What was reburied with JFK when he was reintered in 1967?

A Wilbur Vault...It is what Kennedy's coffin has laid in since 1963. It has never been opened since then, or tampered with.



There has always been a question of what became of some of the materials dealing with the Kennedy assassination. The locker with all the important items had been under the control of several people. Mainly Evelyn Lincoln, JFK's very loyal secretary, and afterwards Robert Kennedy.

In February 1966 JFK's bronze casket that his body had been transported in from Dallas was dumped by the military into the Atlantic Ocean in 9,000 feet of water. This was done under the supervision of Robert Kennedy.

Many have wondered if indeed all the lab samples, blood samples and Brain Matter were also dumped into the sea. I would take a guess and say why not? RFK had already lied through his teeth about most of what had happened in the Kennedy White House and also the battles that took place in the background over the body, autopsy, and some of the organs removed from the body to hide evidence.
So I would guess that in that casket was placed things that would not last in an ocean environment. Makes sense.
Many people think that many of the items were buried again with Kennedy when his casket (enclosed in a vault) was moved to a new site. Here is some information, from the House Assassination Committee on the re interment, which the head of Arlington National Cemetery under oath tells what he recalled and did.



After failing to determine the fate of the missing
materials by tracing that chain of custody, the committee
investigated the possibility that someone had placed the missing
autopsy items all of which were physical specimens taken from the
body of President Kennedy, in the final grave on reinterment, on
March 14, 1967. The persons contacted who were present for the
ceremony could not recall any additional package or material being
placed in the grave. The Superintendent of Arlington National
Cemetery from 1951 to 1972 John Metzler, informed the committee
that he attended the burial of the President and the reinterment.
At the time of burial, the coffin was placed in a "Wilbur" vault,
which has a lid and vault that operate on a tongue and groove
system. Tar is placed on the points of contact of the grooves to
insure a tight fit and permanent seal. Metzler witnessed the
lowering of the lid and the sealing of the vault, and believed
that the only method to open the vault subsequently would be to
break the lid on the main portion of the vault.

Metzler supervised the reinterment in 1967 and was
present at all phases of the transfer: from the opening of the old
site through the transfer by crane of the vault to the closing of
the new site Metzler said there was no way anyone could have
placed anything in the coffin or vault during the transfer without
his seeing it. Metzler also said that nothing could have been
placed in the vault since 1963 because there was no indication of
damage to the vault indicating any disturbance. Metzler stated
further that no one placed anything in the new or old gravesite
besides the vault.

So my thoughts are that they were tossed into the sea...within a week there would be nothing left of the evidence, and it would be lost forever....I cannot prove it...But if I wanted to get rid of some real sensitive material, man that is the way to do it.
Of course Robert Kennedy was very keen to get rid of as much evidence as possible. I am sure he did, and by this action has robbed the future of evidence that would help us understand. But what he needed to hide was all the problems that the President had, and all the drugs he was on.

Robert Kennedy was not alone. He was joined by a totally incompetent autopsy crew, a totally messed follow up on most areas of evidence, and a ill informed investigation team, and the lack of security on items that were important to the investigation of a murder.
I am not of the feeling it was conspiracy as much as it was bungled by some really piss poor people who had no right or qualifications to do what they did.

By the poor actions by the President, the Warren Commission, and Robert Kennedy's illegal taking of government property, the case became a shame. That is why we are so confused today and can never let this case die. Because these people really screwed it all up for us.

23 great car ads from the 1930's.....Some of those ads and cars were amazing...It was a great era for the cars and of course art deco

I have lots of ads for cars from much of the 20th century. I was doing some research on ships and kept finding great car ads. So I thought I would share a few with you. I guess I found around 50 ads from the 1930's. They are in magazines so many of them will be crooked as they part of the entire piece. I will add some more another time. But for now enjoy this artistic and commercial blast from the past....Happy motoring...

The Normandie...The wonder ship from France ... Some items from her maiden arrival and mementos of her short sailing life 1935-1939

The Normandie was news..She was the wonder ship from France. She was an art deco wonder. Her arrival was noted and heralded in the press. All kinds of ads had her picture on it.
Here is a massive ad for the maiden arrival in NYC for the Normandie.



Here are some drawings of her interiors as pictured in Fortune Magazine June 1935





Here is an original French line advertising picture of the liner. This was the standard picture used at French Line offices.



Another shot taken in New York Harbor and used for advertising.



The Normandie was an amazing vessel. Perhaps one of the greatest ships built in the 20th century. She was an art gallery afloat. She was the pride of France. Everything that France could do to make her a success was done. She was ever so popular. Always on the minds of people. But she never made money.

By the time she had all the bugs worked out and starting a career. Clouds of war covered Europe. She was brought to the United States and impounded there starting in 1939. By 1942 through stupidity, and possible terrorism she was destroyed by fire and sunk by New York City fire boats that poured so much water onto the ship that she capsized and was a total loss.

I will write more about her end later. For now we look at the living ship and her maiden voyage. She took the Blue Ribbon as the fastest ship on the Atlantic. I have been on a ship kick here over the last few days, and it has been a pleasure adding some of these stories and pictures of rare artifacts dealing with these many vessels.

The two great German Ocean liner companies that worked out of the Hoboken, New Jersey piers...A few mementos of their time there

When you sailed out of Hoboken on one of the ocean greyhounds of either the Hamburg-American line or the North German Lloyd company you would get a book that explained the ships, the companies, the rules of seaboard travel, a little saber rattling against other companies, and some good old fashioned press puffery. The red book is from around 1907, while the blue book is from around 1899. In fact it was the height of success for these companies.
For before WWI these companies had some of the fastest ocean liners on earth. The German vessels were among the few to carry more lifeboats than the American or British ships. Also they were well known for their expert service.
Enrico Caruso, the famous operatic tenor usually took German vessels to Europe. The great composer Victor Herbert did as well.
They were very fashionable. Even when the British Lusitania came out in 1907, she did not take away a great deal of the loyal following the German vessels had.

Also in Hoboken which was like walking into Germany at times at the turn of the century. The crews of these ships always had loyal friends who enjoyed their company and language. So these were always mementos cherished from a voyage.

Here you will see the inside of the Red book from the Hamburg American Line. It shows its mighty vessel of the time, the Deutschland of 1900. Which was a 4 funneled vessel that held the blue ribbon for a while.

Here you see the inside of the blue book from the North German Lloyd Company and its flagship for the time, which was the Kaiser Willhelm Der Grosse of 1897.



Here is an excellent way to show the size of these vessels. Here you see the Kaiser Willhelm Der Grosse compared to other structures on earth. Showing how long she was by standing her on end. One thing you will notice is the 4 funnels that the German vessels had. They were in pairs, two and two. This style started with this vessel. She was the first of the famous 4 stackers. The style would be copied by all the major shipping companies like Hamburg American, Cunard, and lastly White Star.



On June 30, 1900 there was a massive blaze at the Hoboken piers. In fact it not only destroyed the piers but there is a tragic part to this story that would affect ocean liners from then on. One of the 3 vessels burned that day was a ship called the Saale. On the other vessels the crews were able to escape. However, on the Saale the crew was trapped below while the top of the vessel was engulfed in flames. The flames were slowly working their way down into the vessel. There was no point of escape for the crew, as the portholes were too small to let a man through. So the area all around the piers was stricken by the howls and screams of the the burning men. It was horrid scene. The burning of that ship in 1900, and the needless loss of those crewmen led to the changing of all ships from that point, and the changing of those in service already. That every vessel that carries passengers and crew must have portholes large enough to allow a man to crawl through.
This very large (3 feet wide) original framed advertising photo was made in late 1913 by the Hamburg-American Line. It was their newest super ship called Imperator. It was larger by far than what was then the largest ships in the world, the Olympic and the now sunk Titanic. It was a massive vessel with an ugly creature on its bow to extend it's length. A wave did the world an honor and broke the ugly thing from the bow. She made her maiden voyage in 1913 and within a trip or two it was found that she was terribly top heavy. There was a massive amount of cement poured into the keel and the 3 massive funnels were shortened 15 feet.By late 1913 she looked like this picture you see here. This is a most unusal photograph of the vessel. With in months she would be interned and never sail again as a German vessel. She would in time become the Cunard Berengaria. So this view of her is most rare indeed.

By 1905 new steel piers were constructed on the Hoboken waterfront. Some of them are still partially there.




Now we can see in this large advertising portrait what they wanted the Imperator to look like. Several things in this painting show themselves. 1.The nasty looking monster on the bow is there. 2. There are more lifeboats than Carter's had liver pills, as the Titanic had just sunk and all the lifeboats were painted a darker color, so you could see them. 3. Not easy to see but there were search lights on the front of the vessel to spot icebergs. Which in light of the Titanic disaster, which when this was painted had been only months ago was a very important feature. 4. 3 massive funnels, not four like before, they were setting a new trend and they knew it. 5. Sheer size, nothing like this had ever existed before. These where the first of the massive super liners. While Cunard's Lusitania class and White Star's Olympic class were large, they were not of this league. The 3 Imperator class vessels of Hamburg-American were of a class all to themselves. I will admit they were not as pretty as the British vessels, but they were truly super liners of a new and frighteningly massive scale.






This is a photo of one of the German vessels in the pier. The Hoboken piers were very busy with shipping and ocean travel from the 1880's till 1914. When WWI started in Europe, although neutral the United States impounded most of the German fleet in Hoboken. It was like a holiday in Hoboken in those innocent days of 1914 and 1915. The bands from the vessels would give concerts. The Captains would find themselves guests at all the major dinner parties. The war was not seen or felt in the United States.
But by 1915 with the sinking of the Lusitania and a lot of really good propaganda by the British, the Germans were demonized. They were not worse than the British. Just like them in many ways. Their leaders were related by blood. But by 1916 the crews were confined to their ships and some were returned to Germany. Many saw the writing on the wall. They knew the United States was going to come to the side of England. So many of the crews began to destroy the inner workings of many of their vessels. Making sure they would not work. War brings out mush of the worst of us.

When the United States entered the war in 1917, it had a harbor of unusable ships. There was several months involved in getting the vessels operational. Soon Hoboken became a spot where many soldiers left to go to battle on vessels that knew the port well, but were flying another flag and bringing soldiers to fight the people who had built the very vessels themselves.

RMS Titanic's sister ship. The RMS Olympic. A postcard written on board the great vessel in the late 1920's

They write "At Sea" The card says they are nearing the coast of France. I guess this card was bought on board and then posted at the ships post office. The days of ships like the Olympic and her unfortunate sisters Titanic and Britannic are long since gone.
One rarely takes a voyage to get somewhere..Today it is the cruise. I know we have so much today in the way of technology. But I often wonder do we really have it better?
In our world of high speed and rush, rush...I often think the idea of a 6 days ocean voyage just to get somewhere seems like a gift from the gods.

Well as the person who sailed on The Olympic wrote "This voyage has been perfect. Sunny skies and calm seas and a salt breeze that has blown all the cobwebs out of my brain." I think we could all use a trip on that grand ship if she was still with us. But sadly she like her sisters are from another time and are long gone....The last of the Olympic was torn apart 70 years ago this year.

The last of the major 4 stacked liners to go into atlanic ferry service. Cunard's RMS Aquatania 1914-1950. The last of a breed..

Here you see the original advertising print put out by Cunard on their latest ship. The Aquatania. The great vessel served in 2 world wars. Carried more passengers than one could ever imagine. Sailed over a million miles. She was lovingly called the ship beautiful. She was in this her first design. In later years they added a wheel house to the front of the ship forever destroying her beautiful lines...

But this is how Cunard wanted the world to see their newest ship in 1914. The great Aquatania.

Smoking cigarettes in the 1930's ...Everyone did ...Here are some ads that prove that smoking is good for you. :)

They calm your nerves
They don't get your wind...says big Bill Tilden the champion tennis player.
You get a lift says "Cliff" Montgomery ..Football player.
Yankees iron man Lou Gehrig says they do not get your wind and give you strength. So mild that athletes smoke as many as they please.
Gives you a lift and energy so you can build better buildings.

Today we know better...Perhaps they knew better then too. But everyone smoked. I remember as a boy going into my doctors office. He was smoking, so was his nurse. Jackie Kennedy smoked, Franklin D. Roosevelt smoked, teachers smoked. Every store, every supermarket, had cigarette butts all over the floor. It was natural.
TV stars smoked, newscasters smoked, and so many people died from the effects of them.

Yes, it did not get your wind...It removed your ability to create it..It gave you heart decease, lung cancer, high blood pressure, and breath not unlike that of an ash tray. So it is good that the habit and practice is slowly vanishing from our world. It will not happen tomorrow or maybe in 25 years. But in time it mainly go. But there will always be some who will never give it up. I wish them well and no ill will. But I would like to wish them that at a distance :)

The end of the line....The last voyage of the RMS Aquatania in Feb. 1950

The ship beautiful as she was called was on her way to scrap yard. After 35 years under one house flag. She did what few ships would ever do. In the story on this blog before this, you see the first pictures of the ship when she was being introduced to the world. Here is as she looked as she said goodbye.

But she was not the graceful ship she was in 1914. The bridge was an after thought and certainly looked it. The grace that was the Aquatania was from another era. The ship that came out before radio was introduced, left the world when TV would broadcast her fate.
She was also the only 4 stacked liner to be filmed in color. Sadly that color footage would be of her trip to the bone yard. But none the less we have some. She was the last survivor of the old four stacked liners. After her it was all over. But what an era it was.

A wonderful memento from one of the battleships of the Great White Fleet. 1910

The USS Louisanna was one of the battleships that sailed on the Great White Fleet sent by Theodore Roosevelt around the world to do a little saber rattling. Congress refused to pay for the journey, Roosevelt sent them anyway, forcing Congress to pay for their return. This novety card has within it a little flag that is enclosed inside the post card. By pushing a little tab on the back the US flag comes out the top of the card. It is a cute item from a more innocent age.

The Civil War Vet, my Great Great Grandfather, and his wife. Some memories of them and some of the writings of my Great Grandmother

This is my Great Great Grandfathers discharge from the Army in 1865. Now there are as far as I know, no photographs of Jacob Schick. So all I have of his is this discharge. But I know a little of the man. I had good historic conversations with my Grandfather when I was a little boy. Now these conversations took place when I was between the ages of 6 and 8. Needless to say that was a long time ago. So I am trying to recall in as deep a fashion what he told me about his Grandfather. My conversations with my grandfather took place between 1963-65. As it was the 100th anniversary of the great war and I was full of questions.

This I recall...My Grandfathers Grandfather was born in Bavaria Germany in 1842. He came to the United States in 1864. His trade was a good one for the time. He was a blacksmith. In fact I recall my Grandfathers story about Jacob Schick. He said that he had been kicked on the head by a mule, and for all of his life he had the imprint of a horseshoe on his bald head. I remember my Grandfather said he was bald. He originally lived in New York City. Then he joined the Union Army as a blacksmith on April 5, 1865. Well, the war ended in May, and he was taken out of the army in July. But it sure is a treat today to have his papers from the Civil War. His wife Theresa Schick was also originally from Germany. They would eventually move to West Hobo ken, New Jersey and lived out the rest of their days there.











This is my Great Great Grandmothers passport from the 1860's


There is not too much listed save for the fact it says Amerika


The final page of her passport as to where anything is written.


This is my Great Great Grandmother Theresa Schick (1841-1926) with my Grandfather William Henry Rothermier (1899-1968). This photograph was taken in front of the family homestead on Clinton Street in West Hoboken in 1917. It is the only photograph I know of, of her. The only way I can think of getting closer to them is a few items I own that I know were in the Schick homestead back around 1900. I have 2 items I know of here.


This is part of a set that was in the Schick household around 1900. I also have the other, but it is quite similar to the other one. They are quite beautiful and have velvet around the picture.



This is my Great Great Grandmother's tea pot. From the 1890's. This is another item I know came from that house. It is quite beautiful. I also have a number of pieces of china and dishware that was a part of that household.


This was the wedding document for my Great Grandparents in 1898, as you can see by the date on it. My Great Grandmother kept some information in it. It is here I learn more about my Grandfather and also some other members of my family. It is quite a piece of history.



Info for the wedding, which I see was witnessed by my Great Great Grandmother and signed by her too.


Then come the sad death notices for my Great Grandfather. By the way he was a baker who came to this country in 1892. I have his immigration papers and will show them another time. But he was a baker and caught a bad flu and died from its effects.



This is information my Great Grandmother kept concerning her son. There were two newspaper notices concerning him. One covers his being wounded. In which I spent quite a bit of time on in a previous article.


Here you see my Great Grandmothers notes and clippings concerning my Great Great Grandparents and their deaths.

It is really interesting to have some history around from my family and I am glad to share some of it with you.

New York's Croton Water System. A tour through woodcuts of the bridges tunnels and workings of the system.... From Harpers Weekly Dec. 1860

The water to New York was once delivered by the Croton water line. It was built in the mid 19th century. In Harper's Magazine of December, 1860. It took us on a tour of the system in a series of wood cuts.
There is a lot of narrative here that I have left out. But in future writings I can put some of it in. But this was as it was on the eve of the American Civil war, and New York's water system.
The final placement of the water was the great reservoir which once stood on 5th Ave and 42 to 44th streets. The New York Public Library stands where some of that massive water storage area once stood. I have written a history on that already in a previous entry into this blog.















The Croton on its way to town.





Scene below the Croton dam.





Glimpse on the Croton lake.





The Hudson Highlands-Source of the Croton.





Sections of the aqueduct, showing its construction.
1.Embankments across valleys
2.Masonry in earth excavations
3.Tunnel cutting in earth
4.Tunnel cutting in rock
5.Open cutting in rock.





An aqueduct ventilator.





Aqueduct bridge at Sing Sing.





Bridge over Mill River in Tarrytown.





Bridge over the Napperhan at Yonkers.





The high bridge at Harlem.





Section of the high bridge over the Harlem River.





One of the bridges over 98th, 99th, and 100th Streets, New York.





The distributing reservoir in the 5th Avenue, New York.

An amazing record label from 1906. The American Record Company. It gives the average view of Indians in the beginning of the 20th century.

This blue shellac record from around 1906 is one made by the American Record Company. It is in many regards a beautiful label. And the records rich blue color adds to the effect. Yet once you look at it and see it, some interesting things come to mind. First off lets look at the label closer.




Here is a close up of the label. it has an American Indian listening to a phonograph.







What does it say here "Music have charms".....Let's think of that statement. Music hath charms to calm the savage beast. So what they are saying here is that the music on this record will calm even an American Indian, who of course in their view was a savage. It is amazing that such a label was made. But in its day it was looked on as perfectly normal. Needless to say the American Record Company did not last long and these labels are quite scarce today.

The Last acoustic Edison Diamond Disc Machines. The Edisonics. Here is the Schubert model of 1928

The Edison Edisonic was the last of a breed of hill and dale disc phonographs to play Edison Diamond Disc Records which by the time this catalog was published in 1928 were not selling at all well.

One of the main problems was that there was a stigma to Edison records and what was on them. It all went back to the earliest days of the Edison disc industry in 1912. Thomas Edison had for many years been in charge of picking the music for his company. While it can be agreed that it was "his" company, it was a terrible move and led to its ruin.
By 1926 Charles Edison had finally removed his father from control more or less. But the damage was done and by this time they were loosing over a million dollars a year.
The electrical system of recording and acoustic playback had been developed by Bell Labs/Western Electric and marketed by the Victor Talking Machine Company in it's Victrolas and records.
However, records only by the Columbia Graphophone Company, as the rights to the folded horn technology for acoustic playback of electrical recording were controlled by the Victor Company.
This had happened in the end of 1924. Victor and Columbia in 1925 started issuing electrically recorded discs in 1925. By November Victor issued it's new machines. They were called Orthophonic Victrolas. They were a smash.

Thomas Edison had little love for the Orthophonics. By this time in his life he could hardly hear anyway. Walter Miller, his assistant said that the Orthophonic sounded like music coming out of a Rain Barrel. I guess he said that to keep his boss happy. But it was one wonderful rain barrel.
But once Thomas Edison was out of the way, the company went to work on developing a system of electrically recorded discs. This was under the control of his son Theodore Edison.
What ended up happening was they purchased RCA microphones and amplifier equipment to make the electrically recorded Edison records as crazy as that sounds!

But once they had developed the system they needed machines to play these discs. As most of the lineup of machines for the Edison Company were from the 1915 era. That meant some serious revamping. But money was very tight.

The end result was 2 machines issued in 1927 to play the new records. They were called the Edisonic, to copy the popular Orthophonic of the Victor Company. The workings of these new machines were designed by Theodore Edison and would encompass a new type of reproducer and the longest horn ever put on a Diamond Disc Machine.

It was to add to the bass response and was as close as the Edison company could come to making a horn responsive to electrical recordings with out stepping on Victor's patents.

The Machines were called the Schubert and Beethoven. They were handsome machines but never really took of. Hence today, they are quite rare. But they did play wonderfully.
They were truly the last gasp of the acoustic Diamond Disc phonograph. One must remember by the time these machines came out Victor, Brunswick, and a few other companies had electrically powered and amplified machines.

These machines were produced from 1927 till the end of the company in late 1929. However they could still be purchased in early 1930 as well as leftover records from the company.








A 1928 Edison Edisonic Schubert


The inside of the machine. Showing the gun metal reproducer and the orange/peach turntable and felt cushions




The doors open to show the horn grill and cloth and storage for records. Both the Beethoven and Schubert used the same sized horns. Just there was a difference in the size of the cabinet. I have always been partial to the Schubert as I feel it was a better designed machine.




The grill removed and the horn of the Edisonic revealed. It was a good sized horn. The machine was usually equipped with a single spring. However many people opted to have a double spring put in. As you can see on this model.




Note the long extension of the horn designed by Theodore Edison to make the most of the mathematical properties in bass response. It has great sound and is most amazing to see in operation.

Here you will see an advertising piece for the Edisonic in 1927. Although Thomas Edison had nothing to do with this machine. It was always good press to use his name. Stigma or not, he was a god to many.









The sad part of it all was the Victor Orthophonic was the king of the industry. The Edison Company tried some radios and electric phonographs. But it was too late. Riddled in debt and mismanagement the phonograph company was quietly discontinued in 1929. Sadly few even noticed.

The Weeping Room at Grand Central Station. Track 42 Grand Central Station

If you walk around Grand Central Station look for track number 42. It is the last track in the massive station. Today the room leading to it does not get much traffic in the evening, but during the day travelers go to and fro to their destinations.

But what few know is that Track 42 was the track in which all the soldiers were sent from. It was outside the gate in the room that leads to 42nd street that soldiers from WWI and WW2 said their last farewells, many forever.

So go and look at that room and remember the great sacrifice given by so many as they went away on track 42. It has always been known as the Weeping room since the first soldiers were sent away from there in 1917.

It was interesting to know I was where my grandfather left for the war and all the many hundreds of thousands of young men went to fight and for many to die.

It is where so much happened, so much took place. So as you honor veterans of past wars this Veterans day, remember this place. You can feel the passion in this room. It lingers like a distant memory. But one you can feel the presence of.

Go in the evening, it is so quiet there, like a tomb or monument..It really is a monument to many brave men and women. A special history hidden in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

I have a comment on the state of the world. It is rather sad in many ways.

I think that for many people of all ages there is a great deal of tunnel vision when it comes to understanding others countries, races, and creeds.
Many people here in America think that this is about all there is. People in some other countries may feel the same. That is shameful.
We should know and understand each others countries, and understandings.
What do we know of other governments? Do we care? Should we? I would think so.
The world is no longer a huge place..There is no longer the massive ocean that took a week to cross. Today a missle can cross in minutes.

But we here in this country have very little knowledge of what is going on in the world...Save for the sameness of Iraq, Iran and the middle east.
How many can find many of these countries we hear of on a map? Many people in this country cannot even find the state in which they live in, on an unmarked map!

I would wonder how many of our students understand our brothers and sisters across the water ...I wonder how much our brothers and sisters across the water know about us?
I have a feeling they know a lot more about us, than we do about them.

What I am saying here is, that we need to become more of the world community, not dominate it. We have no more right to express our desires than any other country.
But as of late we have been on a mission to do so it seems. We have damaged our image around the world. I understand there is a desire to do good, to make things right..
But sometimes we forget, right for who?

I understand that terror is a problem, but it is one that we are making more hateful as we continue this sad folly in Iraq.
There are crazies on both sides of this issue. We have a President who believes he is the instrument of his God, and heads of state in Muslim countries who are following what they believe the dictates of their God. If such a thing as God does exist he must be crying over the state of the world.....

How do we handle this problem which grows like a cancer every day? I am asking questions, I am not the genius who would be able to answer them. I am just asking what the hell do we do?
There seems little chance to do much of anything? We are stuck in this mess. I hate to say this but we will be stuck there for many years to come. Now if this expands and reaches Iran. What will this small scale war become?

The UN seems to be impotent. It lacks the power to do or to control, or to really do anything except talk....Times have changed. People have changed. Countries have changed.
The UN is an out growth of the League of Nations, which was a flawed entity...It died as WW2 started and its bastard child, the United Nations took over in 1946. It has always had issues.

New times call for new ideas...


There are wars going on all over. Not just in Iraq, but in Africa, in other areas of the Middle East, there are troubles in many places, and many get no attention, money, or aid cause they do not have oil or are not strategically placed. Therefore they lie in forgotten masses of despair.

My heart goes out to all the people of the world.....To each parent who has lost a son or daughter in these conflicts on whatever side you may be...I wish you all that can be wished in your time of heartache...

Someday I hope we will be intelligent enough to stop this foolishness. But we are not that smart yet, we are as a whole really pretty dumb still as a group.

Now soon a new year will be here...2008...What will that year bring. What will that year possess? I hope that it will contain understanding. But I have grown much more jaded as time goes on.
Perhaps education on all sides of these issues is important. Read the Koran to understand your Muslim friends, read the New Testament to understand your Christian friends, read the Old testament to understand your Jewish friends ..etc.

Of course if you don't believe in any of them , try to understand these friends and find out what makes them all want to kill each other! Of course we know the answer.


Most problems come from ignorance...

Learn, understand, and share....These great qualities bring peace, but I am not sure that any of us are enlightened enough to understand that yet.