If you think about it, Tuesday is the only neutral day of the week.
Let’s think on it together.
Monday, for most folks, is back-to-work day. Ugh.
Wednesday is Hump Day. Halfway to the weekend.
Thursday, in many circles, is the start of the weekend.
Friday: Thank God It’s.
Saturday: Fun fun fun till her daddy took the T-bird away.
Sunday: Mellow, but perhaps with a small sense of dread about Monday.
Tuesday is Sweden. And because today is Tuesday, the first item in today’s column is all about neutrality.
Major goofs
Bob: Really enjoyed your Trump/Clinton column. It was informative and humorous. I would like to piggyback on that column.
There are pro-Ted Strickland commercials bashing Rob Portman’s stance on trade. The man in the commercial is riding a Segway. At the end of the spot, he pulls out a Chinese flag as a point of emphasis.
Problem is, Segway is now a Chinese company.
Other than the Browns, is there a more incompetent group of people in America than our political class?
Remember in 1984 when the Reagan campaign tried to use “Born in the USA,” which is the opposite of patriotic?
Dems and Repubs. Both incompetent.
Ken Boughton
North Canton
Ken: Right you are.
At one point, Segway was owned by a British entrepreneur who, nine months after buying, the company drove a Segway over a cliff to his death. In April 2015, Segway was bought by its current owner, a Beijing-based transportation robotics firm called Ninebot Inc.
And if Bruce Springsteen had had a grave, he would have been spinning in it when Reagan’s team began to crank up Born in the USA at Reagan’s rallies.
Anyone who pays the least bit of attention to lyrics knows the song is the antithesis of a paean to patriotism.
It’s about a lower-middle-class guy who goes off to fight in Vietnam, who doesn’t want to go because he doesn’t know why they’re fighting, but goes because he doesn’t have much choice.
When he comes home, he continues to get ambushed. Even his old job in the mill — an absolute given for generations in his blue-collar town — is gone. And in the aftermath of his military sacrifice, nobody gives a damn.
God bless America.
Growing down
Bob: So ... taller people are more conservative [a Page One wire story last week].
At last, a reason why, at age 90, I have become more liberal.
It is because I have shrunk from 6-foot-1 to 5-foot-10!
Now, can my favorite columnist, in my favorite newspaper, TRUMP this explanation?
Herb Klions
Copley
Herb: Nope!
Pen Pal City
The other day I told a tale I thought was unique: a Sharon Township woman has had a pen pal in England for 70 years.
Well, that woman remains unique, but a trio of other area residents are walking around in the her same general neighborhood.
I got a call from Sandra Perdicas of Green, who said she and an English girl-turned-woman named Margaret have been writing since June 1948.
In her case, somebody came to her school with list of names of potential “pen friends” in Britain, and Sandra got things going.
They discovered they had been born one week apart.
Today they’re 84 and still at it.
Jean Gadd of Copley told me she acquired a British pen pal in late 1947. Her Girl Scout troop signed up to write to a British Girl Guides troop.
The first letter came from Lucie, who lived in what is now called Cumbria, about five hours north of London. Jean visited Lucie in 1983 and had a “delightful” time.
About two years ago, Lucie slipped into dementia. Her daughters share photos with Jean from time to time, but she really misses Lucie’s letters.
Gail Clarke of Cuyahoga Falls is a relative newbie. She has only been at it for 49 years.
Gail’s friend is an Australian whom she met by responding to an item in the Plain Dealer. She mailed in her contact info and ended up with Julie.
Despite writing for nearly half a century, they have never met.
Yet.
They will in April.
Says Gail: “We just finalized plans and I’ve been bouncing off the walls with excitement ever since!”
Sounds like I already have a column lined up for next April.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31