Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern North Carolina Now

Comment 4:

The best thing that ever came out of Athens, Georgia (The location of UGA) is Highway 78 heading to Atlanta. It is called the Atlanta Highway by the residents of Athens because they have a problem with numbers. Both Fran and Herschel took that route to get the heck out of Athens.

Commented: Sunday, December 31st, 2017 @ 5:34 am By: Bobby Tony

Comment 2:
I was accepted to that great institution of higher learning, UGA (pronounced UAAAGGGAAA). I decided to spare my family the shame and attended a small business college in Atlanta.

soundcloud.com

Commented: Saturday, December 30th, 2017 @ 1:10 pm By: Bobby Tony

What a wonderful story (you should convert into a stand alone post). In my Italian family, my mother's house was the "Way Station/Depot/ Museum/ Depository" for all our relatives. At one time or another, every one of her brothers and sisters lived there while changing trains on the rails of life. Each left a blessed remnant of their life when they left. There was also a whole slew of things that I have no explanation of why it was still there, but I am sure there was a story about it.

Both my brother and I returned there after a few scraped knees from life. When I cleaned out the house for the final time, it was full of the life fragments of the good times from the whole family. My brother's and my room still had our name on the door and for the most part the pictures on the wall were the same as when we both lived our teenage life there.

There are many things that can be said about growing up in an extended Italian family. Your story illustrates at least a few of them.

Ø There is always Food, laughter and loud talking
Ø Everything has a story behind it
Ø When you walk through the door, you are home, no matter how long it has been since your were last there.

Thanks for the wonderful memory on a New Year's weekend.

Commented: Saturday, December 30th, 2017 @ 4:19 am By: Bobby Tony

Here is my voice Mail message from the OLD AT&T. Those who know me leave a message the others think they are in a time warp.

soundcloud.com

Commented: Thursday, December 28th, 2017 @ 1:01 pm By: Bobby Tony

Here is another sample based on a $100,000 income with two children. I again caution that this is merely an estimate from one source which may not reflect the true impact for any one individual or family. I am somewhat skeptical of these calculations, but I guess it is a starting point for debate using numbers instead of opinions.

Commented: Thursday, December 28th, 2017 @ 9:03 am By: Bobby Tony

Commented: Friday, December 22nd, 2017 @ 5:40 am By: Bobby Tony

What an era, I guess every city boy of our time remembers Street Lights time to go home, Girdles, loose change, Drive-In Theaters, Sneaking In The Trunk, Bicycles with baskets and of course those childhood friends who are no longer with us.
I delivered papers but was not fortunate enough to have one of those Stabilized Bicycle baskets. My basket was un-stabilized on the turning forks. I dumped a few loads on the ground on my paper route.
Thanks for the keywords for a few memories of my own childhood.

Commented: Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 @ 8:25 am By: Bobby Tony

Here is BT's Sunday night Sermonette offered for consideration.
There is not much disagreement on whether Christ existed. Both Jews and Muslim's believe he existed. The disagreement is over whether he was the Savior promised by multiple religious writings pre-dating his appearance.
We have documented recorded eyewitnesses testimony from multiple witnesses (disciples), each with a different version of what happened. There is ample physical evidence that certain events described did in fact occur. A skilled cross examiner would point out the differences in the narrative told by the eyewitnesses.
However, we also have 2000 years of interpretation of the meaning and veracity of the main question, which has spawned countless pontificators each with yet another variation on the truth and each with a different prescription for achieving the salvation that Jesus promised in so few words as to almost make any argument mute. But we humans are predisposed to examine every pebble or spec for a deeper meaning. The problem with our ongoing argument is that we are trying to judge facts instead of abstract ideas as TMc says. The most abstract of all religious ideas is the belief that we each have a soul. If you can't get over that hurdle you may be in for a bumpy ride in the hereafter.
Was Jesus the son of God and the Savior promised by the prophets?
The first trial rendered a judgement punishable by death. The ongoing trial is still in summation for an indeterminate time.
In a current court of law, it would be most difficult to say that the jury will be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. It is possible that the proceedings would end in a mistrial. The twist of course is that the jury is not judging the facts or the believable idea of the salvation or the man. They are judging themselves both collectively and individually. Instead of 12 peers there is a total population in deliberation for their own fate.
In the final analysis, most people miss the point by asking as Ray Kinsella did: "I'm saying, what's in it for me?" instead of following the admonition of Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 King James Version (KJV)

Commented: Sunday, December 17th, 2017 @ 7:19 pm By: Bobby Tony

I think it is true that all human action is based on some form of faith. Faith that your brakes will work, faith that the elevator will rise and not fall, or faith that the sun will rise tomorrow.

With all deference to Neil deGrasse Tyson who may be educated beyond his intelligence, I offer this non factual explanation.

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas,[a] because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:29 New King James Version (NKJV)

Or perhaps another Field of Dream reference for the who require a quid pro quo before they believe in something.
"Ray Kinsella: I did it all. I listened to the voices, I did what they told me, and not once did I ask what's in it for me.
Shoeless Joe Jackson: What are you saying, Ray?
Ray Kinsella: I'm saying, what's in it for me?"

Commented: Sunday, December 17th, 2017 @ 12:44 pm By: Bobby Tony

I doubt that I will watch the movie or read the book, as I am no longer in search for evidence. However, I do know that religion is based on FAITH as opposed to facts or evidence.

I note however that Science is based on FAITH also. It is the FAITH that the person or persons relating or presenting the truth and has not fabricated the facts or evidence. That would never happen, right?

So we are all in the same boat, it is just a matter of who we believe.

Commented: Sunday, December 17th, 2017 @ 8:26 am By: Bobby Tony

There is a high legal bar for actions in court. Perhaps it is time to revisit the legal definitions of:

Defamation of Character
Public Figure

www.dmlp.org

Commented: Thursday, December 14th, 2017 @ 9:22 am By: Bobby Tony

I has been quite a while since I was in a strip joint, but they all had a strict 'touch and go' policy. If you touch you were thrown out. It was enforced by big old Bubba bouncers.

I don't guess they have any of those policies or guys in Hollywood or Congress, which leads me to the conclusion that a woman is safer in a strip joint than a movie set or congress.

My job is done here for now.

Commented: Saturday, December 9th, 2017 @ 12:36 pm By: Bobby Tony

I may be at the risk of over analyzing the distinction. Ray built the baseball field not know why, and travelled to Boston not knowing why, eventually finding himself in Minnesota not knowing why. He picked up a stranger only to find that the stranger had the same name he thought he heard at Fenway Park. When he returned no one in his hometown thought he was sane. He sounds like a Democrat.

They did eventually come and everyone came from miles around to see the ghost play. Now here is the distinction. He did all this with his own money. He did not build the park on his neighbor's farm. He did not appropriate the funds from his neighbors. He may sound like a Democrat but he acted like a Republican Capitalist.

If he followed Terrance Mann's advice, his investment was rewarded:

"Of course, we won't mind if you look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.

Perhaps there is another distinction. Like Frank Capra illustrated in Mr. Smith and A Wonderful Life, the determination is based on the faith on one person and not the collective imagination of the whole crowd.

If I do say so myself, that's not bad for an early morning (thought not as early as the publisher -see 2:41 AM in his comment) two coffee psychoanalysis of a work of fiction. Others can feel free to shoot holes into my explanation of a work of fiction and fantasy. After all most of us are not switch hitters who can bat both from the left and the right.

This comment is not the first time I have over analyzed this movie:

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Saturday, December 9th, 2017 @ 7:21 am By: Bobby Tony

Another one is Field of Dreams (1989) which is almost 30 years old. If you can just suspend belief for a couple of hours wondrous things can happen.

I just saw a replay of the 25th anniversary show where Bob Costas interviews Kevin Costner in 2014. Somewhere in the show Kevin relates an encounter between a critic and director Phil Alden Robinson.

My paraphrase of the exchange is" A critic says somewhat smugly "You do realize that Shoeless Joe Jackson batted left-handed and Ray Liotta bats right-handed in the movie?"

Phil replied in a way that could only but us congenital fact checkers in our place.

"If I can convince just a part of the audience that dead baseball players can come back to life, I think they will forgive which side of the plate he batted from!"
Cha-Ching!!!

If you can find the whole show it is well worth watching. Here is a clip courtesy of the Video Search on BCN.

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Friday, December 8th, 2017 @ 1:04 pm By: Bobby Tony

Here is an excerpt from Roger Ebert's belated review in 1999. I particularly like the last line by Frank.

"The best and worst things that ever happened to "It's a Wonderful Life" are that it fell out of copyright protection and into the shadowy no-man's-land of the public domain."

"That was the best thing that happened to "It's a Wonderful Life," bringing cheer into the lives of director Frank Capra and star James Stewart, who both consider it their favorite film. The worst thing--which has inspired Stewart to testify before a congressional committee and Capra to issue a sickbed plea--is that the movie has been colorized. Movies in the public domain are so defenseless that you could cut one up to make ukulele picks, and who could legally prevent you? And so a garish colorized version--destroying the purity of the classic original black-and-white images--has been seen on cable, is available for local syndication and is sold on cassette."

"It's a Wonderful Life" did little for Frank Capra's postwar career...At a seminar with some film students in the 1970s he was asked if there were still a way to make movies about the kinds of values and ideals found in the Capra films.

"Well, if there isn't," he said, "we might as well give up."

www.rogerebert.com

Commented: Friday, December 8th, 2017 @ 9:05 am By: Bobby Tony

One thing you can be sure of is that the one way to get Liberals to disagree with something they all have agreed on in the past is to have Trump do what has been advocated by numerous presidents and members of congress for quite some time including those now saying it is atrocious to set Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel.

On the other hand, I think there is a slight possibility that Trumps recognizing Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel may slow down the peace process that we have been going through since the 1967 war and that would be a shame since we have already issued Nobel Peace prizes on this issue before.

Commented: Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 @ 5:50 pm By: Bobby Tony

That was my point, I think. In other words:

Who would hire a carpenter who never held a hammer?

Commented: Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 @ 9:36 am By: Bobby Tony