Best E-mails of the Week 11/21/04.   

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Sue and Manfred,

Really looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving
Any particular things you'd like to do, that I could start planning now?
Pete

 

Hi Pete, 
 Looking forward to seeing all of you again!  Manfred and I really do not have any specific ideas of what we want to do while there.  Not quite sure what our options are, but I'm sure we can 'wing it' and figure something out.  Lots of family time and seeing your historic town. ...
 

Pete, Here's a pic of Gretchen at four months! 

She found out last week that she is having one boy and one girl!!! 

Isn't that a perfect combination.

 
Happy as a clam...Nana Sue & Papa Manfred

 

Manfred,

Won't it be fun for you as grandpa to spoil twins!

When you visit us, we can go fishing in my competition's subdivision.

If we catch anything, I'm ready to measure it!

 

 

Ray,

Thanks for the articles on Old Wichita, the elevator, Bonnie and Clyde, Custer, Ike, the weather, etc.
I really enjoyed reading it all.
Any pheasants yet?
I got one already, but hitting it with my Ford doesn't count, does it?
Pete

 

Dear  Pete. . . .

 
Your Ford and Pheasants..  That vehicle should pick on someone it's own size, Ha...   
 
Opening day for Pheasants was last Saturday, 11-13-04.  Rich couldn't go as he and Sheryl drove Kelly to Cincinatti, Ohio.  Oh, he missed a hunt as it's the best year in a decade..   Dale and I went alone with "All Pro Sniffer & Hunter", her royal highness, Queen Annie.  At age Nine (9), she did a splended job indeed.  Dale and I had 3 Cocks in the sack in the first hour and a half and another two (2) just 2 hours later.  We only hunted a half day as Dale had evening plans and we had so much action early anyway.   Gosh, we've got two and a half months left--we're talking "birds" everywhere.  Kansas will probably harvest  1 to 1.2  Million Pheasants and close to 3 Million Quail this year.  Can you imagine how many shots have to be fired if there is only a 30 % target hit.   Especially if Ray and Rich are doing the shooting, Ha..  There's the fun...
 
You probably heard that Rox & I purchased another purebred hunting dog to eventually replace Annie.  Her name is Minnie [for MN], and she was born Aug 29, 2004.  Purebred "English Pointer" and she is a dandy.  Ask Rich,  Minnie was on point with her right paw up and tail swung high at 8 months of "youth", Ha.  Her Mom and Dad are excellent hunters.
 
ANYWHO, all is well here.   Rox and I will meet her parents in their Bullhead City, AZ, "Snow Bird" refuge near Las Vegas for a week.  They and we look forward to it.   All for now; keep us advised on your lives...
 
Love,  Ray, Rox & Dale and Annie/Minnie  

 

 

From Reader's Digest comes the story of the farmer,

(a distant family member?)

 who lived right on the border between Minnesota and Iowa.

A surveyor came by one day and measured out his property, and said

"OK. This shows that your house is physically located within the state of Iowa."

"Oh good" said the farmer.

"Why?" asked the surveyor.

"Because now I don't have to put up with those Minnesota winters"!

 

 

The other RD joke I liked was about the conversation between the motorist and the traffic cop,

while a ticket was being issued..

The motorist argued that he slowed down at the stop sign, and it was the same as stopping.
The cop replied: "If I began hitting you over the head with my flashlight, would you want me to slow down, or stop?"
 

 

 

 

Is this all true?

From Cindy Adams in The Post

FROM a blue-state New Yorker who still feels blue: "We should've let the South go when they wanted to secede from the Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves? Those are the states we wanted to keep? Now we're the arrogant Northeast liberal elite and they're the real America?

"We founded this country. Who do they think those wig-wearing, lacy-shirt revolutionaries were who gave them the Second Amendment allowing them the right to keep their assault weapons in the glove compartment? Blue-staters from Boston, Philly, New York. That's why all the monuments are up here! We won't let them visit the Liberty Bell and Plymouth Rock anymore until they start respecting those other nine amendments. Those stripes on the flag? Nine are for blue states. It'd be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier.

"Northeasterners are arrogant? That's the cornerstone of what it means to be American. And we wouldn't be so arrogant if it wasn't our money paying for you! Those federal taxes you love to hate? Comes from us and goes to you for your bridges, your hurricanes, your Tennessee Valley stuff. Nine of the 10 states that get the most federal money and pay the least? Red states. Eight of the 10 that receive the least and pay the most? Blue.

Which state has the lowest divorce rate? Massachusetts. Center of the gay marriage universe. And where's the highest? Ten of the top 10 are red states. But you-all go to church, right? At least that's what we hear about every election day. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? You-all."

Who saw the analysis of IQ's"?

Bush is five points higher than Kerry from their records during their military days.

Democrats do not want to believe this.

 

Review of National Treasure

 

This movie is the number one box office hit right now, and will be a favorite for all history lovers.  There are many fascinating topics that relate to Aaron Burr.

Nicholas Cage plays Ben Gates, who is on the side of the Burrites. He is spurned by the Respected Historical Community for his theories that do not conform to theirs. -just as the Aaron Burr Association is spurned now by the New York Historical Society, despite our letters of protest to them over the Hamilton exhibit that they ignore.

The main computer access password that Cage figures out is Valley Forge, where the ABA will hold its 2005 annual meeting. It was here that Colonel Burr foiled a mutiny after he instilled discipline in the forward guard troops.

Trinity Church and its cemetery also play a large role.  Trinity Church was one of the landmarks described in our ferry tour last summer. Aaron's wife, Theodosia Prevost Burr is believed buried there (as is Hamilton) and there are replica dueling pistols on display inside the church where the action takes place (though not seen nor referenced.)

Diane Kruger plays Dr. Abigail Chase. She is chief executive of the national archives department (Judge Chase was saved from Jefferson's impeachment attempt by Senate leader, Vice President Aaron Burr) Abigail was of course the first name of first lady Abigail Adams, who was respected for her intellect. Although Kruger is attractive, she is portrayed as Burr would interact with her for her abilities. There are no embarrassing or sexist scenes of her.

She collects George Washington campaign buttons and displays them, (as ABA members collect Burr memorabilia on eBay). Ben Gates fills her collection with a missing button.  It is well established that Aaron Burr was the first politician to build a campaign organization in New York that propelled him from almost obscurity to a tie for the Presidency of 1800 with Jefferson.

The movie has a formal cocktail party where historian Nicholas Cage must mingle with the elite of the History Society in a tuxedo to obtain a fingerprint from a glass of champagne. It was in social occasion like this where Burr excelled, especially in New Orleans. 

Knowledge of History Trivia is a recurring theme in this film.  The #55 is assumed by all participants to mean the number of signers of the Declaration of Independence. (20 year old Burr was not a signer because he was rescuing General Montgomery's body at the Battle of Quebec in early '76.)

As an example of how important history trivia is, I gave a talk about the Duel to the Columbia University Club of Fairfield County twelve days ago. They were unhappy to learn that Hamilton applied to Burr's alma mater Princeton, where he was rejected, so he attended Columbia (King's College) (my alma mater) instead.  During my talk I was interrupted by a question: "Who defeated Burr for the governorship of New York in 1804?" This was something a true historian was expected to know.

The movie takes us through many historical buildings.  Nicholas Cage gets choked up when he realizes that the Declaration of Independence is back in Independence Hall for the first time since it was signed. This is how three of us ABA members felt this September, when our guide told us we were in the room where Aaron and Theodosia were married.

Letters written to newspapers by Benjamin Franklin under pseudonym play an important role in the movie.  25 years later, Hamilton attacked his political opponents this way.

The Charlotte shipwreck is found in the arctic.  The Patriot shipwreck that took Aaron's daughter Theodosia on her way from South Carolina to visit her father in New York in January 1813 has not been found.

A mechanical contraption is used by Cage as movable spectacles Benjamin Franklin invented to see ink color. Burr used but did not invent a fountain pen in France in 1811.

 

The main focus of the movie is the conflict between Cage and his father Patrick Henry Gates played by Jon Voight.  How many ABA members have close relatives who say what Voight said: You are ruining your life pursuing this history conspiracy theory.  Spend your time on something else to earn more money, etc.  But actor Cage stands firm as we do until he prevails.  He discusses the difference between being obsessed and being passionate. And the movie defends our cause. (Though my family has been remarkably supportative)

 

So I highly recommend this film despite Rex Reed's snobbish review. You will enjoy it immensely. Especially if you knew like I did about Governor Morgan Lewis.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pete    

 

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