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BILL NEINAST

neins1@aol.com

THE MOSTLY TRUE AND UNABRIDGED HISTORY OF WILLIAM H. “BILL” NEINAST


Some people believe I caused the Great Depression.  There is a basis for that belief.  I was born in Somerville, Texas, on August 26, 1929, in my parent’s home; a house without electricity or plumbing.  A mere 59 days later, the banks failed and the stock markets crashed on Black Friday, October 24.  Those two dates are too close to be a mere coincidence.

Being a man of conscience, however, I helped start the long road to recovery.  My friend, Cotton Malkey, and I kept construction of the stone gymnasium and football field in Somerville moving.  Ensconced in Cotton’s front yard, we would ping with a BB gun any man working on the WPA project who would bend over too long to pick up a stone with his butt pointed toward us.

When not supervising the WPA, there were no TVs, video games, IPhones, or air conditioning to keep me inside, so I mowed lawns, sanded floors, worked the projectors at the Lyon theatre, and cut meat in my Dad’s market and grocery.  For a break from that tedium, I graduated as valedictorian of the Somerville High class of 1946.

Then it was off to the real world of my mother’s alma mater, Texas Lutheran College (now Texas Lutheran University) in Sequin.  I graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in the last class as a junior college. 

Next, was a migration north to THE university--The University of Texas in Austin. There, I was fortunate enough to help my future wife earn the degree she was seeking.

Jeannine Pearce left her home in Marlin to get an Mrs degree.  Being a good Methodist, she joined the Methodist Student Association, but found nothing there that met her standards.  So she transferred to the Lutheran Student Association, where we found each other.  The rest is history.  The 60 year old trial marriage has worked so well, we are considering making it permanent.

In 1952, we left Austin with degrees in hand.  Jeannine had earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics and I was carrying a Bachelor of Arts and a Doctor of Jurisprudence.  We moved to Caldwell where I practiced law for a short while in a two-man firm that was first established in 1911.  The late Hays Bowers, my mentor and the namesake of our oldest son, taught me more law in three months than I learned in three years of law school.

The Korean War was claiming American lives across the Pacific at the time.  So, to dodge the draft, I got a commission in The Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army. 

I began my military career with a belief that no one who could make a living on the outside would ever undertake a military career. My contact with senior career officers and enlisted personnel quickly disabused me of that idea.  So I became one of them and the Army then tried for 27 years to educate me at taxpayers expense.

On the military side of the ledger, I graduated from both the basic and career courses of The Judge Advocate General’s School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and The Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.  On the civilian side, I did a year’s graduate work in international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and graduated from the Hague Academy of International Law, The Hague Holland, and the Management School for Executives of Pittsburgh University.

In 27 years of active duty, I had two tours of duty in the Pentagon and three overseas tours in Germany and Vietnam.  I performed various periods of duty in eight foreign countries.

Along the way, Jeannine and I reared four Army brats into productive citizens.  Steven Hays is the Assistant General Counsel for Entergy Corporation.  Mark is the American Sales Director for ESP Corp., a GE subsidiary in the oil patch.  Bill, Jr., or Will, is a Senior Vice President of Bank of America.  Anita, the Chief of Staff of the family, is a CPA/CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) with her own consulting firm.

I am published in Military Law Review, Army Lawyer, Army, Progressive Farmer, Gulf Coast Cattleman, The Lion, and Country (where I was a “country editor” for ten years).  Currently, I pen a weekly political op-ed piece for the Brenham Banner Press.

Jeannine and I are now enjoying our golden years on property in Washington County, Texas, that has been in my family since the Civil War.  My grandfather and father were born here, so here is where it started and where it will will end.

enough

MY ESSAYS

1   In Perspective    

2   Dear Mr. Congressman

3   Enough Already!

4   Hunker Down!

5   WWDD

6   The RNC: a Treat

7   A Sitcom in Charlotte

8   Get Serious about the War

9   Spokesperson: Most Difficult Job

10   Singing Cathy’s Song

11   What If It Had Been George?

11   Desperate Men Do Desperate Things

12   Class Warrior in Chief

13   What Did He Know and When...

14   We Need a Graveyard for Sacred Cows

15   GOP Swan Song?

16   Class Warriors: the Truth Hurts

17   The Dust Bowl and the Role of Government

18   There Are Many Cliffs

19   The Death Penalty

20     We Lost the War on Poverty

21    More Gun Laws a Folly

22     To Sue or Not to Sue

23     The Wording Says It All

24     Culture of Dependence

25     Trip to the Watermelon Patch

26     Knee Jerk Reaction

27     Defense Department Two-Step

28     Saving the Military

29     Economically Illiterate

30   Charity and the Work Ethic

31     Where Is the Sequester Disaster?

32     Reviving Monsters

33     The Cost of Medical Care

34     A History Lesson: English Only

35     Slackers and Your Money

36     The Mouse That Roared

37     A Day of Infamy

38     One More Law

39     The Key Word Is Terrorist

40     Mission Accomplished

41     The Buck Stops Here

42   Hear No Evil, Etc.

43   CSOPE

44   Drip, Drip, Drip

45   Sleep Well

46   Lie Redefined

47   PC and History

48   Joe and Jose

49   Foreign Policy Mush

  50   Why? Not Who?

51  Coherent Policy...I Think Not

52  From Liebenau to Detroit

  53   Hog Killing Time

54   Blind Hog Finds Acorn

55   The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure

56   Red Line Rewrite

57   Where’s Waldo?

58   Looming Danger

59   Alcohol and Drugs: History Repeated

60   Voting Hypocracy

61   Our Henny Penny Congress

62   Affordable Healthcare?

63   Look Over There

64   Advertising Pays

65   Kicking the Can Down the Road and the Texas Model

66   A Little Good News

67   Silver Alerts and Pinocchios

68   I Know Nothing

69   Viva Independence and Self-Reliance

70   Perspective on bin Laden’s War

71   Fewer Toys for the Pentagon

72   Obamacare Flight

73   Radical?

74  Fair?

75   Republican New Year’s Resolution

76   Now You’re Concerned?

77   Unemployment the Texas Way

78   Beware Solicitation Letters

79   We Must Not Forget

80   Political Lies

81   Dangit!

82   Let’s Not Make Anyone Uncomfortable

83   Dropouts and Graduates

84   The Ditherer

85   Illegal Aliens

86   Top Secret

87   Larry, Moe, and Curley

88   Charity Starts at Home

89   Declare Peace in the War on Drugs

90   Stop Knee Jerk Reactions

91   Sensible Military Reductions

92   If It’s Not Broke

93   What Difference Does It Make

94   Education: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

95   Order More Stop Signs

96   Back to the Issues That Matter

97   Fairness: Here We Go Again

98   Less Sports and Entertainment: More Hard News

99   Uncle Sugar

100   The Veterans Administration’s Mess

101   The Last Chivalry

102   Rights to Entitlements

103    Workers’ Paradise

104    United? Nations

105    An Outstanding President: Obama

106    Double Agent?

107    Deja-vu, All Over Again

108    A Little Middle East History

109    Surviving the Hydra

110    Only the Facts M’am

111    Tomlinson Hill and the Democrats

112    Both Parties Hypocrites

113    We’re Already at War

114    I Know Nothing

115    Alarm Bells

116    Radical Change

117     Ebola: an Imagined Epidemic

118     It’s Better to...

119     Make Schools Independent

120     RRR

121     Changing Neighborhoods

122     We’ll Survive

123     Just the Facts

124     What Do They Want?

125   Affordable Care Act?

126   Been There, Done That

`127   My Chystal Ball

128   Kudos to President Obama

129   The Keystone XL Pipeline

130   Voting Reform Important

131   Time Marches On

132   Narcissist-in-Chief

133   Mideast Treaty Organization

134    Give Common Core a Chance

135    War and Luck

136    Nobody Else Is Doing It?

137    What If Obama Were

President in 1941

138     Bernie Madoff: Barrack Obama     

139   Global Warming Nuts     

140    Scams

141    Welcome Back to Munich

142    A President from the Business World?

143    Blunderbuss Foreign Policy

144    The Inheritance Tax

145    Fair Trial in Baltimore

146    The Governor and the Military

147    From General to Personal Welfare

148    From Independence to Dependency

149    Finally Some Good News

150    December 7

151   When Did Policemen Become the Bad Guys?

152   This Ain’t Crystal Night

153   Bingo, Hillary

154   The Trump Card

155   Goodbye Old Flag

156   Obeying the Law

157   The Tax Collector or Karl Marx

158   Good News, Bad News

159     The Cream Rises to the Top

160      Kept in the Closet

161      From Baitzemt to the US

162  Seig Heil Again?

163   Abortions Many Aspects

164   Sauce for the Goose Is Sauce for the Gander

165   Perspective from Dr. Ben Carson

166   Modest Proposals for a  Conundrum

167   Snake Oil

168    The Log in Your Own Eye

169    Chaos, Dysfunction, Frustration

170    How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked

171   Foreign Policy Seek and Fink

172    A Radical by Any Other Name Is Still a Radical

173   War Requires a Strategy

174    War Requires a Strategy...Still

175    Tread Lightly, Voters

176    Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor...

177    President Clueless about the Misuse of Firearms

178    Immigration Solved: Enforce Laws on Books

179    I, Uncle Sam, Resolve...

180    Tears and Fiddling

181    Political But Not Correct

182    Same Tune---Different Verse

183    A Wake for the Two Parties

184    A Generational Difference

185   County Commissioners’ Court Accessible

186   Do You Want This Thing to Be President?

187   LaBahia/Washington

188   Clarification: Supreme Court

189   Today Is 1984

190   Be Careful What You Ask For

191   World War III

192   Time for a Tune Up

193    Is “Hello” PC?

194     Trump on Abortion

195     Supreme Court Up for Grabs

196     Keep Your Fingers Crossed

197     Hobson’s Choice 2016

198    Get Out of Panic Mode

199    New Models for Elections

200    A Country of Immigrants

201    Nothing to Fear

202    There Is an Alternative

203    Texas Needs a Death with Dignity Law

204    Stupid Response to Orlando

205    The Worst Commander-in-Chief

206    The U.S. Army War College

207    BLM Mirrors KKK

208    Wars’s Many Faces

209    Ma and Pa Clinton

210   Chameleon Trump

211  SNAFU

212  Autographed Copy of Jesus Christ

213  No Best Out There

214  A New Draft

215  Hard Decisions

216  It Must Be True

217  Federal Government Dysfunctional

218  Vote for Supremes and Congress

219  The Republican Party and Silk Purses

220  Mission Impossible

221  Enough Already

222  Ma and Pa Going to the White House?

223  Henny Penny Democrats

224  Politically Correct=Political Idiocy

225  Newton’s Third Law and Politics

226  Miracles Do Happen

227  The Business of Government

228  The Russians Are Coming

229  What Will Happen in 2017?

230  Driving Nails into Coffins

231  Pass in Review!

232  Will Trump Be Presidential?

233  A Glimmer of Hope

234  Flabbergasted Democrats

235  Part of Our Heritage

236  DeVos Right Secretary of Education

237  Rethinking Education

238  Abortion and Sex Education

239  The Russians Did It?

240  Free Speech Not Free

241  Shaky Standing

242  Flailing Chickens

243  Operation Papyrus

244  And the Winner Is

245  A New Man in Town

246  Too Soon Old, too Late Smart

247  The Land of Oz, USA

248    News and Facts

249    Washington County EMS: the Best

250    Memorial Day---Every Day

251    Prejudice a Learned Behavior

252    Emoluments?

253    Give Henny Penny a Rest

254    Too Much Trivia

255    Nuclear North Korea

256    Fair Taxes

257    Ignoring Facts

258   Starving Departments

259   Time for Another Hoover Commission?

260   Hate and the KKK

261   Bad Language: Bad Choice

262   Waiting with Baited Breath

263   Hate Knows No Bounds

264   A Step too Far

265   The Law Is the Law

266   Honest Trump

267   Stuck in the Swamp

268   Why?

269   The NFL, Racism, and the President

270   Politics and Monuments

271   Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

272   Guns Don’t Kill People...

273    Yesterday Not All Bad

274    Racism and the National Anthem

275    Dear Kneeling Brothers

276    Sex Will Win

277    Apples and Oranges

278    Truth in Advertising

279   A Better Way

280    White Privilege to the Trash

281    Taxes---Same Old Story

282    County Governance

283    From the Farms to the Cyberworld

284    The Scoundrels!

285    Whistler’s Mother

286    Pot, Bowl, or Magnet

287    State Level Term Limits

288    Murder Is Already Illegal

289    Truth in Advertising

290    The National Debt

291   Brenham, Texas, Has a Professional Theatre

292   The Train to Crystal City

293   Paying for Panic

294   Time’s Up

295   Trouble

296   Pro-Lifers or Anti-Abortionists? 

297   Deal Not Bonded

298   Laws Punish---Not  Prevent

299  Republicans---Don’t Be Hypocrites

300   Immigration

301   Our Schools Need Overhaul

302  Barack Obama...What a Guy!

303  Facts about Separated Children

304  We’re Doomed

305  Emotional  Thinkers

306  Democratic Socialists of America

307  Casey at the Bat

308  Talk Softly and Carry a Big Stick

309  The World Moves On

310  Trump and the Press

311  Security Clearance: the Truth

312  The Washington Playground

313  Life Is Adaptable

314  Millennials and Prosperity

315  OK, We Lost

316  Do Democrats Have No Shame?

317  Bring Back the WPA

318  Senators and Sense

319  Murder

320  The Cost of Illegals

321  Term Limits

322  Murder Is a Constant

323  Health Care  Not an Entitlement

324  Thankful for the Constitution

325  Trump and Media Are Both Guilty

326  Atrocity Upon Atrocity

327  Memories

328  The New Colossus

329  Pork and the Wall

330  Wake Up America

331  21 Months until Election
332  Birth and Law Suits

333  Socialism and Stupidity

334  DC’s a Logic Vacuum

335  Relax: Climate Change Not All Bad

336  President Trump: a Man of His Word

337  My Own History

338  December 7,1941

339  Big Changes Since WWII

340  Bernie Says Medicare for All

341  The VA: Faceless, Nameless, Unapproachable

342  We’ve Moved but Little Has Changed

343  Brain Cells and Democrats

344  The “Doctor” Needs Guidance

345  Dems Plotting against Electoral College

346  Greatest Generation Not to Be Replicated

347  Chickens and Illegals

348  Have Faith in Capitalism

349  Will It Never End?

350  Aliens on Stage

351  That’s a Lot of History

352  Socialists-Democrats

353     Respect for Country

354     Naive Socialist-Democrats

355     Scary Socialist-Democrats

356     Beating a Dead Horse

3357    Rational Conclusions

358    Respect for the Law

359    Thank Your Mentors

360   Nero’s Fiddling

361   Red Flag Approach

362   High Crimes and Misdemeanors

363   Three Threats to U. S.

364   In My Shoes

365   Adapt

366   “Racism”

367   Star Chamber

368   Naive, Uninformed, and

Juvenile

369   Honoring the Veterans

370   Old Folks Homes

371   Washington’s Farce

372   Our Jury System

373   What to Worry about

374   Impeachment: a Christmas Gift

375   Happy New Decade

376  It’s What He Does

377     Nightmares

378    Now That’s a Nightmare

379    No Thanks, Dems

380    Where’s My Present, Kim?

381    Civics Lessons Needed

382    The Cat Fight

383    From Sears to Amazon

384    Self-Funded...Not So Much

385    Panic...Really?

386    The Pandemic and the Economy

387    The Pandemic and World War II

388    COVID-19 and Future Wars

389    It’s a Tough Call

390    Stop Whining

391    New Reads and the Death Penalty

392   The Coming  Economic Disaster?

393   Kamikaze Warfare

394    Your Grandparents’ Shoes

395    It’s Not Broken

396    Black and White Police Brutality

397    Systemic Police Brutality

398    What’s the Point?

399    BLM: What Do They Want?

400    The Holocaust, Friends, and Slavery

401    auf wiedersehen Logic

402    It’s Time to Stop the Nonsense

403    Applaud the Men in Blue

404    The Answer: Term Limits

405    Miraculous Advancements

406    Lady Liberty

407    Don’t Believe Everything You Read

408    History and Experience

409    The First Amendment

410    The Supreme Court

411    What’s behind Proposed Changes?

412    Four on One

413    Optimism Ain’t Easy

414    Medicine Ranks Number 1

415    The Blue Wave

416    Election Fraud Nothing New

417    Thanksgiving Thanks

318    You Lost---Go Home

419    Trump Is an Idiot

420   The Atmosphere Changes: Get Over It

421   The Days of Self-Reliance

422   So Here’s the Perspective

423   The Path to the Workers’ Paradise

424   Thrown to the Wolves

425   January 4, 2021: Historical

426   Eight Levels of Control

427   Hypocracy and the Southern Border

428   The Right to Assemble and Petition

429   Where’s Hunter?

430   Tax and Spend

431   1941 Again

432   Guns and Common Sense

433  Century of Change

434   Racist Country?

435   What’s Next!

436  Biden’s Policies?

437  Jack Norton

438 Three Mistakes

439 The Ostrich Administration

440 Auf Wiedersehen