SOME OF THIS; QUITE A BIT OF THAT!

JIMMY WASN'T ALL BAD: T'was just a few days back that I raised departing Florida Governor Charlie Crist's determination to seek a full pardon for the sins of Jim Morrison, the late frontman of "The Doors". (See: "HAVE ROOM IN THERE FOR JIMI AND JANIS TOO? / Nov. 19) Governor Crist has raised eyebrows worldwide with the plan to pardon Morrison for a couple of convictions 40 years ago following a ruckus concert in Miami on March 1, 1969. Turns-out that Jim Morrison also studied at Florida State University in Tallahassee beginning in 1961; and he was a pretty decent student. Morrison's father is a staunch defendant of his late musician son. He claims his famous son was a good student who "respected authority." Transcripts released by the University bear him out: In 1961 Jim Morrison received mostly A(s) and B(s) in Acting, Philosophy and many other classes. He received C(s) in sciences and "did not complete" his Spanish course.

IF TODAY'S WAR EFFORTS AREN'T SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH: On a few occasions over the past several months, I've raised the conflicted spectre of re-enactments and various events which will commemorate the upcoming 200th Anniversary of the "War of 1812." It seems that Canadian and British historians have major differences with their American counterpart over the significance - and sometimes the outcome - of the failed U.S. invasion of British North America (Canada) and the battles which were fought mostly along the waterways of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River system. But before those battlefields are "bloodied" again by re-enactors in 18 months or so; it seems that the U.S. government may have already run out of cash to support any mock war efforts. April 12, 2011 marks the 150th Anniversary of the first shot of the American Civil War and plans have been in the works for years to commemorate the sesquicentennial from Fort Sumter in South Carolina and pretty much until the spring of 2015 all along the eastern seaboard states where the war was fought. Hit by turbulent financial problems both the states involved: The Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia, along with several others; and the Federal Government are denying (or have significantly restricted) funds to mark the occasion. It may be all for the best - As one Virginia representative put it: "We're not out to celebrate anything. There's nothing to celebrate when three-quarters of a million men died."

THE UNUSUAL DISAPPEARANCES OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE: The earliest allegations about the mysteries of the "Devil's Triangle" didn't really surface until about 5 years after the occurrence of the most significant event. It's been 65 years this week that Flight 19, five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers, vanished off the face of the earth in the midst of an otherwise uneventful afternoon training mission out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The mysterious tragedy of Flight 19 has been recounted in numerous articles and more significantly in the books; "Limbo Of The Lost" (1969), "The Bermuda Triangle" (1974), and "The Devil's Triangle" (1974) which raised elements of the supernatural related to the December 5, 1945 disappearance of the bombers as well as the subsequent crash of a seaplane sent out to look for them. Though the U.S. Coast Guard, responsible for the well-being of the waters of the "triangle" is..."officially skeptical" of its existence others (it seems) have a clearer perception: Based on the transcripts of the radio messages received from the "Lost Patrol" which includes the flight leader saying: "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white" - The 1946 Navy Board of Inquiry into the incident concluded that the planes..."flew off to Mars."