HALLOWEEN IS HERE!

Hey sometimes you have to just settle down and enjoy the good life which in this case is me with my grandson Ben celebrating Halloween with a bunch of really old people at the senior center; they had fun and so did we.

My father-in-law is 89 and still has the spirit of the season.

THE POPE OPENS HIS PIE HOLE AGAIN!

Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a convention of Catholic Pharmacists and told them they have a right not to dispense morning-after pills and medicines they think will be used for euthanasia.

You already know my views on the Pope and what he can do with his so called “teachings” or “Holy Pronouncements”, I think he can put them where the sun don’t shine – ever! But I am being juvenile.

First, pharmacies and pharmacists are here to FILL prescriptions ordered by doctors – period. I know they go to school for five (5) years and all that but it is a waste of their education and they know it and they are frustrated by it. They went to school all those years, have all this knowledge and all they do is “dispense” pills; no one ever asks them about anything.

The pharmacy computer is supposed to alert the pharmacist or pharmacy tech to any “interaction” between the medicines they are dispensing so the question arises – who needs a pharmacist? Many hospitals now have robotic pharmacists all are computer - controlled and the medicines bar-coded.

So my point is that the pharmacist does a robot’s job in dispensing medication and is not permitted to make moral judgments as to what medication a physician has ordered for his patient – it’s none of his god-damn business. If the pharmacist cannot carry out his simple duty he needs to be fired – end of story.

Now that I have gotten that out of my system let me tell you calmly what others do about this situation. Some respect a conscientious objection some may have in dispensing certain “prescribed” medications. At time like these some pharmacies have the “step aside” provision allowing the pharmacist to step aside and allow someone else to fill the objectionable medication. In all circumstances, the prescription has to be filled so if the pharmacist that objects is the only one in the pharmacy at that time he MUST fill the prescription – fair enough?

As to old Benedict, does he have a right to call for such, in some cases, illegal action? Well, I don’t think so and I wish people would tell him just to shut up. In fact, I wish the Italian government would arrest his ass for “inciting people to break the law” cause in Italy it is against the law NOT to fill a prescribed prescription medication.

MORE RESEARCH ON MALE HOMOSEXUALITY!

I know people hate when I address the issue of gays but I must since it is an issue I feel strongly about.

As a heterosexual male, I have always maintained that there is no way in hell; a heterosexual guy would EVER be induced to turn gay; even for a second. I use myself and friends as evidence but I obviously cannot speak for all hetero males.

So I have always maintained that to be a male homosexual is NOT A CHOICE AND CANNOT EVER BE.

In view of my strong belief, I concluded that male homosexuals are BORN and not MADE. And if indeed they are born that way they then become part of the human race as a variant, i.e. a biologically made, different human being.

I have read about on-going research into the matter and became aware of a recent federally funded project that has 1,000 gay brothers as subjects to see what genetic material could be designated as contributing to the gay trait.

They are trying to prove that homosexuality is a genetic trait like hair or eye color. Some say that there is probably not one “gay gene” but a number of them maybe in a special unique arrangement.

I have also become aware of a study in at the University of Utah where scientists have engineered worms to be gay, i.e. hard wired their brains to be homosexual. Their results will be published in the current issue of CURRENT BIOLOGY.

This is another step into proving that people are born with a homosexual orientation.

Now, once proven, will that change the way religious people think about homosexuality – I don’t think the hard core will ever change – hell – some still thing the earth is 6,000 years old and evolution is a theory and not fact.

I think with scientific proof in our corner we can take on the religious (mostly Christians) and show them where their sacred texts don’t really address homosexuality as we know it today because they did not have the concept of homosexuality then but more on that later…

CHRISTMAS FOR ALL NOT JUST CHRISTIANS!

Here is a seasonal issue that seems to come up every year; the Nativity Scene on public property (City Hall).

We have a small community around Detroit named Berkley. It is kind of middle class and old but a tight knit community or so we thought.

A few years back someone challenged the constitutionality of having a nativity scene on public property and the city council voted to gift the nativity scene to a church organization which agreed to display it at a local Methodist church a small distance from the city hall location. They avoided a legal battle and they preserved the displaying of the Nativity scene in their town – case closed – well done!

Well not quite! A group of rabid Christians would not stand for that. They wanted to change their town charter to allow the display of the Nativity scene on city property and they placed that issue on the ballot for the November 6 local elections.

Our local papers have been filled with angry pro or con letters. A guy I work with lives in the community and is opposed to the charter change and has provided some interesting discussion on the subject. He said that residents of Berkley have divided over the issue and started displaying lawn banners attacking each other – nice!

This local issue is just a microcosm of a larger national issue over the same matter; are we a Christian nation or not.

I have talked about this issue at length in previous blogs but as far as our Constitution is concerned there should be no question; the first amendment prohibits our government from endorsing ANY religion and placing specifically and exclusively a Christian Nativity scene on government property is for all intents and purposes, endorsing one religion over all the others – ILLEGAL!

Our courts should rule on this with one voice and not quibble about it. Once these Christians see that there could be wiggle room, they will challenge the law and this cannot be allowed.

We can on the other hand discuss this matter on a social level all we want to as long as government property is FREE of religious symbols.

I am happy to see a strong contingent of social liberals in Berkley and I thing the matter will be defeated and a strong message sent; you can celebrate religious aspects of Christmas any way you want just not on government property – kapish?

I will close by reminding people that the season of Christmas was originally and still is a PAGAN holiday where the end of one year and the beginning of a new year is celebrated. The arrogant Christians could not stand the fun being had and injected the celebration of the birth of their god into the already in place joyous season.

The Christians have no idea when Jesus was born or for that matter, where he was born; Bethlehem was an attempt by the Gospel writers to put Jesus into a prophecy that the next Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Historians tell us that it was probably (99.9% sure) Nazareth.

So celebrate the season anyway you want just don’t make it all about YOUR way of celebrating and don’t try to make it the OFFICIAL, NATIONAL AMERICAN way of celebrating the season!!!

THE TURKEY - KURD - IRAQ ISSUE!

Just a quick update on the Iraq issue. If you remember, I and others, have advocated splitting Iraq up into three (3) sectors along religious and ethnic lines but keeping a federal agency to distribute oil revenues on a per capita basis.

Bush has rejected that idea from the beginning insisting on keeping his silly and unreasonable dream of a united Iraq alive. Now we hear that Al-Malaki and other Shiites and Sunnis also objected to this division mainly because they feared missing out on the oil revenues EVEN when I said that would be a non-issue if WE controlled the distribution of the oil revenues.

I can though understand their skepticism and lack of trust in even a U.S. controlled agency distributing the funds since we are just as rife with corruption as anybody else is. The latest revelations of billions of dollars lost or squandered by U.S. agencies on food, equipment and anything else you want to name – so how can you trust even the Americans?

The Kurds have already separated themselves from Iraq proper and so far have built themselves a thriving and modern community that is relatively safe. My idea was that the Sunnis and Shiites could have done the same but the Kurds could be heading for trouble.

Yes, the Iraqi Kurds have built themselves a very nice small country and in my opinion, they will NEVER agree to become part of Iraq again. As far as they are concerned, they are KURDISTAN and not Iraq.

The problem is that the Kurds are a huge group of people spread over Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran (see the map). These people have been around for thousands of years. Saladin, the guy who conquered the Crusades was a Kurd.

These people never had a country of their own. After WWI, the allies wanted to draw a country just like they drew Iraq but Turkey, Syria and Iran would have none of that. Too bad, we would not be in the mess we are today.

Anyway, the Kurds in Turkey have an armed conflict going against the Turks in an attempt to form their own nation out of Turkish lands. The Turks are really against that and would rather just kill the Kurdish rebels. The rebels basically strike Turkey and run and hide in Kurdish Iraq. The Turks are threatening to invade.

If the Turks invade Northern Iraq we would have a problem since our soldiers are there and also the Iraqi Kurds are there and they probably would defend themselves – mess?

What Bush needs to do is have the Iraqi Kurds expel their rebel brethren out of Iraq and this will remove any reason for the Turks to attack OR the Iraqi Kurds and Americans could guard the borders and not allow the rebels to operate out of Kurdish Iraq. These seem simple steps that can be taken.

Speaking of Turkey we have to address the ARMENIAN question now before Congress.

In 1915 or thereabouts, the Armenians were driven out of Turkey and many were massacred. The Armenians called this genocide and history bears out that something like that did occur. I am not going to get into any historic specifics but today, before our Congress is a “resolution” condemning the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turks.
This is just a resolution and many countries have passed a similar resolution. The only problem is that the Turks find such resolutions very insulting and it stirs their nationalism a lot which leads to the questions, why pass such a resolution at this time in history.

His is a non-binding resolution of dubious worth but politically advantageous to Congressman with a lot of Armenians in their voting area.

The Turks have asked that the question of the Armenian genocide be put before an international body to investigate historical data and come up with a historically correct judgment as to what really happened and who is to blame. I think this is a valid request by the Turks.

I think the resolution should be shelved as doing more harm than good to U.S. Turkish relations. The Turkish prime minister will visit Washington this week and I think we need to show him some love if we are to get some cooperation from them - it only makes sense and I hope Bush does not blow this.

We also do a lot of business with Turkey, at least I do, and I would hate for that to disappear.

POLITICS AS USUAL IN MICHIGAN!

To” Detroit free Press
Re: “Key Democrat warns Granholm on college grants”, Oct.27.

Representative George Cushingberry (D- Detroit) does not object to cutting funds to our public schools but he is adamant at retaining tuition grants to 40,000 private college students to the tune of 57 million dollars. We have a budget crisis on our hands in this state and my tax dollars need to support essential public services and not be handed out as gifts to private schools.

The fact that Cushingberry even asked (and he is probably not the only one) that tuition grants to "Private School" students be maintained probably is an indication that these politicians are getting some or a lot of support from these private schools, after all, it is free government (tax payer) money.

The support from these private schools (religious schools?) is probably quite valuable to Cushingberry et. al. for him to openly push for this money which is so obviously INAPPROPRIATE in the budget crunch the state of Michigan is in. He must think we all are as stupid as Detroiters who support corruption in Detroit are.

HEY- NOW WE HAVE THE RELIGIOUS LEFT!

You have obviously heard me rage against the “Religious Right” but now the Wall Street Journal reported on “The Rise of the Religious Left” by Steven Malanga.

Well this piqued my interest especially when the author stated “Liberals are just as adept as conservatives at invoking God to promote their pet causes”. What actually would these pet causes be?

Well the author feels these religious leftists are basically socialists or communists favoring unionism and against nonunion businesses like Wal- Mart.

Recently I got a glimpse at these leftists in action as the Detroit Archdiocese (Catholics) started targeting legislators that refused to give in to the SCHIP propaganda. You remember my previous blogs against this health welfare scheme that pretended it was for poor children but actually was a ruse to bring in socialized medicine.

Jesus has been called a socialist, even the first communist since he was against the rich (easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be allowed into heaven) get it?

In his days, people got rich on the backs of the poor and poverty was “abject” poverty then. That is why Christianity took root so fast, poor people thought that when they died they became rich and the rich were thrown into hell.

Letters in response to the article were also interesting saying that the religious left is anti-war whereas the religious right justifies war (against the infidels). The left fought to end segregation and slavery the right tried to religiously justify it, etc….

Well we could go on and on about all this but to me both sides are using religion to justify their way of thinking but I think the left is a lot closer to the “what would Jesus do” approach. Have you heard the new breed of tele-evangelists preaching “Jesus wants you to be rich” but I digress.

INJUSTICE IS WRONG PERIOD!

I just had to say a word about a murder trial going on in our area. The case was the rape and murder of a student at Eastern Michigan University which happened some time ago.

The university totally blew it by hiding it and letting the suspect go. When the story finally came out, there was a big hubbub and heads rolled.

Anyway, they finally brought the dude to trial and presented the evidence. The victim was a pretty, young blond girl and the rapist murdered a young black guy who was not even a current student. The crime occurred in the girl’s dorm room.

The evidence had videos of him entering the dorm and leaving the dorm with some of the girl’s Christmas presents. The girl was found half nude with a pillow over her head. The guy’s (Orange Taylor III) semen was found on her clothes.

The defense maintained that yes, Orange Taylor was in her room but found her dead and masturbated on her clothes, stole her Christmas presents and left. The defense did admit that he was high on marijuana.

One juror, a black woman, caused a mistrial because she could not convict him since she had reasonable doubt. She felt the girl died of a heart attack.

And this is why I get so upset when black writers howl about injustices committed against blacks like in the Jena 6 case but dismiss injustice against whites (O.J., Duke) and the present case.

How can the parents of this innocent girl, going to college with a bright future but murdered by some drugged up asshole find justice when they see that justice is denied by a racist juror.

Yes, the tables have turned from the old days where whites were the racist jurors BUT TODAY I maintain that we cannot tolerate injustice PERIOD but it is obvious racism still exists and is practiced on both sids of the fence.

PLAYING THE O.J. SIMPSON CARD

To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Doubts nag jurors in EMU case”, Oct. 24.

In reading the details of the evidence in “Doubts nag jurors in EMU case”, Oct. 24, one could conclude that the holdout juror was pulling an O.J. Simpson. Hopefully, the next jury seated will just look at the evidence at hand.

A RACIAL INJUSTICE?

To: The Detroit News
Re: “Hung jury in EMU murder trial”, Oct. 24.


In reading the details in “Hung jury in EMU murder trial”, Oct. 24, one could conclude that the holdout juror was just pulling an O.J. Simpson. Let’s hope the next jury will decide the fate of Orange Taylor III basing their decision on the evidence at hand.

LEGALIZE DRUGS ALREADY!

Recently there have been some drug house killings which is usually quite normal in Detroit but this time kids were involved (a number of times) and this has set off some concern.

I have quit ranting about legalizing drugs but a few columnists brought it up again even though it does absolutely no good because it falls on deaf ears but here it goes anyway…

You could stop a lot of the crime related to drug sale and use if you took the profit out of it and the only way to do that is to legalize it.

Let me explain.

Allow pharmaceutical companies to make and sell a variety of drugs. Allow certain pharmacies sell measured doses of these drugs (small amounts). The buyer would have to register as a drug user but it would be totally legal.

The drugs would be affordable and clean – no poison mixed in. The drugs would be taxed and controlled just like liquor is.

The tax money collected would be used to open free clinics for addicts that are looking to come clean.

Since drugs would be affordable and available, the need for drug dealers and drug houses would disappear.

The billions now spent on drug enforcement would be reduced but you would still need agents to make sure all laws are obeyed (like the ATF does currently)(Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).

The rationale is based on the FACT that we will NEVER win the war on drugs and people that want drugs will ALWAYS get them one way or another so it is really, really STUPID to try and prevent them from getting drugs.

I have argued the same for legalizing prostitution but I guess the people in our society feel that legalizing drugs or prostitution is somehow against their fundamental idea of what is right and what is wrong or at least what should be right or wrong.

Well I think we need to change our way of thinking. Basically a demand is always satisfied whether legal or not and that is FACT. Prostitution satisfies a basic demand that has been around since the beginning of time; why do we try to pretend it does not exist, is it because of the Bible?

Sounds too complicated to analyze and I will not see drugs or prostitution legalized in my lifetime anyway so it is hopeless…

POLISH HERITAGE MONTH - OCTOBER!

October is usually celebrated in Polish circles as POLISH HERITAGE MONTH but with October also being the Hispanic heritage month; the Poles don’t usually get any mention in the local papers even though in Detroit and Michigan, Poles are a sizable community.

Black History Month gets daily front page mention and schools have special days studying Black History but not the Poles who arrived in America before the Blacks (they were part of the original Jamestown settlement).

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to read that a local Polish organization that I support, the PIAST INSTITUTE rented a digital billboard on a local expressway to advertise that October is the Polish heritage Month and that Poles have contributed a lot more to our civilization than kielbasa and pierogi.

The billboard displayed the names of some famous Poles which included Pope John Paul II and astronomer monk Nicolaus Copernicus who was first to state that the earth circles the sun and not visa versa. This was a dangerous stand to make since the Catholic Church did not like to be contradicted and they firmly believed that everything circled the earth.

They also threw in film director Roman Polanski who besides being a good film director was convicted in the U.S. of having sex with an underage girl and can never come back to this country. He was set up by the girl’s mother who wanted her daughter to be a movie star but hey – you should know better. He was also the husband of the woman murdered by Manson!

Maria Sklodowska – Curie was better known as Marie Curie (she married a French guy) and was awarded a Nobel Prize twice for discovering radium or radiation (modern x-ray). She is always thought to be French when in fact she was POLISH.

They didn’t mention CHOPIN which I would since he contributed greatly to our music appreciation.

I guess they could have named many more famous Poles but I am most proud of the fact that they did something about the lack of recognition of Polish Heritage.

We represent nearly 10 million in the U.S. and close to a million in Michigan. Most Poles are home owners and respected members of their community. Unfortunately they are mostly Catholic but we can’t be perfect now can we.

GIULIANI IN THE LION'S DEN

There was a meeting recently of the religious right people “VALUES VOTER SUMMIT” where a straw poll was taken.

These ultra conservative Christians, in my opinion, do not carry the influence they used to when Bush courted them but the candidates, Republican and Democrats, feel they have to pander to the religious zealots anyway.

What I found interesting in the results of their straw poll was that McCain, the guy that is really kissing up to them was DEAD LAST. They see through his hypocrisy and have written him off but he still keeps trying.

Second to last was Giuliani – interesting that they hate McCain more than the moderate guy that is pro-choice.

I have to admire Giuliani for going there and standing on principal, telling them how he felt and sticking to it – he got a pretty good ovation to at least being honest with them unlike McCain.

I am surprised that Romney was their first choice. Mainly because I did not think the Christians would vote for a Mormon but this particular group obviously didn’t mind that he is a Mormon and a FLIP FLOPPER. Romney did assert that he does not take orders from the Mormon leadership same as JFK said about the Papacy some years ago.

Huckabee, the Baptist preacher got the most applause as predicted but even these religious kooks know he does not have a chance.

Giuliani on the other hand, probably did himself a lot of good by assuring this group that he is still a good conservative even if he does not support all their demands – I have to respect him for his bravery and his smarts.

Select a Candidate 2008

Select a Candidate 2008

I took this "candidate" test to see who agrees with my views the most. The test asks your opinion on key issues and lets you rate those views as to importance. My friend that sent me the link said I would be surprised.

Well I was. Joe Biden agrees with me the most but he disagrees with me on key issues and this is where the "importance" rating is key. Health Care is huge for me since my business depends on a private system. Socialized medicine would destroy health care businesses like mine because it would create a health monopoly where only a few large companies would dominate. So based on this single I could not support him plus he does not have a chance.

Believe it or not, (2) John McCain comes next but where he disagrees with me is also huge; the Iraq war. he has no plans just the idiotic "stay the course" - no way!

3. Mitt Romney?

4. Rudy Giuliani

5. Hillary Clinton

6. Bill Richardson

7. Barak Obama

8. Mike Gravel - who?

9. Ron Paul - I thought he would agree with many of my views but we differ on many.

10. Chris Dodd

11. John Edwards - I knew he did not represent me - socialist pig!

12. Dennis Kucinich

13. Jim Gilmore - who?

14. Fred Thompson

15. Duncan Hunter - who are these guys?

16. Sam Brownback

17. Tom Tancredo

18. Mike Huckabee - only agrees with me on three (3) issues: Health Care, Line-Item Veto and the Death Penalty.

If I took the top five (5) people that I agree with the most three (3) are Republican and two (2) are Democrats. I will retake the test and this time pay more attention to the importance rating.

*******************On my second try with more attention to importance of specific issues I came up with the same top five (5) but in a different order with 1. Giuliani, 2. Romney, 3. McCain, 4. Biden and 5. Hillary Clinton.

They all disagree with me on Iraq but the Republicans agree with me on health care whereas the Democrats do not.

This election will be between Hillary and Giuliani and I am going to have to do some soul searching.

McCain - Non-Christian for President?

John McCain continues to embarrass himself in public. His latest was a declaration that our nation was founded as a Christian nation and that our Constitution attests to that. He went on to say that he would not be comfortable with someone not of the same Christian faith, leading the country.

McCain also mentioned that he will be getting baptized (full immersion) as proof of his dedication to Jesus and the followers of Jesus – now he is groveling, thinking that right wing Christians will take notice and what, vote for him?

Ann Coulter – you know how she is right? - has also recently said that her perfect America is a 100% Christian America. This is to a Jewish interviewer who she told to “get right” with Jesus.

McCain’s turnaround from the last election is stunning and unbelievable. It is as if had a stroke and now he is, I don’t know, some one else that is hell bent on political self-destruction.

He is not the only one to say that we were founded as a Christian nation; polls that I mentioned before, show us as increasing ignorant of our history and what we stand for as a nation. Notice I said increasingly ignorant – that is not a good sign.

For the record, the only mention of god in the Constitution is at the end where it is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” That is all folks.

Also, as mentioned before, the Treaty of Tripoli passed by Congress stated unequivocally “as the government of the United States is not, in any way, founded on the Christian religion.”

Our Founding fathers knew what they meant by freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion; why don’t Americans know that today.

I am afraid that since Christianity was the dominant religion in the early years of this country, we just assumed it will always remain mainly Christian but now things are changing…

The question at hand that McCain raised, would any of us be comfortable with a non-Christian as president?

There was that hubbub when a black representative wanted to take the oath of office on a Koran instead of a Bible – wow!!! I think it passed OK since he was an American black from Detroit that converted to Islam down the road. I think we all kind of think that that is OK but for president?

If there is no chance in hell that a non-Christian will run for president in our life time, why raise the question? Well, since many children of Muslim parents are being born here and taught here, they are eligible to run for president just like any one born here is so it is plausible that a Muslim will one day run for president of the United States.

Remember JFK? People didn’t like the idea of a Catholic running mainly because Catholics have to obey the Pope. Kennedy defused that issue quickly with a speech where he said I am an American first then a Catholic.
Romney is considered a non-Christian by many. Mormons are kind of differ from the mainline Christians. He is also considering giving a speech where he will say American first, Mormon second.

Look at Bush, he is Christian first and American second because he rejects our Constitution and justifies that rejection by saying Jesus and his teachings are more important than out Constitution – who is more dangerous – Bush or a Muslim American who will swear allegiance to the Constitution first and to Islam second.

Just some food for thought…

BACK TO THE OLD "SCHIP"!

To: The Canton Observer
Re: SCHIP Legislation


I have been amazed at the almost hysterical propaganda that has been thrown at the American public by supporters of the radically expanded SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) leading up to the presidential veto override attempt which thankfully failed.

The original Republican bill provided health coverage for children of parents that were poor but not poor enough to be covered by Medicaid. Re-authorizing the bill with some tweaking and reasonable expansion would have been the smart and right thing to do but the democrats would have none of that.

They saw an opportunity to further their socialist agenda by creating a health welfare monster and to reach their goal they would paint all opponents as heartless scrooges.

I want to thank the brave legislators who saw through their ruse and stood their ground for fiscal responsibility and the American way.

NO TO SOCIALISM, YES TO THE AMERICAN WAY

To: The Detroit News
Re: “Repair, reinstate child health care program”, Oct. 19.


The voice of reason editorial “Repair, reinstate child health care program”, Oct. 19 was a welcome reprieve from the almost hysterical pro-SCHIP (State Child Health Insurance Program) propaganda put out in the media by Democrats and the Archdiocese of Detroit among others.

Painting opponents of the new radically expanded SCHIP legislation as somehow against the welfare of poor children is inexcusable and points to the extreme levels that some are willing to go to just to get their way.

The original Republican SCHIP legislation provided health coverage to children of low-income parents who did not qualify for Medicaid. The plan was working and should have been re-authorized with modest expansion.

But the Democrats saw the plan as a road to socialized medicine and expanded it into a health welfare monster that opened the door to kids that were not poor, not kids anymore and in some cases, with existing health coverage.

The health of poor children was used by Democrats to advance their socialist agenda and therefore I salute the brave legislators who saw through their ruse and stood their ground for fiscal responsibility and the American way.

JENA 6 AFTERMATH!

Did the blacks have a valid injustice case in Jena? Well it certainly looks like it even though none of us were there or know anything about that area of the country.

Judging from the “white tree” and the “nooses” incident, I would say that there were racial tensions in that school between two groups and probably have existed for some time. That is not to say that all the students had racial problems but definitely a specific group of white and black students did.

Did the prosecutors overreact? It does appear that way. I have seen teenagers tried as adults but that is usually for a pretty horrific murder not for being involved in a high school fight.

Should the students have been charged at all? This depends on the school but in my memory, high school fights were handled by the school and students were punished by suspension or expulsion.

Did the blacks overreact? Well, they were reacting to the facts as they were presented to them which were not all that accurate but all they heard was “…another case of injustice for the black man by the white system…” and that is all they needed to hear. History has many examples of grievous injustice towards the black man in America and especially in the South.

The fact that it still continues is a surprise to me but not to the blacks who shout that racism is alive and well in America.

Many columnists wrote about the Jena 6 case including Leonard Pitts, Jr. that I read on a regular basis; in fact, he has a large group of white readers.

He took exception to the many white readers that wrote him about injustice towards whites as in O.J. Simpson, Twana Brawley and of course the Duke case. Leonard screamed that how dare you bring up those cases when in 388 years there were thousands of cases of injustice towards blacks where they were tortured and lunched indiscriminately and you bring up your piddly few white injustice cases?

Well I can understand the black position because; yes they have many years of undeniable evidence of horrific injustice but I think they should also acknowledge the trend in our society of playing the race card at the expense of whites or just plain justice. In other words, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Until blacks and black organizations like the NAACP admit that people like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton use the race card at the drop of a hat without ANY regard for truth or justice and denounce their tactics; white people will continue to counter black injustice with white injustice.

THE JENA 6 CASE!

Well I guess I am going to have to make some comments about the JENA 6 fiasco.

I hope you know what I am talking about since it has been in the news BIG TIME and has lead to a black protest and march to Jena, a small town in Louisiana and the involvement of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton; the race issue flies.

My wife is convinced that racism is at work here so now I have to find out what the hell the reality of the situation is. I just want to remind you of the “DUKE” case and the terrible racism in that case that also drew Jackson and Sharpton and provoked marches and cries of outrage at the injustice for the wrong person – oh my!

You can tell I already have an attitude – I hate when the race card is played. I will fight injustice to the death (black or white) but it better be valid injustice and not some hyped up crap by race players like Jackson and Sharpton; they were at DUKE and did they apologize for being DEAD wrong about the Duke students? – Hell no!

I have a problem with PROSECUTORS in general. I think many of them don’t care about justice – just conviction. They also care about being elected to the next highest office and will do what is popular and not what is just and I have many examples to prove what I say including the DUKE case.

I am also not naïve about racism and the fact that it does still exist in both black and white forms. I think we have come a long way but there are hard core racists out there and they will be with us forever.

Also, there are many blacks that will milk the race issue as long as they can. Whites have deep guilt feelings that can be exploited over and over again until they put a stop to the milking by saying enough – history is history and now is now!

So what about the JENA 6 case – what really happened and can the truth be known.

At this time the case has been spun so much and so blatantly skewed and so out of proportion that I doubt the truth will ever come out – the media is only interested in sensationalism so they won’t help much but let us try.

Snopes.com is a web site for “rumor control”. They are usually pretty good about taking email pass-along letters and designating them either “true” or “not true”. I have friends that pass on conservative bull shit letters about issues close to the heart of social conservatives; they usually turn out to be blatant lies.

The JENA 6 story is basically true but not entirely accurate.

Yes a black kid asked a teacher (jokingly) if he could sit under a tree that has been a “traditionally” white “spot”. The teacher said sit where you want to and yes, a couple of nooses appeared on the tree the next day (August 31, 2006).

Principle wanted to expel the white students that did the noose thing but was overridden by the school board that called it just a “prank” and suspended the three students responsible from school for a few days – end of story?

Here is where it gets a little cloudy. People say that because of the “nooses” incident and subsequent “non-punishment”, racial tensions flared.

Officials claim that the “noose” incident and later incidents of violence are not connected.

November 30, 2006 fires are set at the school no arrests made.

Also, black vs. white student fights occurred in and near the school – some serious. In one, whites with beer bottles beat a black student – only one white student charged and that was with a misdemeanor.

December 2, 2006 – hope you are paying attention to the dates and the time that has elapsed between the original incident and later incidents, a confrontation at Gotta-Go-Grocery involved a white student, a shotgun and three black students.

The white student said he was jumped and beaten and tried to defend himself with a shotgun; the blacks say they were just defending themselves from a guy with a shotgun. Witnesses stand behind the white student’s version. The black students were arrested and charged with second-degree robbery.

On December 4th, 2006 a fight broke out in the high school between a white and black student. The white student was jumped from behind by other black students and pummeled – had to go to ER.

That high school assault resulted in five (5) black students being charged AS ADULTS with “attempted” SECOND-DEGREE MURDER and given very high bonds – a sixth student was charged as a juvenile hence the Jena 6. Two of the above six (6) were also involved in the Gotta-Go-Grocery incident and that’s why their bonds were higher.

STOP - I am already feeling uneasy about this affair. This was a high school fight between teenagers not adults and second degree murder – what is that about?

MYCHAL BELL, the only teen tried so far and convicted by an all white jury (since no blacks that were called for jury duty bothered to show up) of a reduced second-degree aggravated battery – more like it but as an adult he could face 22 years – not fair! Sentencing scheduled for September 20th, 2007.

Prosecutors revealed that ole’ MYCHAL was convicted of assault a year earlier and was on probation. Then he committed three (3) more crimes while on probation giving him five (5) convictions for VIOLENT crimes – not a good boy!

On September 4, 2007 prosecutors in the Jena 6 case decided to reduce all charges to aggravated second-degree battery while on September 14, 2007 an Appeals Court vacated Mychal Bell’s conviction saying he should have been tried in Juvenile Court.

And this is where it stands so far…

A number of people including the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana claim that the “nooses” incident and subsequent fights and charges were NOT related. Since August 2006 when the noose incident took place till December 2006 when the high school fight broke out – things at the high school were NORMAL.

But as we know, the Jena 6 issue became a cause celebre among blacks looking for an issue. The town of Jena was invaded by protestors, Jackson and Sharpton made speeches and the NAACP provided lawyers and public relations assistance. And get this, John Mellencamp wrote a song about the case.

The official black position was that the hanging of the nooses was a “hate” crime and should have been prosecuted as such. Because the white students were not punished, racial tensions escalated as time passed. A “skirmish” between a taunting white student and a black student led to the involvement of six (6) black students “roughing up” the white student. The black students were unjustly charged as adults and were to receive ridiculous sentences.

Well there you have it. Let’s talk about the hoopla that ensued.

SUPREME COURT SURPRSE?

One of my political fears is that if a Democrat does not get into the White House next year, we may have a totally conservative, right wing, Christian Supreme Court and then all hell will break loose as far as our “Rights” are concerned.

My fears are based on the fact that the conservative judges are all relatively young (Alito, Roberts, Scalia & Thomas) and will be on the bench forever while the so-called liberals and moderates are older than the hills and will either die in office or become senile and have to be replaced which under a Republican president will mean most likely, more conservative young judges.

I realize that not all judges starting out conservative end up that way. There are examples of judges that felt a certain freedom of conscience once they made the high court bench. They turned out to be actually quite moderate, willing to examine each issue on the basis of the Constitution and not on the conservative ideology that got them appointed in the first place.

Recently, our Supreme Court opened a new season and the first few cases where quite a pleasant surprise for me – am I judging them too harshly too soon?

The cases were “religious” cases or “Church-State” cases and I thought – here we go, back to the dark ages and damn the Constitution.

The Supreme Court justices actually did not “decide” these cases but they refused to hear them which means they let stand the lower court’s decision.

The first one involved “Catholic Charities” which employs and services people of all faiths. The medical insurance coverage they provided their employees did not cover contraception. New York State law mandates that health insurance plans must cover a variety of female specific issues such as contraception, cervical cancer screening, mammography, etc.

Catholic Charities, joined by other religious groups protested the violation of their First Amendment rights to practice their religion as they see fit. The court (6-0) said you are NOT a church but a social organization employing and servicing a variety of people of various faiths or non-faiths so OBEY THE LAW!

In the second case a religious group wanted to use rooms in a public library to hold their religious services just like other community groups hold their activities in rooms provided by the library. The library said no and the court upheld their decision stating that allowing the group to hold religious services in the library constituted tax payer subsidy of religious exercises / practices.

Educational, cultural and community based programs are OK but NOT religious services.

I applaud the courts for recognizing the separation of Church and State mandate in our Constitution and not allowing religions to worm their way into the “public” domain – practice your religion all you want just stay in your place!