# 298, November 25, 2003
ZANESVILLE, Ohi Looking ahead to Thanksgiving I’m here to visit Irv Bell, a fine farmer who raises corn and hogs. I read in the paper where our big turkey dinner Thursday will only cost us $3.60, so when you’re in a thanking mood you might want to remember the farmer. If you prefer one of Irv’s pork chops to a turkey leg, it may cost another nickel but worth every penny.
This town on the Muskingham River was named for Ebenezer Zane, brother of Betty Zane. It’s the home of Zane Grey, author of Riders of the Purple Sage and The Last of the Plainsmen and other books about the way he thought the West should have been run.
The government announced today that the Economy is growing, and growing rapidly, because we’re all spending. And it’s liable to keep on growing ’til we have to start paying some of it back.
Congress passed a Medicare bill. It is estimated to cost $400 Billion, which if that estimate is as accurate as the original estimate of Medicare in 1965, the true cost will be slightly higher, at around $40 Trillion. The President is for it, Republicans are for it, and the AARP is for it. Only ones opposed are folks who say we are spending too much on old folks, and those who say we aren’t spending enough on them.
The AARP claims it is for folks 50 and up. AARP used to stand for Retired People, but they all went back to work. What America needs is an association for everyone else. Call it AAYTPP. American Association of Young Tax Paying People. Make it a subsidiary of the AARP. You’re a member the day you are born, and they automatically switch you to AARP when you turn 50. It’s depressing enough to turn 5-0 without all those AARP solicitation letters.
Warren Spahn died yesterday. He won at least 20 games in 13 different seasons, and did not win his first game till he was 26. Young pitchers today should take note. They are satisfied to win 10, and then complain if the offer for next season is less than $5 Million. Of course if the hitters go off steroids, maybe they could win a few more.
Well, Sunday (Nov. 23) was our anniversary, Betty and “me”. We were married on the day before Thanksgiving, 95 years ago, so you ladies must forgive me my forgetfulness in these years when it comes early. The ceremony was at her home in Rogers, Arkansas, and we took the night train to St. Louis. The first day of our honeymoon, we did what every American does today on Thanksgiving. We watched football. Yes, I took Betty to a college football game. But I made it up to her that evening with a fine dinner and show.
Hope you have a fine Thanksgiving, with or without football. What would really make it fine would be a whole day without any news about Michael Jackson.
Historic quotes from Will Rogers:
“This is Thanksgiving. It was started by the Pilgrims, who would give thanks every time they killed an Indian and took more of his land. As years went by and they had all his land, they changed it into a day to give thanks for the bountiful harvest, when the boll_weevil and the protective tariff didn’t remove all cause for thanks.
So here is what the Republicans have given us the past year: A war in Nicaragua and China, and a rehearsal in Mexico, two floods and a coal strike, and pictures of the Black Hills. And all we got in return is the promise of a new Ford car and lower taxes.” DT #417, Nov. 23, 1927