Chat Spot

[Steve Plonk]

Still Trucking, David Halberstam's THE COLDEST WINTER sounds like an interesting book--I checked the reviews--you picked a great read...I'm
going to have to read that one myself. I've read a couple of books
about the Korean Conflict, which were recommended by my Dad--a few
years back...I wish MacArthur had taken my Dad's advice..."Ridgeway was
a better general, for that situation..."Dad exclaimed, referring to the "Grand
Retreat".

My Dad's cunning saved the 17th Infantry Regiment of the Eighth Army, by recommending that they must hug the coastline during the retreat. Those troops, on the other side of the ridge, were cut to pieces by the Chinese. He won a medal for logistics during that conflict. Dad also helped plan the Inchon Landing and did not recommend going all the way to the Yalu River. My Dad turned out to be correct. If they had taken in reinforcements and dug in, farther from the river & the reservoir, they would not have taken such a hard hit from the Chinese troops. Hey, but that's history...Generals make mistakes...
I wish they'd listen more to the folks down on the lines sometimes...

[still.trucking]

Do you remember much about the election in 1952? I was around twelve that year, it was the first election that I was aware of. I remember Ike said that if he was elected he would go to Korea and ...I can't remember what he said he would do I think he said he would end the war. But I am not sure. Sometimes Barak Obama reminds me of Adlai Stevenson.

[Steve Plonk]

All I remember about the election of 1952 is that Eisenhower crusaded "against Communism, Korea and corruption..." , & that he was
elected by a landslide... We were living in California at that time...

My cousins put me up to wearing an "I Like Ike" button. My Dad was in Korea...
My Dad voted absentee ballot for Eisenhower and my Mom voted for Stevenson.
Mom said that "we cancelled each other out"... My Mom was aggravated that
I went around wearing the "I Like Ike" button chanting "I like my trike & I like Ike!". Mom finally put a stop to that & put that campaign button up on a high shelf in the closet. I was just a tot and couldn't climb up that high even with
a step stool...Ha Ha!

Mom saved the campaign button for a "conversation piece" for when Dad got home. I remember more about the election of 1956, but not much more.
Dad actually voted for Stevenson, in 1956 --as a protest vote-- along with Mom & both by absentee ballot...We were living in Germany by that time. I remember the newsreels...

I remember one thing that Stevenson said:

All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. All change is the result of a change in the contemporary state of mind. Don't be afraid of being out of tune with your environment, and above all pray God that you are not afraid to live, to live hard and fast. To my way of thinking it is not the years in your life but the life in your years that count in the long run. You'll have more fun, you'll do more and you'll get more, you'll give more satisfaction the more you know, the more you have worked, and the more you have lived. For yours is a great adventure at a stirring time in the annals of men.
Address at Princeton University, "The Educated Citizen" (22 March 1954)]

[stilltrucking]

For some reason I keep hearing John Prine's Hello In There, "we lost Davy in the Korean war...still don't know what for"

We were down with Adlai both times. He was a valuable man. Do you remember the famous picture of the sole of his shoe with the hole in it?

I found this website while googling for it

Obama's Shoes: A Historical Comparison
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/2 ... 36924.html

[Steve Plonk]

Just goes to show that one thing is constant in sixty years or so: shoe leather
wears out just the same...Reminds me that I need a pair re-soled.

Have a happy holiday season!

[still.trucking]

Happy Holidays
I hope you have a good winter.

[Steve Plonk]

We turn the page in the book of years...Onward, my friends! Thanks for posting & may your winter be merry & bright also.

[Arcadia]

mmm... are you sure there are no-photoshop on Obama´s shoes or Obama´s body or maybe they are too confortable or ...
I bought a month ago a pair of Le coq sportif sneakers in an outlet in front of my dept (200 pesos, the cheapest ones in the colors I liked) yeah, it was time to replace the old Reebok for my walks...

[Steve Plonk]

Arcadia, my most recent purchase of new sneakers included a pair of
"New Balance" shoes & a pair of "Converse All-stars". The other shoes
I mentioned, couldn't be re-soled again, and had to be disgarded.
So, I now have "happy feet"...

[Arcadia]

yeah, I´m happy too with my white-black-silver ones!

[Steve Plonk]

"In Chat-Spot: Penny Haiku"
By Steve Plonk

In the Chat Spot,
We chat-a-lot,
Some is just chatter,
Some is just rot,
But we get to
The things which matter,
In the Chat Spot...
***
In the Chat Spot,
We shoot the breeze
With ease,
Talk small talk,
With profound meanings,
Break the ice across the world,
Just as the United Nations
Flag's unfurled...
We chat with friends,
Keep ourselves amused...
Even talk about comfortable shoes...

[Steve Plonk]

Let's leap, leap, leap with our love into Leap Day, February 29, 2012.
Let the dove from above help our love to fruition,
Let's keep praying but forget the ammunition...
Have peace with our own collective volition...
Keep those cards & graffiti flowing into the net...
Seems we've hardly started yet...
***
Our words have hardly begun,
Yet it is time to get out and get some sun...
Basking in the glow of wonder,
Shaking hands & forgetting war's thunder...

[Steve Plonk]

Hope all is well with our friends
In Oahu & Kauai, Hawaii, & in
Kentucky, Indiana, & Tennessee...
Bless those folks & we wish you well--

Not all have had fine weather
This past week... let's all recover...
Shine down on us beautifully
Late Winter moon....
This twelfth of March...

[Steve Plonk]

"Carpe momentum et cetera sequientur."
Seize the moment & the rest will follow.

[Steve Plonk]

Seems to be a frozen moment,
Conversation is frozen like hailstones...
We'll send out a "howdy"
Perhaps the echo in the net
Will send more conversations liquidity...
"Hello in there..." Happy Easter!