Atlantic article, failure to speak to supporters raises issues about Cochran's fitness to serve

    The Atlantic had an interesting article that was released on Election Day about Thad Cochran, entitled The Last of the Naive Republicans. I would urge every Mississippian to read it.
    The article describes the 76-year-old Cochran as being hustled around by his handlers like a prop, unable to answer many questions posed to him. I would urge anyone concerned about Cochran's ability to continue to represent Mississippi in Washington to read it.
    A couple of paragraphs from the article:

On his way to the exit, Cochran held out his hand to me. I had met and interviewed him less than half an hour before. "Hello, how are you doing?" he said with a kindly smile. "I'm Thad Cochran."

    And later in the article:

Onstage at the rally, Cochran read from paper notes. It was a stock speech of generic Republican lines, a marked contrast from Cochran's rambling performance earlier in Meridian. Cochran read slowly and deliberately, looking up from the podium every so often. The other politicians surrounding him onstage appeared nervous about whether he'd make it through the text, but he did not stumble. "President Obama has taken us down some wrong paths, but starting tomorrow, we can get America back on the right path," Cochran said. "That starts with repealing Obamacare!" Belatedly, he thrust a finger forward, then waited as the crowd applauded forcefully.

    Now, this is just one reporter's opinion, but the tenor of the article is not that of someone with an ax to grind against Cochran. When a candidate's handlers appear nervous over a veteran politician's ability to read a simple speech, it is cause for concern.
    Cochran failed to address his supporters after election returns showed him being slightly edged out for his opponent, 49.5 to 48.9 percent. A relatively unknown name on the ballot took in enough votes to likely force a runoff. Win, lose, or draw, why in the world was Cochran unable or unwilling to address his supporters?
    I had planned to vote for Cochran until the last few days of the campaign. Even if he has irritated me from time to time, for the most part he has served Mississippi well. But rarely has he spoken out firmly in support of Mississippi's conservative values, which is part of what I want from a senator.
    But whether Cochran is physically and mentally capable of continuing in the job is a fair question that has to be asked if we are to vote again in three weeks' time on which man will represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. It's not a pleasant subject, but it's an important one.

Honeycrisp apples are the best fruit known to man, but I'm not paying $3.99 a pound

    I don't eat a lot of fruit since it's so healthy for you, but I do love Honeycrisp apples.
    I had never even tasted one of these until a couple of years ago. Up until that time I would only eat Fuji applies.
    The story about Honeycrisp apples is halfway interesting, and you can read about it on Wikipedia. The cellular structure of this apple is actually bigger than in most apples, which results in a juicier fruit when you bite into it. And they're sweet, too.
    I'm a bargain shopper when I go grocery shopping. I buy what's on sale and get my meat off the about-to-rot rack. But I'm willing to pay extra for Honeycrisp apples, as would most people who have tasted them.
    Everybody has limits, though. I strolled past the apples in Kroger a couple of days ago and saw my beloved Honeycrisp apples offered at $3.99 a pound. No! Just no.
    I wasn't willing to settle for cheaper, mushy, foul-tasting apples, so I bought a bag of Fritos instead. They were pretty good.

I like and admire Thad Cochran, but my primary vote is going to be for conservative Chris McDaniel

    Three weeks ago I had pretty much made up my mind to vote to re-elect Thad Cochran in the Tuesday, June 3, Republican primary for U.S. Senate. I've now decided to vote for Chris McDaniel.
    I like and admire Thad Cochran; he has served our state well. But I've often been irritated on those thankfully rare occasions when he voted to support liberal causes. And as McDaniel has pointed out, I can't recall a single instance where Cochran has led the charge for conservative ideas or values.
    I was horrified when I heard the news that a McDaniel supporter had gained entrance to Rose Cochran's nursing home and had taken her photograph without permission. Yet Cochran's response has irritated me as well.
    The McDaniel campaign had apparently been aware for some weeks that some nut had taken things too far. The Cochran campaign criticized McDaniel for not calling the police. The only problem with this is that for several weeks Cochran was aware of the breach as well and he didn't bother calling the police, either. "Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle."
    Ultimately, my decision is based on my belief that McDaniel will be more likely to stand firm with Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, and other Senate leaders in finding new solutions to problems where our current efforts have failed. I simply have never heard of Cochran supporting out-of-the-box solutions to problems that simply are not going away.
    In the end, I'm happy with a victory by either candidate. Thad's a good man and has been an outstanding senator. If he prevails on Tuesday my only interest will be in helping him to be re-elected in the general election in November. Should Thad lose, his loss will bring me no joy.
    But as a voter I'm going to vote for the candidate whom I feel is most closely aligned with my views and those of a majority of Mississippians. I think that candidate is Chris McDaniel.
   
 

The horrors of war forged bonds that even jailhouse bars could not weaken

    Memorial Day has passed, and I suppose I'm a day late and a dollar short in sharing this story.
    My uncle, Danny Hurdle, served in the Pacific for most of World War II. He used to love to tell us about stealing a sack of apples and a large bag of sugar in order to make "Apple Jack." The sugar and apples were poured into some type of barrel in the woods and allowed to ferment. When Uncle Danny went out after a few days to sample his concoction, he discovered after taking a swig that he had stolen not a large bag of sugar, but of salt.
    But service in World War II was about a lot more than funny stories of failed attempts to make Apple Jack with salt. My dad said that if Uncle Danny had a few drinks he might mention his war service, and that often he would weep over the horrors that he and his friends endured.
    And these friendships did not end. I remember one war buddy from Pittsburgh visited Uncle Danny while I was a teen. He and his wife were kind of loud and Yankees with two capital Y's, if you could spell it that way. But Uncle Danny clearly loved his old friend.
    For whatever reason, Uncle Danny was assigned to a unit that was made up almost entirely of soldiers from Hillsboro, Ohio. In the late 1960s dad was going full-blast in the Ohio real estate market, and Uncle Danny was partners on a couple of deals around Hillsboro, Ohio.
    The man who was closest to Uncle Danny during the war was from Hillsboro, so naturally the first thing he did when he arrived in the county was to attempt to locate his old friend. And he did -- at the county jail. His friend was the town drunk, and spent most of his time in jail.
    And so, on each trip to Ohio, Uncle Danny spent a good bit of time at the county jail, visiting with his old friend. Uncle Danny wasn't worried about what people might say if they knew his good friend was in jail. And his friend was glad for the company.
    Wars are about great battles won or lost; we often hear tales of great bravery. But the real story of war is that of my Uncle Danny and his jailhouse friend, and tens of thousands of others just like it.

Everything that's wrong with America in one headline

R.I. middle school cancels honors event due to ‘exclusive nature’

Reports the Washington Times.

Robert Khayat sings 'Long Black Veil'

Robert Khayat

    This is old news, but hey, if you haven't read it, it's still news.
    Almost three years ago Ole Miss held a reunion of Mississippian staffers to celebrate the newspaper's 100th anniversary. The journalism department videotaped the many events, posted them on Youtube, where they were promptly forgotten.
    Former Chancellor Robert Khayat did a little singing for us, and I have to say he wasn't bad at all. Plus, I liked his choice of music. He sang "Long Black Veil," which I've taken the liberty of presenting it today for your viewing pleasure.
    In introducing the song, Khayat referenced "The Eternal Triangle" of two men and one woman that seems to be at the heart of much if not most music and literature. Occasionally one can find two women and one man. Think about the popular "Twilight" series, "The Hunger Games," or any Louis L'Amour western.
    According to Wikipedia, "Long Black Veil" was written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell.
    Wikipedia also reports that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals referred to the song in the case United States v. Dayton, 604 F.2d 931, 935 n.3 (5th Cir. 1979). This case concerned the proper procedures trial court judges must take when accepting a guilty plea, and identified "the two most dangerous" pitfalls of a guilty plea as coerced pleas and ignorant pleas. In describing a modification made to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs acceptance of pleas, the court explained that the changed required that "the defendant be made aware of what might happen as a result of his plea, and that the court be satisfied that a factual basis existed for it." It dropped a footnote at this point which stated, "This change was doubtless effected to avoid such circumstances as are recounted in 'The Long Black Veil.'"
    As good as Khayat's version of the song was, my favorite cover is the one done by Jason and the Scorchers. I still remember their concert in Fulton Chapel back around 1985-86 when they opened for The Fabulous Thunderbirds. As far as I'm concerned Jason should have had top billing.

Oxford School District orchestra holds end-of-year concert May 14

    The Oxford School District held its end-of-year orchestra concert May 14 at Nutt Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus. I thought they gave a fine performance.
    For the past several years I tried to record some of my daughter's orchestra concerts. Obviously there are a lot more children involved than just my daughter.
    I didn't take my video camera to the Christmas 2013 concert, which featured some choral music as well as orchestra tunes. I was simply blown away by five kids performing "Mary Did You Know" in a street-singing style. I called my friend Ed Meek and asked him to have someone from HottyToddy.com film these kids, and he did; and so I was able to include it on my blog.
    In past years I've recorded snippets of songs. Last year I made a separate video for each song. One of the things that I find interesting is the obvious improvement that takes place as these children get older.
    This year I decided to just record the entire performance of each group in full, without any editing. I did miss the first song performed by the high school, Furiant, by Elliot Del Borgo, as they started player before I got the "record" button pressed. I zoomed in once on each group to try to get video of each performer; however, many were in the back and out of the view of my camera. Oh well!
    Most people won't want to watch all of these videos in their entirety. But here it is for those who might have friends or family members in the orchestra. For the general public, I strongly urge you to listen to a few snippets, anyway. Oxford is lucky to have a quality orchestra program in its schools.
    The Oxford School District Orchestra is under the instruction of Tyler Kuntz. Kuntz said the high school orchestra had to cancel its plans earlier this year to participate in a rating competition earlier this year due to inclement weather, but that the middle school participated and received outstanding marks, with almost no negative comments.
    Kuntz said he would announce in the fall the fact that he had registered the orchestra to participate in a four-day competition in St. Louis next year. The trip will include a visit to Six Flags, of course. Readers of this blog won't have to wait for the announcement.
    And now for the videos: