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The Daily Dose/April 23, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON HERE: Nevada will have an opening in its United States Senate delegation in May, as John Ensign announced his resignation. For reasons that were more or less clear at the time, we sent a letter to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval requesting to be appointed to fill the rest of Mr. Ensign's term.
We didn't waste any time, either, getting it in the mail the same Mr. Ensign resigned.
And You Wonder Why You Don't Get Invited To More Parties: While we were able to write the letter without much help - forms of address and whatnot have always been a hobby of ours - we weren't entirely sure whether or not to include a resume. We're not applying for some routine management position, after all. In the end we did because The Honorable Governor Sandoval has some zero clue who I am, and even though my professional resume reads more like a litany of failure than anything else and we're not sure it will do any good.
We Deliver For You: We blew past the post office on the corner, too, in order to take it to the central post office across the street from the airport. This, despite the fact we got it there past the 9pm final pickup time, which probably meant it really didn't matter which post office we took it to, but it was good for morale to take it to the main post office.
The text of the letter follows:
April 21, 2011
The Honorable Brian Sandoval
Governor of Nevada
101 North Carson Street
Carson City, Nevada 89701
Dear Governor Sandoval -
My name is Gaylon Kent, and I would like to fill the unexpired term of United States Senator John Ensign.
I have no prior political experience. I am merely a private citizen taking an interest in his country.
I believe that the purpose of government is to provide for the liberty of its citizens. I also believe that within a couple of generations this country's national debt will be so great that our government will no longer be able to ensure the liberty of its citizens because this country, as we know it, will no longer exist. I believe current solutions being offered are the equivalent of putting a bandage on an open wound: it might temporarily stop the bleeding, but it does nothing to close the wound.
As a United States Senator, I would favor measures that would close the wound in as short a time as possible, realizing this will cause some hardship, but also realizing it will prevent greater hardships in the future.
Professionally I am a writer and sports official. I write books, and also columns on the human experience at www.writersshack.com. I also sit on the executive boards of the Southern Nevada Officials Association, which provides officials for high school sports in southern Nevada, and of American Legion Post 40 in Henderson. I am a veteran of the United State Navy, serving on the USS Blueback, (SS 581), which was the US Navy's last diesel submarine.
Like others in this great state, I am originally from California. I have been in Las Vegas for 13 years. I am a registered voter, however I am not registered with a party. I am libertarian by nature and am a supporter of Ron Paul. I am 45-years-old.
Thank you, sir, for your consideration. I would be happy to discuss the appointment with you at your convenience. My resume is enclosed.
Cordially,
Gaylon Kent
Encl. (1)
Show Me The Money: As a United States Senator, Gaylon would earn a salary of $174,000 a year.
Dry, Historical Matter: In 1789 the first Congressmen and Senators earned $6 per day, about $151 in today's dollars, and only when Congress was in session.
GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION: The oldest school in the United States, the Boston Latin School, opens on this date in 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is still open.
Thanks, Guys: Ken Johnson becomes the first, and so far only, pitcher in major league history to lose a nine inning, complete game no-hitter on this date in 1964. Pitching for the Houston Colt 45's, Johnson lost 1-0 to the Cincinnati Reds. With one out in the ninth, Johnson himself got the festivities going with a throwing error that put Pete Rose on second. Rose took third on a groundout by Chico Ruiz and then scored when Nellie Fox made an error on a grounder by Vada Pinson. Houston got a man on in the ninth, but John Weekly, playing in his last big league game, struck out looking to end it.
3...2...1...Oh, Hell: Soyuz 1 blasts off from the Soviet Union on this date in 1967, the first flight of the new Soyuz spacecraft.
It was not a successful mission. Piloted by Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was launched despite the fact all three unmanned test flights failed and that mission engineers pointed out hundreds of flaws with the spacecraft, but the flight was ordered to proceed anyway.
The mission was aborted after 18 orbits. On reentry the drogue parachute, designed to slow the spacecraft down prior to deploying the main parachute - was released. The main parachute couldn't be bothered to open, so Komarov, battling for his life, manually deployed a reserve parachute, but that got caught with the drogue parachute, which hadn't separated from the spacecraft as intended, and he crashed, and died, in what is now southwest Russia.
Thought For The Day: …in the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average women, does his or her duty…The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. - Theodore Roosevelt, The Man in the Arena Speech, 4/23/1910.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: From 1907-10 the Boston Braves were known as the Boston Doves. They were known as the Rustlers in 1911 and became the Braves in 1912. They were known as the Bees from 1936-40, before becoming the Braves again in 1941.
Today's Stumper: The Boston Latin School is part of the oldest high school football rivalry in the United States. Who is it played against? - Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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