German Castles

When I was stationed in Germany, I had the good fortune to fly low level over the country in a helicopter on a daily basis. The scenery was awesome from the air, and I got to see many things most people never get to see.

My favorite aerial "sight-seeing" activity was checking out medieval castle ruins, of which there are literally hundreds if not thousands in Germany alone. Many of the ruins I saw had long since been bypassed by latter day transportation routes, leaving them sitting out in the middle of nowhere, apparently forgotten by all but a few local inhabitants.

It seemed sad that these interesting old ruins could not be admired by most people because of their isolated locations. Many of them appeared to be nearly intact.

One of my dreams was to be able to buy a ruin and the property immediately surrounding it, build an unobtrusive caretaker's cottage nearby to live in, and encourage tourists to visit and enjoy the site much as it had been done at Hohen Rechberg (pictured above) near where I was stationed at the time. I wanted to research the history of the castle and publish a book about it to help defray costs. It would be "my castle."

Every time I saw one of these ruins, with perhaps a destroyed wall or parapet, I would wonder just what caused that particular bit of damage and when it happened - an important battle, subsequent modifications, local scavenging for building materials, or whatever. Also, I couldn't help but wonder why it had been abandoned. The whole idea of learning and documenting what all the castle had witnessed fascinated me.

My intent was not to renovate the castle, but simply to preserve it as best I could in its current state of ruin. I know that my dream was not practical (for me), but it did give me some pleasure to imagine the possibilities.

A Little Bit About Me

And it's all about me.....isn't it?

If you've read this blog (and chances are you haven't), you will probably come to the conclusion that:

1. I'm conservative - socially and fiscally

2. I'm distrustful of Muslims due to current events - though not at all racist or bigoted

3. I'm contemptuous of Leftists (who mask themselves as Liberals)

4. I distrust all politicians - Democrat, Republican, whatever

5. I never offer intellectually dishonest arguments

6. I'm always right

If you are the kind of person who is intelligent, well educated, and logical in your thinking, you will agree with me.

Bill O'Reilly

If you watched Bill O'Reilly on Oprah or the David Letterman Show, you don't need me to help you decide if he bested his detractors or not.

On Oprah, it seemed pretty obvious that some of the people in the audience were intentionally planted there to challenge Bill. I suppose that's okay. After all, nothing on TV is left to chance, and a good back-and-forth debate with prepared audience members is better than simply leaving the content of the show to chance.

Letterman was true to form...making criticisms of Bill without being able to back them up, e.g., "no I didn't read your book" and "no I don't watch your show." I'm sure he was at least briefed by staffers - remember, nothing is left to chance.

But to make such statements is an admission that he had no way of being honestly critical of O'Reilly.

What gets me is how the shows were reported on CNN.

Now CNN is a natural competitor of Fox News Channel, but they shouldn't let that interfere with honest reporting....but you know CNN. The way they edited the O'Reilly-Letterman exchange was obviously intended to make Letterman appear to have really put O'Reilly down.

In other words, CNN was dishonest in it's reporting of the facts.....nothing new for CNN, though, as we have seen many times - yes, MANY times over it's 25 year history. I can't help but wonder if the news director at CNN is Baghdad Bob (Muhammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the former Iraqi Information Minister), famous for his official reports of imaginary Iraqi army victories against the Americans.

My own opinion of O'Reilly's new book, Culture Warrior?......I think he comes across as preachy and pedantic to the point of talking down to his readers. Yeah, he's something of a stuffed shirt. Also, I think he sensationalizes his talking points, although they are (in my opinion) valid points, nonetheless.