Sentiment From One Who's Been There

I've recently spent some time with a guy who came home from Vietnam after having served three tours, received the Bronze and Silver Stars, a Medal of Commendation and sundry military mentions, who told me for the first time, "I couldn't tell anybody where I was. I had to hide it."

The War
I've known this person all my life, so I was very interested because he never had spoken of these degrading details. This guy was in the middle of the Tet Offensive, along with other grunt bodies. He's one of the people who was spit on when he came home to America.

Can you imagine spitting on a stranger simply because he wears a uniform? Imagine the kind of mind behind that utterly indefensible behavior. Imagine their absolute cowardice. They can say they're heroic till the cows come home simply because they "spoke out." Uh huh.

Don't believe what antiwar people say about their activities not affecting our people overseas. It's likely a troublesome irritant at first--part of the irony of democracy that you can vocalize hate speech against the very people (volunteers!) who are serving in your name.

Even the most professional soldier must tire of the nearly endless questions regarding the war's legitimacy, direction and progress. It has to be among the most frustrating aspects of adapting to an inhospitable and innately dangerous theater of war. Suddenly everyone's been to war college and knows everything there is to know about warfare. Everyone's a critic.

Who Are These People?
The people who want America to fail in the war on terror are the individuals who sold us down the river in the 60s and 70s in Vietnam. You know their names. They are the same, immature, narcissistic individuals who insisted their protests didn't contribute to placing our soldiers in harm's way. The only difference now is they're old and grey, like me.

The younger ones? Who cares? What possible addition can they give to this erroneous argument about the legitimacy of the war on terror? They're within that circle of self-centered folks having learned at their elders' knees that "...war is bad, the U.S. is bad, Republicans are bad. Now, where did I put that latte?"

Never Again
After talking with this Vietnam veteran I realize I must--no--I will stand up to the antiwar rhetoric. Never again should we allow the antiwar's shallow and craven voices to kill our spirit and cause Americans to lose hope and courage. Their calls for withdrawal only is amplified by the persistence of a mass media that has shown its collective irresponsible behavior for decades. If Americans give in, I fear the worst for all of us.

There is great power in reminding one another of the terrible consequences if we do not succeed in winning in Iraq. Iraq is simply a piece of the war on terror. We need to remember that. Since 9/11 the question has always been thus: if not now, when; if not there, where? Those are our choices given the enemy's ability to kamakazi their way across our borders.

Something tells me Iraq is a cakewalk compared to what's next if we allow ourselves to fail there.

Thanks for the read.

Open Call to Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard:
If any of you have a story to tell, please write me. I'll try to include as many as I can.

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A Marine's View

Sometimes you get the most wonderful pieces forwarded from God knows where! I am passing this one along because it's my duty to do so.

In a message dated 11/15/2005 5:11:52 PM Pacific Standard Time, GM ENT GC writes:

This poem was sent from a Marine to his Dad. For those who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops

THE MARINE

We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.

By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps
USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003
Hey Dad,
Do me a favor and label this "The Marine" and send it to
everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I
want this rolling all over the US; I want every home reading
it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you
please send this for me? I would but my email time isn't that
long and I don't have much time anyway. You know what Dad?
I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK
said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country,
I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it."
Well, now I know. And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity
to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful
wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would
do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made
for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much. I wish
I could be there when Sandi has our baby, but tell her that I
love her, and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give
Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too. Aaron

If this touched you as much as it touched me, please forward it on.
Let's help Aaron's dad spread the word.
FREEDOM isn't FREE
someone pays for you and me.

Dick and Merlene Carlson,
1109 North Main Street
Winterport, Maine, 04496-3418.
"We can't change the winds but we can adjust our sails."

So, there we are. Amazing that there are brave people who will stand in front of you and me when we're in danger. Absolutely amazing.

For a full presentation with pictures, look through my email to you.

Thanks for the read.

Wake Up, America

I don't know what it will take to get Americans to awaken to the dread and reality of this terrorist war. Another 9-11?

Probably not. They'd just blame President Bush again.

Come On! Come On!
I contend that any country who has a full generation without a draft, i.e., never having to defend itself, is headed for disaster.

We've got the media who consist mainly of sixties-style anti-war creeps, and another bunch of people who have never had it so good economically, who are generally uninformed and pretty stupid. Add to that their relativist social model, and voila' you've got major pantywaists. Lots of brawn from hours at the gym, and little from few hours spent reading something other than Vanity Fair.

Currently, I believe we've slipped into a silliness that will only be reversed when the dying see their own sweet reason ahead of them. After all, disrespectful men and women produce disrespectful results.

I Hated the Feminist Movement...
even when I liked it.

We've feminized everything in this society to the point where we female-types have no one to save us (yes, that includes you, Mr. Metrosexual).

Meanwhile, the kiddies (at script meetings, editorial meetings, bookdeal meetings, publicist's meetings, congressional aide meeting) currently masquerading as grown-ups (they actually get to vote too, you know), haven't a clue as to what makes things go round and around.

For example: what would move a essayist like Dowdy to knowingly put her country's men and women in jeopardy, or a silly little woman like Fonda to add to her countrymen's torture as she did when she was made a pit stop at the Hanoi Hilton? Think of it! What motivates an individual to love humanity more than the human? Oh, how very leftist of them, how so socialististic.

My unsophisticated brain says they're either awfully cruel and inhuman or crazy. Or both.

The War is Still Going On
Get off the president's back already. My God, the man has done wonderful things. The right-wing needs to sit down and shut up, the middle needs to give the president the support he needs (I'm mad at Warner and Frist for their betrayal of the president today), and the rest of us need to do what's right by our service people.

This smells just like the sixties anti-war crap that caused the deaths of 50,000 men and women to be in vain, plus the lives of two-million or so Vietnamese and Cambodians. How could they? And why? To be different, to be a thinker, someone to be looked up to?

I Was There.
These people, these dissidents, these antisocial, antiAmerican pariah who had the gaul to spit on people like my brother when he returned from three TDYs in Vietnam, these morally deficient, valueless, soulless, unrepenting Narcissists are the very same ones who caused the South Vietnamese to lose their war.

We cannot allow this to occur again. In Vietnam, we had not only the manpower, but the technology to win that war. We were there for legitimate, anti-Communist self-interest reasons.

But, the Fifth Column, the press/antiwar movement won. They forced Lyndon Johnson, another soulless politician to hold back and de-escalate that war. Then Nixon, that SOB, puts another four years on the bill as Kissinger kissed up to the North Vietnamese in Paris. It was disgraceful.

We saw what happened when we cut and run. We saw how millions of people died. We saw the effects up close and personal when our military people came home. Yeah, they said the same thing back then. You can support the military without supporting the war. Bullcrap.

Enough is enough. Bill Maher and Daily are no longer as amusing when you think about the effect their words have on our people. Think seriously before you yuk it up at some soldier's expense.

Put the entertainment on the back burner, and the priority back on the people who are doing our dirty work for us.

Thanks for the read.

Oh, by the way. If you're interested in a painting, take a look at my website.
www.frontstreetgallery.net

Republican Men are Acting Like Everyone's Father...

...instead of acting like equal partners in a worldwide conflict against terrorism.

Harriet Miers is the President's Choice
The patriarch baloney should stop. Mainstream Republicans of boths sexes need to stand up to the ungrateful right wing of our party. It is difficult to believe they'd rather be right than an important part of a support system for the president in time of war.

This irresponsible behavior reminds me that their ideals are in conflict with what most people profess to want--to succeed in the war on terror. Roe v. Wade is settled law. Why fight now? Does God really want his servants to put an entire nation at risk because their pride can't take the perceived insult from the Party? Where is that written, please?

The Long Blades Are Out
If our opponents' hateful words could kill, all of us Republicans would be dead thousands of times. Moreover, we have many more assaults ahead of us. The last thing this country needs is a split in our party.

I'm not asking for conservatives to put their knives away forever. I'm simply begging them to have faith.

Meanwhile, I hope these gentlemen get off their sexist kick soon. It's extremely unbecoming.

Thanks for the read.

The Battle For New Orleans

African-American entertainers show up at the evacuee centers to buoy the storm-ravaged's spirits.

Black bosses, preachers and the usual suspects line up to lie to the people they say they love and respect: black folks. Make that poor black folks.

When they hear the truth about New Orleans' Mayor Nagin and his criminal handling of this emergency, will some prominent black person step up, not excuse Mayor Nagin's part in this mess?

Or will we, as a culture, again lie about what we see and hear?

It's difficult to blame black, successful people in America who don't take responsiblity for the lies told on their behalf. After all, they can't forget where they come from, lest they get called an uncle or plantation black. God help him or her if Harry Belafonte doesn't approve of their politics.

Oprah to the Rescue
Gee, I have a hard time messing with Oprah. She has a good heart. But, she's clueless here.

Instead of showing women how to look fifty pounds thinner or fifteen years younger, why the hell doesn't she concentrate on lessons to save lives? When one thinks of the numbers of poor women who are home during the day watching her, you have to wonder why didn't she step up to the plate herself?

Maybe one of her books of the week could be the FEMA manual, in which it states clearly that disaster victims probably will be on their own for three days or more.

If anyone has enough curiosity, he could ask to see the FEMA website at the neighborhood library.

Instead of citing human nature and stupidity as the culprit, these ethnic pimps have decided that George Bush will be the SOB of this century. But the truth is this: people with children chose to ignore common sense and direct evacuation orders. It's like a mother leaving a child in a locked car on a summer day in Phoenix! Come on. What responsible mother would put her children in harm's way? If nothing else, maternal instinct would help you find a way out of that city, wouldn't it?

Of the thousands upon thousands of cars passing above them, could these women not stand along the interstate with their kids and beg for rides out? No one would've picked them up because they're black? If that's true, then Americans aren't as wonderful as they said they are.

This latest generation of notoriously corrupt Louisiana officials, hand picked by their Democrat bosses, have found out there's more than jive and jazz to running a big city. Their neglect of the poor, weak and sick amongst them is unconscionable.

Maybe the Pres Wasn't Such A Jerk After All
Few seem to know that the president called Governor Blanco three or four times prior to the hurricane and gave her a plan for evacuation, According to the Washington Post, September lst's edition, the president's office faxed her three memos summarizing the plan. He called her and begged her to let him federalize New Orleans. The president was ready to step in immediately. She ignored it, saying it was too complex.

I just wish the president had gone ahead and told Nagin and Blanco to go to their rooms. Because he didn't, because he respects the rule of law and our system of federalism and trusted these local leaders to do their jobs, he hates black people.

We all know, though, if he had taken over, the Bush Haters would say it was because Blanco is a woman and Nagin is black. When's this doublespeak going to stop?

Thanks for the read.

America's Wish Fulfilled!

It could happen, you know. If we put all the old stuff aside, and start again.

New New Orleans
Offer each family who lost everything voluntary participation in a program funded by the federal government in which the following would take place:

• Each family will be given a large sum of money. We will provide classes in which the labs would include buying their own homes. Literally. The homes will be in a federal reservation not far from the old new Orleans.
• Each adult with children will be required to attend parenting classes.
• Each parent will be given vouchers for their children's education in schools that are designed to fit the individual's needs.
• Each teacher or instructor will be provided housing and benefits. However, the standards for hiring these teachers will be high. What we are doing is building a new generation to lead the next one!
• In the meantime, enterprise zones will be created in the new city. People who are more skilled than others, will start them. But they will be required to have rotating apprentices all the time. They will be loaned the seed money, expected to pay it back. There will be no taxes on these enterprises for a set number of years.
• This model city will begin to govern itself when the best and brightest step up help in this venture. That will be determined as the new black leadership in this country takes over.

That's only part my idea. Could it work? Who knows? If everyone is free to choose, why wouldn't it?

Most importantly, the money will be spent anyway. Why not spend it on something that won't return our friends to their old lives of poverty?

Thanks for the read.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

It took very little time for the foreign press to blame, four-square, the entire hurricane mess on President Bush. Even the Telegraph in London has got in on the act.

Another world offensive has begun against the president. But first, before we heed their advice to kill the president, shouldn't we ask more questions?

Why Did It Take So Long?
Of course, with the data (empirical and otherwise) we have so far, the president seems to deserve criticism. I was dumbfounded, for instance, by his lack of urgency. By Wednesday night, I was ready to impeach him. Distressed by the tick tock of this endless, deadly evacuation, I admit I started to doubt. It was so, well, so uncharacteristic. Dubya not on it? It was too hard for me to believe.

Then my sweet husband, who is very smart, made a startling observation. What if the Feds can't go into New Orleans? Dang! I should have thought of that.

Sure enough, in a small interview on Fox, an FBI person whose team had been there since Friday, made it very clear there were national security issues in addition to the presence of opportunistic groups posing as city gangs. DEA also was there, as was INS. So, we may be able to conclude that opportunistic groups, perhaps those unfriendly to the rest of us, were in the city.

When asked if the national security problem somehow involved communications, the FBI spokesman said he couldn't go any further than acknowledging that it indeed was. Considering the proximity of important military facilities, plus New Orleans being a huge port, I had to allow that might be true.

In addition to the president's apparent security problems in the city, he seems to have made the mistake of trusting that local authorities were up to the task. Might this explain the president's gloved hand early on?

Why Else?

I've heard myriad reasons:

• The fleets usually in the gulf had to be moved out before the storm so they wouldn't sink. Carriers full of helicopters? How long does it take to return to port? Likely a few days under full steam.

• The propositioned National Guard troops, vainly anticipating the go-ahead from Governor Twit, finally had to move to the east from their former strategic position closer to New Orleans as the storm had shifted just before it hit land at the mouth of the Mississippi. The worst appeared to be over, they thought, with their fingers crossed.

• The National Guard command said quite frankly, they thought NOPD could handle their jobs. It never occurred to them the force would deplete itself by 60%! Whose responsibility is that? What if 60% of LAPD or NYPD, with their thousands of cops, decided to leave their posts in an emergency? Let's get real. Some folks in New Orleans love their city, but not enough to try to save it.

• Mobilizing a federal force takes a few hours. That's a reality.

• Clear responsibilities are defined by law, procedures and plans. Again, the locals didn't do their jobs.

Political Realities
Every leader has his own political reality that has to be reckoned with by his enemies and his supporters. Otherwise, the art of political gamesmanship descends into armed conflict.

Part of that includes making nasty decisions, right or wrong, about the emergency at hand. Sometimes those choices are home runs; sometimes not. I don't know why the president couldn't act sooner, or even if he already had. More will be revealed.

What we are watching right now is the biggest chess match we've seen in a long time. On one side is the credibility of the most powerful nation on earth; one the other is a cabal of individuals who want to president to fail at any cost.

In Texas they call it "how the cows ate the cabbage." Nagin's reality is simply defined: he will be pinned with exhibiting the worst dereliction of duty in the history of natural disasters, or he will be a nice little boy and do what the feds tell him.

As for sister, she'll be talking secretly to the president, getting on his good side. She knows how the cows eat the cabbage. She'll fade into ingnominy, unless she pitches in and hires federal people at the state's expense. In management they call that "buying your way out of trouble."

This is Bigger Than New Orleans
If the president's opponents think the United States is going to be pushed into a corner by a bunch of penny-ante politicians who don't know shoes from Shineola, they can think again.

I can imagine the president made that abundantly clear when he met with hizzoner and her idiocy, the governor, both of whom failed, failed, failed in their important duties to their people.

Moreover, other city and state officials throughout the country are on notice to take this stuff seriously and get the right, skilled people on board to plan for the worst. Their local pride isn't appropriate.

We can tell the Europeans that Americans, under the direction of the president, are in this together.

Thanks for the read.

The Heiracrchy of Blame and Responsibility

All politics are local. Don't ever forget that.

Mayor Daly, Giuliani, Et Al
Great city mayors have one very important public trait: they are first and foremost leaders within their own spheres. They know where to go for the services (corrupt or otherwise) that keeps a city going.

Many city mayors have large, effective police forces and people who will take the heat for them when the going gets bad. If they're really good at their jobs, they have trump cards to pull during the bad times.

The great mayors of big and large cities are the jewels in our crown. Without their powerful presence managing their cities, what we would have are real disasters like New Orleans.

All that Jazz
Mayor Ray Nagin showed his be-hind as he ranted, raved and called the president everything but a white person. Meanwhile, hizzoner didn't have a clue and decided he'd blame everyone but himself.

Even the city official, laughingly called "Director of Emergency Planning," stated that there was no planning. Huh? How much you wanna bet said director's former occupation was matre' de somewhere in the Vieux Carre?

Meanwhile, the Governor, that perimenopausal idiot who is so glad the president came, she clung to him like his mentally unstable sister-in-law, simply couldn't lead when required.

She clutched! She didn't order troops even though the president gave her the gift of an early state of emergency status. Why didn't someone scream at her, "For God's sake, Woman, make the call!" What a terrible character defect is weakness.

FEMA maybe didn't plan well enough, but the will was there. Logistically, this could have been avoided if the mayor had done his job AND the governor had stopped being hysterical long enough to take control.

President Bush shares the blame, in a much smaller way. He should've followed his gut and got the militias going sooner. Live by delegating, die by delegating. In this case, his advisors failed him.

Finally, the media. I don't know what to say about them. They also failed; I'm just not sure how yet.

Thuggery and Why
These individuals, thugs, would be the ones the mayor called " a few Knuckleheads." These tiny cliques of misanthropes have placed our country at risk. We must use the powers of the posse commitatus to rid our cities of them. We have to eradicate these vermin.

Why do these people do these horrible things? Because they can. No one stopped them. Meanwhile, everyone who understands that force must be met with force, that law and order has to be the top priority in crises, step forward.

Not so fast, Mayor Nagin.

What We've Learned
It matters not that this is a 150-year event. We have to assume that any emergency can be bigger than we think. I guess we should have back up plans. I'm not a professional, so I can only use my common sense.

If you haven't figured out that we are on our own in a biblical-style emergency, then you'd best find someone to take care of you--and not the government. You'll be on your own for a very long time. Imagine this type of emergency occurring in a large city--like L.A. I can't bring myself to think of it very long.

I've always known intellectually this truth. Now I'm a believer. My action item is setting up communications plans with my family. That's a good place to start.

Thanks for the read.

Jackson Trial: federalize child molestation

The Jackson trial. It's obvious that local courts and law enforcement can't handle the celebrity factor. We've spent millions trying to prosecute very public cases yet there have been few convictions?

Why? Why even take the trouble to charge these jerks?

Something's terribly wrong here. Either the lawyers working for us aren't very smart, or there is great ineptness on the part of the investigating units of our public protectors, or...and I think this is where the hammer hits the nail: we've got a bunch of stupes on the jury who get so carried away with celebrity and self importance they can't think. They protest way too much about the celebrity "thing" not being a "thing."

"We all kept such good notes that we were able to determine a time line."
Yeah, Juror Number 4: Why didn't you check the court transcript to get that time line right? Why? Because she's stupid.

"I hated it when she snapped her finger at me."
Never mind that both mother and Jackson seemed to exploit the victim. This old broad was more concerned about her "authority" being threatened. She was, after all, on the Jackson jury. Very revealing.

The idiots on the jury were so taken with themselves and each other, all they could really think of was that wonderful check they'll receive when they sign some stupid book deal.

I felt sick when these smug, arrogant jurors congratulated each other and themselves for turning another damned pedophile loose. Sometimes I believe we have raised a population of sieve-encased brains. For God's sake, Jackson preys (as do other pedophiles) on the weak outcasts among us. Of course, no one believes the victim's mother. That's why the pedophilia goes for the nutty, trashy families with vulnerable family members. When you think of it, the stalking is as horrible as the molested. That requires organization--and money power over those who assist you.

Mommies and Daddies, watch your babies. The law won't help you. Just ask anyone.

Put These Cases in the Hands of the Feds
I don't want to blame D.A. Sneddon too much. He is, after all, one of those targeted white males who don't understand that even when you think something is wrong (it is), today's American prefer to think that a crazy woman snapping her fingers at her is worse than Michael Jackson, a 47-year-old pedophile, snaps his fingers to his little concubines and they come a-runnin'.

Meanwhile, the old degenerate, Joe Jackson, famous for beating the crap out of his family (and what else, one must wonder) and that passive-aggressive witch, Katherine Jackson, famous for standing by while Big Joe continually beat the crap out all of them, go along on their ways...sick, disgusting and vile. Remember, it is out of this sick environment that Janet Jackson came. She, who willingly exposed her breast to what she knew would be young boys watching her on television. That takes a certain type of galvanism...she must have thought there's nothing wrong with exposing herself to young boys. Why would she think that? Could it be she's used to it? Hmmm.

Sneddon, a member of an unprotected class of white men, who has done his best all his life, will likely lose his job.

This stinks.

Thanks for the read.

Life's Bittersweet Ironies (Another Perfect Storm)

In the old days, a story like Terri Schiavo's, and its larger importance would have been known weeks or months later, not virtual minutes.

Holy Week: A Good Time to Die, If You're a Christian
Meaning no disrespect, but think about it. The last public death spectacle on Good Friday really turned out pretty good.

The Storm in Florida (what is it about Florida?)
I still continue to pray for Terri Schiavo and for those in power who are called upon to make the life-sustaining decisions that will help her. I've written about my own distress at having been through the death watch of my mother, who chose to stop all nourishment. I have tried to get people to see is that what is happening to Terri is probably premature at best, and at worst, a killing of a human being who has beem victimized.

Those who don't agree with me can talk till the cows come home about this case being a right-to-die. It simply is not. Regardless of what this poorly written law says, the moral intent of the law should be that if there is no written living will and instructions, there shall be no intervention. From anyone. This is where the right-to-die people miss it. We simply do not know for sure if Terri wanted to die. And that should make a huge difference all the way around. No tickee, no pull plugee, or tubee.

All I can do is continue to pray for an Easter miracle for Terri. Even the Pope rose above his illness to speak out about the immorality of this act, likening it to "capital punishment." Today he has relapsed and is near death.

Are these "coincidences" actually a message again writ large by The Almighty which reminds us to kill not an innocent person. Well? He's done stuff like that before, you know.

So What's the Perfect Storm?
My screenwriter's brain automatically looks for the plot line of a realtime story. I look for all the things to go wrong that shouldn't, observe human behavior as it relates to a character arc, or how people change, grow and develop. The Schiavo story has all the marks of one of the most fabulous scripts in the world with everything--sex, money, greed, law and possible homicide. Since it's fantasy, right? People buy into it as a story.

I hope this is rather God's immense docudrama reminding man he must act humanely and help get to the truth before killing a person--any person.

Thanks for the read.

All Terri Can Do is Hope Someone Listens

Terri Schiavo may be on drip morphine, but her soul is screaming for someone to save her.

I am living through a most surreal moment.. I am watching an American citizen be dehydrated and starved to death. And no one can stop it?

President Bush Should Declare the Tube Reinserted and Guardianship Given to her Parents
Yes, I know it sounds extremem. But so is death. Especially one that is not necessary. A presidential order, like the one President Clinton used to free his pal Mark Rich, should be used now to free Terri Shiavo from her husband's, his lawyer's and the culturally-sensitive judges' bondage. These who believe that:

Society is best served by granting individual rights only when granting them is beneficial to the whole, which is hardly ever. Society is made up of laws and rules. Irreversible rules, procedures, format, structure. The same ones that are bent over backwards for rapists, murderers, ex-presidents, serial rapists, celebrity wife killers, et al.

Members of the district courts' "star chamber" have evidently made up their minds, once and for all, that morality shall not be used in interpreting our laws. They'll say, "There is a rule, after all, that we can only debate those objective ideals like rules." No, these moral giants take cover (and live in ingnominy).

Yeah, I remember those kinds of rules--ones like the TA in high school lorded over you with if you were late for class. (Rules that can be changed, for God's sake!) Rules, dammit! That's all they are!

The Schiavo case has not been heard on the reality of this case, nor has the argument gone past the question of whether the law was followed and were her rights protected. This legalism is again responsible for unjust treatment of one of our fellow citizens.

Following is the the crux of this issue: It seems no one in the judiciary asked at the outset if Schiavo's is a moral issue and how shall we look at the law from that point of view, with the idea of saving this woman's life. What was the intent of the law? And do we not have a responsibility to err or the side of  Terri. What can we do, as a society built by laws, to save this young woman's life until there is absolute certainty of her diagnosis and condition?

And ultimately, I have to ask anyone who disagrees, "Why not?" The husband says it's been fifteen years. I have to reply, "Then, what's another year or two?" Why are these judges so quick to throw these appeals out? Could it be they don't care about the moral side of it? Those rules again. Or are they simply cowards. I think that must be the case. By the way, the husband has moved on gaining a wife and two babies. There's no reason he cannot divorce Terry and leave her to her loving, waiting parents.

There can be no excuse for Terri dying from this inhumane treatment. If she does, I will hang my head in shame that I didn't get my point across to those who believe that killing Terri is just fine.

A presidential pardon would frankly be a fresh breath of sunshine and clean air.

Thanks for the read.

How Many Have to Die in the Name of States Rights?

Once upon a time, the freedom and equality sought by African-Americans was considered a states rights issue. That's why Bull Connor and Lester Maddox, small-time southern officials who stood in the way of those rights, were thankfully vanquished by federal troops.

Why is Terri Schiavo's right to live subjugated to another low-level southern county official? Tell me, cultural leftists, what is the difference?

Congress Has to Step In
Of course, we need to start with the facts.

1. No one really knows what happened to Terri. Some think she had a stroke, an event or accident that caused the oxygen to stop going to her brain. There's talk that she may have had a head injury. She had been dieting, and her potassium levels may have been low.

2. Doctors do not agree on the diagnosis/prognosis of this patient. After all, her husband will not allow an MRI to see what's going on. Neither will he allow her physical rehabilitation, nor time outside the warehouse he has her in right now. No sunshine. No way.

3. If Mr. Schiavo gets his way, Terri will dehydrate until she is dead, a cruel process that may last seven days or more. When she does expire, he will have her immediately cremated. No autopsy. How strange.

4. Mr. Schiavo didn't remember the thoughtless statement that Terri had made about not wanting to be kept kept alive by machines when she was in her early twenties--until seven years into Terri's condition (by the way, she's not on a machine...she is not vegetative) .

5. Mr. Schiavo must belong to the Moveon.org club because he not only moved on, he moved in with another woman and had two illegitimate children with her. No wonder he wants to move on. It takes money to raise a family. He doesn't make much on his nurse's wages.

6. Mr. Schiavo won a civil suit that awarded him nearly 1.5 million dollars for the care of and therapy for his wife, Terri. When that occurred, the jury likely didn't know he'd be using it to set up a college fund for his kids.

7. Terri parents, the Schindlers, and her siblings want to take over total control and care of Terri. All they ask is that the husband divorce her.

8. The only judge to hear this case for five years has been some yokel who has consistently refused to view or see Terri in her environment. Moreover, he refused to allow cameras or videos because he said it would be disruptive and provocative. Uh huh.

9. The Federal Government not only has the right, but the duty to protect its citizens from being killed by the state and her husband.

Legalism Killed Christ
We've seen legalisms trump humanity throughout history. We saw it when the Brits refused to allow the St. Louis, a boat full of refugee Jews, to anchor at their ports in the middle east. The Jews were returned to Germany to meet their deaths in concentration camps.

We saw legalistic inhumanity when Elian Gonzalez was physically removed, ala storm troopers, from his home in Miami to return to Castro's nasty, gnarled, cigar-stained grasp.

And we read of it when Jesus tried to explain to the pharisees that they were all wrong, that their legalistic view of God was off the mark. Regardless of miracles and proof of His existence as the Son of God, man's pride and fear of loss of prestige and position threw the ruling Jews and Pontius Pilate in an unthinkable position. If they let Him live, they'd have to look at His teachings and run the risk they had been wrong. Let Rome kill him, they thought.

Is our little penny ante judge in south swampland just another pharisee, a Pilate, a self-serving judicial bureaucrat? Or is he rather a silly little man in way above his head and too afraid to admit it?

What must our judge and Schiavo himself and his new family think when they see that Terri's into the third day of dehydration? Do they ignore it, compartmentalize it, or do they lie awake at night thinking about the absolute barbarism of this?

This Must Stop Immediately

If it can happen to Terri, it can happen to you. I suggest you email Darrell Issa, Feinstein and Boxer and insist that that they join the rest of congress in their attempt to save this poor child's life and stop these hyenas from putting her in an urn.

Meanwhile, time's running out. Support Congress in their rescue of Terri Schiavo.

president@whitehouse.gov
http://www.capwiz.com/lwv/bio/?id=40137&lvl=C&chamber=H (Darrell Issa, Representative)
http://boxer.senate.gov/
http://feinstein.senate.gov/

Thanks for the read.

This is Hardly a Right-to-Die Case

I've read headlines about Terri Shiavo, the woman whose husband has decided that an offhanded remark she made when she was twenty-one, should be the reason to remove her feeding tube and watch her starve to death. The debate is framed as a right-to-die.

Let me rephrase that: ...he is killing her and the state is helping him to do it. When in our history has this ever occurred? When?

I suggest this is no more than the right of an insensitive, dishonorable husband (who meanwhile has shacked up with the mother of his two illegitimate children) to kill. If this man were truly worried about his sick wife, he would relinquish control of her entire person to her loving family and go on about his business of living the life he's made for himself somewhere else.

What kind of man would allow a person he supposedly loves starve to death? The event's imagery shocks me more and more each passing day. And what does this compassionate individual stand to gain by this cowardly act?

As Richard Nixon said, "Follow the money."

Death is So Final
I'm about to share a story that may change your mind about  letting people die.

My mother had about six weeks from the time her Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma was diagnosed until she died. Being practical, she placed a no-code on her chart. However, she decided she'd give chemotherapy as try, since it would give her an extra six or so months. Unfortunately, she simply couldn't tolerate the horrible pain caused by the chemo, and thus "gave up," or so she said. It broke my heart when she felt compelled to tell me she's a chicken, that she just couldn't do it.

She endured the deep bone pain that cancer patients deal with and horrible sweating another two weeks, during which time she basically starved herself and would not drink. She had a tube; we tried to feed her. But she didn't want any part of it. By now, she was on morphine for pain management, which is the gift that keeps on taking. Her tolerance became so high so quickly that I knew her respiration would shut down eventually and she would simply die from the results of a suppressed respiratory system caused by the overdose of the drug called morphine, into the arms of Morpheus, after which the opiate is named.

Dosages had to be upwardly adjusted to control the pain, almost daily at first, then hourly at the end. Since she wasn't on a morphine pump, she had to be shot up by humans. I reminded myself of Shirley MacLaine in "Terms of Endearment, " in which she practically mugs the nurse to get her terminal daughter morphine. Since my mother's doctor's order hadn't accommodated her ever increasing need for more morphine, she'd have to spend hours of needless pain until some medical bureaucrat got the message. I was on those nurses everyday to stay on top of it.

The extended family, frankly, seemed amazed that we were letting this happen. I admit I felt great guilt, sort of like I was giving up on God and His ability to change things. But, the fact was: this is what she wanted.

We can't be at all sure that death is what Terri Shiavo wants.

A Civil Society that Eats its Young, Eventually Dies
We cannot allow some swamp judge to define the ideals of this country. We, as Americans, deplore what is happening with Terri Schiavo; as Americans we must demand Judge Greer pull his head out of his Panama hat and step aside.

I hope the president steps up the rhetoric to help Americans define right and wrong, in black and white, that we do not as a society kill disabled people.

Hamlet

... but first we have to kill all the lawyers.

Thanks for the read.

Jackson Trial: Truth is Weirder than Fiction

Who writes this stuff? I haven't had this much fun since the O.J. trial. The irony and bizarre never stops!

The Pajamas--A Freudian Slip--and a Bad Pun
Think about it. The guy wore his pajamas to court. To the same court that is trying him for molestation of a child. A child who is to appear on the witness stand again today...and sink Jackson's ass.

I can imagine my back acting up too, especially if I had to face the rest of humanity. Put the jammies on, and everyone will think I'm crazy. Better crazy than found out as a pathological pediphile who belongs in jail. Maybe the jammy thing is an attempt to either intimidate or pacify the accuser. Did Jackson wear those when the kid was molested?

He's a strange, strange man.

The victim, some kid who's survived cancer and an abusive home, seems to be rising above it all and claiming his own right as a person. He is said to stare down Jackson, then return calmly and politely to tell his side of the story.

Then there's the Blake Trial
The owner of Vitello's, the joint where Widower Blake took his missus for a quick bowl of pasta the night she was wacked, appeared at trial last week. Meanwhile, the jury is in deliberation now, and we've yet to hear just who killed Blake's consort.

Flash back six years. My sister and I attended a play in L.A., after which we met the family at Vitello's for dinner. It wasn't gourmet, nor was it warm, but the tab was big and I was annoyed. Nothing makes me pricklier than cold afterdinner coffee. That tastes bad. But, to avoid any unplesantness, I paid the $600 bill and left a fair tip.

As we were leaving, Vitello, ciggy hanging out of his mouth, asked how everything was. "The coffee could have been better..." I said.

As the filial entourage came out, one by one they reported, "He called you a bitch."

I guess one of his fave clients is Garry Marshall and his family. I bet they get real good coffee.

Back to the Real World
Democracy continues to fight through the apparatchiks in the middle east. In his inaugural message President Bush conveyed to new democrats has been taken literally. If it's a helping hand you want from America, we will help you.

Just When I Wasn't Looking
I got published in a local rag, "The Bugle," with a circulation of 78,000. Although I haven't been picked up by a national publisher, I'm happy. I'm very happy to be writing still, even with my new venture ahead. I hope to balance life a bit.

Thanks for the read.

All He Needed Was a Good Daddy

Watching Bill Clinton bloom into a gentleman is almost enough to forgive the guy. He even slept on the floor and left the bed for George the Elder during their travels to save the world.

What the World Needs Now
A child of divorce with an abusive stepfather and a hard-as-nails mother, Bill Clinton didn't have the luxury of an honorable male role model. His real father was a drunk traveling salesman who died in an auto accident when Bill was little. No one ever showed this wonderfully able man, President Clinton, how to act outside his self interest. Now, he's appropriately deferential towards the older President Bush. I'm impressed.


I Love it When I'm Right (which ain't often)
I was the baby of a highly competitive nuclear family. My extended family included a bunch of cousins whose parents ate Ph.Ds for breakfasts and lunch. At that family table, I learned when to hold em, when to fold em, and when to call.

I'm here to call.

I wrote a column last year defending the president's decision to enter Iraq, remove Hussein, change the regime. Regardless of the evidence of WMDs, I wanted regime change because I believed that democracy loves close borders. I was right; more importantly, the president was right.

I also wrote a column last year about Putin and the danger he presents to his country and thus, to the rest of the world. I stated that any ex-KGB director can't tolerate the results of liberty, bad or good. I also knew we had let down the entire region by not accomplishing a follow-through foreign loan program. The crooks took over; and we didn't fix it. One more time, we were outwitted by authoritarians who say anything, anything to stay in business. But, about Tzar Putin, I was right on.

I apologize. It's just that being right once or twice does me good!

Front Street Gallery
I've been absent from blogsphere because I'm opening an art gallery in old town Temecula, California on March 15th. I've not completely given up writing. I'm just pacing myself.

Thanks for the read.

Why We Need National ID Cards

God knows, I never advocated that a free society require identification cards for immigrants, but here we are. There are millions already here; they remain within a huge subculture that can't do anything but talk to each other.

It's too late to do anything else.

It is Not a Social or Race Issue...It's a Health Issue
Dianne Feinstein, Democrat senator from Northern California, made this statement at the beginning of the AIDs epidemic (she was San Fran's mayor). None in the media went apey over the statement, and I hope you won't either. She was right then; I'm right now.

Area hospitals are currently showing a steady increase in cases of TB. Why? Because unchecked immigration brings the third world's teeming masses, bereft of decent, standard healthcare, into our communities. This has gone on for years and years. No one wanted to say anything.

And no, I don't want to send anyone off to a concentration camp, single him out or otherwise ostracize him. Actually, I'd like to help him. Remember, immigrants are natural Republicans.

Hundred of years ago, I honestly believed that we had to stop illegal immigration by most means possible. A lot of people knew the same thing, but were called racists in the meantime. Most of us just shut up, allowing ethnic bosses to pollute the mind of Americans (that's big game, these days).

Well, it's ten or fifteen years later.

Why Nothing Else Will Work
Hey, it won't be so bad. Having one's papers has its benefits.

Not only can we track terrorists or prevent their coming into our country, we can check their ids for vaccinations and legality. So what's wrong with giving immigrants driver's licenses? Wouldn't you rather be hit by a insured driver than one who's running away from the "authorities?"

We can do it, you know. Technology is more than dipping a finger in blue ink. Now we can dip, stamp and file forever on the big government data base in the sky. Don't forget iris scans.

No, it's not pretty. I hate it. But we have to do something. Wouldn't it be easier to chase after people without ids than people with? Let's try it.

If only people had listened, if only. But that was then.

Thanks for the read.

Peggy Noonan Decries the God Factor in Speech

I'd like to give Ms. Noonan the benefit of the doubt when she stated President Bush's speech gave her a "bad feeling." She said there was too much God. God, God, God. God here, God there, God everywhere.

Oh God.

Christians and Jews are Too Scared of What People Think
I'm really tired of secularists using the Bible and Torah to reinforce their own arguments that religion generally, and Christianity and Judaism specifically, calls for killing people in the name of God (among other scurrilous charges).

For someone who's learned something new, does a bit of studying about the subject, a little information can be a dangerous thing. These zealous humanists take information from a book in the Bible, convinced it underscores the idea that God is capricious and angry. "It's right there in Job," they say. "Look how your God made him suffer." Or, "Why would your loving God allow a tsunami?" Or, ""What kind of God would give man AIDs?" Then there's one of my faves, "If Jesus was God, why didn't he climb down from the cross?"

One more time, kids. Here's the deal. The Old Testament (the one that's part of the Holy Bible), consists of an old promise, a covenant with the people of Israel that He would protect them, give them their own land if they would simply obey His rules. In those books are contained massive information about what was to come, e.g., The Messiah (Jesus). For those not familiar with the whole Bible, both books contain ongoing references to OT and NT prophecies alongside the scriptures.

For instance, when Jesus said on the cross, "God, why have You forsaken Me?" he was quoting a Psalm. When Jesus was speared in his side while on the cross, that was also a note to us that Christ's crucifixion was foretold. In fact the whole story was foretold in Isaiah, written long before the death of Jesus. On and on.

Christians use the OT now for clarification and understanding of God's word and prophecy. The New Testament, the new covenant from God, gave Christians their how-to book, leaving the Torah for Jews, the first five chapters of the OT. Here's where it gets interesting. It's a lot like watching Psychic Detectives.

(By the way, we are told by Jesus in the NT that we are to leave His people, the Jews to him, that they are His chosen people. God loves His people. That's why I refuse to get into a shouting match about how the Jews killed Jesus.)

In the NT, God has good news for everyone. That's precisely what the word "gospel" means--good news. No matter how much you've sinned against God and your fellow man, you can and will be forgiven by simply confessing that sin, forsaking it and believing that Christ is the living God, the son of God and part of the Trinity. Once one has jumped that hurdle, i.e., giving your ego and pride up to God, God wants us to try the best we can, not because we're afraid of Him, but because we love Him. It's like pleasing a parent because we love him, not because we're afraid of him. Note: the word sin means "missing the mark."

So when atheist scholars present their views of a horrid and vengeful God, I know they speak from ignorance of the basic structures of Judeo-Christian dogma. They know nothing of the love of God, His grace and justice.

My mother used to say, "The church isn't the best thing in the world, but it's the best thing we've got." She was right. This Christian "baloney" has fed and housed millions, doctored as many and provided many who are lost a way to go.

Roman Catholicism versus Protestantism
Again, Protestants don't believe the same as Roman Catholics. Period. Regardless, we're all thrown in the historical Roman Catholic cesspool of papal and church corruption.

I no more agree with the Roman Catholic about the ways to get to eternity than I do with Jews. Lumping Christians together shows a huge ignorance on the part of these critics. It has to do with being saved by grace or saved by good works. I happen to believe that we're saved by grace. Most Catholics believe you must work your way toward heaven. That's why God made Martin Luther. (Rent the movie "Luther." It's a fabulous account of the Reformation.

But do not lay blame on me for centuries-old internal laspses within the Catholic church. We Prots have our own, thanks. They're just not as institutionalized.

Ms. Noonan Should Recant
She must have been drunk...or out of sorts. Mentioning God (four times in this president's speech) is not excessive. Read inaugural speeches from each past president. God not only was mentioned, but implored as in prayer in most of them.

I hope she'll recover from this. Frankly, I forgive her. We all have our "Peter" moments. But I'm disappointed she felt she couldn't stand tall as a Christian and take the heat from her fellow journalists.

Thanks for the read.