My Eulogy for Aaron Zelman

I never met Aaron Zelman so I only knew him through his writing, filmmaking and second hand accounts from others who did know him personally. I had enormous respect for his efforts with the JPFO. It wasn't just about guns with him; he was an uncompromising advocate for freedom in just about every aspect of human life. He didn't just know the words of the Bill of Rights but also understood the ideals behind it and, I think, he believed it was the best effort Mankind has made so far at achieving a free society.

The Christmas season hasn't been a good time of year for me for decades. I've learned to live with it and not impose my peculiar depression on family, friends or co-workers. But this really strained that resolve. This is about the crappiest way to end the year I can imagine. Gun rights are finally getting some respect and there is a glimmer that freedom may be on the ascendant again. It is terribly saddening to me that one of the men who made that possible did not live to see it happen. I haven't seen this kind of perverseness in the Universe since Willey Ley died less than a month before Armstrong walked on the Moon.

OK, I stopped expecting life to be fair shortly after I figured out the joke about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. However, there has always been the wish that, if it can't be fair, at least it doesn't have to be so damned obstinate about it.

On the other hand, if wishes were nickels I wouldn't have to work for a living.

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus
advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem.
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.*

-- Gaius Valerius Catullus

Hail and Farewall, Aaron Zelman. Rest in Peace.

*English translation

Ave Atque Vale

Original here

Tuskegee Airman Spann Watson Dead At 93

by Richard Cooper April 21, 2010

Retired US Air Force Colonel Spann Watson died April 15th of complications from pneumonia.  He was one of the original complement of World War II African-American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, which actually formed  the 99th Fighter Squadron based in North Africa and the 322nd Fighter Group based in Italy.  The Tuskegee Airmen were trained by the Division of Aeronautics of Tuskegee Institute, which had been founded by Booker T. Washington. Watson himself flew missions over North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern Europe.  Spann Watson remained in the newly created Air Force, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1965.  He joined the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Army Air Corps of their day was segregated by race as were the entire American Armed Forces. 

For 48 years, he was a resident of the Village of Westbury which is why I encountered him twice.  I live in the hamlet of Salisbury and we share the Westbury post office.  In 2001, I attended the Central Westbury Civic Association scholarship fundraising luncheon honoring Colonel Watson.  The Association was then led by the late Mannie Sweat, whom  I knew in my then capacity as Libertarian Party of New York State Chair.   It was a very nice event with singing of "Lift Every Voice & Sing" and "America The Beautiful."

Colonel Watson mentioned the TV movie about the Tuskegee Airmen starring Laurence Fishburne.  He didn't think too highly of it, saying something to the effect that they weren't spending their time fornicating and carrying on.  If I recall correctly, he said something like "We were flyboys, not playboys."

On another occasion I attended a Central Westbury Civic Association meeting.  There were complaints about motorcyclists terrorizing the block.  Someone said they were afraid to talk to the police in case word went back to the troublemakers.  Colonel Watson noted that he was a gunowner with a shotgun and wasn't afraid of riffraff.  He took his First and Second Amendments seriously, I guess.

He was quite a character with an interesting life.  I am glad I encountered him.

Ted Kennedy is Dead

I wasn't going to comment on this. Who cares if an old brain dead collectivist troll dies? Maybe the family of Mary Jo Kopechne. Then I remembered a guy I went to college with. His brother died on Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. He might be dancing now.

So here's my comment: Good riddance.

Billy Beck's Eulogy
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