Some Thoughts On A Quote From Pearl S. Buck

"Yes, it was a great country, and he was part of it.  Men like him chose a common man and bade him to go to Washington and run the nation for them, and so long as they willed, he obeyed them.  When they willed, they sent him home again, and he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else.  It was a glorious idealism,

its only weakness the weakness of the individual."  (Pearl S. Buck, "The Townsman", Chapter 38, published under the pseudonym John Sedges)

During the course of her life, after returning to the United States from China, Pearl S. Buck wrote and published five novels under the pseudonym John Sedges because at the time her publisher believed that the American people simply thought of Pearl S. Buck as a Chinese or Asian writer and would not accept her writing fiction about America.  This is the only one of the John Sedges novels I have read at this point.  But I will complete them all in time based on how much I love this one. As I have been reading "The Townsman", I have come to love it and was particularly struck by the quotation above when I came upon it near the end of the novel.  What an important and accurate quote it is especially in these turbulent and terrifying times in America, the America which both Pearl S. Buck and I have loved.  But I do not intend to write at length in this post about the entire novel.  I only want to address the quotation above.  For these times, in March of 2020, with America facing the worst pandemic in the world since the polio outbreak of the early twentieth century this quote is both accurate and fraught with warning for this country and its people.  Taking the quotation line by line, let us examine it.  

"Yes, it was a great country and he was part of it." Yes, this is a great country, or was a great country.  But over the last four or so years, since the day the TRAITOR Trump announced he was running for president, the country has deteriorated sadly and immensely due primarily to the idiotic, unpatriotic, destructive, racist, violent, and ignorant speech from the TRAITOR Trump.  A coalition of the most gullible, criminal, and Right Wing Radical people in the country, including many who mistakenly claim they are Christians, has supported him and his TREASONOUS activities and the country has deteriorated morally, ethically, and legislatively as a result.  Our respect, as a nation in the eyes of the world has deteriorated greatly and now we are facing an unforeseen crisis which will turn out to be the worst health care crisis in the world since the polio epidemic of the early twentieth century.  Sadly, we have no leadership at the top fit to deal with it.

Men like him chose a common man and bade him to go to Washington and run the nation for them, and so long as they willed, he obeyed them.  From 1789 until 2012, the truths in the preceding sentence were upheld in America.  But in 2016, TRAITOR Trump, with the assistance of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Russian hackers stole a US presidential election and now nothing in that sentence above is true.  Men and women like the average citizen had their election, their presidency, their White House, and their country stolen from them and on January 20, 2017, a TRAITOR was actually allowed to illegally occupy the White House and he has never done the will of anyone except his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  There have even been intimations, at times, both from TRAITOR Trump and his Russian master Vladimir Putin that he might not even step down at the end of this illegally obtained term. At no point, has TRAITOR Trump obeyed the will of the people.  The only will he has obeyed has been the will of his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  He does not, has never, and will never obey the will of the electorate and only obeys the will of Vladimir Putin under duress which began when Russia bailed him out of his disastrous casino bankruptcies in 1989 through Deutsche Bank and Alfa Bank. At that time, no American bank with sufficient assets to do so would loan TRAITOR Trump enough money to save him from total financial collapse.  He belongs to Russia and he has always belonged to Russia since the day that first Russian backed loan was granted to him and he will belong to Russia until the day he dies or until the day they consider him no longer useful to Russian interests.

When they willed, they sent him home again, and he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else.  There are several separate key segments to this deceptively simple little sentence from Pearl S. Buck.  "When they willed" is a segment we have discussed at some length in the segment above which discusses in part the use of the very similar words "so long as they willed" and we will not repeat ourselves here.  But when you combine the words "when they willed" with the following phrase "they sent him home again", we arrive at a very important issue as regards the TRAITOR Trump and his lack of obedience to the will of the American electorate, his related total obedience to the will of Vladimir Putin and Russia, and the aforementioned doubt as whether or not the TRAITOR Trump will even obey the will of the people when he is defeated in the 2020 election and willingly leave the White House, the scene of most of his crime spree from January 20, 2017, until today, as I write, March 24, 2020.  Now, let's look at the last phrase in the sentence: "he went back to some little place...and was no more than anybody else".  That entire phrase and the totality of its validity rests on whether or not the occupant of the White House, whomever he or she may be, is willing to leave willingly at the end of their term whether that term was legitimately or illegitimately achieved.  In the case of the current illegitimate occupant of the White House, serious doubt exists among many of the most astute and intelligent people in the country and the world as to whether or not he will actually leave the White House willingly.  Their doubts are based in well documented statements both from TRAITOR Trump and those closest to him including his Russian Master Vladimir Putin.  Naturally, the question remains unanswered as to exactly what other public officials of the United States, including governors, senators, congress members, the Supreme Court, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff , would do in the event that an election were held, TRAITOR Trump were defeated, and then he refused to concede and leave the property of the taxpayers who had just rejected him.  Let us all hope that we never need to learn the answer to that question.  But if it does become necessary to learn, it is my fervent hope that the Joint Chiefs would do their duty and forcibly remove the usurper from the Oval Office.  It is also interesting from a psychological point of view to realize that the TRAITOR Trump has never believed, and mistakenly so, that he is "no more than anybody else" when in fact for every day of his criminal and TREASONOUS existence he has been far less than any other randomly selected and honest citizen of the country.  His ordinariness, his criminal nature, his limited intellectual skills, and his bone deep dishonesty indicate in an incontrovertible way that he is far less than the average voter who will, God willing, order him to give up his usurped office and leave to await further indictment, prosecution and eventual imprisonment for his TREASON and assorted other crimes.  

It was a glorious idealism, its only weakness the weakness of the individual."  At the time Pearl S. Buck wrote the book "The Townsman" and wrote the paragraph we have been examining, she had no way of knowing whether her words would ever be applicable to any political situation in America such as the one we are mired in as a country today.  Although she was expressing her own deeply held beliefs about America, American Democracy, and the Presidency, she had no way of knowing just how prescient her words would become seventy-five years after the book was published in 1944.  But prescient they are.  The entire concept of American Democracy and the US Constitution and everything it governs including the presidency does represent "a glorious idealism".  In the two hundred plus years since the US Constitution was written, several other democracies and constitutions have been modeled after ours.  Our democracy has managed to survive every assault which has risen against it since 1789.  We have survived multiple wars including two world wars.  We have survived prior economic collapses and health care epidemics including the Great Depression and the polio epidemic.  But in all those years, this country and this democracy has never been faced with a double breasted crisis such as the one we are facing now.  We are in the throes of the worst world wide pandemic since the 1918 Influenza Epidemic attacked the world.  We are in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's.  Simultaneously, we are forced to face this two-pronged assault with the White House under occupation by an illegitimate claimant to the title of US President who claim to that title arose in a criminal nature and was facilitated by TREASON in cooperation with the worst geopolitical enemy this country has.  "The weakness of the individual" as Pearl S. Buck wrote it is at the heart of our worst crisis in American history.  The criminal weakness of the TRAITOR Trump has placed us in an untenable position as a country and a people.  We must survive this crisis and he must receive the punishment he deserves for the damage he has done to this country.  When is removed from office by vote, and if necessary by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he must be indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated for his TREASON and assorted other crimes against the government and the people of the United States, and he must be forced to serve his sentence in a secure federal prison to the literal end of his miserable, TREASONOUS life.   

My Message To Bernie Sanders And His Supporters!

Yesterday morning, March 22, 2020, I sent the following message to US Senator Bernie Sanders on his official senate web page. I suggest that all my friends and all the voters in America do the same thing. Bernie Sanders is now doing exactly the same thing he did in 2016 and continuing a futile campaign, refusing to concede, and damaging the eventual nominee of the Democratic Party. Please send some form of a similar message to Bernie Sanders.

Senator Sanders:

Just as you did from June 6, 2016, until July 12, 2016, you are continuing to run a futile campaign and damage the Democratic Party nominee, Joe Biden. This is not ethical. This is not honest. This is not in the best interests of the country in this time of crisis. It is once again past time for you to concede, endorse the nominee, and support him publicly, or at the very least to stop damaging his campaign to save the country. Face your ethical, moral, and rational responsibility and concede. You are simply confirming the allegations in this news story at the link below that you are one of two candidates supported by Vladimir Putin because you bring chaos to the campaign and to America.

Roger D. Hicks

Here is the link to a news story about Vladimir Putin's interference in US elections and his support of both TRAITOR Trump and Bernie Sanders and the fact that Putin does this because Sanders, just like TRAITOR Trump, wreaks havoc in the country with his persistence in continuing to campaign and foment anger among his supporters.  The supporters of both Sanders and TRAITOR Trump are in many ways just alike and devoted to both men in a cult like manner.  Both groups are minorities in America and American politics.  But Vladimir Putin knows that if both are running for office and fomenting misplaced and illegitimate anger among their followers, a legitimate candidate like Joe Biden cannot win in the end and Putin will end up with his real candidate, TRAITOR Trump living illegally in the White House based on his TREASON with Russia.  I firmly believe that TRAITOR Trump is and has been for many years a willing agent of Russia based on their loans, through Alfa Bank and Deutsch Bank which saved him from a total financial collapse in 1989.  I have never come to the conclusion that Bernie Sanders is a willing agent of Putin and Russia.  But I do believe that Vladimir Putin and Russia view Bernie Sanders as a "useful idiot" which is a term intelligence agents world wide use to describe those people who are not willing to assist in their efforts but are just too gullible to realize they are being used to help their manipulators to achieve their goals.  Based on all that, I am asking anyone and everyone I can influence to do so to send a similar kind of message to Bernie Sanders to urge him to face the reality that once again, just as happened in 2016, he is incapable of winning the nomination and is only damaging the nominee, the Democratic party, and the country.  I would also like those messages to include a reminder to Sanders that he is, once again, assisting Russia and Vladimir Putin to achieve their goals and he must concede, endorse the nominee, and actually work with that nominee for the greater good of the nation.  

Shopping In The Time Of Corona Virus!

Yesterday, I got up at 5am, left my house at 6am, and traveled to Morehead, Kentucky, to go to WalMart and Kroger for a long list of the items my wife and I are likely to need in the next month.  I suspect that what I came home with will not last for a month but I have never seen the time when I got as much time out of my store purchases as I wanted so this is no surprise.  WalMart and Kroger now open at 7am.  Kroger advertises that they are devoting the first hour of business to senior citizens only in order to make it easier on them to shop in the crisis which Corona Virus has caused.  WalMart does not do the same.  But most of the items on my list were intended to be from WalMart so I chose to go there first.  I was sitting in the parking lot at WalMart about 15 minutes before the store opened with what became about a dozen other people most of whom appeared to be older than dirt.  I listened to reruns from WSGS Radio's "Faron and Scott Show" which they now run all night long and it also appears they have placed the station on some form of autopilot with either a satellite radio service or having an employee come in now and then to load several hours of recordings.  As I waited, a few more cars showed up until that dozen or so others were also there when the doors opened.  

I had tried to be prepared for the possibility that a Corona Virus carrier might have touched something I was about to touch or even buy.  I took several medical grade gloves with me which we have used for quite a few years due to my wife's ongoing medical history.  First I went to the store bathroom, used it standing up without touching a single thing in the room, walked to the shopping carts, put on a pair of gloves and grabbed the cart. The usual dispenser for disinfectant wipes was empty at that time of the morning so I could not wipe the cart which I have been doing in stores lately. I realized I had not stuck a pen in pocket with my list and was actually able to borrow a pen from the checker who was manning the only live checkout aisle.  I went first to the paper goods aisle since I was aware that there has been an insane run on toilet paper in the age of Corona.  I was able to find a few smaller packages of toilet paper and none of the king size packages with 24 or more rolls which I have been buying for years. I also grabbed two large and two small bottles of Clorox since we use it for all cleaning and Candice, with her manual dexterity issues, likes the smaller bottles in the kitchen. For many years, I have used the following expression when buying non-perishable items for the house:  "It won't rot and it won't rust."  So, I usually buy the largest package of these things which a store sells.  Every room in my house has at least one closet with large ones in both the family room and the bathroom, which is a converted bedroom.  I also have a large basement.  I can store anything if I can afford to buy it.  But the catch was that in the age of Corona there was almost nothing to buy.  Luckily, I had bought several cases of canned vegetables a couple of weeks ago when the outbreak first started and I was only looking for a few specific food items.  

I grabbed toilet paper, the smaller size, and an equally small package of paper towels and headed across the store to the pet food section since we have four cats, three of which are both indoor and outdoor cats.  The fourth is thirteen years old and has never been outdoors since she was about six months old.  I needed cat food and cat litter which I buy in the large sizes always.  I was able to grab two large plastic buckets of cat litter and the cat food shelves were nearly bare.  There were no large bags of any kind of cat food.  They were also totally out of Purina which I always buy since it is higher quality and, after a lifetime of feeding cats, dogs, and horses, I am an expert on animal feeds.  So, as a fail safe if I ran out, I grabbed a three pound bag of an off brand cat food and headed to the pharmacy area to search for baby wipes, rubber gloves, and alcohol which we always use because of Candice's health issues.  I actually found rubber gloves, grabbed two boxes, a can of shaving cream, and a large bottle of hand washing solution which I was amazed they had.  They were out of alcohol and I asked a female employee who was nearby if it could be anywhere else.  We searched and found none.  Apparently, there has also been a run on alcohol.  Later, after I got home, I called a Dollar General store about three miles from my house and the manager told me he didn't have any alcohol either unless it was on a truck they were unloading.  He said, "I will know if I have it tomorrow when we get this truck all stocked."  

Then I went back to the grocery aisle to pick up a few things there including Rotel tomatoes, coconut milk, canned nuts, string cheese, and a few other items.  The shelves appeared as if a plague of locusts had descended on them just after the plagues of frogs, flies, and wild animals had left.  One woman spoke out near me that they were out of canned milk.  They were also out of canned fruit, tomato juice, pasta, and flour, all of which I needed.  A male employee who was pulling items for the lazy and overly fearful pick up crowd struck up a conversation and actually went to get me a second cart since the toilet, paper, paper towels, and cat litter had nearly filled the one I was using.  From there, I went to the produce aisle pulling one cart and pushing the other.  Unlike most areas of the store, the produce section was well stocked.   I grabbed potatoes, mandarins, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, blueberries, cauliflower, and bananas.  Close to me, I saw a young woman grabbing about a half dozen large packages of blueberries and I smiled at her and said, "you must really love blueberries.  I love them too but I can't eat that many."  She replied, "I'm shopping for a lot of people."  I am now afraid that a run is developing on blueberries.  I went to the same checkout lane where the checker had loaned me a pen.  I offered to return it and, in the age of Corona, she said "just keep it" which came in handy when I got to Kroger.  She told me there was one bottle limit on Clorox and gazed askance at the two boxes of medical gloves.  I said, "my wife has been in a wheelchair for twenty years and we use those things all the time for her medical issues."  She let me keep three of the Clorox and the medical gloves.  My ticket came to $303.00. As I started to leave, a manager asked if I needed someone to help me get it to the van.  I declined since I am still perfectly capable of driving two shopping carts at the same time.  I loaded everything in my van and put the refrigerated items in my large ice chest which I have kept in the van for years since I live thirty miles from all large stores like WalMart and Kroger.  I got in, stripped off my gloves, dropped them in the van floor, and headed to Kroger. I was out of WalMart in an hour. 

I got to Kroger a bit after 8am and started to put on a new pair of medical gloves and dropped one in the floor.  I kicked it over near a trash can but did not pick it up and put it in since I am now in the age of Corona.  The produce aisle was well stocked but I no longer needed produce.  But I got a half dozen parsnips since Candice and I both love them.  When I got the canned fruit aisle, I actually found some and grabbed several cans of peaches and pineapples for snacks, cakes, and cobblers. I thought I recognized a man in the aisle and spoke to him.  He turned out to be an ER doctor who had treated me when I had an episode of hypertension a few years ago.  We had a nice talk and I told him about my current good health and exercise program, thanked him for having treated me and another occasion when he had treated my wife.  I actually found flour and a limited selection of pasta.  I grabbed two large boxes of medium shells since they had no elbow macaroni.  I was driving my cart past the meat aisle and realized that it appeared as if a pack of timber wolves had spent the night in the store.  There was only a bit of packaged meats and literally no fresh cut meat of any kind.  I grabbed a small package of sweet Italian sausage which Candice and I both love.  We rarely eat beef or pork and keep farm raised chickens and wild caught fish in our freezer so I didn't need meat anyway.  I actually found a large sixteen pound bag of cat food in a minor brand and grabbed it.  I found the brand of butter we like, grabbed three containers and three dozen eggs which we eat in a limited manner these days.  But eggs will keep for at least three weeks in the refrigerator so I am safe with eggs now.  Then I traveled to the pharmacy aisles to search for alcohol.  They also had none.  Then I went to the frozen food aisle to try to find some Birds Eye frozen vegetable which Candice likes.  Several employees were stocking a few items in the aisle.  I found a meager selection of those vegetables and a few frozen muffins which Candice likes for breakfast and overheard one of the employees make a very favorable statement about Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.  So I got into the conversation and we all agreed that we are incredibly lucky in Kentucky to have Governor Beshear in the time of Corona.  I made the statement that I think he could make a very good running mate for Joe Biden and the employees agreed.  We parted company and I checked out where my ticket came to about $140.00.  I loaded up my items in the van and stripped off my medical gloves and dropped them in the van floor on top of the pair from WalMart.  I will use a plastic grocery bag tomorrow like a glove and pick the medical gloves off the floor, turn the bag inside out, tie a knot in it, and trash the gloves in the age of Corona.  

On the way home, I listened to canned, talking head satellite radio or recorded stuff, whichever it was on WSGS my favorite radio station because they are apparently not running live radio in the age of Corona.  I also drove past my favorite country store which a family who are friends of mine operate and found a note on the door which stated "We will be open Saturday from 11am to 6pm."  I assume that they cannot get stock and might not have much walk in business in the age of Corona.

"The Living Reed" by Pearl S. Buck--Book Review

I have never made any secret of the fact that I love the writing of Pearl S. Buck who was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia and educated in Virginia during her college years at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia.  Despite the many people who mistakenly believe that she was purely an Asian writer Peal S. Buck spent much of her life in America and wrote numerous books set in this country which are not nearly as well know as her works about Asia.  I have read "The Good Earth" and written about it on this blog.Due to the early years of her life which she spent primarily in

China and the fact that she is generally described as a writer about China, she deserves to known as an Appalachian.  I have also read the two other books in "The Good Earth Trilogy" and failed to write about them on this blog although I did post their titles on the ever growing list of books I have read which you can always find at the bottom of the page on this blog.  Those titles are "Sons" and "A House Divided".  I seem to remember that I was busy in other things at the time I completed both those books and am sorry for never having mentioned them at length here.  They are both excellent books and well worth reading although they are not at the level of "The Good Earth".  But then few books are.  The book we are discussing in this post, in my opinion, comes close to "The Good Earth" in quality.

"The Living Reed" is set in Korea from 1881 to 1945 and covers a great deal of Korean history, sociology, and culture just as "The Good Earth Trilogy" does for China.  The book is also a story about an Asian family and their lives as Korea enters, fights, and eventually survives conflicts with both China and Japan.  The characters and the plot are incredibly well written and the story deserves to have been a trilogy just as much as did "The Good Earth".  Phillip Gowman, in his review states that the novel "...is immediately comforting, enveloping you in warmth. The language is intentionally epic, giving a heightened sense of significance to the events you are reading about."  Through the course of this book, you come to feel you know the Kim family.

Pearl S. Buck

You cherish their successes.  You mourn their losses.  You respect their intelligence, class, honor, and integrity.  These characters are people well worth knowing.  Just as in "The Good Earth Trilogy" the family grows and they grow on you.  Members of the family live, grow old, and die.  They live their daily lives and play their roles both in the family and in the government of Korea in a manner which befits good, decent, honorable Asian people of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  You come away from this book feeling that you know a lot more about Korea and you come to respect it as a country and a culture.  This book is well worth your time. 

"The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis--Book Review

After having spent more than a week remaining at home, avoiding face to face contacts with anyone other than my FedEx man this morning, I am tired of thinking about the Corona Virus pandemic, the possibility of becoming randomly infected, and the possibility of dying from a virus

which has been poorly, treasonously, and inadequately dealt with by the TRAITOR who illegally occupies the White House based on his TREASON with Russia, I was ready for a break.  I decided a few days ago to read a book by C. S. Lewis which I had not remembered ever being aware of, "The Abolition Of Man". Most of you probably remember Lewis as having the author of "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" which are some of the best and best known writing in the field of science fiction and fantasy.  But Lewis was a prolific writer in the fields of philosophy and theology and he is considered to be a major thinker in the area of christian apologetics. His book of essays, "Mere Christianity" is considered to be a classic in the field of christian apologetics just as "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Space Trilogy" are classics in their field of fantasy and science fiction. But this book, "The Abolition Of Man" is not in either of those areas.  The official C. S. Lewis website to which I have provided the link above files this book under the heading "Literary Criticism".  I would not necessarily agree with that label and think of the book as being much more appropriately placed in the field of educational philosophy.  Another anonymous writer has said that the book is "...a starting point for a defense of objective value and natural law as well as a warning of the consequences of doing away with or "debunking" those things. It defends science as something worth pursuing but criticizes using it to debunk values, the value of science itself being among them, or defining it to exclude such values."  In all honesty, after reading it, I have to say that I'll be damned if I'm sure exactly what it is other than educational philosophy.  I am not a philosopher or a student of philosophy.  Like most other American undergraduate students, I suffered through "Introduction To Philosphy" because it was a requirement of my university.  But I also read a lot of other philosophy during that undergraduate program because I was a member of the Morehead State University Academic Honors Program which was chaired at that time by Dr. George M. "Mac" Luckey who had also served for a few years as the chairman of the philosophy department.  The program, at least during Mac's tenure as its chair was strongly based in philosophy and literature.  Six courses comprised the program and were restricted to attendance by only members of the program who were competitively admitted based on academic qualifications.  Those courses began with a course which was based in the Greek and Roman classics including the  works of Plato and three other courses followed which took us through the other major periods of greater philosophical and literary progress in the world.  Those four courses were also accompanied by two seminars which varied from year to year in both subject matter and professors. The one which impressed me most was based in scientific progress including the works of Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.  But none of those courses and none of the philosophical content I read, understood at the time well enough to receive an "A", and tried desperately to absorb was enough to make me want to change my major to philosophy.  Neither did this book, "The Abolition Of Man" by C. S. Lewis.  Maybe I am just getting old, but this was a very boring little book to read.  But I have enough respect for C. S. Lewis and his other works to still come away willing to bore my readers on this blog with my discussion of the experience.  

The book contains three chapters or essays and is only fifty-eight pages long.  But it was still more than I was looking for when I paid a former part employee fifty cents for it along a pile of other books at the same price all of which I am convinced will excite me more.  But I do not want to leave my readers with the impression that I do not respect C. S. Lewis and his works.  He was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkein of "Lord Of The Rings" fame and the two of them were key members of the famous group of friends known as "The Inklings".  The two of them were the two best known members and most prolific writers among this group which also included the writer Owen Barfield who was also quite prolific by ordinary standards.  The group was composed of at least fifteen members, all associated with Oxford University, over the years and always met weekly at an Oxford pub named The Eagle And Child but known around London at The Bird And Baby.  I have often wished I could have been a fly on the wall at one of their meetings to hear what future great literature they were discussing.  But I repeat I am not a philosopher.  

And that last preceding sentence is interesting since just last night I told my cousin, more like a brother, Jack Terry, that the three greatest influences on my writing and thinking in academic world were all philosphers, Robert "Bob" Snyder, P. J. Laska, and Mac Luckey.  But none of them was capable of making a philosopher of me and I suspect that all three often attempted to remodel other sow's ears into silk purses.  If you have already read "The Chronicles Of Narnia", "The Space Trilogy", and "Mere Christianity" and want to tackle a rarely read book by C. S. Lewis, this is the one for you and I hope you are able to find a copy as cheaply as I did.  I suppose I must have gotten my half dollar out of it since it did motivate me to write another blog post. 

Thank God For Governors Like Andy Beshear!

 As the Corona Virus crisis deepens, cases and deaths increase, and the economy becomes steadily worse, many people all over the country and the world are panicking and becoming more and more bizarre in their actions both in public and private.  A man in Nelson County Kentucky has tested positive for the corona virus, refused to self quarantine, and

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear--Photo by Twitter.com

Governor Andy Beshear has been forced to place deputy sheriffs outside the man's house to keep him from infecting the general public.  Now the man denies he was ever tested for the virus and has approached several media outlets to make claims that he does not have the virus and is being held against his will.  So the natural question becomes 'whom do you believe'?  I believe Governor Andy Beshear and the health care workers and sheriff's deputies in Nelson County Kentucky and so should you.  I watch Governor Beshear's daily press conferences about the corona virus on most days.  I am consistently impressed with his calm, professional, ethical, and compassionate attitude every minute of every press conference. I can assure you that, in the middle of the worst health care crisis in this country since the polio outbreak of the early twentieth century, he has more things on his mind than having police officers holding an innocent idiot against his will.  

Most of the news outlets which have run stories from this man and his wife are marginal in their professionalism and veracity.  The Washington Post did run a story one day ago, on March 17, 2020, with the headline "Don’t want to self-quarantine? The sheriff could send armed guards to your house."  I must insist that the headline is a bit garish for the usual professional standards of the Washington post.  But the story states in the second paragraph that "He recently checked himself out of a University of Louisville hospital against his doctors’ advice and told the local health department he would not comply with an order to isolate himself from others."  You can bet your butt that the newspaper which has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes knows how to verify any statement made by any reporter in any story and would not make such a statement as a lead paragraph in a story if it had not been substantiated by the governor's office, the hospital, and the Nelson county health department.  Andy Beshear has already served one term as the attorney general of Kentucky and his law degree is from the University of Virginia which is one of the best law schools in the country other than those in the Ivy League.  He did not take this step lightly and he did not take this step without justification.  People like the man in question are willing to endanger their family, friends, and neighbors simply because they are ignorant, uncaring, and anti-social to the core.  At this time, when the great majority of Americans are doing their duty and staying at home to protect the rest of the human race, idiots like this are a major part of the reason the Corona Virus is spreading like wildfire all across the country. We should also remember that any person who has tested positive can transmit the virus whether or not they are showing symptoms.  I do not know the particular circumstances of another case nearly as well as I know those of the Nelson County case but a family in New Jersey has had three deaths, six other members hospitalized, and five of those in critical condition, with pending tests for nineteen others in the family.  Their story is a clear indication of just how dangerous it is for an infected person like the man in Nelson County to traipse lightly through an unsuspecting community.  If you or any other member of your family is infected, whether or not they are showing symptoms, insist that they remain in isolation for whatever period the local authorities require which is generally two weeks to be followed with two negative Corona Virus tests taken at least twenty-four hours apart.  Do your part!  Obey the standards established by the Centers For Disease Control to the letter!  Do not become an uncaring carrier whose actions contribute to the infections and deaths of other innocent victims!  And join me in thanking Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear for doing an excellent job in a horrible time!  #TeamKentucky  #togetherKY 

Marty Stuart, Vietnamese Food, and The Corona Virus

Last Saturday, March 7, 2020, my wife Candice and I attended a concert by Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives at the Lexington Opera House in Lexington, Kentucky.  We had bought the tickets several weeks before the corona virus pandemic and seriously considered just eating the price

Marty Stuart, Photo by Biography.com

of the tickets and not going because of the danger of being in a tightly packed crowd in a concert venue like the opera house which is a beautiful but small concert hall which was built and generally intended for performances such as opera, Shakespeare, and small classical music groups.  But I consulted with a friend who is a retired doctor with whom I served on a non-profit board for a couple of years.  She said that she is currently on immunosupressant treatments and still has not curtailed her activities in public.  Let me state, though, that the communication about the corona virus took place more than a week ago and what she said then might well not be what she would say when you read this post.  NEVER TAKE ADVICE ABOUT THE CORONA VIRUS FROM ANY SOURCE OTHER THAN THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL IN ATLANTA.  HERE IS A LINK TO THEIR WEBSITE.  Far too much wrong, foolhardy, and deliberately deceptive information about the corona virus is being handed out to the unsuspecting public and has been since a few weeks before the pandemic reached the United States and much of it has originated from the White House.  

Now, back to the evening of food and entertainment which is the primary topic of this blog post and was the sole reason we decided to take one last trip abroad from our home before shutting ourselves in as much as possible until the pandemic is brought under control.  Both my wife and I have always loved the work of Marty Stuart for many years.  He is a musical virtuoso and began earning a living as a road musician before he was a teenager.  He plays guitar, mandolin, bass, and fiddle, and could probably learn any other instrument he would choose to devote some time to.  He writes and performs in four different categories of music: country, bluegrass, gospel, and rock.  He has always had a wonderfully skilled and diverse band as well and they live up to the name The Fabulous Superlatives quite well. Ever person who has ever been a member of the band has played multiple instruments and sung well enough to be featured at times in the act.  My one regret in this concert is that we never saw Stuart while Paul Martin was still the bass player.  After several years of playing in the band, Martin left the group to perform with his wife and children in a family band.  He was replaced by Chris Scruggs, the grandson of virtuoso banjo player Earl Scruggs, who is a tremendous bass player whether he is playing the electric bass or what we Bluegrass fans fondly call the doghouse bass.  I do not say this to disparage Scrugg's musical ability in any way but I would have loved to see the band with Martin still in it. 

The concert was tremendous and the building was apparently at capacity despite the onset of the corona virus pandemic in Kentucky.  Since Candice is in a wheelchair, we were seated at the back of the front seating area in a row which is composed of straight backed chairs which can be moved to accommodate patrons in wheelchairs and might have had a little less contact with other concert goers than was true in any of the regular permanent seats.  The concert was billed as a "Pilgrim Concert" which meant that it featured a classic album of Stuart's from several years ago, "The Pilgrim", which has recently been reissued with several additional tracks.  The album was written in a form similar to "Tommy" by "The Who", a classic rock opera.  The album tells the story of two men and a woman from Stuart's hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi.  It is complex, varied in its musical style and composition, and well worth listening to any time.  The story of the people it tells is about a tragic love triangle which results in the public suicide of the man who lost the woman's love.  The other man blames himself for the death of his rival and becomes a wanderer across America until he is able to contact the woman, learn that she loves him still, and wants him to return to Mississippi.  It is every bit as good a story as "Tommy" and just as pleasurable in a musical sense.  If you haven't heard it, listen to it on YouTube.  To say the least, we enjoyed the concert tremendously and have not yet shown any symptoms of corona virus although we are still not out of the two week incubation period which might even be a bit longer. 

Before the concert, we had a meal at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Saigon, in Woodhill Shopping Center just off New Circle Road in Lexington.  They serve great, fresh, hot, beautifully presented Vietnamese dishes including pho or Vietnamese soups, hot pot dishes, and noodle dishes.  My personal favorite is Shrimp Hot Pot which contains more than half a dozen large shrimp, a rice base, and a belly full of fresh, perfectly cooked vegetables.  The secret to a hot pot is that it is served in a ceramic or earthenware oven proof deep dish which is placed in an oven before the dish is placed inside.  The rice is layered in the bottom and the pot is hot enough to make the rice adhere to the pot and become slightly carbonized beneath the vegetables, whatever meat you choose, and a wonderful sauce.  The pot is so  hot when it is served that you cannot touch it and if you take your time eating the last bite will still be hot when you reach the bottom.  That is a feat which very few restaurants can pull off successfully.  Pho Saigon serves beef, chicken, pork, seafood, and vegetarian dishes and everything I have ever eaten there was well worth having again.  And, in what I consider to be a positive sign of any restaurant which is billed as ethnic, when you go in Pho Saigon you will nearly always see other diners who are speaking the native language of Vietnamese.  If you hear Italian in an Italian restaurant, or Mandarin in a Chinese restaurant, or the native language in any supposedly culturally based restaurant, you will generally see and eat food which is more authentic than if you did not hear the language.  If you have never been in Pho Saigon in Lexington, the next time you are there take a trip to Woodhill and have a wonderful meal.  Another aspect of the place which I like a lot is the owner and employees are all friendly, talkative, willing to please, and hard working.  The dining room and bathrooms are spotless.  The room is large and comfortable and the atmosphere is always open, friendly, and inviting.  And if you like Asian foods, there is an Asian food market next door which I suspect is operated by the same owners.