Harry Chapin was all of these, and more. Critics scorned him and his music--yet his fans loved him

audaxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-47720079717949961932010-10-14T13:15:00.009-04:002011-09-25T09:33:30.821-04:00

' Harry Chapin’s rocketlike trajectory through the world of music lasted only a few short years before it was abruptly snuffed out. For the benefit of those readers to whom the Harry Chapin biography brought back memories and those readers for whom it opened a whole new world of discovery, the following sampler of Harry Chapin quotable quotes and discography may be useful. A Harry Chapin

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-615828458893066992010-10-06T12:50:00.008-04:002011-06-01T11:53:56.661-04:00

LITERARY LORE Between the sweet innocence of babyhood and the workaday travail of the adult lies the vast magical world of childhood—a place beyond reality, where the restraints of time, mortality or even gravity do not operate. Its inhabitants, and the rules they live by, are different from ours. No initiation is needed for children to know the secret life of the earth that exists all around

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TECHNICSVisitors to Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., often remark on a simple tombstone bearing the name George Baldwin Selden. Below Selden's name is his claim to fame: "Inventor of the gasoline automobile.""Selden? Never heard of him," is the usual comment of cemetery visitors. A hundred years ago nearly everybody knew Selden's name--especially anyone about to purchase of one of the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-73186471790421696792010-09-27T13:08:00.007-04:002010-09-27T23:38:27.132-04:00

TECHNICSIn the first part of this two-part series, we saw how Rochester Civil War veteran and patent attorney George Baldwin Selden had applied for a patent on "an improved road engine"--the precursor of the modern automobile--in 1879. After submitting his application, Selden took advantage of every legal tactic to delay the issuance of a patent. Selden managed to keep his patent application

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-85850547236252879082010-08-10T09:55:00.008-04:002010-08-11T09:02:27.086-04:00

DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORYNovember 25, 1783, was a day of mixed emotions in New York City, as British troops evacuated the city after seven years of occupation. The date would be celebrated annually by New Yorkers as "Evacuation Day" for a century after the British departed. Overshadowed by other holidays in the 20th century, Evacuation Day was not observed again until 1983 to mark the 200th

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-59280864710722027182010-08-01T09:27:00.008-04:002010-08-07T22:33:44.866-04:00

DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORYOn the eve of the Revolution, Westchester County largely consisted of manorial grants that had been made to owners of large estates in the first 40 years of British rule of the former Dutch colony of New Netherland. With each grant, transferable to their heirs, the estate became a "Manor" and the owner became the "Lord of the Manor." Colonial lords enjoyed special privileges

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-5492971031036257912010-07-12T14:30:00.008-04:002010-08-08T12:16:19.683-04:00

DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORYIn 1662, Jan Dyckman arrived in the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam as an immigrant from Bentheim, Westphalia, an area in Germany adjoining the Dutch border. As did other settlers eager for farming land, he soon traveled north along the East River to the new settlement of Haarlem located near the present 125th Street. One hundred years later, his grandchildren and

audaxnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-72672970249719009362010-06-24T06:57:00.008-04:002010-07-30T18:06:32.633-04:00

DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORY"FIRE!"On Tuesday morning, January 16, 1979, that frightening call sounded in Montrose, N.Y., when neighbors noticed smoke pouring from the unoccupied Kennedy House at 185 King's Ferry Road. An alarm was sounded immediately, and fire companies from Montrose, Verplanck and Buchanan responded. For four hours they fought the stubborn blaze that gutted the building, one of the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-65023105558654256682010-06-10T17:00:00.008-04:002011-04-13T15:47:49.032-04:00

DYCKMAN FAMILY HISTORY His life reads more like Henry Fielding's picaresque novel Tom Jones than actual history. The son of a failed Manhattan innkeeper, he was one of only two or possibly three members of the extensive Dyckman family to side with England during the revolution. Fleeing to British-occupied New York City, he became a quartermaster clerk for the British army and discovered that

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-15819944419679469602010-06-10T16:49:00.008-04:002010-06-24T07:35:17.964-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYThe States Morris Dyckman line did not end with his death. His wife and two sons survived him. One, the illegitimate son by Eleanor Brewer, took his name and lived at least until the age of 81. The other, Peter Corne Dyckman, his son by wife Betsey Kennedy, died at 27.When Eleanor Brewer bore States Morris Dyckman's son out of wedlock, single parenthood was almost impossible

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-55203201699238450332010-06-03T20:50:00.011-04:002010-06-30T08:18:58.190-04:00

OP EDIn the U.S. the first official dog park opened in 1979 in Ohlone Park in Berkeley, California. Today, more than 600 city- or county-sanctioned off-leash areas exist in the U.S. Sooner or later, dog owners in a community without a dog park will plump for a dog park--a facility set aside for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-1148826180733308462010-05-30T10:19:00.008-04:002010-08-26T15:11:21.232-04:00

OP-EDMy roots are deep, going back to "the shot heard 'round the world" that touched off the War of Independence in 1775. It was fired by a "Minuteman," one of the Massachusetts militia--so called because they could turn out in a minute. Standing their ground at Lexington and on the bridge at Concord, they surprised British regulars.Later, I watched as 2,300 superbly disciplined British troops

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-41630799206114827412010-05-26T17:48:00.007-04:002010-05-26T19:06:34.043-04:00

CURRENT AFFAIRSLet’s not kid ourselves. We are all living in a fool’s paradise. The reality of peak oil is now upon us. After 147 years of almost uninterrupted growth since Edwin Drake drilled a shallow oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859, production reached a record daily output of some 82 million barrels. At that point in 2006, the planet’s crude oil production began an irreversible decline. Today

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-52313884755440423492010-05-12T21:14:00.001-04:002010-06-03T20:00:24.924-04:00

GAZETTEERTo understand today's stream patterns in Westchester, we must travel back in time. Let us rewind the geological tape about 75,000 years and look down from above. Topographically the entire area east of the Alleghenies will be seen as an almost featureless plain. The climate has started to grow colder. Up in Labrador and elsewhere in the Arctic the first glaciers are forming and starting

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-82707686828905570202010-05-12T21:00:00.000-04:002010-05-13T07:25:12.172-04:00

GAZETTEERLook at a map of Westchester County, and you'll surely be surprised at the number of ponds and lakes dotting the landscape. Many of these are mute evidence of early industrial technology. Almost from the beginning of settlement, mills sprang up along swift-flowing streams. Gristmills used waterpower to turn their massive grindstones to produce flour. Sawmills cut lumber to meet the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-86594619592756602592010-05-07T11:43:00.025-04:002010-05-11T10:48:45.506-04:00

GAZETTEERIndian names are everywhere in these United States. Thirteen of our largest U.S. rivers have Indian names: Mississippi, Ohio, Yukon, Missouri, Tennessee, Mobile, Atchafalaya, Stikine, Susitana, Arkansas, Tanana, Susquehanna and Willamette. Ten of the major U.S. lakes bear Indian names: Michigan, Erie, Ontario, Okeechobee, Winnebago, Tahoe, Upper Klamath, Utah, Tustumena and

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-65506211247345661662010-04-28T08:04:00.009-04:002010-05-02T10:26:25.874-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYAccording to blind poet John Milton, "They also serve who only stand and wait." But the men of New York State's First Provisional Regiment did not merely stand and wait. During the tense years of 1917 and 1918 when American troops were fighting in Europe, they patrolled New York City's far-flung water supply system to guard against sabotage by German agents.Chances are you've

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-78927690698371545622010-04-20T13:54:00.014-04:002010-04-30T14:44:15.373-04:00

HISTORY"Construct a new prison at Bear Mountain and abandon Sing Sing prison at Ossining." Unthinkable as this recommendation sounds today, it almost became a reality one hundred years ago. Before the move was halted, Sing Sing Prison actually transferred prisoners upriver from Ossining to begin construction on a new prison.The wheels of change had been set in motion in 1906 when New York

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-80772368161459580502010-04-13T15:47:00.012-04:002011-12-28T11:56:07.291-05:00

BIOGRAPHY When the Southern states decided to leave the Union in 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott, General-in-Chief of the Army, offered this mollifying advice to the North: "Say to the seceding states, wayward sisters, depart in peace." Such concessionary words were not heard in Cortlandt or in Westchester County 71 years ago when Peekskill, a village, wanted to break away and become a city. Town and

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-5228588370319728982010-03-22T08:40:00.005-04:002010-03-25T09:13:23.805-04:00

TECHNICSTuesday, October 5, 1858, was a day New Yorkers would not forget. As dusk descended on the city, lamp lighters moved through the glass-walled Crystal Palace igniting its hundreds of gaslights. Seen from afar, the shimmering building resembled an enormous garden greenhouse alive with fireflies. Next to this pellucid structure, the massive bulk of the above-ground Croton Distributing

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TECHNICSIn the first part of this account of the life and work of Richard Dudgeon, we followed a young immigrant boy from Scotland who learned the machinist's trade and invented a portable hydraulic jack that made him wealthy. His unusual steam-driven carriage, an ancestor of the modern automobile, had been exhibited in New York's Crystal Palace and was destroyed by fire in 1858.Two years after

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-89064037321739278802010-01-09T14:43:00.030-05:002010-11-07T06:59:47.142-05:00

OP EDDear Mr. President:In the 91 years of my life, which is to say since the end of the First World War, the United States has spent an inordinate amount of manpower, money and matériel fighting six major wars. Two of these, Vietnam (1962-1975) and Iraq (2003-2010) never should have been fought. Three of our six large-scale wars were what might be called ”good wars”: World War Two (1941-1945),

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-43462867838811272012009-11-30T11:00:00.017-05:002010-11-07T07:03:09.706-05:00

OP EDDear Mr. President:First, a truism: You can end this unpopular, undeclared war, but you cannot win it. Unfortunately, it's another in the long succession of wars that we have waged since 1941 in contravention of the Constitution, which gives Congress the sole power to wage war.Don’t let anyone kid you. This war is about oil. And every other clash in the Middle East has been about oil. The

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-12586862690106307022009-11-24T15:50:00.004-05:002011-12-24T23:11:43.579-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY No Peekskill street bears his name. No statue of him graces any Peekskill park. No memorial plaque commemorating his stunning exploits during the Revolution can be found anywhere in Peekskill. He was Lt. Col. Marinus Willett, an outstanding soldier whose determined action saved Peekskill from destruction at the hands of the British. Yet he is hardly remembered by the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-20836568706923589082009-11-05T09:00:00.002-05:002009-11-10T07:12:46.312-05:00

HISTORYThis year the holiday known as Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day, will be observed on Wednesday, November 11, 2009. Although the date is widely observed, many are unfamiliar with its origins. It commemorates the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front on November 11, 1918. Marking the end of World War One, the armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-57282757688750235822009-10-31T11:00:00.006-04:002009-11-02T08:02:15.148-05:00

BIOGRAPHYLincoln "Linc" Diamant, 86, died Tuesday, October 20, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was news we all dreaded. In 2006, he and his wife, Joan, sold their home on Spring Valley Road near the Teatown Lake Reservation and moved to a comfortable apartment in the delightful college town that is home to Williams College. Here, despite being blind and suffering the palsy of Parkinsonism, he

audaxnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-20167744477527056502009-09-29T13:00:00.003-04:002011-08-21T10:17:55.925-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY The curtain now opens on the third and final act in our drama of the treason that nearly succeeded. Traitorous American Major General Benedict Arnold has reached the British after his precipitous escape. British Major John André and American attorney Joshua Hett Smith have been transported to the Continental Army's encampment at Tappan, N.Y., and are being held there for

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-39727970948545218432009-09-15T10:00:00.009-04:002011-08-21T10:01:06.718-04:00

HUDSON VALLEY The drama of Benedict Arnold and John André continues. Three new players will soon make their appearance: George Washington, 48, towering, cool-headed commander in chief of the Continental Army, one of America's wealthiest men. His unfailing dignity, courtesy and composure endear him to all who serve under him. Lt. Col. John Jameson, 29, from Culpeper County in Virginia. A

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OP EDNote: The title is taken from a favorite saying of former Secretary of State James A. Baker.Dear Mr. President:Shortly before Christmas of 1945, I was discharged from the Army at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland. I decided that I would make a point of studying the waging of war, a profession that had appropriated four years of my youth. Sixty-four years later, now with a large store of

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-30293348715592399632009-08-31T09:30:00.003-04:002011-08-21T10:20:35.894-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY Aristotle defined tragedy as a drama recounting the fall of persons of high degree and exemplifying the tragic sense of life. One September 229 years ago in the lower Hudson Valley, a profoundly moving Aristotelean tragedy of errors played itself out. Two human beings, one, British Major John André, and the other, American General Benedict Arnold, were each inevitably doomed

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-77744907425238980802009-08-22T12:27:00.013-04:002009-08-25T15:28:25.208-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY"Head for the sound of the guns." Cadets at West Point are taught this military precept--easily remembered advice for a unit commander when trouble threatens and information is lacking.When German guns signaled the start of the First World War in 1914, hundreds of Americans headed for the sound of the guns in France. Their reasons were many. Some, impelled by humanitarian

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-60813376232568910542009-08-12T13:45:00.003-04:002009-08-13T06:55:59.622-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYIn the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian we can marvel at the tiny spacecraft in which astronauts rocketed into space a scant 47 years ago. Sailing the Hudson and neighboring waters today is the 17th-century equivalent of a modern space capsule: a full-size replica of Henry Hudson's most famous ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon).Four centuries ago, a small band of

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-10441306157463372912009-08-04T08:00:00.002-04:002009-08-04T08:20:44.272-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYOn May 11, 1647, 55-year-old Petrus Stuyvesant stomped ashore at New Amsterdam on a wooden leg decorated with incised bands of silver. Only three years before, while attacking the Spanish-held Caribbean island of St. Martin, he had lost his right leg to a cannonball. Adriaen Van der Donck, a young lawyer and witness to his arrival, described him as “Peacock like, with great

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-84605609074417247052009-07-24T11:30:00.008-04:002010-06-03T19:56:01.478-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYWillem Kieft, fifth Dutch governor of New Netherland, arrived in New Amsterdam in 1638. You probably won't recognize his name. After you read what follows, you will not easily wipe the name Willem Kieft from your memory.Kieft was by nature a blusterer and at heart a coward. For sheer barbarity, he ranks with such genocidal monsters as Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. Had

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-44027580414126882152009-07-16T15:30:00.003-04:002009-07-16T16:03:11.604-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYEditor's Note: For the benefit of readers who desire to know more about the Lenape Indians who once roamed the area we now call home, the following is a list of books used in the preparation of this series.For readers who seek a basic introductory work on the subject of America's first inhabitants and the archeological science that enables us to discover details about their way

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-13187691948539784602009-07-15T16:00:00.005-04:002009-10-23T10:40:05.622-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYHalf of our nation’s fifty states bear names of Indian origin, as do uncounted thousands of individual towns, rivers and landscape features. Sad to say, the names the Indians left us and the few mute artifacts to be seen in museum collections are our only links to Westchester’s early inhabitants. It is important to remember that because Indians had no written language,

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-83045718308272325412009-06-29T10:00:00.006-04:002009-07-02T14:30:50.926-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYOn October 14, 1842, 167 years ago, New York City marked the completion of the Croton Aqueduct and the stream of cold, clear water it brought from the valley of the Croton River. The water's arrival touched off celebrations whose like had never been seen before. At a time when the purity of Croton's own water supply is in jeopardy from runoff contamination, it is appropriate

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-78459256024339360842009-06-22T15:18:00.016-04:002009-11-27T08:07:31.070-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYSeen from the air, the Old Croton Aqueduct gives the impression that a giant mole had tunneled its way south from the Croton River to New York City, throwing up the slight bulge that is the telltale sign of the animal's passage through a lawn. Now a public right of way, the aqueduct was purchased by New York State from New York City's Bureau of Water Supply in 1968. Listed on

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-55544929889863336172009-06-07T15:45:00.012-04:002011-03-25T12:25:06.637-04:00

HISTORYToday our American Indian population of more than 2.5 million is in sharp contrast to the population in 1609, the year Henry Hudson sailed up the river that bears his name. The entire North American continent was then the exclusive domain of Indians. By the early 1700s, Indian tribes in the lower Hudson Valley had sold their highly desirable lands to Dutch or English colonists, usually for

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-54830737154805254372009-06-01T08:21:00.004-04:002009-06-02T10:01:11.887-04:00

MOVIE TRIVIAFew books are so closely identified with a geographical region—Georgia and the Old South—as Gone with the Wind. Published in 1936, this 1,037-page tome was discovered by Macmillan editor Harold Latham on a swing through the South in search, of new writing talent. Its author, Margaret Mitchell, was a petite (4 feet 9-1/2 inches tall) native of Atlanta who had labored between 1926 and

audaxnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-73880371624670291922009-05-21T22:42:00.003-04:002009-05-22T13:46:57.816-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYSacred groves of trees held a special significance in ancient cultures and religions. One such sacred grove exists at the Montrose veterans hospital facility named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who guided the nation through World War II to victory. Here a random array of eleven stone columns topped by bronze busts stands in a bosky dell amidst maples, pines, dogwoods

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-3597558555312778252009-05-21T22:36:00.006-04:002011-05-25T11:35:29.775-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY Sculptor Nils Andersen's story has never been told in detail. Born in Philadelphia in 1926, he later moved with his family to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, where he attended public schools. Quitting high school at 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. After basic training, Andersen shipped out to Guadalcanal, where he joined the newly activated 6th Marine Division training for the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-37139903498751563962009-05-15T16:00:00.004-04:002011-01-23T14:14:28.503-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYBricks are as old as time. The Babylonians and Egyptians made bricks, the oldest manufactured building material, as early as 4000 B.C. For centuries, bricks were sun-dried. Around 1000 B.C. someone discovered that they could be hardened by fire. Since then, every civilization has burnt bricks.Early British colonists in North America brought with them the brickmaking skills of

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-68045642251859396122009-05-11T12:15:00.007-04:002011-01-17T19:58:21.493-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYEvery place name in the lower Hudson Valley holds a fascinating story waiting to be told. For the benefit of newcomers to this historic corner of Westchester--and perhaps a few old timers--here are accounts about the origins of some local place names.The naming of places and natural features began well before the first Dutch traders arrived in the 17th century. As might be

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-77546447604288279412009-05-01T08:40:00.024-04:002011-09-04T05:08:18.051-04:00

QUOTABLE QUOTES Now that a Portuguese Water Dog puppy named Bo has been welcomed to the White House, dogs are very much in the news. Here are some nuggets of wisdom about these marvelous animals that give so much, ask so little, and are with us for such a cruelly short time: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. --Harry S Truman (1884-1972), American president It did not take Man long

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-36782718471019839752009-04-20T08:20:00.020-04:002011-11-20T19:47:48.017-05:00

MOVIE TRIVIA A century ago, a book took America by storm. A new kind of children's fantasy told in conversational style, it captivated adults and children alike. Its decorative illustrations in color were unlike any that had appeared before, weaving the story into a wealth of beauty and form, of sense and nonsense, of joy and seriousness. When it was published in 1900, L. Frank Baum’s The

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-68467019002089427842009-04-13T12:01:00.012-04:002009-10-12T08:15:16.900-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYLong before the first shovelful of dirt was turned, it was obvious that the Croton Aqueduct faced massive problems. The land along the Croton and Hudson Rivers through which it would pass was already well settled. With the breakup of the manors of Cortlandt, Philipsburgh and Fordham after the Revolution, many tenant families purchased the properties they farmed. After the War

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-47906339710005186932009-04-06T18:00:00.014-04:002011-02-23T09:13:19.337-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYWater has always been a problem for New York City. The lack of it had been one of the reasons the Dutch lost their colony of New Amsterdam to the British. When British warships arrived in the harbor late in August of 1664, Peter Stuyvesant, the colony's authoritarian governor, caved in quickly and surrendered. The doughty one-legged governor later defended his action in a

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-82201341351925546092009-03-19T16:25:00.018-04:002011-08-22T12:45:23.711-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEY Today, the average new book has a shelf life somewhere between milk and yogurt. Yet a book published in 1835 continues to command the attention of scholars, politicians, students of government, and the reading public. "Democracy in America," by Alexis de Tocqueville, remains a penetrating and astute picture of American politics, manners and morals of 174 years ago.

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-86466548465074950502009-03-08T18:30:00.011-04:002010-07-18T22:34:48.628-04:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYIn the beginning was the land, and it was without names. From somewhere over the horizon the first wanderers reached northwestern Westchester and found the land to be rich and good. They remained and gave names to places--descriptive names by which others could identify them. Thus, the Indian name for Ossining was "a stony place"; for Peekskill, "the mouth of a stream"; for

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-37965538545124428882009-02-08T00:15:00.005-05:002011-02-21T17:17:56.449-05:00

LOWER HUDSON VALLEYAbraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, made two railroad journeys between his home in Illinois and Washington, D.C. One in 1861 as the President-elect and the other, in the opposite direction, as the victim of the bullet of assassin John Wilkes Booth. The second trip has been extensively covered; details of the first trip are less well known. Lincoln was

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-47545574828428339962009-02-03T11:17:00.005-05:002009-11-26T15:30:14.585-05:00

QUOTABLE QUOTESOur etymological love affair with President George W. Bush’s malapropisms has come to an end, at least temporarily until he starts giving interviews at his home in Crawford, Texas, and wherever he may travel.The time has come to say goodbye to now ex-President Bush. You were always good for a chuckle, if not a hearty laugh, at the way you mangled the English language. Have a happy

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-45060180440240263472009-01-21T07:00:00.003-05:002009-11-26T15:29:07.477-05:00

OP-EDAlthough the Bush administration has now come to an end, the Bush legacy will live on. After eight years of ineptitude and mismanagement, the bill for this country’s colossal $10.35 trillion Bush hangover largely will be paid by future generations. Here’s the dismal Bush fiscal record in a nutshell:National debt at start of Bush’s first term: $5.7 trillion At end of Bush’s second term:

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-55896436573877308172008-12-31T11:10:00.009-05:002009-05-17T11:05:19.695-04:00

QUOTABLE QUOTES Bushspeak pickings were slim as the final days of the eight-year imperial presidency of George W. Bush wound down and he made a concerted effort to rewrite history’s view of him. The number of Bushspeak quotes continue to be small as "the days dwindled down to a precious few." With W gone. we venture to predict that, in Richard Nixon’s immortal words, it won’t be long before we’ll

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-41265798063739857902008-12-31T09:20:00.004-05:002009-11-26T15:32:24.900-05:00

QUOTABLE QUOTESEach year, Fred R. Shapiro, editor of The Yale Book Of Quotations, chooses the year’s Top Ten Notable Quotables. The following are his top ten for the year just past, 2008:1. “I can see Russia from my house!” Comedian Tina Fey, impersonating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” broadcast Sept. 13.2. “All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-31965991658073804702008-12-26T23:15:00.005-05:002010-11-05T17:10:06.136-04:00

HISTORYAs every schoolchild knows, exactly 232 years ago George Washington crossed the ice-choked Delaware on Christmas night as depicted in the famous painting by Emmanuel Leutze and defeated the Hessians at Trenton, N.J., early in the next morning, December 26, 1776.The year 1776 had not been a good year for American colonists revolting against British rule. In five months of bitter fighting

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-48700458196548928482008-12-15T13:41:00.001-05:002009-05-17T11:09:41.346-04:00

HISTORYChristmas is almost upon us and with it the traditional complaints by editorialists bemoaning the commercialization of the Christmas season. Unhappiness with the way the holiday is observed is nothing new. In 1621, a year after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Governor William Bradford found some male members of the colony taking the day off from work and playing games in the street. He

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-78685907465351153442008-12-11T16:30:00.007-05:002009-05-17T15:00:31.088-04:00

OP-EDIn the recent presidential contest this nation experienced one of the most cynical and reckless political misadventures on record. We refer to the erratic, ill-conceived Republican campaign that from Day One was doomed to a failure of monumental proportions. Because an indecisive John McCain lacked a coordinated long-range strategy, his team of handlers and speechwriters scripted each day’s

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-37387671717468494322008-12-10T13:00:00.004-05:002009-05-17T15:01:30.139-04:00

WALKING CLASSICSby Oliver Wendell Holmes1.You think you know all about walking, don't you, now? Well, how do you suppose your lower limbs are held to your body? They are sucked up by two cupping vessels ("catyloid"—cup-like—cavities) and held here as long as you live, and longer. At any rate, you think you move them backward and forward at such a rate as your will determines, don't you? On the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-71005789150967123332008-11-15T13:15:00.009-05:002009-05-17T15:02:18.004-04:00

OP-ED Instead of seeing a coherent plan that anticipates each new crisis, do you sometimes get the feeling that Henry (”I’ve got a 2-1/2 page plan”) Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, and Ben (“Rubber Stamp”) Bernanke, Director of the Federal Reserve, are making up their strategy for countering a plunging economy as they go along? The nation's sudden realization that these experts allowed the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-20088950413579464112008-11-12T11:00:00.005-05:002008-12-10T13:04:12.861-05:00

WALKING CLASSICSby John MuirDuring my first years in the Sierra I was ever calling on everybody within reach to admire the vast, billowy forests of conifers, but I found no one half warm enough until Emerson came. I had read his essays and felt sure that of all men he would best interpret the sayings of these noble mountains and trees. Nor was my faith weakened when I met him in Yosemite. He

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-10845704955993946202008-11-02T16:20:00.007-05:002008-11-09T10:19:43.775-05:00

WALKING CLASSICSby Fiona MacleodIt is when the trees are leafless, or when the last withered leaves rustle in the wintry air, creeping along the bare boughs like tremulous mice, or fluttering from the branches like the tired and starving swallows left behind in the ebb­ing tides of migration, that the secret of the forest is most likely to be surprised. Mystery is always there. Silence and

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-23836870200332658002008-10-27T08:40:00.002-04:002008-10-31T22:42:40.024-04:00

ENCORE SELECTIONHalloween! It is still a time when ghosts and goblins walk. But once it was a rowdy time for letting loose, for marking the end of the fruitful year and the beginning of winter. A time to howl, to rage, to scream. To raise the dead and frighten the living long into the dark October night and beyond. A time for raising hackles and goose bumps. A time when the cemetery on the hill

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-88965089584525292012008-10-26T10:45:00.002-04:002008-10-26T11:11:44.350-04:00

WALKING CLASSICSby Stephen GrahamYou need a book, but you cannot carry Gibbon's Decline and Fall with you, even if you feel the need. The tramp's library is limited, for books are heavy. It is best to tramp with one book only. But it is a missed opportunity not to have one book. For you can gain an intimacy with a book and an author in that way, which it is difficult to obtain in a library or in

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-36567309591789028202008-10-23T17:00:00.002-04:002008-10-28T09:59:16.825-04:00

WALKING CLASSICSby John KieranSimple honesty compels the warning that reading these words may possibly do you good and, therefore, you had better give some thought to the matter of dropping it right here. From this point you continue reading only at your own risk and peril.Henry Thoreau, the American essayist and philosopher, once said: "If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-6391785882682210982008-10-14T16:00:00.003-04:002009-05-17T15:03:47.125-04:00

INTRODUCING A NEW FEATURE: POSTSCRIPTS CLASSICSWe take pleasure in sharing with readers selections from literary classics on subjects of interest that have given us enjoyment over the years.The Great Outdoors--and they are indeed great in every sense of the word--are remarkable in that they can be enjoyed as much in solitude as in the company of good companions. On the one hand, you have the

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-37090908815238556592008-09-24T11:15:00.015-04:002011-08-31T10:57:18.782-04:00

CURRENT AFFAIRS No soldier, sailor or Marine serving in Iraq or Afghanistan can be faulted for questioning with the above colorful phrase their presence in either country, or even question being in the comparative safety of Kuwait. Ever since 2001, the Bush administration has a labored mightily to sell the American people on the concept that we are engaged in a war. By calling it a war, of

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27825934.post-54763633570506109302008-07-03T06:13:00.042-04:002010-05-26T19:31:41.160-04:00

CURRENT AFFAIRSIn a little more than four months from now, this country will elect a new President, a new Congress and one-third of the Senate. Candidates will promise to make changes in the conduct of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regardless of their campaign promises, what the President and members of Congress actually are able to do will be limited by three immutable realities.

audaxnoreply@blogger.com0