Category: Commentary Page 12 of 16

This is the home of grumpy opinions.

50th Post

On September 12, 2023

When I started this blog over 2 1/2 years ago, I didn’t expect to reach 50 posts. I thought I would run out of ideas long before this. OK, I know some of you guys are saying I ran out ideas long ago, but I’m going to keep on with it anyway. The ideas all may not be new to you, but they’re new to me and I hope I can present you with a new twist on some of them.

I’ve learned a lot doing this blog. One of the things that I’ve learned is that I continue to have a fascination with trivia. I might be rich now if I weren’t so interested in things that have no monetary value. But that’s the way it is. I’ve always said that I am the master of useless information.

I really enjoy the research and the writing. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with artificial intelligence in the form of ChatGPT. It can certainly produce a lot of results in a short period of time. Unfortunately, it’s not always accurate. I found that names and quotations are frequently a little bit off. Occasionally, it seems that AI has just completely made up something and I find that I can’t verify it. I know there’s a concern that people will stop doing their own work and just produce an AI generated product. But at this time, I don’t feel AI is reliable enough for use as anything but a starting point for your own work.

One of the most significant things I’ve learned is that Margie is an excellent editor. I give her all my posts before I publish them. Her comments are always spot on and significantly improve my articles.

When I first started doing this, Margie and I decided I should avoid politics. With a few exceptions, I have done this. When I have ventured into the realm of politics those are the few times we disagreed about my posts. As usual, she is generally right.

I do this because I enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it as well. If there is anything in particular that you would like me to write about or to comment on, please let me know. Otherwise, my comments will be random as they occur to me.
Hopefully, I will last long enough to do another 50 or God forbid, another 100.

The Grumpy Doc thanks everyone who has been reading this blog. When someone tells me they read one of my posts it makes me very happy. Please know that you don’t have to agree with me. Disagreement and discussion can lead to growth on both sides. I hope you will respond on the website with any ideas you may have so that we can continue this journey together.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream -Wm. Shakespeare, Hamlet

By John Turley

On September 2, 2023

In Commentary, Medicine

Sleep – Part I

The other night, about 3:00 AM I was lying in bed wide awake thinking about…. sleep. It’s natural to think about sleep when you’re having trouble doing it. I’ve had intermittent insomnia for my entire adult life. Sometimes I’ll go several days with not much more than two or three hours of sleep a night and then I’ll go several days where I can sleep six, seven or eight hours. I’m not sure what causes insomnia at one time but not another.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about sleep. Mostly, I think about why I can’t sleep and what I can do to get to sleep. I’ve read a lot about specific tips and techniques to improve sleep. I’ve tried many of the so-called “sleep hygiene” regimens. I’ve tried herbal preparations and prescription sleep medications. Lately I’ve been using a sleep mask with some positive results. I’m easily awakened, and it has helped with that.

But, with one of those middle of the night revelations, I realized that in all my years of thinking about sleep I’ve never really thought about what sleep is and why we need to do it. So, I’m going to embark on a three-part post about sleep. This is Part 1; it’s a look at what sleep is and why we do it. In Part 2 we’ll look at why we can’t sleep and the various things that cause us to lose sleep. Part 3 will be a survey of the many things available that may or may not help us to get that good night’s sleep.

What Is Sleep?

We will spend anywhere from 25 to 30% of our lives asleep so we really ought to have a better understanding of exactly what it is.
Merriam-Webster defines sleep as: The natural, easily reversible periodic state of many living things that is marked by the absence of wakefulness and by the loss of consciousness of one’s surroundings, is accompanied by a typical body posture (such as lying down with the eyes closed), the occurrence of dreaming, and changes in brain activity and physiological functioning….

As with many dictionary definitions my first response is “What?” So, let’s see if I can come up with something that’s a little more than a physical description of someone laying on the couch asleep.

Our bodies crave sleep just like they crave food. The major difference is your body can’t force you to eat but it can force you to sleep.

The reasons why we sleep and what happens during sleep are not completely understood. People used to believe that sleep was a passive activity when the brain and the body were dormant. But, according to sleep specialist and neurologist Dr. Mark Wu, MD “… it turns out that sleep is a period during which the brain is engaged in a number of activities necessary to life which are closely linked to the quality of life.”

Cycle of Sleep

Everyone’s heard of the sleep cycle so I’m just going to briefly touch on it here. There are two basic types of sleep. The first is non-REM sleep which also has three stages of its own and the second is the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

The three stages of non-REM are Stage 1 which is the transition into sleep and is relatively light. It is when brain waves begin to slow down. Stage 2 is the period just before you enter into deeper sleep when your heart rate and breathing slow, your muscles relax, your body temperature starts to drop, and eye movements stop. This is the stage where you spend most of your sleeping time. Stage 3 of non-REM sleep is the period of deep sleep that you need to feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs more during the first half of the night. Your heartbeat and breathing are slowed to their lowest level, and you are most relaxed. Brain waves are at their slowest.

REM sleep first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes move rapidly even though your eyelids are closed. Your brain waves are closer to those when you are awake. Breathing becomes faster and your heart rate and blood pressure increase. This is when most of your dreaming occurs. Although, some can occur during non-REM sleep periods. During REM sleep your arm and leg muscles may become temporarily paralyzed which prevents you from acting out your dreams. As you age, you spend less time in REM sleep.

What Happens When We Sleep?

If we’re going to spend this much time sleeping there must be some benefit to it, right? Surely it is not just a way to pass the time until we have something better to do.

There have been a lot of theories over the years about why we sleep. Some of the older ones include the adaptive or evolutionary theory that says animals sleep during periods of vulnerability, such as darkness, so that they won’t attract attention. However, this seems to be counterintuitive. During periods of vulnerability, I would certainly want to be most alert. Another theory is that of energy conservation. During periods of sleep the body has less need for energy and will not require food as often. For most of human history, and continually for the rest of the animal world, food is a scarce item and energy conservation is important to survival.

People have always recognized that somehow sleep helped rejuvenate us. Newer research points to this as probably the main reason why we sleep. Sleep helps clear the brain of waste products that accumulate when we are awake allowing it to function more efficiently.

Sleep also helps us consolidate the day’s memories. It facilitates the conversion of short term to long term memories so that they are more readily accessible. Sleep also improves alertness, concentration, and cognitive performance. This may be why some people recommend a good night’s sleep rather than an all-night cramming session prior to finals.

Sleep helps regulate various hormones that are responsible for appetite control, growth, and metabolism. Poor sleep can exacerbate physical problems such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Sleep is essential to our immune function; prolonged periods of sleep deprivation put us at risk for opportunistic infections. Sleep is also important for our emotional well-being and for helping to prevent anxiety and depression.

I will finish this post with two quotes that I particularly like about why we sleep.

Sleep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow.
-Tom Rath, American author and consultant

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.
-Thomas Dekker, 17th Century English poet and playwright

Persistence of Memory

By John Turley

On August 11, 2023

In Commentary, Medicine

I turned 75 this year and like many people my age I have started to worry about my memory. I’ve always had a good memory. I seldom had to write anything down and I almost never forgot anything. But that’s rapidly becoming a thing of the past. I try to tell myself it’s because I don’t need to remember things now. I have my phone with my calendar and my to-do list and my reminders all right there in my pocket. Things for which I once relied on my memory are now just a simple “buzz” away. As much as I try to tell myself that, I can’t really believe it. I’m afraid things are starting to slip away, and I worry just how far and how fast this will progress. I know from talking to others my age I am not the only one with this concern. But what exactly is memory? How does it work? And what can we do to prevent its decline, or even better to reverse it?

What is memory?
Marriam-Webster Dictionary defines memory as: “…the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms; the store of things learned and retained from an organism’s activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition.” I hope that’s more enlightening for you than it is for me. While it may describe memory, it doesn’t really explain it.

I think that I like Salvador Dali’s approach to memory. In his famous painting shown above, The Persistence of Memory, we see the passage of time as it inexorably moves on but leaves persistence in our memory. But as we can see memory is fluid and it is malleable. While memory may persist, it is not unchanged. OK, that may sound like philosophical mumbo jumbo, but I just want to get across the idea that memory is not a concrete thing, and it is as much about perception as anything else.

Types of memory

One of the first things to recognize is that memory is not a single monolithic sense. There are many types of perceptions or abilities that are encompassed in the collective term memory.

The type of memory we use most frequently is working memory. This is where we store things for short-term use. It would include things such as remembering numbers to add in your head. You don’t need it for long term, but if you have problems with your working memory it can take you much longer to get things done such as balancing a check book, following directions or grocery shopping.

Episodic memory is how we recall past events, personal experiences, conversations, feelings, and emotions. If you’re struggling to recall recent events and activities, you may have a problem with your episodic memory. This is the type of memory loss that most people first worry about.

Semantic memory is what you use to recall the definitions of words, the names of objects and to recognize familiar faces. It’s not tied to any specific experience, but these are just things that you just know, such as your key is used to unlock your door or if you want a drink of water, you pour it into a glass. If you find yourself frequently struggling for the right words in a conversation you may be having problems with your semantic memory.

Our prospective memory is the way we remember future things. It’s how we keep track of appointments and obligations. If you find yourself forgetting that you have made plans or where you were supposed to be going you may have problems with your prospective memory. We most commonly experience this when we find we have walked into a room, and we can’t remember why we went there. (Unless it’s the bathroom; I always remember why I’m there.)

Is it dementia?

Of course, this is our greatest worry. I think many of us fear dementia more than we fear stroke, heart attack, or cancer. Memory loss is not always dementia; there is some natural degradation of memory as we get older. But what is age-appropriate memory loss and what are some of the more common and frequently reversible forms of memory losses, and how do we know it’s not dementia.

So, is it normal memory loss or not? It’s normal to forget the date but it is not normal to not know the month or the year. It is normal to have to search for the appropriate word at times. It is not normal to be unable to hold a conversation. It is normal to occasionally forget someone’s name. (By this standard I’ve been suffering from memory loss since I was about 20 years old.) It’s not normal to not recognize close friends or family members. It’s normal to forget where you put your car keys. It’s not normal to forget what they are used for.

The fact that you’re worrying about some of these mild memory problems is in itself good. It just means that you recognize your memory is not as sharp as it once was. Dementia is a sudden and rapid decline in cognitive ability. It is frequently recognized by everyone except its victim.

Other causes
But before you jump right to worrying about Alzheimer’s, there are several more common medical problems that can cause memory loss and confusion. Most of these are, at least partially, reversible.

One of the most common causes of confusion and memory loss in older adults is what we in the medical field call polypharmacy and what most people call over medication. Some of the most common medications that cause mental impairment are diphenhydramine (more commonly known as Benadryl), pain medications, sleeping pills, medications for dizziness or anxiety, as well as some Parkinson medications. Some side effects of all of these can mimic the symptoms of dementia. This is particularly true if any of these medications are mixed with alcohol. If you’re experiencing some episodes of confusion or memory impairment and you’re on a variety of medications, ask your doctor or pharmacist to review them for potential memory impact.

Other common causes of memory impairment in older adults are dehydration, lack of sleep and lack of exercise. It’s a common misconception that our need for sleep and exercise decreases as we get older. Simple exercises such as daily walking have been shown to increase brain health and memory. The positive effects of exercise appear almost immediately.

Undiagnosed anxiety or depression often can mimic memory loss and dementia. This even has a nice clinical sounding name as the pseudodementia of depression. Poorly controlled chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes can cause chronic inflammation in the body which can lead to cognitive and memory impairment as well.

It’s also generally believed that poor nutrition can cause memory impairments and a Mediterranean style diet has been recommended as a way of protecting against cognitive decline.

What can I do?

If you have concerns about your memory, of course the first step is to consult your doctor. Ask them to look for and deal with any of those common causes listed above. Be prepared, they may ask you some embarrassing questions about your past. They don’t think you’re a bad person, the only effective way to evaluate problems is to ask the same questions of everyone.

So, from there we get on to what can be done for prevention.

Excessive alcohol use and cigarette smoking have both been shown to have a negative impact on memory and can speed cognitive decline. Try to decrease your alcohol intake to one or two drinks a day and your cigarette smoking to none. There is no safe level of cigarette use. Despite common belief, vaping isn’t safer than cigarette use. Although oral tobacco hasn’t been extensively studied as it relates to memory, in studies related to other diseases it has been shown to increase inflammation and microvascular disease, all of which are known to accelerate memory loss and even vascular dementia.

Plan and implement a regular exercise program. You don’t need to be a marathon runner or a gym rat, you just need to have a steady regular plan. Thirty minutes of moderate exercise four or five times a week will show great benefits. Make sure you don’t get overly aggressive at the beginning and injure yourself. Walking is perfectly adequate for most people and doesn’t put undue stress on your joints.

Sleep like your life depends on it. Set a regular bedtime and stick with it both on weekdays and weekends. Try to get up at the same time every day. Just remember that during normal sleep, memory and learning are consolidated and brain toxins are disposed of. Improved sleep can also help with weight management, blood pressure control and blood sugar control. (More on sleep in a later blog.)

Social interaction has been shown to be as important for preventing cognitive decline as anything else. Strong bonds between family and friends are important for a healthy life. Involvement in churches, social groups and civic organizations are all equally beneficial. People who are socially isolated tend to develop earlier and more rapid cognitive decline. Social engagement also reduces the likelihood of depression.

Activities that require mental engagement, particularly in a social setting, have been shown to delay the onset of cognitive decline and in some cases have even reversed some of the signs in people who have previously been socially isolated.

Activities such as reading, writing, puzzle solving, card games and learning new skills have been shown to delay cognitive decline. For example, one of the things that I have done to try to stay mentally active is starting this blog. Not only am I engaged in researching and writing articles, but I had to learn how to set up and manage a website. Also, I had to learn how to work with voice recognition software because I must admit I’m too old to learn how to type.

Can’t I just take a pill?

For as long as I can remember, the pill to cure or reverse dementia is being tested and will be released sometime soon (it always seems to be within the next year). Unfortunately, most of those have been a disappointment. There have been some medications that have been shown to slightly delay decline, but none have substantially reversed it. And none of these medications have, so far, shown to be superior to correcting polypharmacy, or underlying medical problems, and improving social interactions and mental activities.

The Grumpy Doc says the best way to keep your memory is to stay out there living your life and making new memories. Keep moving, keep thinking, and keep doing. And the next time you see me you can tell me all about it, even if it does take me a while to remember your name.

To Pay Or Not To Pay, That Is The Question.

By John Turley

On August 4, 2023

In Commentary

With apologies to William Shakespeare

I have been following the debate about student loan forgiveness with some interest. First of all, I don’t think there is any such thing as loan forgiveness. There’s only transference. The debt itself does not go away. Someone else is required to pay it.

Having said that, I understand the concerns of the students. They feel that they were sold a bill of goods. They were encouraged to accumulate significant debt for a degree that frequently has no value to them in the marketplace. How can they expect to repay a $50,000 student loan with whatever job they may possibly find with a degree in medieval English literature?

However, these people are intelligent otherwise they would not have been in college, and they would not have gotten a degree. They must have known that the likelihood their degree would provide them with employment sufficient to repay these massive loans was small. Additionally, they’re not the first generation to have found themselves in this dilemma. People my age, two generations prior to them, also found themselves with massive student debt and degrees with little market value. However, most persevered, and eventually paid off their debt

Those who repay their debts have little sympathy for people who wish to escape theirs, be it student loans, credit cards or taxes. The feeling is, you are responsible for your decisions, and you should pay the debts that you incurred.

There currently are programs that allow for some student loan forgiveness. These usually involve some type of service arrangement. Full disclosure, Uncle Sam paid for my undergraduate degree but in return he required six years of service in the United States Marine Corps. I received a loan forgiveness of $10,000 for my medical school expenses but I agreed to practice in West Virginia, an underserved area, for four years. (I’ve been practicing here for 29 years, so they got their money’s worth.) Older generations have more sympathy for student loan forgiveness if there is an obligation in return for that forgiveness.

I’d like to propose a middle ground. Have the government forgive all accrued interest for student loans while requiring the principle be repaid. This could be done without requiring any type of service commitment from the borrower. Additionally, provisions could be made for forgiveness of the principle in return for service that benefits the public in general. This could include such things as military service, teaching, public health service, law enforcement, and such things as foster care and youth programs. This would provide students with some relief from their high debts, and at the same time provide benefits to the country.

I’m not in favor of allowing people to completely escape their obligations but I recognize young people can easily be misled and should not be burdened at the beginning of their lives with unrepayable debt. At the same time, they should not be led to believe that they can escape all responsibilities by simply demanding that the government take care of them.

And that is my grumpy opinion.

In Search of a Bench

By John Turley

On July 28, 2023

In Commentary, Travel

Margie and I just returned from 10 days in Florida. We combined my SAR conference with a few days of vacation. We got to spend the vacation days with our grandson (and his parents, of course).

We took him for a day at Disney World and a day at Universal Studios. He had a great time and we enjoyed watching him have fun. But for us old folks, it was extremely hot. It was also a lot of walking. We consider ourselves doing well if we get in a mile and a half for a daily walk. At Disney we covered over 7 miles, which left us drained. For the next day at Universal we drafted his parents to go with us so they could do some of the high-speed keeping up with an active 11 year old. We only covered about four miles at Universal but that’s still more than our average.

There was one thing that caused us to tire out more than we should have. That’s the lack of any place to sit in either park. They must think all seniors will be in wheelchairs. What few benches we found were in the direct sun or were occupied. Any shaded place to sit almost inevitably required purchase of food or drink.

Neither Disney nor Universal can be considered senior friendly.

“Disney! Universal! If you want older folks to continue bringing their grandchildren to your parks and spending money, you need to be sensitive to our needs. We need some place to sit! In the shade! It’s the least you can do in return for our spending money at your parks.”

And that is my grumpy opinion!

Full disclosure: the bench shown above is not in either park…But Margie found it!

The Times They Are A Changin’

By John Turley

On July 3, 2023

In Commentary

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: Ecclesiastes.

I never expected I would be quoting Bob Dylan and the bible in the same post. But I’d like to talk a little bit about change. We’ve all heard the old saying, “the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes.” But there is one other thing that is certain and that’s change.

Without change there is no life. We are born, we grow, we raise families and eventually we die. The whole cycle of life is a cycle of change. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Change is stressful whether it be change for the better or change for the worse. Even change that brings joy such as the birth of a new child or starting a new job can be stressful.

Will we raise our children the way they should be raised? Will they have a good life? Will they be successful?

Will we like our new job? Will we do as well as the person before us? Will we meet expectations?

Change is never without stress. Even those of us who think that we like change, place our own personal limits on it. While we want change and we want things that are new, innovative, and exciting, we still want them to be pretty much the way they are now. Too often we think of change as wanting things to be the same but somehow better.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way of life.

I think about the small changes in life that become major stressors. You buy a new car and discover that the owner’s manual is two inches thick because of all the high tech options. I’ve had my car for 10 years and I’m still discovering features I didn’t know about.

We all know what it’s like when you get a new cell phone and you can’t even figure out how to answer a call, much less use all the other features that the kids take in stride.

Don’t even get me started on television. Those of us with a certain level of life experience (you can insert old here) remember when there were only three networks, and we had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel. Now we work our way through the myriad of remote controls, streaming services, viewing options, and who knows what else just to watch a show.

But if you stop and think about it, those things that we are comfortable with now, that we wish wouldn’t change, are those same new things that just a few years ago caused us so much stress. Eventually we adapt to all these changes and incorporate them into our comfort zone. Then, having achieved familiarity with those changes, we try to preserve them from the next wave of new ideas.

The older I get, the more I find myself inclined to resist change. Particularly if it involves learning a whole new set of rules or procedures. I think it’s because I have nostalgia for a past that probably was never quite as rosy as I imagine it to have been. When I look back honestly, as much as I would like to have a 1966 Corvette Convertible, I have to admit that it wouldn’t drive anywhere near as well as even the most inexpensive new car today.

And do I really want to live without Google, e-mail, cell phones and GPS? Well, sometimes yes, but for the most part I’m happy about technology, even the dreaded Zoom.

So, what do we do about change? We jump right in and get started. It may be messy; it may be stressful; it may be confusing. But if we are positive and persevere, the result will be beautiful, and we will be blessed by embracing change.

The first step is to recognize that change is inevitable. We must stay flexible and focus on the positive. We need to set realistic expectations. Every transition involves a stressful start as we attempt to reconcile competing ideas into a single coherent and uniform plan.

We need to look on change as a learning and growth experience from which we will gain valuable insight into ourselves and our values. If we get overwhelmed, we need to stop focusing on the details and look at the broader picture of life.

Change is what makes life interesting. It’s what helps us continue to grow as we get older. Keep living and keep changing. It makes it all worthwhile. I’m even willing to change my opinions on occasion (maybe).

Things You May Not Know About George Washington

By John Turley

On June 18, 2023

In Appalachia, Commentary, History

We all know a lot about George Washington. Or do we really? And is everything we think we know true? We all know he was the first president, but was he really? He was the commander in chief of the Continental Army, and there is no question about that. He is often called the father of his country. But did you know that he never had any children?
The fanciful tales about George Washington began to circulate while he was still alive. Everyone has heard the story of the chopping down of the cherry tree and how the young George Washington could not tell a lie and that he did it with his little hatchet. Did you know that this story was created for one of the first biographies circulated about George Washington? It was a best seller written by Parson Mason Weems who was more interested in promoting morality than in historical accuracy. We also have the story of how Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac. Even though money went further in those days, it is unlikely since the river is about a mile wide at that point.

Presidential Dentures

We’ve all heard how Washington had wooden false teeth. It’s true that he had false teeth; he suffered with dental problems his entire life. But they weren’t made of wood. Washington began to lose his teeth in his early 20s. He had several sets of dentures made throughout his life, including one that incorporated hippopotamus ivory. He also had a set that incorporated human teeth. In the 18th century dentists were known to purchase healthy teeth from living donors who were in need of cash. The dentist would then incorporate these teeth into dentures for their clients. The dentures were cumbersome things that involved metal plates and gold wiring. Can you imagine having these in your mouth?

The First Entrepreneur
George Washington owned and operated one of the largest commercial distilleries in the early United States. Following his presidency, he began work on his distillery at Mount Vernon. He produced mostly rye whiskey, and it was quite profitable. So, not only was Washington first in war and first in peace but he was first in cocktails as well. (That makes him even more of a hero to me!) Margie and I visited Washington’s distillery as recreated at Mount Vernon. I even bought a bottle of his Mount Vernon whiskey that you can see below on my bookcase.

I haven’t yet tried it. The distiller told me it was considered to be very smooth for its day. When I asked him what we would consider it in our day, he said “Pretty rough.” Perhaps some year, on the anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, I’ll use it to make a Mount Vernon Manhattan (or not).
Even though Washington owned a major distillery, rye whiskey was not his favorite drink. When at dinner or sitting around the fire with friends he enjoyed a glass of Madeira. It is a fortified wine made on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Washington began ordering Madeira from his London agents in 1759 and continued ordering throughout his life. He usually ordered wine in “pipes” of 150 gallons. He seldom traveled without a large supply of Madeira.
We’ve all been taught to think of George Washington as a planter. But now we know he was distiller as well. Will it surprise you to learn that he was also a commercial fisherman?
When tobacco prices started to fall, Washington looked for ways to diversify his income. He had almost 10 miles of shoreline on the Potomac River. He bought boats and nets and set his enslaved workers to the task of catching shad, herring, perch, and sturgeon. The fish were cleaned, packed in salt, and sold all over the colonies and even shipped to Europe. He went so far as to buy a sailing schooner that he used to ship his fish to such places as Portugal and Jamaica.

A Mountaineer?

Would you believe that George Washington was once a major landowner in what is now West Virginia? Washington received major land grants for his service in the French and Indian war and he also purchased grants from others who were not interested in developing their wilderness land. He owned land at the mouth of the Kanawha River in the area that is now Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He also owned land along the Kanawha River from the mouth of Coal River up to the area that now includes Charleston. So, we can honestly say George Washington was a West Virginian.

The Traveler?
George Washington only made one trip out of what would become the United States. He had been largely raised by his older half-brother Lawrence after his father died. Lawrence had been suffering from tuberculosis and was advised to spend the winter in the tropics. Nineteen-year-old George agreed to go with him on a trip to Barbados. Two important things happened while he was there. He had the opportunity to meet British Army officers and study fortifications and learn about British military armaments and drill. This was the beginning of his lifelong love of all things military.
But perhaps the most important and least well-known portion of this trip was that Washington contracted and recovered from smallpox, leaving him with lifelong immunity. Smallpox had ravaged the colonies for several years and was devastating many units of the Continental Army. Imagine the fate of the revolution had Washington died of smallpox in 1777.
As a result of the epidemic, he issued one of the first public health orders from the American government. He ordered that all recruits arriving in Philadelphia for the Continental Army be inoculated against smallpox. This practice was soon spread across all colonies and even veteran soldiers who had not yet had smallpox were inoculated.
There are many more fascinating things about George Washington, and I will include them in a future post entitled Even More Things You May Not Have Known About George Washington.

The First Question and Final Answer
In case you think I’ve forgotten my question about the first president, Washington was the first president, under the constitution. However, prior to the adoption of the Constitution, while under the Articles of Confederation there were eight men who held the title of President of the Congress and whom some historians consider to be Presidents of the United States. But, unless you’re a true history nerd, you’ve never heard of John Hanson, first president under the Articles of Confederation. It’s The Grumpy Doc’s opinion that his lack of accomplishments earned him his well deserved obscurity.

For even more interesting facts about Washington, see the website www.MountVernon.org.

A Requiem for Our Newspapers

By John Turley

On June 11, 2023

In Commentary

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.
Thomas Jefferson

When I was growing up in Charleston WV in the 1950s and early 1960s, we had two daily newspapers. The Gazette was delivered in the morning and the Daily Mail was delivered in the afternoon. One of my first jobs as a boy was delivering The Gazette. It worked out to be about 50 cents an hour, but I was glad to have the job. (It was good money at the time.)

Ostensibly, the Gazette was a Democratic newspaper, and the Daily Mail was a Republican one. However, given the politics of the day there was not a significant difference between the two, and most people subscribed to both.

There weren’t a lot of options for news at the time. Of course, there were no 24-hour news channels. National news on the three networks was about 30 minutes an evening with local news at about 15 minutes. By the late 1960s national news had increased to 60 minutes and most local news to about 30 minutes. Although, given the limitations of time on the local stations, most of the broadcast was taken up with weather, sports, and human interest stories with little time left to expand on hard news stories.

We depended on our newspapers for news of our cities, counties, and states. And the newspapers delivered the news we needed. Almost everyone subscribed to and read the local papers. They kept us informed about our local politicians and government and provided local insight on national events. They were also our source for information about births, deaths, marriages, high school graduations and everything we wanted to know about our community.

In the 21st century there are many more supposed news options. There are 24-hour news networks as I’ve described in my previous post Too Much Time and Too Little News. And of course, there are Twitter, Facebook and the other online entities that claim to provide news.

There has been one positive development in television news. Local news, at least in Charleston, has expanded to two hours most evenings. There is some repetition between the first and second hour and it is still heavily weighted to sports, weather, and human interest, but there is increased coverage of local hard news. However, this is somewhat akin to reading the headlines and the first paragraph in a newspaper story. It doesn’t provide in-depth coverage, but it is improved over what might otherwise be available to those who don’t watch a dedicated new show. Hopefully, it motivates people to find out more about events that concern them.

But it’s still been the local newspapers that have provided the detailed news we want about local and state events. Here in Charleston our newspapers were consolidated into a single daily paper several years ago. Despite reduced staffing and subscribership, they still make a valiant effort to cover our local news. Eric Eyre provided Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the opioid epidemic. Currently Phil Kabler continues to provide outstanding coverage of the legislature and state government. Mike Tony, another reporter deeply involved in the community, provides coverage of West Virginia energy issues and the governor’s ongoing business foibles.

Will TV news be able to provide the details about our community? The format of the newspaper allows for more detailed presentations and for a larger variety of stories. The reader can pick which stories to read, when to read them and how much of each to read. The very nature of broadcast news doesn’t allow these options.

I worry about the future of newspapers. More than 360 newspapers have closed nationally since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Since 2005 over 2500 newspapers, more than 25% of the nation’s total, have closed. It would be a tragedy to continue losing newspapers at this rate.
I beg everyone to please subscribe to your local newspapers. I prefer the hands-on, physical newspaper. I understand many people prefer to keep up with the digital age. If so, please subscribe to the digital editions of your local newspaper and don’t pretend that the other online sources, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will provide you with local news rather than just gossip.
If we lose our local news, we are in danger of losing our local freedom and if we lose our local freedom, we’re in danger of losing our country. For those of you who think I’m fear mongering, countries that have succumbed to dictatorship have first lost their free press (More about that in a later post. If you know anything about The Grumpy Doc, you know he’s never short of opinions.)

I believe that broadcast news will never be the free press that print journalism is. The broadcast is an ethereal thing. You hear it and it’s gone. Of course, it is always possible to record it and play it back, but most people don’t. If you have a newspaper, you can read it, think about it, and read it again. There are times when on my second or third reading of an editorial or an op-ed article I’ve changed my opinion about either the subject or the writer of the piece. I don’t think a news broadcast lends itself to this type of reflection. In fact, when listening to the broadcast news I often find my mind wandering as something that the broadcaster said sends me in a different direction.

Also, in my opinion, broadcast news is controlled by advertising dollars and viewer ratings. News seems to be treated like any entertainment program. I recognize that this can be the case with newspapers as well, but it seems to me that it’s much easier to detect bias in the written word than in the spoken word. Too often we can get caught up in the emotions of the presenter or in the graphics that accompany the story.

With that in mind, I recommend that if you want unbiased journalism, please support your local newspapers before we lose them. Once they are gone, we will never get them back and we will all be much the poorer as a result.

I will leave you with one last quote.

A free press is the unsleeping guardian of every other right that free men prize; it is the most dangerous foe of tyranny.
Winston Churchill

The only way to preserve freedom is to preserve the free press. Do your part!
And you can quote The Grumpy Doc on that!!!!

Presidential Trvia

By John Turley

On May 29, 2023

In Commentary, History

Who Am I?

Two of my favorite subjects are American history and trivia. When Margie and I first got married one of our favorite ways to spend time with friends was to play the then popular game Trivial Pursuit. That’s when I discovered that I am the master of useless information, the repository of all things that will never earn me any money. But it’s still fun and when I can combine my love of trivia with my love of American history, so much the better. This is the first of what I hope will be a series of posts about American history trivia. We’ll start with the presidents. A subject that most of us know a fair amount about but maybe not as much as we think.

Before I go into the questions, we’ll start with the mystery man above. That’s James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States. Now The Grumpy Doc must admit that he did recognized this fellow. If you did, bonus points for you. However, no prize for beating The Grumpy Doc beyond a sense of satisfaction that comes from besting the master. Did I mention that not only am I grumpy, but I’m also cheap?

The first question should be an easy one.

Who was the first president to have a full beard while in office?
Who was the last president to have a full beard while in office?
What president had the first telephone installed in the White House?
What two presidents had only a letter for a middle name?
What president established the first National Park?
Who was the first president to serve in the Navy?
Who was the first president to write a best seller?
Who was the only president to remain a bachelor throughout his life?
Who was the first divorced president? (Should be another easy one.)
What president had the most children?
Who was the first president to ascend to the presidency from the vice presidency upon the death of the president?
Who was the first president to have impeachment charges filed against him?
Who was the only president to commit treason against the United States?
And now, a question of great national significance. What president installed the first bathtub in the White House?
Who was the first president born in a hospital?
What presidents attended military academies?
Who was the last president not to have a college degree?
A final question with significance to current events. Who was the only president to have completely paid off the national debt during a period of his administration. I don’t mean balance the budget; I mean zero national debt.

ANSWERS

Abraham Lincoln was the first president to have a full beard while in office.
Benjamin Harrison was the last president to have a full beard throughout his term of office. However, there is a slight trick to this question. Harry Truman, during a vacation in 1948, briefly sported a goatee. However, it was gone by the time he returned to Washington.
Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. Not only did he have it installed, he was so fascinated by it he frequently answered it himself.
Both Ulysses S. Grant and Harry S. Truman had S for a middle name. However, the story behind the S is significantly different. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. The congressman who signed his recommendation for West Point mistakenly listed his name as Ulysses S. Grant. Grant never disputed it and retained the S throughout his life. Biographers have reported that this was because he did not like the initials that spelled HUG. The rumor spread that the S stood for Simpson, his mother’s maiden name, but it never really stood for anything. Harry Truman’s middle name at birth was S. Both his maternal and paternal grandfathers had names that began with S and a significant family conflict arose about who he would be named after. The compromise was the initial.
Although it is widely believed that Teddy Roosevelt established the first National Park, it was Ulysses S. Grant who signed the legislation creating Yellowstone. The National Park Service was created by legislation signed by Woodrow Wilson.
The first US president to serve in the Navy was John F. Kennedy. Interestingly, the next four presidents also served in the Navy, three of them in World War Two.
Teddy Roosevelt was a best-selling author before he became president. He wrote histories, biographies, essays, and memoirs. His books were widely distributed and very popular. And this was in the era before presidents “wrote” their memoirs as a way of supplementing their post presidential income.
This was our mystery man, James Buchanan who never married.
The first man elected president who had previously been divorced was Ronald Reagan.
John Tyler had 15 children with two wives.
Once again, John Tyler. He was elected as vice president with William Henry Harrison. He became president when Harrison died shortly after assuming office. At the time, no one was sure if the vice president would become president or simply assume the duties. Tyler solved the problem by quickly having himself administered the oath of office. Tyler was never popular with his party and was referred to as “His Accidency”. He was not nominated for an independent term of office and left after his first term.
This is one The Grumpy Doc missed. I thought it would be Andrew Johnson. But, once again it was John Tyler. The charges were not successful, although surprisingly they were brought by his own party, and he completed the term.
You may have noticed a trend here; this was our old friend John Tyler. He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives but died before actually taking office.
The first permanently installed bathtub was during the administration of Millard Fillmore. This may be the most significant thing that happened during the administration of this otherwise undistinguished president.
Jimmy Carter, born in 1924, was the first president born in a hospital.
Both President Grant and President Eisenhower graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and President Carter graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.
President Truman was the last president without a college degree. He attended business school and law school but did not graduate from either. At that time, it was possible to attend law school without an undergraduate degree.
Andrew Jackson achieved his campaign promise of completely paying off the national debt on January 8th, 1835. However, this proved not to be a good thing. The practices he implemented to pay off the debt led directly to the panic of 1837, one of the worst recessions in U.S. history and a significant increase in national debt.

There is a lot more presidential trivia, but this is enough for our first go around. Please send me comments about your success in answering these questions. My score was right around 70%. Hopefully some of you can do better. But of course, if you do, The Grumpy Doc will never admit to having been beaten.

The Best President Ever

By John Turley

On May 16, 2023

In Commentary, History

As we get closer to the upcoming presidential election, I’m looking forward to the latest round of articles about “the best president ever”. These lists usually include Abraham Lincoln, FDR and Thomas Jefferson somewhere in the top three or four depending on where in the cycle of historic popularity their reputations happen to be. Other presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Truman, Eisenhower and Reagan will go on and off the list depending on the whims and the political orientations of the list makers. JFK has occasionally been on the list of best presidents since shortly after his assassination. The more recent a president, the more likely he is to show up on these lists. This is due partly to the fact that we tend to give higher regard to those things about which we have firsthand knowledge. Any list done over the last 15 to 20 years may include Clinton or Obama or Trump, although, given the polarization of the political process today it’s unlikely that all three would be on the same list.

But what exactly does “best president” mean? How would you come up with quantitative measures that can be used to grade presidents and create a reproducible list? Of course, being “best “ largely depends on the severity of the problems faced by the president and the success of his solutions. It also seems to me that all such lists must be subjective and influenced by the political ideology, social position, financial status, education, and region of the country of the list maker. Personally, I don’t know how to even begin to rate a best president.

While I may not know who the best president was, I strongly believe I can tell you who the most important president was and always will be, that is George Washington. To borrow a phrase from historian James Flexner, Washington was the indispensable man. He had the combination of experience, strength and dignity that was necessary to guide this country through those first critical years. Without his initial leadership it’s possible that the country may have disintegrated it into several smaller bickering independent states that likely would have been annexed by the European powers. George Washington is the man who turned These United States with an emphasis on States into The United States with an emphasis on United.

George Washington’s importance began before there was a presidency or even a formal government. Without his leadership as the commanding general of the Continental Army there likely never would have been a United States at all.

Washington was never a great tactical general. He had very few battlefield victories, although his victories at Trenton and Princeton came at an important time for the fledgling revolution. They might even be considered strategic victories and it was his role as a strategic general that led to eventual victory.

Washington recognized that he did not have to win on the battlefield but only had to maintain the Continental Army as a field force and outlast the British will to conduct an overseas war. At a time when others were urging him to meet the British in a large European style battle, he recognized that losing decisively on a battlefield may have been enough to shatter the Continental Army and with it the entire Revolution. If you are not familiar with the many attempts early in the Revolutionary War to oust Washington from command, it will be well worth your time to read more about it.

At the end of the Revolution, Washington returned his Commission to the Continental Congress and retired to Mount Vernon. He expected to spend the rest of his days managing his estates. But his country was not yet done with him.

After the Revolution, the country was governed under the Articles of Confederation, a document that Washington called …” a rope of sand.” Multiple attempts were made to revise the articles, including a failed convention in Annapolis in 1786, to which only five states sent representatives.

When another convention was called in Philadelphia in 1787, Washington initially declined to participate, believing it would be no more successful than the Annapolis convention had been. Finally, James Madison and Henry Knox persuaded him to attend.

Washington arrived in Philadelphia and was promptly elected president of the convention. It was his presence that largely influenced every state except Rhode Island to send delegates. His presence also emboldened the delegates to embark on the creation of a new Constitution, rather than a simple revision of the articles as they had been tasked by their states.

As president of the convention, Washington maintained a non-partisan role. He seldom participated in debate and generally joined in the voting without comment. He felt it was his role to maintain the decorum of the convention, something he could do only by remaining above the fray.

Currently, there is much debate about the three-fifths clause and the role of slavery in the shaping of the Constitution. At the time, this was not the only contentious issue being debated. The role of a chief executive had the potential to be equally divisive.

Having just fought a revolution against a monarchy, many of the delegates had a strong distrust of centralized power. An initial proposal was to place executive power in a three man board. Prolonged discussion revolved around how to choose the board and how it would function. As it became clear that Washington could be the first president under a new constitution, support solidified behind the single chief executive. Without his presence, there may never have been a presidency at all.

Much has been made about the role of the Federalist Papers in the ratification of the Constitution. While they undoubtedly influenced the wealthy and the well-educated, the knowledge that Washington supported the Constitution and would be, without doubt, the first president was more important to the average citizen.

Washington was so popular at the time that some even suggested he be made “King of America”; an idea he would never even acknowledge.

In sum, even before he took the oath of office, George Washington was indeed our most important president.

Further reading:
Washington: A Life, Ron Chernow.

George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father, David O. Stewart.

Washington: The Indispensable Man, James Thomas Flexnor.

George Washington’s Journey: The President Forges a New Nation, T. H. Breen.

The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, David O. Stewart.

George Washington: A Biography, Douglas Southall Freeman. This seven-volume set is the gold standard of Washington biographies.