The point of this Blog is to find the humor, and sometimes not, in being one of those people navigating through life in a very short (under 5 foot) body. I have had 60 years of practice and want to take a long look at the mostly positive and funny side of this very challenging journey.
After a rather long (almost 5 months) vacation I have returned and I want to get right back to all these stories rooling around in my head. Instead, however, I am going to do something different..............
Nothing surprises me anymore, nothing. My day job is a mix of publishing online news and producing a conservative talk radio show Monday through Friday. I have not had a news story, commentary or guest interview in the last year that has surprised me even a little. I have, however, been scared, sad, sick, disillusioned and confused with what I have read and heard from those who are pundits and scholars.
I am afraid of what is happening in and to America. It is not a subject I would write about but someone else has and I thought I would post it. This letter to an Editor puts it in very understandable points:
What Has America Become?
Has America become the land of special interest and home of the double standard?
If we lie to the Congress, it's a felony and if the Congress lies to us it's just politics; if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black dislikes whites, it's their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it's wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.
You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they ae now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it's wrong to use an animal.
We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politcally correct; parenting has been replace with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill is that neither President did anything to help.
And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.
What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?
Ken Huber
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Fess Parker - A Very Sad Day
I just heard the news that Fess Parker has passed and this is a very sad day. I worked for Fess and his family for many years. Fess was the most gracious and supportive person I have ever known. He was not the man that the local press portrayed as the "Evil Developer". He cared for Santa Barbara and did more good for that haven of elite than any of his detractors will ever admit or ever do themselves.
"Be Sure Your Right, Then Go Ahead"
This is my favorite picture of Fess and for now I will leave this post with a positive image of him and express great appreciation for knowing him for the time I did. He was truly a great man!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A Short Story : The Land of Giants
I recently spent some time emailing and on the phone with a friend who has never physically met me, Dr Mark. We have known each other for some time but we have never really discussed anything other than what he does and when he can talk about it on the radio show I produce. Dr. Mark is a Ph.D., professor and director of a bioethics program on the east coast. He is a very positive and persuasive person who will have to accept some credit for my flailing jump into this pool.
I will start the same way I did with Dr. Mark. In short, I'm short. Most days I am too busy to remember that fact of my life but there are those special occasions that always bring me back to the reality of this world we live in and the people in it. It is the ridiculous, humorous, stupid and sad occasions I enjoy sharing with the hope that you can relate.
For several years I was the General Manager for The Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard. If you are younger than 50 you might need some help here. Fess Parker was the actor who played Davy Crockett in the 1950's and Daniel Boone in the 1960's. Fess is 6' 7", his son, a long time friend is 6' 6" and his daughter is 6' 5". This was the core of my supervisors, the owners........The Land of the Giants. I have great respect for this family because they had met me many times over the years long before I was hired by them to manage their business and never was height, my height, an issue.............. Except once.
On a Sunday afternoon I was enjoying a day off and the phone rang. Fess was calling to ask me to drive down to the winery, a 45 minute trip one way, immediately to meet with him in his office. I was curious as to the issue at hand but he only wanted to talk to me in his office. I made the 50 mile trip in approximately 35 minutes using that time to mentally check the past couple of weeks for possible flaws in my management skills, vocabulary, etc. On arrival he was standing outside his office waiting for me. As I stepped into his office he slowly closed the door behind us and even slower, walked behind his desk and sat down. You know the feeling, "OK, just shoot me now and get it over with!"
He was never really a soft spoken man. You knew when he was talking and he had your attention, but now he was talking very slow and quiet. He was explaining to me how an employee had complained about how I had treated them. Verbally abused them. The complaint has no other bearing on this story except that it is why he decided to talk with me. After giving me the purpose for the meeting he told me a story about a night out in Hollywood during the time he was still an A list actor. He was having dinner at a restaurant popular with the entertainment industry and was walking to his table when a very good looking lady (he says) watched him walk by and made a very ugly remark about his size. He told me he was humiliated and it took him weeks to get over the fact that some one judged him negatively because of his size. He continued to say that over the years it had been a hardship at times to be so tall.
At the end of his story he stood up and looked at me with a big smile and said that he hoped he had cleared up any issues I might have had with managing employees. That was my cue to get the hell out of his office. I did so quickly and never heard another word about my verbal abuse case, however, I had to hire a new employee for the tasting room the next week. Fess had a second meeting that Sunday.
I will never forget the lesson Fess taught me with his restaurant story. Thank God i'm not tall and people can't make fun of my height!
I will start the same way I did with Dr. Mark. In short, I'm short. Most days I am too busy to remember that fact of my life but there are those special occasions that always bring me back to the reality of this world we live in and the people in it. It is the ridiculous, humorous, stupid and sad occasions I enjoy sharing with the hope that you can relate.
For several years I was the General Manager for The Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard. If you are younger than 50 you might need some help here. Fess Parker was the actor who played Davy Crockett in the 1950's and Daniel Boone in the 1960's. Fess is 6' 7", his son, a long time friend is 6' 6" and his daughter is 6' 5". This was the core of my supervisors, the owners........The Land of the Giants. I have great respect for this family because they had met me many times over the years long before I was hired by them to manage their business and never was height, my height, an issue.............. Except once.
On a Sunday afternoon I was enjoying a day off and the phone rang. Fess was calling to ask me to drive down to the winery, a 45 minute trip one way, immediately to meet with him in his office. I was curious as to the issue at hand but he only wanted to talk to me in his office. I made the 50 mile trip in approximately 35 minutes using that time to mentally check the past couple of weeks for possible flaws in my management skills, vocabulary, etc. On arrival he was standing outside his office waiting for me. As I stepped into his office he slowly closed the door behind us and even slower, walked behind his desk and sat down. You know the feeling, "OK, just shoot me now and get it over with!"
He was never really a soft spoken man. You knew when he was talking and he had your attention, but now he was talking very slow and quiet. He was explaining to me how an employee had complained about how I had treated them. Verbally abused them. The complaint has no other bearing on this story except that it is why he decided to talk with me. After giving me the purpose for the meeting he told me a story about a night out in Hollywood during the time he was still an A list actor. He was having dinner at a restaurant popular with the entertainment industry and was walking to his table when a very good looking lady (he says) watched him walk by and made a very ugly remark about his size. He told me he was humiliated and it took him weeks to get over the fact that some one judged him negatively because of his size. He continued to say that over the years it had been a hardship at times to be so tall.
At the end of his story he stood up and looked at me with a big smile and said that he hoped he had cleared up any issues I might have had with managing employees. That was my cue to get the hell out of his office. I did so quickly and never heard another word about my verbal abuse case, however, I had to hire a new employee for the tasting room the next week. Fess had a second meeting that Sunday.
I will never forget the lesson Fess taught me with his restaurant story. Thank God i'm not tall and people can't make fun of my height!
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