BOCCE RETURNS

The weather recent mornings has been glorious. All the good things. Like the sun, a bit of a breeze, calm waters. No humidity. The humidity hits as the day gores on. The temperature runs over 90. The evenings are unbearable till the sun goes down.

The new bocce season began last night. The heat and humidity were heavy. Instantaneous sweat. Conditions continued until the end of the first game when the sun disappeared behind some clouds before setting.

Hot or not, it was great to be back playing bocce! Nothing like it! About 150 of us. All happy to be there. Hellos and hugs all over the place.

We won 2 of 3 games. A good start to the season. We were losing 8-1 in the first game. Then came back to win 16-12. The second game was close till the end. We lost. I played the second game. The third game was ours all the way.

My day time was easy. A haircut with Lori. then lunch again with Robert and Ally. They start school monday. Both are ready and anxious to go.

I spent the afternoon writing next week’s KONK Life column. Glory and Disgrace. The Air Battle for Britain and the Fall of Singapore. We all know about the air war which the British won. Few know why Singapore fell. Singapore was surrendered by the British without a shot being fired. The reasons why are extremely interesting.

This Ferguson, Missouri thing continues to bother me. I do not agree with the way the President is handling it. Martial law should have been declared and the Missouri National Guard federalized. The bad guys in this thing are the militarized police. Failure to take extreme action makes it look like there was enough wrongdoing on both sides that a softer approach was warranted.

It make work in Ferguson. However, it sets no example for the rest of the nation. Militarized police in other areas will not be worried that the roof will fall in if another Ferguson occurs.

The militarization of our police is an interesting subject. I have been talking and warning about it for two years. On my TV and radio shows and in my writings. There is more to this than just the over militarization of police.

The NRA got a big boost out of Ferguson. I suspect in short time the NRA will be saying the reason the people need guns is because of what happened in Ferguson…..To protect themselves against an over zealous government.

There is a new Baseball Commissioner. Robert Manfred. I make mention of him because he grew up in Rome, NY. Rome is 14 miles from my home town Utica.

The Key West Citizen ran a Walter Scott quote in its World Almanac section this morning. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” I used a slightly different variation in summing up to juries when I had caught a witness in a bald faced lie…..What a tangled web we weave, when first we seek to deceive.” Spoken slowly. Repeated one time. The juries loved it!

Today is the anniversary of the opening day of Woodstock. Three Days of Peace and Music as it was titled. I was 34 at the time. Did not attend. Had no desire to attend. Other than the great music that came out of Woodstock, I see no value today in glorifying 400,000 drugged persons rolling around in the mud having sex for three days. And, a prude I am not.

Enjoy your day!