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    <title>Miami Valley Issues</title>
    <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/list/5</link>
    <description><![CDATA[Discussion of local issues and how they affect our daily lives.]]></description>
    <language>EN</language>
    <pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2008 14:18:21 -0400</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Sat, 03 May 2008 14:18:21 -0400</lastBuildDate>
    <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
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    <item>
      <title>would you</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/64680/64680#msg-64680</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[If there was a Forum placed on the net that was broken down into catagories very similar to those here. Where you could cut, copy and paste. Sign in under forum names you choose. Would be able to preview and edit before posting or after. Would you support such a site? No sign up fees ever. 100% free.

You don't have to register to read

http://vmva.aforumfree.com/]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/64680/64680#msg-64680</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2008 14:18:21 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Force them to invest with 5th 3rd Securities and Nelson Financial Services!</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62511/63681#msg-63681</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[They damn sure punished me, and kept me from joining their ranks with no thanks.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62511/63681#msg-63681</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:33:26 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investment Professionals have cost and lost me about $50,000 in bad investments, with lost compound interest that I could have got from CDs and savings.</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/63680/63680#msg-63680</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Two airlines of mine went bankrupt.

My $5,000 in Kmart stock became worthless, used to sell to SEARS.

5th 3rd Securities cost and lost me $6,000 in six months, my GM buy-out not making enough money in savings.

Nelson Financial Services was working for Realistar Insurance instead of me, their supposed client, my 1996 investment of $60,000 now worth $67,000 in inflated devalued 2008 dollars, BEFORE taxes taken, Realistar taking about $25,000 in life insurance premiums, taken during a dozen years, a policy that I did not want nor need. Realistar made money from my investment and wast still taking premiums from diminishing remainder.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/63680/63680#msg-63680</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:32:08 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Miami Valley Area Must Read Before Home Hunting.......</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/53104/63130#msg-63130</link>
      <author>usarulz</author>
      <description><![CDATA[This trustee and his affiliated company are trying to stick around Montgomery County. People, here is a list of his transactions in that county. And again, make sure he has building permits!!!

link to page is here =} http://www.mcrecorder.org/searchname_action.cfm?letter=n]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/53104/63130#msg-63130</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:50:04 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Let's get the rich</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62511/62511#msg-62511</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[After listening to Obama Wednesday I finally believe I get it. He's right!!!! I have been a fool. His plan is so simplistic. To get 50 or so Hedge Fund Managers who make $50,000,000.00 per year you double the  Capital Gains Taxes on 100,000,000 people even if it will mean less revenue to the Government which will mean higher individual taxes to recoup the lost revenve so we can be FAIR.

What a visionary!!! How hard can it be to work yourself into the position to be oferred that salary? It's not even close to the effort that goes into getting $15,000,000.00 a year to sit in front of a teleprompter reading the news or $20,000,000.00 to throw a ball hard or catch one or hit one or run fast with one. I got me a G.E.D. Must be someone looking for a C.E.O.

It doesn't bother me a bit that the American People want to go after the rich and blame them for everything.  I'm perfectly happy where I am, at the bottom. I have no aspirations to achieve, to better myself. I have no goals in life and the last thing I want is for my children to be successful.

Those rich people who close their plants and move overseas so they can compete in the marketplace took MY job. Not that I had anything to do with creating it or investing money in start-up capital or chipping in when the company got fines because I broke an OSHA Rule, or when the company filed bankruptcy after doing everything to cut costs to keep as many jobs as possible. I BUILT THAT COMPANY!!! 
I may have been unemployed before they hired me for one of THEIR JOBS but it's MINE now.

Yes, I am one happy American. Where else can I live next door to those who worked harder than me, scrimped and saved to put a down payment on a house. Bunch of Suckers. They didn't know you can get Section 8 and live there too and won't cost me a dime because I'm on welfare and Section 8 is based on income and I don't have any income. Food Stamps are the only coupons we cut out. Johnny asked what's for breakfast? I don't know. I'll check the school menu to see what they're serving you today.

The only thing that would make me happier is if the Rich would just pay their fair share like the rest of us.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62511/62511#msg-62511</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:39:30 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Lookie, lookie, see! Here are some East Kentucky Magazine pictures, from the Buckeye Bureau Chief, for FREE!</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62138/62138#msg-62138</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[http://ohsnap.daytondailynews.com/recent]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/62138/62138#msg-62138</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:20:08 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>I have it right now</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61700/61700#msg-61700</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Sorry for all the edits on the &quot;APPALLED&quot; . It's why I work offline and then post. It's correct now. Thank you for your support. Remember never believe anything unless you have investigated it yourself.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61700/61700#msg-61700</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:23:59 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>APPALLED</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61696/61696#msg-61696</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I was personally appalled with today’s edition of the Springfield News and Sun.  I couldn’t believe they would dedicate an entire page hidden under the pretense of Historical Perspective, Lynching’s. 
Though a horrible part of American History the article as in many of this particular paper’s articles are one-sided leaving one to believe that this despicable activity was carried out on only one race. If a supposed reputable newspaper is going to run a full page condemnation (as it should) include ALL information. In no way do I agree with the mentality of a mob nor could I ever understand what would drive supposed fair minded people to do such acts I cannot either stand for portrayals that are slanted to fit an objective whatever that may be. Most will take the information at face value and not investigate any further. The following are links from the TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchcauses.html

HTTP://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingyear.html]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61696/61696#msg-61696</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:08:43 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>&quot;How big is Hollywood's carbon footprint?&quot;</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61680/61680#msg-61680</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Leon Harrison
West Carrollton, Ohio 
Monday, April 14, 2008

To: The Editor

Subject: Hollywood hypocrisy regarding carbon footprints


	    “How big is Hollywood’s carbon footprint?”


	I just got back from (driving to and from) seeing “Street Kings”, today’s violent action-packed cop-thriller-killer matinee movie. Now, I wonder about how big Hollywood’s carbon footprint is. The Screenvision “Go Green” preshow will continue until April 24, host Bradford Howe, activist actress [aren’t they all?] Aisha Tyler, and The Alliance for Climate Protection pestering the rest of us to do likewise, with fifteen minutes of nagging-nanny agenda-driven environmentalist propaganda.
	Tommy Lee Jones narrates a gloomy black-balloon energy-usage piece, followed by Dave Schlafman’s “Sky is Falling” cartoon. I have to laugh when Ms. Tyler reminds us that we can use video/audio conferencing instead of flying. Has she informed these Gore Whores, Jimmy Carter, and three presidential candidates? She also tells us that we can find out how big our carbon footprints are by getting online.
	During the first Go Green preshow that I had to sit through (now a half-dozen or so ago), this hypocritical Hollywood nagging had me angry and gagging. Especially while I am watching previews of spectacular action-packed movies, seeing aircraft and racing roaring vehicles with squealing tires, fires, explosions and gunfire. How big is the carbon footprint of a typical movie crew, with all of those SUVs, trucks and trailers?
	Finally, I could not resist yelling at Bradford and Aisha, while they smiled and babbled at me from that big movie screen: “WE COULD QUIT DRIVING TO THE MOVIES!” Other audience members seemed to agree with me. Ah, who can stay home and away from Indiana Jones? PLEASE, LEAVE US ALONE! 

Leon Harrison
West Carrollton, Ohio]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61680/61680#msg-61680</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:29:18 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Effectively stopped</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61473/61604#msg-61604</link>
      <author>Redeemed</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Conservative, don't quit. I was having the same problem. Go to the faith and values page. Sawber and Ble$$ed One gave the fix and it is not hard to correct.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61473/61604#msg-61604</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:49:04 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Effectively stopped</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61473/61473#msg-61473</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Since the copy and paste option is no longer available I must leave not to return. It must be the News and Suns' way of expressing themselves. I cannot imagine myself spending the time on this site trying to put together a reasonable thought to share or have to leave for whatever reason only to have to start over again because you can not save your work either. In fairness, it is their forum not ours. As you can see, if you are willing to spend the time here, it will post.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61473/61473#msg-61473</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:34:42 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Copy and paste</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61155/61155#msg-61155</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Am I the only one who cannot copy and then paste a new topic. I write off line to gather thoughts and sometimes run across articles of interest that I thought others may not see and would like to read but I am unable to copy and paste. It works setting it up but will not post the new Topic.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/61155/61155#msg-61155</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:45:21 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Can anyone post?</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/60861/60861#msg-60861</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I have not been able to for 4 days.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/60861/60861#msg-60861</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:16:43 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Here we go again</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/60375/60375#msg-60375</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Apparently, Hillary Clinton's nose is growing longer by the day. Here's 
      the latest from the imagination of the former First Lady.

      Clinton has been eliciting tears and anger with her story about a pregnant 
      women who was denied care for herself and baby at an Ohio hospital 
      resulting in her death. 

      But according to the hospital, the story is not entirely accurate. In 
      fact, it's not very accurate at all. Actually, it's a lie:


        The woman, Trina Bachtel, did die last August, two weeks after her baby 
        boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. 

        But hospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the 
        care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she 
        was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured. 

        “We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating 
        this story,” said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O’Bleness 
        Health System. 

        Linda M. Weiss, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit hospital, said the 
        Clinton campaign had never contacted the hospital to check the accuracy 
        of the story, which Mrs. Clinton had first heard from a Meigs County, 
        Ohio, sheriff’s deputy in late February. 
      Oooops. 

      Of course, she can say that it's not her fault the story is incorrect 
      because she heard it 3rd hand. But one wonders the standards of truth her 
      campaign uses when these &quot;misstatements&quot; are exposed.

      Update: Clarice Feldman adds, Hillary lies so much that if she ever told a 
      half-truth it would improve her credibility.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/60375/60375#msg-60375</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:39:08 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>I always needed and held just ONE at a time, despite the whines.</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59859/60071#msg-60071</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[I never had me more than one at a time.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59859/60071#msg-60071</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:18:15 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>OHIO TO CREATE 57,000 JOBS</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59859/59859#msg-59859</link>
      <author>alwaysuptuit</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Gee, I'd better go grab one fast.. you to.. lest you be standing in a long line ..can you still handle a pick and shovel. It's a stimulus package so get off your sorry butts, on your dying feet and get to work.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59859/59859#msg-59859</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:54:51 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Who says that MY cyber-chatter does not matter? It is at least good enough for Leon Harrison to steal my stuff, and maybe even improve it a little bit.</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59840/59840#msg-59840</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Leon Harrison
West Carrollton, Ohio
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

To: The Editor

Subject: Leon Harrison should direct WSU Bolinga Center


	 “Harrison should be WSU Bolinga Center Director!”


	Wright Sate University alumni, parents and students, demand that Leon Harrison be immediately appointed as the Director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center! This especially applies to those people among you who are passionate about affirmative action and disciples of diversity, if not PC perversity, if multicultural mingling gets you to tingling. Mr. Harrison will then represent YOU at WSU. 
	If Mr. Harrison gets some passionate action with job satisfaction, he might even stop writing and bitchin’ about wasted taxes and tuition; taken from the taxpaying working masses who have to pay for useless agenda-driven perpetual- professional-victim black-PAC activist political-propaganda classes that take and waste their time and taxes. Of course, Mr. Harrison will soon interview and choose attractive young friendly female assistants and interns who are willing to learn, especially if they are Clinton fans (who still envy Monica Lewinsky) and are willing to pose for East Kentucky Magazine covers and centerfolds (with or without clothes), in addition to auditioning for screen tests at and for Harrison Studios…where he will likewise be The Director if not the rejecter. Hey, at least he tries to be a nice polite sensitive white guy.


Leon Harrison
West Carrollton, Ohio]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59840/59840#msg-59840</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:49:32 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>WSU parents and students, demand that Leon Harrison be immediately appointed as the Director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center!</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59817/59817#msg-59817</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[WSU parents and students, demand that Leon Harrison be immediately appointed as the Director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center! Especially those among you who are passionate about affirmative action and disciples of diversity, if not PC perversity. He will then represent YOU at WSU.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59817/59817#msg-59817</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:39:35 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Better than eenie, meenie, minie, moe</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59741/59741#msg-59741</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[To see who gave what to the super-delegates and how those contributions may have garnered their endorcements, visit and read carefully. Ask yourself, why are they using contributions given to the campaigns of the candidates to support these individuals? If you are a member of the Democratic Party doesn't it make you feel like your vote means nothing. Business as usual.

http://www.capitaleye.org/superdelegates.asp]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59741/59741#msg-59741</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:48:43 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>iraq withdrawal date</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59738/59738#msg-59738</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[March 31, 2008 
      Today Is Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Day
      By Lee Cary
      On January 30, 2007, Senator Barack Obama introduced the Iraq War 
      De-escalation Act of 2007 in a speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate.  
      In describing the proposed legislation he said,


        &quot;This plan would not only place a cap on the number of troops in Iraq 
        and stop the escalation, more importantly, it would begin a phased 
        redeployment of U.S. forces with the goal of removing all U.S. combat 
        forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008.


        &quot;In a civil war where no military solution exists, this redeployment 
        remains our best leverage to pressure the Iraqi government to achieve 
        the political settlement between its warring factions that can slow the 
        bloodshed and promote stability.&quot;


      Obama's proposed legislation came in the wake of President Bush's 
      announcement of the troop surge.  In a statement dated January 19, 2007, 
      Obama said,


        &quot;I cannot in good conscience support this escalation.  It is a policy 
        which has already been tried and a policy which has failed.  Just this 
        morning, I had veterans of the Iraq war visit my office to explain to me 
        that this surge concept is, in fact, no different from what we have 
        repeatedly tried, but with 20,000 troops, we will not in any imaginable 
        way be able to accomplish any new progress.&quot;


      No new progress. &quot;Not in any imaginable way.&quot;  The surge would fail, he 
      said. Things didn't go as he predicted.  Limited imagination perhaps.


      But at least the Senator has been consistent during the last two years in 
      his withdrawal position concerning Iraq.  And, he's also had a consistent 
      cut-&amp;-paste view of the role of Syria and, more importantly, Iran as 
      benign actors in the Iraq ordeal.  


      November 20, 2006 Speech: &quot;A Way Forward in Iraq&quot; 


        &quot;...neither Iran nor Syria wants to see a security vacuum in Iraq filled 
        with chaos, terrorism, refugees, and violence, as it could have a 
        destabilizing effect throughout the entire region - and within their own 
        countries.&quot;


      January 19, 2007 Statement: Senate Floor 


        &quot;...neither Iran nor Syria wants to see a security vacuum in Iraq filled 
        with chaos, terrorism, refugees, and violence, as it could have a 
        destabilizing effect throughout the entire region - and within their own 
        countries.&quot;


      Later though, a surprise source tossed a wrench into the Senator's notion 
      of Iran's intent:


        August 28, 2007, TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 
        boldly declared Tuesday that Iran is ready to help fill an imminent 
        power vacuum in Iraq, while also defending the neighboring country's 
        embattled Shiite prime minister who has been criticized by U.S. 
        politicians.


      And then, the Elusive One himself seems to have just recently elevated the 
      importance of Iraq to jihad.


        March 20, 2008 (CNN) -- Al-Jazeera broadcast on Thursday an audiotape on 
        which a voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares &quot;Iraq is the 
        perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine.&quot;


      So, Obama, Clinton and the entire Democrat Party are caught in a 
      conundrum.  The surge is working, conditions in Iraq are improving, Iraqis 
      are fighting for their country, and the deadline for Obama's withdrawal in 
      the face of his unrequited expectations for failure in Iraq is passing, 
      today.


      All that's left for Democrats to hope for is that our economy stalls.


      If Obama is the Democrat nominee, his understanding of the use of U.S. 
      military force, compared to that of Senator McCain, will be one focal 
      point in the general election as we ask ourselves the question: Who shall 
      be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.


      In the November 20, 2006 speech quoted above, Obama offered valuable 
      insights into his understanding of the historical use of American arms.


        &quot;[W]e should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy 
        on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements 
        for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing 
        democracies; movements that continue today...It's in our interest to 
        help foster democracy through the diplomatic and economic resources at 
        our disposal.  But even as we provide such help, we should be clear that 
        the institutions of democracy - free markets, a free press, a strong 
        civil society - cannot be built overnight, and they cannot be built at 
        the end of a barrel of a gun.  And so we must realize that the freedoms 
        FDR once spoke of - especially freedom from want and freedom from fear - 
        do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing out ballots; they 
        are only realized once the personal and material security of a people is 
        ensured as well

      &quot;In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical 
      regimes that have led to flourishing democracies.&quot; Really? When and where?

      Germany, Japan and Italy became flourishing democracies &quot;at the end of a 
      barrel of a gun.&quot;  England's freedoms would have been smothered had it not 
      been for the gun barrels of Hurricanes and Spitfires. Singapore and the 
      Philippines were liberated from tyranny at the end of a barrel of a gun.  
      Israel has often defended her freedom with guns, yet today.  France, 
      Belgium, Norway - all liberated from tyranny at the end of gun barrels.  
      South Korea is free today because of them, gun barrels.  Eastern European 
      countries are discovering democracy today because of all the unfired guns 
      of NATO at-the-ready that helped bring about the implosion of the USSR. 
      Iraq and Afghanistan would never have had a chance at freedom had their 
      struggling quests not begun after the diplomats fell silent and the guns 
      spoke. One wonders if Senator Obama's educartion at Hawaii's most elite 
      private academy, Columbia and Harvard included any history lessons.


      He began his March 18th &quot;A More Perfect Union&quot; speech with the opening 
      words of the Constitution of the United States of America, a document he 
      knows well, since he was once a lecturer in constitutional law at the 
      University of Chicago Law School.  After a bitter debate within the 
      states, the Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789.  Today, we see 
      it as the culmination of an extraordinary linage of documents that 
      included the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and 
      the Federalists Papers.  Obama states, &quot;we must realize that the freedoms 
      FDR once spoke of...do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing 
      out ballots.&quot;  


      Certainly that's true.  But neither did freedom for Americans come at the 
      end of a language event, at the successful conclusion of an exercise in 
      diplomatic rhetoric.  It came when 400 siege guns dropped 36,000 rounds 
      into the British lines at Yorktown and Cornwallis surrendered on October 
      19, 1781.  Nearly eight years before the Constitution went into effect.


      We owe much to the framers of the Constitution, to the men of words. But 
      we owe at least as much to Joseph Plumb Martin. He joined the Continental 
      Army in 1776 at age 16, and stayed at the butt end of the barrel of a gun 
      until victory.  While Martin and others were engaging the British, the 
      Continental Congress was an ongoing lesson in gross incompetence. Even 
      Washington, who kept his political thoughts very much to  himself, in a 
      letter to a friend during particularly dire times for his army, let down 
      his guard and asked, rhetorically, where have all the big talkers gone.   


      The militia came and went throughout the war, as they had families to 
      feed.  But a cadre within the Continental Army, a force of Joseph Martin's 
      never numbering as many as in the Iraq surge, lived a hardscrabble life - 
      fighting, losing, and fighting again.  Until, at the Battle of Cowpens 
      with Daniel Morgan, they decimated the British and their Loyalists allies 
      (freedom does not require unity within the nation that would have it). 
      After years of being at the end of a barrel of the gun, they'd become 
      professional soldiers who could fire, reload and maneuver - at the same 
      time.  


        &quot;We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on 
        a country through military force,&quot; Senator Obama says. One wonders...


      Deep down, does Barack Obama believe that language and diplomacy are the 
      primary arms in gaining freedom, and in keeping it?]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59738/59738#msg-59738</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:06:21 -0400</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Report smoking violations 1 866 559 OHIO...law is still in effect and being enforced. Also includes business not displaying this information, as well as those allowing smoking in common areas of their buildings(vestibules, hallways, etc.). Thanks!</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59516/59516#msg-59516</link>
      <author>obama08</author>
      <description><![CDATA[P ING!]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59516/59516#msg-59516</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:04:57 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>New House</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59379/59379#msg-59379</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Reverend Wright's New Digs
Ethel Fenig

Clad in  dashiki clerical vestments, Senator Barack Obama's  (D-IL) pastor and mentor screamed about the evil of white folks and middle classness while promoting a black centered theology, all to the shouting and clapping approval of a large and growing congregation.
  
So where his new 10,340 square foot, $1.6 million house being built?  


Wouldn't you know, the demographics of Tinley Park, IL,a suburb of Chicago,  which will soon count Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr as a resident.. Steve Gilbert of Sweetness &amp; Light reports:
The racial makeup of the village was 93.16% White, 1.92% African American, 0.13% Native American, 2.38% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.11% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.13% of the population. 


The top five ancestries reported in Tinley Park as of the 2000 census were Irish (25.5%), German (23.1%), Polish (19.7%), Italian (14.3%) and Dutch (5.3%).[5] …


The residents' incomes are solidly middle class




The median income for a household in the village was $61,648, and the median income for a family was $71,858. Males had a median income of $50,595 versus $34,401 for females. The per capita income for the village was $25,207. About 1.1% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.5% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.


Not that Reverend Wright is a hypocrite or a preacher who doesn't practice what he preaches of course]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59379/59379#msg-59379</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:22:32 -0400</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Leon Harrison could and would be the perfect Director of Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, out at WSU. Howboutchoo?</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59344/59344#msg-59344</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Leon Harrison could and would be the perfect Director of Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, out at WSU. Howboutchoo? Need us white nice guys try to apply?
Posted by: Old Cold Warrior
Date: March 30, 2008 05:08PM


How much does this job pay, by the way? 
How much does this black cultural center cost? 
How much in additional tuition for parents and students who are bitchin'? 
Is this center education or agenda-driven political-activist indoctrination? 
Need us nice white guys try to apply? 
Wright State University is supposed to be &quot;EO/AA employer&quot;, meaning Equal Rights? 
Leon Harrison has done a lot of multicultural mingling, for a few decades or so, especially with coworker 'fro' bro's an' 'hos. He can even rap de lingo. Word.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59344/59344#msg-59344</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:09:10 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Votes Against</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59255/59255#msg-59255</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Obama Votes Against His Own Platform

Posted March 14th, 2008 at 12.38pm in Budget and Spending. 

The symbolic nature of the Senate’s budget authorization process lends itself to occasional gamesmanship, and Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) took full advantage last night. Allard combed through Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) many campaign promises and compiled a list of 188 new spending proposals that he then packaged together and offered as an amendment to the Fiscal 2009 budget plan. Allard calculated that for the 111 proposals for which cost estimated were possible, Obama’s promises would cost the American taxpayer $300 billion per year and $1.4 trillion over five years. Allard released a floor statement highlighting the size of this spending package, including:

The $300 billion is more than the $294 billion the U.S. spent on imported oil last year. 
Obama’s current tax raise proposal would cover only $225 billion over 5 years … far short of the $1.4 trillion in spending. 
To finance just the first year of $300 billion in spending, Congress would have to raise taxes on the top 1% of tax payers by 57% 
When Obama was forced to the floor to vote against the amendment he gave a hard glare to the Republican side of the aisle and said, “Hey Allard, You working this hard?” Allard only wanted to raise the issue of run away taxing and spending, and joined Obama in voting against the measure which lost 97-0.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59255/59255#msg-59255</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:44:31 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Can't make anyone happy</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59134/59134#msg-59134</link>
      <author>conservative</author>
      <description><![CDATA[One of the creepy things about our &quot;need to have a conversation about 
      race&quot; is the assumption that whites can somehow make blacks feel better, 
      or be happier, or be more self-accepting. Nobody has the power to do that, 
      except what individuals do for themselves, one person at a time. 

      Most people don't come close to lasting happiness in their own lives. So 
      the popular Leftist charge of America's &quot;institutional racism&quot; comes down 
      to saying that &quot;The Great White Conspiracy is responsible for rescuing you 
      from your bad feelings.&quot; That is just cockeyed. 


      Far too many black people don't feel good about themselves, and are 
      constantly looking for answers from somebody else. That quest for the 
      impossible has been turned into an accusation against the invisible but 
      all-powerful white racist establishment.  Michelle and Barack Obama were 
      indoctrinated with those toxic beliefs at Princeton and Harvard, so that 
      they are now making more than a million bucks a year, living in a mansion 
      in Chicago while still feeling sorry for themselves. Give me a break. 
      (Michelle Obama's salary increased by almost 200,000 dollars in one year 
      at the University of Chicago. How many people get that kind of raise?) 


      No doubt the Obamas tell themselves that they are the lucky exceptions, 
      and that they are just identifying with poor blacks, who surely are out 
      there in the hundreds of thousands. But that's just the self-serving 
      generosity of  politicians handing out taxpayer money. The Obamas are 
      rich, highly educated, extremely successful professional  politicians. 
      They are the darlings of white liberals. Are they anything more than that? 



      For politicians, voter dissatisfaction is the fuel of personal careers. 
      You can't get anywhere by promising all the answers to people who don't 
      need you. So the first order of business is to find dissatisfied voters, 
      and if they're not there, stir up some dissatisfaction. That's why Obama 
      needed the Rev -- to get him in good with a proletariat, any proletariat, 
      in this case a black one. If Obama had stayed back in Hawaii or Indonesia, 
      he would suddenly have discovered his inner Hawaiian or his authentic 
      Balinese. Now he is &quot;authentically Black,&quot; and the Rev guarantees his 
      blackness. That's why Obama can't renounce the Rev. The Rev is his meal 
      ticket. 


      Now a preacher in America is very much like a politician. He or she has to 
      get the congregation stirred up, at least enough to pay for his upkeep. 
      The Rev Wright is a fantastically successful politician. The Trinity UCC 
      is a family business, and with DVD sales and televangelism it's making a 
      mint.  That's why the Rev has to be so provocative --- to keep his 
      congregation clapping and cheering. Obama learned his rhetorical cadences 
      from the Rev, and probably much else besides. It's been one pro teaching 
      another.  


      The very notion of &quot;whites&quot; versus &quot;blacks&quot; being like so many M&amp;M's in 
      different candy boxes is a purely political creation. Humans are 
      enormously variable. It makes about as much sense to divide people into 
      sports fans versus music lovers, or fatties vs. skinnies. If politicians 
      could get voting mileage from those divisions, the Left would be telling 
      us all about the oppressive conspiracy against the fat, or the persecuted 
      skinnies all over the world. &quot;Divide and conquer&quot; still works like a 
      charm. 


      If you think that's exaggerated, just look at the famous classroom 
      experiment in which blue-eyed kids are separated from brown-eyed kids, and 
      one of the two groups is told it's better than the other. It really makes 
      the &quot;bad&quot; group feel terrible about themselves. That's how easy it is to 
      stir divisions among people. Give human beings a flag and a baseball cap 
      with a flashy logo, tell them it's their team, and you can manipulate them 
      for life.  


      Politicians are expert manipulators, and manipulation works best when 
      people don't think they are being manipulated. That's Obama's biggest 
      talent -- to make the suckered masses feel good while playing on them like 
      an old banjo. So far there's no there there at all -- no substantive ideas 
      that make Mr. Obama any more interesting than the standard-issue 
      ultraliberal Democrat. Oh yes, there's the color of his skin. Big deal. 


      No, it all goes back to the usual race politics of the post-Civil Rights 
      era, which always needs to pick at that old scab of racism, remind blacks 
      of their old injustices, and convince them that white racism is still 
      keeping them down. It's a disgusting political trick, and many blacks are 
      catching on. If a genuinely self-determining black person ever runs for 
      president without the usual race games, I'll vote for him or her in a 
      minute. 


      Let a black man say it -- as so many already have, without media support 
      and coverage. Larry Elder's &quot;personal pledge&quot; is one great example.  This 
      is the real key to black liberation, just as it has been the key to all 
      the oppressed and persecuted people who rose from poverty and low 
      self-esteem in America. 


        1. There is no excuse for lack of effort.
        2. Although I may be unhappy with my circumstances, and although racism 
        and sexism and other &quot;isms&quot; exist, I know that things are better now 
        than ever, and the future is even brighter.
        3. While I may be unhappy with my circumstances, I have the power to 
        change and improve my life. I refuse to be a victim.
        4. Others may have been blessed with more money, better connections, a 
        better home environment, and even better looks, but I can succeed 
        through hard work, perseverance, and education.


      I'll vote for that.]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59134/59134#msg-59134</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:39:25 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Somebody has to do it!</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59113/59113#msg-59113</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[http://ohsnap.daytondailynews.com/media/481857]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/59113/59113#msg-59113</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:17:46 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Message exchange between General Combs and Captain Harrison</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58749/58749#msg-58749</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[EKM Buckeye Bureau 
West Carrollton, Ohio 
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 1:52 p.m. 

General Combs, 

That must be some pretty blue warm woolen uniform, and should be often worn, to make it pay for itself or be paid for by someone else. I cannot believe that I ordered my frock coat the same size as that of a light summer sports coat that was once worn by a younger thinner guy! Lesson learned the hard way: So good with his first Smith-Corona Word Processor, back in 1986, a Miamisburg Snooze guest columnist was typing away without saving, too hot to stop. So, he wiped out four pages, followed by some screaming, cussing and fussing. After which he was hopin' that his triple-paned plastic windows were closed instead of open. The Computer Zoo had to completely clean out my HP hard drive, to get rid of the clutter and worms and viruses and SpyShredder, that damned aggressive program. Today was Mama Day, save for the hair stylist whom was absent. We went to her pro time, followed by a big Broadway Cafe breakfast. Then, we went to the bigger better high-class Kmart off of Route 49/Salem Avenue to walk and get some exercise with those darker-skinned gals and guys, to browse and buy, seeing and finding stuff that we didn't even know that we needed. Rush is on my stereo. President Bush spoke to a friendly reliable true-believer Republican Pentagon-PAC-porker military-retiree audience out at the Air Force Museum. Mom isn't a Ditto Head, yet, or even a fan of the Bushman! Which encourages me to keep Rush, Cunningham, Scinto, and McConnell on the radio of my little HHR car for her to help her learn. Mama didn't even want to go out there and see him! Now, I was gonna write another story for East Kentucky Magazine, if your know what I mean, and this was not gonna be it, just a little finger and mind exercise while I typed a short simple really, without straining my brain or wasting even more of my writing time online. I ain't gonna get no thinner, if Mom and me don't quit goin' to these sit-down dinners, and these coffee bums aren't adding to my intelligence or to my income. Tomorrow, I plan on taking Luther with me to the annual Dayton Auto Show, at the Dayton Convention Center. Yes, the job never ends for me, the Buckeye Bureau Chief, because I will once again take in some of these East Kentucky Magazines with us, without making a fuss, while seeking some friendly females who'll willingly pose for EKM photos, like ya know. Ain't we all media 'hos? I should hook up my old Compaq laptop, here, and load updates into it, still being with Windows XP. Oh, I took three &quot;Squirrel Feeder&quot; digital images through one of my front #2 EKM media-room windows. Mom's pet squirrels are likewise entertaining her by stealing her bird food too. They are even smarter and sneakier than those DMAX rats whom I do not like; still laid off due to that Axle Plant strike, the workers resisting cuts in their wages and benefits, while their CEO got a $5 million bonus. Are the managers and stockholders brazenly crazy, stupid, or just don't care out there? Bad PR to make their case. Most of those minor stockholder folks don't get a real vote. Rush's Operation Chaos requires us to vote for Saint Hillary to keep it going and make it more interesting. Gee, which of these three moderate tolerant open-border liberals do we prefer? No voice and what a choice. Oh, well, what the hell, I might as well spell check this one, just for fun, before I start trying to type and even write a real story. Don't laugh, but I'm gonna save this as a &quot;draft&quot;, so don't think me daft. Speaking of cheap, I have yet to receive ONE generous donation after sending my professionally-written and presented sincere individual better form letters with donation forms! Okay, maybe I ought to lower my minimum donation amount to $50 instead of $100, since I might have to lower my sights. Much like an unknown media whore who cannot expect to receive more. I hope you get a kick out of these three attached digital images of my bird-seed-stealing squirrel. 

Respectfully Yours, 

Captain Leon Harrison 




&gt; Captain Harrison, 

&gt; Rummaging through my desk I discovered my Lap Top Upgrade disk, and felt that it was indeed time to up grade to Windows Vista Ultimate a $159 program that Bill and Linda Gates had generously provided with my new ACER Lap Top. Everything started great until the prompt instructed to type in the appropriate key which was on the disk package that I unfortunately no longer had in my possession. I tried to buy the program on line no success. Finally two days later by complete accident I discover the key attached to the bottom of my key. Of course the upgrade wiped out all of my old files that are supposed to be stored and saved under Old Windows which I have not yet found but exist somewhere in Cyber Space. I ordered a new General's Frock Coat from Fall City for a mere $652 hope to have it by Grove City. The epaulets cost $192 the hobby of Re-enactment isn't cheap. 
&gt; 
&gt; the General]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58749/58749#msg-58749</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:03:16 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>The Miami Valley Economic Development Council is launched...</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58526/58526#msg-58526</link>
      <author>Stephen Lahanas</author>
      <description><![CDATA[The Miami Valley Economic Development Council - MVEDC, is now beginning a collaborative mission for regional revitalization. We can all make a difference - it's time to get involved and help to redefine our future and chart a new destiny for the Miami Valley:

The MVEDC Wiki - http://mvedc.wik.is/]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58526/58526#msg-58526</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:35:02 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>&quot;Easter Sunday at Schrock's&quot;</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58158/58158#msg-58158</link>
      <author>Old Cold Warrior</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Leon Harrison
West Carrollton, Ohio 
Sunday, March 23, 2008

To: The Editor, East Kentucky Magazine

Subject: Easter Sunday WWII/Frigidaire reunion at Schrock’s


			 “Easter Sunday at Schrock’s”


EKM Buckeye Bureau
West Carrollton, Ohio
Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008

	It is Easter Sunday night. I’m typing this at 8:38 p.m., just before quitting, having wasted a few hours by typing online, after loading some digital [Mom and Feltner] images and preparing a (Dayton Daily News) newspaper clipping for enhancing, enlarging and copying. Tomorrow morning, I shall once again have to make fifty, uh… hundreds, oh…thousands of copies of this better letter for my many fans, family members and friends. Of course and as usual, they expect to receive their autographed copies from me for FREE. Yes, Paul D., our public expects so much from and of us, without us fussin’ or cussin’.
	Yes, a better editor at the Dayton Daily News finally and wisely decided to print my “Not enough willing to pay for Antioch” letter in today’s Easter Sunday issue. I have always stated that the Dayton Daily News is the best newspaper in the nation, the editors and staff being far superior to the local yokels at these other little hag and fag rags that make me gag while they brag, they not being good or smart enough to print my stuff. 
	I almost dread the appreciative attention of the people who will be anticipating and awaiting me at the Moron City Awful House, Holly’s Home Cooking, and at Von Baron’s Styling Salon, tomorrow and during the forthcoming weeks, about which I shall not @#$%&amp; nor even speak. Among the typical pains of my fleeting fame: Fireman Fred and his coffee-counter cohorts and consultants asking and expecting me to autograph their copies and pose for and with them for photos. No doubt, some of them even expect to see pictures of themselves printed and captioned within the pages of East Kentucky Magazine. Oh, well, this comes with the glory and the territory, the Buckeye Bureau, like ya know. 	Alright, General Combs, I shall hereby and forthwith consent and commit myself to costarring with you in a couple of your Ford [TV] commercials, on condition that I get to interview and choose a few Scarlett starlet harlots and rehears with them first.
	Okay, take a break, I’ll continue typing this, after getting my pictures and letter copies, tomorrow. 

Monday, March 24, 2008

	At 4:35 p.m. Sean Hannity chatters on my stereo, during his talk-radio show, babbling about the benefits of free trade to people in the Midwest [Ohio] who know better.
Last night, in Bagdad, Iraq, four more GIs died in a roadside bombing, thereby making the AP media milestone of 4,000 KIA, including eight Defense Department civilians. At 6:40 p.m., those old flower-child media people at CBS TV News do an expected typical ‘Nam-nostalgic “faces of the fallen” type sad story with KIA soldier photos, survivor interviews, and stock flag-draped-coffin video clips. 

Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008

	This Easter Sunday was the earliest one, if not the coolest one, since the great Dayton flood of 1913, 95 years before. I doubt that I will be alive in 2285, when the next early Easter comes. What was that Easter Sunday like, you 23rd century EKM readers? Do you still celebrate it or hate it…in English? 
	Yesterday morning, I left West Carrollton to drive and arrive at the Queen Mam, uh…I mean my dear mother’s Clayton castle; whereat I loaded her into my new Chevrolet HHR car for our weekly Sunday excursion. From Clayton, I took her for a ride to and through Trotwood and the countryside, traveling south on Union Road to Miamisburg. We chose to eat our Easter [noonish] meal at Schrock’s Family Restaurant, located off old Route 25 at the south end of town on the way to Franklin.
	Fifty or so years ago, this old restaurant was called Vera’s Truck Stop, no doubt a busy place during the heyday of the Dixie Highway, before Interstate 75 bypassed it back around 1964. Alas, like many of those old towns, motels and restaurants, Vera’s had finally been bypassed at last. Throughout the years and four decades that followed, the restaurant owners and names have changed quite a few times.
	Now, I wish that I could remember looking at it [and at Woody’s], through backseat windows of passing Chevrolets, my parents driving by on the way south to Cincinnati, two younger [subhuman] sisters pestering me in those backseats that we had to share. There was no air-conditioning and those wings and windows were open to let the wind inside to cool us down while we rode through all of those old small towns. To save money and time, Mom probably packed our meals, so that we could leave early in the morning and start those long eight-hour drives to Rowdy and Berea, Kentucky; where we would arrive before dark if we were lucky. Dad would stop long enough for us to take a break, use the restrooms, and even get some snacks and NEHI soda pops. Oh how I wish that we would have taken some pictures, more than that one [black &amp; white] roll per year that we saved for special occasions, like birthday parties.
	Today, at a local store, I processed and printed some digital images in less than one hour, picking them up with some that I had loaded and left, yesterday evening. Remember when we had to wait for at least one week, for the local drug store to process them for us? 
	Schrock’s and those preceding restaurants have always been folksy places, catering to mostly local folks. Within it are two adjacent dining rooms and coffee counters. The Duke’s Motto: “No counter, no class.” Since Mom and I are couth, we always sit in a booth with a window view, so that we can sit and watch the cars passing by outside on Old Route 25. Mom and I ordered and ate and even talked a little bit. We went to the restrooms and were ready to leave soon, after paying the bill and leaving a generous tip for the waitress. I saw Irvin Hassle Feltner, 85, sitting alone at a table in the adjoining dining room. He was wearing one of his “WWII Veteran” baseball caps, the bill straight, the old-fashioned way, right over his eyes
	I guess that I first met Irvin about 27 or so years ago, in 1981, about a year after he had retired from Harrison Radiator [in Moron City], one of the former Frigidaire factories that had had a name change. He was one of those WWII-veteran coffee bums who sat at Coffee Counter #1, at Woody’s over-the-road restaurant. These old far, uh…men had seniority but age did not automatically give them wisdom. Their seats were reserved until they started dying out and disappearing. Coffee Counter #2 was for us young’uns (in our thirties and forties) who had never had it as rough or as tough as they had. Now, few of these old men are alive or survive. We had some fun with them.   
	I called my mama over and got her to sit across from Irvin, after making a quick introduction and retrieving her purse from our unused booth. I also went outside to my HHR car and got an autographed East Kentucky Magazine for him.
I chatted with them a little bit but then got up to take a few pictures of them with this magazine. Like most of those old Great Depression/WWII-veteran/Frigidaire-retiree down-home folks, they have a lot in common. 
	Irvin came from McKee, as had my dear dead Berea dad, and Hazard. Mom had come from Rowdy. Irvin was 85 and had retired in 1980. Mom was 89 and had retired in 1977. All three of them had been in the Army during the big war, and had come to Ohio between 1946 and 1948. They shared common typical old post-war stories and had done much the same stuff, working and raising families, while still making and taking those ever more infrequent vacation trips back down home, fewer and fewer as the years went by and started to add up. Irvin still drives but his wife is poorly with heart trouble, staying home and not roaming much any more.
	Irvin told us that he had recently taken one of those free Honor Flight tours to Washington, D.C.; whereat he had joined similar elderly WWII veterans at the World War Two Memorial. I did not donate to the building of this memorial because I opposed the location: it clutters and interrupts the long mall and reflecting pool that were designed to remain open and uncluttered. In 1992, I walked along the mall before the WWII Memorial was built. Those old Marines also go to the Iwo Jima Memorial that I have also seen. I heard quite a few war stories at Woody’s coffee counters and inside those old Frigidaire factories, including those of Korean and Vietnam veterans.
	Mom and Irvin told those old jokes and talked about down home and Frigidaire folks: 
	“Do you remember those Pontiac GTOs? ‘GTO’ meant Goin’ To Ohiah.” Yuk, yuk, yuk.
	“Irvin, did you drive in the Frigidaire 500, too?”
	“Yep, every Friday after work, we’d load up a car and drive back to Hazard. We’d come back just in time to go to work on Monday mornin’.”
	“We did it for a few years but finally quit it and just went back in the summertime.”
	“It used to take us eight hours to get to Hazard.”
	“We used to do it in seven.”
	“Well, we used to do it in six.”
    	“I used to drive it in five!”  
	
	Like the late great Gilbert Napier and Roy Allen, some of these more mature people must have been almost breaking the sound barrier, while driving down home upon those narrow, winding steep two-lane blacktopped roads. They must have had that hot tar flying and popping because they couldn’t have been stopping. It seems that, since then, they and their friends drove faster and faster every year, way back when. We sat and laughed and chatted, even though I was the young one if not the dumb one. Mom, Irvin and I had had nice drives and a nice time, this Easter Sunday being a fun day. 
	  Today, I returned to Miamisburg to take some exterior pictures of Schrock’s, from outside and across the road, before getting them processed and printed with the rest. I’ve got to go back and see my old friend, Irvin, again. I could and should take Mom with me. 

    
EKMBBC Leon Harrison, G.C.M.
EKM Buckeye Bureau Chief

EKM Buckeye Bureau
West Carrollton, Ohio]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58158/58158#msg-58158</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:41:27 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A New Vision for Miami Valley Economic Development</title>
      <link>http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58005/58005#msg-58005</link>
      <author>Stephen Lahanas</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Hello,

Does anyone else feel as though our local leaders have let us down over the past two decades in regards to planning and executing strategies that would re-invigorate our local economy?

While other cities / regions across the nation have gone through significant transformations that have led to economic renewal and cultural revitalization, our region continues to sink faster than just about any other location in the country (in terms of jobs lost, population lost and perhaps most importantly in opportunities lost).

It's time that we supplied the vision they've lacked for so long. We need a grass-roots approach to economic renewal, one based upon our heritage rather than our geographic location. The Miami Valley Economic Development Council is chartered to do just that:

http://miami-valley-usa.blogspot.com/

It's time to get involved and make a difference - The future is in our hands...]]></description>
      <category>Miami Valley Issues</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://discussions.oxfordpress.com/read/5/58005/58005#msg-58005</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:23:37 -0400</pubDate>
    </item>
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