HARRY TRUMAN'S MOTHER IN LAW

Poor Harry Truman. One of the greats. Accomplished what he did while living with his mother in law for 33 years. A woman described as a mother in law from Hell.

Margaret "Madge" Gates Wallace lived as a dowager. She was the top of the social hierarchy in Independence, Missouri. Raised and lived in one of the biggest homes. Her family had servants, lace curtains and Brussell carpets on the floor.

Truman came from the other side of the tracks. Literally. He was a farmer's son and a dirt farmer himself till 33. He never graduated from college, could not seem to hold a job down after his farming days were over. Failed as a haberdasher. Lost a ton of money in a zinc mining operation that failed.

Bess was the well heeled granddaughter of Independence's Flour King. As far as Madge was concerned, Bess made a colossal social faux pas in marrying Truman.

Truman could not afford a home for his wife Bess and daughter Margaret till he became a United States Senator. Prior thereto, he lived in his mother in law Madge's home.

Madge thought Truman would fail as a politician. Told him so repeatedly to his face. Questioned his decisions while President. Even worse, she initially questioned his qualifications to be President.

Madge hated Truman. Never thought him good enough for her daughter. Even after he became President. He was unworthy of Bess. Madge never let Truman forget the low esteem in which she held him.

She never referred to her son in law as Harry or son. Always, Mr. Truman. Even after he became President. 

She was a confirmed anti-Semite. Gave Truman repeated hell for recognizing the new State of Israel.

When Truman ran against Dewey in 1948, her opinion was that Dewey was the better man, that Dewey would trounce Truman.

She was critical with Truman firing General Douglas Mac Arthur. She thought MacArthur was ".....such a nice man." She also said she could not ".....imagine a captain from the National Guard telling off a West Point general."

Madge's husband David stepped into his bath tub one day, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Madge could never cope following the incident. She considered her husband's suicide a scandal. She became a prisoner of shame. From that day forward, she leaned heavily on Bess to take care of her. Truman assumed the responsibility also upon his marriage to Bess.

Truman did a good job. Especially since Madge's dislike for him was obvious. When he was elected to the Senate, Madge came to Washington with the family. She and Margaret shared a bedroom in the apartment. When Truman became President, Madge moved into the White House where she had her own bedroom.

Madge died at the age of 90 in her White House bedroom. She had lived with the President and Bess for 33 years. 

During his Presidency, Truman visited Key West a total of 175 days covering eleven separate trips. Not once did Madge join him. Fortunate for the President, perhaps.

Some further Truman background is in order.

Truman was raised and lived his early adult years on a farm. Working as a farmer. The Truman family moved to Independence when the President was 6. Independence in those days was at the edge of the American frontier. Men carried knives and guns. Fistfights common.

Truman's mother taught him how to read starting at age 5. She sat him on her lap and used the family Bible as a text book..

When Truman was courting Bess, Bess' home was far different from his. Madge's family did not work with their hands. They had no debt. They did not worry about insects. A constant concern at the Truman farm home.

Truman was a good man. Obviously. An excellent President. An excellent son in law. He put up with his mother in law Madge's abuse each and every year he was courting or living as man and wife with Bess.

I came across an article listing history's six notorious mothers in law. Madge was one of them. Right next to Catherine de Medici.

Historians suggest Truman tolerated and took care of Madge out of respect for Bess. His love for her was so great that he bore Madge's insults their entire relationship.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD SELLS ABORTED FETUS BABY PARTS

Selling body parts is big business worldwide. Lucrative. Four years ago, I wrote an article and did a TV show concerning the subject.

There has been little news concerning the subject since that time. Until last week.

The sale of body parts is a crime. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. A federal crime. 

Yet a person can decide pre-death if he or she wants a certain body part to be preserved and forwarded for use to a person in need. Such is legal. As long as the donating person and hospital and staff removing the organ do not receive payment. 

The organs are generally sent to a corporation that specializes in seeing where the organs are needed, who is to receive the next one, etc. That organization may charge.

This past week it was discovered Planned Parenthood sells the human tissue of aborted fetuses. Also, intact body parts from partial birth abortions. The tissue makes available cells for different body organs. The intact body parts include the heart, kidneys, lungs and liver. Plus, and this is the big one, calvarium. Calvarium is the technical term for an intact body head.

Planned Parenthood and its affiliates perform removals. The national Planned Parenthood arranges procedures and details.

Planned Parenthood is paid for the cells and body parts. Anywhere from $30 to $100. The purchasing company arranges for subsequent sales. Such sales legal. At astounding prices. A vial of two million fresh cells sells for $1,932. Frozen cells, $1,840. Liver tissue as much as $23,000. The purchasers generally pharmaceutical houses. 

There is the legal term informed consent. It requires in this instance the knowledge and permission of the donor to donate a body part. Query: Are women going in for an abortion made aware that the fetus' body parts will be sold? 

Plan Parenthood's selling of aborted baby cells and body parts has been going on for years. Very few persons outside the network of those involved knew. How this knowledge came to the world's attention this past week is interesting.

There was an undercover meeting involving one of the heads of Planned Parenthood and two movie actors. The movie actors represented they were interested in doing business with Planned Parenthood for body parts. A luncheon meeting in a public place. Nothing fancy.

Dr. Deborah Nuctalola was the Planned Parenthood representative. Dr. Nuctalola spoke openly and knowingly. She responded to questions asked in a similar fashion. Even to the extent of explaining how care had to be taken in the partial birth situations to avoid damaging the organ. Note that it is a crime to perform an abortion in such fashion as to intentionally preserve a certain body part.

The video can be found on the Internet.

The video reminded me of a movie made several years ago involving leading Germans sitting around a conference table quietly and matter of factly discussing the final elimination of Jews via gas chambers. Feelings and morality nonexistent in the movie and video. If anything, the video reflected a person proud of the fashion in which the business of removing aborted fetal tissue and body parts was done. The Doctor's was a professional presentation in an informal setting.

The U.S. Congress has called for hearings by July 31.

Margaret Sanger is recognized as the mother of Planned Parenthood. The fetal tissue/body organ discovery has opened Sanger to closer scrutiny. She is long dead, having passed away in 1966.

The information concerning Sanger includes her being anti-black, having participated in Klu Klux Klan meetings, being a believer that only the fittest should survive, all others sterilized and /or segregated via concentration camps. She supported Nazi doctrines and euthanasia.

The exposure of Planned Parenthood's sale of aborted fetus tissue and body parts and Sanger's background were precipitated by the recent South Carolina Confederate flag issue. It is called action and reaction. You hurt me, I hurt you.

WE LOST OUR WAY.....

We lost our way. I am not telling you anything you do not know. Our values have changed. We are in a downward spiral.

Examples are rampant.

Hitting us in the eye constantly these days is the police/black problem. Actually, a police v. citizens’ problem regardless of color. Police historically served to protect the people. Today, they are the enemy. The police concern is for their personal safety first. Not those they are sworn to protect.

Shootings aside, a more obvious example is what occurred recently in Tampa. A detective on a robbery call was driving an unmarked vehicle. He hit a pedestrian, Did not stop nor report the incident to his superiors. The pedestrian was decapitated.

It took almost ten days for his superiors to determine he might be the bad guy. The dead man's blood was the same as the droplets of blood on the police vehicle. They still have not arrested him.

Authorities tend to whitewash police incidents. 

Secret Service and other federal officials party with prostitutes in foreign countries. The services of the ladies generally paid for by drug cartel persons.

The recent Charleston shootings bring to our attention an FBI foul up. 

The FBI is purportedly the best of the best. The FBI did the check up of the killer when he sought to buy the gun. An error was committed in the Charleston killer's case. The FBI failed to disclose all details of the young man's criminal record. A proper disclosure would have resulted in a rejection of the gun sale. The gun used to kill the nine people.

Court decisions in most instances have gone from bad to worse. People have lost faith in the judicial process. Especially United States Supreme Court decisions. We have been plagued in recent years by bad decisions. An example being Citizens United which opened the door to permitting corporations and the rich to make unlimited contributions to political candidates.

Money buys elections. Congress a perfect example. Even Presidents to an extent. Politicians are influenced by those who contribute large sums to them.

Politicians lie to us. Even a President of the United States. Bush 2 and weapons of mass destruction.

Computer hacking now a way of life. Especially government and corporate records. Just last week, it was announced that the 4 million turned out to be 21 million persons who had their personnel files held by the government hacked. Congress fails to allocate enough monies to keep security systems up to date. Corporate America fails to do so also. Money spent on security takes away from profit. 

Hatred and bad blood permeate our society. People do not differ merely from thoughtful political perspectives. Their differences are driven by a hatred for the other side.

There was a time we fought wars to win them. No longer. Now wars seem to be fought merely to maintain the status quo.

God has become a part of our political back and forth. Church leaders have become participants re public issues before the media. They spend more time in public view than in their pulpits. The clerics pursue dogma and policies that do not fly with Church members. Following which the clerics wonder why their churches are empty.

Unions were once strong. Over the years, they have been crippled. Cut off at the knees.Starting with Reagan's handling of the air comptrollers. The unions had become too strong and needed to be cut down to size. However not so much that they could become extinct. 

Unions are a necessary ingredient when it comes to workers' rights. Corporations are not going to worry about the welfare of their employees. Profit is their concern. Unions must be revitalized to keep employers honest in employee dealings. Do not expect employers to police themselves.

We read about the Greeks not paying taxes. We have the same problem right here in the United States. Trillions of dollars of corporate profit and the profits of the rich sit untaxed in off shore accounts. The corporations and rich not paying their fair share.

We like to think the United States is a God fearing nation. The good book says we are our brother's keeper. How does that line up with a Republican party that wants to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

I could go on and on. The point has been made. 

Some will disagree with my observations. Some a few, some many. The examples are everyday realities, however. They hit us right in the face. They cannot be denied. As long as we are willing to see that which is. And not what we want to see.

ILLEGAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING

No, it does not refer to young girls being taken across territorial lines for purposes of prostitution. Rather, a new form of transportation. Uber.  Same name as the company.

Uber is a whole new concept in shuttling people around who need transportation from one point to another. Similar to a cab. Yet not a cab. So claims Uber.

Uber had its beginnings in 2009 in San Francisco. One of its its founders, Travis Kalanick, is CEO. Senior Vice President is David Plouffe. Plouffe is an experienced political operative. Plouffe was one of Obama's chief political strategists. He knows how to mobilize political support.

Uber refers to itself a new type transit provider, a transportation network company. Technologically driven. If one needs a ride and has a smart phone, the process is simple. There is an app on the phone. Push a button and a vehicle shows up to take you where you want to go. The slogan, Tap an App. Generally quicker and at half the price of a cab.

Uber has grown dramatically since 2009. Money initially was invested by outsiders in the millions. Now in the billions. Uber is presently valued at $41 billion. By the end of 2015, it is anticipated further billion dollar investments will be made. Uber's value is expected to rise to $50 billion.

Uber presently operates in over 300 cities covering six continents.

Uber does not screw around when it wants to do business in a State or City. It generally either comes in unannounced or gives a city a reasonable amount of time to make up its mind that Uber can do business. If a city says no, Uber literally storms in with an army of lobbyists and lawyers. Sharp elbows the order of the day. 

Most states/cities have rules regarding cab services. Uber says it is not a cab. It also says it cannot wait months or years for local laws to be cleaned up so they can operate. Regardless of size, few cities can play tough for only so long with a $41 billion company accustomed to getting its way.

Uber's  primary tool is the power of back room lobbying. The art of political influence. The reason Plouffe is on board.

Uber has a presence in almost every State house. Two hundred fifty lobbyists and 29 lobbying firms in State capitols. One third more than Walmart.

Uber has expanded internationally also.

Uber has a local rules be damned attitude. They are experienced, know what is legal, what the law permits. They have a package that sets forth steps necessary so it can operate in an area. The troops are sent in to get things done if local cooperation is not forthcoming. The troops all heavy hitters. Well connected.

Portland, Oregon was a problem. Uber hired Dan Bates to lobby for the company. Bates was Portland's lobbyist in the capitol. In Kansas, Uber used Governor Sam Brownbeck's former campaign manager as its lobbyist. The man was also a lobbyist working for KOCH industries at the time. In Connecticut, Uber hired the House Speaker's firm. In Illinois, a former Governor's Chief of Staff.

Examples of how Uber spends its money promotion wise include the State of Texas. In 2013, Uber had no registered lobbyists in Texas. In 2014, 14. Thus far in 2015, 28. Lobbyist contracts are speculated to cost Uber for 2015 in the area of $420,000-$945,000. More money than Philip Morris or Pfizer spends.

In 2014 in Maryland, Uber paid its lobbyists $208,000. In California, $684,000. Uber spent $600,000 in a Seattle referendum. Lobbying efforts cost them for city purposes alone in Washington, DC, $314,000.

The Philippines approved Uber in May. The Nevada Assembly passed a bill in May legalizing Uber service. It is expected the legislation will pass easily the Senate and be signed by the Governor.

Paris itself and France a war. Both presently oppose Uber. Paris taxi drivers a strong political influence. They struck to express their opposition. The Netherlands, Italy, Indonesia and South Korea are investigating Uber and obtaining court ordered bans against the company. I question how long these countries can hold out against Uber. Especially the Asian ones. Billions of Chinese dollars are invested in the company. 

Taxi drivers in many places make $6 an hour. In those same places, Uber drivers earn $16 an hour. Some taxi companies require drivers to pay upfront costs each day. Approximately $175. The first $175 taken in goes to the company to cover the cost of the vehicle, dispatch costs and insurance costs. Then the driver makes money for himself. Could be as much as $200 a day or significantly less.

Taxi drivers and taxi companies are the one's opposing Uber. Customers generally like Uber's service. Quicker and cheaper. Uber knows how to get the populace on its side and to continue supporting the company after it is allowed to work in a city. Petitions are used. As in politics. People love Uber and are happy to sign petitions supporting Uber's aims.

This is not the Biblical David and Goliath situation. Cities are the David’s. They cannot stand up to the Goliath Uber.

This brings me to Key West. Since December 14 last year, there have been Uber vehicles operating in Key West. Local cab companies raised hell. Key West stood for their locals. Not realizing the people working with Uber were generally locals also.

Key West has an ordinance requiring passenger vehicles for hire to have a decal or permit authorizing their use as same. A violation of the ordinance is a crime. A misdemeanor. The penalty a fine of $200 and/or up to sixty days in jail. 

Key West invoked the ordinance. Two undercover Key West police officers arrested two drivers. Their cases are pending. Local authorities also have warned that as of July 1, all persons violating the law will be arrested.

There are four cab companies in Key West. The number of permits is 56 or 74. I could not determine the actual number. The four companies own all the permits. There is no room for a new type transportation company. Assuming the ordinance applies to Uber.

Uber is not a bad guy. It is a good company that discovered a new way of operating a transportation business. A way that provides cheaper prices and quicker pick up time to customers.

Uber does play hard ass. It could not stay in business if they had to screw around ad infinitum with different local and State ordinances to get their business going in a particular locality. Uber has invented the better mouse trap. They come into a community and say we have something new and better. Which they  do. This is what we would like to do and we know how to do it.

Key West in fighting Uber is merely putting off the inevitable. Uber succeeds in the end because it understands its business. Legally and other wise.

Key West must keep in mind what happened in a similar situation several years ago. The Duck Tours case. Cost Key West $8 million. Uber and the Duck matter have many similarities. 

Then there are the more recent food truck cases. Key West said the operations were restaurants and needed local approvals. The owners said no. We are motor vehicles. The court agreed, ruling food trucks were motor vehicles. The city lost. Not an $8 million beating. Fortunately.

It is a new time. The world progresses. Uber has what appears to be a better product for all concerned. I am not saying put the cab companies out of business. No, merely let Uber compete with them fair and square. I believe 5-10 years down the road, cabs as such will be a thing of the past. They will not be able to survive against the tide. Technology as Uber represents will have taken over. Uber and similar companies will be the transportation vehicles of the new day.

AMAZING GRACE REVISITED

I FIRST WROTE THIS ARTICLE EIGHT YEARS AGO. THE ONE YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IS ITS SIXTH PUBLICATION. AMAZING GRACE TOUCHED ME AND CONTINUES TO DO SO. THE PRESENT PUBLICATION WAS MOTIVATED BY REVEREND CLEMENTA PINCKNEY'S SERVICE AND PRESIDENT OBAMA'S EULOGY. THE PRESIDENT BEGAN SINGING AMAZING GRACE ALONE AS PART OF THE EULOGY. WITHIN SECONDS, THE ENTIRE CONGREGATION JOINED IN.

AMAZING GRACE

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

There is a story that goes with these beautiful words and the song from whence they came. It starts with slavery.

Most are unaware that the Founding Fathers dealt with the issue of the importation of slaves to the United States in the Constitution. Article I, section 9, stated in effect that the government could not ban the importation of slaves for at least 20 years.

Why such was placed in the original Constitution is not certain. I suspect that the Founding Fathers, most of whom were slave owners, were of the opinion that twenty years would give them enough time to propagate additional slaves. Since slaves had a significant monetary value and one's worth was often measured by slaves owned, it made sense that there had to be a time when no more would be permitted entry to the United States. An overabundance of slaves could conceivably diminish the value of each slave.

Twenty years passed. The Congress could not wait to pass a law banning further importation of slaves to the United States. They did it one year early in 1807. Thomas Jefferson was President at the time. He is also considered the Father of the Constitution. He supported the proposed law and did not hesitate in signing it. The law went into effect January 1, 1808.

From that day forward, the United States Navy was on the lookout for any ships that were attempting to bring new slaves to American shores. The Navy was kept busy. Slavery was a big business. It took till 1862 for the Navy to finally eradicate the problem.

Although the final three slave ships were captured in 1862 when the Civil War was already two years old, their capture had nothing to do with the Civil War. It was the result of continued enforcement of the 1808 law.

The last three ships captured were the William, Bogota and Wildfire.

The demand for new slaves was overwhelming in the 1700s and first half of the 1800s. They were needed for work in North and South America. It is estimated some twelve million were imported during those years.

Cuba was in need of great numbers of slaves. The sugar fields needed workers. It is estimated at least 100,000 slaves were delivered from West Africa to Cuba.

Slaves had to be replenished. Most of the slaves delivered were young. Teenagers. They did not live long. They were literally worked to death. The need to replenish drove the slave industry.

John Newton was a slave trader. A bad guy in his early years. Very bad. Mean. He was known by people acquainted with him as a despicable person.

On one of the trips across the ocean, Newton and his ship engaged a violent storm. Newton thought he was going to die. He learned to pray. He asked God to save him. God did.

Newton continued as a slave trader for a few years. However, his conscience was now bothering him. He quit his chosen profession and went to theology school. Newton became a minister.

In 1779, Newton wrote Amazing Grace. Not as a musical piece. Not as a song. But rather, a poem.His congregation would recite, not sing, the words at services.

The poem continued to 1835. At that time, someone put it to music. There was an English tune New Britain. It became the melody for Amazing Grace.

Prior to the 1960s, Amazing Grace had no particular popularity. Except in the black churches. It became a song of hope and redemption. An African American spiritual.

Then came the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The marches, the boycotts, the assassinations. Amazing Grace gained national prominence and popularity during that era.

It also became a top selling recording.

Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley and Tennessee Williams all recorded it. So did Althea Franklin and Judy Collins. And most recently, Susan Boyle.

Amazing Grace's history began with the United States Constitution, the law of 1808, John Newton finding God, someone putting the words to music and finally the civil rights movement.

Today the hymn is sung everywhere. Both for the living and the dead. Warm and uplifting.