I Won The Primary

The upcoming race for Greene County Circuit Clerk will not be about a Ten Commandments poster hanging on a wall. It will not be about my opponent’s personal business. It will not revolve around the politics of personal attacks.

My campaign will focus on who can bring the administrative experience, the problem solving skills, the ability to motivate staff, and the know how to follow Missouri’s laws and directives to the Circuit Clerk’s office: I CAN!

My campaign will focus on who can provide the world class customer service our judges, attorneys and citizens deserve from the Circuit Clerk’s office: I CAN!

My campaign will focus on who can instill professionalism, respect and dignity to the Circuit Clerk’s office: I CAN!

My campaign will focus on who can bring Ozark values like hard work and common sense to the Circuit Clerk’s office: I CAN!

With your help I CAN!

Email me at jimlee138@sbcglobal.net

The Reason Why Jeep Junkie, Horsefarmer, Longrooffan and Busplunge Like What They Like:

Did I ever tell you all the story about my Green Giant Pea Truck?To this day, I do not eat peas.

Newburg, MO, Moveable Type And A 1948 Chevrolet

Years ago my father owned a printing company and an advertising agency. One of the printing presses was a letterpress, with moveable type. I remember watching him set type.*

My brothers and I had the job of busting up the type and putting it back in the type drawers which were called 'cases'. The trade term for the kids who busted up the type was "printer's devil". Each font went into a different case and each letter went to a specific bin in the case. Woe to the devil who put a sort (pieces of type) in the wrong space! Now you know where the term 'out of sorts' originated!

I can still remember the layout of the cases and where each sort belonged. The type was made out of lead.

I remember how amazed I was the first time I saw a linotype machine.

One day I was talking to my dad while he was running the press. I stumbled and laid my hand on the press for balance. The press was running and I about cut my index finger off. The finger, my right index finger, is crooked and shorter than my other fingers. I don't have much feeling in it and I don't use the finger much. I was maybe eleven or twelve years old.

Back in the 1960's there used to be a gas station / restaurant in Newburg, MO, about halfway between Springfield and St. Louis, on old Highway 66, on the north side of the road, that my grandfather liked to stop at. They probably sold beer. The gas station attendant had only one arm. I remember riding in my grandfather's 1948 Chevrolet sedan, stopping at this gas station, getting a bite to eat and having this one armed guy fill our car up with gas.

Man's car looked just like this one I saw today at the auto swap meet at the fairgrounds. If I would have had an extra $7900.00 I woulda bought it. This was the first car I ever drove. Just looking at this car makes me feel happy. The gas station is now a flea market. The PVT RN and I stopped there Thurday on our way back from Hannibal. I told the woman running the cash register about the one armed guy. She said, yes, his name was....she knew the guy, said he used to work for her husband's grandfather who owned the station and he rented a room from them.

I said, as we were leaving, tell your husband you met a guy who remembered the one armed guy. She said she definately would.

On the front porch of the building was an old letter press like the one that mangled my finger. Just inside the door was a cabinet full of drawers of type. If I would have had an extre $850.00, I woulda bought it all. Just looking at that press made me feel happy.



*The plate says, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and feels as if he were in the seventh heaven of typography together with Herman Zapf, the most famous artist of the typeface "Palatino"
"

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Are Hatched.....

I Was Involved In An Automobile Accident This Evening.

I am sitting in my S-10, heading west on Battlefield at Campbell around 4:30 this afternoon.

I am in the left turn lane,a bout where the curbing starts, waiting to turn south on Campbell.

Suddenly, a dark colored sedan slams into the back of my truck.

My neck jerks forward and slams back into the headreast. My upper torso slams forward, held in place by the shoulder belt.

I am dazed and confused.

I call 911 and tell the operator I have been rear ended.

He asks me where I am located.

I tell him Campbell and Sunshine. He asks if I am on Campbell or Sunshine. I tell him I am by Webster University and Burger King, Walgreens. He says where am I at. I realize I am on Battlefield.

He asks what lane I am in, I am trying to tell him when I see the driver of the car that hit me get out and look at the front of his car and the back of my truck.

I am still sitting in my truck. I see the driver get back in his car and back up.
Oh no, he's going to run into me again I think.

I was wrong. The driver makes a U-turn and peels away.

The light changes and cars and trucks are driving all around me. A police car pulls up in the next lane.

I tell the officer I was rear ended and the car that hit me took off east down Battlefield.

She asks if I am ok. Upon my affirmative reply she tells me to park in Webster's parking lot until I return.

About 10 minutes later, another police shows up and takes my report.

Maybe 10 minutes later the first officer shows up and says she thinks she found the car.

I wonder if those cameras on the intersection were focused on the west bound left turn lane on Battlefield around 4:30 - 4:34 this afternoon.

To be continued.....

Despicable

A THORN: To whoever stole the Humpty Dumpty lawn figure from the low wall below our front window.

- Anne L. Marr, Springfield

It is not enough that someone took the Humpty Dumpty figure, but that the taker had to come up to their house, invading the Marr's personal space. Despicable. Maybe they are holding it for ransom?

Anne, I hope Humpty Dumpty comes home soon! The Pvt Rn and I collect lawn figures also.

"I'm not just an entertainer. I'm an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force... a force!"

What Happened The Last Time Someone Tried To Start A Tab In My Name At A Drinking Establishment On The Springfield Public Square

This is mighty bold talk for a Martin Truex Junior fan:

"Anyone who wants to come down and share a smoothie is more than welcome to join in...We’ll put drinks on the tab Jim Lee doesn’t yet know he started there."

First Read From MSNBC

Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:13:20 -0700
From: "NBC First Read" Subject: First Read: Back in the saddle(back)...
To: FIRST_READ@LISTS.MSNBC.COM

FIRST THOUGHTS.
*** Channeling Jon Lovitz: Is Obama having a Jon Lovitz-as-Dukakis SNL moment: "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy"? Well, Obama isn't losing -- he still has a small single-digit lead in most national polls, and he's ahead narrowly in current electoral-vote projections. But his tone changed a bit campaigning in Reno yesterday, his first full day on the campaign trail since his vacation. To put it simply, he was much more aggressive on the attack. As the AP writes, "So much for hugging in church. [A]fter praising the Arizona senator as a 'genuine American
patriot,' the Democratic presidential hopeful got back to business - methodically tearing into McCain's health care, tax and energy policies and criticizing his advisers. More: "The Illinois senator also criticized McCain's advisers as 'the same old folks that brought you George W. Bush. The same team.' He noted many had been lobbyists in Washington before McCain asked them to sever all lobbying ties." We've been hearing for a few weeks that the Obama campaign believes it hasn't been tough
enough on McCain. Might we have seen a preview of a rougher treatment of McCain from Obama at his Reno stop yesterday? And does this mean the convention week will be tougher on McCain than either Gore or Kerry were on Bush?

*** Back In The Saddle(back): We seriously underestimated how Saturday's religious forum was made to order for McCain, despite the perceptions that McCain rarely talks openly about his faith. On all the questions regarding hot-button social issues, the Arizona senator didn't have to depart from GOP orthodoxy one bit, except on stem cells. To put it another way, the reverse for McCain would have been him -- in an effort to win over union members -- addressing a forum sponsored by the Teamsters. Still, McCain performed very well, and the reviews seem to back that up. Obama also did well given the venue and much of the subject matter. (Although his "above my pay grade" answer on life begins has generated a lot of discussion, how else was a pro-choice politician going to respond to this?). Nevertheless, Obama spent more time trying to impress moderator Rick Warren (or not to offend him), while McCain seemingly ignored Warren and decided he was talking to folks watching on TV. The McCain way of handling this forum is usually the winning way. Obama may have had more authentic moments but McCain was impressively on message. And McCain being on message should quiet many critics on the right who wanted to pounce on him over his hint about a pro-choice running mate. McCain didn't sound like a Republican who was going to cave on some of these important social conservative issues.

*** Practice And Blog Fodder: Overall, Saturday's forum was a fascinating event because the contrast between the two candidates was so clear. Obama better be thankful for the timing -- he seemed a little rusty and clearly has some work to do before he meets McCain face-to-face on September 26, the night of the first presidential debate in Oxford, MS. If there is an upside for Obama, it's that he might now enter the first debate with slightly lower expectations than McCain. One other thing: The fact that McCain wasn't in a "cone of silence" during Obama's portion of the forum -- as the New York Times reports today -- is going to be some interesting blog fodder.

First Read with NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, every weekday on MSNBC-TV at 9 a.m. ET.

For more: The latest edition of First Read is available now at www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com.

Real Men Wear Goatees

You can't make this stuff up.

And a tip of the hat to Arm Chair Chit Chat for finding this gem.

Does he or doesn't he?photo by Dean Curtis, News-Leader