Was Muhammad Ali Really The Greatest Boxing Champion Ever?

Who knows. In the first place, it's difficult, or impossible, to compare athletes who lived in different eras. For instance, in Joe Louis's day the average weight of a heavy weight boxer was around 195 pounds, today it's closer to 235. Thus, any comparison between Muhammad Ali and any previous champion is meaningless. Pound for pound though, I believe Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest price fighter to ever set foot in a boxing ring. In any case, I want to address this issue from a slightly different angle and ask the question, "who was the most significant boxer ever?" Certainly it was not an earlier version of Donald Trump, the braggadocios Muhammad Ali who was behind another door when the humility genes were being passed out. No, the award for most significant boxer ever would have to go to the legionary Joe Louis. The stage was set for Louis by Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. Owens, a black man, ran away with the 1936 Olympics winning four gold medals and he did it on German soil. More significantly, Owens's feat was the first nail in Adolph Hitler's coffin since it brought into question Hitler's claim of Aryan superiority in all things, big and small. Joe Luis drove the second, and final, nail in Hitler's intellectually deficient coffin when he knocked out the German heavyweight champion Max Schmeling in 124 seconds of the first round at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938. Because of its political implications this, arguably, was the most important sporting event of all time.It took a few more years for the west to eliminate Hitler and his axis partners but the bloom was definitely off the Aryan rose when Joe Louis made mincemeat out Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium on that summer evening in 1938. As for Muhammad Ali, great men do not wave their hands and gloat over their fallen opponents, only real low lives behave in this fashion.

Veteran Administration Hospitals- What To Do With Them

I worked in a VA Hospital for 22 years and never understood the need for a separate hospital system for veterans. Today, with administrative incompetence from top to bottom, there seems to be even less justification for VA hospitals than when I retired in 2000. I expect there are several reasons why, despite their deficiencies, these reflections of the distant past persist in 2016. First, the Veteran's Administration and their hospitals represent a giant corrupt political organization, much the same as the IRS, which is almost impossible to change despite, its obvious faults and multiple short comings. Second, VA hospitals exist because many, if not most, veterans cannot afford private medical care and do not have health insurance. In this respect, I rarely encountered a veteran who came to our VA hospital because they liked the care they would receive at out institution; rather, they came to us because they had no other choice. So, why don't they have another choice? As veterans who served our country, and put their lives on the line while doing so, they should have a choice, don't you agree? The solution to this problem is simple, straight forward and most importantly cost effective. All veterans should be given Medicare A and B and the VA medical care system should be phased out over a 5 to 10 year period. This would allow time for VA employees to relocate in the private sector. There is absolutely no reason for us to continue a two tiered medical system when there is a reasonable doable alternative. At least I can't think of one. Now, most doctors, worth their salt, will not accept Medicare patients who do not have supplemental health insurance because Medicare reinvestment for their services is inadequate to cover the costs inherent in running their practices, let alone allow them to make a reasonable profit. Thus, we will have to provide veterans with a supplemental insurance plan such as Federal Blue Cross and Blue Shield. This coverage will be expensive, but not nearly as costly as funding the 152 VA medical centers and 1400 VA outpatient clinics that now exist. The cost for running this bloated bureaucracy in 2014 was a whopping $152.7 billion. More to the point, it will provide veterans with the finest medical care possible, in a timely fashion, and eliminate a giant incompetent government institution whose sole purpose seems to be to provide jobs for incompetent administrators who can't cut it in the private sector.

Where We Are In The 2016 Presidential Election?

I can't think of two worst choices, can you? On the one hand we have a pathological liar who spent the first half of her political life covering up for her philandering husband Bill the womanizer and the second half bungling almost everything she touched the state department. Even crazy Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, has been giving her a run for her money on the demoratic side of the ticket. On the other hand, we have we have one of the loosest of all loose cannons running for a job that requires diplomatic experience and a level-headed approach to the problems he will inherit from the bumbling Obama administration. Never has there been a more childish uncouth man running for the highest office in the land, never! Almost every word that comes out of this man's mouth is an embarrassment. Has he no handlers or is to just too stupid to take their advice? It's difficult or impossible to believe a single word that come out of Trump's mouth. Reminds you of Hillary, doesn't it? Will he really build the wall? I, for one, do not believe a word he says in this respect. Will he deport a single illegal? Again, I doubt it. In fact, I believe he will make it easier for low IQ South American illiterates to cross our boarder. After all the Donald is a business man and business men want an endless supply of cheap labor, the American worker be damned! No, we are left with two extremely unacceptable choices, a woman who has failed at everything she has tried from her first job at the State department (fired for lying and incompetence) to the Benghazi fiasco where she was responsible for sitting on her hands doing nothing while our ambassador and three others were murdered. She should be in prison, not in the White House. In Trump we have a blustering school boy bully who attempts to sell himself a successful business man but has filed for more bankruptcies than most dogs have fleas on their backs. How does this record of business failures qualify one to be president? After all, when you are dealing with China or Russia there is no bankruptcy court to bail your sorry ass out if Putin or some other foreign leader calls one of your unreasoned bluffs. The republican establishment ultimately will swallow hard and support the Donald. What other choice do they have if they want to maintain their Washington power base and their handsome life styles? They will do everything possible to make Trump look reasonable. More importantly, they will move heaven and earth to make us conservatives believe this 59 year old juvenile delinquent is the second coming of Christ. Well, I'm not buying it! As my mother used to say, "You can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but it's still a pig!" So what is one to do? Voting for the lying incompetent Hillary Clinton is not an option. Voting for the Trump the foul mouthed school yard bully is an unacceptable alternative. At this point in time, we can only hope that something unexpected will occur at the Republican convention and a more reasonable candidate will immerge that we conservatives can support. The chances of this happening are, admittedly, slim to none. So, I'll write in Ted Cruz's name and be done with it. America is in her last days as a prosperous viable national leader. I may not live to see the end but I bet my grandson will.

Gardening Tips- Growing Tomatoes.

It's time to plant tomatoes, actually it's a little past the ideal time in Northern California. I start my tomatoes from seed, usually in December of the previous year in a green house and transplant the seedling in April when they are 8 to 12 inches tall (the taller the better). First prepare the ground before planting tomato seedlings. I mix in earthworm castings, alfalfa pellets and a handful of ground oyster shells to each hole before inserting the tomato plants. The calcium in the oyster shells prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and other vegetables. Ground up oyster shells only come in 50 pound bags; thus, oyster shells may not be a practical way to add calcium to the soil if you are only going to raise a few tomato plants. Egg shells also are a wonderful way to add calcium to the soil, but they take several months to break down and release the mineral into the soil. Other sources of calcium are bat guano, soft rock phosphate and Dolomite lime. Plant the tallest plants available for the best end result. To plant relatively tall plants, you have two choices. Either dig an appropriately deep hole or, better yet, dig a 4 to 6 inch trench and lay the plants on their sides. Pull off the lower leaves. Roots will form where the leaves were attached to the plants resulting in healthy strong plants. Make sure that only the top cluster of leaves are above the ground after the seedlings are planted. I plant only "indifferent" tomato plants which should be grown upward on a cage or trellis ("different" tomato plants are grown as bushes with their branches and leaves close to the ground). To encourage upward growth, and help prevent tomato viral diseases, after the plants have reached a height of about eight inches start removing the lower leaves from the plants. The lower leaves of a tomato plant should not be allowed to touch the ground to discourage viruses in the ground from reaching the upper branches of the tomato plant. At this stage of growth you also should begin removing the suckers from your tomato plants. Suckers form at the junction of a tomato plant's main stock, or stocks, and a leaf. If the suckers are not removed the plants will tend to grow sideways rather than upwards. When the plants are 1.5 to 2 feet tall selected suckers may be retained and attached to the wire cage or trellis in which you are growing them to achieve the desired form of your adult plants. If you are unsure about the appearance of a tomato sucker, go to the internet and watch a video on tomato suckers. I should also mention that the removed suckers may be placed in the ground to produce additional tomato plants. One final tip on growing delicious tomatoes. The tomato flower contains both female and male sex organs. To encourage tomato plants to produce fruit, shake the tomato blossom with your hand or the brush of a battery driven electric tooth brush, around noon each day. Earlier in the morning or later in the day this method of fertilization does not work as well. Shaking the blossoms not only increases the yield of a tomato plant but also increases the number of seeds in the tomato, which enhances its flavor. Happy gardening!

The Best Bread Recipe Ever!

How to make a good loaf of bread? That is a problem I had struggled with for many years. My mother could do this in her sleep. Unfortunately, she took all of her recipes, which were in her head, to the grave with her, so she was of no help to me in this endeavor. A few years ago I tumbled to this simple recipe for making a great loaf of bread and thought I would share it with you. Actually, it makes two loaves of fantastic bread, but who's counting. I can assure you that this recipe will work the first time you try it and every time thereafter. To make this wonderful bread you will need two large cast iron kettles with lids in which to bake the bread, other lighter weight baking dishes will not achieve the same results, so don't waste your time trying them. The ingredients for the recipe are simple and readily available. Six cups or bread or all purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon of dried yeast ( this is not a typing error, that's all you need); three teaspoons of salt; 3 and 1/4 cups of water. Simply mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir in the water. This will produce very, very wet bread dough. Spray the dough with Pam or olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 18 hours. Do not manipulate the dough in any way (you couldn't even if you tried because it is so wet to work with). At this point, line two medium sized bowls with parchment paper: divide the dough in two roughly equal parts: punch down the dough and place each of them in a bowl. Now spray again with Pam, cover with a dish towel and let them sit for another two to three hours. Note, the recipe is very time consuming but requires very little effort on your part. Now, preheat the oven, kettles and lids to 500 degrees F. After the kettles and lids are oven temperature remove them from the oven. Remove the lids and lift the parchment paper by its corners to place the dough in the preheated kettles. The original recipe did not employ parchment paper in the transfer process; however, if you do not use this trick the bread dough will fall during the transfer process. Replace the lids and bake at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove the lids and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes at 450 degree F, or until each loaf is golden brown. Remove the loaves from the baking kettles and let them cool on a rack. Anyone can make delicious bread using this simple foolproof recipe. One cautionary note, however, this bread is not for weight watchers.

Cinnamon and the Gardener

I use a lot of cinnamon, not on my food, but on my house plants and organic garden. Literally, I sprinkle it on everything! Let's begin by discussing its use to control the gardener's nightmare the, dreaded "dampening off" syndrome. Anyone who has attempted to get an early jump on spring by establishing plants from seeds in a green house, or in seed trays on an indoor window sill, is all too familiar with the dreaded "damping off." This term refers to an array of fungal diseases that attach your sprouting seeds and lead to their early demise. Starting plants from cuttings poses a similar problem. Cinnamon is a proven fungus exterminator, better yet its 100 percent organic and relatively cheap. Simply sprinkle a little cinnamon powder over the bedding in which you have plated your seeds at weekly intervals to decrease the chances that they will be killed by the offending fungi. Cinnamon also is a very powerful rooting hormone. When planting cuttings, dip the cuttings in cinnamon powder before inserting them into the starting soil. This simple maneuver greatly enhances your chances of growing plants from cuttings. After inserting the cuttings in the starting soil do not forget to sprinkle cinnamon powder over the cuttings and soil to inhibit the "damping off" fungi. In any case, you can save a lot of money by using cinnamon rather than more expensive, and often less effective, commercial rooting hormones to stimulate root growth. There are several other non-culinary uses for cinnamon powder. Ants do not like cinnamon powder and you can sprinkle it around the garden, or entrances into the house, to deter infestations of ants in either location. Cinnamon powder also can be sprinkled around house plants to rid your plants of various molds and mildew. Finally, cinnamon powder can be used to rid your plants of gnats and other similar pests. In summary, cinnamon powder is a natural and affordable way to keep your indoor and outdoor plants healthy and flourishing. Why not give it a try?

Changing Times

I am now in my 79th year, and during the time I have lived on this wondrous planet, America has changed from Ronald Regan's "Shining city on the hill " to a debt ridden, amoral country where sodomy and full-term abortion are OK; illegitimacy in the black community is the norm; and one third of the country's population is on food stamps.

I was aware that this transformation was occurring but, for a number of serf-serving reasons, did little or nothing to curtail the amorality and political corruption that was destroying my profession and the country of my birth. I hope in writing this book to atone, in part, for my indifference. In this respect, if ever a soul needed forgiveness and redemption, it is I! In writing this book, I relied heavily on the statistical evidence Richard J. Herrington and Charles Murray presented in their remarkable book, The Bell Curve, to support my contention that many, if not most of America's financial and moral problems are a direct result of the falling IQ of our citizens. Our intellectual decline results from the fact that the birthrate of smart white women has fallen sharply over the last 50 years while the birthrates of low IQ women, of all races, has steadily increasing during the same period. The illegal immigration of intellectually challenged Mexican women also has contributed greatly to our country's intellectual decline. The remedies I suggest in America In Decline, such as the introduction of a National Identification Card, without which a person cannot work or vote, and limiting voting rights to those who pay taxes, are simple straight forward measures that, if implemented, would go a long way towards righting our floundering ship of state. However, unlike Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, I do not believe significant political change can be achieved at the voting booth. No, I fear it will take a second American revolution to get our train back on the track to financial solvency and morality. Hopefully, our second revolution will not be as bloody as was the first!