A Wistful Look at the Past…and a bit of humour (31 October 2020)

A gentle word to our readers:      

    This very simple message is made due to the recent dust up concerning a collusion involving the Girl Scouts of America, an entity known as Planned Parenthood, and the presence of a newly named woman onto the impressive position of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  In the mode of the day, Planned Parenthood people…names…who cares?…apparently messaged the Girl Scouts of America that it was not appropriate for the new, improved Girl Scout organisation to send congratulations to a woman who gained her appointment to that High Bench by the act of a man.  Planned Parenthood deigned that this newly appointed woman was dangerous to the rights of women to "choose".   The Girl Scouts of America's administration immediately retracted their congratulations to Amy Coney Barrett because they had failed to remember that Justice is and apparently has always been an anathema…a reprobate…a backwards step in the effort to finally achieve a Brave New World for the good people who know that abortion is a fundamental right.   According to them all civilisation should stop and celebrate and defend that belief.  These people, of course, have either knowingly or through ignorance chosen a path of attempting to control civilisations, societies, and cultures so as to become a form of Regency…an assembly of intellectuals, marxists, and compulsive destroyers of any order that does not please them…or which does not serve their need or whim.  Jane Fonda, Barbara Streisand, and Cher…and Michael Moore of course, really are not the best barometers for guiding a civilisation, society, or culture.

David Christian Newton, Sr. 

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From a long time ago, back in 1960, your humble servant was tasked with the duty of travelling with a pack of senior Girl Scouts from a club in Mission, Texas, drawn from the High School where my father was a professor. There were fourteen girls, all senior high level. Six of them were Latinoid and eight were Angloid, and they all looked the same. Especially in uniform. A Mrs. Val Verde, (an Angloid married to a Latinoid) a sacred cow do-gooderoid in Mission (her husband was a med-tech, highly regarded) was the "Head Brownie". She had asked the girls who else should accompany the troop for their two-week Summer excursion to the International Encampment of the Girl Scouts, International in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. To a person they jumped up and down, demanding that it be "Mr. Newton!! Mr. Newton!!" (that, according to Mrs. Val Verde.) 

 Above is the massive Catedral Metropolitano

said to be the heaviest building compound in 

the world.   Around the "Zocalo" (Central Plaza)

there is a daily circulation of 300,000 autos and

other such conveyance.

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     As things developed it was also determined that Mrs. Newton and their son David should come along as well, as "indirect chaperones". Your humble servant, at that point in the life line, had just turned 14, heading to be a sophomore in September, and full of reasons why he had better things to do than to wander around in Mexico with a gaggle of Green Brownies. But my Father solved that problem by giving me the famous "one-choice choice". My mother was somewhat reluctant…but we had travelled elsewhere in Mexico and it had always resulted something positive. The three of us tagalong people were also fluent in Spanish, and that would help on the way down. So, the time arrived. Departing from Brownsville on a Transportes del Norte bus (quite a nice ride, actually) with it two drivers and impeccable appointments, we considered ourselves ordained with the proper luxuries due a fine group such as ours.

      Our fourteen day journey reached Valles, San Luis Potosi in the tropical lowlands for the first day's drive. Beautiful tropical settings for a hotel, great grub. Then the next morning we were off to Mexico City…another long drive…a change in elevation from near sea-level to 7,200 fasl, and a conglomeration of people, history, cars, busses, trolleys, trains, presenting an intensity that this farm boy had never seen, for real. Monterrey was big, Houston and San Antonio were big, we had been around a bit…but Mexico City was BIG. We were dropped off in the very centermost part of the city at the Hotel Regis…a very nice place, adjacent essentially to the Grand Central Plaza. One could not help but to be impressed. We were going to be in "downtown" Mexico City for three nights, with a touring service that would take us to the major sites. It was arduous but worth it.

         My restoration of sense of self was improved a bit when I went for a walk in the that "Centro" that teemed with humanity of every possible sort, it seemed. I passed through the magnificent "Central Park" and continued to the Great Plaza that marked the political centre of Mexico City. One side the huge and majestic Palace of Government brooded over its bureaucrats, workers, and  children. And to the right, exiting that building, the "heaviest Cathedral in Christendom", with "more altars than the Pope's Basilica" and so forth, it was truly amazing. That building on the Great Plaza brooded over its children, as well.   Most of the time they were all the same children.

   But my adventure started with my ambling about with my fancy boots, and slacks like a civilised gorilla, matching jacket…all very 1960ish…along with my 5X Stetson to ward off the quickly penetrating Solar menace that could sizzle the skin, no matter the ambient temperature (7,200 fasl will do that to a white-skinned Saxon).

Perhaps there is a 
resemblance…what
do you all think?
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       Then suddenly I heard giggling and shriek-like sounds coming up from behind me. Turning, it was quickly noticed that there were about 10 or 12 female Mexican "rich kids" all in their school uniforms, and looking very impressive (and rich). It dawned on me that they were rushing at me of all ridiculous things.  One girl asked "Es Ud. relacionado con el Señor John Wayne", "Usted puede hablar el Castillano?" "Ay, Señor, un foto, un foto!!"…it was all absurd. Firstly because I was in no wise a "Señor"…such a title in Mexican Spanish was/is reserved for people of at least 24 or so years…especially then, and of course I was not related to John Wayne, and photographs were going to be few, because of a coming menace...

      In the near distance, walking briskly, came a grim faced, grumpy looking, 'Penguina' (a term reserved by Mexican children for "nun"). She was vigorously tapping the sidewalk with her dowel rod and upon reaching the girls, she began whacking them, a little more than gently on their calves, shouting, "Sin verguenzas!!! Voy a informar a la Madre Superior!!! Formanse!!! Haz fila!!! (girls without shame!! I'm going to tell Mother Superior!!! Group up!! Make a line!!).

      The girls largely complied, some handling the hat briefly so as to see the gold lettering "David Christian Newton" inside…before they would run off joining the ranks, in step, with the sister-in-charge banging her dowel rod as if she were trying to break up the concrete. I wound up with a picture or two (one with her Reverence the Sister, and the girls filled up their fancy little cameras, but whatever for?). And, of course, my parents had caught it all…giving me stern looks as they came closer. 

     Some relief came from the store workers and owners who were still laughing, some coming out to shake hands with me. One of the older men advised me, laughingly, …"Be careful with the shepherdess, she is very jealous about her little sheep!!" My mother glowered at me a bit, and advised,"We'll have to talk at supper."

     This event was followed a bit, the next day, when one of our uniformed Girl Scouts somehow got stopped at the intersection, a traffic officer pointing the girl back to the curb. She looked like a model in her uniform etc, but we were over on this side of a huge, wide Paseo de la Reforma (10 lanes) and, of course, the girl was on the other. My mother demanded and ordered me, "David, bring that silly girl over here, now!" and I began to follow orders, when suddenly a soldier, a lieutenant, took the arm of our Girl Scout and literally walked her formally across the boulevard detaining massive flows of traffic, but only briefly. Once again, the "audience" cheered and applauded, but this time for the Mexican officer. Some of our girls had pictures of him.

     There were thousands of incidents, encounters, pleasantries, that could fill a thick book just on this one excursion. But this time, the story is about and for the Girl Scouts of America, especially from Mission, Texas who gathered the greatest number of awards and citations of the encampment of several thousand attendees.    And that was the way it was, 18 August 1960, in a place called Mexico.

Thanks for the attention…and look both ways before crossing  the street!

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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However…..

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HOWEVER…

     You all know what it is when a television or radio commentator, or worse, a programme guest, begins the next paragraph by repeating most of the previous paragraph, all the while waving her hands in the faces of the listeners as if she were the return of Kong King to the Harper Valley Skyscraper.

       The men are better.  Especially on the left side of the political spectrum…men very frequently attempt to charm the audience with suave assurances concerning the niceness,  and caringness, and thoughtfulness, and forwardlookingness, and desire to give your daughter a Ph.d when she finishes an advanced degree at Molehill Primary after three rigorous years of study in Funzi Wunzi Primary, minoring in Whatever and majoring in Eye Forgot.   Everything FREE!!!, of course.

     The women are worse, perhaps because they try to outdo the men.   Now after offending everyone as equally as possible.    This particular set of commentaries and recounting will be a bit haphazard, but will deal with a of yesterdays, and how those yesterdays stayed with me…stayed with the Times and how both I and the Times have done for ourselves.

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     We begin with the tale of the arrival of the President of Mexico to help formalise the beginning of operations of the fabled Falcon Reservoir.  This was the first establishment of a dam, especially of this size, to have been established on the Rio Grande…or Rio Bravo y Grande del  Norte.   It was something my Godfather roared with laughter about at each telling, and I was present at the events to be described below.

     Suffice to say that the construction of Falcon and its placement into service, and to have served well, is a testament to the power, ability, and precision that Mexicans can perform, and Americans can perform, simultaneously and effectively.   We return to 1953, a dusty day on the Border…very windy and temperatures over 100 degrees…(and yes, Virginia, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, sometimes October brings us 100 degree days).

This speaks to the Inauguration of the Falcon International Dam

     On the 19th of October of 1953, while the authorities and neighbour of Mier, Tamaulipas were making themselves ready to receive the President of the United States of Mexico,  Adolfo Ruiz Cortines in the airport especially constructed along the edges of the Rio Bravo, with the purpose of the holding the ceremony of the inauguration of the International Falcon Dam;  the Presidential Committee, when they arrived, surprised everyone by ground travel down a road that had not been paved, all the way from the airport in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, (100 miles distant).

     The first to have knowledge of this matter were Mr. Gorgonio Lopez and his wife Conchita being surprised by the President's arrival in this manner.  While there the group solicited water to drink, and after satisfying elementary necessity, they all transferred over to the Presidencia Municipal (County Office) where they met up with one or two policemen, depending upon with whom one spoke.

       After spending a good bit of time in the centre of the municipal site, it being reasonable that the vehicles and the people needed a good wash down considering the dusty trip and arrival from the unpaved "highway".

     The Official Committee continued on then to their destination in their vehicle where they learned that only the section from the new airport to the new community of New Guerrero (which would replaced the old colonial city of Guerrero that was soon to be inundated and committed the depths of Falcon Lake), was paved.   The transit from Mier to Nuevo Guerrero was still unpaved, but the only connection already paved was finally encountered en Nuevo Guerrero.  There, the President arrived in a luxurious auto with the front end completely covered by a huge Mexican flag.  It is there that they encountered huge crowds of Mexicans full of anxiety and excitement, from many nearby parts.

     The first stop in the town was the where the Presidente and his committee stopped to give honours  to the new statue of don Benito Juarez Garcia the first (and apparently last) Indian to serve as President of Mexico…but the hot south winds were very strong (dry, dusty gusts up as high as 40 miles per hour).   The wind never stopped for the length of the ceremonies.

     With great enthusiasm that the people present were extremely enthusiastic in front of their new Presidencia Municipal, where President (and General) Dwight David Eisenhower, with a large group of Mexican soldiers presenting arms, with the military band, with a salute according to protocol of both Presidents went up the steps to the balcony of the Ayuntamiento (city government)…and from there they watched the Mexican Academy of Dance, especially the regionally popular Huapango, who without doubt had to have had pertinence from Nellie Campobello (she had just established what is now considered the greatest National folkloric presentation in the world) and was accompanied by an orquestra of the Palace of Fine Arts from Mexico City.

Immediately following it was left to present honors and honorifics to the President of the United States, saying "goodbye" to New Guerrero City the formal group drove on the top of the dam (paved) transferring to another very similar reception, after first stopping to see the huge hydroelectric generators and the huge gates of Falcon Dam.

    At the American encampment on the edge of the lake Mr. (sic) Eisenhower responded with the hospitality of an excellent American military band, a huge array of food selections, like any good reception, and toasts all around.

    At the dividing line between the two Nations one can encounter the commemorative monuments, with their appropriate national formal emblems, and it was precisely at that point where the final and most official acts were done…fancy signatures…hundreds of photos…etc.

AND THIS TIME, THE MEXICAN PRESIDENT RETURNED LATE THAT AFTERNOON, BACK TO MEXICO CITY…..THIS TIME…YES…BY AIR. 

INAGURACION DE LA PRESA INTERNACIONAL FALCON

El 19 de octubre de 1953, mientras las autoridades y vecinos de Mier se habían dispuesto a recibir al Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines en la aeropista construida exprofeso en las márgenes del Río Bravo, con motivo de la ceremonia de inauguración de la Presa Internacional Falcón; la comitiva presidencial sorprende a la población al arribar vía terrestre por un camino sin pavimentar procedente de Monterrey, N. L.

Los primeros en tener conocimiento del hecho fueron el Sr. Gorgonio López y su esposa Conchita al ser sorprendidos por la plana mayor presidencial a las puertas de su casa solicitándoles agua para beber, que tras satisfacer tan elemental necesidad se trasladaron a la presidencia municipal en donde solo había uno o dos policías, dependiendo de quién lo cuente. Permaneciendo un buen rato en dicha sede municipal, suponiéndose que coches y viajeros necesitaban y urgían de algún acicalamiento ante tan relevante acontecimiento y después de sufrir los estragos de la terracería y el polvo del camino.

La comitiva continuó su camino que solo estaba pavimentado el tramo correspondiente de la aeropista a Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, a donde llego el Sr. Presidente en un lujoso auto con el frente cubierto por la bandera nacional en donde era esperado con ansia y gran algarabía por los asistentes al evento.

El primer acto consistió en la develación de la monumental estatua del Benemérito de las Américas don Benito Juárez García con una gran molestia ocasionada por el persistente viento del sur que se dejó sentir ese día.

Con gran entusiasmo de los asistentes se recibió frente al palacio municipal al presidente de los Estados Unidos de América Dwight D. Eisenhower, con una valla de soldados presentando armas, una orquesta y una banda de guerra, con el saludo protocolar de ambos presidentes subieron al balcón del Ayuntamiento en donde miraron a la Academia Mexicana de Danza ejecutar un cuadro bailable titulado Huapango, que sin duda debe de haber pertenecido a la escuela dancística de Nellie Campobello, acompañando en los acordes una orquesta procedente de la ciudad de México.

En seguida tocaba hacer los honores al presidente de los Estados Unidos, diciendo adiós a Nueva Ciudad Guerrero se trasladaron por el bordo de la presa, en donde se observaba ya almacenamiento de agua y del otro lado de la cortina las plantas hidroeléctricas.

En el campamento americano a orillas de la presa el Sr. Eisenhower correspondió a Ruiz Cortines y su comitiva con una banda de música, banquete y brindis de honor.

En la línea divisoria se encuentran los monumentos conmemorativos en los escudos y las placas alusivas de ambos países y fue allí precisamente donde se llevó a cabo el acto formal de inauguración con asistencia de invitados de honor y discursos de ambos presidentes.

Al atardecer el presidente Ruiz Cortines regresa a la Ciudad de México, ahora si, vía area.

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Falcon Day just before its completion. The dam itself

has a length of over five miles. From the dam to the point

of entry into the Lake at San Ygnacio, Texas, some 44 miles

from the Dam.

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Return of the Times That Try Men's Souls and Women's Patience

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         There is so much about which we could comment, and an equal amount that would just as well be forgotten, but it has been a while and there is a need to keep this screed at least on the radar.    There is so much depravity and duplicity pervading the culture now that one wonders if there is any reason to fight the culture wars.

     One can take a look a our deprived (or is it depraved?) Speaker of the House of Representatives who has been fixated for the past 2,000 days or so, worrying about Donald John Trump.   One wonders;

     (1)    Anorexia Nervosa?   The shaking of hands, especially the right hand and

pointing to unknown targets while attempting to make her half-witted points…eyes darting in all directions…are things that would allow a half-sober psychologist to reasonably conclude that the woman is suffering from psychopathic, pan-hysterical, xerecktious, bongo brain disorder.

   (2)     Thankfully, it is not transmittable.  For those who have graduated recently from some kind of a prestigious college or university that means "you kant ketchup".    Has the Republic become so rotted out…so dead in the soul…so devoid of things such as ''…the common good", that we have to put up with mediocrity in almost all public performance?     Must we pay people for having babies, to allow people to smash, burn, and destroy property that belongs to others, and then serve the will of "public servants" by deciding what a good number of ruffians per capita should be.

     This idea that a metropolis or large city should "cut back on constabulary" while allowing the criminal elements something that could be called "…an acceptable level of depravity and anti-social destruction…''.  In each effort to establish a "Peoples' Centre" in some unfortunate urb with a downtown that still has stores and bars and restaurants, the "New Citizens for the Re-awakening of America Cause'n Black Lives Matter" usually can put together three to seven  weeks before the effort implodes.  A few hundred million dollars and any number of wounded and/or murdered cops and/or proprietors or other innocents are normally involved, as well.

     (3)     Mentally and psychiatrically impaired ignoramuses (or ignorami, as you wish {my preference}) with titles such as "Mayor" or "Supervisor" now abound in various strongholds of Democrat and "Progressive" landscape of insanity.   One listens to their nonsensical rants…much like the tantrum of a child mixed with blather of a moderately psychotic, drunk, or addicted individual and wonders how their cranial unit was wired

     We understand the mob-masters who have been trained by Soros disciples in the art of obnoxiousness.  Those are the ones who storm into restaurants and bars and begin chanting and getting into the faces of humans shouting and cursing and begging for a fight.   We have all seen the events…with 100 to 500 evil hatred clowns who swarm a place and turn over chairs, steal food and drink from tables, and generally attempt to cause discord and disorder.   We can say, "Forgive them, Father for they know not what they do." but the problem is obviously that they do know precisely what they do

More later…

EL GRINGO VIEJO

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