OLIVER L. NORTH: UNDER FIRE, An American Story

UNDER FIRE, "An American Story" by Oliver L. North with W. Novak. Harper/Collins 1991 ISBN 0060183349.

...I read biographies of public men. I do not write reviews. I make remarks and I deposit comments. I did not look for this book; it found me somewhere. Under Fire was a good read for me. It refreshed and advanced my understanding of the Iran/contra buzz. ...Although "Ollie" North is not yet one of Kamaroh's heroes, I have a higher regard for him now I have read his book and probably a lesser regard for Ronald Regan. ...After all, Oliver North was a Marine as was I and no matter how subject to question his character may be, I am not so sure but that his bearing of incertitude is a characteristic that frequently is found in a lot of us who are Marines or who are former Marines--of course it has long been my belief that we men who consider ourselves strong and who are in action are constantly in need of the benefit of a doubt (first by those whom we love and secondly by those whom we swear to look out for). ...Please check out my entry, " USMC: Swimming With Sharks!" Friday, April 24th, 2009 No matter the what, I truly have regard for Mr. North's accomplishment of getting his side of his story written, published, and in the process of doing this hopefully earning money to provide for his family; after all, too many of us are prone to tell our side of our issue to those who probably don't really care; and, we have been willing to tell it for free ! ...What Oliver North's Pentagon pursuits were exactly may be questionable. From my reading of his book, it seems to his mind he was simply providing his superiors with diligent service and, as I look at it, what else was he to do? ...For months I have been doggedly reading at Bill Clinton's intense book, MY LIFE, and I recently checked to see what he had to say about Oliver North and the only thing I located about Oliver in it was that in writing Clinton flat makes the statement that Oliver North and Admiral Poindexter lied to congress, period. I believe that since this blog entry of mine is getting more attention than I ever imagined, I will re-read UNDER FIRE but unless my memory fails me, which it does sometimes now, I am pretty sure Oliver North doesn't believe he lied to congress. But, for now, my assessment of him from reading his book, is that there is little doubt of the importance of his family to Oliver North and that measure of responsibility makes him at least heroic by a percentage, and percentage heroics are okay by Kamaroh's standards, and if the consensus has it that he is a liar and a bad guy also, then so be it for them for now. ...I remember Colin Powell voiced opinion of Oliver North in his book, also. In order to to refresh my memory, I've got to locate another copy of it as I donated mine to The Vets Nursing Home at the VA Clinic in Muirsville . Somewhere on the internet I located a mug shot of Oliver North when he was arrested but decided I owe it to a fellow Marine not to disrespect him by passing it on anywhere. #

DON SHERWOOD: The Worlds Greatest Disc Jockey

Don Sherwood" The Worlds Greatest Disc Jockey. By Laurie Harper. Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA. 1989. ISBN 1-55958-001-1

I was in the VA Module 1 Clinic at Ft. Miley in San Francisco Friday waiting for my appointment with the urologist when a man came by with a cart full of books. He asked me if I wanted one and since I had had to wait two hours past my appointment time, I said "Yes," I did and did he have any biographies. His answer was that he believed that he did. And, actually he had two, one of which was the story of Lee Iacocca which I had read many years ago and this one which I didn't have a clue existed and is extremely interesting and is a real score of a read totally recommended by Kamaroh. ...I am now about half way through and am having trouble putting it down in order to take care of practical exigencies. ...I remember the radio personalities that speak of Sherwood in the interviews in this book, although I cannot recall paying much attention to Don Sherwood, I remember Hap Harper and his Traffic Watch over The Bay; and the names of Russ Coughlan; Dave McElhattan; Aaron Edwards.... My remembrances of these yo yo heads starts somewhere around 1963 when I was discharged from the Marine Corps. I haven't a clue where you could locate this book as it must be scarce and for sure I am not willling to let go of my copy.

DOING SOMETHING WRITE!

As usual, Johnny Flowers was runn ing his New Jersey opinions full throttle in my Hope, Nebraska face. Because, I had made the mistake of telling him that I had received a copywriting assignment from the Muiregional Booster people:

"How do you qualify for that! Did you go to copy writer's school!"

"No. I did not go to copy writers' school. I didn't have to, Johnny. It's all the same stuff. My six years of graduate creative writing classes fill most all the slots I need!"

Later, he says, " Dodge has a deal where you can buy a 2010 Dodge Ram and then you can walk away free if you don't like it within six months. That's what you need to do Kamaroh. People will see you driving that truck and they will say, There goes Kamaroh! He must be doing something right."

(Disclaimer: I did not check to see if this is a real Dodge Offer or not!)

DANCING ALONE TO MY UNFINISHED SONG

It is a good day when I find you in my mind

It is a bad day when you have been there too long

Right or wrong, you are ... unfinished song.

You are constantly in my heart

Yet music from the other side

Keeps the real from being you.

Images stay in my heart and in my head

You are part of me yet I am puzzled why you stay.

The band leaves and

you reach to me from an empty stage

My heart soars

But, then you go away!

Time goes by and I don't think of you at all

Then suddenly there you are:

A poster on a city wall

A song you've sung

A dance routine I see someone do.

An Asian woman wearing blue--

Your picture in a magazine

Snuggling couples on the Bart Train

And then I have a good day

and a bad day

as I revisit my unfinished song.

Dancing to the crowds' music

I ask for a moonlight walk with you,

Real that never is.

I know I cannot control my loving you

and

I believe loving you is not wrong

and I know

Loving you may be my detour---

Loving you, my muse, is my unfinished song.

you are always my favorite surprise,

and

Loving you sometimes has taken my breath away

Love is surprises and that is but its way--

I ask myself,

"Will you ever come?

And will you ever go?"

And, then I realize ...

the rest of my song

is only for God to hear

for

it disappears all on its own

into Country music that plays loudly on the other side.

(Nov. 15th, 2010. Recently during meditations, thinking about Spirit Guides, sitting on my bed just before putting myself down for the night, I happened to look up behind my right shoulder where my muses' picture hangs high on the wall--I try not to focus on it frequently now. Wow! the energy that beamed down on me from that picture had me exclaiming outloud and almost knocked me off the bed. Now I am thinking about you, her, more again. And, the picture is dusted off and clean. Further, I have worked a lot recently on this poem. However, I have decided not to include most of the new stuff here; so, if anyone has a commercial lyrical interest in it, please contact Kamaroh.)

MUIREGIONAL BOOSTER COMMITTEE

THE CONTRA COSTA REPUBLICAN PARTY

In our offices perched precariously due to faulty sheer walling high on the side of Hero Hill, recently we received an email informing us that the Contra Costa County, California, Repulican Campaign Headquarters is located at 1320 El Capitan Drive, in Danville. Full time Staff member is Thomas Midanek. The telephone number is 925-930-9551. The Contra Costa Republican Party is chaired by Betty Kolberg. She & I do not go way back but she sounds like she would the right choice also to bring order to an unruly sock drawer. Tell Betty Kamaroh sent you.,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! #88

My text message from my son buzzed twice before I woke up this morning. I like it a lot when he texts me on Sundays. He goes to the office for a few hours and gets organized for Monday--which I totally agree is a good idea: that's my boy! He included in his message that today is his brother's 40th birthday. He said that #88 is his brother's favorite number for Dale Earnhardt. I am not interested in NASCAR; more I like muscle and funny cars but they seem to get into NASCAR in his Las Vegas encircle and so be it.
...Anyhow this entry is a birthday tribute to my son's brother. He was born in 1970 and that makes him a dog in the Eastern Zodiac which is a cool sign.

Dogs are:

responsible

reliable

honest

compassionate

and nosy-

...When I went to Las Vegas for Stone's graduation from University of Nevada, I saw this lad, D., for the first time in six years on the patio of Stone's house at the party that night. What no one observed, not my son nor my former wife, is that when D. saw me he came over and gave me a big hug. We have always been fond of each other; and, it started when I used to pickup Stone and take him to Children's Fairyland in Oakland, and frequently I would offer to take D. with us and I would treat him just as well as would my own son. He has never forgot our excursions but other relatives have forgotten about my investment in that boy, so when I asked for D's phone number in order to text him happy birthday, my request was deflected. The sore point I see here is that no matter how pure intentions, it is a tough task to jump the fence of righteousness.

...Anyhow, I have been thinking about this little epigram--that was published somewhere, that I wrote many many years ago--and debating about publishing it here in my blog ever since I met up again with that amicable young man once again on Indie-Stone G. Jone's patio,

somewhere, somewhere in Las Vegas:
I love my son

I love his brother

Tell me God,

Why can't I love

Their mother?

Happy birthday D.,

Kamaroh

RETRO DODGE PICKUP DAYS

There was a day some years ago when I had the notion to buy a new Dodge pickup with a Cumming's diesel motor but then life and female relatives got in Kamaroh's way and it didn't happen. Then, what happened is that Dodge came out with a Hemi motor in their pickups; and, one day, I saw a high school councilor I knew scoot across a busy street into fast traffic with a big Dodge pickup with a Hemi motor and because of that--and because one of my clients gave me a cool old mint GMC pickup--I completely forgot my idea of owning a big Dodge pickup with a diesel motor. That is I forgot until recently--see my following description of John Princess's truck--and I got the notion that I wanted to return to my original plan; and, since Kamaroh is a retro kind of guy that it would be cool to acquire a mint condition early model.

SLOW LEAD IN OUR PENCILS!

...with resolve: I was in the 'Lab' waiting room at Fort Miley and, looking around, I realized that the ten guys in the room, despite their age, were a pretty tough group. I remarked this to the fellow sitting next to me, and he said, "Yes, I had been thinking that same thing too-- Just we're slower." ...My mind drifted off into a senario whereas I was the one to select our mission leader from the group. I selected one sharp and trim gray guy who had a jaw like the prow of a ship as a likely prospect. ...The first question I was thinking that I would ask each member of the group in order to help make my decision was what their rank was upon discharge and job specification; and then hand the leadership to him! ...Why not have me, Kamaroh, in charge? Of course I am a hero but me only I mostly am the only person to know that: No, no chance; I am a writer, have been so with resolve ever since I got kicked out of Creative Writing in High School ... and since when did poges and politicos ever take charge of troops in the military!