Archive for the Social Issues category.
Enough already. I’ve heard the “Racist” label thrown around so often, it’s actually turning me into a racist against race-card blatherers.
Cannot these blithering idiots who have no brain with which to offer an intelligent debate, offer any other explanation for disagreement with persons of another color, than “Racist?” The term has been used and abused so much, that it has become meaningless. Al Sharpton, listen up.
“So You Think You Can Dance” is probably the very best competition reality show on television. Week after week, it pits highly trained young dancers of all genre until the best of the best reaches the top. Judges are not selected for star power, but from a pool of the greatest dancers and choreographers alive today. It makes “America’s Got Talent” look like a circus side show.
One of the regular Dance judges is Mia Michaels, with over 40 years in dance, and recipient of numerous awards. We’ve watched her poignant and sometimes emotional critiques of dancers, where she sometimes seems to fawn over male dancers, black and white. Recently, she was part of the panel that voted off a black contestant from the final four. Guess what? Mia has been labeled a Racist! Never mind that she has worked with blacks all her life and was once engaged to a black man. Yet, critics and bloggers are hammering her for being racist, which backs her in the corner defending herself for nothing…but being a judge.
Too easy these days for folks to slam you with the racists label. Yet, the news programs eat it up. It draws attention. It makes politicians shutter. It rattles cages. It draws anger, demonstrations, riots. It ruins careers. It damages reputations. And here’s the rub: It doesn’t have to be true.
The Tea Party has emerged as a threat to the left wing power base, so what’s their best strategy? With no other counter argument available, label them “Racists!” There’s not a shred of evidence that the Tea Party, as an organization, is racist. While small in numbers, many blacks belong to the Tea Party. Yet, Tea Partiers are on the cable networks defending themselves against the mud slingers who have no ability to think, other than calling people “Racist!”
President Barack Obama’s greatest asset is being black. It’s been his cloak of armor since the beginning of his national campaign. Fawned over by a left wing media for two years before taking office, and to this day, anyone who dared challenge his veracity or competence has been quickly labeled a “Racist,” me included. Had a white candidate had a background of no experience, commiserating with anti-American radicals, terrorists, communists, radical Islamists and a twenty-year association with an America-hating church pastor, he or she would have been excoriated by journalists and media pundits. But, say one critical comment about Barack Obama? You’re a racist!
The frustrated left wing in America, one time or another, has labeled every right wing pundit as a Racist, including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Then again, Fox Cable Network is often called “Racist!” What else? That means the majority of news watchers in America must be racists, because the ratings for Fox News is double that of its competitors.
Those Racists!
Mini-brains cannot fathom the remotest idea that Fox News might be presenting a better and more diverse news show than any other. Better to call them names, that’ll do it. And what’s best? “Racists!” That gets attention.
When NBA basketballer Lebron James chose to move to the Miami Heat for bigger bucks, it upset the Cavaliers owner, Dan Gilbert. Gilbert accused LeBron of breaking a promise. But, leave it to the mental giant, race-baiting Rev. Jesse Jackson to come up with the answer, accusing Gilbert of viewing Lebron as a “runaway slave,” which — of course — is couching the accusation: Gilbert, you’re a Racist!”
That, from the same mouth of whom we heard “Hymietown.”
The new anti-Illegal immigration law in Arizona was written specifically with a safeguard against racial profiling. Police officers all over this country continually walk on eggshells, backing off, careful of any action or words that would be construed as “Racist!” Yet, our president managed to instill the concerns of Hispanics and blacks all over the state of Arizona, and in other states, by implanting the mere suggestion that the law will stimulate “Racial Profiling,” and that it is inherently “Racist!”. He knew better. That was nothing more than a tactic to generate fear, hatred and opposition. Being true didn’t matter. Screw the truth. Throw a bone to the followers, and they’ll chase after it. And, it worked.
Meanwhile, it’s all right for a group of black thugs to brandish a weapon outside of a polling place, donned in battle fatigues, hate and sneers. Inexplicably, the Justice department dropped the charges! Think about the KKK, and if they had been outside a polling place doing the same thing. Do you think Eric Holder would be dropping those charges?
Who’s the racist?
I’ve got a message for the Holders, Rev. Wrights, Sharptons, Jacksons of this country. The next time you have no other intelligent remark to make in defense of a position, try another label. The Race-Card is getting old, and it’s beginning to make you look really stupid.
Click here: ‘Angry’ Mia Michaels
Click here: Rev. Jackson: Cavs coach views LeBron
“Limbaugh Marries For Fourth Time.”
Such was the heading in a recent USA Today sidebar article.
So, what’s wrong with this?
In three sentences, the piece describes Rush Limbaugh’s wedding to Ms. Kathryn Rogers in West Palm Beach. Harmless copy, indeed.
A couple years back, I wrote about a newspaper headline in Cincinnati which read:
“White Cop Shoots Black Suspect.” It wasn’t until you got into the meat of the story that the reader discovered the officer(s) were shooting back at a suspect who was shooting at them, thus it was a self defense, justifiable act.
I wondered to myself: If the racial equation was any different, would the headline have read “Black Cop Shoots White Suspect?” … Or… “Black Cop Shoots Black Suspect?”
Well, we all know the answer to that. Fact is, the headline immediately incites anti-police sentiment among minorities that are generally inclined to dislike cops to begin with. It is a subtle way of suggesting an act of “racism” had been committed by law enforcement, unless the reader chooses to read the entire story…which does not always happen.
Deliberate or not, news channels and newspapers have enormous power over citizens by installing subliminal messages. By doing so, folks do not even realize their thought patterns are being manipulated.
The 2008 presidential campaign serves as a gross example of media-mind manipulation. An editorial written by Obama was gladly published in the left-leaning New York Times, while another editorial by right-leaning John McCain was submitted to the same paper, but never published.
The gushing news anchors from all three major networks traveled with Obama during his European visits, covering his every charismatic speech and behind the scenes repartee, while none traveled with John McCain to feature his strengths.
And the people never noticed. Regardless of Obama’s two autobiographies, an enormous number of questions still lingered about Obama’s secretive history, including the conspicuous absence of college records, his ties to extremists and close associations with sordid anti-Americans, all of which begged questions about his loyalty as an American leader. These issues are still unresolved, in the minds of millions.
So, what does this have to do with “Limbaugh Marries For The Fourth Time?”
The headline could have read, “Rush Limbaugh Marries Woman From West Palm Beach.” However, the reader will now zero in on “For The Fourth Time,” as though that is the issue that defined the event. Some, not all, readers will read no further and judge Rush Limbaugh accordingly; a man who has failed in three past marriages. So…what’s one more? A history of bad decisions. So much for the credibility of Rush Limbaugh.
Frankly, I’m not a big fan of Limbaugh though I agree with many of his political points of view. I rarely listen, because I find him pompous and predictable.
But we should all be aware of how our mental images are being molded by a few words in the title of a story, that really isn’t the story at all.
This is about the way a slanted news media can alter the mind-set.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Liberty City riots of 1980, a day that “will live in infamy,” especially for those who were part of the Miami scene then.
I was. And so were three thousand Metro-Dade police officers, plus hundreds of firefighters, rescue personnel, municipal police officers from Miami, El Portal, Miami Shores, Coral Gables and so on, all of whom were under fire, their lives in danger.
Yet, news accounts speak only about the outrage of black residents who were up in arms (rightfully) over the acquittal of four cops on trial for the beating death of Arthur McDuffie, as though no one else suffered.
It was a tragedy, indeed. McDuffie was a motorcyclist who led a dozen cops on a high speed chase through the streets of Miami for over eight long minutes at one o’clock in the morning. When he stopped, some of those cops lost control and beat the man to a pulp, then dented his bike to try and make it look like an accident. He was pronounced dead four days later. As Homicide captain, I was named chief investigator.
Two weeks later, I arrested five officers for his murder.
On May 17th, the same day that Mount St. Helens erupted in the State of Washington, the officers on trial were found “Not Guilty” by an all-white jury. Early that evening, some Miami citizens were driving home from work when they were trapped at traffic signals by bands of hoodlums, rocking cars until they turned over, then torturing the white people inside, cutting the tongue out of one, beating some to death. The riots ended with eighteen innocent citizens brutally murdered, more than 250 injured and multi-millions of destruction to businesses and buildings in the black community.
The media portrayed the victim as an insurance agent, and former Marine, who simply didn’t stop for the police. The attached Miami Herald article makes reference to his bereaved widow. While he certainly didn’t deserve his fate, the media played to the sympathy of local residents by failing to tell the whole story, that Mr. McDuffie had been spending time with another woman that evening, had marijuana in his system, and was driving with a suspended license, the probable reason he didn’t pull over. Insurance agent? Try: unemployed. He worked for an insurance company previously.
The newspapers didn’t talk much about the victims of the riots, or the risks that civil servants were taking to fight the insurgency, the volleys of sniper shots that were fired at cops and rescue personnel trying to save lives. They failed to mention that this was nothing more than a large group of organized hoodlums that used an excuse to create mayhem, and that they did not represent the majority of the black community at all. Nor did they seek revenge against the white establishment by burning their communities, instead they burned their own.
Neither did the media (print and television) take any responsibility for stoking the fires of retribution, citing the McDuffie killing as the constant lead story, heavily leaning public sympathy against the police as “racists” because they happened to have been white and the victim happened to have been black.
When I attended a community meeting some weeks later, no one wanted to hear me say that this was not a racist induced crime, because in fact, several within this group of officers had established a history of being physically abusive to all walks of society, including white and Hispanics, not only blacks. I told them that if the same circumstances prevailed, including the harrowing eight-minute inner-city chase, that the same thing would have happened if the biker had been a white or Hispanic man. They didn’t want to hear that, because I was defusing the trigger for more Story. The infusion of “racism” into the story fires the anger, the emotion, the hate and the response. It sells.
I don’t mean to diminish the suffering of Mr. McDuffie and his loved ones. He was truly a victim. But, the riots of thirty-years ago today, were as much the responsibility of The Miami Herald and other news outlets, as it was the angry insurgents.
That’s why people like me — especially career cops — look at sensational news stories with a cynical eye. There’s always another side.
Click here: Memories of Liberty City riots fade,
Twenty-three years ago, I met a Canadian woman living in the U.S. as a resident alien. In a cynical but ominous tone, she told me, “You’re giving your country away.”
She was beautiful, fun, alluring, intelligent and unpretentious. She was also a great cook. So, I married her.
Suzanne has never retracted her statement. If anything she is more adamant than ever. She sees the slow but disastrous path this nation is on from the view of an alien, and has no doubt that our grandchildren will be living in a third world nation, looking back on the early 21st century telling their grandchildren what a paradise America was — once.
It’s one thing to be compassionate and giving. It’s another to be plain stupid. Retailers, for example, should be commended when they give to charity and make sure the poor has something to eat. But it’s economic suicide if a retailer gives away the entire store, for then there will be nothing left…for anyone. I fear that’s the direction our country is taking.
Our eventual breakdown can be attributed four primary sources:
* Political corruption – legal and illegal
* Government mismanagement
* Runaway entitlement programs
* Unchecked immigration – legal and illegal
We’ll leave “Corruption” for another article by itself.
Entitlement programs sound nice. Some have been necessary and worthwhile. But not all. And certainly not when they are mismanaged…as the government mismanages almost every department, program and function within its entire bureaucracy.
Government is colossal failure at managing government. And we, the taxpayers, are the losers for it. Still, we keep voting these self-ingratiating morons…of both parties … into office.
Medicaid and Medicare is going broke.
The Postal Service is going broke
Social Security is going broke
The Energy Department has completely failed in all its objectives since its inception
The so-called War on Poverty and welfare systems are still mired in the same deep hole
(And we’re supposed to trust government in running health care?)
Illegal immigration is out of control
Welfare entitlements, busing, affirmative action, and other civil rights programs of the last 45 years find more, not less, black children born to fatherless homes than in 1965.
The Homeland Security Department is confused every time a terror crisis breaks out and then they worry more about political correctness than the security of Americans.
Detroit, Michigan, which has nearly half the population it had twenty years ago, is a microcosm of where the nation is heading. Massive entitlements provided to welfare recipients and auto unions have broken the back of this once great city, to where the law abiding residents are leaving to find jobs elsewhere, the tax base is depleted and crime runs rampant. No one cares that the once-great American (Michigan) communities of Hamtramck and Dearborn have evolved into predominantly Arab-Muslim strongholds where alcohol, ham and bacon is essentially outlawed, Shariah is preferred over the constitution and the Islamic calls to prayer are bellowed five times a day from minarets on loud speakers, in Arabic.
In America.
The biggest difference between immigration of a hundred years ago and immigration of today can be found inside the individual and family attitude toward America. Italian, Asian, Cuban, Polish, Jewish, Russian and even Canadian immigrants never considered themselves at war with the U.S. They considered coming to America a blessing. When they arrived here, they told their kids: “You are an American now. Speak English. Live like an American.” While Poles, Italians, Jews and etc., held on to their rich heritage, they happily assimilated in the promised land and taught their children to be proud Americans.
Not today.
There is no assimilation in the Muslim communities of Dearborn, Mi, Red House,Va., or Minneapolis, Mn. America is not considered a blessing, but an evil empire on the target list for conversion, to make their own. There’s no teaching of American values and customs. Islam first, America second.
I gave a talk at a local library when a nice looking fellow (Caucasian) raised his hand and said he was Muslim and that I should not believe books I read. I invited him to enter into a dialogue. He didn’t. So I asked a pointed question: “Do you ever pledge allegiance to the American Flag, Sir?”
His reply, “No. Never. My only allegiance is to God.”
Amen.
The recent terrorist who planted a bomb in Times Square was a legal immigrant who became an American citizen. But that was all a ruse. He doesn’t want to be an American, he wants America to be Islamic.
Communities of Mexican and Central Americans who immigrated – legal and illegal – to border states are not assimilating. American schools and government institutions have been intimidated into bending to their culture and language, rather than they blending into ours. Once upon a time, children were encouraged in schools to feel patriotic toward their country. Today, it’s “offensive” for a kid to display an American flag if it offends another ethnic group.
Click here: Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag
Many Hispanics in Arizona and California consider the southwest a war zone, to reconquer. And we’re politically correct enough to let it happen under our very noses. Check out this school teacher – in America — at an Hispanic revolutionary rally, declaring Los Angeles as “stolen occupied Mexico.” Check out the cheers. Check out the rhetoric. These are the folks that are being defended (and emboldened) by left wing America.
Click here: YouTube – L.A. Teacher Calls for Mexican Revolt
I grew up in Miami in the 1940s and 50s and watched the conversion of a southern tourist town virtually transform into a Havana II. I love Cuban music, Cuban food, Cuban culture and have many Cuban friends. But the hard fact is, that half a million Cubanos that live in Miami-Dade don’t bother to learn or to speak English, because they don’t have to. Since the Mariel boat lift of 1980, Miami has largely been converted to their way of life, while most have not adopted the American way of life.
Miami has become to thousands of Cubans what Dearborn has become to Arab Muslims, and what much of the border regions of New Mexico and Arizona have become to Mexicans. If the trends continue, one day there will no longer be an American culture, where we celebrate the likes of Sinatra, Tiger Woods, Miami Dolphins, Betty Crocker, John Grisham, Carrabbas and The Star Spangled Banner. It will be whatever the invaders choose to make it.
I can foresee the day when students that graduate American high schools will have never heard of Thomas Jefferson, Elvis Presley, Neil Armstrong or even Martin Luther King, Jr. They just won’t matter to anyone any more.
Because, there won’t be an America.
Suzanne is correct. We are giving the country away.
Click here: Browser: Viral video: Unions, liberals caused downfall of Detroit
Every so often, we might discover that we had made a difference in someone’s life but never knew it. I’m not talking about family and friends, but some human being out of the past who wasn’t particularly meaningful to you, but you were meaningful to him or her.
Such was the case three years ago, when a man in his mid forties attended one of my book talks at a West Florida library. He approached me after, not for a book, but to hug. At first I was taken aback, because he looked me somewhat adoringly, directly in the eyes. Then, he said, “Thank you. You don’t remember me, but when I was a teenager, thirty years ago, I was into drugs, crime and bad company, heading for a lot of trouble. You read me the riot act. It scared me so, I never forgot it. That’s why I joined the Navy and got my life in order. It would not have happened if not for you.”
Wow.
More recently, I was summoned to a hospital room to play violin music for a dying 78 year-old woman. Since 1980, Earline had been the mother-in-law of my now-deceased friend. More than twenty years ago, I had played the violin during a gathering at his home. Earline was there. Nice lady. I didn’t know her very well.
In her final days, consumed with cancer, she had asked her daughter, Bobbie, (my friend’s wife), “Do you think Marshall Frank would come and play ‘Sunrise Sunset’ for me on his violin?”
Well, there’s a first for everything, even at 71.
I strolled through the lobby of Melbourne’s Holmes General Hospital, right past security, carrying a violin case (of all things), found my way to room 732A where I was greeted by Bobbie and a room full of grieving family. Emaciated now, Earline was seemingly half-unconscious, a breathing apparatus attached, mouth agape, gasping her final breaths.
They told me how Earline would often talk about me, especially my violin and my writings. Who would have known? Amid a room of bursting tears, I opened the case, lifted the fiddle and started “Sunrise Sunset.” I had to look out the window, or I’d have been caught up in the depth of emotion. It was important to play it…slowly, and well.
Bobbie and her daughter, Bridget (granddaughter), leaned over to embrace the woman. I could see her jaw move, ever so slightly. After, Bridget said she actually heard her grandmother vocalize part of the tune, every so weakly… “Is this the little girl I carried…Sunrise … Sunset…” Amazingly, she had heard the music. It was all so worth the moment.
She passed away later that same night. I left with the comfort of knowing that Earline was conscious enough to hear that loving tune from “Fiddler On The Roof,” and that it made a difference in her life, and in her death.
On the way home, thoughts raged. I reflected on my own background. Who were the long lost people that made some small or large difference in my life? I don’t mean family or friend. But, some remote figure from the deepest recesses of the past, who unknowingly altered my direction in some way.
A 10th grade history teacher named Mr. Tierney, who made a boring subject come alive, sparking my interest in history for the rest of my life.
A 7th grade bully named Stanley, who led a gathering of kids to beat me up after school, for folly. All because I danced and played violin. From that day on, I obsessed on fitting in, no matter what the cost to my future.
At age 10, meeting Jascha Heifetz in person, listening to his advice, “Practice!” So, I did.
Beatrice Laverne, owner of a Miami dance studio, who was the only person who came to my house to offer solace after my mother’s long struggle with cancer ended. She filled a huge void that day, one I will never forget. She taught me to be there when someone is in need. Don’t assume someone else is doing it.
1966. A cop named Richard. He single-handedly changed police work for me, from a job into a career. I never even knew Richard, then the Chief of Detectives, other than reputation. But he knew me, and had faith enough to place me into the prestigious Homicide Bureau ahead of other aspiring applicants. Earlier that same week, disenchanted with wearing a badge for a living, I had already drafted my resignation, aiming toward a return to a career in music. Instead, the police career lasted 30 years, and today I enjoy a healthy pension — all because a man named Richard liked me.
Thanks Richard.
That’s just a few.
Now it’s your turn. What irony can you share about remote people from your past who made a significant difference in your life, though they may never have known it?
Maybe it’s time?
While laying in bed awake, like most of you, thoughts swim. So, I’ll share some of those in one-line contemplations…no rambling discussion needed. Just a few items to consider. Enjoy. Think. Ponder. Argue.
It’s a blessing to have a brain with the power of reason. It’s also a curse.
Rap Music is an oxymoron
Tongue studs are not just for decoration
Nose rings remind me of boogers
Pants hung below the ass, baring underwear, is an insult
The “War on Drugs” is lost, always has been
Strange, that the war on drugs excluded “nicotine.”
Charisma means more than resume` for gaining elective office
Ghandi was the most Jesus-like mortal in my lifetime
What religion was Cro Magnon?
Can you whistle the tunes to any song by Ice T or Eminem?
Corporate favors for politicians is nothing less than bribery
Why do lawyers donate to a judge’s campaign?
Why is white racism disgusting, while black racism is acceptable?
There is nothing funnier than a fart
Forcible rape is a power crime, not a sex crime
The government is responsible for the majority of crime in America
The voice of Sarah Brightman is the closest to absolute perfection
Islamic Jihad is, by far, the most important issue facing the future of America
There’s no such thing as a War on Terror. Terror is a tactic not an enemy.
Transparency/Obama is another oxymoron
Babe Ruth was the greatest natural sports figure of all time
An atheist stands less of a chance to be president than a Jihadist.
Voters should be over 21 years of age
Professional sports figures aren’t worth multi-millions of dollars for running and throwing
Government corruption and corporate greed is why we are still beholden to foreign oil
Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep are today’s pinnacle among movie actors
Immigrating to this country is a privilege not a right
I have zero trust in Barack Obama as president, which has nothing to do with party lines.
The last president we could truly trust was Eisenhower
Only three of the Ten Commandments pertain to modern law
Not every mother and/or father deserves to be honored
No baby is born with a religion
Political correctness will foster more terrorists like Nidal Hassan
Being old is better than I could have imagined
One of modern times’ greatest losses, is the mystery to sex.
The Nobel Peace Prize became worthless when it was awarded to Yassar Arafat
Death is nothing to be afraid of. I worry more about the final journey.
American youth is more obsessed with appearance than with accomplishment
No diet plan works unless you eat less food
There were no fat people in Auschwitz
Why would race matter to blind people?
Honest politician is another oxymoron
Divine or not, Jesus’ messages of love is valuable for all people
I can’t imagine life without accomplishment
Blind love can lead to self destruction
Sending an innocent to prison is worse than murder.
Today’s adult Americans have lived in the best of times
Our great-grandchildren will not be living in the best of times
I often come near to tears when I hear “America The Beautiful” … for more reasons than one
“Skin color is a benign, nonbehavioral characteristic. Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics. Comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument.” — Colin Powell, 1993
Sorry, I don’t believe it’s as simple as imposing compassion and human rights. Sounds nice. But the real reason some politicians are supporting a lifting of the ban on gays in the military, and doing away with “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is about power. It’s about building voting blocks to gain, or retain power. Voting gays make up a huge constituency.
Let’s cut to the chase.
The best reason to retain “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as the current policy for gays in the military can be summed up in one sentence: Straight guys don’t want to take showers with gay guys, knowing they are gay. Simple as that.
Regardless of political or social dogma, there are definite physical and psychological aspects to this issue that cannot be ignored.
It doesn’t mean that straight men are gay haters or homophobes. It simply means, they don’t want to be in any intimate arrangement — especially naked — around young men who are naturally attracted within a same-sex setting.
Most of us would agree that homosexuals can shoot guns and perform wartime functions as well as anyone. Undoubtedly, there have been silent heros among them. But when young men enter the military service, it’s not about guns, planes and radar. It’s boot camp. It’s field training. It’s adjusting to a completely new way of life. That involves close sleeping quarters, bathrooms and showers…daily and nightly.
When straight men know their roommates are also straight, the adjustment to new living arrangements is easy. Sexual connotation doesn’t come into play when straights are among straights. The scenario takes on a whole new dimension when they are aware that a gay man is in the shower — or the bedroom – with them.
Women have become a valuable asset to military service in modern-day America. While they share much of the same training and perform like functions, personal living arrangements remain separate from men for obvious reasons. It’s about sexuality. Sexual differences invites sexual proclivities, which is why the military maintains a barrier between men and women. That’s just common sense. The same issue comes into play mixing gays and straights in bare naked settings.
Of course, modern day bureaucrats, politicians and some military elite are bending to pressures of political correctness to make a change in policy. But I seriously doubt that many of their public statements mirror those that are expressed in private.
Both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (which includes four million vets) have come out strongly against overturning the ban.
More than 1,000 retired admirals and generals have expressed opposition to the change, saying that overturning the ban would undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadership at all levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lend their sons and daughter to military service and eventually will impact the All-Volunteer Force.
Open acceptance of gays in the military will open the floodgates for complaints of discrimination that do not now exist. Drill instructors will have to watch their P’s and Q’s before shouting at or admonishing a recruit who happens to be gay, lest he be brought up for charges of anti-gay discrimination. It could change the whole approach to basic training…not for the better.
Instead of asking generals, admirals and special interest groups their points of view, pollsters should be talking to the rank-in-file, the privates and sergeants who have to deal with every day life in lower military ranks.
My 24-year-old grandson was recently discharged after four years in the U.S. Air Force. He has very open views and many friends in the gay community. But he also agreed with the premise that sharing intimate environments knowing that gay men were present, would be extremely uncomfortable.
Senator John McCain is a national military hero who comes from a military family. He recommends leaving the policy just as it is. “It’s working,” he said.
Why fix something that is not broken?
Retired Air Force combat pilot, Keith Hutcheson, recently wrote in USA Today, “I should not have to worry about room assignments, who’s bunking with whom, who is offended by the gay soldier or airman, or whether he’s angry because no one will talk to him. I am a father to my daughter, not to men in combat.”
This isn’t a matter of discriminating against gays because of bigotry or homophobia. It’s a matter of maintaining order, good discipline and a separation of sexual orientation that can make life very uncomfortable for a lot of people who should have other things on their minds.
It’s a touchy issue that’s not going to satisfy everyone.
I wasn’t going to go there, but since the issue has ignited a firestorm, it’s irresistible.
Tiger Woods has been one of my few living American heros. He still is.
Tiger cheated on his wife. Everyone would agree that is dishonorable. But it is dishonorable as it pertains to his personal life, not his public life nor his sport. So, here’s a few observations, as I see it:
1) Tiger’s infidelity is a private matter. I cringe every time I see a comedian make jokes about him. Every time there is a “Breaking News” story about his latest admissions, or a summary of those dalliances with a long list of females, I feel like we are invading the inner sanctum of someone else’s life which is none of my business, nor yours. We…primarily Americans and Brits…are constantly hungry for the dirt on celebrities, as though we are entitled. We’re not.
Unless of course, we’re talking about a state governor who disappears for four days to another country while he’s supposed to be on the public teat. Unless, of course, we’re talking about a president who uses the White House (Our House) as a forum for head jobs while he’s supposed to be keeping our country safe. Then, it is our business.
Otherwise, what Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods or Brad Pitt do in their private lives, is a family matter, not a public matter…unless they break the law.
2) I think about the media frenzy. This story has dominated every news show for two weeks, while wars are being fought on two fronts, a nation is in financial crisis, and thousands of other heros lining hospital rooms at Walter Reed get little or no mention.
3) I think about all the people who mock and judge. Media, commentators, comics, talk show hosts, sports figures, etc., many of whom should look in the mirror before they cast aspersions.
4) I think about the lures associated with fame and wealth. It’s got to be tough for a hormone-raging, thirty-year-old jock, thousands of miles from home throughout the year, in party atmosphere one after another, to resist the constant temptations. Wealthy athletes associated with the NBA, NFL, boxing, golf, tennis and other sports, are constantly on the road, living out of a suitcase, socializing in hotels while wives are at home tending to kids, or their BOTOX treatments. No doubt, many of them are well aware that their husbands engage in the pleasures of women who throw themselves at their feet, or in some cases, accept huge sums of money in exchange for their discreet services. This doesn’t give Tiger a pass, but it does bring it into the human perspective.
5) I never thought about the racial issue until I listened to a radio talk show in which a caller, a black man, caught my attention. As the media examines Tiger’s behavior with a microscope, it’s pretty obvious that his preference in women all share a similar profile. Blonde, white and beautiful…like his wife. The caller pointed out, that many of these wealthy black athletes who marry, seem to gravitate to inter-racial relationships, generally white women, usually blondes.
The issue, he said, is how it plays out to black women. How do they feel? Why is it that so many of these athletes, who could anyone they want, make such choices? I must admit, it made me think. And if it made me think, it certainly must make black folks think.
6) I think about Tiger paying for sex via escort businesses. Makes sense. He had no interest in forming a personal relationship with women, thus the pay-for-sex route. He didn’t want anyone to fall in love with him, or vise versa. After all, he had a family…and an image to protect.
Oh well.
7) Tiger is still the greatest golfer of all time. His demeanor on the links has been impeccable, always supportive and courteous to his challengers, and accommodating to the press.
He has been a valuable role model to millions of kids, particularly minorities, who see him as a giant figure who stayed focused to overcome bias and discrimination. His generosity through foundations has opened a number of golf clinics around the world, mainly focusing on kids. And, at the age of 33, has already won 71 PGA tournaments and 14 majors, one with a broken foot.
I hope this will eventually pass and we’ll watch his magic on the links once again in 2010. But when he does come back on the tour, he will have a new and important role for the youngsters at those golf clinics. That’s teaching the importance of fidelity.
What say you?
Radical Islamic Jihad is as dangerous to the United States in 2009, as Nazi Germany was to Europe in 1939. It’s that serious. This enemy doesn’t wear uniforms. They don’t have a national border. They blend in among us. And, it’s working. As part of their strategy of infiltration, the enemy is counting on ignorance, appeasement, denial and political correctness from Americans. That’s being provided by the liberal wing not only in Washington, but amid an easily-led, well-meaning populous. They are the folks who are inadvertently aiding and abetting the enemy of the United States.
This article is posted primarily for my friends and readers on the liberal (left) side of the spectrum. Rest assured, it comes from the heart, and from fair bit of study about the scourge of Islamic Jihad. (Please check my book “Militant Islam In America”)
This is not a message born of the Rush Limbaughs, or Glenn Becks, or Fox news, or any other — what some folks call the “radical right wing.” This subject doesn’t fit in a pigeonhole. It’s beyond partisanship. It is not about republicans versus democrats. It’s begs common sense. This is about our country approaching the slippery slope toward destruction, while we’re too blind, or too stupid to do anything about it.
Our nation is now in the greatest crisis in its history. More so, than the Civil War, the great depression, WWII, or even 9/11. America is at a point where our precious freedoms, and the future of our grandchildren, are at grave risk, not because we are being defeated by an enemy, but because we are defeating ourselves while a sinister and clever enemy revels. We are defeating ourselves because so many of us choose to remain blind to the obvious.
Never before in our nation’s history were we afraid to identify our enemies, to confront them, or to fight them. Now, that has changed. We’re afraid. We can’t say “Terrorism” or “Islamic Fascism” or “Jihad” because they are all politically incorrect terms. No civilization could ever hope to win a war without identifying the enemy. Our enemy is radical Islamic Jihad and all their followers and supporters, with or without violence. Sadly, our government is not willing to acknowledge that. Our government would rather be politically correct by protecting them, than protecting you and me.
These problems did not start with Mr. Obama. Indeed, they started with President G.W. Bush, the day he stood shoulder to shoulder with radical, America-hating Imams at the Washington National Cathedral three days after 9/11, to proclaim — for the world to hear — that …”Islam as a religion of peace.” He repeated that often during his term in office.
Imagine: After December 7, 1941, when 2,403 of our citizens and servicemen were killed in an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR would sit beside two Shinto priests and declare Japan a peaceful nation?
It didn’t happen. It would never have happened. It’s unthinkable.
Mr. Bush spent his presidency blathering on and on about the peacefulness of Islam, sucking up to the Royal Saudi family and other Islamic enemies of America, some of whom were honored guests of the White House and later became guests of our prison system for abetting terrorists. By these actions, our government emboldened our enemies to continue their pursuit of jihad, because it was working so well. They saw how stupid we are. They saw how vulnerable we could be.
Sure, Mr. Bush took action in Iraq and Afghanistan. While doing so, he left the back door wide open and allowed the enemy full access to grow and pursue their jihad agenda inside our borders, all in the name of diversity and political correctness.
On election day, November of 2008, we made a ‘change.” Sadly, a change for the worse.
I’m convinced, that election came about through the practice of deceit. Like most career cops, my entire 30-year police career was mired in daily confrontations with liars and deceivers. I am astutely sensitive to liars. It’s the core of activity for a cop’s job; Discerning deceit. They get pretty good at it. Once they’re on the job a short while, cops learn that good looks, pretty words and impressions mean nothing. They are often a cover for more sinister actions behind the facade. Half of the killers I arrested, “didn’t do it.” and many of them were truly likeable.
These are my beliefs. I believe the election of Barack Obama as president, is the greatest tragedy to ever befall this country. I believe this president has a long range agenda — perhaps beyond his term — that will ultimately dismantle the constitution as we know it, and convert this nation into a government that would desecrate the visions of Jefferson and Madison. For every remark Mr. Obama makes publically, I ponder what was really spoken behind closed doors. I trust him not. Recent polls also show the level of mistrust toward Mr. Obama is growing.
I refer to the blind love affair with Mr. Obama — by supporters and the fawning media — as the “O.J. syndrome.” No matter the profuseness of evidence pointing toward his guilt, that jury remained madly in love. O.J.’s blood dripping from the scene didn’t matter. His victim’s blood on the floorboard of his car didn’t matter. His pattern of wife beatings and constant fear instilled into Nicole Simpson didn’t matter. All that mattered was charisma, good looks, pretty words, and denial. As an experienced homicide detective, I am confident is saying there were very few crimes in the annals of murder cases, where so much damning evidence pointed to the guilt of one man, yet…love conquered all. It was all discounted and ignored by twelve blinded people. That jury was mesmerized by celebrity.
Sound familiar?
Long before the election and during the campaign, numerous — and I mean numerous — red flags were raised (where did we recently hear that term?) that would bring Obama’s loyalty to country into question. Whether be his mysterious educational background, the pictures of Che Guevera lining offices of campaign workers, his supporters amid a sea of crooks (ACORN), Palestinian phone banks raising money for his election, the love affair from Islamic organizations across the world, hobnobbing with noted communists, his America-hating mentors, his sordid associations with domestic terrorists and leftist radicals, his close association with Islamists, and his warm and huggy ties to a church that spewed hatred toward America, and a church that admired Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan, the country’s best known Jew-hater. And we elected him to be our commander in chief? Are we nuts?
Now, after ten months in office, Mr. Obama has proven himself worthy of suspicion. His “transparency” is as transparent as the fixing town hall meetings to include supporters only and pre-screening questions. It’s as transparent as excluding a major news network from inclusion because they exercise the first amendment rights of free speech and press. One could cite dozens of issues which bring Mr. Obama’s motives and long-range intentions into question, the evidence is overwhelming. Whether it’s government takeovers of private enterprise, banks, auto, health, etc., ( and we’ve only just begun) or questionable appointments among private, unvetted White House czars consisting of Marxists and other anti-Americans, or his sickening apologies on behalf of America to the Islamic world when we, the Americans, have been the systematic victims of Islamic extremism. Yet for all this, America remains asleep, just like the O.J. jury, because — well, they’re in love. Evidence means nothing.
Within hours after a police incident in Cambridge, Mr. Obama cited the Police Department as acting “pretty stupid.” Yet, when 42 human beings were shot (and 14 killed) at random on an American military installation by a radical Islamic member of that military, the best the president could tell America is not to draw conclusions or rush to judgement?
Based on all my readings and research, connecting dots, and putting the mosaic into place like a jigsaw puzzle, I have reached the conclusion that Mr. Obama intends on gradually leading this country toward some form of communism, certainly socialism, so slowly that the people won’t even realize it is happening. The first big step, is to make government bigger and more controlling.
Based on connecting those dots, here are more beliefs:
I believe the path toward the White House was begun early in his life, perhaps in his 20s, and that he has been guided by many people, many of whom we don’t know, from behind the scenes.
I don’t believe Mr. Obama is really a democrat. I believe he is a Marxist cloaked in the democratic party, because that’s the political vehicle he needed to gain access to the White House.
I don’t believe Mr. Obama is a Christian. I believe he joined that church some twenty years ago as part of the political plan toward gaining power. He knew, being a democrat and being a Christian were two essential labels or else he’d stand no chance of getting elected. There are very few Christian churches in this nation that “Damn” America. But he managed to find one.
I cannot say that Mr. Obama is a closet Muslim. But, his words, his actions and his background — all those pieces — are all part of the mosaic that paints the picture of Islamic sympathy and Islamic leanings. That’s very disturbing because it plays right into the scheme of our enemy. They are undoubtedly thrilled with our president. He is part of their plan. Islamic jihadists have made clear their intentions to infiltrate the west from within in order to destroy us, and what better president for us to have than one who coddles them.
He recently brought in two devout Muslims to work in high level positions within the bowels of our Homeland Security Department. Not the Energy department mind you. Not the Agriculture Department. Our department of Homeland Security. That’s comforting.
Many Islamic jihadists in the U.S. have been indicted, deported, or jailed for rendering support to our enemies, who posed as “moderates” until they were exposed. Radicals all over the globe pose as “moderates” until they behead someone, bomb a school bus, or get caught supporting terror organizations like al Qaeda or Hamas. Radicals are preaching hate and Islamic dominance inside many of the 2000 mosques all over this country that are funded by Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. Religion of peace?
So, friends, it is time to wake up and save our nation. As much evidence as there was pointing toward the guilt of O.J. for committing murder, the same plethora of evidence should tell us all that this president should not be trusted with the future of this nation.
We owe it to our grandchildren, and future generations, to seek the truth. The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle may each look beautiful by themselves, but we must be willing to see the entire picture it creates. And it’s not a pretty one.
Making a difference is a responsibility of all Americans to let their voices be heard. Let the media know, let government representatives know, and let others know the dangers that portend for America with our current leadership. Vote smart the next election, so that we can diminish the political power of this presidency. Forget about partisan politics and innocuous, one-issue matters. Diminishing the power of Mr. Obama in 2010 is essential until we can vote him out in 2012. We must send that message.
Partisan politics is healthy for America, when it comes to most issues. I sort of enjoy the bantering. But liberalism and political correctness toward radical Islam and closet jihadists is nothing less than national suicide. Liberals, I beg you. Open your eyes, look and see.
The enemy is radical Islamic jihad. They are everywhere, by the multi-millions, with thousands, maybe millions, here inside our country, in our schools, our prisons, our communities, our military and, no doubt, our government. They are making serious headway. They are winning. They want us dead. And they want our children dead. That became obvious at Fort Hood.
It’s up to us. It’s up to you.
(For anyone interested in following this growing menace, I recommend linking on to America Congress For Truth, or ACT for America.)
www.actforamerica.com
There is a lot of cyber information and blogger comments on the Internet which suggests that John Stossel was recently fired from ABC after 28 years, for producing a six-minute video segment exposing Obamacare and all its flaws. While I was able to confirm that Stossel is, in fact, leaving ABC and moving over to Fox, there doesn’t seem to be confirmation that he was actually fired. Maybe, maybe not.
Nevertheless, the video is very compelling and presents a picture of the major problems with the current proposals by congress from different angles. It’s worth watching. Judge for yourself.
Click here: YouTube – ABC’s John Stossel
p.s. I was interviewed by Stossel ten years ago for a 20/20 segment on racial profiling. The conclusion of that interview was nothing less than amazing. More on that in the next blog.
A recent visit to my wife’s hometown of Cornwall, Ontario, left me with a new perspective about our friendly neighbor to the north.
Let’s start with a make-up Rotary Club meeting at the Ramada Inn, next to the bridge which crosses into the U.S.A. Yes, people were very friendly, Yes the food was great. But most stunning, was the homage paid to the United States in the opening ritual. I noticed two flags at the front of the room; One with the red maple leaf, the other with the stars and stripes. Then, the woman president said, “Let’s all sing the national anthems.” (Emphasis added to the plural) To my amazement, I was in another country where their citizens were singing The Star Spangled Banner, before they moved on to Oh Canada. Stunned, would best describe my reaction.
I later asked the president, why? For several reasons, she replied. The Canadians love and respect the United States. Rotary Clubs are international, but they originated in the U.S. Cornwall borders our country, and their district includes Rotary Clubs south of their border as well.
While in Canada for those few days, I asked a number of people about their health care system. Boiled down, this is what I got:
* The population feels protected by a national system where everyone is covered
* Doctors make far less money because most are on the government teat.
* Waiting lists and priorities do exist. The most serious get attention first. Less serious problems, such as the need for shoulder or knee replacements, may require many months before someone will get an MRI. Same with minor stomach aches and head colds. Cancer and heart disease goes to the front of the line.
* Much depends on the province one lives in. Health care systems are more reliable in wealthier provinces, such as Ontario and Quebec, than in more rural, such as Manitoba.
* Canadians who can afford, may still buy private health insurance as a guarantee for speedier health care no matter the illness.
* The costs are skyrocketing. Many fault the huge influx of immigration…legal and illegal, which is overloading the system.
* With the lack of domestic health care providers to meet the demand, Canada is turning to foreign doctors and nurses for their health care.
Moving on —
Friendlier people do not exist anywhere else on earth. Eh? Not only in Ontario and Montreal, Suzanne’s roots. On 9/11/01, yours truly was aboard an British Airways flight from Heahtrow when the news came about the terrorist attack. My plane was diverted to a previously unheard of town called Moncton, New Brunswick. I had to remain there for three days before the U.S. Airports reopened. The people of New Brunswick were amazing, hosting and boarding many of the 2500 passengers from the twenty-two planes that landed at that small airstrip. They did all they could to alleviate the burdens and anxiety of passengers whose lives were wrenched from a normal straight line, to a sudden spiral.
Sure, Canada has it’s problems, like anywhere else. Eh? But they have stood shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. in many conflicts, including the current war in Afghanistan. But not without a mind of their own, for their government did not feel the pre-emptive war in Iraq was justified, though they did send personnel to help with reconstruction and the training of Iraqi police.
Mind of their own, indeed. During the recent summit at the United Nations, Canada was among the first (with Israel) to lead the boycott of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during his address to the General Assembly. The U.S. followed suit, walking out along with several other nations, leaving the assembly half empty while the mad man of Iran blathered on with hate rhetoric. “There is no way I am going to permit any official of the government of Canada to be present and give any legitimacy to remarks by a leader like that,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Amen.
Canada facts that you might find interesting:
* Canada is the second largest country in the world, with 3,883,855 square miles.
* Canada has the ninth largest economy in the world
* Canada is the home of many great inventions, including: Basketball, Lacrosse, the electric light bulb, the electric range, insulin, the electron microscope, standard time, the telephone, and the zipper.
* The baseball glove was invented in Canada in 1883.
* Canada is the second largest country in the world, with 3,883,855 square miles.
* Canada ranks number one in imported oil to the U.S. Twenty percent of our crude oil comes from Canada.
* Canada boasts such trivia as having the longest tunnel in the world (9 miles), the longest coastline, longest highway, and the world’s tallest tower (Toronto).
* Most people don’t realize that hundreds of well-known celebrities hail from Canada, including Jim Carrey, Kiefer Sutherland, Shania Twain, Michael Fox, Celine Dion and Alex Trebek.
Most memorable, however, will be that moment I heard the Rotary Club gathering of forty-plus Canadians singing two national anthems, theirs and ours, as though we are all one. And, indeed we are. Eh?
Michael Vick, quarterback extraordinaire, has paid his debt to society. After serving 20 months in prison for dastardly crimes, the world of sports, and the media, were eager to forgive and welcome the phenom back into the football field, compliments of the Philadelphia Eagles who offered a contract worth multi-millions of dollars. What ex-con could expect so much?
For six years, Vick had operated an illegal dogfight business in Virginia which involved abuse, torture and execution of underperforming animals, not to mention the presence of drugs and the employment of illicit gambling. On top of that, Vick had denied all the allegations about his ugly business venture until evidence mounted with three of his comrades agreeing to testify against him. For Vick, it was the stain on the blue dress.
Should he perform on the field as expected, he may one day be heralded as a public icon, revered by millions of fans and voted into the Football hall of Fame. He stands as a role model for the young. Who cares about his crimes? He’s Michael Vick.
Some folks don’t want to hear about reality. What he presided over was cruel and gruesome. Man’s best friends are pitted against each other in a small enclosure as the blood lusters cheer on in glee making their bets. Vicious fights can last an hour as pit bulls inflict horrible injury upon one another, cracking bones, squealing, bleeding and ripping flesh. Some breeders cut off their ears so that rivals cannot bite onto them. Teeth are filed to make them sharper. Often, they are pumped with steroids. All this for the joy of watching innocent warm-blooded animals mutilate each other to tortuous deaths.
Two of the government’s witnesses claim that Vick not only gambled, but was personally involved in the brutal killing of at least eight dogs by hanging, drowning and electrocution because they didn’t perform. Nice guy.
Seems to me there’s an overdose hypocrisy here. Sports writers who lionize Vick have, for thirty years, turned up their noses at another sports figure whose Herculean feats far outshine the young Philadelphia quarterback.
Compare this. Pete Rose is the most prolific hitter in the history of Major League Baseball. He holds a host of individual records, some of which may never be broken, including most games played and most hits. His National League record of 44 consecutive games with a hit, is still unbroken. He was voted as an all-star 17 times, one MVP award, and three World Series Rings. Thought he’s one of the most electrifying players in the history of any sport, Rose has been permanently denied enshrinement into the Hall of Fame by many of those same sports writers.
Why? During his time as a manager, Pete Rose gambled on baseball. A crime, to be sure. While evidence wasn’t enough to convict him of illegal gambling, authorities managed to indict him for tax evasion in 1990, for which he served a five month prison sentence. Afterwards, no multi-million dollar contracts awaited him, no hoards of fans, only a few autograph sessions and a couple books that didn’t sell very well.
His crimes were a far cry from the violent, blood-thirsty practice of dog killing for the joy of gambling. Pete Rose killed no one, not even a dog. His crime was a product of gambling addiction, for which people in America are treated by the thousands every day.
Yet, he is banned from baseball for life, by sports writers. Compare that, to the love and forgiveness bestowed upon Michael Vick.
The Cooperstown museum is known as the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Morality. Rose stands beside such names as Ruth, Aaron, Mantle, and Mays as the most famous of the famous ball players in history, and thus it is time he be enshrined into the sacred temple of his sport. That is doable, by the sports writers of America. If they don’t, they should check out their own manuscripts which drooled over the young quarterback despite his acts of animal torture, for fun and money. They might change their mind.
There’s also another reality. Rose didn’t have the right supporters going to bat for him (so to speak) in his corner. From day one, Michael Vick had the backing of an organization called: NAACP.
I guess that does make a difference.
This will be shorter than usual.
We’ve heard much uproar over the president’s intention on giving a speech which is to be aired in public schools around the nation so all kids, of all ages, can listen to Barack Obama’s message. And despite the objections of millions of Americans, including parents and teachers, the president is moving ahead with that plan.
What’s the big deal, you might ask.
The big deal is injecting politics, however subtle, into the public school arena where every religion and every political leaning are represented in classrooms. The parents of those kids have not been consulted or advised. It doesn’t matter what the president’s words contain, we all know the he is not doing this without a purpose in mind, and few politicians ever have another purpose other than indoctrinating people to their points of view.
In this case, millions of children will go home that afternoon declaring their love for the Messianic president whose words stimulate everyone, even his enemies. Those kids will become future voters, not necessarily for him, but for the ideals he stands for and the party he molds.
Some say the objections are only being raised by Republicans, that it’s just anti-Obama politics as usual. Not so.
Prior presidents have addressed school rooms to impart information concerning threats to national security, or to decry drug use. One in particular was delivered in 1991 by G.W. Bush himself at a public school in Washington D.C. in which he implored children to stay away from drugs. The speech was later aired nationwide. Objections? You bet. Led by Rep. Dick Gephardt, the Democratic side of congress went ballistic, vilifying the new president for using the airways to inject politics into the schoolroom. Gephardt said, ” The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students.”
He wasn’t alone.
Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), chairwoman of the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, said it was outrageous for the White House to “start using precious dollars for campaigns when we are struggling for every silly dime we can get for education programs.”
What’s good for the goose…
That’s just a sampling of those objections from 1991…which, I might add, were just as valid.
It’s not the job of the president of the United States to mold the minds of children. Obama’s current ploy reminds me of nationalistic indoctrination that has targeted kids in other countries of the past. Names like Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Castro and Hitler comes to mind.
Naturally there are teachers and principals who are from all sides of the spectrum, Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The degree of support and enthusiasm for the upcoming speech will undoubtedly receive hot, cold and tepid responses. And, in many places, books are already in place for the children to read ahead of time. Please check out this article by America’s Independent Party National Committee, and the books and the short video clip:
Click: two of the books on Obama your kids are expected to read
Time is running short. This is nothing more than the first steps toward initiating a cult of worship. Write your congressional representatives, your school boards and your school principals. This is wrong. This is far outside the proper conduct of an American president. This is mind manipulation. This is using kids — our kids — to forward a political agenda. And, it is an abomination.
Delete
In the end, it comes down to that.
Some folks think the worst things about growing older are losing good health or losing good looks. For me, it’s losing all those wonderful friends on the e-mail directory. The older we get, the more often we find ourselves removing folks from the list. These last two years have been particularly sad as I’ve eulogized three and lost a half dozen others, all far too premature.
Delete
This past week, we attended the grave side service of a close friend of more than twelve years. We had lunch with Marvin Schild and his devoted wife, Jean, just two months ago in New Smyrna Beach. A champion tennis player on the senior circuit, Marvin gleefully announced that doctors had pronounced his cancer in full remission. The remission didn’t last long. He was 79.
A past president of the Florida Bar Association, Marvin was also a former municipal judge and city attorney who practiced many years in the Miami area before moving to Maggie Valley, N.C. where we met. He was a delight to argue with, me on the right, he on the left. We dispelled the old adage that the twain shall never meet, because it did on many occasion. Often, he awakened me to the logic of a different position, while he maintained an open mind to my points of view.
Marvin Schild was a deeply caring person who always pulled for the underdog. I will miss him deeply. I only wish he had known that. Shoulda told him when I had the chance.
Delete
Jim Duckworth (Jimmie Dee) and I attended the police academy together in 1960. This man was not only a great cop, but a vigorous stalwart for police officers in general. We worked Homicide together through the early 1970s and remained good friends for life. An ardent athlete, it seemed nothing would ever bring him down. But it did. I visited him just hours before he passed and whispered into his ear, “Love you, Jimmie.” He was 74.
Jim Duckworth left behind three grown kids and grandkids who also adored him, and of course, his devoted wife, Fran.
Delete
I met Don Argo at a book signing in Melbourne in 2003. We became instant friends. Not to be deceived by a deep Arkansas drawl, Don was one of the most respected math teachers ever at a local college. Because of his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, some folks called him a genius. His tenacious research was evident upon reading his historical novel, “Canaveral Light,” which told of the early settling on the eastern shores of Florida after the Civil War. We critiqued each others work head-on, voraciously.
Like Jim Duckworth, I visited Don just hours before he passed. He sputtered his final words to me from the edge of a bed, “Don’t … forget … to finish Orville T. Madison.” (Protagonist’s name in my new novel) To the end, he thought about others. He, too, left behind four children that loved him and devoted wife, Kathy.
Privileged to be called his friend, Don Argo was a man who I admired greatly. Damn, I shoulda told him that when I had the chance.
Delete
George Gilbert Reincke and I were juvenile delinquents together in the 1950s, and never ended our buddy relationship over 55 years of trials and tribulations, dual police careers, broken marriages and plenty of wild days and evenings, some too racy to tell about here. George and I were always there for each other during tough times, much like brothers would be.
We were on the golf course in the North Carolina mountains in the summer of 1985 when he started feeling sick. Diagnosis: Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He went in and out of remission several times during the next 22 years, before the cancer finally won the battle. My wife and I were at his bedside when he passed, along with his ex-wife, Bobbie. George was 68, leaving behind two grown daughters who he cherished.
I really loved that guy. Damn…why didn’t I tell him when I had the chance?
Delete
The beat goes on.
Harry Wendler, top cop and long time administrator with an acerbic sense of humor and wicked golf swing, passed away last year. Delete.
Gary Arbeiter, old high school chum, died suddenly on Father’s Day at age 70. Thank goodness we had a reunion among the old gang two years ago. Delete.
Ray Eggler, stand-up cop and former Homicide detective who worked with and for me during the 1960s and 70s. A hard worker and strong supporter of the PBA, Ray was always there for those who needed him. Delete.
Mike Hammerschmidt, J. B. Johnson, Art Hill, John Coogan, Bill Sampson…all good cops who I worked with over a period of thirty years, have passed in the last two. Delete.
Ray Beck, former Marine, trained me to be a homicide detective in 1966. He was one of those “do it right, or don’t do it at all” people. In later years, Ray worked under my command. Twas most uncomfortable, me supervising Ray Beck. He fought lung cancer for many years. I received a surprise call one day when I was living in North Carolina. Obviously in great pain, Ray struggled to speak. “Just…wanted…to… tell you…you were like a son to me. I love you. Goodbye.” Three days later, he was gone. Raymond J. Beck, class act. Delete.
Say it, folks. Utter those words. Regardless of sex, political leanings, religion or color, let those people who are especially close to your heart, know how you really feel. While you can. You may wish you had.
Delete
That dreaded key.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is a prominent professor at Harvard University who teaches, of all things, race relations. On the 21st of July, he was arrested by a Cambridge officer at his home for Disorderly Conduct. Mr. Gates claims it was an act of racism.
The media has run with this ball like a Patriots tailback from his own one-yard line. A famous black person crying “racism” against a white cop is really big news, truth be damned. And considering the man’s vast array of credentials, he must be the good guy, while the cop is the bad guy.
Reporters are asking the cop if he’s going to apologize. Won’t happen, he says. Nothing to apologize for.
In a one-sided barrage of outrage, television commentators have sought out scores of prominent blacks for on-camera vilification of police behavior, even reaching the president of the United States, who, in responding to a reporters question, said, “I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say…that the Cambridge Police acted stupidly.”
The president is right saying, “I don’t know, not having been there.” But he contradicted himself by passing judgement, “police acted stupidly.” How does he know? Perhaps the president should go on a police ride-along sometime to get a feel for law enforcement from the other side.
Wolf Blitzer, of CNN, has repeatedly (and shamefully) queried black celebrities, professors and some journalists with leading questions that evoke the answers he’s looking for: Cops are racists! Racism is alive! Professor Gates is owed an apology. It makes sensational news. It sells.
Many people who watch/read such drivel get caught up in it all, like a fish on a hook, and fall for the slant without realizing they’ve been manipulated.
Here’s what happened, according to news sources.
A good Samaritan spotted two men using their shoulders to break through the door of a neighboring house. They called police thinking it might be a burglary. Good neighbor.
Police responded to a report of a possible B&E in progress, as required. Knowing only what the neighbor told them, the three officers approached the house with caution. Now inside, Mr. Gates refused to come out. The cops announced they were investigating a break-in, and asked to see identification. Again, good police work. At that point, the esteemed professor said, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?”
The response was as necessary as cancer. It also set the stage. From there, Mr. Gates apparently flipped out into an uncontrollable wild rant while making repeated references to the officer’s mother, then followed the officer outside and created a disturbance which drew attention from citizens. The police charged him with Disorderly Conduct.
I responded similarly during my police years…whether the man was black, white or purple.
While most of the television networks focused on the impressive credentials of Mr. Gates, they failed to mention the 42 year-old cop in question who has an eleven-year record of impeccable service to the community. A model officer, he is the police academy instructor for maintaining good race relations in the police academy which includes the denunciation of profiling. As a campus cop in 1995, he gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to basketball star, Reggie Lewis, a black man. Racist?
Here’s another point of view.
1 – The professor should be praising his neighbor who was looking out for criminal activity at his home.
2 – The professor should thank the cops for responding so quickly and doing their job, protecting his property.
3 – He should apologize to the cops for his offensive and unnecessary behavior.
But that won’t happen. Stoking the flames of racism keeps media air time filled, even if it’s not true. It pays to be the victim and nothing works better than playing the race card.
In today’s world, police officers walk on eggshells to avoid any appearance of racial discrimination. I know. Been there, done that. The last thing this cop wanted to do, was arrest a prominent black unless his back was against the wall.
Mr. Gates picked on the wrong cop to advance his agenda.
The president would have responded better had he followed up by saying he could not comment on the incident. But, loyalty to his old professor friend took precedence and he chose to opine how the police acted “stupidly.” That comment was made just as “stupidly.”
Or could it be, that the president has negative feelings to the Cambridge police for writing him seventeen parking tickets during his years at Harvard, (1988-1991) fifteen of which were never paid until…you guessed it, 2007 — when he started running for president. ($375 worth)
The president’s sentiments toward police officers were personified on May 15th, during the annual “Peace Officers Memorial Day” in which, over the last 21 years, every president has appeared to make a speech on the steps of the capitol bestowing honor upon fallen officers. They number over 150 per year. But not this time.
Yes, the president was tied up with more pressing issues. He was giving a tour of the White House to members of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.
I think we all get the message, especially cops. The eggshells are becoming more fragile by the day. (Or by each election)
Meanwhile, if Professor Gates is on the watch for racists, he might do well to look in the mirror.
For a detailed copy of Sgt. Crowley’s report and the report of his back-up officer, see:
Click here: Gates Police Report
Other resource links of interest:
Click here: Henry Louis Gates’ Arrest
Click here: Sgt. James Crowley
Click here: Newsmax.com – ‘Scofflaw’ Obama Grudge Against Police?
What a world we live in.
Can you imagine a clothing style where women … especially fat women…wear low rise pants and skirts so their guts can hang over for all to admire?
Can you imagine a dress style in America where young men walk around with their pants hanging under the cheeks of their ass, so their underwear is completely exposed? And parents say it’s okay?
Can you imagine youngsters on a dance floor doing nothing other than dry sex with clothes on? Welcome to 2009, folks.
Can you imagine admiring performers like Frankie Avalon, Frank Sinatra or Ray Charles singing lyrics about raping women, killing cops and using drugs…and our kids make them rich by buying millions of their records? Welcome to gangsta rap. And these guys win Grammy awards. Well…after all, Elvis wiggled his pelvis, right?
Can you imagine school officials strip searching a 13 year-old girl, because she was caught with an Advil? Or suspending a 9 year-old for giving a Cert mint to a friend? Again, welcome to 2009. It just happened in Manassas, Va.
Can you imagine arresting a 19 year-old for having consensual sex with a 17 year-old girl, then sentencing him to prison for ten years? Genarlow Wilson. Google him.
Can you imagine a college senior with no criminal record, being sentenced to life in prison with no parole, for introducing a cocaine buyer to a seller? Google Clarence Aaron.
Can you imagine, a world where murderous pirates ravage the high seas for years on end, by the thousands, kidnaping hostages like snatching stray puppies, killing people, firing on innocents every day aboard vessels, and when they are captured…guess what? They are released… to do it again? Har har har. The laughs on us.
Can you imagine the reactions from Thomas Jefferson, or even Harry Truman, when we tell them our Homeland Security Secretary says immigrating illegally into the U.S. is not a crime?
Napolitano: “…when we find illegal workers … some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se.”
Can you even imagine what the founding fathers would think if they were told we have allowed almost 20 million aliens into our country illegally and our taxpayers will foot the bill for their health and housing costs.
Can you imagine capturing enemy combatants who have sworn to kill as many of us as they can, and then releasing them back to their army to kill again…while the war still wages? Are you shaking your heads?
Can you imagine someone like Adolf Hitler being called to speak at an international summit on human rights, racism and tolerance? Of course not.
But can you imagine, Ahmadinejad, the Jew-hating, gay-hating, nuke threat from Iran who swears to annihilate Israel, being invited to speak at an international summit on racism and tolerance? Of course not. Wait. Imagine it again because it just happened in Geneva, where representatives of the European Union and other delegations walked out.
Can you imagine a leader of a major country claiming the Holocaust never happened, and people still listen to him… and applaud?
Can you imagine Dwight Eisenhower bowing waste level to anyone, yet to Nikita Khrushchev, even though he knew that the Soviet Union had designs on conquering the west? Of course not.
Can you imagine a president bowing to a Wahhabist Saudi King, who spends kazillions investing in the west for the ultimate purpose of controlling America and Europe? A Saudi king who presides over a nation that considers women chattel, who rewards suicide bombers for killing Jews, whose Islamic teachings are about hate and subjugation of women, who practice and condone honor killings and beheadings. Bowing? Our president? Of course not. But..wait…it just happened.
Can you imagine a U.S. president declaring that our country is going to cut back a missile defense system, while countries like North Korea and Iran are testing long range missiles, ostensibly for the purpose of carrying nuclear bombs that will destroy innocent people in our country, or our ally nations? That’s like dropping your gun belt while you’re in a duel to the death.
Can you imagine someone who failed to pay $34 thousand in back taxes for four years, being confirmed as the Secretary of the Treasury?
Can you imagine a member of parliament from the Netherlands being subject to criminal charges because he loves his country and speaks out against a rising threat the very existence of its culture? Can you imagine free speech relegated to the Dempsey Dumpster? Can you imagine that same Dutch diplomat being refused a visa to the UK to give a talk, because they were afraid of what Muslims would think?
Can you imagine capitulating to a country (Saudi Arabia) that demands religious tolerance in America, but imprisons anyone in their country who so much as carries a bible in their possession?
Can you imagine living in a European country (France) where a particular culture routinely goes about intimidating, terrifying and rioting everywhere, and then that country arrests an international celebrity for complaining about it… five times! Google: Brigitte Bardot.
Can you imagine an American government that sends troops 12,000 miles overseas to confront radical Islamic terrorists, yet pays no attention to thirty-five (or more) such radical enclaves right here, nestled in the confines of our own United States.
Can you imagine an America where the world of communists and radical Islamists are supporting and revelling in the new leadership of our country, and we don’t think it’s a problem for our grandchildren?
Can you imagine winning the gun war, but losing the propaganda war…and then, the tactical war of infiltration?
I can.
Can you imagine…in the wake of WWII and the holocaust … disregarding a document penned by a major international organization which spells out the war plan for conquering the west? We have done just that. “The Project” is no different than Mein Kampf…yet, we ignore.
Click here: FrontPage Magazine
Click: The Counterterrorism Blog: The project
Can you imagine Americans naive enough to let it happen all over again, only this time it is us who apologizes to the rest of the world for being us. And we think that’s going to appease?
Can you imagine telling the world that we are not at war with Islam, when Islam — or a major radical sect within — has made it clear they are at war with us? Very, very clear.
Can you imagine fighting the Japanese and Nazi Germany, then claiming we are not at war with them, but we’re just fighting bombs and airplanes? How is that different than saying we are at war against terror?
Can you imagine kissing the butts of those who would annihilate us…and we know that. But we do it anyway?
What a world. I’ll take 1940, 1960 or 1980 anytime. At least we had pride.
Jews, Unite!
It’s time to go after the Egyptians and make them cough up reparation for the slavery your ancestors endured 3,500 years ago. And while you’re at it, might as well tap the Spanish, Arabs and Germans and see what you can hustle.
Why not?
Then, let’s fork over a couple hundred billion of America’s tax dollars to African-Americans as payment due for the years of slavery their ancestors suffered from 1619 to 1865. Good reason to hustle more freebees off the taxpayer.
Recession? Trillion dollar debt? So what.
Some eight years ago, it was the Reparations Assessment Group who convened to punish white America for crimes of yore. Lawyers Johnnie Cochran and Alexander J. Pires Jr. filed that lawsuit but it never went anywhere.
Now, we have the honorable (pardon the expression) Representative John Conyers, (D) of Michigan, who is sponsoring H.R. 40, The “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act.” The whole idea is to muscle through a bill that will force descendents of slave owners to apologize and pay up kazillions for the dastardly crimes of their ancestors.
Excuse me? Ancestors? My mother’s grandparents immigrated from Norway in 1880. My father’s parents came over on the boat from Eastern Europe in1892. They weren’t here during the slave era.
You’re about a hundred and thirty years too late, Mr. Conyers. My apology is that I have nothing to apologize for. I have nothing to pay reparations for, nor do my ancestors. The same goes for 200 million other Americans of European, Asian and Hispanic ancestry whose distant relatives weren’t even here in the slave years. Matter of fact, the current population of slave-era descendants is far less than the descendants of those who immigrated here since the Civil War. What have they got to apologize for?
This is nothing more than a high-powered effort to exploit the race card and rake billions from American taxpayers for acts committed in another era which they had nothing to do with.
This can get catchy. Of course, Mr. Conyers is ignoring the millennium of slavery perpetrated by Muslims throughout the mid-east and Northern Africa from Muhammed’s time through and into the 20th century, which not only victimized blacks, but Europeans as well.
While we’re at it, why not titillate our two million Native Americans into litigation and start paying up for dispossessing them from their rightful homeland?
The majority of Americans think the government was dead wrong in sending a two million Americans into Viet Nam, another country’s civil war. 65,000 never came home, and for what? Maybe each one of those families ought to sue?
While we’re at it, the Salem, Massachusetts town government ought to pay the descendants of alleged witches who were wrongfully hanged and imprisoned in the aftermath of the inquisition of 1692.
Where will this end?
And who’s to collect? What about people of mixed race, who are not only descendants of slaves, but slave owners? Well, I suppose they can just pay the money to themselves.
And how does one determine that a person is black? In most places, the 1/16th bloodline qualifies a Native American for Indian status in reservation politics and benefits. Should the same apply to Blacks? And how do we determine who is 1/16th and 1/8th and 1/4th and so on, when a good number of these folks come from fatherless homes?
Then, there are descendants of slave sellers, many of whom were black as well. Perhaps they can scam a few billion for propagating the very sin they’re getting paid for.
And what of those who are nearly all white, but happen to have a great-grandmother in the lineage who was black? Eligible for the big bucks?
What about the descendants of Americans from the northern states who opposed slavery all along? What do they pay for?
Then, there are descendants of Jamaican Americans, Haitian Americans and Nigerian Americans all of whom are ready to collect, though they have no relationship to former slaves in the U.S.
Americans of Italian ancestry, as well as Polish, Greek, Spanish, German, French, Arab, Indian, Canadian, Russian, South American, Cuban, and more, have nothing to apologize nor pay reparations for. Yet, it’s their tax dollars that are at risk while the money grubbers a la John Conyers lick their chops.
In truth, the few bonafide ancestors of slave owners that are still among us have nothing to pay reparations for. Most are hard working folks of the 21st century just like everyone else who abhor the mere concept of slavery. They are guilty of nothing.
Meanwhile, the government will have to gear up and argue to defend or quash this absurd proposal designed to do nothing more than suck dollars from taxpayers and into the pockets of 36 million African-American citizens.
If this is supposed to improve race relations, I’ve got a Stradivarius violin to sell you for a twenty bucks.
It’s all for money. Nothing else. Just like sharks, they caught the scent, now they’re going after it.
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
There are more African-Americans today in this country than the entire nation’s population in 1860, which stood at 30 million, then. Census figures put us at 300 million citizens today, twelve percent of which are Hispanic and another four percent Asians. They pay taxes as well.
Minority congressmen like John Conyers are supposed to be trail blazing toward a color blind society. But that’s far from true. If the thrust of his efforts were toward a harmonious, truly color blind society, the divisive subject of reparations would never be raised. In truth, the likes of Conyers, and all those like him, kindle the very flames of hatred and racism they purport to detest, all in the name of big bucks.
Americans should speak out. The issue is soon going before the House Judiciary Committee. Write letters. The following link provides the names of all members on that committee:
Click here: Committee Members
Meanwhile, if the Conyers organization ever becomes successful, then all other ethnic groups whose ancestors suffered at the hands of slavery should start-up their own demand for reparations. That pie is big enough for a piece to everyone. Right?
Or..is it?
Just what this country needs…a new wedge between the races.
The PDF file for H.R. 40 is available by clicking the first link in the opening paragraph of the following report:
Click here: H.R.40
This post was published in November of 2007. Reposted on this date, with comments included.
SIX REASONS TO LEGALIZE POT
The War on Drugs is lost. Our nation has spent nearly a trillion dollars since the 1970’s trying to enforce unenforceable laws, which have only served to fuel the black market and incarcerate millions of otherwise non-violent offenders.
If a football coach sends in a losing play, game after game, and never gains ground, he must either change the strategy or find another job. Lawmakers in America continue with the same losing strategy, year after year, while we pay for it with billions in tax dollars and human life. Tell me please, how much sense that makes.
The drug laws are in dire need of revision. Sitting atop the list: Marijuana.
In an open letter to the president, congress, governors and state legislatures, Harvard Economist Professor Jeffrey A. Miron called for the legalization of marijuana and replacing it with a system of taxation and regulation. More than five hundred distinguished economists from around the nation signed off on that letter, including the most notable, Milt Friedman.
In essence, he claims the combined savings from enforcement and revenues would reap upwards of $14 billion a year.
I think…more.
During my thirty years in law enforcement, I was never in a position to jail anyone for disputable statutes, i.e. prostitution, gambling or drugs. I was lucky. Murder, rape and robbery are indisputable crimes. But drug possession, prostitution and gambling, outside of man’s subjective determination, does not necessarily constitute criminal behavior.
It is more of an abomination against humanity to incarcerate human beings for years upon years in stinking cages and destroying lives for behavior that can be treated in more constructive, and less costly ways. We are a vengeful society who believes the only solution to undesirable behavior is to lock ‘em up and throw away the key. We are supposed to be civilized?
After seven decades of deeming these acts illegal, we should ask the question: Have laws prohibiting these behaviors produced the desired effect? Has it deterred people from engaging in the use of marijuana? We all know the answer.
Alcohol prohibition of the 1920s not only failed to stop people from drinking, it fostered the emergence of organized crime syndicates as we still know them today. Black markets can only exist at the behest of law makers. Cartel leaders and crime syndicates thrive on laws that keep drugs illegal. I know. In the 1950’s, my bookie stepfather funneled big money to state politicians every election year for one purpose: To keep gambling illegal.
I am not an advocate nor a user of marijuana. I abhor drugs. My own family has been touched with the horror of drug addiction. Well-intended but ineffective laws that kept marijuana illegal did him more harm than good. It certainly prevented nothing.
I concede, that marijuana may damage short-term memory, impair judgment, alter heart rates and has the potential to create anxiety, paranoia and lethargy. But there is no data available to suggest one death has been caused by cannabis. Diseases related to nicotine are responsible for over 430,000 deaths a year, yet cigarettes are not only legal, the tobacco industry has been subsidized by the government for many years.
I am among the groundswell that is growing in America to decriminalize marijuana. So are more than five thousand former law enforcement officers and prosecutors that belong to an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Visit: www.leap.cc
Besides the economists lobby, there are six solid reasons to legalize marijuana:
1 – Taxpayer waste. The direct costs involved in the federal enforcement of marijuana laws extend beyond $7.5 billion annually. That doesn’t mention the huge costs to state and local law enforcement which is double that. Add: the costs of court, prison and parole. At a time when a real war is being waged around the globe to protect our nation, we are chasing around after pot-heads and pot sellers who, in reality, present little danger to anyone except themselves.
2 – Wasted lives. With less than five percent of the world’s population, the United States houses 25 percent of the world’s prison inmates. Nearly 60 percent of inmates are in prison for drug related offenses, more than half of them, marijuana possession and/or smuggling. The annual cost for housing over two million inmates is $50 billion per year. This does not include ripple effect costs, such as lost wages, welfare to their families, broken homes, single-parent kids, plus the cost of courts, defense lawyers, probation and parole.
The true cost is more than $100 billion a year.
3 – The law is meaningless. Despite all the tax monies spent for interdiction, enforcement and incarceration, marijuana remains the third most popular recreational drug of choice behind alcohol and tobacco products. After seventy years of criminal prohibition, 15 to 20 million Americans are users of marijuana, while 70 million have inhaled pot sometime in their lives.
4 – The law creates criminals. Laws against marijuana fuel the black market and keep the criminals in business. And with those laws come the inherent dangers to police officers in every jurisdiction in America. They clog the court system, cost billions, incite corruption and create cynicism among the general public. With new laws that regulate and permit sale, marijuana smugglers and dealers will be out of business.
5 - It sets a poor example to the young. Opponents invariably argue that legalizing marijuana will send the wrong signals to kids. That doesn’t happen. Kids in every high school in America know how easy it is to buy a joint or an ounce of grass. It’s at their beckon call. It sends a signal that the law is impotent and easily broken. Those who believes that the illegality of marijuana has been a deterrent to pot smokers are living in dreamland.
6 - Medical marijuana. Twelve states have legalized the use of medical marijuana, with more to surely follow. Yet, the federal government continues to usurp states rights by enforcing federal statues prohibiting doctors from prescribing cannabis to patients suffering from disease-related pain, nausea, eye disease, epilepsy and other diseases. There can be no other explanation, other than corruption in government and intervention of the powerful pharmaceutical lobby. Visit:Factbook: Medical Marijuana
I could tell horror stories about young men and women who are needlessly spending many years behind bars, people who made mistakes, people who needed treatment for their own foibles, people who otherwise could contribute to society and bring joy to others in this world, people who are basically harmless to you and I, but will not see the light of freedom for much of their lives, detached from families and relegated to dependency on the state — you and me — for sustenance.
Milt Friedman and the 500 plus economists are correct. Will anyone lend an ear?
I’m not holding my breath.
Not everything is as it seems, as many of us have learned during our lives.
Here’s a famous quote by Abraham Lincoln:
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”
Certainly a profound statement by a political leader who has been lionized over the last 144 years as the greatest president in American history and certainly, the beacon for establishing equal rights among the races.
But, is this all true, or simply an image? Was Lincoln that much ahead of his time? Did he really feel that blacks deserved parity with whites?
There is always more to the story, as we have learned about many idolized people of history. Many idols have been worshiped and adored only for us to learn later there was another side to him, or her. May we start with Bill Clinton? Rep. William Jefferson? Mayor Marion Barry? Men of the cloth, like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. Sports: O.J. They all have one thing in common: Another side people didn’t see because they were blinded by awe.
We all need to bear that in mind.
The human psyche has a need to admire, to seek leadership and to adore. Just as our new president is riding the wave of unprecedented popularity today, buoyed by a love affair with the sensation-seeking media, history has bestowed divine-like reverence upon Abraham Lincoln, with memorials, biographies, movies, plays, and worshiping services that invoke his name as synonymous with humanity itself. He is a Jesus-like figure, particularly to the blacks of America.
But wait. Are we seeing what we wish to see? Or what he really was?
Here’s one of his quotes from a debate with Stephen Douglas in 1858:
“I will say, then, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the black and white races—that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the White race.”
Hmmm.
Was Lincoln — the great emancipator — a racist after all?
Try another quote, well into the first term of his presidency, — Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862:
“Why should the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should they leave this country? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated.”
But what are we to make of the Emancipation Proclamation?
According to everything I’ve read from history, the proclamation was more a war tactic than it was an act of humanity. It required that any slaves that escaped to the north would no longer be considered as “fugitives,” but rather, refugees and eligible for employment in the Union military. As such, following that date, blacks streamed above the Mason-Dixon line.
Contrary to lore, the proclamation did not reflect Lincoln’s desired solution for the slavery problem. He continued to favor gradual emancipation, to be undertaken voluntarily by the states, with federal compensation to slaveholders. The Emancipation Proclamation was chiefly a declaration of policy, which, it was hoped, would serve as an opening wedge in depleting the South’s great manpower reserve in slaves and, equally important, would enhance the Union cause in the eyes of Europeans.
Should this diminish our admiration for Abraham Lincoln as one of the great presidents? Absolutely not. We must still realize he was a man of his time, not of his choice, when slavery and the concept of white supremacy was not considered ignorance in America, it was mainstream American thinking. Kids from all sides of the nation were born, bred and raised with that level of thinking, including Honest Abe himself. Thus, his actions which ultimately did free slaves and put the scourge society to rest for all time, turned out to be more inadvertent, it seems, than deliberate.
I’m sure many well-read people of all races know these things, including Barack Obama. Thus, I was pleased to see the new president use the Lincoln Bible during the swearing-in ceremony, as it acknowledged his respect and understanding of American history and put to rest all the unfounded fears that he would use a Koran, or some other document of questionable symbolism.
Finally, one more Lincoln quote: “Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.”
Amen.
On a summer afternoon in Portland, Oregon, 68 year-old Margaret Sutherland kissed her five grown children one by one, listened to her son read the 23rd Psalm, gazed out the window toward the Williamette River a final time then hoisted a glass of water to help her swallow ten, 100 milligram capsules of Seconal. Within five minutes, she was unconscious. In fifteen minutes, she was dead…as she wished.
Cancer had already claimed one of her lungs and eaten her ribs. She had lost control of her bowels and coughed blood constantly. The pain was so intense, she could hardly walk.
Doomed to two, three or four more months of suffering before arriving at death, she also considered the hardships being imposed upon her loved ones. Sutherland decided to take advantage of Oregon’s Death With Dignity law, received confirmation of her doom from two doctors and asked for the needed prescription to end her life. When the day arrived, she put on a dress, a little make-up and said her last goodbyes to friends and family. Love abounded, suffering ended. Everyone was at peace, including Mrs. Sutherland.
How can anyone argue with that?
Obscured amid major political issues this year was the outcome of a controversial referendum put to Washington State voters on November 4th. Following the lead of Oregon, Washingtonians overwhelmingly approved a Death With Dignity Act by a vote of 59% to 41%, thereby giving rights to the terminally ill to end their suffering, and the suffering of loved ones.
Safeguards against abuse are built in to the new law which is very similar to Oregon, providing that:
* Patient must be of sound mind.
* Must be a resident of that state, over the age of eighteen.
* Patient must be declared terminally ill by two independent physicians, and have less than six months to live.
* Patients are prescribed lethal medication which can be taken at their choice of time and place. Patients can elect to decline using the medication.
* Patient must provide a written request to physicians, signed in the presence of two witnesses.
* Physicians must inform the patient of alternatives, including hospice care and pain management.
In the ten years since it went into effect in Oregon, there has been no evidence or reports that the law has been abused or applied frivolously. Between 1997 and 2007, 341 death-bound citizens of Oregon have opted for physician assisted suicide. Another one-hundred received prescriptions, but elected not to use them.
I see nothing wrong in this.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the senior population over 75 will rise from 18 million to 31 million in twenty years. Florida is home to the largest per capita population of elderly citizens. With that, comes the inevitability of terminal sickness and suffering among thousands, making this state ripe for such a law. It’s time that Florida and other states consider a referendum, a la Oregon and Washington giving terminal patients who face irreversible suffering, a choice.
America is supposed to be a compassionate society. What are we waiting for?
When we euthanize pets that suffer from agonizing and incurable disease, we call that the “Humane” thing to do. Yet, in forty-eight of our states, helping our human counterparts to alleviate suffering is called “Inhumane,” even when the patient is the most willing party.
We are a nation who champions the rights of people, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But we do not champion the rights of those who suffer. Instead, society makes the rules which require sufferers to take medicine, go to pain management, hang on until nature take it’s course, no matter the agony.
Should I learn that I have a terminal illness, doomed to nightmarish torture and agony, I don’t want pills, psychological counseling or preaching. If Florida hasn’t come of age, I’m moving to Oregon or Washington. I’ll do it, not only for myself, but for the people I love so they don’t have to watch my decline any longer than necessary, and to help save the mounting medical costs.
The pursuit of happiness also includes the right to death with dignity, much in the manner of Margaret Sutherland. Washington and Oregon got it right.
Outstanding article and 100% correct. Those that want to fry their brains, via alcohol and/or drugs, have at it. Take the profit margin away from the cartels and organized crime groups. Legalize certain drugs and cut costs, saving taxpayers billions of dollars in a war we cannot and never did have a chance to win.
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the attitude toward pot use of kids under 18 is too casual among adults who believe it is not a big deal. There are inadequte responses to the use of it by teens and preteens., It is a BIG PROBLEM in terms of learning and academoic attitudes, and school performance. Pot heads lose precious years of developmental growth. … and costly later in terms of corrective measures when people need to find work and have healthy relationships and careers. After 21 I guess we “choose” to be addicts??? But we need a much crisper response to teen use…as we have to other drug use.Many former pot head parents identify with their kids use…after all…they turned out ok,,,,,many do not know how to take an honest and firm position with their kids. get help for the kids!!!!
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Right on Marshall! All that money spent to no avail. If people in government are intelligent, they would know that if the demand is high, people will find a way to satisfy that demand.
We have made rich people out of criminals and keep on doing it. Tobacco is next on the list of banned drugs and this will create more millionairs and up the cost of drug enforcement.
Will we learn? I doubt it.
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For years I have been in favor of legalization of marijuana, but have never set down my reasons as you have so effectively done. Here’s hoping you and the 500 economists will continue to campaign for it. Can we all help by writing our congressmen?
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While preparing dinner last night, I had the boob tube on as background noise. Dr. Phil does provide some noise, as do his whining guests needing his help. But one thing he said remained with me. “I hope this is the year that common sense prevails.” Legalizing marijuana is one of the common sense acts that we need to make in this country. I also read the fact a while back that you refer to about the ratio of the US population to its prison inmate population and the percentage of those who are in for drug-related offences, many of them just for pot possession. I don’t use or advocate usage of pot, but do classify it in the same category as alchohol. Too many lives are broken as a result of these draconian laws and the costs to all of us are too high. As our national budget drains spiral out of control, citizens need to become vocal about where our tax dollars go. This is one area we should reign in.
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If we legalize marijuana Ricky Williams would have been playing football for the past two years!
If we also legalized the use of steoids, Barry Bonds would get into the Hall of Fame (or shame)?
If we also legalize prostitution, either straight or gay, many of our politicians would still be in office.
WOW what a thought!
If we recognize illegal aliens we can let them take full advantage of our social security system, health care, schools, etc.
We legalized abortion so the population is ot growing out of control (better than war maybe but we have that to)
Hey, I was in law enforcement also, and I do not agree that we make things easier by changing moral and ethical values to satisfy the minority.
Wow, what a thought
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Marshall,
The only way I would support legalization of pot is if all the drugs coming across the border were captured, taxed and treated like any other import, with an import tax. Then people could buy it legally and use it at their discretion.
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I agree completely. As you know, the cost of keeping a person in prison is far more than the cost of living for nearly all others. If we could get rid of the drugs we would nearly empty the prisons. If marijuana was decriminalised the millions saved in law enforcement costs, jail and prison expense would be more than what the illegal stuff is costing us today. A double savings. Volunteering at the sheriff’s office I am aware of the dollar costs of enforceing the unenforceable.
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I agree, as an evaluations researcher and an individual, that current approaches have not led to the desired outcome. Perhaps, as you suggest, we really don’t want marijuana illegal, we just want to make the most money possible out of the deal. $14 billion is nothing compared to the money being made between importing, growing, selling, arresting, trying, incarcerating, lawmaking, law-enforcing,…need I say more?
Laws exist to create an environment that allows people to live together in a way that works. As John (11/30) suggested, they often reflect the values of the culture. But that is not their intent. In fact, it is actually backwards. The intent of laws and rules is to protect the integrity of the culture – its ability to remain whole and complete, the ensure the survival of itself. Over time, it seems like the laws and rules are actual truth — as humans we have a propensity to forget that we made it all up.
The question is – “Does the law making marijuana actually cause the outcome that it is intended to cause?” Is the intended outcome to eliminate the sale, distribution and use of marijuana in our society/culture? If so, then NO, the law is not producing this outcome. If the overall intent of the law is to preserve the culture itself, then perhaps it is effective. Consider that we are not a culture that has become enlightened enough to embrace diversity as the ultimate means of group (genetic) survival. We are an elitist run society where very few of those at the top are subject to the same laws that the rest of us face. For example, a felony conviction for drug possesion results in the removal of your right to vote. How convenient, no? Thus, from the view point of the lawmakers, the law is effective at preserving their culture.
Many argue that marijuana is a ‘gateway’ drug. However, could the use of any illegal substance or participation in any illegal activity create a new environment which is more likely to foster the use of others? What I mean is “Is the gateway effect actually caused by the nature of it being illegal instead of the actual substance itself?”
Marijuana’s illegalization may have nothing what-so-ever to do with the part of the plant that is smoked!!! “When companies such as Kimberly-Clark and the Hearst newspaper corporation found out their vast interests in paper could be undercut by this alternative (according to a 1938 article in Popular Mechanics — not to mention dozens of subsequent newspaper stories, books, and private communiques — marijuana can produce four times as much raw material per acre as trees for paper and similar uses, without contributing to soil depletion and the greenhouse effect), they teamed with bigot and director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics Harry J. Anslinger to combat pot. DuPont and other companies that had invested heavily in the very things marijuana would replace joined the battle. The movie Reefer Madness was released in 1936;” AND “In 1942, five years after marijuana was banned, the world was at war. With the pressure on, the government was forced to fight the hype of the mid-Thirties that led to pot’s prohibition and admit that the weed was our last, best hope. The film is called Hemp for Victory, and you’ve probably never heard of it. No one in the U.S. government wants you to.” (Miami New Times, The Need for Weed, May 11, 1994).
From, “First the Seed, Then the Weed” in Miami New Times (1993)”…the money from taxes on legal dope would reduce the national debt; beleaguered farmers would be given a new lease on life; countless hemp products could be cheaply and efficiently manufactured in this country; trees would be spared; fuel prices would plummet; air pollution would be greatly reduced; the critically ill would be spared a measure of suffering; world hunger would be cut; drugs that actually cause pain and crime could be more adequately controlled;…”
The simple fact is very few – if any – banks, homes or businesses have been robbed at gunpoint so someone could get their next marijuana fix, right?! The issue of morality is moot in a discussion about the legalization of marijuana. It’s about money. Show the elitist snobs making laws how they can continue to grow their bank accounts (and only interact with ‘the other half’ as the help or work) and it will be legal. It’s all and only about money.
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MF,
If it’ll make them happy, legalize it. After all, that’s what we want in the world… happy people.
Why not substitute terms such as child pornography, credit card fraud or even Radical Islam in America every time you use the term cannabis or marijuana in the following quotes from your article?
“But there is no data available to suggest one death has been caused by cannabis.”
“Have laws prohibiting these behaviors produced the desired effect? Has it deterred people from engaging in the use of marijuana? We all know the answer.”
Yea, let’s legalize it. Then we can start working on coke, meth, child porn, credit card fraud and Radical Islam in America.
If you were just a couple of days younger, maybe you’d be more conservative.
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Very interesting article,Marshall, and interesting replies. I think everything was covered in those responses. I don’t think there’s a chance it will ever be legalized, however.
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Hi, Marshall;
As an aging broad, I have never tried marijuana or any other hallucinogenic drug. I’ve always gotten high on life. But with a son with AIDS and many pain-inducing debilities, and a daughter with end-stage renal disease, RA, neuropathy and a host of of other diabetes-related ailments, it seems that pot is the only thing that relieves her proneness to vomiting. For these people especially, it should be legalized. Her state does not permit even medical use of the drug.
Thanks for your interest, your research, and your willingness to share the information.
DHC
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“Why not substitute terms such as child pornography, credit card fraud or even Radical Islam in America every time you use the term cannabis or marijuana in the following quotes from your article?”
Comparing things that are known to harm people other than oneself automatically discredits your argument. Perhaps you should try again.
Great article. I live in Canada where they’re a little less harsh when it comes to weed (though, thanks to our recent Conservative government, they’re getting a little harsher), but these are great points. The problem down in the US is that the prison-industrial complex will continue to lobby for keeping drugs illegal and I don’t expect to see a change in such laws down there anytime soon.
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Marshall,
Legalizing Illegal substances won’t eradicate the problems associated with them any more than the problems associated with alcoholism did with the legalization of alcohol. I agree that tons of money is wasted in our attempts to combat marijuana but the issue falls in the laps of our politicians,i.e., legislators, senators, congress men and women, the supreme court and any one else that legislates our laws.
I take exception to your claim that not one death can be attributed to the use of Marijuana. Yes, Maybe the smoking of a joint won’t kill you but it damn well sure will cause you to do things that can produce death.
One of your responders mentioned that marijuana is a gateway substance and I agree. That was the first illegal substance my son experimented with. It led to other substances that eventually cost him his life. Oh, I’m not alone as a suffering parent. Hardly a family exists that has not experienced a negative episode with illegal substances. Legalizing whatever is not the answer. Insisting on proper conduct and a good work ethic from our elected officials would produce much better results.
Is the fact that you keep mentioning your experience in law enforcement supposed to impress us? I was in law enforcement longer than you were and I certainly do not consider myself an expert on illegal substances. Those that choose drugs as a way of life should make better choices. Once you are hooked try to find a decent drug rehab program that truly has good results. While you are at it check their fees which make them prohibitive for the average family.
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We are a Christian nation as the fundamentalists like to say. We live by the Protestant ethic of personal responsibility, hard work and sobriety. We believe strongly in
PUNISHMENT! The “Christians” would never endorse SIN, the politicians won’t propose legalization and risk losing the votes of the
sanctimonious. Costs, harmlessness, need,etc don’t enter into the calculation. Being good and right is what we care about and that’s why we won’t let pot heads or anybody else have pot.Don’t try to confuse us with the facts, Marshall, our mind is made up and we’ll go on paying with borrowed money no matter how well less virtuous nations succeed with decriminalization.
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First to the lady complaining about the teens using illegal drugs. There is an answer to that, it’s called parents. Granted it doesn’t always work, but the law certainly doesnt.
Second I think there is a difference between de-criminalizing drugs & making them legal.
Marshall is right about this & many of his other ideas.
Keep up the good work.
I’ve also read your books & think they are great.
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Marshall: People who think like this one above from RBC: ” I take exception to your claim that not one death can be attributed to the use of Marijuana. Yes, Maybe the smoking of a joint won’t kill you but it damn well sure will cause you to do things that can produce death.” says it all>
Hey, RBC, exactly WHAT is it that these pot heads are doing that ‘ produces death ?” Can you answer that? There is NO death associated with cannabis, none. The black market is THERE, and will not go away by ignoring it..saying things like some of the blind people above makes me wonder about America. How ignorant can some people get?
the drug war is a FAILURE but some here would say ” Oh well, better that than admit defeat and try something that WORKS “..not that it makes any sense!! If everyone would read Jack Herer’s book, ” the Emporer Wears No Clothes ” about hemp and the truth, we would see far fewer ignorant and ridiculous statements by the anti- sense crowd.
Rape and such being compared to pot? My God some people must Watch fox news so much that their brains fry. The intellectuals all agree: legalize and tax and control: The morons want to keep the same old failed Nazi regime way of doing things going…sick.
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I agree with everything you said. Sending people to prison for using drugs is such a waste. The money should be spent on rehab programs.
I am also in favor of legalizing prostitution and requiring the prostitutes be licensed and have health checks.
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have long thought putting people in prison is a terrible waste of lives and money. rehab programs would be a better use of the money. But my son, who with his wife, is very active in the N/A program tells me that rehab will only work if the person wants it. Just as A/A will only help if the person wants to quit drinking. I think if we legalize drugs all those billions going out of our country to the cartels will end. and hopefully people will not rob to get the money for drugs. And the money for law enforcement can be use for rehab. And the drug money will not tempt and corrupt cops and politicians. I once read that law makers are afraid to vote to legalize drugs. the cartel threatens them.
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Marshall,
I agree with most of your articles, however, I disagree with: “The War on Drugs is lost”, “We are a vengeful society who believes the only solution to undesirable behavior is to lock ‘em up and throw away the key”, “while 70 million have inhaled pot sometime in their lives(not sure how you got this one, must be the economists again)”, “people who are basically harmless to you and I, but will not see the light of freedom for much of their lives”.
You know, and I remind you, that drug users are not taken away “for much of their lives” and often even the street pushers are granted a variety of options before they are ever incarcerated beyond the initial arrest and bonding procedure.
When you say there are more than five thousand former law enforcement officers and prosecutors that belong to an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), I say thank God for the other hundreds of thousands that do not.
Finally, regarding Siobhan M.’s response about “First the Seed, Then the Weed” in Miami New Times (1993)”; it’s absurd for one to believe that taxes on legal dope would in some way reduce our national debt, save the farmers (who apparently can’t grow legal stuff for profit), save the trees, reduce fuel prices at the pump, reduce air pollution, save the ill from suffering and pain and I have to put this last one in upper case because it’s the best one, CUT WORLD HUNGER.
I think some of the responders to your article have been getting a little close to the ’smoke’.
Although flawed it was a good article, keep the fire burning.
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Sorry, I was so intrigued with the article and responses I neglected one other thought, legalize ‘medical marijuana’.
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Got em thinking on this one….Good article, some good responses, some others need to get a life….Keep up the good work.
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I whole heartedly agree. Pot is no more harmful than boozing.
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“the money from taxes on legal dope would reduce the national debt; beleaguered farmers would be given a new lease on life; countless hemp products could be cheaply and efficiently manufactured in this country; trees would be spared; fuel prices would plummet; air pollution would be greatly reduced; the critically ill would be spared a measure of suffering; world hunger would be cut; drugs that actually cause pain and crime could be more adequately controlled;…”
The above is from Siobhan’s very eloquent comments. I don’t think I understand how fuel prices would plummet, nor how air pollution would be greatly reduced and world hunger would be cut. I DO support the legalization and taxation as a concept whose time is long past due. But, I wonder if sometimes over-claiming the benefit can have an opposite effect on the ultimate goal.
I look forward to the day when common sense prevails in Congress. Given the track record, I can only think of the old joke “What if I was an idiot, and what if I was in Congress? But then, I repeat myself”.
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I agree 100%. I am a sophomore in college, and I see more drug and alcohol abuse on a daily basis than most people can say they’ve seen in their whole lives. I have seen people’s lives ruined all because they got caught sitting harmlessly in their apartments smoking weed. However, I’ve also seen kids my age kill and be killed by the abuse of alcohol. Not long ago, 2 boys were killed because they both attempted to cross a busy intersection drunk. No one does anything to prevent people from drinking themselves to death, but the government goes as far as they possibly can to prevent people from smoking weed. I got high and no one died. It has been proven that pot is not addictive, is far less harmful than cigarettes, and not a single human being has ever been reported dead from smoking too much weed.Legalizing marijuana would have a huge impact on decreasing the crime rate, and it could be used for medical purposes. In my opinion, there are far worse things in the world than marijuana. people make smoking weed out be a horrible thing to do. If the worst thing a person ever did was smoke weed, then I’d say they lead an extremely successful life. It has nothing to do with ethics and/or morals, it’s got to do with common sense. Come on now.
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Look, I can speak from immediate experience. I got picked up in July for having a parking ticket warrant outside my favorite bar…for leaving my car when intoxicated. I was unaware because the ticket was snagged off. I got arrested for it and had a gram of commercial weed on me. I was stopped while waiting for a ride from my sister mind you. Since then I have been to court several times, have a probation officer who I visit every month. I can have my house, person, car, and property searched at any time without reason. This will go on for a year. I then got sent to a firm for a “substance abuse evaluation”. This company only makes money if they recommend treatment. Three hours a night three outs a week. Also costing the state. I am not an addict and no longer use for fear of trouble. I am a young man(24) and am also not allowed to have a drink or go to a place who makes the majority of their money from alcohol…even as a DD. Mind you, this is not an alcohol related offense….they might as well have taken away my television. Any way, long story short, I will be in the “system” for a year. There is no “victim” in my crime. This is a huge waste of everyones time. Also, I find in incredibly ridiculous that people who have never tried the product(weed) can say its not legal..and if they have tried it…why are they being taking seriously in the “anti-weed” campaign. I am absolutely astonished at my treatment and feel as if “my” country has more than failed me. BOND TOGETHER…GET SERIOUS…AND LETS GET IT RIGHT…LEGALIZE IT NOW!! IT WILL TAKE WORK, BUT RATHER THAN BE A “POTHEAD” BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION. DO YOUR PART!!
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Thank you for posting this Marshall. I couldn’t agree with you anymore. Smoking marajuana shouldn’t be a crime. It isn’t any more harmful to you than drinking alcohol. In fact it’s much safer. I just wish that more people in this world would understand that.
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The people who comment and try to compare cannabis legalization with real crimes that affect others is totally disengenuous and they know it. ALL of the offenses that they list are cause for complaint from some other person; The private use of herb does NOT in any way, shape or form affect anyone else negatively. It is just a cash cow for the system and the people who drool over Fox news every night have no idea what the truth is.
The Czech Republic has a sensible policy towards cannabis, as does the Netherlands. ALL the statistics, all of them, show that LESS young people use cannabis where it is readily aavilable legally. Our system is a total failure for the intended purposes, and a great success for its hidden ones.
All it takes is a little research into WHY it was made illegal back in 1938…the political chicanery, the lies and hidden hearings..the head of the AMA was outraged at the trickery to demonize a well known medicine and product. The ignorant are the only ones against pot: Adult use should NEVER be the business of the cops or courts..not in a free society.
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[…] think if we legalize drugs all those billions going out of our country to the cartels will end. …http://www.marshallfrank.com/articles/?p=18Yes, I’m A Medical Marijuana Patient. No, I’m Not Sorry.I can’t understand why anyone would look […]
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Marijuana has only been deemed illegal for 1% of its existence.
That should really mean something in terms of it truly being compared to much more serious crimes.
Great article!
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