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I think you ought to do that, only cover more of the country if you can. Use this thread as a backdrop, kind of interweaving, flashback style. Don't quote more than you are allowed or you will be in copyright violation.

It's something I've been kicking around from time to time. I have a digital camera and carry it around a lot so that could be a start. Don't know if I could cover the country but there is a lot of fodder here in Pittsburgh and I'm sure I could dig up a lot in Youngstown Ohio and other places around here. I got to think about this. I'm sure Upton Sinclair and Jack London got their start this way, I might research them a bit more, get ideas.

As for myself, I need to publish my book of WWII letters. Might give our troops some inspiration. I sincerely regret that I didn't include them in my list of people I stick up for too many posts back. God bless our troops.

Good idea. I know what you mean, sometimes we might forget some that we do not intend to. I know someone here posted about our military families needing foodstamps and such, well, that's a problem too, unfortunatly, that was out of the scope of the debate here but I did respond that is a concern of a lot of us too. I thank our troops everytime I am able to.

Later maybe we should talk more about how they suffer on the home front in their service of our country. It puts a strain on the best of marriages, and they get in trouble financially. During 'Nam, one of my husband's fellow soldiers got into financial difficulties and jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I saw what some of the others went through and how they were treated as trash and exploited with rent deposits by the locals. About a chapter's worth. They (the troops and their wives) never complained or stuck up for themselves. There was much sadness when one got shipped off to 'Nam and the wife went back home to wait it out and/or file for divorce.

Whar I'm concerned about is between the barking moonbats of the left who want to tear down our society's morals and pillars and the ones who are free traders who want to sell our soul for a quick buck, there might be an Anakin Skywalker in the wings who would take over and say "enough!" He might be of rich lineage or he could have been born in a ghetto. Then it all goes downhill. If there is no Anakin coming down the pike, we will possibly devolve to a 2nd World nation (Communist Bloc living standards, circa 1970's) or worse, 3rd World Nation, break up, or face an atomic war. I don't want that for our nation, us, or our children.

You're on. Now this is a suggestion not an order. Don't quit your day job(s). May I dare to make a suggestion as to style that will go over like another lead balloon (I'll get called a pinko for bringing it up)?

Fine, I thought you would. Remember that movie "Reds". Remember "Schindler's List" and the black and white frames with the only color being the little girl in the red coat? A combo like that with b&w photos mixed with colored and two-tones, sepia would be an effective way to present your photos.

Now for narrative, voices such as you can pick up here would tell the story; if you don't quote them but paraphrase them, it's not a copyright violation. Or real people out there like the old people in "Reds" telling their experiences, then the photos. That's just a general outline.

I've got a few more ideas but I just got into a mini dogfight up at the gas station. The bullet proof Plexiglas was down for the night, the clerk was agitated, the guy who I paid $25 to haul my tree stumps the other day was yakking at me and all of a sudden here's the cops, a guy waiting in a car outside for the guy talking to me, the cops special duty guy checking for a counterfeit $10. I offered that they needed a portable scanner, all this in front of the store camera. Smile. Suddenly the guy outside is po'ed because the guy in the store is taking too long, so the inside guy loses it and runs outside going off on the guy in the car. I go out and he's on the pay phone while the guy is backing up the car and I figure he's going to mow down the guy on the phone and pin him to the wall. Then he comes back in the station and I tell him to cool it, that guy out there is acting crazy, I'll give you a ride home, but in front of the cops I tell him if he goes off on me like that, I'm driving him down to the police station. Asked the cops if they were going to cuff anybody and I didn't want to be dragged in as any witness. No, he's free to go so we exit station and I take him home. He's drunk, but not too drunk to have a little chat about unions and that he's thinking of taking a civilian job in Iraq 'cuz they pay $85 thou. I suggested he think long and hard about that because if he gets in trouble, he's on his own and there aren't going to be any rangers coming in to rescue him. Whew. And I thought I'd had enough for one day.

I have to start another book, too, and I wish I had someone like Ann Coulter with her acerbic wit or that Robert Bork guy to help ghostwrite it for me. Nobody will read it, but there will be some good stuff in there. They won't give me the time of day; I'm on my own. I'm going to record the anecdotal material and organize and transcribe it later.

Here's a sample. I once went to a Christmas party out in California during 'Nam and had too much to drink. The big boss, in this case an Air Force Colonel stops by. I tell him he's no damn good and he's fired and get back to partying. He's laughing. Monday I'm a little late for work. I get a call from his secretary to come down, the colonel wants to talk to me. No sweat. I saunter down to his office and sit down in front of him and he proceeds to tell me it's ok, I'm not in trouble and he thought I was late because I was afraid to come to work. So that was that. He's kind of on my good guy list because I could have been fired. There's much, much more of interest to military types . . .that was just a teaser.

And Mr. Landry, out there in Taxachusetts, if you are still alive, you are on my good-guy list. I'll explain why in the book.

Whew again. Time to call it a night. Let me know if your book is feasible or just idle talk.