President's Day - Best and Worst Presidents

It's not a real President's birthday (Lincoln's was the 12th, Washington's is the 22nd), but everyone wants a day off, so sorry Abe and George, but we're taking it today.  But in the spirit intended for the holiday, let me offer up Borepatch's annual bestest and worstest lists for Presidents.

Top Five:

#5: Calvin Coolidge

Nothing To Report is a fine epitaph for a President, in this day of unbridled expansion of Leviathan.

#4. Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson is perhaps the last (and first) President who exercised extra-Constitutional power in a manner that was unambiguously beneficial for the Republic (the Louisiana Purchase).  He repealed Adam's noxious Alien and Sedition Acts and pardoned those convicted under them.

#3. Grover Cleveland. 

He didn't like the pomp and circumstance of the office, and he hated the payoffs so common then and now.  He continually vetoed pork spending (including for veterans of the War Between the States), so much so that he was defeated for re-election, but unusually won a second term later.  This quote is priceless (would that Latter Day Presidents rise so high), on vetoing a farm relief bill: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character."

#2. Ronald Reagan

He at least tried to slow down the growth of Leviathan, the first President to do so in over half a century (see entry #5, above).  He would have reduced it further, except that his opposition to the Soviet fascist state and determination to end it cost boatloads of cash.  It also caused outrage among the home grown fascists in the Media and Universities, but was wildly popular among the general population which was (and hopefully still remains) sane.

#1. George Washington

Could have been King.  Wasn't.  Q.E.D.

Bottom Five:

#5. John Adams.

There's no way to read the Alien and Sedition Acts as anything other than a blatant violation of the First Amendment.  It's a sad statement that the first violation of a Presidential Oath of Office was with President #2.

#4. Woodrow Wilson.

Not only did he revive the spirit of Adams' Sedition Acts, he caused a Presidential opponent to be imprisoned under the terms of his grotesque Sedition Act of 1918.  He was Progressivism incarnate: he lied us into war, he jailed the anti-war opposition, he instituted a draft, and he was entirely soft-headed when it came to foreign policy.  The fact that Progressives love him (and hate George W. Bush) says all you need to know about them.

#3 Lyndon Johnson.

An able legislator who was able to get bills passed without having any real idea what they would do once enacted, he is responsible for more Americans living in poverty and despair than any occupant of the White House, and that says a lot.

#2. Franklin Roosevelt.

America's Mussolini - ruling extra-Constitutionally fixing wages and prices, packing the Supreme Court, and transforming the country into a bunch of takers who would sell their votes for a trifle.  At least Mussolini met an honorable end.


#1. Abraham Lincoln.

There's no doubt that the Constitution never would have been ratified if the States hadn't thought they could leave if they needed to.  Lincoln saw to it that 10% of the military-age male population was killed or wounded preventing that in an extra-Constitutional debacle unequaled in the Republic's history.  Along the way, he suspended Habeas Corpus, instituted the first ever draft on these shores, and jailed political opponents as he saw fit.  Needless to say, Progressives adore him.

So happy President's Day.  Thankfully, the recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue haven't gotten this bad.  Yet.

Thinking about Grace

I have posted special Easter posts for most of this blog's history, despite the fact that I've never really studied theology.  I've done my poor best, but have leaned repeatedly on someone who was a theologian.  Frederick Buechner was a ThD and an ordained Presbyterian minister, as well as a best selling author and Pulitzer Prize winner (back when that meant something).  I found him exceptionally insightful and thought provoking.

Rev. Beuchner passed away last summer at the ripe old age of 96.  As a tribute to him - as well as a meditation on Grace, and Easter, and the human condition - here are his quotes that I've used in the past.

A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do ... There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can only be yours if you'll reach out and take it.

- Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith

To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love Him.

  - Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is…the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back – in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

-Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking

But there is another truth, the sister of this one, and it is that every man is an island. It is a truth that often the tolling of a silence reveals even more than the tolling of a bell. We sit in silence with one another, each of us more or less reluctant to speak, for fear that if he does, he may sound like a fool. And beneath that there is of course the deeper fear, which is really a fear of the self rather than of the other, that maybe the truth of it is that indeed he is a fool. The fear that the self that he reveals by speaking may be a self that the others will reject just as in a way he has himself rejected it. So either we do not speak, or we speak not to reveal who we are but to conceal who we are, because words can be used either way of course. Instead of showing ourselves as we truly are, we show ourselves as we believe others want us to be. We wear masks, and with practice we do it better and better, and they serve us well –except that it gets very lonely inside the mask, because inside the mask that each of us wears there is a person who both longs to be known and fears to be known. In this sense every man is an island separated from every other man by fathoms of distrust and duplicity.

- Frederick Beuchner, The Hungering Dark

Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you . . . remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business . . . even your own life is not your business. It also is God’s business. Leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought . . . unclench the fists of your spirit and take it easy . . . What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort . . . than being able from time to time to stop that chatter . . .

- Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets

Here are Beuchner quotes that I don't know the source.

The love for equals is a human thing--of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing--the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing--to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.  And then there is the love for the enemy--love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.

If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully — the life you save may be your own — and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world's sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.

Rest in Peace, Rev. Beuchner, and may flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.  I expect that you went to Heav'n a'shouting love for the Father and the Son.

President's Day

This is my annual President's Day post - actually the 10th time I've posted this.  The rankings are based on a simple question: did the President leave the Republic better off or worse off?  This eliminates many fascinating people like John Tyler who basically infuriated his own party that they expelled him.  But he didn't clearly leave America better or worse off, so he doesn't make the list.  It also does not delve into bad decisions made by the best presidents or wise decisions made by the worst - it's only whether they left the Oval Office better or worse than they found it.  Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag under penalty of law.

Also, it's not a real President's birthday (Lincoln was the 12th, Washington is the 22nd), but everyone wants a day off, so sorry Abe and George, but we're taking it today.  But in the spirit intended for the holiday, let me offer up Borepatch's bestest and worstest lists for Presidents.

Top Five:

#5: Calvin Coolidge

Nothing To Report is a fine epitaph for a President, in this day of unbridled expansion of Leviathan.

#4. Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson is perhaps the last (and first) President who exercised extra-Constitutional power in a manner that was unambiguously beneficial for the Republic (the Louisiana Purchase).  He repealed Adam's noxious Alien and Sedition Acts and pardoned those convicted under them.

#3. Grover Cleveland. 

He didn't like the pomp and circumstance of the office, and he hated the payoffs so common then and now.  He continually infuriated his own party by vetoing pork spending (including for veterans of the War Between the States), so much so that he was defeated for re-election, but unusually won a second term later.  This quote is priceless (would that Latter Day Presidents rise so high), on vetoing a farm relief bill: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character." 

#2. Ronald Reagan

He at least tried to slow down the growth of Leviathan, the first President to do so in over half a century (see entry #5, above).  He would have reduced it further, except that his opposition to the Soviet fascist state and determination to end it cost boatloads of cash.  It also caused outrage among the home grown fascists in the Media and Universities, but was wildly popular among the general population which was (and hopefully still remains) sane.

#1. George Washington

Could have been King.  Wasn't.  Q.E.D. 

Bottom Five:

#5. John Adams.

There's no way to read the Alien and Sedition Acts as anything other than a blatant violation of the First Amendment.  It's a sad statement that the first violation of a Presidential Oath of Office was with President #2. 

#4. Woodrow Wilson.

Not only did he revive the spirit of Adams' Sedition Acts, he caused a Presidential opponent to be imprisoned under the terms of his grotesque Sedition Act of 1918.  He was Progressivism incarnate: he lied us into war, he jailed the anti-war opposition, he instituted a draft, and he was entirely soft-headed when it came to foreign policy.  The fact that Progressives love him (and hate George W. Bush) says all you need to know about them.

#3 Lyndon Johnson.

An able legislator who was able to get bills passed without having any real idea what they would do once enacted, he is responsible for more Americans living in poverty and despair than any occupant of the White House, and that says a lot.

#2. Franklin Roosevelt.

America's Mussolini - ruling extra-Constitutionally fixing wages and prices, packing the Supreme Court, and transforming the country into a bunch of takers who would sell their votes for a trifle, sending American citizens to concentration camps.  At least Mussolini met an honorable end.


#1. Abraham Lincoln.

There's no doubt that the Constitution never would have been ratified if the States hadn't thought they could leave if they needed to.  Lincoln saw to it that 10% of the military-age male population was killed or wounded preventing that in an extra-Constitutional debacle unequaled in the Republic's history.  Along the way, he suspended Habeas Corpus, instituted the first ever draft on these shores, and jailed political opponents as he saw fit.  Needless to say, Progressives adore him.

So happy President's Day.  Thankfully, the recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue haven't gotten this bad.  Yet.

Rest In Peace, Candy Bomber

Col. Gail Halvorsen, the "Candy Bomber" from the Berlin Airlift has taken off on his last flight. If you haven't heard his remarkable story, I'm reproducing a post from autumn 2020.  As I said in that post, Col. Halvorsen represents the best this country has to give to the world.  He is a man who made the world a better place.

Rest in peace, and may flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.

The Candy Bomber turns 100: Sammy Davis, Jr. - The Candy Man

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field.  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

- Matthew 13:31-32

This is a little unusual for the regular Saturday country music, because it's not country music.  But stick with me - folks who like country music will like today's story which starts with "Happy 100th birthday, Col. Gail Halvorsen".

He was a kid who liked to fly, joining the Civil Air Patrol in 1942 and then the brand new US Air Force when he was old enough to sign up.  He missed World War II because of his age but found himself in the left hand seat of a C-54 in Germany, 1948.  That's when Stalin cut Berlin off from the Free World and the Berlin Airlift started.

Lt. Halvorsen was at Tempelhof Airport one day when he saw some kids standing on the other side of a chain link fence.  They told him not to worry if the weather was bad and he couldn't bring in food.  You see, they said, they could live on very little food but if they lost their freedom they thought they would never get it back.  Smart kids.

Halvorsen wanted to do something for them and told them that he'd drop some gum from his plane.  They'd know it was him because he'd wiggle his wings.  He and his co-pilot pooled their candy rations for the next day's flight.  Because it was heavy, they made little parachutes out of handkerchiefs.  Over the next weeks the number of kids waiting for his flights grew and grew.  He tells the story about when his Commanding Officer found out about it:

On his return from Berlin, he was told that Col. James R. Haun, the commanding officer of Rhein-Main Airbase, wanted to see him in his office.

Here, Halvorsen, sitting in his Provo backyard and wearing the same uniform he wore back then, picks up the narrative.

“‘Halvorsen,’ the colonel asked when I came in his office, ‘What in the world have you been doing?’

“‘Flying like mad, sir,’ I told him.

“‘I’m not stupid. What else have you been doing?’”

Here, Halvorsen pauses for effect.

“That’s when I knew they knew. I got chewed out real good,” he says before flashing his trademark smile. “But at the end, the colonel said, ‘That’s a good idea. Keep doing it. But keep me informed.’”

The Berlin Candy Bomber had the clearance he needed to carry on.

They called him the "Candy Bomber" and when the word got to the Press it became a sensation back in the States.  School children and candy manufacturers donated candy for the children of Berlin.  In just a few months Lt. Halvorsen couldn't keep up with all the candy and handkerchief parachutes that were arriving in the mail.  Pretty much everyone in his unit was now a Rosienbomber (as the German kids called them - "Raisin Bomber".  Halvorsen himself was known as "Uncle Wiggly Wings" because of his signal that he was about to drop sweets.

Operation "Little Vittles" dropped 23 tons of candy in a quarter million handkerchief parachute loads.  Halvorsen was awarded the Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz, Germany's highest award.  He also got some marriage proposals via mail from adoring fans back home, but he went home and married his College Sweetheart.  They had 5 children and 24 grandchildren.

In a very real sense, he represents what is best with America.  Three years before we had been mortal enemies of Germany, now we were trying to take care of their kids because, well, kids.  I'm not the only one who thinks this - he retired to his native Utah and in 2002 for the Winter Olympics there the German team asked him to carry their national standard into the stadium in Salt Lake City.  Bravo Zulu, Colonel.

Like I said, Col. Halvorsen, happy 100th birthday.  You make me proud to be an American.  This song is for you because you've earned it 100 times over.  Sammy Davis.Jr. didn't like it initially because it was too sweet.  It became his signature song, and I think he's approve of it being played for your 100th birthday.  Here's Sammy singing this song in Germany, back in the 1980s.

The Candy Man (Songwriters: Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley)

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc'late and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh
Soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Now you talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Oh, who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
Yes, the Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man

Like I said, it's not country music.  But I think the community can take a day to salute a veteran who represents the best of this country.  Here's what looks to be an early 2000's documentary of Operation Little Vittles.  It's long but well worth a view.  If you aren't looking for a kleenex between 15:00 and 18:00 then I'm sorry, we just can't be friends.  And the last line in the video hits the nail on the head, spoken by a now grown German kid who remembers catching the parachutes and knows that it meant that someone who didn't have to care, cared anyway: The world needs more Halvorsens.  Amen, and amen

Like I said, Col. Halvorsen represents the best this country has to give to the world.  He is a man who made the world a better place.  Happy birthday, Uncle Wiggly Wings.

Rest in peace, Don

My neighbor who taught me to turn wood on a lathe just died.  I find myself to be very sad about this.  It's more than that he was a kind and generous man - in some ways he was a bit of a father figure to me.  Working in the wood shop (or drinking beer on his front porch) was the sort of thing that I haven't done with a man from the previous generation since, well, Dad.  And it was since the 1970s that I did woodworking with him.

Don was smart, and was a good businessman, and led a long life until Parkinson's took him.  His last four months were spent in Atlanta in assisted living.  We missed him, but he got to see his daughter and grandkids, and great grandkids.  The Queen Of The World and I went up to see him in October, and I'm very glad that we did.  He liked TQOTW and his daughter fussing over him together, and I liked sharing a beer with him.  He also found someone who was selling a new-in-box lathe for an unbeatable price, so now I'll have to figure out how to squeeze that into our space.  I think I need a shoehorn, but I'm not done with woodworking and I think that Don wanted to ensure that.  Just one of the many people whose lives he touched, and left richer for that.

But there's a terrible finality when the ship sails for the Undiscovered Country.  Fair winds and following seas, Don.  Give our regards to Alice.  We'll raise the Parting Glass to you.

When America's Elite actually were elite

The Queen Of The World spotted this on Facebook.  I reproduce it here without any commentary because it needs none.

Months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in “The Philadelphia Story,” Jimmy Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army. He was the first big-name movie star to enlist in World War II.

An accomplished private pilot, the 33-year-old Hollywood icon became a US Army Air Force aviator, earning his 2nd Lieutenant commission in early 1942. With his celebrity status and huge popularity with the American public, he was assigned to starring in recruiting films, attending rallies, and training younger pilots.

Stewart, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to fly combat missions in Europe, not spend time in a stateside training command. By 1944, frustrated and feeling the war was passing him by, he asked his commanding officer to transfer him to a unit deploying to Europe. His request was reluctantly granted.

Stewart, now a Captain, was sent to England, where he spent the next 18 months flying B-24 Liberator bombers over Germany. Throughout his time overseas, the US Army Air Corps' top brass had tried to keep the popular movie star from flying over enemy territory. But Stewart would hear nothing of it.

Determined to lead by example, he bucked the system, assigning himself to every combat mission he could. By the end of the war he was one of the most respected and decorated pilots in his unit.

But his wartime service came at a high personal price.

In the final months of WWII he was grounded for being “flak happy,” today called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

When he returned to the US in August 1945, Stewart was a changed man. He had lost so much weight that he looked sickly. He rarely slept, and when he did he had nightmares of planes exploding and men falling through the air screaming (in one mission alone his unit had lost 13 planes and 130 men, most of whom he knew personally).

He was depressed, couldn’t focus, and refused to talk to anyone about his war experiences. His acting career was all but over.

As one of Stewart's biographers put it, "Every decision he made [during the war] was going to preserve life or cost lives. He took back to Hollywood all the stress that he had built up.”

In 1946 he got his break. He took the role of George Bailey, the suicidal father in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The rest is history.

Actors and crew of the set realized that in many of the disturbing scenes of George Bailey unraveling in front of his family, Stewart wasn’t acting. His PTSD was being captured on film for potentially millions to see.

But despite Stewart's inner turmoil, making the movie was therapeutic for the combat veteran. He would go on to become one of the most accomplished and loved actors in American history.

When asked in 1941 why he wanted to leave his acting career to fly combat missions over Nazi Germany, he said, "This country's conscience is bigger than all the studios in Hollywood put together, and the time will come when we'll have to fight.”

This holiday season, as many of us watch the classic Christmas film, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” it’s also a fitting time to remember the sacrifices of Jimmy Stewart and all the men who gave up so much to serve their country during wartime. We will always remember you!

Postscript:

While fighting in Europe, Stewart's Oscar statue was proudly displayed in his father’s Pennsylvania hardware store. Throughout his life, the beloved actor always said his father, a World War I veteran, was the person who had made the biggest impact on him.

Jimmy Stewart remained in the USAF Reserve following the war, retiring as a Brigadier General in 1968. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and died in 1997 at the age of 89.

-- Ned Forney, Writer, Saluting America's Veterans

Actually, since this is Borepatch, you know that I can't just shut up and so will tell a personal anecdote about Jimmy Stewart.  On a family vacation to Los Angeles to see grandparents (this would have been probably in 1972, but may have been 1967) we went on one of those Trolly Tours to see the houses of the stars.  They would drive slowly past each of the houses while the tour guide gave a description of the roles and awards each star had.  But at Jimmy Stewart's house the trolly stopped.  The tour guide explained that if Mr. Stewart was home he would typically come to the window and wave.  He did this because everything he had in life came from his fans, and the least he could do is thank them.

I don't recall that he was home that day but the contrast between him and the rest of the Hollywood bunch stuck with me all these years. 

Oof

Down here in Florida we have a neighbor, Joe.  Joe (like me) is from Maine.  Unlike me, Joe is a 20+ year Marine Corps veteran.  Also unlike me, Joe is in his 80s and is getting a little fragile, although he won't ever admit it.

Well last week I was chatting with him in front of his house.  I remarked that the bottom step of his stairs was looking a little worse for wear.  He insisted it was fine, but a closer inspection showed that the stair tread was rotting.  After all, it was 20 something years old.  I told Joe that I'd fix it over the weekend.

And so yesterday I went to Big Box Hardware Store to get 2x12 and assorted stuff.  I cut it to length and painted it (didn't want to put an outdoor stair down unpainted on the underneath, even if it was out of sight.  Especially if it was out of sight ...).  Then I pulled up the old plank.

Damn if the whole thing wasn't rotten, especially the support planks.  Back to Big Box Hardware Store, and lots of cutting of 2x4.  And painting.  And clearing out the old stuff, down to (yay!) concrete.  Then building the support box, then putting the tread on.  Rock solid; yay, me!

And then painting.  And the new step looked so good - and the old steps looked so weathered) that I painted the whole thing again.  Puff, puff, puff.

But Joe's front steps look good now, and I don't worry about his (or Mrs. Joe) stepping onto a rotten board and falling down.  So mission accomplished.  And an ibuprofen cocktail was just what the Doctor ordered.

It's interesting here in Florida.  There are a lot of older folks, and people pitch in to look after each other.  We like it here rather a lot.

Johnny Rivers - Secret Agent Man

Sean Connery is dead at 90.  He defined movie cool in the 1960s, and made the James Bond franchise into a huge success.  That franchise inspired a million copy cats including a British TV spy series called Danger Man.  CBS bought the US rights to the show which they were going to air as Secret Agent.  The opening riff is one of the most recognizable in music, and the lyrics included a salute to Connery as Bond: they're giving you a number and taking away you name.

"Iconic" doesn't begin to cover this.

Secret Agent Man (Songwriters: P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri)

There's a man who lives a life of danger
To everyone he meets, he stays a stranger
With every move he makes another chance he takes
Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow

Secret agent man, secret agent man
They've given you a number and taken away your name

Beware of pretty faces that you find
A pretty face can hide an evil mind
Oh, be careful what you say or you'll give yourself away
Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow

Secret agent man, secret agent man
They've given you a number and taken away your name

Secret agent man, secret agent man
They've given you a number and taken away your name

Swinging on the Riviera one day
And then layin' in the Bombay alley next day
Oh, no you let the wrong word slip while kissing persuasive lips
The odds are you won't live to see tomorrow

Secret agent man, secret agent man
They've given you a number and taken away your name
Secret agent man

But Connery was much more than just James Bond, and went on to many outstanding performances.  I particularly liked him in The Wind And The Lion:

I find it charming that, while married twice, he is survived by his wife of 45 years.  I wonder what she thought in 1999 (at their 24th anniversary) when People Magazine designated him the Sexiest Man of the Century.

Rest in Peace, Sir Sean (knighted in 2000).  Thanks for the grace, and style.  They broke the mold when you were born.

The Candy Bomber turns 100: Sammy Davis, Jr. - The Candy Man

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field.  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

- Matthew 13:31-32

This is a little unusual for the regular Saturday country music, because it's not country music.  But stick with me - folks who like country music will like today's story which starts with "Happy 100th birthday, Col. Gail Halvorsen".

He was a kid who liked to fly, joining the Civil Air Patrol in 1942 and then the brand new US Air Force when he was old enough to sign up.  He missed World War II because of his age but found himself in the left hand seat of a C-54 in Germany, 1948.  That's when Stalin cut Berlin off from the Free World and the Berlin Airlift started.

Lt. Halvorsen was at Tempelhof Airport one day when he saw some kids standing on the other side of a chain link fence.  They told him not to worry if the weather was bad and he couldn't bring in food.  You see, they said, they could live on very little food but if they lost their freedom they thought they would never get it back.  Smart kids.

Halvorsen wanted to do something for them and told them that he'd drop some gum from his plane.  They'd know it was him because he'd wiggle his wings.  He and his co-pilot pooled their candy rations for the next day's flight.  Because it was heavy, they made little parachutes out of handkerchiefs.  Over the next weeks the number of kids waiting for his flights grew and grew.  He tells the story about when his Commanding Officer found out about it:

On his return from Berlin, he was told that Col. James R. Haun, the commanding officer of Rhein-Main Airbase, wanted to see him in his office.

Here, Halvorsen, sitting in his Provo backyard and wearing the same uniform he wore back then, picks up the narrative.

“‘Halvorsen,’ the colonel asked when I came in his office, ‘What in the world have you been doing?’

“‘Flying like mad, sir,’ I told him.

“‘I’m not stupid. What else have you been doing?’”

Here, Halvorsen pauses for effect.

“That’s when I knew they knew. I got chewed out real good,” he says before flashing his trademark smile. “But at the end, the colonel said, ‘That’s a good idea. Keep doing it. But keep me informed.’”

The Berlin Candy Bomber had the clearance he needed to carry on.

They called him the "Candy Bomber" and when the word got to the Press it became a sensation back in the States.  School children and candy manufacturers donated candy for the children of Berlin.  In just a few months Lt. Halvorsen couldn't keep up with all the candy and handkerchief parachutes that were arriving in the mail.  Pretty much everyone in his unit was now a Rosienbomber (as the German kids called them - "Raisin Bomber".  Halvorsen himself was known as "Uncle Wiggly Wings" because of his signal that he was about to drop sweets.

Operation "Little Vittles" dropped 23 tons of candy in a quarter million handkerchief parachute loads.  Halvorsen was awarded the Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz, Germany's highest award.  He also got some marriage proposals via mail from adoring fans back home, but he went home and married his College Sweetheart.  They had 5 children and 24 grandchildren.

In a very real sense, he represents what is best with America.  Three years before we had been mortal enemies of Germany, now we were trying to take care of their kids because, well, kids.  I'm not the only one who thinks this - he retired to his native Utah and in 2002 for the Winter Olympics there the German team asked him to carry their national standard into the stadium in Salt Lake City.  Bravo Zulu, Colonel.

Like I said, Col. Halvorsen, happy 100th birthday.  You make me proud to be an American.  This song is for you because you've earned it 100 times over.  Sammy Davis.Jr. didn't like it initially because it was too sweet.  It became his signature song, and I think he's approve of it being played for your 100th birthday.  Here's Sammy singing this song in Germany, back in the 1980s.

The Candy Man (Songwriters: Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley)

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc'late and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh
Soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Now you talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Oh, who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious
Talk about your childhood wishes, you can even eat the dishes

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream
Separate the sorrow and collect up all the cream
The Candy Man, the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
Yes, the Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good
a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man
Candy Man, a-Candy Man, a-Candy Man

Like I said, it's not country music.  But I think the community can take a day to salute a veteran who represents the best of this country.  Here's what looks to be an early 2000's documentary of Operation Little Vittles.  It's long but well worth a view.  If you aren't looking for a kleenex between 15:00 and 18:00 then I'm sorry, we just can't be friends.  And the last line in the video hits the nail on the head, spoken by a now grown German kid who remembers catching the parachutes and knows that it meant that someone who didn't have to care, cared anyway: The world needs more Halvorsens.  Amen, and amen

Like I said, Col. Halvorsen represents the best this country has to give to the world.  He is a man who made the world a better place.  Happy birthday, Uncle Wiggly Wings.