“Just a Thought” from Don Clucas September 14, 2016....

This just may be the scariest thought I’ve had so far.

I just saw a report on the news about driverless cars being used by Uber.
Does this mean that on November 8th I can hire a car to “blindly” take me to a polling place in order to make a choice between candidates who seemingly have no vision for this country?

Just a thought....Yikes!!! 

“Just a Thought”... Sept 2, 2016... Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

• 
  
  The following story is from an article posted by the Mystic Stamp Company site entitled “This Day in History” on September 2, 2016:
  On September 2, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech at the Minnesota State Fair where he first publicly used the now-famous phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
  Roosevelt had previously used the phrase in a private letter the year prior when he was governor of New York. In the letter to Henry L. Sprague dated January 26, 1900, Roosevelt expressed his happiness that the New York Republican Committee had revoked its support of a corrupt financial advisor.
  Roosevelt wrote, “I have always been fond of the West African proverb, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.’” Interestingly, there is no record of this phrase in West African literature, leading some to believe that Roosevelt in fact coined the phrase himself.
  A year later, Roosevelt was U.S. Vice President under William McKinley. That September, he made a stop at the Minnesota State Fair to deliver a speech supporting the president’s international policies:
  “Right here let me make as vigorous a plea as I know how in favor of saying nothing that we do not mean, and of acting without hesitation up to whatever we say. A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far.’ If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble, and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power. In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words, his position becomes absolutely contemptible. So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and, above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.
  “Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an
  

  attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people...
  “Barbarism has and can have no place in a civilized world. It is our duty toward the people living in barbarism to see that they are freed from their chains, and we can only free them by destroying barbarism itself. The missionary, the merchant and the soldier may each have to play a part in this destruction, and in the consequent uplifting of the people. Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to respect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and gladly to help those who are struggling towards civilization, so it is its duty to put down savagery and barbarism. As in such a work human instruments must be used, and as human instruments are imperfect, this means that at times there will be injustices, that at times, merchant, or soldier, or even missionary may do wrong.”
  
  
  
  

  Just four days after Roosevelt delivered this speech, an assassin at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, shot President McKinley. Another eight days later and Roosevelt was suddenly the youngest U.S. president in history. 
  

  Just four days after Roosevelt delivered this speech, an assassin at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, shot President McKinley. Another eight days later and Roosevelt was suddenly the youngest U.S. president in history.
• y

“Just a Thought” from Don Clucas...August 24, 2016...

 Is Trump Really Changing?
There are some who are hopefully, and desperately, looking for any change in the behavior of Donald Trump which will give them an indication he is turning into a “good guy.”
Sorry to disappoint you, friends, but is just isn’t so. The following is from an article I sent out earlier this year (February 27). It was originally written and published by U.S. Congressman Ron Paul in Ron Paul Forums: Liberty Forest. It was last edited five years ago on May 1, 2011.
From what Ron Paul and “many others,” including myself can see is someone who has been a spoiled bully since he was young, and still remains a spoiled bully to this day.
I believe the article is worth reading again or, perhaps, for the first time for some. Please think about what Ron Paul has to say here..... “Just a Thought.”

Donald Trump Was a Horrific Spoiled Schoolyard Bully By Ron Paul

After I reported on the ex-Trump employee Julian Long’s account of extensive on-the-job harassment suffered under the extraordinarily abusive Donald Trump, the editor-in-chief of one of the world’s premiere yachting magazines read my article and said “I saw an extreme example of this in person at one of our events. He wasn’t even trying to be discreet. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg.” What are the origins of Donald Trump’s sociopathic behavior? Cursory internet research reveals that Trump as an early teen had “troubles” at the private Kew Forest School in Queens, New York. Trump publicity materials would have you believe the young Donald got switched to the New York Military Academy merely because his parents wanted to give good direction to his “energy and assertiveness.” Yet the truth apparently is that young Donald Trump was a bullying menace. The attitude and behavior that feed his adult bullying and harassment of employees and others were already visible when Trump was 13.

Trump does not want the public to know the specifics of his bullying at the Kew Forest School. One can imagine that school officials would fear retaliation from him, were they ever to put a reporter in contact with people who witnessed Trump’s despicable behavior when he was there. After all, when the New York Times’s Gail Collins published things about Trump that Trump did not want published, he sent her the newspaper with her picture and wrote “The Face of a Dog!“ on it. I e-mailed Trump’s longtime secretary and PR contact Rhona Graff-Riccio, telling her I was on deadline for this article and wanted to know specifics of how Donald Trump as a Kew Forest School student had given the school community such nightmares. It would be interesting to know,

additionally, whether Trump feels any remorse over what he inflicted on his victims. Graff did not give me the courtesy of a reply. Jerome Tuccille’s book Trump; The Saga of America’s Most Powerful Real Estate Baron gives us clues, despite Donald Trump’s efforts to cover up the profound character defects he exhibited when a youth, character failings that only festered and increased and later caused him to behave like a wretchedly-mannered, f-bomb-spewing, shameless bully as an adult. Tuccile describes Trump and his siblings as having grown up in a “plantation era mansion with more rooms than they could count.” Trump’s father Fred Christ Trump was on the Board of Directors of the Kew Forest School. He not only was one of the school’s most generous financial donors; he helped his tyrannical little bully’s school with construction projects – giving the institution free building materials – Tuccile says that daddy “lent” the materials – and then when the school was

building a new wing, Trump, Sr. “lent” a work crew to the construction project. Tuccile writes “the question of disciplining Donald was one that had to be handled delicately; Fred Trump was too valuable an asset to risk alienating him.” Tuccile produced a sycophantic account of his wealthy subject’s life. He portrays Trump’s bullying and harassment of students, teachers and staff at Kew Forest School in unjustifiably euphemistic terms. He describes Trump’s bullying and harassment, for example, as “antics” and “hijinks,” as if the victims of the bullying and harassment had been having a regular good ol’ time. Tuccile the Trump apologist even describes Trump by saying he was “Overflowing with energy and a need to assert himself among his fellow students.” Yet he gives us just enough specific information to confirm the suspicion that Donald Trump made life a living hell for others at the Kew Forest School. He states that Trump “squirted sodas at girls” and “flung erasers at teachers.” Consensual play is very different from bullying and harassment. The girls whom Trump squirted with sodas did not want him doing it, and the teachers at whom he flung erasers did not want to be the targets of that violence, either. One or two instances of consensual in- school play would not have caused Trump to be, essentially, expelled from a school where his father was a board member and top donor. That is to say, what we know of Trump’s bullying at the Kew Forest School is with certainty only the tip of the iceberg of his sociopathic behavior there. A juvenile delinquent who had gone on to become an exemplary citizen could of course be forgiven the bullying and harassment of others he carried out in his childhood and teenage years. Yet Trump, far from having rehabilitated himself, continues harassing his chosen victims in ways that society should consider absolutely intolerable. His current public bullying of LGBT Americans, grand- standing against their civil rights would alone be bad enough. That he uses President Obama as a proxy for bullying and harassing all African-Americans sets a new recent low bar for contemptible public behavior in the United States. Whereas President Obama’s innate intellectual capacities and

his academic merits and accomplishments remain unimpeachable, Donald Trump has yet to give a full and honest accounting of how he tortured the victims of his bullying and harassment at the Kew Forest School, leaving his parents no choice but to send him to be disciplined at the New York Military Academy.

“Just a Thought” from Don Clucas August 15, 2016.... Come on America, Leave Gabby Alone

Come on America, let’s get off Gabby’s back! She’s a wonderful young woman who has poured her heart and soul into representing her country in two Olympics (my apologies to all my teachers who told me not to use so many clichés in my writing).
She stood politely at attention when the national anthem was played, and didn’t do anything to show even a hint of discourtesy or lack of patriotism. So what if she didn’t place her hand over her heart. There are no hard and fast rules to say we must do “this or that” when the anthem is played or the pledge of allegiance is recited...as long as we are not being discourteous. Yes, the military has its rules of etiquette, but those rules do not apply to civilians.
Even in our religious life in this country, there are no set rules to the position we take when we are praying....seated with hands folded and palms together, or standing with hands clasped behind our backs? Standing in a group holding hands with those next to us? Kneeling on a bench? Lying in a bed? Driving on a steep mountain road with one hand grasped tightly on the steering wheel and the other hand wiping sweat off our forehead?
In his book Praying Jesus’ Way, Curtis Mitchell addresses the subject of “the procedures of prayer.” In the section “Posture in Prayer,” he quotes the poem entitled “The Prayer of Cyrus Brown” by Sam Walter Foss:
“The proper way for a man to pray,” said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,
“And the only proper attitude is down upon his knees.” “No, I should say the way to pray,” said Reverend Dr. Wise,
“Is standing straight with outstretched arms, And rapt and upturned eyes.” “Oh, no, no, no,” said Elder Slow, “Such posture is too proud.
A man should pray with eyes fast-closed, and head contritely bowed.” “It seems to me his hands should be serenely clasped in front,
With both thumbs pointing to the ground,” said Reverend Dr. Blunt. “Last year I fell in Hidgekin’s well headfirst,” said Cyrus Brown,
“With both my feet a stickin’ up and head a-pointin’ down;
And I made a prayer right then and there, the best prayer I ever said,
The prayingest prayer I ever prayed, a-standin’ on my head.”
So, if Cyrus Brown could pray “a-standin’ on his head,” what’s the big deal (oops, another cliché) about Gabby courteously standing at attention without placing her hand over her heart?...Just a thought. 

"Just a Thought from Don" Native Americans at the DNC

I can’t put my figure on an exact time when my love for “all things Indian” began. It just seems like I’ve always been drawn to anything and everything that has to do with the Native cultures of our country. And it doesn’t end there. Although my passion has always been for anything which represents American Indians, I have also had a keen interest in Native cultures from north and south of our borders.

Attempting to “put a finger” on when it all started, it may have been in Miss Boyd’s third grade class (1949-50) at Lowell Elementary School in my hometown of Santa Ana, California. My dad once told me he was certain it was Miss Boyd and the history lessons she presented on Indian life which truly got me interested in school in general.

During the following summer vacation we visited my Grandpa Jim Clucas and his wife (“Aunt” Ferne) in Idaho. My two prized souvenirs I brought home from the trip were a postcard bearing a photograph of Chief Joseph, who immediately became one of my lifelong heroes, and a small obsidian arrowhead, which I still have to this day. 

I won’t bore you with all the details of my interest in Indians (and yes, the word Indian is politically correct). But those who have known me, and do know me best – family, friends, teachers, students, and those who have read my books – understand how much the Indian, or Native American, culture means to me.

With that in mind, and with absolutely no hidden political meaning to this writing, I want to commend the DNC, and especially Bernie Sanders, on something I have witnessed during the campaign of the past months and the convention during the first couple days.

Along with all other important issues which have been discussed and brought to the forefront, many of which are extremely important to my wife Joanie and me, was the inclusion of the needs of our Native peoples. This was very evident at the DNC Convention, but more notably to me was the fact that Bernie Sanders was the only candidate from either major party who consistently included Native Americans in his campaign speeches and the debates.

My master’s degree is in education with an emphasis in American Indian Education. In 1974, I wrote what would later become my thesis. It was a curriculum guide for school teachers and was meant to basically help non-Indian instructors teach Native culture and history in a proper and realistic way. Since that time, there have been many gifted educational writers who have published materials in this area. I am truly grateful to them for the work they have done.

As I watched the DNC state delegates announcing their votes, and realized how many of the committees were represented by Native people, I couldn’t help but wonder….  ”Which of them were inspired by a teacher who helped them to take pride in who they are?” 

Presidential Candidates and the HonorThey Bestow on Their Families By Don Clucas

• “Just a Thought” by Don Clucas
  
  
  I’ll be the first to admit I could be absolutely wrong in one observation I’ve made during the 2016 presidential campaign, and you can be free to point it out to me if I am. For now, however, I’m sticking with what I think is the case. It concerns presidents, both past and present, as well as those who have campaigned during the past several months in an attempt to obtain the highest position in our land.
  First, however, I ask that you indulge me by allowing me to write some words of thanks concerning those who have gone before me, and had such an important part in making me who I am (for better or for worse) – my ancestors. And when I use the term “ancestors,” I’m not speaking about the ones who came across the Atlantic on those big boats many years ago, nor the hardworking pioneers who trudged across the plains during the westward movement. I’m talking about the ones who were alive during my lifetime and did everything in their power to raise me up to be a good person – Mom, Dad, my grandparents, a great-grandfather. And a BIG bunch of aunts and uncles as well as great aunts and uncles (both biological and by marriage). And after Joanie and I were married, there were her parents, her step-dad, and her grandmother. And, of course, it goes without saying…there was Joanie.
  Every one of these people put a lot of effort into making certain I followed the right path, worked hard, treated others with respect, and was a good citizen, and of course, loved God. Did I ever fail to be the responsible person they wanted me to be? Of course I did – I’m human. But was it because they hadn’t tried? Of course not. And while we’re at it, were they perfect? Of course not. But they never ever gave up on me.
  Okay. Back to the presidents and the candidates. You thought I forgot, didn’t you?
  It seems to me that as long as I can remember, presidential candidates and those who have gone on to fill the office itself have always done a great job of acknowledging their families and the influence they have had on their lives. I especially think of those who have had a keen awareness of the important role their mothers and spouses have played in their lives. Many have had their mothers seated at special events in which they, themselves, have been involved. I recall, most recently, of Barbara Bush’s attendance at debates which included her son Jeb. And on the other side of the campaign Hillary Clinton has always acknowledged the tremendous influence her mother, Dorothy Rodham, has had on her life. I’m certain, there could be many more similar instances which could be cited concerning other candidates. 
  However, the one glaring thing that stands out to me (finally, back to the point of this piece) is that I haven’t observed this in the case of Donald Trump. Although I have read quite a bit of information regarding his parents, Trump himself doesn’t seem to have a need to speak about them. Nor does there seem be a desire for him to give credit to anyone else in his family line who might have come alongside him in an attempt to properly “mold him.”
  What does seem to be the case is that when he has been on the campaign trail, he is surrounded by the family he has put together. And is there a fatherly and husbandly pride shown when he introduces them and talks about them? I believe there is, but it always seems to have the hidden (or maybe not-so-hidden) message of “Look at my family. See what I’VE created!” 
  
  
  Just a thought…by Don Clucas 
• 
  

Social Drinking

Social Drinking; Why Do We Drink Spoiled Liquids?

A touchy subject for sure, one which I nagged about, worried about, and fiercely taught about under the D.A.R.E. program at Carnelian Elementary School. I'm fairly certain that all my "ravings" fell on disinterested ears. I think this is the first time I've ever written down my thoughts on this subject, and not sure why I needed to today, January 1, 2016. Perhaps it was the flow of beverages at the party we attended last night, or the number of accidents reported on the news today.  Whatever, here it is.

Both my parents were alcoholics. That fact alone shaded how I reacted to drinking all these fermented fluids.  I witnessed first hand how alcohol changed a person's personality and reactions to others.  A funny and loving father changed into an angry and hateful person who caused me to tremble; a beautiful, happy mother became irrational and cruel, a fearsome woman to be avoided if possible. Most adults in my life were drinkers who slurred their words, spent nights in jail for DUI, and engaged in horrific arguments while "under the influence."

Experts say the tendency to alcoholism is inherited, and I, admittedly, have been scared to death it would happen to me. At least one of my mom and dad's grandchildren has been severely impacted by alcohol abuse.

Some feel the key is moderation, and many of our acquaintances drink moderately.  Many probably have some each day, and may not be sure where the line of moderation and addiction is drawn.  I know my mom began having "one little drink" with her work buddies daily during the war, and she fought a lifetime temptation. After she quit in 1952, she never drank again, but felt if she did, she'd slip back into drinking. My husband suffers migraines and doctors have told him one glass of red wine would give him an instant headache.

Aside from the negative effects on me of even a glass of wine (my head seems to lean to one side and everything becomes hysterical) thinking about what makes them causes a bit of nausea. I remember asking my school students if they would reach into their garbage disposal and eat something, to which they would all gag and scream, "NO!" Every alcoholic beverage is made from something spoiled which doesn't appeal to me.  Yes, a touchy subject for sure, but just my opinions and experiences.

Here's a partial Wikipedia list of of fermented beverages:

Beverages by raw material[edit]

For micro-organisms, see List of microorganisms used in food and beverage preparation and yeast in winemaking.

The names of some alcoholic beverages are determined by their raw material.

Grains

Name of fermented beverage

Name of distilled beverage

barley

beer, ale, barley wine

Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey, shōchū (mugijōchū) (Japan)

rye

rye beer, kvass

rye whiskey, vodka (Poland), Korn (Germany)

corn

chicha, corn beer, tesguino

Bourbon whiskey, moonshine, also vodka (rare)

sorghum

burukutu (Nigeria), pito (Ghana), merisa (southern Sudan), bilibili(Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon)

maotai, gaoliang, certain other types of baijiu (China).

wheat

wheat beer

horilka (Ukraine), vodka, wheat whiskey, weizenkorn (Germany)

rice

beer, brem (Bali), huangjiu and choujiu (China), Ruou gao(Vietnam), sake (Japan), sonti (India), makgeolli and chungju(Korea), tuak (Borneo Island), thwon (Nepal)

aila (Nepal), rice baijiu (China), shōchū (komejōchū) and awamori (Japan), soju (Korea)

millet

millet beer (Sub-Saharan Africa), tongba (Nepal, Tibet), boza (the Balkans, Turkey)

buckwheat

shōchū (sobajōchū) (Japan)

Fruit juice

Name of fermented beverage

Name of distilled beverage

grapes

wine

brandy, Cognac (France), Vermouth, Armagnac (France), Branntwein (Germany), pisco (Peru, Chile, Grozdova), Rakia (The Balkans, Turkey), singani (Bolivia), Arak (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan), törkölypálinka (Hungary)

apples

cider (U.S.: "hard cider"), Apfelwein

applejack (or apple brandy), calvados, cider

pears

perry, or pear cider; poiré (France)

Poire Williams, pear brandy, Eau-de-vie (France), pálinka (Hungary), Krushova rakia / Krushevitsa (Bulgaria)

plums

plum wine

slivovitz, țuică, umeshu, pálinka, Slivova rakia / Slivovitsa (Bulgaria)

apricots

Kaisieva rakia (Bulgaria), pálinka (Hungary)

pineapples

tepache (Mexico), Pineapple Wine (Hawaii)

juniper berries

gin, borovička (Slovakia)