"The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl - its handle, unmarked. People call them both, 'the Six Shooter.'"

And so began each episode of NBC's short-lived (but quality) western drama, starring film legend Jimmy Stewart as the kind and easy-going "Britt Ponset," the cowhand-wanderer of the wild western frontier. Similar to other radio westerns of the 1950's, Six Shooter's refined story-telling techniques, such as its subtle use of sound effects in lieu of overly contrived dialog or narration, place it among radio's more vivid and entertaining dramas.

Undoubtedly the program's biggest asset was Stewart himself. He proved the perfect fit for the character "Ponset," a peaceable slow-talking cowboy, but "plenty dangerous" when forced into a fight. Stewart carried the role with all the charm and style that made him a Hollywood legend. In classic western fashion, episodes usually involved "Ponset" wandering into town (and other people's dilemmas), providing the solution, then quietly "riding into the sunset."

Stewart was supported by a large cast of capable actors, including Parley Baer of Gunsmoke fame and Have Gun, Will Travel's Virginia Gregg. Scripts were provided by Frank Burt, while the effective "epic-western" style musical scores were the creation of Basil Adlam. Program announcers were Hal Gibney, and later, John Wald.

The show premiered on September 20th 1953 under the sponsorship of NBC and Coleman Heaters. Despite the show's undeniable quality it ran for just eight months. At the time the program needed new funding, but when Chesterfield Cigarettes stepped forward with an offer, it was said Stewart balked at the idea of a cigarette company sponsoring the show. And so ended one of radio's better western dramas in a glowing "sunset broadcast" on June 24th 1954. -CP

Where were you seventeen years ago and how old were you? That's the last time Cicadas were seen in Chicago. And how they emerged from the ground from Lake County to Kankakee.

When Mary and I arrived in the middle of the invasion, billions and billions of erratically flying cicadas were everywhere. - from road and foot kill carcasses to those dive-bombing from branch to branch looking for sex during the month of life they have been given before it starts all over again.

The noise during the day was deafening -- so loud that one could not carry on a conversation with someone standing a foot away. But each evening at 7:30 pm, the cacophony abruptly stopped. It was shocking. Bruce Kelly, our son-in-law, would say, "We have a noise ordinance here in Glencoe."

At Mary's brother's historic home in Evanston, the lawn looked like hundreds of thousands of "night crawlers" had a coming out party. All of the trees had thousands of empty cicada pupa cases attached to the bark at about four feet above ground level.

When are they scheduled to emerge in your town?

I've provided an excellent website link from St. Joseph's College for you to bone up on the facts and fiction of this horrible looking, noisy, pesky insect. "More children have probably been injured from running away from cicadas or trying to kill them. One of the ways you will know the cicadas are back is when children begin showing up at Emergency Rooms.

There is also a link to a great series of photos of the transformation of a Cicada pupa to an adult that friend Gene Bustard sent me.

Senator Bryan L. Dornan has come out with a new book that should be a very good read. "Take This Job and..... Ship it!" narrates what has happened to America's manufacturing. Personally, I'm miles away from being a socialist or a big business basher but Sen. Dornan reveals what some bastard businesses have done to hurt our country and their employees which is inexcusable and unconscionable.

"In 1970 the largest U.S. Corporation was General Motors, with employees who stayed with the company for most of their working lives. Today the largest U.S. Corporation is Wal-Mart, which has a 70 percent turnover rate and an average salary of $18,000. Dornan is concerned about the implications of that shift in employment status."

We have all bought our children a Huffy bike sometime in their life. It was a huge American company in Ohio and now makers of mass-market Road, Mountain, and BMX Bicycles. They found out they could pay employee $1.00 an hour in China rather than the $12.00 and up they were paying in Ohio. So they moved the company to China, declared bankruptcy in the American courts and dissolved all of their employee's pensions and health benefits and left them with nothing no matter how long they had worked with the company. Huffy is now a Chinese company.

But it's not just companies like Huffy, and there are probably hundreds of thousands of stories like this. The problem is also our government and the professional bureaucrats who really run policy in spite of the Democrats and Republicans. Dornan points out that the mantra now is Free Trade. What is needed is FAIR TRADE. As an example, Korea sells 60,000 KIA automobiles in the United States. American auto manufacturers sell 4,000 in Korea. Why not more? Because American cars have a 25% duty on them and are priced out of the range Koreans can afford.

China is about ready to introduce their new car to America. Get this! China will pay a 2% tariff or duty on each car sent to America. When an American car is sent to China it carries with it a 25% tariff or duty. WHAT'S GOING ON? Why is our government failing us like this? Dornan says that what is needed is not Free Trade but FAIR TRADE! But when this is publicly said in Washington you are branded a xenophobic isolationist. Seems like for sometime it's not what's best for America but what's best for political correctness and global economy. Post WW2 reconstruction is over! Our foreign aid needs to be pointed at the needs of Americans.

What Sen. Dornan is saying has been going on for all too long and it remains so disturbing that what is best for America is no longer a valid consideration for our representatives.... this country IS a Republic you know - it's not a democracy.

Wednesday Aug. 15,

Went to the Titanic Exhibition here in Denver. It was a very pleasant experience to say the least. The exhibit is currently showing in Britiah Columbia, Toronto, Denver, Panama City, Budapest and Kiev, Germany. Apparently they have prepared several units for multiple showing and cash flow.

It was $14.00 and well worth it. I've put some links at the bottom of this article which describe the exibition very well and have some excellent photos of what I saw.

It's not just a show of a "bunch of stuff" they pulled up from 6,000 feet in the ocean. It was very instructive and brought the visitor into the story. Each visitor was given a replica boarding pass with the name and identity of one of the passengers.

I was a weathly Hungarian who had four names and ended in Martinez. He and his family had just returned from a safari in Africa and lived on his hunting preserve outside of Budapest. His mother talked him into accompanying her back to Allentown, PA on the Titanic. They reserved two of the most expensive suites that cost, in today's money, $78,000 each. They also brought two servants with them. The replica of a first class suite was quite awesome. What was surprising to me as I left was checking the wall that had the names of all the passengers. I thought it was "women and children first." It was apparently, "rich men" then women and children to the boats because Mr. Martinez, his mother, butler and maid were four of the 705 who survived. 1,523 died in this historic shipwreck. If you are near any of the cities that are exhibiting the Titanic display - it's worth the trip, time and money. Most of the cities will be holding the exhibit until January 2008. Hundreds and hundreds of people were going through the exhibit when I was there.
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Tuesday Aug. 14,

It's a HOT HOT day in Denver. It's going to break the 96 degree record, but you know that "It's a dry heat!" I'm told that over and over and there is something to that.

I awoke in the middle of the night last night and turned on KOA-AM to see if anything was happeneing. They were airing a "new voice" who was interviewing a "New Ager" who had just come out with a book about praying and positive thinking -- way beyond anything Norman Vincent Peele would claim back in the 40's and 50's.

I was interested in what the two men were saying and thought I was tuned in to Radio Free America. Allow me to paraphrase what the guest was saying.

"Evangelicals and Right Wing Christian Politicos have a beam in their eye that will never be removed. That Beam is their Bible. They have lost the cultural war and don't know it. As more and more students graduate from college and have learned the truth about the discipline they have studied, they have also learned about world religions and how the Chrisitan principles they have been raised with are so false and nothing unlike what all the other great religions teach. Each year those Right Wing Christians see more and more people take up the beliefs and life-styles the Right Wingers fight against.

It's possible that many of you reading this right now are of this same mindset and belief. Both men on this program claimed to believe in and uphold the "philosophy of Jesus." "What exactly is the philosophy of Jesus," I asked myself knowing exactly what they mean when they say it. They accept Jesus Christ as a wonderful human being and an incredible teacher who knew about relationships and love. Their Jesus Christ is dead and is one of their "ascended masters." The subject of this program then moved into their position there is not sin in this world and that everyone on earth is a part of God. Wonder how the Buddist and Hindu listeners appreciated that. What? No, Nirvanah!

My Jesus Christ is alive and lives in me, and as best I can try to allow my life to be a reflection of his life. If I'm wrong after these 73 years, I haven't lost a thing, but have had one incredible life of love, compassion, relationships, joy and sorrow. If I'm right....?

Oh, yea. Was able to fill up the gas tank last week with $2.81 a gallon Conoco. A friend of mine sent an incredible website that gives the cheapest gasoline no matter where you live. I've posted it below.
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REASON FOR THE CHATTERBOX I used to have a column called "This 'n That" where I would give the weather in Atlanta, the price of gas, and the changing of the seasons. I'd write about family and chornicle Nancy's frequent skirmish victories in her war against ovarian cancer. Some of you might remember those days. A friend of mine began using the title for a neat "This 'n That" page he was writing. That and other events of life caused me to become more general in my Ramblins writing.

This past week I decided to do a little bit more "personalizing" as that was a feature of Ramblins many people enjoyed. I've decided to call this feature, "Ramblin Chatter."

Among my favorite books growing up on Cedar Street in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin was a huge Bible story book from the mid-1800's with incredible engravings and the classic Chatterbox that filled the lower shelf of our library. It was a treasure my parents secured from their parents and was an annual publication in the form of a hardbound book. I was captured by the engravings as Mother or one of my older brothers read a story to me. I slowly was able to read it by myself and read interesting stories and learned about life in the 1800's. There were well written articles of fiction, character building articles, wonderful engravings, that kept me on the floor with my bent legs in the air.

I found a great website today about the Chatterbox. Never thought to do that until now. If you're interested enough to explore the site, I've place a link for their address at the bottom of this article. On the site you'll see what a great piece of literature the Chatterboxwas for people living in that era and after. The site only has basic information and not the aritcles. It was literature for the populus -- like John Phillips Sousa. His music was ridiculed by the academics and Arts world, but the people loved it and made him a multimillionaire.

Then I found another article about the scoundrel publisher Worthington who copied and published the Chatterbox without permission. Walt Whitman has the same trouble with Worthington. It's worth a visit and a read. Besides that -- the color illustrations of a string of Chatterboxes and the ability to enlarge them is worth the trip.

All that to introduce this new article feature I'll run from time to time. I sure do miss Chris Plunkett's input. He is such a fine writer. Hopefully, some day he will be the well-known short story writer he deserves to be. But, right now he is Chief Hydrologist for the Flaming Gorge Resevoir and the Unita/Vernal Basin in NE Utah. He was invovled in the management of that horrendous 320,000 acre forest fire last month. From time to time I'll repeat some of his old Ramblin articles.

Norman Plunkett

God is good -- ALWAYS!

And especially as He floods you with all the grace you need no matter what the situation. As you trust Him, God's grace is always just enough and always on time.