Never know what you’re going to find when you begin to re-read some of the messages you received on your WordPress Blog Posts.
I was nominated for the “Liebster Award” which is recognition of blog post writers by other bloggers. The author used the name of “Lillies Loves” at her site, and had offered the award in a message I had overlooked until I saw it in response to a post I wrote several years ago about the Jewish mysticism called Kabbalah.
Continue readingThe United States will celebrate its “Semiquincentennial” on the 4th of July and plans are already made to kick off this historic event with dozens of activities in the birthplace of the nation – Philadelphia.
Continue readingI began a major endeavor this month to re-edit all of the Blog Posts that I had written over the years, and it has re-opened many of the hopes and dreams that I once shared while writing and sharing messages at Contoveros.Wordpress.com.
Continue readingIt’s been six months since I entered the hospital and got transferred from one rehabilitation center to another, but I think I may have finally licked the worst of my ailments and am ready to join my old household. I still have trouble walking from one room to another, and I need assistance from someone walking behind me while climbing up the stairs.
Continue readingWhat a joy grandkids provide us, particularly when they share their daily lives with you as a family. I’m talking about my 6-year-old grandchild, Denalia, and my rambunctious 8-year-old grandson, Jameson Contos.
Continue readingFor the first time in my life, a bird greeted me outside my bedroom window as I contemplated whether to get out of bed earlier today.
It was 6 a.m. in the morning! A little too early for my taste, so I just rolled over and rested my head against the two pillows I had piled up on one side of the bed. (They help prop me up when I watch television many hours later.)
Continue readingI will be off to Washington DC next month on an excursion strictly for veterans to participate in what has been designated as an “Honor Flight” for those who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
The program was created some years ago and even provided airfare for those living on the West Coast and living too far to make a trip to the nation’s capital by vehicle. That is where it got its name “Honor Flight” and in my bailiwick, that would be “Honor Flight Philadelphia.”
We will check into our lift-off facility between 4 and 5 a.m. on May 17th and share donuts and coffee at the Upper Merion Township Middle School until we are driven to the bus departing from the City of Brotherly Love at 5:30 a.m. The first patriotic eye-opening event will occur at 9:30 a.m. as we are slated to witness the “Changing of the Guard” while visiting with the Tomb Guard.
Iwo Jima will come next and my heart and mind will be thrown back to my childhood when I dreamed of becoming a Marine due in large part to the war movies I had seen and my love of that photograph and the later monument built of the Marines raising the American flag at that Japanese island toward the end of World War II (Feb. 23, 1945).
The Air Force Drill Team will greet us next followed shortly afterward at the Navy Memorial and a bountiful lunch. (No C-rations will be offered to any of my GI friends known as “grunts“!)
The Korean War Memorial will then be shown to us shortly thereafter.
Next, I will once again focus on the engraved names of my fallen comrades as we visit the Vietnam War Memorial where the two 200-foot-long sections of a granite wall contain the list of 58,281 U.S. service members who died in that war. The names are listed in chronological order by date of casualty.
I will once again cry when I see First Lieutenant Victor Lee Ellinger’s name inscribed near the date of November 23, 1970. We served together in the “C Company” of 12th Infantry, and 2nd Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division as unit commanders. The combat infantry platoon leader was killed by sniper fire.
Finally, we will visit the World War II Memorial at 2:30 p.m. and depart by bus from Washington a half hour later. At 6 p.m. we will be greeted by well-wishers at the Upper Merion Middle School where dinner and entertainment will be provided to those of us who served.
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“This is our tribute to you for all the sacrifices you have endured so the rest of us can live free. Enjoy your “Tour of Honor” to your memorial and be treated with the honor you so richly deserve. It is going to be a long day but I assure you it will be a rewarding day filled with memories.)
I was escorted from my home by a Uber driver for the first time in my life when I learned the Veterans Administration provides the service free for disabled veterans.
Continue readingI believe that I am finally cured of pneumonia, rhino virus bacterial pneumonia that is, which I believe I got after Covid struck me for the second time in October and stayed with me through what I thought was nothing more than a persistent cough and excess phlegm problem.
Continue readingThe month of January will always bring a sad feeling when I recall what happened on the first day of the year in 1953 to one of the greatest Country and Western singers of all time.
Continue readingI believe that is what the Universe is telling me as I have gotten older and time has caught up with this aging body that – for the life of me – can’t physically handle everyday chores and activities I routinely completed some six months ago.
Continue readingWas the 2024 presidential election rigged somehow by some unsavory characters with a history of such actions from the last presidential election?
Continue readingI cast my ballot today for the 2024 election in the United States in the hopes and joyful expectations that Kamala Harris will win and be declared president.
Continue readingI will be participating this Sunday in a gathering sponsored by a group presenting a woman I have followed for more than 10 years on a spiritual journey. Lorna Byrne is a woman from Ireland who has been seeing and speaking with angels since she was two years old and written several books on how we can open ourselves to the angelic realm that exists for our benefit.
Continue readingI never thought that words I wrote on a slip of paper and dropped into a suggestion box would somehow enlighten me!
Continue readingThe Pottstown Mercury Newspaper – where I served as cub reporter during the Bicentennial Year – will have a reunion as one of my mentors and great news reporters has scheduled a meeting this weekend.
Continue readingI got a kick out of introducing my grandson to one of the most enduring and well-liked comedians of all time.
Continue readingThose are the words that sprung from my heart and soul as I took in what the jury provided the entire world with their unanimous decision to convict a former USA president.
Continue readingThey say that “bad things happen in threes.” But I’m here to tell you that good things can happen in threes if you but open yourself to ’em.
Continue readingA Trivia game I played with senior citizens recently at the Upper Merion Senior Service Center focused on musical songs that contained numbers in their titles.
Continue readingWhile getting together all taxable income documents for 2023 to file with the IRS, I came across something that is quite amazing. The Social Security System keeps a list of all earnings you ever made starting with the first time you ever worked.
Continue readingThere are certain words and phrases in the English Language that I just can’t relate to or understand and bug me whenever I am asked to respond to them.
Continue readingI am about to get one of those RSV shots at the VA Hospital of Philadelphia to prevent any lung infection, and I wanted to share my enthusiasm for all the work the Veterans Administration has provided me with most of my adult life.
Continue readingYou never know when an action from your past may catch up to you and remind you of what you once did in your previous life.
Continue readingDoes Fate have anything to do with the day that a person is born? Can one person born on the same date years earlier have some sort of influence on someone born years and perhaps even centuries later?
Continue readingWhile attending the 10th anniversary of the Center for Contemporary Mysticism, a mystical experience opened my eyes to so many spiritual possibilities.
Continue readingIt has taken me three years to complete one study and a mere two years to finish the other, but I believe I have contributed to the scientific understanding of researchers for possible heart ailments and changes in thinking and memory for adults.
Continue readingI was thinking about a story I once wrote for a newspaper about the Philadelphia-born singer Jim Croce, and I discovered so many steppingstones that guided me from one career choice to another with an almost mystical maneuvering.
Continue readingWhile just starting to meditate, I could not get rid of thinking about the pains I was feeling in my body.
Continue readingToday’s Supreme Court is the worst judicial tribunal since the United States’ highest judiciary ruled in 1856 that blacks were not and could not be citizens.
Continue readingThe name change has finally occurred, and I am happy to report that every US Army base where I was stationed has had its Confederate Army soldier’s name removed and replaced with more admirable names.
Continue readingToday (May 13th) is the birthday of my favorite singer of all time.
If he lived, Bobby Darin would have turned 87, but a rheumatic heart condition caused a premature death at age 37.
That was exactly 50 years ago this year on Dec. 20, 1973.
Continue reading“Gabriel’s Messages” opened my heart to so many truths not only about life but of the transition of death, and I hope that others can read this wonderful book by my friend, Cyndi Smith, a fellow member of the Center for Contemporary Mysticism of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
Continue readingFox News should be curtailed on all military bases and facilities to prevent men and women in uniform to be lied to about stories and events shaping our nation, particularly the political world around us.
Continue readingPhysical therapy, that is. Although I could probably use a little for my mental well-being. (Just kidding.)
Continue readingOne of my all-time favorite authors – a veteran who was a POW and a staunch anti-war advocate – would have celebrated his 100th birthday this month.
Continue readingVoting has been made easier for many of us in Pennsylvania and the state provides links for checking on your voting status as well as any request seeking a mail-in ballot. I took part in a Zoom connection entitled “MontCoVotes” and learned how to maneuver through the government channels and wanted to share them here.
Continue readingThe world is celebrating the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi today!
Continue reading(See Part I “My Delaware County Community College!”)
Before I ever went to a Community College, I had to make up several deficits in my learning. I had to take Remedial Math as well as Remedial English. I passed both and was then permitted to take regular classes which include journalism studies and just as important, the school’s extra-curricular activity of working on the college newspaper.
And the person who framed me was none other than my son, Nicholas.
He framed all my medals from my enlistment in the US Army more than 50 years ago, including my service in the Vietnam War.
Continue readingWhat do a missing swimsuit and a 50-year-old photo of a newly-minted lieutenant have in common?
Continue readingThe following is Gabriel’s Message as channeled by my good friend Cyndi Smith:
Your soul does not completely fit inside your body. Some of your soul Remains in Heaven in what you call your Higher Self. Much of it is here inside of you but the part that overflows your body is called your aura.
Continue readingFor the first time in our nation’s history, an attorney who once practiced law as a public defender will serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the Senate and will take her seat this summer when Justice Stephen Breyer steps down. She will be the first former criminal defense lawyer since Justice Thurgood Marshall, who served on the bench more than 30 years ago.
Continue readingThis quote from Mark Twain touched my very soul yesterday when I got a message from one of my old colleagues who said that he had read something “disturbing.” The exact quote via Messenger was: “Michael, are you okay? I saw something disturbing for your name.”
Continue readingI am once again being guided by my good friend and co-founder of the Center for Contemporary Mysticism, Joe Irwin, a former church pastor.
Continue readingSixty years to the day of the most memorable kiss of my life, the girl who bestowed that kiss had contacted me for the first time since way back then.
Continue readingI have been honored this Veterans Day through a recorded interview about my book on the Vietnam War for a program called “Good Morning Conshy,” where I share the broadcast with two companion pet managers for what is known as PACT. Many of the animals had assisted veterans who could no longer care for their pets and needed help for animals they viewed as their children.
Continue readingOne of my favorite jobs was serving as an intern for the Defender Association of Philadelphia. I went to the jails, the Courtrooms, and the training rooms to learn how to properly defend persons charged with various crimes.
Continue readingauthored by Michael J Contos
at Contoveros.wordpress.com
Continue readingI knelt at the gravesite while bowing my head and closing my eyes to pray yesterday morning. I was visiting Calvary Cemetery of West Conshohocken, the burial site for Father William E Atkinson, an Augustinian priest who passed away in 2006 and is now being considered for canonization by the Catholic Church to be named a saint.
Continue readingI felt like a Boy Scout as I found a young woman’s lost wallet and marched it to the police station while another person walking outdoors helped to notify the owner.
Continue readingIt took me more than 50 years, but I finally published my Vietnam War story and the toll it took on me after leading a combat infantry platoon when I was just a 21-year-old first lieutenant in the US Army.
Continue readingThat is, the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I could’ve joined it right out of the Vietnam War, but at that time of my life, I didn’t want to help support the war that I had just left.
Continue readingSynchronicity is a term I have come to cherish since being introduced to it by my favorite psychologist, Carl G Jung. It refers to deeply meaningful coincidences that mysteriously occur in one’s life. Jung proved by the law of probability that they were not mere coincidences but insights into our rich and worthwhile lives.
Continue readingI have found so many little treasures on my daily walk as I strive each day to achieve my goal of 10,000 steps.
Continue readingWalter Mondale, the Minnesota resident and former candidate for president of the United States, was a staunch advocate for providing legal services to poor people charged with crimes, and I firmly believe that his legacy will live on.
Continue readingAny veteran who took part in the January 6th Insurrection at the US Capitol should be stripped of his or her VA benefits and labeled a “traitor.”
There is a disturbing number of current and former military personnel identified among those who broke into the Capitol to overturn the election. About 20 percent of the nearly 300 arrested, according to NPR. They should no longer receive treatment at VA hospitals, get the GI Bill for attending school, or obtain a mortgage loan.
They have acted against the United States by taking part in a rebellion and should be viewed as turncoats who have betrayed their country and the Constitution that all of us veterans vowed to protect and follow upon our enlistment.
Congressman Ruben Gallegos, a Marine Corps veteran, has contacted the head of the VA, as well as Homeland Security and Attorney General Merrick Garland, to seek action against the veterans who betrayed our country. The Democratic congressman from Arizona, who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has suggested that all forego disability compensation, educational benefits, access to health care, employment opportunities, and access to veteran-affiliated state programs.
The US Code governs benefits for veterans and their dependents. Under Sections 6104 and 6105, veterans and other individuals receiving VA benefits who commit mutiny or treason or who are convicted of ‘subversive activities,’ as listed in Section 6105(b), forfeit their right to VA benefits.”
I would go further and suggest the government publish the names of the traitors in the newspapers and identify them on television and the radio. Contact their bosses where they work and the churches their families attend, decrying them as traitors and deserters of the worst order.
Remember that five people were killed in the attack. One was a police officer.
No veteran should have taken part in such a heinous action, let alone follow the instructions of a draft-dodging coward.
I look forward to eventually reading the news of an indictment against the former president and/or an update on all of the civil lawsuits against him.
Continue readingToday, I am a Georgia Boy once again. And if we try hard enough, all of us could be Georgians!
Continue readingI want to unmask my true feelings about the Masking of America and how to get people to care enough for one another to be a little more considerate while walking outdoors.
The Fourth of July is upon us, and I wanted to share some independent facts that many Americans may not have learned in history books or inside their classrooms.
The Declaration of Independence was first printed in a German-Speaking newspaper and not an English one. The Colony of Pennsylvania once had a large German population, and when people of what became the Keystone State voted on which language to use, German lost by only one vote. 
Thomas Jefferson finished writing the document within three weeks at the Graff House at 7th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. Initially, the famous phrase for “inalienable rights” included the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of property.
“Property” was what the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke suggested nearly a hundred years earlier in his treatise on government, but Jefferson and Philadelphia resident Ben Franklin both used the more upbeat term “Happiness.”
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The oldest signer of the Declaration was Franklin, who was 70 years old. He also took part in helping to frame the Constitution written more than 11 years later. The youngest was 26-year-old Edward Rutledge. A lawyer from South Carolina.
When the document was read by the commander of the Continental forces in New York City, a raucous crowd cheered George Washington. It later tore down a statue of King George III, which was converted into 42,000 musket balls for the army.
In 1989, a Philadelphia man found an original Dunlap Broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence hidden in the back of a picture frame he bought at a flea market for $4. One of only a few surviving copies from the original first printing of the Declaration, it was in excellent condition and sold for $8.1 million in 2000.
Only one-third of the colonies supported the rebels. Another third favored the Tories, and the remaining third just didn’t care one way or another, according to John Adams of Massachusetts and the first vice president. He later became the nation’s second president. That figure has been raised to nearly 40 percent support for the Revolution and only 20 percent for the British Loyalists. The others were either neutral or kept a low profile.
The very last words spoken by Adams were “Thomas Jefferson still lives,” according to historical accounts. Jefferson had passed away hours earlier, but Adams did not get the text message, and he had muttered the words before typhoid overcame him. (Only kidding about the text message!)
While I am still able to recall in some detail highlights of my early life before true adulthood, I decided to write them down for future generations and others who may want to commiserate with my adventures and misadventures.  Continue reading
I meditated this morning and realized there were few, if any, sounds coming from the street outside my home. Traffic usually provides noise from cars and trucks as motorists make their way along the suburban road in Conshohocken, PA, some 14 miles outside of Philadelphia.  Continue reading
An American hero has fallen to the Coronavirus, and the world may never see the likes of him ever again.
Today is Vietnam Veterans Day, and the Year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of my deployment in the war zone.
I was a 21-year-old Second Lieutenant placed in charge of a platoon of some 25 men, many of them still in their teenage years and drafted like I had been.
I got promoted while in the field, and I remember using a black pen to darken the so-called yellow “butter bars” of the 2nd Lt. and make them a shade of subdued OD silver, the color for a 1st Lt.
The first person killed when I was “In-Country” was 1st Lt. Victor Lee Ellinger, who was shot by a sniper while leading the Third Platoon. Two members of our Second Platoon died when they placed a claymore mine along a path and forgot where they tied the wire, walking into it and blowing themselves up.
No one was killed under my command, but five grunts were wounded when mortar fire exploded on us one day. I view that as the worst day of my life during that “Crazy Asian War.”
We would be dropped by helicopter in an LZ and “hump the boonies” for 14 days in a row. In addition to experiencing firefights, we also marched through swampy areas, getting leeches that stuck to our bodies, needing to be burned off. I never parachuted into the triple canopy jungles of Vietnam, although I went to “jump school“, earning my Paratrooper Wings at Ft Benning, GA. I also learned how to repel, sleep in the rain, and avoid scorpions while training at Jungle School in Panama.
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I never shaved or used deodorant while in the field. Many of us stopped wearing underwear because the cloth took so long to dry when it had rained. We didn’t want to get crotch rot while on a search and destroy mission.
The coronavirus reminds me a little of what it was like 50 years ago. We never knew who the next one shot might be or be wounded from a hidden landmine or booby traps. Like today, our government really didn’t know what the hell it was doing. And we also had to abide by social distancing while moving.
I remember when a lieutenant colonel whom I loathed chastised me for failing to ensure my men kept a proper distance while moving from one place to another. The Third Platoon leader was shot, and I was ordered to go to his assistance. I force-marched my troops mercilessly in hopes of getting to Vic. But we were too late. He died, and two of my men had to be medevac’d out of the jungle because of heat exhaustion.
But what did Lt. Col Sallucci do? He was the only commander I knew whose own men tried to “frag” him by tossing a hand grenade at his sleeping quarters.) The SOB had flown in a helicopter above our marching lanes and chewed me out later for having let my men walk too close to one another. A hand grenade could take out more than one person, he said. Talk about the need for social distancing!
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Yes, times can be tough when you don’t know what tomorrow might bring in a possible world of pestilence, war, famine, and death.
But we combat veterans can take solace that whatever life throws at us back here in the civilian world, we can always say, “At least no one is shooting at me!”
I exercise daily and try to get enough steps each day to add up to two miles. That’s around 6,250 steps if anyone is counting.
I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 50 years ago, and looking back, I see it as one of the greatest achievements of my life. Also, one of the luckiest ones, and I’m so glad to still be around to talk about it.
Put another way, the Universe will conspire to bring about what you really want and need in life, even though you may not know it when the Divine Intervention takes place.
Or even like it. The intervention that is. And on first blush, it may even seem bad, but you realize on reflection that it had to have happened for you to progress in life.  Continue reading
“Groundhog Day” is the movie starring Bill Murray, who visits Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he is destined to live each day over and over for what seems like eternity. Its message is one of Karma and reincarnation, particularly when one realizes that the director and co-screenwriter was a practicing Buddhist by the name of Harold Remis. Continue reading
I would not have gone to college had it not been for the GI Bill, which is marking its 75th anniversary on June 22, 2019.
I never realized I had anything in common with Abraham Lincoln until I re-watched a movie about the president’s early life as a trial attorney. Yes, Honest Abe served as a lawyer who once worked for the railroads as well as those charged with criminal offenses.
Henry Fondaplayed a young Abe Lincoln in a classic movie on Turner Classic Movies in which the Springfield, Illinois,former rail-splitter pulled a stunt in a courtroom convince a jury that his client not guilty of murder. A young man for whom Lincoln represented pro bono was charged with killing a man at night in a wooded area.
Continue readingWorld War I, as historians have named it, did not end all of the wars, and in 20 years, the nations of the earth faced the worst world war mankind has ever known.  Continue reading
Patty Ward, a Specialist 4 with a helicopter gunship, was shot down 50 years ago while flying to the aid of US Army soldiers during the Vietnam War. He was one of four men who died when their helicopter was hit and crashed.
Patty was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in connection with helping to rescue other grunts wounded in another battle. His family in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia received the medal posthumously.  Continue reading
While editorials from dozens of newspapers throughout the country are expected to be offered about the attacks on the First Amendment on August 16, I figured I’d get my two cents worth in as a former news reporter.  Continue reading
Are there moments in our life when we can see God’s fingerprints or the Will of the Universe directing us along our path? I’m talking about seeing such a Divine Event as it is occurring or upon hindsight years later.\
Joy filled my soul as I read that the 12 boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand were thinking of entering a monastery in honor of the former Navy SEAL who gave his life in an effort to save them.  Continue reading
That is the message gracefully displayed at the gravesite of my favorite Founding Father in the City of Philadelphia. He was an ambassador to both England and France, as well as a signer of the Declaration of Independence and contributor to the US Constitution. He was also an inventor, a philosopher, and the creator of the first library, the first zoo, and the first fire company in the New World.
Padre Pio has a close connection with Philadelphia because of a woman who called in a prayer to bring her sick child to see him in 1968, and the blessing he granted that led to her miracle cure just a few weeks before he died.  Continue reading
Writing has opened me to a world above and beyond my five senses and I feel like an H.G. Wells whenever I revisit the past and recall what life was like when I was fortunate enough to stop the world for a few brief moments and write about something. Continue reading
Songs have a way of taking me back to a time of my life that provided milestones for the path leading me to where I am today.
We all have them, those cherished ones that we hold dear. Some of which may cause a tear to flow, a shit-eaten grin to form. I recently thought of five of ‘em and simply wanted to share them with “Old Folks at Home” who might also remember them.  Continue reading
Father Koenig put the gloves on me when I was ten years old and directed me toward the kid who was my same size but some two years older. That kid – Billy McLaughlin – kicked my butt. But I never cried or gave up as I swung wildly at him in an effort to land my own punches.  Continue reading
It struck me as I slowly made my way from the floor of the plane and stood in the center of the walkway. There were at least 30 other soldiers on the C-140, a military aircraft that was flying over the field where those of us in jump school would soon be taking our first jump.  Continue reading
I didn’t want to go to Vietnam to fight for our country. Who did back in 1968? I was never a gung-ho type of guy, even though I’d go a little berserk when a buddy of mine got attacked by some bully at home or in school.  Continue reading
My mother hit me upside the head when she caught me drinking beer in the Big Moose Bar up the street from where we lived.
I was 16 years old at the time and sipping a Ballantine beer with a friend from Dobbins Technical High School. Someone must have ratted me out, as my good friend Joe Walsh and I — both young white guys — drank in the African American bar in a section of Philadelphia called Brewerytown. Continue reading
I took a leave of absence from my work as a newspaper reporter to serve as a union organizer years ago. I had helped to negotiate several contracts at the Pottstown Mercury and only took the job when I was overlooked for a copy editor position at the paper.  Continue reading
John Facenda was Philadelphia’s favorite newscaster when I was growing up. He was suave and debonair, kind of like a Cary Grant with a voice that captured your immediate attention, whether it be about shenanigans going on in city government or sports actions through NFL replays. Continue reading
I display the pewter plaque prominently at my front door so that anyone leaving my house can see what has meant to me more than any awards I hang in my Feng Shui home. Continue reading
Flying from the ground on up has been a persistent dream of mine, and I wonder if I was some sort of a bird in a previous life.
Don’t laugh. I believe in Reincarnation and there is something about the company of birds I really like. Whenever I saw a bird, I felt it was a good omen.
With that phrase starting one of most memorable country songs in the 196os, I began my life as a man, a soldier, and a leader of an infantry platoon in the Vietnam War.  Continue reading
For a brief moment, I thought of praying that he would immediately die for cutting in front of me as I was doing 60-miles-an-hour on the expressway behind a car just five lengths in front of me. I beeped my horn and flashed my high beams at the driver. I relished in the hatred I felt burning inside of me.
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