United States History

In the late 1800s, children worked in factories. The people with wealth and power fought against any laws or regulations that would take the children from their factories. Regulations got made to protect children, they were soon declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 

https://www.history.com/news/child-labor-lewis-hine-photos

Indeed, the 1920s were booming years, everyone was putting their money into the stock market to become wealthy. The stock market crashed, and the rich got richer. The poor investors jumped off rooftops or out windows. It wasn’t just small investors who lost everything in the stock market crash. My Grandfather sold some cattle the day before the crash. He deposited the check in his local bank. He never did receive the needed money for those cattle. The bank took his check but he never received the money. Then the Great Depression started.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929

President Roosevelt knew help had to come from the federal government. That was the beginning of the Social Security system to keep people from starving to death. The rich people fought it; they did not want a Social Security system in the United States. Their motto was, ‘pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.’ 

https://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html

The United States has the highest health costs in the world, many people cannot afford to go to a doctor or have proper health care. Different administrations fought back and forth for years but nobody acted on it. A Medicare Program was finally passed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare

It too was opposed by the powerful people. When they gained control of the Senate a bill did get passed letting their friends who owned the drug companies charge exorbitant prices for needed drugs. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690175/

Politicians have sworn they will replace the affordable healthcare act for years. They haven’t come up with a plan of their own yet. Maybe they feel it’s your duty not to expect government help. Stay home and die like a man with your bootstraps in your hands.

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/history-timeline-affordable-care-act-aca

The rich who steer this ship has opposed everything that would help the working person throughout history. Their main goal seems to be, retain enough lawyers so they never have to pay any income tax. 

https://lelandolson.com/

Take Time For A Book

Dennis Baxter does a great job on this work.

Let your mind have some fun with this mystery book. Your inquisitive nature will have a great time. You will be tempted to continue reading non-stop to see who done what.  

If you prefer to sit back and try to relax as you quietly listen, you can also get this book in audio format.

 The Bay Area Bad Guys: Evil Personified

https://www.amazon.com/Bay-Area-Bad-Guys-Personified/dp/B08GQG27H9

https://www.austinmacauley.com/us/author/olson-leland-g

https://lelandolson.com/

Homesick

I had almost finished year two in northern Japan. This old country bumpkin got homesick. I was out running the engines to check out maintenance that got done on my aircraft. It was the middle of the night in a far off land.

 I was right at the end of the runway with the engines running when a thought entered my mind. I could take off and go home for a visit.  

I was sitting at Misawa Japan location 40.67823° N, 141.3474° E and Hayti, South Dakota is on 44.673603° N, -97.18824° E. A quick flight plan was developing in the back of my mind, fly back around the globe. 

I would come into Hayti real low over Lake Marsh, just clearing the Herald Enterprise building to land on Main Street. I was sure I couldn’t get stopped by the time I got to the Horseshoe. So I would taxi down to the Court House, turn around, and come back to have a beer or two. I would then fly back to Japan before anybody missed me.

I started to have second thoughts:

  1. The Air Force would shoot me down before I got very far from the airbase.
  2. I’m sure I would not be very good at inflight refueling, which I would have to do to fly that far.
  3. I would no doubt get lost en route to Hayti.
  4. That is a long way to go for a beer but I would get to see some friendly faces.

I decided to scratch the whole mission, chalk it up to another wild dream. 

https://lelandolson.com/

R & R

When I was in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1961, the nightlife was pretty laid back. It mainly catered to merchant marines and sailors who came to port there. But, unfortunately, there was a sailor who did get an unwanted tonsillectomy at one of the older clubs.

We got told we were in the country as unofficial ambassadors and not allowed to go into Bangkok until the second month. After that, we had strict orders ‘do not get in any trouble.’

As the Vietnam War continued to escalate in the following years, our troops got sent to Bangkok for R&R’s ‘rest and relaxation’ trips. As the war escalated, Bangkok nightlife escalated to a frenzy. The term R&R should have been replaced with H&E before the war ended. The H&E would stand for ‘hungover and exhausted.’

https://www.hotels.com/go/thailand/best-bangkok-nightlife

https://lelandolson.com/