The Bird Lady of Kansas City

One of my mother’s old beauty shop customers was a middle aged lady, Ester O’Connor.  I can remember her now even after more than forty years:  gray hair pinned back on the sides and 1950’s glasses with pointed rims secured by one of those librarian chains.  Her chief interest in life was birds.  In fact, I remember an article in the local papers that gave her that notoriety.  She reminded me of Rima the Bird Girl from the book, Green Mansions.  She lived in a patch of woods in a bend of Brush Creek at about 4900 Rockhill Road across from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and two blocks east of the Country Club Plaza.

When I was working my way through college she hired me as a handyman to fix up her rentals located reasonably close to her secretive enclave in the woods.  I remember she used to get mad at Good Will because they always wanted new discarded furniture.  Sometimes, after cleaning out a rental, they would ignore the pieces we placed on the curb.  Mrs. O’Conner also had a comfortable little house she shared with her friend, Rilla.  My job was to rake the area and do odd jobs like tar-mop the flat roof.  Often she would bid me stop so that she could point out and identify some feathery friend.  Unfortunately, following the pattern so familiar in Rima’s Amazon, forces beyond her control somehow took the land.

The city fathers decided to rehabilitate Brush Creek because of the negative publicity of the damage that periodic floods do to the Plaza area and further downstream into the black neighborhoods along Van Brunt Blvd. Construction crews made little dams that slowed the water enough so that Kansas City could brag about the new waterway that boasted boats for tourists and thousands of yellow plastic ducks for occasional business promotions.  Sadly, the trees disappeared as the whole area was slicked up and became sterile.  Those who venture there now are an occasional jogger, homeless person looking for a place under a new bridge, or a city maintenance crew.

I liked Mrs. O’Connor because she real and had a passion about her favorite subject even if it was just birds. Oddly enough, after her disappearance into time, thousands of crows still descend in the same area and create all kinds of mayhem.  Maybe it’s an apparition of old Tom Pendergast complaining that the new Brush Creek contractors didn’t use enough cement or maybe it’s something else.

Nuremberg: The People I Met

I was approaching my fifth week in Europe as my trip to Europe came full circle.  I crossed the brown Danube River on June 22, 1972 exactly 30 years after Germany invaded Russia.  Nuremberg is a little confusing because it's actually composed of several small towns and I found myself crossing one or two little rivers to the main part of town.  I noticed U.S. Army troops there for the first time outside Frankfurt.  One G.I. told me on the train that he loved Germany because he had a cushy job and was dating the commander’s daughter.  Another said he didn’t do much and wanted to go back to Alabama. 

I met an odd Australian couple who were heading to Copenhagen with a baggage train a mile long.  The lady talked a blue streak and said they had a son who attended Harvard. What they were doing riding second class is beyond me.  You meet a lot of other curious people around train stations besides passengers like the smart-aleck waiter: “Very good meal for movie star looking guy. You from Beverly Hills?  Have many cherries here.”  I made it worse by telling him I had a headache and just wanted a glass of milk.  You should have heard the outrage on that one.  I didn’t dare tell him my last name.

Someone said something about Nuremberg Castle having a hostel so I climbed up the hill and on my way I saw the most beautiful girl in the world.  She wore clogs, a miniskirt, and had on one of those revealing Farrah Fawcett halter tops.  She made the climb a lot easier and when I arrived, the view of Nuremberg was also breathtaking.  As I looked east I saw where the Nazi Party rallies took place among the glistening white granite slabs of the old stadium.  The 1934 movie, Triumph of the Will, which is probably the most important political documentary film in history, faithfully records the old city at street and roof levels.  It was incredible to ponder that 87% of the city below me was destroyed by bombing.  Many years later I recognized the market area and some of its winding streets from the film.  It was apparent the post-war reconstruction was faithful to Nuremberg’s original appearance.  The only thing I didn’t like about the castle was the cold showers.  What should have I expected for 6 DM?

Afternoons leave backpackers free and my first stop was at Albrecht Duer’s house and museum.  Despite my appreciation for art and engraving, I found Duer’s overrated when compared to painting; maybe it’s because Europe is so packed with good art (unlike America) that some of it loses its appeal.  I had also promised my next door neighbors in Kansas City that I would visit their niece and her family, the Dressler’s, who lived south of the train station.  I went over to their place and found it small compared to American standards.  Other than the pleasantries she was worried that the Americans might leave Germany and allow the Soviets to move in just like they did in Czechoslovakia.  I closed the day with the pleasant discovery of a Wimpey Bar.

I was booked to leave Europe in two days.  I guess there is a time when the traveler in you gets tired and surmises that you’ve seen enough or perhaps have had enough.  There were days when I ran out of money not because of its lack, but because I could not cash my Traveler’s Checks like the situation in Paris.  In Nuremberg I was down to 20 pfennigs.  Call it stress.  There was also a certain melancholia that probably comes from fatigue.  At sunset on the west side of Nuremberg Castle I gazed at two night birds swooping over the dry moats as a distant plane soaring westward made me think of home.

George W. Bush and Herman Goering

We’re still fighting in Afghanistan after all these years and our militarists are itching to get involved in the religious Syrian civil war.  After all, the House just voted a $638 billion defense appropriation and nobody gets punished for starting wars anyway.  Darth Vader tours cable news defending the Bush Administration’s war in Iraq and probably gets millions in cash and free publicity.  The Decider writes his memoirs and paints while we the people, the victims of his excesses, pay for it in a tanked economy, lost civil liberties, and in thousands of dead and crippled soldiers.  Nobody goes to jail.  Why rob a Seven Eleven when with the proper training and backing you can pillage whole countries and get away with it?

The current headliner is government spying and nobody seems to remember the Patriot Act passed under George W. Bush.  Americans seem to be incapable of comprehending the bigger picture, but there was a time when things like torture, rendition (kidnapping), and, especially, the waging aggressive wars were frowned upon.  Nazi perpetrators found out the hard way at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg 1945-1946.  I cite: Nuremberg Diary by G.M. Gilbert.

·         Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, “aggressive plans against Czechoslovakia"   Death by Hanging

·         Constantin von Neurath, early Foreign Minister, knowing of  “War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity” as a “chief German official” 15 Years Imprisonment

·         Walther Funk, last Minister of Economics, contributing to aggressive war, Life Imprisonment

·         Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Chief of Security, “mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war” Death by Hanging

·         Erich Raeder, early Commander of German Navy, “aggressive war” Life Imprisonment

·         Herman Goering, Reichsmarchall and Luftwaffe Chief, helping launch aggressive wars

Death by Hanging

George W. Bush and Herman Goering had something in common besides being ex-pilots with drug problems.  Goering knew “. . . people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.  That is easy.  All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of participation and exposing the country to danger.  It works the same way in any country.”  Was this revelation to Bush the product of historical osmosis, accident, or the poisonous intrigues of Dick Chaney?  Americans will never know, but what they do know is that one major difference is the Decider was never held accountable for the same offenses for which we prosecuted Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. 

Ann Coulter Doll in the Year 2125

The Ray Cherry Show

5/20/05

Quoted from Journal of the Silent Majority

When I saw your doll in line, I got very excited.  It made my day.

I’M GLAD TO BE HERE AT THE KANSAS CITY ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW FOR 2125.

What you have here is an Anne Coulter doll circa 2005.  It was part of a group of satirical political dolls popular at that time in the United States.

How did you come by it?

MY GG GRANDFATHER, DENNIS CARRIGER, USED IT ON THE RAY CHERRY TALK RADIO SHOW WHEN WE STILL HAD FIRST ADMENDMENT RIGHTS. MY MOTHER SOLD IT TO ME.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF THE DOLL WITH MY GG GRANDFATHER AT THE KCXL STUDIOS IN LIBERTY, MISSOURI, MAY 21, 2005.

The good news on this Anne Coulter doll is that it is a Model A series doll that faithfully depicts her as a viper-mouthed swamp witch.  It has great patina.  As you know one of these dolls was given to President George W. Bush as a gag gift for his birthday.  He was so enthralled by its repetitious rantings, especially on the need to H-bomb North Korea, that he actually did it.

What is remarkable is that there is still this one left and that it has so little thermo-nuclear discoloration.  With the picture, the doll has great provenance.

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE DISCOLORATION?

You can have a conservator look at it and most importantly, keep it out of the light.

What did you pay for it?

I PAID $7.85 FOR IT.

Do you have any idea how much it’s worth now?

NO I DON’T.  THAT’S THE REASON I THOUGHT I’D BRING IT IN.

Well, if it was to go to auction in today’s market, I would place a value of $12.53 on it.  If it had the original “Support the Troops” ribbon on it, I would place a value of $17.84 on it.

I HAD NO IDEA.

My Old Radio Shows on YouTube?

 I’m trying to figure out how to put highlights of my old radio shows, The Reform Times and The Ray Cherry Show on YouTube. I have two stacks of CDs representing the year and a half that the shows aired. I didn’t figure any universities, funded by state Democrat and/or Republican appropriations committees, would agree to archive a movement or an individual effort that tried to replace their parties.  Still, my effort is what history professors would call primary source evidence of American history.

My original plan was to give the state and national Reform Party air time that was denied them by the Media before the inertia of the Reform Movement evaporated.  It was a logical step to merge the assets of the Kansas and Missouri Reform Parties. My first radio show in 2004, The Reform Times, was co-hosted by talented Kansas Reformer Dawn Bly who ran for Congress in 2002. It aired every Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. and was designed as a news and educational voice of the local Reform Party Club.  It may have been Missouri’s first radio show dedicated to practical direct grass roots political action.  We discussed what the Reform Party was, the Reform movement 1992 to the present, the contributions of Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan, the relevance of the Reform Party to Americans, and what the average person could do to get involved.

Dawn spent about fifteen hours per week researching and booking the guests. The Reform Times had a balanced representation of lobbyists, politicians, and special interests. Guests are chronicled in Journal of the Silent Majority. They include: Judy Ancel, Director of the Institute for Labor Studies at UMKC; Glenda Wilson of Missouri’s Job Service; lobbyist Karl Peterjohn, Executive Director of the Kansas Taxpayers Network; Chris Hanna of Americans for Prosperity; Bob Hodgdon, President of Hodgdon Powder; Bill Freeman who talked about the assault weapons ban; Judy Smith, State Director for Concerned Women for America, Kansas Chapter talked about gay marriage; the Sierra Club’s lobbyist, Charles Benjamin; Kevin Newmanon covered gaming; John Morris, Republican Congressional Candidate; Jesse Camacho; Kay O’Connor, Republican Senator of the Kansas 9th District; Mike Ferguson, 2004 Libertarian nominee for Missouri Lt. Governor; Don Griffin, Pat Buchanan’s old friend from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat; Reformer Jim Mullins who was running in the Kansas 2nd Senate District; Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo; Dee Berry of the Green Party; George Cook, Kansas Reform Party 2004 nominee for the U.S. Senate; Shawn O’Hara, the Chairman of the National Reform Party; and Libertarian Greg Terry.

The Ray Cherry Show which began in 2005 replaced The Reform Times because in odd years there are few elections.The broadcast was a story of the best elements, the worst elements, and the history Americans don’t know.  Co-host Dennis Carriger and I commented on the news and offered our opinions, not without an occasional satirical jab or comic bent. Although the show lasted only six months, I was thrilled to have had an opportunity to speak out. Perhaps YouTube can help preserve the memories.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

I'd like to show my foreign viewers what old America used to be like before our spiritual ebb tide took place.  Too many of the old timers are gone and those left perhaps have forgotten and the young hipsters of today have no clue what the brief period of homogeneous America was like.  It’s all diversity now and any reference to a common thread that gave content and meaning to generations is greeted with self-righteous scorn by the left and its armies of trendies and academic apologists.  I believe they are missing one of life’s simple discoveries in their allegiance to hysterical dance videos and the guttural spasms of current music. Perhaps the older generations failed to communicate.  More likely, the electronic coliseum diverts their attention. 

During basic training in Camp Pendleton our platoon congregated during a rare rest period in VC village’s church.  It was Christmas time and our platoon commander ordered us to sing Christmas songs.  Much to my surprise he was met with total silence because no one even knew a Christmas song - except me.  I was the oldest in the platoon at 26 and it became clear to me that I was witnessing a generational and cultural failure because the youngsters of 18 who comprised the group didn’t even know Silent Night.  What about songs like The Yellow Rose of Texas or Orange Blossom Special which should make the hair stand up on the neck of every American boy?  What about the original drum and fife version of Custer’s old tune, The Garryowen?  It was standard with Army cavalry units even during WWII.

If song and music is the American poetry of today as poetry was the tranditional inspiration of Russia, then it may be possible for the dry words of history to come alive with sounds and images transmitted around the world by the Internet.  Perhaps the best video I’ve seen of what old America used to be like is a WWII clip from A Human Comedy with Van Johnson found on YouTube.  GI’s on the troop train sing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms – a church song they all knew.  It’s funny how war and the prospect of death brought out the spiritual side of Americans in those days. Those that saw it, like men kneeling in church, knew it was real.  It’s also the substance of what made Sgt. York a hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_AIP_NLMbI

 

In my own limited way in Journal of the Silent Majority I try to chronicle the spirit of old America which is no more. Of course, the atheists and socialists (if there is a difference) don’t care, but what surprises me is that nobody seems to care.  Some of us who are left are fighting the good fight to preserve those moments and memories, but I can’t help wondering sometimes if foreigners would be more interested in our history than we are.

Munich and Its Curious Sights

I was told the sidelined green train outside Dachau was full of Yugoslavians.  Their laundry was draped out of every window and their poverty was all too apparent to tourists, but I suppose they were just migrant workers going to Germany for jobs.  Who’s to blame them because northern Europe is where the higher standard of living is (better cars and housing) for those who will work for them.  By the way, at Dachau, when the train stopped I saw (once) electrified barbed wire fences on curved f-shaped concrete poles. Perhaps they were part of some memorial.

It was clear and cool when I arrived at the München Hbf in Munich after traveling through the Black Forest. Reading the International Herald Tribune was depressing: “In Milan last week bombs were set off at the offices of four U.S. companies in protest against American imperialism”; Red Army Faction bombers; massacre at Tel Aviv airport; strikes by pilots; Czech high-jackings; a British air disaster; and a Japanese terrorist “making his way to London.” Still, it was a time when I proudly wore my American flag on my backpack.  I sure wouldn’t do it now.

The 1972 Olympics made Munich spruce up and scaffolding was a common sight.  Monuments were being cleaned and buildings painted for the expected influx of tourists.  I noticed one building had canvas completely covering it which usually meant sandblasting.  That was at Residenzstrasse one of the streets traversed by Hitler during the Beer Hall Putsch on November 9, 1923.  I eventually found a room in Munich's left wing student's quarter over a beer hall for 32DM - still no shower.  No sooner did I fall on my bed at 6:15 P.M. than a communist demonstration swung around the corner under my window followed by the red hammer and sickle flag.  It was mostly women and kids, actually pathetic, although the march was more than a block long.  The leaders had to circle the marchers and spur them on with bullhorns: “Weg Mit Dem Reaktionarer Auslandergsetz – whatever that means.  The beer hall was more interesting with lots of smoke, beer, and singing.  Germans know how to have a good time more than Americans do.

The German Museum was superb, the most remarkable museum I'd ever seen including the Louvre and the British Museum.  It’s located on an oxbow of the Isar River that divides Munich in half. They had mechanical Industrial Revolution experiments (just press a button), a walk-in coal mine underneath, rock quarry, the ME 262 jet plane, a V-2 rocket placed upright in a staircase, the WWII tri-motor troop transport JU 52, the U-1 & U-2 submarines, coaches, missiles, and a huge naval room with water tanks in which miniature ships plowed the water.

Munich also had its seedier side of town.  I noticed Marxist shops here and there.  Perhaps the proximity to the university students made them viable, but I doubt it.  Marxism is pretty dry stuff, but who can resist that picture of burly Karl Marx in the display window?  A more popular destination for Germans, and one I’d never heard of, was The Sex Shop that had its mysterious wares prominently displayed.  It had more latex than Bass Pro.