Author Archives: Mike Shortall

Chapter 3 – Everyone’s lawn looks great in April

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One early Spring evening while attending a soiree at my friend Bob’s house, he took me on a tour of his spread and pronounced how great his lawn looked.  I couldn’t help but level my candid Unofficial Lawn Guru assessment.

“Bob, everyone’s lawn looks great in April.”    

He was not pleased.  But the fact is, you could grow grass on your uncle’s bald head in April.  Between the wealth of wet Spring weather and the normal spurt of growth all plants enjoy as Spring breaks upon the land, it ain’t hard to grow anything in April.  The trick to developing and maintaining a full, healthy lawn is how it looks in July and August.  And how it looks in July and August has a lot to do with what you do with your lawn in April and May.  Admiring God’s Spring handiwork only gets you so far!

Of course the converse of my ULG assessment is also certainly true … that everyone’s lawn looks significantly worse in July and August (at least in this region of the country).  And yes, this includes Cranky Man’s home turf!  The real test of lawn health then is how well your grass rebounds in the following cooler months of September and October, as well as how it looks the following April when we start the cycle all over again.

And what you do in April and May is clean-up, fertilize, mow and aerate.  We have covered clean-up and aerating.  Today I’ll tell you what little I know about fertilizing.

DISCLAIMER:  These casual lawn tips are the product of trial-and-error experiences in the Philadelphia region of the Mid-Atlantic; and in no way reflect any formal training or pretentious claims to know what-the-hell I’m talking about .  Results may vary – and vary wildly – given your region, conditions, and level of common sense.  The lawyers made me do this.  Reader beware!

Fertilizing:  Generally I fertilize five times a year, running from crabgrass (early Spring), weed ‘n feed (late Spring), insect (mid-Summer), weed n’ feed II (early Fall), and winterizing (late Fall) treatments.  I rely on two types of Spring lawn fertilizing, crabgrass pre-emergent and weed n’ feeds.    

I concern myself only with a crabgrass pre-emergent (apparently there are several kinds).  The most important aspect to consider is timing when using a crabgrass pre-emergent.  If applied too late, it will not prevent crabgrass seed from germinating.  If applied too early, it will wash away or be absorbed too deeply in the soil to be effective.  Since crabgrass seeds germinate in the Spring when ground temperatures reach 55-60 degrees and stay there for several days, I recommend waiting until temperatures warm a bit to apply a crabgrass pre-emergent.  Since crabgrass treatments last for about three months, this should cover your lawn for most of the prime crabgrass season.

On the other hand, regular weed ‘n feeds can be applied as soon as the first weeds pop up.  Hopefully, these are popping up on your neighbor’s lawn, not yours.  But either way, a properly applied weed ‘n feed will not only kill whatever weeds you get, it will also give your lawn a nice growth jolt.

If you don’t have a “weed problem”, then you can apply a weed ‘n feed at any time.  However, if you have active weeds on your lawn, it is best to apply a weed ‘n feed after a rain heavy enough to thoroughly wet the grass, or very early in the morning when the lawn is dew-soaked.  Weed ‘n feeds are active weed killers that work by clinging to weed leaves and blooms.  Wet grass helps the fertilizer cling to visible weed plants.  So it is also critical that there be a 48-hour rainless period AFTER you apply the weed ‘n feed which allows the active ingredients plenty of time to do their dirty work.  So pay attention to rain forecasts before applying!

In years past, I would usually apply the weed ‘n feed now to give the lawn a growth spurt; then apply the crabgrass pre-emergent later, since I needed it only as a preventative measure.  However, I noticed last summer that crabgrass was popping up in places I had not seen it in a while.  The culprit turns out to be my non-compliant next-door neighbor, who has not as yet subscribed to the Unofficial Lawn Guru Code.  It’s a veritable weed and crabgrass farm over there!

So this year I will be in full weed-combat mode, with primary battle lines drawn along the northern frontier.  And this week – assuming continued warming – I will be applying a crabgrass pre-emergent in an attempt to lay down an effective defensive perimeter. 

This means I will push weed ‘n feed back until late May, which is fine considering the near weed-less condition of my thick green spread of lawn lushness. 

If you face a situation like mine, with non-compliant or semi-compliant neighbors causing unwanted weeds on your lawn, do what I do.  Buy a bit more fertilizer than you need to cover your spread, and apply it liberally to the offending lawn along the contested border.  You’ll be laying down an effective perimeter defense.  And if your neighbor sees you violating his airspace, he’ll think you’re just being Good Neighbor Guy.  He will never suspect your undercover guerrilla weed-warfare strategy!  So it’s …

Damn the dandelions!  Full speed ahead!!           

Good luck, and be careful out there!

HLRA Community Meeting on JRB Willow Grove reuse

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Wednesday night took quite a bit of discipline on my part to forego the Philadelphia Flyers Game 3 playoff matchup and attend the Horsham Land Reuse Authority meeting soliciting community input to reuse options for JRB Willow Grove.  But with the BRAC closing of the Willow Grove airbase – just 1/2 mile from my front door – and its 892 acres of such critical importance to the Horsham community, it was a difficult but easy choice.

And yes, I know that last part sounds a bit contradictory.  But a Flyers fan LIVES for hockey in April!

The meeting itself was very emotional, given the Horsham residents overwhelming opposition to having a commercial airport in its midst.  Emotional speeches have both positive and negative effects however.  For one, it is essential that Horsham residents understand the threat to their quality of life an airport and its proponents represent.  But once the acrimony and emotion reaches a certain level, it in effect WORKS AGAINST the community’s interests in doing what is necessary.

In other words, the emotional reactions to a potential commercial air operation distracts the Horsham community from what must be done to prevent such an airport from becoming the only viable option. 

This was a point – I think – lost on many who showed up Wednesday night.  Too much time and energy was wasted on stating and re-stating the collective view that a commercial airport was absolutely unwelcomed.  Too little time and energy went into the objective exercise, allowing citizens to put forth what they want to see at the current JRB Willow Grove site.

Yes, most of us don’t want the airport.  But there are people from outside the Horsham community who do want an airport there; and they possess the motivation, organization, money, and power to make every effort to get what they want.  These are people who have the means to own or to charter private planes and corporate jets.  So to think they could not successfully overcome community resistance through political maneuvering, power brokering, or outright corruptive influence is to fatally underestimate our opposition.

In short, posting “No Airport in Horsham“ lawn signs and making pithy speeches at HLRA meetings will not ensure that Horsham voices will be heard or – more importantly – listened to.  We MUST come up with a workable community-based alternative, strong enough to eliminate the potential for a private/commercial airport.

Now, many adjacent township and regional neighbors might be a little put off – even angry – at my parochial Horsham approach to this discussion.  But my point-of-view here is based of these facts: 

  • Horsham taxpayers will end up paying for the maintenance and operation of whatever ends up occupying the airbase property.  No one else.  This MUST be the BASIC ASSUMPTION for every Horsham resident.  Regardless of whatever potential county, state or federal financing or solutions are offered, rest assured it would never be enough to maintain the property in perpetuity.
  • Yes, commercial aircraft will fly over the homes of those in Upper Moreland, Upper Dublin, Warminster, Warrington, Montgomeryville, etc., etc.  But they will not fly as low or as loud anywhere else but in Horsham. 
  • The interests of our regional neighbors (jobs, convenience, county and state tax revenues, commercial interests) will be – at times – in direct conflict with the interests of Horsham community life.
  • Horsham MUST CONTROL the decision-making apparatus that federal law dictates belongs to the SOLE Land Reuse Authority (LRA) to file for control of the BRAC disposal process for the airbase site.  To lose that control means loss of all control!
  • And finally, I doubt a single one of these neighbors would ever offer up any significant financial assistance (i.e. tax dollars) to Horsham Township in order to ameliorate any potential financial impact to Horsham taxpayers!    

In effect, Horsham residents must put aside the concerns of other communities, townships, counties and states.  They simply DON’T LIVE HERE!  And they certainly don’t PAY to live here! 

I plan to post several more discussions on the details and developments in this ongoing JRB Willow Grove saga.  And I will not pretend to speak for all my neighbors or those living in Horsham whom I have never met.  But allow me to put forth MY OBJECTIONS to a commercial airport or as it’s referred to by those who champion it: Pitcairn Aviation Business Center.

  • Regardless of how limited in scope or restricted in operating hours, once you allow commercial, private or semi-private aviation at a site, you leave the door open to all forms of future potential aviation interests, be they private, commercial or governmental. 
  • I spent about 30 years living a stone’s throw away from North(east) Philadelphia Airport.  I saw it grow from a sleepy muni-airport to a regional hub for corporate air services, even a helicopter maintenence and repair facility.  I am convinced the only factor preventing its use as full-service commercial airline facility or cargo distribution center was the length of its runway!  This would not be a limiting factor at the JRB Willow Grove site!
  • Once the above happens, you – as a resident and taxpayer – lose all control over the site’s future operations and management.
  • No one, who supports usage of the JRB Willow Grove site as an airport has yet – to my knowledge – explained in detail how the proposed airport will be funded in staff, management, or operations without the involvement of commercial aviation enterprise.
  • Indications are that any federal funding for airport operations REQUIRE that said airport operate 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year!
  • It is a REGIONALLY ACKNOWLEDGED FACT that Philadelphia International Airport is one of the nation’s busiest; operating in the densest airspace in the United States; and currently is in the process of exercising eminent domain power (through the City of Philadelphia) to remove Tinicum Township homes from adjacent land to add and extend runways.  It is no stretch of the imagination to conclude that – at some point – the FAA or some other regional/national authority will be looking for other sites to use in lessening the load at PHL.
  • As with the recent attempt by Governor Rendell to attract Teva Pharmaceuticals, I doubt any sizable commercial entity – be it local or international – would be interested in the JRB Willow Grove site without the promise of using its aviation facilities.  With respect to the failed Teva exercise, you only need know that such commodities are not moved from Point A (manufacture) to Point B (consumer) – especially internationally – by slow boats.  

One argument I won’t make is the potential for an air crash and its resulting death and destruction.  Since these occurrences are rare, the argument will fail to gain traction or sympathy from those with the power and inclination to help those seeking an airport. 

Please make sure to keep abreast of developments by subscribing to the HLRA website’s automatic update feature.

More is definitely to come here!  Subscribe if you want to learn more.

Jazz Atonement

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Since I last went off on how irritating I find true jazz, I’ve had a few people asking me why I dislike jazz/hate America.  Some of them, including a few friends, expressed bewilderment at my distaste for jazz.  So I have to backtrack a bit from my I-hate-jazz harangue.

I don’t hate all jazz.  I don’t really “hate” any jazz.  I just don’t get what I guess is called “traditional jazz” or what enthusiasts might call bebop or free jazz, the No Limits-No Boundaries type.  It is jazz that – to me – has little of the traditional qualities of traditional music, which – I guess – is the point of that particular jazz genre.

Maybe that’s why it makes my head hurt.  It hurts just thinking about it. 

But there is a wide range of jazz that I like.  The works of Grover Washington, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Maynard Ferguson, Tower of Power, Bruce Hornsby (The piano and guitar is – in my opinion – much more conducive to pain-free jazz than is brass.)  …  And at this very moment I’m listening to some Yusef Lateef from his album Eastern Sounds.

So rest easy, jazz aficionados, it ain’t all bad in my humble opinion.

Cranky Man’s Lawn Care: An Idiots Guide; Chapter 2 – Aerating

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Pre-Brief:  Really, really wanted to aerate this weekend, but without snorkeling gear it would prove difficult.  (Had tix for tonight’s Phils game, also a washout.) Since you need to plan an aerating operation (i.e. equipment rental/reservation), here is Cranky Man’s Lawn Care chapter on lawn aeration to get you off your rider.  Good news is that wet weather makes for favorable aerating conditions.

Aerating:  Spring is  the best time of the year for aerating your lawn.  Aeration helps to loosen the top most layer of soil, which allows for fuller lawn growth.  Aerating – especially for high-traffic lawns – allows much-needed oxygen, nutrients and water to reach grass roots.

Soil compaction can prevent adequate root growth and development.  Since compaction is the problem you’re trying to treat by aerating, it’s important that you use hollow-core aeration equipment as opposed to a machine using solid spikes that actually compact the soil further.  A core aerator will deposit many, many little plugs of soil and grass on top of your lawn.  These plugs will deteriorate quickly and will not harm the grass.

Many lawn devotees will aerate TWICE a year – in Spring and in Fall.  I’m not that ambitious or obsessive so once a year in the spring suffices; sometimes even skipping a year with no concerns.  But my lawn does not have a high level of traffic in most areas.  The higher the traffic, the greater benefit aerating will have.  Aerating in the Spring – after melting snows and typical Spring rains – ensures deep core penetration and maximum benefit.  Too often aerating in Fall follows hot, dry summers and results in harder soil that will resist adequate penetration.

I would suggest going over very high traffic areas several times, overlapping as you go.

Many lawn owners will accompany aerating with overseeding.  I’m not a big believer in overseeding (assuming you are observing other Healthy Lawn Behaviors), but overseeding can benefit struggling lawns.

Next segment:  Fertilizing

Who will trump The Donald?

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I get a kick out of listening to Donald Trump as he tippy-toes like a Fantasia ballerina along the line dividing successful billionaire from national pol.  He rumbles and blusters.  He could crush you with one well-aimed foot, yet he dances in graceful, casual disregard.  He refuses to utter the words, “I am running for President of The United States!”

The Donald searches for a dance partner

Although I am impressed by some of it, I am unconvinced by the whole of it. 

Not that The Donald couldn’t win should he actually decide to run.  I simply have severe doubts that he will take the ultimate plunge.

Trump says many of the things that appeal to important segments of the Republican Party.  He speaks of repealing Obamacare.  He claims to have reversed his earlier support for the pro-choice agenda.  He goes to CPAC and wows the crowd on how China, our foreign allies, and OPEC are taking advantage of America.  He even questions President Obama’s citizenship qualifications to hold his Office.

But I cannot get over my sense that The Donald’s Mystical Coiffure has no intention of laying atop a President’s head.  Not that I wouldn’t LOVE to see that portrait!  

My disbelief is rooted in the unlikely event that a man with the international business, finance, and entertainment Power the likes of Donald Trump would relinquish said Power to become a politically henpecked – not to mention salaried – Chief Executive.  Perhaps I’m wrong.  Perhaps The Donald has so strong a deep and abiding love for his country that he believes he is The Answer. 

But no, The Donald could perform no better service for his Country than the dance he is performing right now.  And frankly, I doubt that even The Donald sees himself as The Best Man for The Job.  What he is doing with his indelicate ballet is drawing as much attention as possible to the issues he believes are MOST CRITICAL to future U.S. health and success.

Many of us wholeheartedly agree with The Donald in that our national propensity for skyrocketing debt and oil-fueled gluttony are damaging our long-term future; how we could enable our most threatening rivals to overtake us; how we finance the kind of infrastructure investments in China of which we can only dream of here; and how these problems could one day be this country’s undoing.

I just can’t see Trump fixing any of this himself, especially from The Oval Office. 

My theory not only explains The Donald’s sudden bull rush from the high weeds of Manhattan.  It also makes sense of his sudden infatuation with The Birthers.

What The Donald is doing is pushing the political and financial messages that many conservatives cherish.  And drawing as much attention to those messages as possible (hence the birther pronouncements).  His numbers sit atop current Republican presidential polling; and he’s polling even higher when Tea Party favorites Michelle Bachman and Ron Paul are removed from the polling equation.     

What I think The Donald is doing is developing a position that the Real Candidates in the Republican Party will eventually view as a threat to their flanks.  When this happens, an astute politician will do one of two things.  He will attack that threat or he will attempt to absorb it.  Said politician will make those positions his own, especially if said candidate sees those positions as holding sway over a substantial segment of the electorate he covets.

Conservatives and Tea Party Republicans are sympathetic – as the poll numbers show – to The Donald’s message.  But I think they covet a Strawman; a strawman looking to push an important agenda, and then to push away The Job in which The Donald would never want to trapped.

So who might eventually usurp The Donald’s message, and therefore position themselves as The Favorite Son of The Right?  How much more attractive will that title look should it be accompanied by the kind of financial connection only The Donald could offer?   

If it happens, you can be sure those financial connections would not be far behind.  And if it works in November 2012, rest assured that Mystical Coiffure will become an Oval Office mainstay.

Mike Time

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Bummer …

Step 1 (See Chapter 1) of the Lawn Cleanup Project ran into a light – but steady – rain.  Bummer …

So instead I get to enjoy a little Mike Time in a house that’s actually empty.  It will only last a few hours, so no time to spare.  I feel so guilty. 

 (Really, really tried to say that with a straight face.)

Loading some free library CD music up to the iPod, concentrating on Joe Cocker this time around.  Then maybe a little reading. 

Will certainly be wondering if the idiots D.C. – on both sides of the aisle – will get their acts together and pass a budget.

Generally, I agree with the Republican goal of reducing and bringing under control Federal spending.  But when the jobs of 800,000 civilian employees (Me included … And who – by the way – are already under a potential five-year pay freeze) are at stake, I get a bit annoyed at reports that policy riders (EPA, NPR, etc.) are the real worm in the pie.

Must be too much to ask, I guess.

And this is taking way too long.

Outta here … For the sake of Mike Time.

Cranky’s Lawn Care: An Idiot’s Guide, Chapter 1: Clean & Green

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When I decided to create this blog, for some reason working “lawn” into the title seemed to be a natural choice.  I take much pride, a few compliments, and much abuse for my Obsessive-Compulsive lawn tendencies.  Many a friend and neighbor, upon marveling at the fluffy greenness of my 1/4 acre “spread” say to me, “Mike, what do I need to do to get my lawn looking so incredible?!?”  But after listening to me yammering on and on about fertilizers, aerating, mowing, dethatching, edging, raking, etc., they usually pick up the phone and call a landscaper.    

So, in keeping with my nature, I will blog a bit about lawn care.  But as to not overwhelm the uninitiated; scare off the slackers; or offend the laissez faire “What lawn?!?” set, I will present my completely untrained, common sensical approach in a series of posts as I go about performing my own lawn care activities!

So without further ado …

 Clean & Green: (Yes, I am well aware this is backward from the blog title subtext of Green & Clean, Venting My Spleen; but you cannot get “green” unless you “clean” first!)

I love Spring.  I hate Spring.  I love the warming weather.  I hate the Winter cleanup.  It’s a love-hate Spring thing.

But cleanup is the first task we face when it comes time to prepare the lawn for the approaching growing season.  I despise the annual spring lawn clean-up.  I’m a minimal effort for maximum effect kind of guy. It’s my personal house & home mantra.  

I like a nice green lawn; but I hate the first step in getting there … Cleaning up the debris left over from Winter.  I consider this a necessary evil, from the minimal effort/maximum effect point of view.  There is nothing minimal about this effort.  And I absolutely hate to rake.

It’s important to get up all of Winter’s debris – mostly in the form of dead leaves – off the lawn.  Leaves tend to accumulate anywhere the lawn or soil is depressed (physically, not emotionally).  It’s important to give your lawn every opportunity to awaken from its slumber, and reach its tiny, groggy awakening blades towards the warming sun and nourishing spring rains.

Yeah, I know … That was a bit weird.

But dead leaves will suffocate existing grass, and will prevent new growth from developing under those wet, spongy remnants from last fall. 

I recommend using a good mower with a bagging attachment to keep raking to an absolute minimum.  (I hate to rake.)  Given that however, you simply can’t avoid doing SOME raking if you intend to properly clean it up.  To make it easier to handle, I suggest mowing in small sections; raking up whatever debris the mower misses; then picking up the dead rakings with the mower.  (Did I mention that I hate to rake?)

In the end, you’ll have the cleanest lawn in the ‘hood, and one that will be ready to take full advantage of the growing cycle.  And if you’re lucky, no more raking until Fall!

Next episode:  Aerating

Remembering NAS/JRB Willow Grove

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This week the U.S. Navy commemorated the last day of flight operations at Willow Grove.  The final day of flight operations was more ceremonial than operational, with the end being marked by a public ceremony and final flight by seven aircraft representing the various aircraft types still active there in the last months preceding the DoD’s Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) shutdown of the base.  Most of its flight operations will be moving to the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey.    

As a Horsham resident, I will refrain from fretting here – as I have in other posts – about its future as a massive vacancy located a scant half-a-mile from our home.  Instead, I’d like to reflect on the things I remember most as a Philadelphia native and infrequent visitor, and later as a permanent neighbor and appreciative friend.

My earliest memories of the base are those summer afternoons and evenings, usually as we drove to or from the homes of relatives living in Warminster and Lansdale.  As city residents – originally of Germantown, then later Northeast Philly – being in the ‘burbs was in itself a fascinating experience … All those trees and wide open green spaces!  The fact that the airbase shared name and proximity with Willow Grove Amusement Park, where roller coasters, a train ride through a Wild West of cowboys and Indians (Sorry, I refuse to say “cowboys and Native Americans”.) in frozen action poses, and a bowling alley the size of a New England state, was lost on my overwhelmed, urban-dwelling young mind. 

The first time my dad pulled into the original public parking area on Rt 611 (Closed permanently in the precautions taken after the 9/11 attacks.) I was fascinated and a tad over-excited.  Where else could a kid sit but a few hundred feet away from huge aircraft, fighters and helicopters taking off and landing?!?  We would sit there for as long as my mother could tolerate or – as was sometimes the case – long enough to determine that the Weekend Warriors had nothing going on that particular day. 

I’m certain that Dad grew tired of my frequent pleadings to revisit the airbase and watch the planes, especially whenever I realized we would be leaving for another visit to our conveniently located relatives. 

On one occasion, we stopped on the way home in fading twilight.  The public lot was PACKED with cars, not that I noticed.  After some time passed, I noticed Mom and Dad laughing as they looked at the cars around them.  When I followed their eyes, I saw nothing to laugh about.  All I saw was a woman doing the hand-jive with the guy in the car next to her.  Somewhat later in life they let us in on the secret.  We had stumbled upon the local Horsham teen Kiss ‘N Pet park.  And the girl in the car was parrying the advances of her beau because she knew my parents were amused voyeurs.  (When we were teens, we used to refer to going down to the Delaware River for such fun as “watching the submarine races”.  I wonder what Horsham teens called it at the airbase?)

But I digress …

When Carol and I married, we bought a house in Far Northeast Philly, only a driver and long fairway iron from the North(east) Philadelphia Airport.  So when Carol and I considered buying our current home, which I knew was but a good stretch of the legs from NAS Willow Grove, I eased her concerns about the local airbase.  I was not worried about our safety, the noise, or the rumble of overhead aircraft.  You recognized it as a military airfield, but not a particularly busy one.  With the lack of major military commitments other than Bosnia at the time, NAS Willow Grove was quite sedate.

But to be honest, I was more than a little bit enthralled by our proximity to the base, as any of my sons could attest whenever anything big and loud came flying over the house.

Of course the biggest test of Air Base Tolerance were those pre-BRAC, infrequent Willow Grove air shows.  There is no bigger suburban “wow factor” than having a flight of four Blue Angels screaming over your house just above tree-top level!  Thankfully, that wasn’t a regular fixture of air base neighborhood living.  But for a weekend every couple of years when you – hopefully – had nowhere to drive with all that traffic, it was a fun change of pace in that man-child love of all things noisy and fast.  I found the best way to enjoy the air show was finding a comfy, shaded spot out front of the Army Reserve facility across Rt 611 from the runway with a selection of beverages and treats, a lawn chair, binoculars, and a book.  

But admittedly the air show also carried its inherent risks, as living near an airbase always does.  I was there on Father’s Day during the 2000 air show when an F-14 crashed, during a low-speed pass and engine flame-out, killing both crew members.  What was most haunting for me was the memory of seeing that same fighter screaming over the Horsham little league fields the day before the crash.  When we looked up, the aircraft was so  low you could clearly see the helmeted heads of the two aviators.  Another haunting memory was the September 2001 airshow that I attended – under my favorite tree – just two days before the 9/11 attacks. 

There was also the time our Warminster uncle piled a bunch of us into his car (I do not recall the year.) when an airbase plane crashed into a local shopping center or supermarket.  I can still picture a group of firefighters on the roofline as they worked the rescue effort.

No, it’s never a totally clean or carefree existence when a community shares its life with a large military airfield, whether it hums like McGuire Air Force Base or trundles about in its PJs and slippers as NAS Willow Grove seemed to for the past six years. 

I could never understand when local residents would complain about having a military airfield in their midst.  In my befuddlement I failed to grasp how they missed that 892-acre elephant out on Rt 611 when they decided to live in the area.  Afterall the base was founded in 1942 at the height of the U.S.’s World War II conversion from peace-time complacency to war-time leviathan.  So the Willow Grove airbase preceded 99.5% – by my estimation – of all previous and current households in Horsham, Willow Grove, Warminster and surrounding areas.

One way-out-there idea I held in the deeper recesses of my overly active imagination was to recognize the base’s contribution to national defense by draping our roof  with a huge “THANK YOU, NAS/JRB Willow Grove!!” sign for its final air show.  (How that would have worked, I have no clue.  But the expression on Carol’s face would have been priceless!)  However the last air show slipped by before anyone knew it would be the last; so the hair-brained scheme never materialized.

As a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy I had a few opportunities to visit the Willow Grove airbase in an official capacity.  In that role I had access to a side of the base few local residents ever saw.  You had to be impressed with the dedication and professionalism of those who served there.  Many an unsung American hero passed through that main gate and exited off that runway to duties in harm’s way in far distant lands.  How many never returned?

So “Thank You, NAS/JRB Willow Grove!!” and to all who passed through Horsham’s military portal in its almost 70 years of service to the U.S.A.!

On this date 30 years ago …

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… President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Warnock Hinckley, Jr. as he emerged from the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.  Reagan had been at the hotel to address an AFL-CIO conference.

As with many such attempts, the perpetrator was six doughnuts short of a dozen mentally.  Hinckley had an acute obsession for Jodie Foster of all things.  His attempt to kill The President was an equally unusual effort to impress Foster.  The assassination attempt closely paralleled the storyline of the movie Taxi Driver, where the character Travis Bickle (Played by Robert DeNiro) plots to assassinate a presidential candidate.

Oddly enough, the Bickle character was based in part on Arthur Bremer, who shot presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972.

Unlike many such events where people can instantly recall where they were when it happens, I have been trying all day to recall where I was and what I was doing that day. 

In theory I would have been at my new federal job that afternoon, having been hired the previous April.  But for some reason the recesses of my oft stilted memory give me flashes of being home, watching the events unfold shortly after they had occurred. 

I’m guessing my murky recollections are at least partly accurate.  Why I might have been home that day, I have no idea.  Sick day perhaps … But I was such a dedicated employee, it’s hard to accept. 

OK … Maybe not that hard to accept.

Part of the problem might have been that I was hardly a fan at all of President Reagan at the time.  As mentioned elsewhere here, I had severe issues with the then new President that had me a bit verklempt at times.  But as some pundits theorize, the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan may have kick-started the country’s – and my own – eventual love affair with the 40th President.

But let’s take a look at those other individuals whose lives and careers where greatly affected by Hinckley’s actions.

Secret Service Agent-in-Charge Jerry Parr was famously credited for dumping the President into his awaiting limo; recognizing Reagan’s injuries; and re-directing the White House-bound driver to George Washington University Hospital.  This despite missing Reagan’s injury at first and getting a verbal drubbing from the shocked and hurting President, who thought Parr had broken presidential ribs when he landed on the Chief Executive in the limo.

But the real heroes in the protection detail that day were Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy and D.C. patrolman Thomas Delahanty.  The D.C. officer was struck in the back when he turned to protect the President.  Agent McCarthy took a bullet to the abdomen as he bravely put his body between the shooter and Reagan’s only method of egress.  Both men were fortunate in that they recovered from their wounds.

It is interesting to see McCarthy standing large and tall as the shooting starts, while military members of the White House detail can be seen hitting the ground.  This illustrates the difference in training between the military, counseled to make themselves small targets when the lead starts flying, and that of Secret Service Agents, instructed to stand in front of a bullet to protect their charges. 

Not nearly so lucky was Reagan Press Secretary James Brady, who was struck in the head and never recovered entirely from his wounds.  He would spend years in a wheelchair, but eventually recovered most of his speech function and mobility.  Brady’s experience led him and his wife to found the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.  And the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was named in his honor.

It is also interesting to compare the modern-day threats to U.S. Presidents as compared to the simpler days when Chief Executives – up to the time of Harry Truman – were generally free to walk the streets of Washington (or New York or Philadelphia).  When Truman barely avoided a run-in with Puerto Rican nationalists, the days of carefree presidential outings ended.   

From the sad days that followed the assassination of John F. Kennedy,  I’ve seen way too many such attempts.  And maybe that’s why I’m not too quick in recalling the specifics of this one. 

Rest easy, Mr. Reagan.

Review: “Decision Points” by George W. Bush

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At times I have been accused of being an apologist for former President George W. Bush.  Rightfully so, I must add.  That’s why I have been looking forward to reading Bush43‘s memoir, Decision Points. 

The book starts out with a frank, introspective look at Bush’s struggle to overcome his problem with alcohol.  Most telling was his failure at Laura Bush’s urging to remember a day when he had not had a drink.  Unable to do so, he begins to realize that he just might have a problem.  From my perspective, it was a surprising way for an ex-President to kick off his memoir.  But it conveyed the obvious importance that struggle was to his future success.  It also helps to understand his reliance on Laura’s strength and wisdom.  They were married just three months after they met!

Of course the linchpin event of George Bush’s presidency was the attack of September 11, 2001.  Through all the smoke, fire and loss of life from that day comes the one pledge that overshadowed the rest of his presidency.

Yet after 9/11, I felt my responsibility was clear. For as long as I held office, I could never forget what happened to America that day. I would pour my heart and soul into protecting the country, whatever it took. (page 151)

This is the prism through which one must view his subsequent decisions and actions, both here and abroad.  Afghanistan was a no-brainer; but going into Iraq was a dicier decision that resulted in a major distraction from the Afghan operation.  

However a decade after Operation Desert Storm, the Saddam Hussein situation required a solution.  The international community, the U.N., and the Clinton Administration had been convinced that Hussein had WMDs; and the reliance on no-fly zones was not the solution to Hussein’s cruelty, oppression, and perceived threat to the region.  That no WMDs were found does not diminish the validity of these widely held beliefs.

President Bush’s 9/11 pledge also explains the decisions to house captured terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, The Patriot Act, creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the development of the Bush Doctrine and the Freedom Agenda.  And no matter where you stood on the pro-con scale as the Bush Administration enacted these measures, they are still in place two years after President Barack Obama entered The Oval Office!

The book’s tone is straight-forward and conversational.  My impression was that the book read much the way his speeches and national addresses sounded (minus the ill-timed gaffes).  Those who regarded President Bush as a fumbler and stumbler would be impressed by GWB’s efficient style.  I found the book to be an easy and enjoyable read.

The common thread throughout the book is how Bush43 approached the problems and decisions he faced.  Oft times criticized for not being naturally inquisitive, he relied heavily on experts and leaders in applicable fields of research and study – both from within his administration and in industry and academia – when facing complex issues and problems.  And when it came to making a decision, GWB viewed all situations through his strongly held core values.  Although he was not pretentious in his religious beliefs, his beliefs were the foundation of those values.

And yet President Bush was capable of making sound value-based decisions that were not restrained by the desire to pander to his political base.  An example was his decision on stem cell research.  Despite the fervent wishes of the religious right, GWB was adamant in his commitment to seek out all sides of the controversy.  His final decision was based on several factors: stem cell research offered the potential for monumental breakthroughs in medical research; research was already progressing on several dozen stem cell lines (per the National Institute of Health), and the number of lines in development were plentiful for current and future medical research.  His decision to allow federal funding for existing stem cell lines, while affirming the dignity of human life and preventing the use of federal funds for future stem cell harvesting was a practical and compassionate solution to a difficult problem.

If the measure of a good compromise is the reality that neither side is entirely satisfied with the solution, then George Bush certainly hit the mark with stem cell research.  A good leader can never be burdened with the concept that he must please everyone all the time.

Several other aspects of the book were very interesting; some surprised me:

  • As Governor of Texas, GWB was renown for his ability to work across the aisle.  Something that was essential as a Republican Governor with a State House and Senate headed by seasoned and well-respected Democrats.  In fact, Bush and Lt. Governor Bob Lubbock – a Democrat – respected each other to the point where Lubbock not only endorsed Bush for his second term as Texas Governor, he predicted that Bush would be the next President of the United States!
  • Laura Bush was a real cutie when she landed GWB!  (See third page of the first photo section.)
  • The Bush Administration committed $15 billion over 5 years to fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.  After a 2003 visit to AIDS-ravaged Uganda, Bush was inspired to push the country to do more in fighting the disease.  He envisioned the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as a medical version of The Marshall Plan.  In addition to testing, counseling and treating tens of millions for AIDS, there was also considerable commitment to eradicate malaria.
  • During the 2008 presidential campaign and the banking crises that resulted in the Toxic Asset Recovery Program (TARP), Republican candidate for president, Arizona Senator John McCain insisted that The White House host an emergency meeting of both candidates, the leadership of both parties in the House and Senate, and the Bush Administration.  Expecting McCain, who instigated the meeting, to address the issues and how Congress could support TARP, the President was astounded at McCain’s silence in contrast to Barack Obama’s succinct analysis of the program.

In my opinion, anyone interested in politics and government whether a supporter or critic of President George W. Bush would enjoy reading a Commander-in-Chief’s view of his eight years in The Oval Office. 

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  The Bush Doctrine included the concept that America’s interests would be maximized by promoting freedom and democracy wherever possible.  It supported fledgling democracies in the Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.  And it lent encouragement and support for dissidents and reformers in places like Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

“America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one.”

Given the uprisings in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, etc., can the argument be made that the Bush strategy of supporting democratic reforms in that region has been much more successful than illustrated by the novice democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan?