"Russian Roulette" by Giles Milton (2015)

When you watch films such as “The Four Feathers”, or “The Bengal Lancers” and “Gunga Din” you may be tempted to dismiss them as mere dramatizations of history, but you would be shortsighted to do so. Those films actually portray the British struggle to maintain control over India during the last days of the Raj in a fairly accurate way.

In his latest book, “Russian Roulette”, author Giles Milton takes us back to the days of the First World War and the Russian Revolution to illustrate the way in which Lenin’s Bolsheviks were prevented from exporting the Revolution to India by way of Afghanistan, Turkestan, and also how the British developed the Secret Intelligence Service; commonly referred to as MI6.

Reading this book is almost like watching one of those old movies I mentioned earlier; only better. When the Russian people finally had enough of the war; which was decimating the working class; they revolted. The Revolution is always considered to have occurred in November of 1917 when the Bolsheviks finally got to kill Tsar Nicholas and his family, but the truth is that it was brewing for some time.

Aside from the obvious problem of having Russia leave the war against Germany was the security of the large stores of ammunition stored within Russian borders. The concern was twofold; should the Germans acquire it then the tide of the war in the area would be turned. On the other hand, should the Bolsheviks get ahold of it then we risked losing Russia to internal strife. To deal with the political problems this engendered the British created an espionage network which spawned what some have termed “the Great Game”; a game which continues today in the same areas as it began, between the same powers that began it.

When the war ended the British efforts to stop the spread of Bolshevism didn’t end; if only for the fact that Lenin was actively pursuing a foothold in India to topple the British Raj. To that end, Amir Amannullah; the ruler of Afghanistan at the time; issued a jihad directing a Holy War against British India in 1919. 

But as determined as the Russians might have been to expand their reach into India, the British were equally determined to oppose that expansion. To that end they chose to use some 50,000 shells of a toxic gas known as “the M-Device.” This was a nechloroarsine, which caused instant death in some; and violent illness in others. Churchill declared it to be more humane than explosives. Of those 55,00 shells, 47,282 remained unused and were dumped in about 240 feet of water in the White Sea, where they remain until this very day. Ninety years later Britain would be chief among those nations condemning Saddam Hussein for gassing the Kurds in Northern Iraq.

The book is filled with the characters you would expect to meet in films like “The Man Who Would Be King”. Some of these men were professional adventurers; some were men with political bents; others were just “doing their bit”; but all of their stories reflect, if not surpass, the antics of all the stars in those movies I mentioned earlier. Several have left manuscripts; published and unpublished; which the author has used to create a wonderfully accurate picture of a time and place which has not changed much since the time these events occur.

The names of men such as Mansfield Cumming; Arthur Ransome; Robert Bruce Lockhart; Sidney Reilly and George Hill may be lost in the greater annals of history, the rocky plains and mountainous areas of Afghanistan are still the same. And the “Great Game” still continues on its useful; and sometimes incomprehensible; course. This book will aid you in navigating that history.

"The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot" by Blaine Harden (2015)

On September 21, 1953 a North Korean pilot got into the seat of the MIG-15 to which he was assigned to and flew away to South Korea. The story of Lt. No Kum Sok‘s flight to freedom was a story which instantly dazzled the world. But for the weary Lieutenant No it was the culmination of a dream he had held close since he first saw Kim Il Sung speaking from the top of a pile of fertilizer 7 years earlier. He wanted to go to America.

Blaine Harden has taken one of the most fascinating events of the Korean War and placed it at the center of a unique and highly readable book not only about the man who flew the plane; but also the story of Kim Il Sung and how he got to be on top of that fertilizer pile in the first place.

World War Two was the result of the failure of the Treaty of Versailles to correctly address all of the problems which had sparked that war in the first place. Coupled with the heavy handed financial burdens placed on Germany, the treaty was actually a recipe for the next war.

So it was with the end of World War Two. Treaties and alliances were made which would ultimately shape the post war world and lead to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Against this backdrop were the political positions and politics of countries like Vietnam and Korea in Southeast Asia. Just as with the former colonies in Africa which were abandoned soon after the war ended, the fate of these 2 nations rested upon the needs and desires of the United States and the Soviets.

Kim Il Sung was the product of the war against the Chinese in the 1930’s and then the war against Japan in the 1930’s and 1940’s. By the time the second conflict ended Korea was indiscriminately cleaved in half at the 38^th parallel; leaving families torn apart from one another in much the same way that the division of Berlin would do to the German people. The political vacuum left in the North was quickly filled by Kim, who had fashioned himself into the role of “Great Leader” much as Stalin had become “Uncle Joe” and Mao became “Chairman Mao.”

As the United States became somewhat complacent with her place in the post war world, the Russians and the Koreans were scheming to consolidate their positions in the hierarchy of worldwide Communism. There was no dispute that Uncle Joe was the head; it was more a question of how close you could be to the top. And Kim wanted to be there with all his heart.

The Soviet Union had just gotten their first atom bomb when Kim Il Sung decided he wanted to re-unify the two halves of his country. No Kum was just 17 when his father died and his country invaded the South. His family had enjoyed immense privileges under the Japanese rule while working for a Japanese firm. When the war ended so did the family’s largesse.

No Kum did well in school and made sure to spout the “party line” whenever necessary. He was granted entry to North Korea’s fledgling Air Force and trained as a pilot. At the same time Kim Il Sung was asking Uncle Joe for some of the new MIG’s which the Soviets had developed. They were not faster than the Sabre’s flown by American pilots; but they could climb higher, giving them the advantage in surprising our bombers, which were pulverizing North Korean cities. 

When Uncle Joe relented and sent the fighters and pilots to North Korea for the training of the Korean Air Force, No Kum was selected to be among the trainees. Unknown to him at this point was that the US Government had a standing $100,000 reward for anyone who could; or would; steal a combat ready MIG and fly it to the South.

When No Kum finally gets his chance he goes for it, landing in South Korea. From there the book becomes an even more remarkable story, as he learns to fend his way through Western type red tape. He was also used by the CIA and the State Department for propaganda newsreels and press conferences.

This book has a lot to give; and it does so from the very first page. The carpet bombing of North Korea; which killed on a level not seen since the fire bombings of Japan and Germany; is explored in sufficient detail for the reader to actually learn something. And the authors summary of the history of Korea in relation to the Japanese and the Chinese is spot on, and does much to help explain the insanity which came to roost in North Korea and occupies the seat of government to this very day.

No Kum Sok finally got his money, a college degree and is still alive today as Kenneth Howe. He lives in Florida.

Dallas - The Day the Music Died

I was only 9 in November of 1963, and I saw the world in shades of black and white. Just like this photograph of President and Mrs. Kennedy. This still gives many of my early childhood memories a distant, sepia like feel, almost as if I were watching them, rather than being an actual participant. But that was all about to end on this Friday afternoon in late November.

I was in third grade, and a big supporter of President Kennedy. I participated in the President's Science Program, and even the Physical Fitness Program, at Public School 255 in Brooklyn, where I lived. I also had a picture of the President that had been sent to me by the White House. The space program alone was enough to capture the minds, and hearts, of every kid in the nation. It seemed that there was nothing beyond our reach. And then came Dallas.

My 3rd grade perception of Dallas was all tied up in the fact that it was in Texas. The Texas that I imagined was made up of dirt Main Streets, with raised wooden sidewalks, where everyone wore a gun on their hips. My perception of the world was about to grow larger.

My class had been visiting the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan. We left the museum shortly before 2PM that afternoon to head back to Brooklyn. Whatever we had seen in the Museum that day is a complete blank to me now.

Stepping onto the bus I noticed that the bus driver was listening intently to his transistor radio. You could feel the tension in his body as he strained to hear the radio over the sound of 35 yelling 9 year old boys and girls. At some point I recall the teacher conferring with the bus driver and then turning to the class, all of whom were by this time seated and quiet. She spoke with an earnest quality, one that I had never before seen in my dealings with adults, as she said, "Class, the President has been shot in Dallas, Texas. We don't know yet whether he is going to live." The rest of the ride back to Brooklyn was uneventful, as 9 year olds we were not fully cognizant of the more serious implications involved in the assassination, beyond the fact that it was of historical importance.

About 10 minutes into the trip the driver spoke with the teacher, who informed us that President Kennedy was indeed dead. We were also informed that a "lone nut" had done it.

Arriving back at school I remember being released to go home. It was right about 3 o'clock when we got there, so everyone was getting out of the building when we arrived. We would not return to school until after the following Monday, November 25th, when the President was buried.

I remember walking home from school that day and thinking that I was living through history. This was like Lincoln! This was something I would someday be telling my kids about. And I have...

Since this was a Friday, Uncle "I" would be coming over, as was his usual custom. We spent the the night in front of the TV, first watching the arrival of Air Force One at Bethesda Air Force base, outside of Washington, with Jackie Kennedy still in her blood smeared clothes stepping off the rear of the plane with Robert Kennedy, the President's brother.

The funeral would occupy the next four days, as tens of thousands of Americans poured into Washington to pass the President's casket as it lay in State in the Capitol beneath the Rotunda. Millions more watched on TV. I remember getting up several times during the night and turning the TV on, only to be confronted by the same image on each station. The casket laying on the bier, surrounded by one member of each of the Armed Forces posted at the corners of the casket, with rifles. I'm writing this now with no photo in front of me. Even at the distance of 47 years the memory of it is still crystal clear.

My family would not see John Kennedy's grave until about 6 weeks after the assassination. There were still crowds and a line to see the grave, which was nothing like it is today. This photo shows the grave at the time of our visit in January 1964. The President's son, Patrick, who had been stillborn that August, is interred to the right in the photo. The gravesite today is a concrete monument, which leaves you feeling disconnected, both from the man, and the events of his life and death. When I was there, the earth was still freshly turned, and the only thing separating the people from their fallen leader was a white picket fence.

"The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" with Richard Burton and Claire Bloom (1962)

I am a big fan of the Cold War. It had all the necessary elements for a good spy story on a daily basis. And they were true.

Growing up during the some of the hottest times in the Cold War was kind of exciting. The Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall. All of these real life dramas made interesting fodder for the writers of spy novels and the stories they spun. "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" is one of my all time favorites.

John LeCarre takes a man, a broken and tired man, Alec Leamus, and turns him into a political anti-hero. Here is a man who has been engaged in espionage against the Russians for a decade or more, who knows all the ropes, and yet finds himself caught in a web he inadvertently helps to create.

The book and the movie are almost identical. It is helpful to have read the book first, but not necessary. Alec Leamus is asked by MI5 to leave the agency on the pretext of not having gained promotion due to his drinking. Richard Burton plays the part in the movie and his own public struggles with alcoholism make this role very believable.

As he skids down the path of his affliction he takes a job as a research librarian, filing books in a private collection. There he meets a woman named Liz, played in the movie by Claire Bloom, with whom he forms an instant connection. Two lonely people trapped in their own gray and dreary lives. The film is in black and white. It is an accurate depiction of England at that time, still reeling from the ravages of World War Two. Rationing didn't formally end until 1965. Both the novel and the movie capture this aspect with perfection.

When Alec defects to the Russian side for a price, at the direction of his superiors, a chain of events ensues that brings sharply into focus both the differences and the similarities of what we call Freedom and the other side calls Communism. Both sides have agendas. Both sides resort to unthinkable means in order to obtain their respective goals.

Caught in a struggle between a principled Communist Party member who tries Leamus for espionage, and a ruthless ex-Nazi who may be a British double agent, Leamus finds himself in the grips of a plot that will either reinforce his beliefs or tear them apart, revealing them as the other side of the same coin.

The book is riveting, as is the movie. Richard Burton gives one of his finest performances as the troubled spy. And Claire Bloom is exceptional as a woman torn between her beliefs and the reality with which she finds herself confronted.

Stark and intense writing give the book the feel of the gray and colorless world of Communism in Eastern Europe at the time. Stark and intense direction by Martin Pitt transfer these elements to the screen with perfection.

"Shockwave - Countdown to Hiroshima" by Stephen Walker (2005)

Leo Szilard, a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant, sat stopped at a London traffic signal one day in 1933. It was there, as the light changed, that he first conceived of the idea for a nuclear bomb. He was horrified by the thought of the destruction it could cause to life as we know it.

  

That thought, just as with an atomic explosion, had a chain reaction which, by 1939, would have Germany trying to build an atomic weapon of her own, and Mr. Szilard lobbying the United States to build one first. After all, there was no doubt that Hitler would use it should he attain it first; while we could always make one and choose not to. At least, that was the plan.

This whole extraordinary set of events were the beginnings of what eventually became the Cold War, with its policy of Mutually Assured Destruction, which would last for decades. The shadow of that policy; along with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s; has been that there are now more nuclear weapons in the hands of more governments than could possibly be deemed “healthy” for the world’s future survival. But all that came later. First came “Trinity”; the test of the first atomic bomb; in the desert of New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

It seemed of little consequence at the time that the weapon designed for use against the Nazi’s in Europe, would now be used to end the war in the Pacific, which began, for the United States, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Japanese had been at war in the Pacific since 1933 and the invasion of China and the Rape of Nanking, while the Germans had been taking over countries in Europe beginning in 1938. It was only after they invaded Poland in September of 1939 that the English went to war with her. We would not join in that effort until after the Pearl Harbor attack.

This is the most informative book I have ever read on the first atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima on August 5, 1945. Where other books have focused either on the effects of the bomb on the ground; such as “Hiroshima” by John Hersey; or the myriad of books which talk of the morality of the event; and even the workings of the Manhattan Project; this book delves into the beginnings of the search for the technology to build the bomb, as well as the training of the men who would drop it. 

The book also covers the negotiations which the Japanese were seeking to hold with Russia as a way of suing for peace and an end to the war. The stalling by the Soviets, while pretending that they had no knowledge of the bomb’s existence, would be instrumental in the success of the Americans to end the war in the Pacific. It would also trigger a nuclear arms race which would color our lives forever after

.

The author also explores the origins of the 509^th Bomber Group and their unusual makeup, which included a few felons with false names. They were given their criminal files and a match after the mission was over.

For all of the planning of the bomb’s construction and use, nobody was quite sure if it would work. On the other hand, there were some among the group of scientists, including Leo Szilard, who saw the possibility of igniting the entire atmosphere of the planet, killing us all. Up until the very last moment these men would lobby the President to discontinue the plan to use the bomb. The story of how their message was delayed, before it was relayed, will raise questions in your own mind as to the purpose of using the bomb at all. There was still the fear that the Germans would get one first.

Ironically, the Germans had all but given up on the development of a nuclear bomb by the close of the war. And the Russians had no interest in one unless we proved one could be made to work. And of course, both the United States and the Soviets would benefit greatly from the acquisition of the German rocket scientists at the close of the war with Germany in May 1945. At that point we were too close to finishing work on the Manhattan Project to stop.

The author has spared no subject in this comprehensive history of the final countdown to the actual dropping of the bomb, and an examination of the effects of that mission in the first 24 hours after it was accomplished. The book also examines the lives of the men who first conceived of, and then made happen, the single most important event which would change the nature of warfare in general, and the geo-politics that surround it.

With the countdown towards the final assembly and shipment of the bomb, part of which encompasses the story of the USS Indianapolis on its voyage to Tinian, the book also recounts the Japanese effort to start peace talks through the Soviets. At the same time as she was talking peace, Japan was also preparing to turn Japan into a veritable fortress which would cost almost a million American lives to invade. This was the same duplicitous process which she had used to buy time for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. However, by this point, there was no turning back on the plan to use the bomb.

As a result of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there has not been a declared war since the end of World War Two. It’s almost as if declared wars, rather than police actions, could possibly escalate into full blown nuclear confrontation between “super-powers.” This was exactly what happened in Vietnam; the United States and the Soviet Union fought a war by proxy; using the Vietnamese as pawns in a game which can only have one ending; with both sides looking to avoid a direct confrontation with the other.

If you think you have learned all that you need to know about the history of the world’s first atomic bomb, then this book will quickly disabuse you of that notion, while providing the reader a ringside seat to one of the most important developments of the 20^th century. 

Cuban Missle Crisis Ends

On October 22nd, 1962 President Kennedy announced that the Soviet Union was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from our shores. Acting under the auspices of the Monroe Doctrine he gave a 17 minute speech in which he outlined his response to the Soviet action, including the famous quarantine of Cuba, in which all Soviet ships headed to Cuba were boarded and searched. Those ships which refused to be searched were turned back by our Navy. On October 28th, 6 days later, the crisis came to an end when Soviet premier Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of the missiles. On the surface the United States had won a huge victory. Or, so it would seem.

In reality the United States had done the same thing to the Soviet Union by placing over 600 Jupiter missiles along the Turkish border, all aimed at strategic targets within the Soviet Union. This was akin to our violating the Soviet Union’s right of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, which we were using to have the Soviet missiles removed from Cuba.

Moscow's position was correct, if we could have missiles on their border, they could have missiles on ours. Unknown to American military intelligence at the time, was that there were, and had been, low yield "tactical" nuclear weapons, though not missiles, in Cuba since the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. These weapons were for combat use, typically for the repulsion of invading forces. Had our troops landed in support of the coup, they would have been met with small scale nuclear arms. And that would have triggered a nuclear response from the United States, which of course would have set off a response from the Soviet Union. Now, here we were, one year later, facing off with the Soviet Union for a second time.

Kennedy and Khrushchev were both very concerned about losing control of their respective armed forces at the time. The Joints Chiefs of Staff wanted to invade over the missile issue, and the President wanted to negotiate. Officially, at the time, the so-called "Doomsday" clock stood at 1 minute to midnight, the closest the Soviet Union and the United States had ever come to a nuclear war. A solution, acceptable to both sides, needed to be found, and quickly!

Within 6 days of JFK's speech, Khrushchev announced the withdrawal of the Soviet missiles from Cuba. This was hailed as a great victory for America at the time. A closer look would have revealed otherwise. The facts would not come to light for several more years, and when they did surface it didn't look like we got such a great deal after all.

President Kennedy had proposed, and the Soviets accepted, the dismantling of 600 operational nuclear missiles on the Soviet border in exchange for removing 5 non-operational missiles from Cuba. There was one caveat; the terms of the deal could not be announced. The concessions by the United States were to be kept quiet. And they were, for several years.

The Soviet Union got exactly what they wanted, and in a way, so did we. At the time we were dismantling the Jupiter missiles on the Turkish border, we were installing newer, longer range missiles, all aimed at the same targets, throughout Germany and Western Europe.

By 1964 both Kennedy and Khrushchev were out of office, Kennedy felled by an assassin’s bullet(s), and Khrushchev removed to a Dachau, where he would spend his remaining days in seclusion. Both men had fallen victim to the forces that would thwart any peace efforts. Those forces are still with us, to this very day.

Conrad Schumann - Cold War Icon

This photograph is one that has been ingrained in my mind since I first saw it in August of 1961. It is of Conrad Schumann, an East German soldier who was standing guard on the Eastern side of the newly laid barbed wire, which would shortly after become the Berlin Wall. As all of the educated people of East Berlin began leaving East Germany in the years previous to this photograph, the Soviets decided to partition Berlin.

Schumann, who was only 19 at the time this photo was taken, made his decision to defect to the West based on two things. The first thing that he saw that morning was a young girl handing flowers across the wire to her mother, whom had been stranded in the Eastern section. The second, and deciding factor in his leap to freedom, were the people on the other side of the fence shouting to him in German, "Come over, come over!"

So, he did, and was immortalized in this photograph taken by Peter Leibing. Schumann quickly became a symbol of Communist oppression in the Cold War. He remained in West Germany even after the wall had come down in 1989. In 1998, suffering from depression, he killed himelf. He was only 56 years old.

Whether feelings that he had betrayed his homeland were responsible for his suicide, or not, will never really be known. But the gift he left behind is this image of a man, caught in circumstances beyond his control, making a split second decision to join the forces of light, leaving the darkness of oppression behind him.

This decision would affect him, and the lives of the scores of people who followed later, some in tunnels beneath the wall, for the rest of their lives.

"Bridge of Spies" by Giles Whittell

This is the true story of 3 men, poised at the center of the Cold War, and whose actions, although not intended to do so, changed the direction of that conflict. Their story is the beginning of both Russia and the United States making a committment to what later became known as detente. That they did so out of a confluence of events which were designed to produce results of the opposite nature makes this incredible story even more so. This also marked the beginning of both the CIA and the KGB in the administration of govermental policy. President Eisenhower, as well as Premier Kruschev, have acknowledged that they both felt "not in control" of the situation as it unfolded.

President Eisenhower knew of, and condoned the high altitude U-2 flights. But not this one. Officially, the existence of these flights were denied by the United States. On May 1st, 1960 just months before a summit between Eisenhower and Kruschev in Moscow, one of the U-2's, carrying pilot Gary Powers, was shot down over Russia. This is precisely the incident which Eisenhower was trying to avoid in the months leading up to the summit.

The U-2's mission was to photograph the last remaining area of Russia that had not been searched for nuclear missles, or, as we call them today, WMD's. Lee Harvey Oswald, a US Marine, working radar out of Atsugi Air Base in Japan, was later implicated as having provided some of the intelligence necessary for the shoot down of Gary Powers' U-2 to have taken place.

Powers was flying a defective plane that day. It was known throughout the unit as a "dog." When the Soviets got lucky and downed the plane with one missle, Gary Powers had plenty of time to think as he fell from 70,000 feet. He was able to climb out of the plane rather than eject. He decided not to use the poison needle with which he had been provided, saving it for future use if needed.

As all of this was happening, an American student, Frederic Pryor, who had taken advantage of a summer program allowing foreign students to take a rare look inside Russia, was arrested and charged with espionage. He had been unwittingly recruited by the CIA in "tourist" style espionage, taking pictures of bridges and buildings, some of which were of military significance.

Powers and the American youth would both be eventually exchanged for the biggest Soviet Spy ever caught in America, William Fisher, aka, Rudolf Abel. He had resided in deep cover in the United States for years, and such was his value to the Soviets, that he would later be exchanged for both Pryor and Powers. That this exchange would later take place during the same week as John Glenn successfully orbited the earth aboard Friendship 7 was no coincidence. But that was still 2 years away. First would come the trial, and imprisonment of Gary Powers for espionage. He was faced with life imprisonment, or possibly death.

The trial took place in the waning days of the Eisenhower administration, just after the Soviet-American summit, which had been scheduled for the same time, had been cancelled. Powers received 10 years imprisonment, as a sign of Soviet humanity. He would not have to serve the entire sentence, as the Soviets wanted Rudolf Abel returned.

The exchange was to take place at two locations, and at the same time. The first was to be at the so-called "Bridge of Spies", actually named the Glienicke Bridge, in Berlin. This was the "other" check point used during the cold war for transfer between East and West Germany. The most famous one was "Check Point Charlie", located only a few miles away. It is recreated in exact detail in the film version of John LeCarre's novel "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold." That check point would be the location for the second exchange.

This is a fascinating book for serious students of the Cold War. There are so many layers to this story that it is possible to get lost in the myriad of secrecy. What is true? What is true, but misleading? The book also delves into the 1960 Presidential election between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Was there a connection between politics and the ill advised flight of the defective U-2? And what was the common link between news reporter Joe Alsop and John Kennedy in this operation? Why did they lie about a Soviet missle gap when there was none? Remember, there would have been no need for the U-2 flights had the truth of the missle gap been known.

Had Gary Powers been successful in his flight over Plesetk, he would have discovered the 4 operational ICBM's. This was the extent of the Soviet nuclear arsenal with which Premier Krushchev had threatened to "bury the West." It is also the nuclear stockpile which John Kennedy, along with the help of Joe Alsop, purported to exist.

With it's careful research, and a cast of real life characters, this is a gripping read of the Cold War, and three of its principal players.

The White Stuff - 6" and More On the Way

Woke up to the predicted 6" of snow. More is on the way, with freezing rain and sleet by the evening. So, I'm taking the day off to read, relax and probably do nothing.


This is my street at 7AM. When the sleet begins, with the freezing rain, this will all become a sheet of ice. Kind of humbling in a way. 2 wheels, 4 wheels, they're all nothing when pitted against the forces of nature. A great day to slow down. Stay warm!

Smiley's People?

These guys were in our mailbox Saturday. They were sent by some agency that got our name from another agency, who got our name from some other agency to whom we may have contributed to a very long time ago. And that is why we have scads and scads of return address labels and flag stickers, etc. I'm sure most of you are acquainted with these items, having received them in your own mailboxes.

But these guys have me stumped. What are they supposed to represent? Why is one row composed of stripped Smiley's? Why are the third and fourth rows winking at me? Are the guy Smiley's Gay? Are the female Smiley's on the make? And the last row- what did he just get away with? He looks like a winning politician the morning after the election.

When I was a kid we got stuff from the Indians out in Arizona. Beaded stuff, and Plastic Crosses along with statues of the Virgin Mary. And we even got little stamped coins from the Indians which carried wise old Indian proverbs and were supposed to be lucky. We even got thermometers in the shape of Totem Poles. I can't believe my folks were annoyed with that stuff. It only cost a nickel and was really exotic to me as an 8 year old.

Hey, I'll trade you these Smiley stickers for one of those old plastic Indian thermometers. But, just tell me one thing, how did they ever get them through the mail without breaking?