Didja ever say somethin’ and just as it slipped off your tongue you wished you could get it back – but couldn’t?
I think that’s what happened last Friday when Mr. President Obama took his road show to my home town of Roanoke, Virginia, at the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley and found out that although there was cheering it was not echoing off the mountains that surrounded the Valley.
Why do I say that?
Roanoke lies close to the border of West Virginia and Virginia – the difference of labels goes back to the days of the “War Between the States.” People know you’re not from the South when you say ‘Civil War’ – because technically speaking a Civil War is a war between two parts of the same state or province etc. – in the case of the U.S. Civil War the winning side held to the view part of Virginia declared itself ‘severed’ from Virginia … that’s why it’s called WEST Virginia…. So technically speaking to the people from the Northern half of Virginia it wasn’t a war between *parts* of Virginia (whose technically correct term is a ‘Commonwealth’ not a ‘State’) it was or IS called by them (us?) “The war between the States” – if you adopt that view… you drop “Civil” and use “War between the States. It’s a fine point – not as important to be observed as it once was. (J) And from southwest Virginia – you will probably be just as satisfied that you don’t have to capitalize “southwest” – because it’s NOT a separate state.
That’s an explanation – I’m not sure it’s a clear one.
Anyway – I’ve always wanted to write a paragraph about that… now I have. [My parents are from SC and Alabama.] So call me what you like – just make sure you call me for supper; which by the way is the evening meal – not dinner, which is usually served around noon. There are just certain things we don’t get over.
Cordially, IN HIM
Jack & Barbara
{Barbara by the way is from Pennsylvania – Easton right on the Delaware River *almost* in New Jersey} We get along fine!
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“JUST A MINUTE”
MR. OBAMA LIGHTS A TORCH
Just a Minute: I think Mr. Obama just struck the match which lit the torch like one which burned across Bunker Hill lighting a bonfire of musket and grape shot ‘on the 18th of April in ’75.” He did it in my home town of Roanoke, Virginia. As a native of the area, I would have advised him he “shouldn’t have done that.”
I recall a case in point during a Junior High P.E. class when I started to slap a classmate who was being ‘smart’ with me. Next thing I knew was sitting flat on my sitter-bottom from a blow that I didn’t’ see coming. I believe the President got carried away with his own rhetoric; I was flattened by a total surprise.
There were several lessons I learned from that. The one I still remember is: “Don’t start a fight you don’t have the power to finish.” Several of the comments printed about the President’s stump speech contained the writer’s words – “like a slap in the face.” I take it Mr. Obama may have struck a spark he doesn’t have the power to put out. – I sincerely hope so. <> I’m Jack Buttram. (END)
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