Mark Knows It All

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL, THE WEB SITE by clicking on the link at the top of the adjoining column When I was much younger, my father said when his mother died that it was his turn next. That was years and years ago, and now I find myself somewhat in that position. My dad passed away 5 years ago. My mother isn’t dead, but she has been diagnosed with a number of very serious problems which means, at the age of 89, she can no longer live alone. She has resisted admitting to herself that it is time to go to an extended care facility, but deep down she knows. This week she moved there from the hospital. I was born into a family with lots of relatives. Both my mother and father each had 5 brothers and sisters. That meant lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. It took a big table on both sides of the family to seat all of us. In my family, there is just me and my brother, making all of those cousins in the extended family something special. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on you

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL THE WEBSITE by clicking on the link at the top of the column to the right Just in time to remind any of you that think the world's problems can be solved by holding hands and singing Kumbaya, Russia invades Georgia. This was a well planned action, timed to coincide with the world’s Olympic distraction, and America’s political season. Make no mistake, folks, Putin and crew are bad dudes. When the former President and now Prime Minister of Russia states the greatest catastrophe of the 20th Century was the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he wants to see the Soviet Empire reconstituted, you better listen. While the rest of Europe is politically lurching to the right, finally waking up to the fact that its non-assimilated Moslem population can destroy its culture, and realizing that it gets anywhere from 30 – 70% of its energy from Russia, the United States is in full flower-power mode, flirting with a potential leftist administration who believes the w

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL, THE WEB SITE by clicking on the link at the top of the adjoining column Is there any good news for Ohio? The German Company DHL, the successor to Airborne Express, is closing down its hub in Wilmington, Ohio, with a loss of 8,000 jobs. It is hiring UPS for its package handling, and using the UPS Kentucky hub in place of Wilmington. DHL purchased Airborne in 2003 using John McCain's current campaign advisor as its lobbyist to get the enabling legislation through Congress. The advisor has had no association with DHL since 2005. This month’s edition of Forbes Magazine lists four Ohio cities in the top ten list of dying cities in the United States. Included on the list, in addition to Youngstown, are Dayton, Cleveland, and Canton/Massillon. Although they are not ranked in any particular order, a cursory review of lost population puts Youngstown close, if not at, the top of the list. I have always taken these lists with a grain of salt. If one just looks