i have been here for awhile: watching, thinking. it seems that the world is becoming increasingly more complex. we earn more money, but the money becomes worth less. we discover new medicines but new diseases spring up. we locate new food sources, yet millions of people starve while food lays rotting in storage houses.



perhaps there was a time when life was easier and there was less to think about, when there was less non-essential information to contend with. now some people talk in terms of light years. men have landed on the moon but has a man ever landed on earth? once, but we crucified him.



once we lived in houses we built with our own hands, ate the food we grew in the fields, and walked whenever we wanted to travel - but people wanted a better life. so now we are a "civilized world" with technological conviences like automobiles (to breathe) industries (to drink) and insecticides (to eat) - science presumes to replace God = with technology our bishop, chemistry our high priest, and the atom bomb our pope. scientists say that soon they will be able to create life in laboratories. i sometimes stop to wonder, did man evolve from the animals? or did man become an animal all by himself?



-Larry Norman, So Long Ago The Garden

(linear notes, 1976)

From today's Marianas Variety,

Letters section:



"This is regarding the Washington Merry-Go-Round column that runs in your paper, written by Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn.

In the most recent column, they state, “President Nixon launched the war on drugs in the 1970s, with Elvis Presley as his poster boy. Presley died addicted to drugs, and drug use has remained constant despite the government’s best efforts.”

A common misconception is that Presley was on LSD, cocaine, marijuana, acid, whatever, you name it, while ironically being named Nixon’s top DEA enforcer. In actuality, Presley was being PRESCRIBED pain killers and the like by several different doctors, none of which he should have been taking together for the period of time that he did.



In another recent column, the authors claim that “Tokyo Rose” was Filipino. According to my research, there never was a person broadcasting anti-American propaganda for the Japanese under the name “Tokyo Rose.” “Tokyo Rose” is more of an urban legend if you will, a product of the imaginations of several thousand lonely U.S. soldiers in the Pacific. It was they who gave that name to a combination of women who were hired by the Japanese military to demoralize U.S. troops but wound up having the reverse effect.

A journalist landing in Japan after the war promised a reward of $2,500 to “Tokyo Rose” if she would come forward and tell her (exclusive) story. The woman who stepped forward was Iva Toguri D’Aquino, an American citizen of Japanese descent (married to Felipe D’Aquino, a Portuguese national) who had gone to Japan to visit relatives shortly before the war broke out. She found herself stranded without her passport and no money to return to her family and subsequently confessed to being “Tokyo Rose” if only to collect the money and return home. She was tried for treason and eventually pardoned by President Gerald Ford after spending a number of years in prison. She now owns a small store on the north side of Chicago.

Hope you’ll do more research in the future, gentlemen!"



RICK VAUGHN

San Roque, Saipan

Good Friday today; all the local businesses are closed 'cause they feel like tormenting all of their customers who aren't Catholic like them.



Bush League

(Lost Dogs, from the album "Scenic Routes")

written by Gene Eugene and Terry Taylor



1,2,3,4

I don't know what I think about it

But I know what I think of you

Well I know I can live without it

And I know what I want to do



I'll pack you a lunch, clear your desk

It's going to be hell to clean your mess

All I know is that you gotta go



I don't know what I think about it

But your bush league days are through

Will you give me a job I doubt it

Here's a bird in the hand for you



Next time you start a storm

You better get you a mess kit, canteen and uniform

Cause we feel like livin' so you've got to go



Your points of light are almost gone

So here's your yellow ribbon-burning song



For Millie and Danny and Saddam and nanny

Babs and Ronnie and Clyde and Bonnie

Clarence and Ollie and the Beave and Wally

And Maggie and Gorby and the new world ordey

First update in a month!



Nothing new really; just found out that the Cutting Edge as a 'zine has been discontinued (www.geocities.com/baptistboy_46), so I guess that means no Siamese Connection review. :-(

Volunteered at the Saipan Xterra Triathlon this past weekend directing cyclists off the road, down a muddy slope and into some bushes (honestly, that's where they were supposed to go!) for 2 1/2 hours...

My wife and I came up with another idea to raise some funds part-time: convert our car into a taxi (let's see if it works).