Here it is, now, seven months after I wrote the first half of the Lincoln, Kansas story and today about 20 people looked at the story.

C’mon, Lincoln, or whomever is reading the story, start talking to each other, and the rest of the world. That’s what this space is for.

Whatever you have to contribute, disagree with or add to the conversation (and remember, in small towns, they prefer you keep the language polite) I have high hopes Lincoln will express itself, right here.

And by the way, Happy Chanukkah!!!

Maybe not a big deal in Lincoln, but to some people, not just Jews, all over the world, remembering something important–something courageous–that happened 165 years before Christ was born, is worth lighting a candle, many candles, to note that event over 2000 years later.

There is no way Christ could have not known about Chanukkah (which means “dedication”).
Perhaps that will put this ancient holiday in a different perspective to people who concentrate on the differences between people.

See you,

Bob Katzman

One of the earliest settlers here helped name the county and town after Abraham Lincoln, his childhood neighbor in Kentucky and Indiana. One hour away is Abilene, Dwight Eisenhower’s home town.

Two of our country’s best Presidents who have Kansas connections should bode well for the “Move it to Lincoln” pitch! Lincoln County also has the state’s best statistic for living the longest. Guess we’re healthier because there’s lot’s of natural space and we like each other!

We’ve got young movers and shakers here ready to work on this relocation project–just let us know when you are ready to get serious!

Thanks for the confidence and attention. (Just how did you pick Lincoln, anyway? The geodetic and geographic centers are north of here, in other counties.) Never mind, just come on out and we’ll give you a tour!

From the Land of Lincoln Look-A-Likes, Marilyn Helmer

We are very close friends. That will never change.

I liked your response. We are closer to the same perspectives than we realize at times. This exchange on this message is much like when we eat dinner together.

Yeah, I think we should have more representation of women in our systems. They are equal, I don’t say they aren’t. Look at my home page today of this date.

I like the idea of retiring Washington, D.C., as the nation’s Capitol. You have a great idea there.

Let’s change our Constitution to require a Constitutional Convention every 100 years and move the Capitol to another state each time. We make enough money in this country to do that.

I’m glad you mentioned France. A once powerful and influential nation that is now (and for several decades) just a wimpy shadow of its former greatness. Maybe with this weekend’s election, it will shift more to the right and not further to the left into oblivian. Hell, if it shifts much more to the left, they can have Washington, D.C., as their Capital.
I want you to keep writing your thoughts here. It gives me a chance to float my ideas back with you since we can’t get together in-person often enough to do it.

Maybe one day soon, we will enjoy our nation in mutual admiration as we did in our youth. It was different the, of course. All we want, I think, is to have a better nation and we seek a way to get there.

I love you too, my friend. I love your books too!

Don

The posting is a combination of humor and deeply-held convictions, but I meant all of it, just as I wrote it.

My being a fervent social liberal should never be interpreted by any person or state as an indication of my being weak or naive. No Jew lasts very long with a worldview like that.

I seek total equality of the sexes, of the many nations that make up this amazing country, and no one judging another person’s prospect by superficial evaluations based on age, color and all that. Everywhere.

My vision for a better run America is obvious on the face of it. My speculation about what major social and infrastructure changes would occur if women represented 50% of the Congress seems rational to me.

If our country is threatened, do I think women would day, “Oh my! I broke a nail! Forget the terrorists…I’ve got to fix my nail…”

Answer that ridiculous question yourself. The “Chosen People” were not chosen to lie down and let the world roll over them.

Neither is America.

Women ARE America and would fight as fiercely as men to save this land and any international partners we are allied with. Men have no monopoly on courage or self-preservation. But that’s not the same thing as looking for a war.

The only country that seems willing to let itself be rolled over is France, but I don’t want to get started on that. At this point, it seems to me that there were 100 million brave men and women in the Resistance during WWll, even tho’ there were only about 50 million ‘brave’ Frenchmen in France at the time. Somehow, even so, about 100,000 Jews and other undesirable managed to get rounded up and killed. I guess we weren’t irresistible to the Resistance. Mais, oui……………………

If you read my books (www.fightingwordspubco.com) and I know you have Don, you already know how I feel about self-defense. But I’m glad you read my blogs and I’m delighted to respond to you.

Shalom, friend
Bob

Kansas is a very nice state, it would make a fine U.S. Capitol in one of its cities..

As for women not wanting war, well, as you might expect, I disagree. Any mother who watches her kids get killed by terrorists might likely go and kill, all by her lonesome. Just like the men would. I would! But I wouldn’t join the military to do it.

There is nothing wrong with killing the enemy 10,000 miles away or next door, if that’s where they are. The War on Terror knows no boundaries, at least to me. It’s War Without Borders, to many Americans. More than you might think.

But enough of war talk here. I agree that Washington D.C should be a museum, in fact is is already. Right now the Democrats in Congress are reenacting a Vietnam War revival of sorts. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dems start a second Spanish Inquisition. They can’t seem to work on anything positive, in my humble opinion. Every day, illegal immigrants stream across our southern border. Maybe one of the museum exhibits will be an American-born English-speaking citizen?

But it’s all okay with me because I think that chaos pushes the Centrists to realize what really needs to be done. I’m looking for the end-game improvements that should arrive by the end of 2010. I hope by then America stops the internal bickering and acts like the Super Power Nation that is is. Until then, let the BS go on in Washington, D.C., if it serves its purpose in bringing about the ultimate change I would like to see.

By the way, we don’t build battleships any more, haven’t built one in a long time. We do build nuclear attack subs and those are very good weapons to have around.

Don