Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Monday, September 9, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Pointless Presidential Pfacts #38 - "California Love For a '75 Ford or Female Assassins vs. the POTUS"
Since the Secret Service officially began protecting presidents with the 26th, Theodore Roosevelt, after the assassination of William McKinley, the 25th, in September of 1901, the organization has only lost one president in 1963 with John F. Kennedy, the 35th. In 1975 Gerald Ford, the 38th and first appointed POTUS, was targeted twice by two different assassins. The first time a POTUS was targeted by a females. And both attempts took place in California.
President Gerald Ford in Sacramento's Capitol Park.
First at a park in Sacramento, his assassin wannabe, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme pointed a hand-gun at President Ford. She wanted to bring attention to the California Redwoods. A Secret Service agent grabbed the gun and prevented it from firing. As after any breech of security, procedures are reviewed, more precaution on future presidential outings.
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, after failed attempt at assassinating President Gerald Ford.
Like the one three weeks later in San Francisco, he was leaving the St. Francis Hotel when Sara Jane Moore aimed her gun at Ford from a crowd of people wanting a glimpse of the POTUS from across the street. Moore, like the first wannabe presidential assassin Richard Lawrence in 1835 attempted two shots, first shot missed and just as she was about to shoot another bullet the shot is deflect and misses nearly hitting the president in the head, but the bullet, now ricochet, wounds a taxi driver.
Ford, the Secret Service, the press and everybody react to the shots fired at the president.
Sara Jane Moore after her arrest.
Both wannabe-assassins were sentenced to life in prison, however Moore was paroled in 2007 and Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, was paroled in 2009. Richard Lawrence is still dead.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Perspective President
Ronald Reagan was the first president I remember and associating with what a president should look like. Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States when I was born in 1978, so the 1980s was my childhood and Reagan defined the United States from 1981-1989, from a political-cultural level. Carter will always be a favorite president of mine because of the association but also because he only had the best interests at heart. He would be maligned, from within his own party in 1980 and of course the Republican Party. The GOP successfully lowered Carter's patriotism and increased Reagan's stature. But Reagan had the best interests of the nation at heart as well. He always showed the good of the United States while Carter told us the truth which was bad news. Either way, the idea of perspective shapes one's own view of a political figure and Reagan is a great example of a perspective president...as is Carter.
As for me, I only knew Reagan as a president. As I learned his history, governor of California was next on the list and so I still only saw him as a politician. Reagan was a lifeguard at one point in his life. Those kids that grew up around him as swimmers under his watch, they would always see Reagan as a lifeguard. Probably whenever those former recreational swimmers saw a Reagan film, or as they might call it a picture, they saw him as that lifeguard guy in pictures. So when an actor-Reagan started showing a prospective political future, the movie going audiences as voters questioned "can a movie actor be a politician?" The swimmers were probably thinking "can a lifeguard be a politician?"
I'm sure those that only knew their State governor was Ronald Reagan and not some actor, would think "yeah, he can be president...he's the governor." So says a young Californian from between 1967-1975.
This of course goes without those above people not looking at the individuals political ideology, what they believe and have they put that into practice.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Expanding to Crisis
Thirteen colonies banded together to become an independent nation from Great Britain in 1776. Northern and southern colonies formed a union of States, united together for independence. Two different societies developed the industrialized north and the rural south, both with a common goal. After their revolution from Great Britain, these United States expanded westward beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Their territory increased and new states were admitted to the Union. These United States coexisted peacefully as northern free states and southern slave states, however the admittance of new states threatened the peace. The expansion of the United States and the addition of new states disrupted the sectional divide between the two regions plunging the nation into civil war.
Aside from the Declaration of Independence, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the Continental Congress. The ordinance established how our nation would expand westward, creating territories that would form new states and be admitted to the Union. The ordinance also banned slavery in the Great Lakes region, which established the regional divide between northern free states above the Ohio River and the southern slave states below the river. This political divide played out in the United States Senate as new states formed, with southern senators fearful that their “peculiar institution” of slavery would be destroyed.
The young nation expanded in the 1790s in both the northern and southern regions always maintaining that equal balance of power. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase. This allowed for the addition of new states to form and join the Union once the vast expanse of land was filled by westward moving Americans. This westward movement created the sectional crisis, as the expansion of slavery into the new territories came into question.
Missouri emerged as a state from the Louisiana Purchase. With the admittance of Missouri into the Union the balance between free and slave states began to tip. To balance the power in the Union, Maine was admitted as a free state. Maine was a non-contiguous part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This compromise of admitting one slave state and one free state stabilized the balance of power between the two regions. Another part of the compromise was the prohibition of slavery in the remaining northern territory of the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained order in the Union, but the nation continued to expand.
The expansion of the nation and the admittance of new states threatened the balance of power. If the north out numbered the south in the senate then the way of life in the southern states might be threatened. The south did not want to lose their right to have slaves and did not believe that the federal government could abolish it. Maintaining an equal number of states in both regions protected them against the threat of the federal government interfering with their “peculiar institution.” The south felt the issue was a states’ rights issue. However slavery would not be the first issue that the southern states felt the federal government was threatening their states’ right.
In 1828 the sectional divide heated up not over slavery, but another states’ right issue. The southern economy, which slavery was a part of, relied on trade with foreign countries. The imposition of a tariff, or a tax, on foreign trade threatened the southern economy. Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina supported the idea of nullification proposed by his home state, which would allow states to null and void legislation passed by the federal government. It was a states’ right to do so. President Andrew Jackson thought nullification to be unconstitutional. Jackson loved the Union and wanted nothing more than to preserve the Union. Jackson threatened South Carolina with military force and believed nullification a treasonous act. In the end the state backed down and the Union was preserved, however the nullification crisis foreshadowed events to come.
By the late 1830s citizens of the United States were venturing westward filling and occupying the land purchased from France. Although one region in particular that was not apart of the Louisiana Purchase drew numerous citizens of the United States and that was Texas. Texas became an independent nation from Mexico in 1836 populated by an overwhelming amount of Americans. Texans fought for their independence and after winning sought annexation by the United States. If the United States were to admit Texas then the balance between free and slave states would be disrupted. Northern states did not want Texas admitted to the Union because they feared it would expand slavery, while the southern states welcomed the state. Just a few days before leaving office in March of 1845, President John Tyler signed the resolution annexing Texas as a state.
While Texas was a hotly debated topic for almost a decade, the issue of admitting it into the Union no longer became an issue by the time James K. Polk assumed the presidency in 1845. Aside from limiting himself to a single term in office, he committed himself to achieving four goals during his administration. Two of the goals were connected to the expansion of the Union, acquiring the Oregon territory from Great Britain as well as California and New Mexico from Mexico. Polk set out to turn the United States into a continental power, establishing a “manifest destiny.”
To achieve the manifest destiny of our nation Polk took us to war. Obtaining Oregon from Great Britain did not require a fight, but obtaining California and New Mexico would not be as simple. The Mexican-U.S. War lasted from 1846 to 1848. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended the war and expanded the nation all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The new territory gained from the treaty created the question of whether to admit states into the Union as free or slave.
The new territories which emerged from the war brought the balance of power between the two regions to a boil. Once again a compromise was needed. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed a number of measures which included admitting California as a free state; the territory of New Mexico would be organized without the prohibition of slavery; the slave trade was prohibited in the District of Columbia, while slavery was not abolished; and fugitive slave laws were strengthened. The compromise was opposed by President Zachary Taylor, however he died in 1850 and his successor Millard Fillmore supported it. This Compromise of 1850 tempered the crisis brewing between the north and the south.
While the start of the decade attempted to put the sectional crisis to rest it became just a stepping stone to the impending crisis. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin became an important part the abolitionist cause and 19th Century American literature. The novel had an affect on attitudes toward slavery and the slaves themselves. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which attempted to quench the slavery issue was repealed two years after Stowe’s novel was published.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise which sought to end the debate on the expansion of slavery. Now through popular sovereignty the settlers of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska were to determine if they were a free state or a slave state. The settlers of Kansas turned to bloodshed as northerners moved in to claim the territory as a free state, while southerners did the same but for pro-slavery reasons. The anti-slavery side eventually triumphed over the pro-slavery side, but once again this event was another foreshadow of things to come but on a larger scale.
As the nation expanded and the expansion of slavery grew with it, a political party emerged in 1854 in opposition to its expansion. The Republican Party formed in 1854 and by the presidential election of 1856 had its first presidential candidate on the ballot. However in the end John Fremont was defeated by Democratic candidate James Buchanan. President Buchanan continued the disorder that was maintained by the previous administration of Franklin Pierce. In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled on the Dred Scott case, stating that a slave was not a citizen and thus had no rights under the Constitution. The ruling intensified northern opposition to the expansion of slavery.
In 1858 an Illinois seat in the United States Senate gained attention as the two competitors for that seat debated for their party’s dominance in the Illinois state legislature, which appointed United State Senators at the time. Democrat Stephen Douglas debated Republican Abraham Lincoln. In the debates Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” The house represented the country and its sectional division of free and slave states. The Democrats won the election in Illinois returning Douglas to the United States Senate, while Lincoln gained national attention. The house divide was on the verge of collapsing.
In 1859 John Brown attempted to start a slave rebellion. Brown led an attack on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He seized the federal armory and held the citizens hostage. The rebellion was squashed and Brown was hung. Rebellion was in the air, but not from the anti-slavery side.
Lincoln’s prominence in the senatorial debates propelled him to the Republican nomination for president in 1860 defeating party heavy weight William Seward of New York. The election of 1860 pitted Republican Lincoln against, against a fractured Democratic party. The southern pro-slavery Democrats nominated the incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge, while the northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas. A fourth candidacy came from the Constitutional Union Party, a party comprised of former Whigs and Know-Nothings. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell. With the lowest popular vote percentage of any president ever and with only the electoral votes of the northern states, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.
With Lincoln’s election, the south believed the anti-slavery party would abolish their “peculiar institution.” Before the year of 1860 was out the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union, an act deemed unconstitutional by President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln. However Buchanan felt there was nothing he could do. Lincoln attempted to heal the wounds with his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861. The south ignored Lincoln and on April 12th attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Fort Sumter in Lincoln’s eyes was Union property; the war between the states had begun.
Two different regions, one free and the other slave holding, fought together to overthrow a tyrannical king. These United States expanded their territorial reach over the North American continent. Their expanse disrupted the peaceful sectionalism which existed in revolution. Compromises were made to maintain the peace as the nation grew. However expansion turned these United States into a house divided, long preventing it from becoming a more perfect union as the United States.
Aside from the Declaration of Independence, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by the Continental Congress. The ordinance established how our nation would expand westward, creating territories that would form new states and be admitted to the Union. The ordinance also banned slavery in the Great Lakes region, which established the regional divide between northern free states above the Ohio River and the southern slave states below the river. This political divide played out in the United States Senate as new states formed, with southern senators fearful that their “peculiar institution” of slavery would be destroyed.
The young nation expanded in the 1790s in both the northern and southern regions always maintaining that equal balance of power. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase. This allowed for the addition of new states to form and join the Union once the vast expanse of land was filled by westward moving Americans. This westward movement created the sectional crisis, as the expansion of slavery into the new territories came into question.
Missouri emerged as a state from the Louisiana Purchase. With the admittance of Missouri into the Union the balance between free and slave states began to tip. To balance the power in the Union, Maine was admitted as a free state. Maine was a non-contiguous part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This compromise of admitting one slave state and one free state stabilized the balance of power between the two regions. Another part of the compromise was the prohibition of slavery in the remaining northern territory of the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained order in the Union, but the nation continued to expand.
The expansion of the nation and the admittance of new states threatened the balance of power. If the north out numbered the south in the senate then the way of life in the southern states might be threatened. The south did not want to lose their right to have slaves and did not believe that the federal government could abolish it. Maintaining an equal number of states in both regions protected them against the threat of the federal government interfering with their “peculiar institution.” The south felt the issue was a states’ rights issue. However slavery would not be the first issue that the southern states felt the federal government was threatening their states’ right.
In 1828 the sectional divide heated up not over slavery, but another states’ right issue. The southern economy, which slavery was a part of, relied on trade with foreign countries. The imposition of a tariff, or a tax, on foreign trade threatened the southern economy. Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina supported the idea of nullification proposed by his home state, which would allow states to null and void legislation passed by the federal government. It was a states’ right to do so. President Andrew Jackson thought nullification to be unconstitutional. Jackson loved the Union and wanted nothing more than to preserve the Union. Jackson threatened South Carolina with military force and believed nullification a treasonous act. In the end the state backed down and the Union was preserved, however the nullification crisis foreshadowed events to come.
By the late 1830s citizens of the United States were venturing westward filling and occupying the land purchased from France. Although one region in particular that was not apart of the Louisiana Purchase drew numerous citizens of the United States and that was Texas. Texas became an independent nation from Mexico in 1836 populated by an overwhelming amount of Americans. Texans fought for their independence and after winning sought annexation by the United States. If the United States were to admit Texas then the balance between free and slave states would be disrupted. Northern states did not want Texas admitted to the Union because they feared it would expand slavery, while the southern states welcomed the state. Just a few days before leaving office in March of 1845, President John Tyler signed the resolution annexing Texas as a state.
While Texas was a hotly debated topic for almost a decade, the issue of admitting it into the Union no longer became an issue by the time James K. Polk assumed the presidency in 1845. Aside from limiting himself to a single term in office, he committed himself to achieving four goals during his administration. Two of the goals were connected to the expansion of the Union, acquiring the Oregon territory from Great Britain as well as California and New Mexico from Mexico. Polk set out to turn the United States into a continental power, establishing a “manifest destiny.”
To achieve the manifest destiny of our nation Polk took us to war. Obtaining Oregon from Great Britain did not require a fight, but obtaining California and New Mexico would not be as simple. The Mexican-U.S. War lasted from 1846 to 1848. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended the war and expanded the nation all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The new territory gained from the treaty created the question of whether to admit states into the Union as free or slave.
The new territories which emerged from the war brought the balance of power between the two regions to a boil. Once again a compromise was needed. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed a number of measures which included admitting California as a free state; the territory of New Mexico would be organized without the prohibition of slavery; the slave trade was prohibited in the District of Columbia, while slavery was not abolished; and fugitive slave laws were strengthened. The compromise was opposed by President Zachary Taylor, however he died in 1850 and his successor Millard Fillmore supported it. This Compromise of 1850 tempered the crisis brewing between the north and the south.
While the start of the decade attempted to put the sectional crisis to rest it became just a stepping stone to the impending crisis. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin became an important part the abolitionist cause and 19th Century American literature. The novel had an affect on attitudes toward slavery and the slaves themselves. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which attempted to quench the slavery issue was repealed two years after Stowe’s novel was published.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise which sought to end the debate on the expansion of slavery. Now through popular sovereignty the settlers of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska were to determine if they were a free state or a slave state. The settlers of Kansas turned to bloodshed as northerners moved in to claim the territory as a free state, while southerners did the same but for pro-slavery reasons. The anti-slavery side eventually triumphed over the pro-slavery side, but once again this event was another foreshadow of things to come but on a larger scale.
As the nation expanded and the expansion of slavery grew with it, a political party emerged in 1854 in opposition to its expansion. The Republican Party formed in 1854 and by the presidential election of 1856 had its first presidential candidate on the ballot. However in the end John Fremont was defeated by Democratic candidate James Buchanan. President Buchanan continued the disorder that was maintained by the previous administration of Franklin Pierce. In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled on the Dred Scott case, stating that a slave was not a citizen and thus had no rights under the Constitution. The ruling intensified northern opposition to the expansion of slavery.
In 1858 an Illinois seat in the United States Senate gained attention as the two competitors for that seat debated for their party’s dominance in the Illinois state legislature, which appointed United State Senators at the time. Democrat Stephen Douglas debated Republican Abraham Lincoln. In the debates Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” The house represented the country and its sectional division of free and slave states. The Democrats won the election in Illinois returning Douglas to the United States Senate, while Lincoln gained national attention. The house divide was on the verge of collapsing.
In 1859 John Brown attempted to start a slave rebellion. Brown led an attack on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He seized the federal armory and held the citizens hostage. The rebellion was squashed and Brown was hung. Rebellion was in the air, but not from the anti-slavery side.
Lincoln’s prominence in the senatorial debates propelled him to the Republican nomination for president in 1860 defeating party heavy weight William Seward of New York. The election of 1860 pitted Republican Lincoln against, against a fractured Democratic party. The southern pro-slavery Democrats nominated the incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge, while the northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas. A fourth candidacy came from the Constitutional Union Party, a party comprised of former Whigs and Know-Nothings. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell. With the lowest popular vote percentage of any president ever and with only the electoral votes of the northern states, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.
With Lincoln’s election, the south believed the anti-slavery party would abolish their “peculiar institution.” Before the year of 1860 was out the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union, an act deemed unconstitutional by President Buchanan and President-elect Lincoln. However Buchanan felt there was nothing he could do. Lincoln attempted to heal the wounds with his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861. The south ignored Lincoln and on April 12th attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Fort Sumter in Lincoln’s eyes was Union property; the war between the states had begun.
Two different regions, one free and the other slave holding, fought together to overthrow a tyrannical king. These United States expanded their territorial reach over the North American continent. Their expanse disrupted the peaceful sectionalism which existed in revolution. Compromises were made to maintain the peace as the nation grew. However expansion turned these United States into a house divided, long preventing it from becoming a more perfect union as the United States.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Second Lady
Johnna Folsom is the first female governor of the great state of California. She is an independent politician, not associated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. The two parties selected their nominees for president of the United States. Johnna Folsom feels that she is the best qualified candidate to be the president of the United States.
As governor of the great state of California, she truly made it the greatest state in the Union by increasing employment and balancing the budget. She made everyone across the political spectrum happy. She proved she could govern. She proved she could manage the second largest bureaucracy in the United States. She proved she was ready for the biggest job in the county, and the world.
Johnna declared her candidacy after the major parties named their candidates. She was running as an independent, which meant it would be more difficult for her since she would not have the backing of the two big national political organizations. However her independence and her record as governor of California gave her wide appeal in a nation disillusioned by the two political parties of the United States.
Johnna began campaigning as the candidate to govern the United States and the world. She believed that her record as governor of California was proof that she could lead the masses and unite such a diverse population. Her history had shown that she could perform the duties of the chief executive of the nation, since her time as mayor of San Francisco and her time in the United States Senate representing California.
Governor Folsom is ambitious as her two male opponents of the two major political parties, but her success in the past has propelled her to front runner status for the highest job in the land. She is everyone’s favorite to be the next president of the United States.
With the governor’s success as front-runner against her two male opponents, Mayor Kathryn Grayson of Los Angeles enters the race. Mayor Grayson is very charismatic and an elegant speaker. She can lift up the lowest of spirits and fill them with the American dream. Her charm and beauty begin to elevate her to front-runner status.
Johnna realizes that she needs to become more human, like her new female competitor in this now four person race. Her ambition alone won’t get her to the Oval Office. She begins changing her stump speech from her history as a politician to that of a woman who struggled in a male dominated world. This new take on her campaign does not help her against the popular mayor of Los Angeles.
Mayor Grayson’s political history begins to catch up with her. It is soon revealed that while she was a member of the city council, she hired illegal immigrants to work at her home. This tarnishes her image and any chance she had of becoming a viable contender for the presidency. This event also returns Governor Folsom to the leading candidate in the polls against her two male rivals.
Governor Folsom looks to be the next president at this point in the race. Her ambition aside, she continues to present her human side for the remainder of the campaign, something she hasn’t done her political life.
On election night, the first returns show her in a three way tie with her two opponents. As the night goes on it becomes clear that the Democratic candidate is the projected winner. Governor Folsom is able to garner enough electoral and popular votes to place her in second place. Her candidacy divided the Republican vote, giving the election to the Democratic candidate.
During her concession speech, Governor Folsom acknowledges her loss but doesn’t give up on the hope that someone that doesn’t look like the other presidents can eventually grow up to be president.
Friday, April 11, 2008
OSCAR
Based on “Oedipus”
Leonard and Judith were a happy couple living in the farming community of Turlock, California. Although they were not farmers, Leonard owned a fabric store which he inherited from his father. Leonard recently had called Miss Cleo, a psychic who advertises on late night television. The psychic told him that if Leonard had a son, he would grow up and kill him and then marry his mother. Leonard was not afraid because he had no sons, just three girls. However after the conversation with the psychic Judith surprised Leonard with the news that she was pregnant.
Leonard became a little paranoid over the next nine months. He kept assuring himself that it would be another girl since they had three in a row. Judith did not want to know the gender of the baby, so Leonard had to wait until delivery to find out if it was a boy or a girl.
Finally nine months had passed and out came the baby. It was a healthy baby boy. On this joyous day all Leonard could think of was his conversation with the psychic all those months ago. When the two were left alone with their new born son, Leonard sprung the story on his wife. She slapped him and told him he was crazy to list to some pot head psychic.
The new baby boy finally made it home from the hospital, but all Leonard could think about was the future which lied ahead for him. He had to find a way to get rid of his new son. He couldn’t kill him, even if his son were to kill him in the future. He went on Craigslist to search for new parents for his son or a possible kidnapper. Leonard had no luck, so he decided to post an ad for a “fresh baby boy.” Within minutes Leonard received multiple responses. Some were from real perverts and others from couples who seemed real genuine and interested in raising a baby boy. Leonard turned down any gays, lesbians, interracial couples, or Star Trek fans, before settling on a nice old couple from Gustine.
Leonard arranged to deliver his new baby boy to the old couple from Gustine. They seemed real excited and happy to have an opportunity to raise a baby boy. Leonard made it look as if someone broke into their home and kidnapped their baby boy to appease Judith. Life for the two would be difficult as they dealt with the loss of their baby boy.
The old couple from Gustine quickly took their new baby boy and sold him on the black market.
They sold the baby boy to Peter and Mamie, a young couple from Colfax located at the northern end of the American River. Peter and Mamie were unable to have children of their own. So given the opportunity to get one, what with adoptions being such an arduous process, they drove down to Gustine to pick up their new baby boy. The old couple had the newborn wrapped in blankets inside an Oscar Meyer Weiner box. Peter decided to name their new baby boy Oscar because of the box he slept in. The young couple drove home with their new baby boy.
Oscar loved his box so much he continued to sleep in it until one night a growth spurt hit and collapsed the entire box.
The young couple loved their new son Oscar and raised them as if he were their own. Time went on and Oscar knew nothing of his past, believing that Peter and Mamie were his biological parents.
On the night of his eighteenth birthday he and his friends did what any one who just turned eighteen years old would do, they called the psychic hotline. Oscar called Miss Cleo, still airing the same commercial she had aired all those years ago when a man from Turlock called in. The psychic gave Oscar some grim news. Oscar would kill his father and wed his mother. While Oscar fought with his father as any father and son would do on occasion and he did think his mother was extremely hot, he no desire to kill his father or marry his mother. He did think about sex with his mother, but not marriage.
So one night Oscar left Colfax without saying a word to his mother or father. He wanted to escape before any possible crime could occur. He wanted to get as far away as possible from Colfax. Oscar began his journey down Highway Five.
Also traveling on Highway Five, but in the northern direction, was Leonard. He was on his way to San Francisco for a fabric convention. Leonard pulled off to one of the gas stations off of Highway Five to fill up his fabric filled van. The gas station was packed with patrons. One of the customers was Oscar; he did not pull his vehicle all the way up aggravating Leonard. If Oscar had just pulled up Leonard would be able to use the one available pump. Leonard started yelling at the young man as to what an idiot he was for not pulling up. Oscar looked at how far up his car was and then looked back at Leonard. Oscar flipped him off.
Leonard could not take such a gesture. He got out of the van and rushed over to Oscar’s car. Leonard pulled out a knife and slashed the front tire. Oscar was surprised. He took the gas pump and sprayed the van with it dowsing the van with gasoline. Leonard got back in his van and started up the engine not realizing that the spark of the engine would ignite the gasoline. Oscar got in his car and drove over to the tire store next to the gas station to repair his tire.
While he waited for his car to be fixed he watched as the paramedics arrived at the gas station. Leonard’s crisp body was removed from the van. They used one of the surviving pieces of fabric to cover the body. No one saw that Oscar had sprayed Leonard’s van, and the explosion must have looked like a freak accident. Unbeknownst to Oscar, one of the Miss Cleo’s sayings had been fulfilled. With Oscar’s car ready to go, he returned to the road.
A little paranoid, Oscar decided to stay off Highway Five. He eventually ended up in the farming town of Turlock. He checked in at a motel. He stayed the night. The next day he decided to sell his car and buy a new vehicle. He got a great deal on a van and decided to take it. Oscar took the van for a spin around town. He came across the fabric store owned by Leonard.
There was a sign in the window which read “Help Wanted. Owner Recently Deceased.” Oscar decided to take the low key job. He walked into the store and was greeted by an attractive woman named Judith. She was in tears and in need of both consoling and help at the store. He put his arms around Judith to console her. He held her all night as she wept and well into the morning.
The next day she invited him to stay with her at her house. Instead of offering Oscar the couch or one of the girl’s bedrooms, now off at college. She offered him her bed with her in it. Oscar accepted.
The two kept busy both at the fabric store and in the bedroom. Soon the two were married fulfilling the other prophesy of Miss Cleo. Judith and Oscar lived happily together running the store and sexing it up in the bedroom. But soon sales at the fabric store started to go south, a larger chain store had opened up in town. Oscar did not know what to do. He could not compete with the big chain store. He decided to call Miss Cleo.
Once again he called the psychic and she once again gave the message she gave before. She informed him that it all came true. He could not believe it. He told Judith what the psychic had told him. She collapsed upon the news and died. Oscar was devastated.
He closed down the fabric store and decided to leave the town of Turlock. He never wanted to see rolls of fabric again. He headed north to grow grapes to make wine so he could continuously drown his sorrows. All Oscar had with him, aside from his doom and dreams of wine, was his daughter-half-sister Angela. She was the only joy in his life and remained with him until the day he died a drunken wino.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Kentuckian
Jonathan Daniels and his son Andrew ventured from their home in Kentucky two days ago. Andrew brought with him his dog Jackson, named after Jonathan’s favorite president. Jonathan gave Andrew his dog as a birthday gift a year ago. That was around the time Jonathan lost his wife Rachel. After losing his wife Jonathan lost all interest in his life in Kentucky.
The two met at a young age, but waited to get married. Jonathan was an explorer and wanted to explore the Mississippi River. Upon his return from his trek up and down the river, he wed his lady in waiting. The young couple started farming tobacco and made a substantial profit from it.
Jonathan and Rachel wanted to begin a family with their new found fortune and life. They soon had a son which they named Jonathan Junior, but he died soon after birth. The young couple conceived of another child shortly after the horrifying experience and they named him Andrew. Andrew went everywhere his father went, continuously by his side. This made conceiving another child almost impossible.
The success of their tobacco farm soon turned to misfortune. Rachel, un-lady-like as it was at the time, enjoyed smoking the tobacco she and her husband grew. Little did she or Jonathan know that this would be the cause of her death.
Jonathan wanted nothing to do with the home that reminded him so much of the woman he so loved. The explorer in him wanted to get out and away from the place that reminded him of Rachel. Jonathan sold the farm and house. He decided to journey west for a new life and a new start. The two packed light and began their new life.
Days were long. Nights were scary, well scary for the young Daniels. However he had his dog Jackson by his side and his real life hero, his father, to protect him. To pass the time along their journey the two would sing songs and play various games. There were times where the journey became lonesome for both Daniels, even though they had each other.
“Are we there yet?” asked the young Daniels to his father. “Do we even know where we’re going?”
“We’ll know when we get there,” said the father.
“How?” replied the son.
Jonathan remained quiet as the two pressed on. Jackson sniffed bushes and trees causing him to lag behind at times.
“What about California?” asked Andrew.
“You hoping to find gold?” replied the older Daniels.
Andrew just smiled as he over took his father’s lead on the journey.
“Oh, so you’re leading us now,” said Jonathan. “All grown up.”
Andrew started up a hillside with his father and dog in tow.
“You know California is a long way away,” said Jonathan. “There are no trains and we might come across some Indians.”
Andrew paused on the hillside almost contemplating moving forward. Then almost has if hit by a bolt of lightning he looked toward his father. “We’ll find a way.”
Jonathan patted his son on the head and took the lead up the hillside. The two Daniels and Jackson ventured up the hill not knowing what was on the other side. They finally reached the top of the hill over looking a river valley and the westward journey that awaited them. For a moment they were alone, no signs of civilization for miles around them. No signs of life, nothing but the father and son, and their dog. They were explorers on a journey for a new life.
“That’s where we’re headed,” said Jonathan as he pointed out west. “You can’t see it yet, but our new life is out there.”
Andrew looked in amazement at the far off land of wonder which awaited them.
“You think mom would’ve liked this,” asked Andrew.
“You’re mother would have liked this view,” said Jonathan. “But she was a farmer’s daughter not an explorer.”
Andrew found a rock to sit down on, taking a rest from the long trek. Jackson walked over to him for some attention.
“So if she hadn’t died we’d have stayed home?” asked Andrew.
Jonathan looked down at his son. “We had a good life.”
Andrew sensed his father was finished with this topic of conversation. “Will we have a good life again?”
Jonathan touched the top of his son’s head and then bent down to pat Jackson. He then looked out over the journey ahead of them. “Only time will tell son.”
He began down the hillside toward the new life which awaited them. Andrew jumped up off the rock and Jackson quickly followed behind. Down the hill they went as they continued on, unsure of the future in store for the two Daniels and their dog.
“The Kentuckian”
by Thomas Hart Benton
1954
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