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 Football !

 An Irish Tune

  Did you
    hear that?

   Just What is a
 "Computer
            Guru"?

FLORIDA
HURRICANE!

To Arms! 

Truth, Fact, &
Common Sense

Chess McCartney: America's  Goat Man

John "Duke" Waynes' MOTTO

What is to be said about the Irish?

The HISTORY
   of CHILI

The
"Civil" War

Who is the
Funky Chicken?

   FORREST's
     ESCORT
  CAMP 1239
      Sons of
  Confederate
     Veterans
-Villa Rica, Ga

After
Appomattox...

The
Farmer's Friend

We wereYoung

The
Bill of Rights

Tugboat Gumbo

POEM:
The Legend          of  EL GATO

Songs of the Confederacy

Separation of Church &  State??

 33 Million
 ILLEGAL
Mexican
Aliens -
(and Counting)  BUT is there a
 Silver Lining?

A Short Article
about Environmental
Issues 

Of   AK47's,
"Hunting."
and
"Gun Control"

The Communist Party-USA
...which party and candidate do they support??

"Yellow Dog"
defined

HillaryClinton's
"VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY"

Of Democrats
and
Gullible Dupes

 Selected Short Stories, Articles, and Funnies
          ~   "A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory."       ...ETM   ~
 

     Current Article:

                                                            Popeye (the Sailor Man)

                                                                  (Click on Popeye!)

          He's short, balding, ornery and downright ugly by anyone's standards. But countless numbers of fans have grown up admiring and identifying with this unpretentious hero since his introduction to the public in 1929. Celebrating his 76th Anniversary in 2005, "Popeye" remains one of the most widely recognized and best-loved personalities ever.
          Popeye is an underdog with a long fuse and a keen sense of fair play. Everyone identifies with him when he finally says, "Tha's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!" And it seems only fitting that our most unlikely hero would fall for the least likely of sex symbols: Olive Oyl. Flat as a board, with a pickle-shaped nose and fickle heart to match, Popeye's "goil" puts him through his paces. Her only real competition is spinach.
          Popeye made his first public appearance Jan. 17, 1929, in Elzie Segar's then 10-year-old comic strip, "Thimble Theatre," which originally revolved around Olive Oyl's family. Although he was introduced as a minor walk-on character, Popeye quickly "muskled" his way into the limelight and eclipsed the older characters to become the star of "Thimble Theatre." With Popeye came a host of new, off-beat funny folks such as Swee'Pea, the "infink" Popeye adopted; J. Wellington Wimpy, the world's most hamburger-obsessed moocher; and Bluto, the hairy "heavy" with the glass jaw.
          Segar had a genius for creating strong, memorable characters the entire world knows and loves. "Not even Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse or Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny can top Popeye in the high profile department ... (because) both the Rodent and the Wabbit have known long stretches of inactivity between film appearances ... (but) the monocular seafarer has seldom been caught without a new adventure in the works," wrote Michael H. Price of The New York Times News Service.
Popeye made the jump to the silver screen in a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon entitled, Popeye the Sailor from the Fleischer Studios. Nearly 750 Popeye cartoons were made and many are available on video.
          In 1980, Paramount Pictures released a live-action musical motion picture in which Popeye was portrayed by Robin Williams and Olive Oyl played by Shelley Duvall. In 1993, Ted Turner's Cartoon Network celebrated the 60th anniversary of the sailorman's film debut with "Popumentary," a series of six prime-time specials.
          Known as Iron Arm in Italy, Karl Alfred in Sweden and Skipper Skraek or "Terror of the Sea" in Denmark, Popeye continues to appear in comic books published around the world (including Thailand, a place I, Tony Miller, have just spent 3 months roaming around in).
          Interestingly, Popeye's spinach obsession began in the Thimble Theatre strip but became an indispensable plot device in his later animated adventures. Spinach capital Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue in 1937 to honor E.C. Segar and Popeye for their influence on America's eating habits, making Popeye the first cartoon character ever immortalized in public sculpture. The spinach growers credited Popeye with a 33 percent increase in U.S. spinach consumption — and saving the spinach industry in the 1930s!
          Today the sailorman has made Popeye-brand canned spinach the No. 2 brand behind Del Monte and he has his own brand of fresh spinach, salads and fresh vegetable snacks. He has also punched up supermarket sales of everything from Pepsi to popcorn, not to mention millions of T-shirts, caps, jackets, collectors' watches. In fact, Popeye was the first character to invade, in an important way, the toy and novelty field. From tin wind-up toys to puzzles and kazoo pipes, early Popeye novelty merchandise now carries staggering price tags in antique shops and flea markets.
          And, speaking of collectibles, the U.S. Postal Service featured Popeye in its "American Comic Classics" collection of postage stamps issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the comic strip.
Popeye continues to be one of the most widely recognized and beloved characters in the world. It's amazing what a little spinach can do!
                                                                                                        ...King Features Syndicate

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                                                                   Remember now...

                                              GO  TO  THE  DENTIST ! !
    My revelations upon going to a Dentist's office for the first time in 40 (count 'em) years.

                                    (Written By Emil T. Miller in September of 1997)

     “Go to the dentist!” said my wife the other day. "I’m tired of hearing you complain." 
Whether from some mysterious invisible gum disease or the marching of years, two of my teeth had become loose, and chewing on these loose teeth along with trying to work them out had caused very sore gums and sore gums were causing grouchiness on my part.
   Having fought the storms of life, we had retired in the small Tennessee town of Mt. Pleasant to finish raising our last child, Sundi, the delight of our lives. I guess for me the rat race is over now (the rats won). Just a struggling writer now, this being the last of a long line of pursuits in the course of lifes' several endeavors. Like the song says, I’ve been up, down, all around... a pauper and a king. Been here, there, over and out... and now here I sing... been a tinker, a taylor... Well, something like that, you know how it goes. In the afternoon of life though, at age 60, one tends to have more bad days than before, and I was having a rather bad day this day, this treatise being one result of it.
     Those two lower front teeth were loose and my gums were hurting because I had been working them back and forth for two weeks to get them loose enough to pull out. I had done this many times before, as teeth went bad, but these were long rooted rascals and didn’t want to let go. I hated to see them to go too, since I would no longer be able to properly eat an apple or corn on the cob. Past this I had few teeth left with which to chew anything, and here I was about to loose two more. False teeth, here we come.
     So I went to see Dr. Michael Tyler that morning. I knew him slightly already, we being kindred spirits in many ways, especially politically and religiously speaking.  Afterwards in the early afternoon, I reflected on the experience. A trip to the dentist’s office is always a red letter day for most people, and it was for me too, seeing as how it was the first time I had been inside a regular dentists’ office in 45 years. Since I was 12 years old in fact, which would make it about 1949 I think. Now that I think about it though, I had seen a dentist one other time, an Army dentist in 1959 when I was in the Army at Fort Ord near Monteray, California, 38 years ago (I have not exactly been seeing a dentist regularly, have I?). Oh well, but my how time does fly, n’est pas? As you can tell from this, it is somewhat understated to say that I have not properly seen to the maintenance my teeth. More than just brushing is required, don’t you know. I am thinking of writing a treatise on such failures as these of mine, being very knowledgeable I daresay.   But...

                                 
            Hi.  Just wanted to pop in and say Good Morning.  Have a Good day.

     Anyway, I had lost teeth off and on during all those years, needless to say. When a tooth went bad I suffered through the pain, loosened it up and would finally work it out or pull it out myself. I did this partly because I was tight as Dick's hat band and didn’t want to spend the money most of those years. A classic example of false economy to say the least, and when events beyond one’s control takes the fruit of that Scottish attribute away, one wonders if easy come easy go would have been the better outlook. Take it from one who knows though, it is still much more fun saving for a rainy day when you don’t have to, as opposed to having to scrimp every day out of necessity and because you didn't.
     But to a certain extent it was the fact that it was against my raising to go to a dentist except a case of  dire need. I write this because many will need such reasoning explained.  Many of my era were this way about it. Still, some of us were even more so.  Old folks, my Miller Grandfather for example, did not think much of the "younger generation" like my Dad, who went to dentists when they grew up. My grandfather in fact was the family “dentist” (and barber) for all his twelve children, doing all the tooth pulling himself, as did his father before him and his before that, my Great Great (etc.) Grandfather who had come to America from Ireland on a sailing ship.
     I remember "Papa" telling of old ways of taking care of dental problems, which many still used back at that time, in the late forties and early fifties. Things like tying a string from ones' tooth to a brick and dropping it. Or tying the tooth to a doorknob then waiting for someone to open the door (someone would sneak around and jerk the door open when least expected). Different kinds of pliers were used causing many pinched lips with blood blisters in the process. Even a hammer and chisel was used. I myself remember my grandfather sharpening a chisel, then angling its' point to a tooth at the gum line of one of my uncles, then tapping it loose. The fact that it had been the wrong tooth was not overly lamented.  And vaguely I remember seeing on occasion, a poltice of corn meal placed over a swollen jaw and tied in place around the head with a big knot on top. All sorts of remedies were tried and used. I remember Musterole in the poltice the most, since it smelled so strong. It was (and still is) the very best for chest congestion and sore throat. I was surprised to find that it is still available and sold. I saw some in Wal-Mart the other day.
     However we of that time, coming of age in the "Fabulous Fifties" as we did, were "enlightened" as regards going to the dentist. Daddy pulled his own teeth still, when he could, but he sent me and my little brother to our family Dentist, Dr. Brock. His little office was a tiny ante-room with a desk, and a slightly larger room next to it with his one dentists' chair in it. It was on the second floor of a building on the town square in Carrollton, Georgia where I was raised. What I remember most about his office was his drill and his Novacane needle (a new thing at the time - laughing gas was used mostly (Nitrous Oxide I think).  I remember his tooth pullers, and the little ceramic bowl with a constant whirlpool of water to spit in. I don't know exactly how, but I was distantly kin to Dr. Brock.  My mothers' maiden name was Brock, and I will never forget this wonderful, gentle, kindly old man, God rest his soul.
     Sometimes I feel that except for the advances in pain management, dental work today is no better than back then. I know I would get argument on this, but I qualify my statement. If one considered the knowledge, the equipment and compounds they had to work with, it may have even been better back then relatively speaking, as compared to the wonderful technical, chemical and medical advancements available to dentists today. They just seemed to be able to do more with less back then somehow. Some fillings Dr. Brock put in for me are still with me today, just as sound as the day he put them in almost fifty years ago.
     But as to the pain factor, it is much better today of course. Whether a function of modern contemporary pain killers and techniques, or the refusal of the present generation to accept any level of pain whatsoever I know not. Probably a little of the former and a lot of the latter. Just a bunch of pansies today, that’s what we are. A pill to go to sleep, a pill to keep awake, one to feel happy, one to combat be hyperactivity, one for nervousness, one for alertness, uppers, downers, one for every imaginable malady known to man and some for who knows what all, but especially ones to kill pain! As a society we have come to zero tolerance as to pain, so it seems. And too, many have come to use a trip to the dentist to malinger, as an excuse to leave work, or not to go to work in the first place.
It is nice to expect to go through life without pain, but such is impossible. In one form or another, either physical or mental or both, we will have pain. If only the pain of dependency on pain killers, which in itself is the worst kind of pain. One can run to alcohol and drugs, but in the end one cannot hide from the tragic, disastrous results.
     On my first trip to the dentist back in 1949, Dr. Brock hurt like the devil you can bet. Yet he had the reputation at that time of hurting less than the towns’ "other" dentist, a much younger man. Dr. Brock worked alone mostly. I saw a woman there helping him once. Probably wife or daughter, I never knew. He would mix up some silvery looking stuff that scrunched as it was packed in the cavity after he put a tiny dab of some white stuff on the nerve he had exposed with that infernal drilling. The silvery stuff looked like lead mush and tasted about like that too, I thought. It looked bad if used in front teeth, but I still have some of it in one of my three molars still remaining, and it is all nice and shiny still. Some white stuff was mixed up for filling front teeth. It never matched up, but here again, some put in one of my front teeth is still there after 45 years even if it now looks bad and is much worn away. Rich folks had gold fillings but we were “po folks” and couldn’t afford such.
     At this young age my teeth were a little worse than most, and there was a reason for it. About the time my permanent teeth were coming in my mother worked at a textile mill in the nearby town of Bremen, Georgia and my father was a mechanic at the Ford dealership in Carrollton. Therefore my parents had to hire somone to watch me during the day. They hired a young black girl ("colored" girl back then) to keep me. My parents were friends with her parents, and I worshiped this girl, a teenager at the time. She loved me and I loved her dearly and do to this day, though I have not seen nor heard of her since those days. Dessie Mae was her first name, I never knew her last, but she would take me down the street to a little store almost every day and spend her last penny on candy for me and her. She wasn’t supposed to do this, but there was nothing but love in her heart and she couldn’t say no to a little boy wanting candy. Neither one of us ever told mother but mother knew, because years later mother told me she figured that was why my teeth got so many cavities so early. I do not remember having a brushing regimen back then, probably did so only when mother made me. That candy caused the cavities Dr. Brock had to repair, so he said, and I have no doubt. Mother always said so as well.
     I remember Dr. Brocks’ big Novacane needle. It was fearsome looking to me back then. It looked worse than it hurt. But that was not why I didn't want it. You see, it was a sign of weakness to ask for deadening in those days, yet the grinding and drilling without it was bad. I remember thinking I had rather have ten teeth pulled than one filled. Some things never change.  And too, it could have been that either one of those cost extra as the reason neither was used that much. I seem to remember 25 cents for Novacane. I don’t know if Novacane is still used or not. It has been many years since I've heard of anyone being given laughing gas. I had two visits to Dr. Brock’s office, the first in 1947 and the last in 1952. He filled five teeth all in one visit the first time, and he filled two and pulled two the last time. Contrast that with one filling per visit today, and at as much as forty and more times the cost!
     The grinding and drilling back then was very painful, but everyone more or less accepted it as the norm. I could bear it and did, even as a boy. No deadening was used for this grinding and filling of my teeth - only for pulling, and only when absolutely necessary. Dr. Brock pulled the first tooth with no Novacane. Didn’t hurt all that bad. The one next to it, a molar, was a different story. When he began to pull on it and rock it back and forth, I let a little groan escape and I was ashamed. "Do you want me to deaden it some son?" He asked. I, rather courageously I thought, said no. He began pulling again. I Did not groan again but the old Doc knew it hurt bad so he stopped and said "I’ll deaden it a little, son." I did not object to that big needle so much this time.
     When the tooth finally came out, the Doctor simply turned and with a deft motion, tossed it out the open window. They have regulations on teeth disposal these days I understand.  The window was open because no one had air conditioning in those days and he only had a little gas space heater for the wintertime. Curiosity got the better of me, so when the Doc finished and I got out of the chair I made a quick step to the window and looked down. The building adjacent was one story and there below the window that roof was white with what looked like thousands of white teeth against the black of the roofing!
     But what I remember most about Dr. Brock was that his voice as well as both hands shook, and that he had bad breath, bless his heart. He was old you see, and thinking about it now, was palsied as well. I can still hear his voice quake and shake as he would say "Open wide." One hand shook more than the other, and they shook while working in my mouth, but somehow he got the work done and neither I nor anyone else ever doubted his ability that I remember.
     As I waited my turn I saw that Dr. Brock had a world of patience with squalling kids. Some mothers would have to hold them in the chair. He had a box of suckers in good view from the chair, and gave one to all the kids when they left. He would say, “Be still now, and I'll give you a sucker when I get through." I remember how it hurt my feelings when he offered me one. After all, I was 10 years old!
     Dr. Brock hurt alright. How well I remember it! But Dr. Tyler didn’t hurt at all. Not one little bit. Actually it rather amazed me. Didn’t hurt in the least, ever at any time. And such a nice courteous young man to boot, about 35 years old I think (that's mighty young to me). Right properly called me Mr. Miller he did, and insisted I call him "just Mike." He struck me as being at the apex of competency in the dental profession as well as being a fine, courteous, compassionate, Christian family man. Not at all like certain other highly educated or professional people I know who come across as arrogant, self centered snobs.
     I like young dentists anyway. Ever since that Army dentist back in 1959. I forgot about him.  Young dentists have all the latest training and techniques. I was leery of that Army dentist at first, since he was a year younger than me (I was 22 at the time), and because he said I was his very first patient since leaving medical school and entering the service as a 2nd Lieutenant. Pain wise, I was surprised at how little he hurt me and how obviously good he was at his profession. He and I hit it off and became friends, I guess because we were both new to the Army and neither liked having to spent part of our life there. They still had the draft back then. He and I went on leave that weekend together, and painted Carmel and Monterey "redder ‘n a foxes butt in pokeberry time" as Papa Miller would say providing no womenfolk were around to hear it. This friendship was unusual due to the differentiation made between the officers, as he was, and enlisted men such as me. I have not been to a dentist since then that time... until this day in Dr. Tyler's office.
     "How much to pull the two teeth," I asked when seated in Dr. Tyler’s dental chair. Outrageous, I thought, when he quoted his price. Dr. Brock only charged two dollars. Three to fill a tooth. And he would let you pay it out on time too.  Boy, prices sure have gone up. The dental work in the army had cost me nothing. "Well, go ahead I guess," I replied. I had to realize that times change and eight years or more of college and medical school, as well as the resulting competent dental work given, demands respect and appreciation in the form of commensurate fees. As it turned out and after thinking about it, I felt the price charged was fair.
     I was rather amused at Dr. Tyler when he came in, obviously thinking he had to put me at ease regarding how much it would hurt. I had not given it a thought, but he certainly had a reassuring manner had it been otherwise. As he confidently went about his work he took time to fully explain all of what he was doing and why. I enjoyed the conversation, so I thought to myself, I'll tell him about Dr. Brock while he works. He was coming in and out from seeing other patients as he kept his work progressing on each one in proper sequence. Who else would be interested in Dr. Brock anyway, except another dentist? All in all Dr. Tyler took about an hour or more, whereas Dr. Brock would have been through in less than 10 minutes, or less than 3 minutes had if no Novacane was given (no X-rays back then either you know, to be sure the right tooth was pulled).
     What used to be a dreaded experience has truly been transformed into a ho-hum affair. Dr. Tyler in fact, made it more like a visit to a friend’s house for some pleasant conversation, as opposed to what many still view as a traumatic event. There was never the slightest tinge of pain, and he was constantly doing little probings to ascertain if the deadening was sufficient. He had this work down to an art form, let me tell you. As to pulling a tooth, the way he handled the two instruments most fearsome to patients (the deadening needle and the tooth puller) was so subtle that I only realized later how and why he did what he did. With the patient's head back on the headrest, he keeps them down out of sight until he raises them up and expertly uses them. It was all over quickly and without a trace of pain, all more or less while we were having a nice conversation.  Heck I actually felt guilty.
      First he put some stuff on a Q tip then dobbed it on my gums below the teeth to be pulled. I didn’t know what it was. Mike said it would begin the deadening process. I said I didn't want or need for it to be deadened. "Besides," I said, "I don’t want to pay extra for it." He was obviously taken aback at this, and I did not understand why. Returning later after going from one to the other patients, each in their own fully equipped rooms, he tested my gums several times as the stuff on the Q Tip took effect. Dr. Brock would be envious of all those other rooms, each equipped with much more stuff than his one little room. Then later Mike seemed satisfied, and I sure was, since I could feel nothing. Then he brought the needle up. I quickly said, "I don’t need that." Mike was taken aback again.
     "It’ll still hurt some if I don’t use it," he pled.
     "I don’t want it," I said.
     "I really think you should have it," he plead.
     "How much extra is it," I asked.
     "It's only four dollars extra." 
     I knew from previous experience that I could take the pain, so I said, "I can do without it. Pull ‘em on out, Mike." He gave a stricken look to his assistant who shook her head a little, in bewildered wonder at what she believed to be a crazy old coot.  Dr. Tyler began again to plead with me to let him deaden it further, and was so earnest about it that I finally said okay, more to relieve him than me. So he brought the needle back up before I could change my mind and injected the deadener into my gums before I could say "scat." I hardly felt a thing. Was he slick? Man I should say so!
     "Let’s see what it feels like now", he said later as he discreetly brought the pullers up and began the loosening process. "Can you feel that at all?" he asked with concern.
     "Yeah but not much, yank that buddy on out," I replied. But oh no. He wouldn’t do it.
     "We’ll wait a little longer for the deadening to progress some more, and I’ll give a little more if we need to," he said. Still later he came back in and tried the tooth again.
     Becoming a little impatient, I said, "Mike I can’t feel a thing, just yank it on out." It was a molar and he was actually a little apologetic that he had to hold my head to get the job done. I remembered the rough headlock that Dr. Brock had used on me so many years ago, doing his very best. My how techniques have changed, I thought.
     Now, I don’t know if all dentists are as smooth, considerate and painless as Dr. Mike, but I think not. My gut says he is exceptional. But I can see that dentistry has approached the point at which going to a dentist's office will be similar to going to the barber back when I was a young man. That is, mostly we went for some good hospitality and conversation, to see a friend, to have our heads rubbed, to be generally mollycoddled, and for a little leisure and relaxation. Getting the hair cut was just an added benefit. Besides, back then I could always go let my Dad cut my hair. Dentistry may not reach quite that point (mostly because of the cost), but from my experience at Dr. Mikes', it is not far off.
     Another thing that amazed me came later that afternoon. My phone rang and it was Mike. He wanted to know how I was and if I was in any pain at all, saying he would call in something to the drugstore if need be. Now this was something they didn’t do even back in the "good old days" of caring personal medical attention! Later, about nine o'clock he called back AGAIN to check on me. I wondered why he did this. He had no reason to be especially nice to me. I later found that he does this with ALL his patients. That's value for the dollar to be sure, and I got to wondering if all dentists did such as that nowadays. But in doing some further checking, I found that few dentists have any follow-up whatsoever. This little town is lucky to have such a one as Dr. Mike Tyler to be sure!
     How refreshing it is to see that, while this country might be going to hell in a handbasket in a lot of ways, it still apparently has a ways to go in others. I have one suggestion for dentists though. The needle, the sight of which brings the most fear to children, could be improved on as a last and final step to perfection of the art. Nothing will ever improve that confounded drill. Maybe I’ll invent an angled instrument, say something about 3/8" in diameter, with a rounded end and a tiny hole through which a needle would only protrude the proper distance when the body of it is pushed, injecting the deadener at the same time. Poof! Gone would be any possible sight of the dreaded needle!
     Old Doctor Brock would note all the savings from so many less lollipops to give out too!

                                                                                   ... © Emil T. Miller  (Tony Miller)
                                                                                           (Click here for AUTHOR'S BIO)

UPDATE:  -  On a later visit to Dr. Tyler's office, while having teeth pulled in preparation for partial dentures/plates, I noticed that the infernal Novacaine needle has indeed been replaced, and with one very similar to the one I envisioned.  In fact I had my eyes closed and had not seen it on the previous visit.  The biggest difference is that the latest metallurgy has enabled needles to be extremely tiny, short and bendable so as to easily get to the best place to inject the Novacaine.   You hardly even feel it's puncture - like a little tiny sting.  Not intimidating at all.

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