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The Consequences of Insubordination O h no! The National Anthem was recently back in the news during the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament. Turned out some teams were still in the locker room rather than on the floor at the time of it being played. Don't we have more important problems to worry about? I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A ttending public school, each day started off with the above Pledge of Alliance. We may have sang “My Country 'Tis of Thee” too. I can't remember exactly. Why we did this I was never quite sure. I have always been one to question things. However, I never really thought much about this pledge ritual until after I got in some trouble for behaving inappropriately during the pledge in my early teens. As a teenager, I started questioning things I had been taught including who gave...

  Phones and Me (A Phone Rant) W ith the exception of my teenage years I have never been a fan of phones whether it's the telephone or those time-stealing “smart” cell phones. As a teen I did talk on the phone a bit with my friends, mostly with my girlfriend Maryann. This was in the 60's and most of my friends' families had what was called a “party-line”. For those a bit younger than me, a “party-line” is where multiple households all share the same phone line. If you want to make a call you first need to pick up the phone and check if anyone is using it from one of the other homes on your line. If you get the dial tone you can then make a call. If you end up talking for awhile with someone who had one of these you would hear clicks every now and then of others checking to see if the phone line is busy. If you stayed on too long you might get someone breaking into your conversation requesting you finish up your call. If your friend shared a line with someone who u...