Gatlinburg Maintaining Its History?

Recently there was an article in our local newspaper concerning National Geographic coming to town, “All eyes on ‘Burg’ for ’07 jubilee."

The reporter quotes an individual “Gatlinburg is unique to (national park) gateway cities in that the original families are still here and for the most part still in control of the business community.” Another individual is quoted, “The fact that you all built Gatlinburg, not some outsiders, is part of the story … this survey shows that Gatlinburg was built by its founders … .”

Hmmmm, who purchased the Mountain View Inn, from the builder, and replaced that ugly reminder of the past with Fun Mountain and now lets Fun Mountain remain as an eyesore to the community? Could it be one of those descendants of one of those original families? Who continues to let them? Who sold Lucinda Ogle’s cabin to “outside developers?” I believe it was descendants of one of those original families. Who owns the properties that are T-shirt shops? Outsiders? No, those original families that control the business community are at it again. Don't forget the Greystone that is now the Aquarium. Who owns the property surrounding Gatlinburg Inn that is surely destroying the Inn with its noise pollution and all night carousing? Who owns the property crowding the Arrowmont School of Arts making it an island of history in the midst of what? Who owns the property and permits developers to remove the trees that draw the leaf-lookers then builds thousands and thousands and thousands of cabins? If those original families are still in control what business are they controlling it is certainly not an interest in Gatlinburg history.

I'm not sure where these Committee members came from but they see things that are not and think, cabin! I see cabins and wonder just what are they thinking.

In family owned companies it is generally the third generation who either bankrupts the company or takes it public. Gatlinburg is right on schedule.

Do those committee members really want to draw the National Geographic's attention to how Gatlinburg is maintaining its history?

Global Warming Debate Heats Up

The cause or causes of Global Warming may be debated but it is obvious to the even the most oblivious is that things have changed and are continuing to change.

Photographs of the Teton mountain range show there is less year-around snow in the mountains today than there was just twenty years ago.

Cruises now cross the Arctic area later into the season because the ice flows are smaller and do not extend as far as they have in the past. If you want to see something funny is to see a boat arrive in a town with 200 to 300 people and ask where the dock is located. There is no dock. The town does not have enough food and supplies to take them through the winter let alone sell some to a group of tourists. Tourists can be a bit testy when they don't get what they want.

The icy habitat of the polar bear is disappearing causing the continued existence of the polar bear in question. Polar bears spend most of their lives on floating ice in the sea. But that ice is melting, and polar bears have nowhere else to go. Bears do most of their hunting from ice close to, or attached to, the shoreline. There has been ice near the land for hundreds of years. Today, in one of the polar bear habitats in Canada the ice is melting four weeks earlier than it did twenty years ago and in places can be 200 miles from shore in the summer. Scientists say there has been more ice melt than normal in the last fifteen years. In the last six years, the melting has speeded up even more. At the present rate scientists estimate there will be no ice left in the Arctic within thirty-five years allowing for more cruises even later into the winter season. Polar bears can completely disappear by the end of this century.

There are many other examples so those who consider the concept a hoax should wake up and smell the roses. The question is, is the warming part of a cyclical warming and cooling thus being completely natural OR are the billions and billions of barrels of oil having a negative affect on the environment?

God said he would not destroy the earth until the end when it will burn away but He never said He would not permit his Creation to destroy itself.

Where're the Media and the Scholars

I am wondering why I do not hear more outcry from our scholars as well as our media concerning the military of the United States being committed to battles lacking a congressional Declaration of War upon the focus of our wrath? I hear no comments concerning our invading of a sovereign country; removing their army and police forces; removing the legal government; imprisoning the administration; turning their President over to his political enemies; and then watching while he was executed in a manner not tolerated within the United States. We are not the world’s police and have no legal right to do what we did in Iraq or any other country no matter how despotic their leaders.

With almost the entire world being against us George has more to worry about than Iraq. He as well as other "leaders" could very well be the focus of a War Crimes Trial. They may never be taken into custody but I suggest we should look for the Middle East countries to ask the World Court for such a judgment and for that request to be granted. Then things should really get interesting.

By not understanding the religious mind of the area we have created a monster from which we may never honorably extricate ourselves. They are not crazy and they have an agenda. They could kill our president, poison our waters, kill anyone anytime. We have finally run up against an enemy who wants us out of their countries and their hemisphere. Not unlike our not wanting them in our country or in our hemisphere.

Where're the Media and our Constitutional Scholars when you need them?

Is NASCAR Serious?

News reports would cause one to believe the NASCAR cheaters are kids who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and that boys will be boys.

Intentional cheating should result in the entire team being disqualified for the next race plus point reduction plus a dollar fine plus a substantial fine to the owner of the car. How about limiting the number of sponsors names on the car that cheated? How about a no decals for the race?

If NASCAR is serious they should get serious. A second violation of intentional cheating should result in disqualification for the entire season.

Ethics are ethics there are no business ethics, no racing ethics there are ethics.

If the fans cannot believe the results of a race it is professional wrestling.

On the other hand how about two races each season with no control over the car setup?

Pigeon Forge City Commissioners Vote for Industrial Zone

Recently our local paper had an article with a headline “PF city Commissioners vote for industrial zone” with a secondary headline, “Rezoning of property would open field for adult businesses, any type of industry.”

The reporter quotes one of the local commissioners as saying, “This is not putting a rubber stamp on adult businesses, this opens up that land for any type of business.” If it is not a rubber stamp what is it?

Unless the cost of locating in such a district is prohibitive the commissioners have just created a future slum where illegal activity of all sorts will migrate. If you doubt it look at any city with a district specifically zoned for “adult businesses and industry.” Most cities would like to eliminate such districts while Pigeon Forge is creating one.

People in large cities migrate away from such districts. Has anyone studied the likely affect such a district will have on the home owners across the street or are they not within Pigeon Forge so no on cares what the affect might be? Are we to look forward to smoke stacks belching out air pollution of all sorts? Will more police activity be required? If so has anyone looked into how that will affect that department?

If the concerns I mention are not relevant someone might want to clarify what is going on because at first blush it looks horrible.

At least we know where the casinos and the associated one-armed bandits will be located when they are eventually approved by our state legislature. If you doubt they are coming remember the lottery. How many years back did anyone believe Tennessee would have a Lottery?

Iraq a Major Miscalculation

Every “war” the United States has participated in since WWII has been political as well as unconstitutional. Our Presidents have committed our military without Congress declaring war as specified in the Constitution. If the President would have asked for a Declaration of War those “wars” would have been countrywide wars instead each was Republican or Democratic war. A non-binding resolution of support by our congress is nowhere to be found in our Constitution. Luckily we were able to get out of each of those debacles until Iraq. Except for those unfortunate enough to have died or been maimed for life.

We cannot win in Iraq for many reasons among them is the moral of the military, for which we are the blame. One of the soldiers upon his return said no one wants to be the last one to die for a mistake. You cannot win if you are not willing to die. Until we are ready to kill hundreds just to kill one we cannot win. As General Giap of North Viet Nam, until we are willing to lose ten of ours to kill one of theirs we cannot win. Military leaders such as Tommy Franks should have been run out of the service instead of being allowed to retire. He conspired with Rumsfeld to develop a battle plan that was a joke. The enemy should never be allowed to be in strength at your back. We send convoys on roads not secured and wonder why our people our killed. Franks put his men and women into a trap and then he left. He is an embarrassment to the history of great leaders in our history.

We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish when we destroyed the government in Afghanistan, a country giving refuge to those who attacked us, and installed a puppet President who previously resided within our borders.

We have accomplished what we wanted to accomplish in Iraq. We invaded a sovereign country; disbanded their army and police forces; removed the legal government; imprisoned the administration; turned their President over to his political enemies; and then watched while he was executed in a manner not tolerated within the United States. We are not the world’s police and have no legal right to do what we did in Iraq or any other country no matter how despotic their leaders.

Iraq never was a threat to the United States anymore than any other country in the Middle East as well as South America as well as the Far East. We picked on the one we thought we could beat and made a major error in judgment.

During our Revolutionary War we proved a small band of untrained badly organized group of patriots with the sometimes assistance of our enemies’ enemy could defeat the greatest army in the world. Similar to what is happening in Iraq.

With almost the entire world being against us George has more to worry about than Iraq. He could very well be the focus of a War Crimes Trial. He may not be taken into custody but look for the Middle East countries to ask the World Court for such a judgment and for that request to be granted. Then things should really get interesting.

By not understanding the religious mind of the area we have created a monster from which we may never extricate ourselves. They are not crazy and they have an agenda. They could kill our president, poison our waters, kill anyone anytime. But they do not. We have finally run up against an enemy who wants us out of their countries and hemisphere. Not unlike our not wanting them in our country or in our hemisphere.

We are on our own. We can no longer count on God’s help since we have expelled him. We just might be the Northern Tribes being carried off by the Assyrians.

The last “war” we won was a war where civilian leaders did not mini manage the military. Until our military is allowed to do what they believe right we cannot win. With a country such as we are today the outcome of WWII might well have been quite different than it was and we just might be speaking German today. A country without morals is a country without laws and is no use to anyone.

We Can’t Blame the White People Any Longer - Bill Cosby

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed.

Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands'; or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.

Americans make too much of an individual apologizing for an act or comment

An apology is an acknowledgement of some fault, injury, insult, etc. with an expression of regret and a plea for pardon and we insist the individual express that remorse or regret before we are willing to move on.

Americans of all ilks have their likes and dislikes; they have prejudices; they discriminate. Those are not bad terms unless they cause an individual to break a law or even worse, have an opinion different than our opinion. Remember, the Constitution defines what the government can do, not the people.

Celebrities will on occasion say or do something that is upsetting to the public. They do not regret thinking the way they think or feeling the way they feel, but they regret having to deal with the public's reaction to their thoughts or feelings. They are sorry they were caught.

When an individual is convicted of committing a crime, Americans want to know why, so before we move on we demand an explanation. Of course, once convicted the individual is sorry they were caught.

Americans need to accept that we do not all think alike, and as long as no law is broken that is OK. We may disagree and that is OK also. Some crimes have no rational explanation. We need to move past the infraction with those differences in place.

If Americans cannot forgive or forget at least we must stop insisting on being lied to.

Recently the Amish have exhibited an example of forgiveness from which we can all learn.

The United States Needs to Get Over Its Self-Righteousness

When the people who eventually made up the original thirteen colonies came to this land they came for many reasons. Some were running away from something some were running to something. One of the common desires was the desire for freedom.

Eventually demands by the government of England infringed on that freedom and became intolerable, the result being our Declaration of Independence and eventually the Constitution of the United States.

No country gave us their Declaration of Independence from which they could copy to develop our own. No country gave them their Constitution, from which they could copy to develop our own. The people of the colonies selected representatives to speak for them and to work with other representatives to make decisions and to develop a course of action.

What would our founders think? Descendants of those founding fathers have invaded a sovereign country, deposed the legally elected President and removed his government from power as well as its disbanded its army. We have turned that President over to his political enemies for trial with a predetermined verdict and punishment. Maybe the Iraqi president should have been removed and tried it was not up to us. With the world being against us I expect our leaders to eventually be accused of crimes against humanity as well as other war crimes and demands for them to be subject to a World Court will be heard. If that happens I expect our leaders to be found guilty and punished. I expect our President and Vice President as well as selected members of the military and selected members of congress to be so charged. Do not dismiss the notion it is a real possibility.

For reasons beyond comprehension, our leaders do not recognize what is happening in Iraq. Following the first George Bush’s war in Iraq we left our military in Saudi Arabia as we have a habit of doing giving a target to which our enemies could focus. The second George Bush led the United States into a quagmire from which there is no honorable way out. We have successfully defeated a country that had no chance of defeating us. We have successful bullied a smaller country. We are a bully. We are proud.

During the Russian invasion of Afghanistan the United States fought a proxy war with Russia and maintained plausible deniability. Today Iran and Syria are fighting a proxy war with the United States and maintaining plausible deniability. The Executive Branch and Legislative Branch fail to see what is really happening and continues in quagmire.

If the Iraqi people wanted freedom they should have fought for it. One cannot be given democracy when will the United States understand that? We are not the World’s Police. We do not have a right to decide how other countries govern nor how the people live. We need to get over our self-righteousness.

Keeping Things in the Right Perspective

House Democrats kicked off the new session with a 100-hour legislative blitz that is planned to allow them to post a series of quick victories before President Bush even delivers his State of the Union address toward the end of this month.

But even as Democrats filtered back to Capitol Hill on Tuesday in anticipation of the opening of the 110th Congress on Thursday, there was confusion about just when the 100 hours would officially begin. Would it be as soon as the new Congress was sworn in and began voting on internal rules changes? Or when the House takes up its first actual legislation on Tuesday?

And since it is 100 hours of strictly legislative activity, the clock will be on pause when House members give their customary one-minute speeches at the start of each day and during the “special orders” at night when members reserve floor time to carry on about their favorite issues.

Last Monday was out since the House, despite Democratic pledges of a disciplined five-day work schedule, will not be in session. The day off was scheduled to allow freshmen lawmakers time to return from an orientation session - and others to attend the college football national championship game.

What are Crimes against humanity?

In 1945, the United States and other Allies developed the Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis and Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), sitting at Nuremberg, which contained the following definition of crimes against humanity in Article 6(c):

Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether
or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated.

The Nuremberg Charter represented the first time that crimes against humanity were established in positive international law.

Washington, The Unchanging Place

ALL politicians at ALL levels are dishonest, unethical, immoral. They will take care of themselves first, those who give them money second, and last and certainly least, those who vote for them.

There is a proverb "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." That can be said about any power in any amount corrupts. You can see examples almost everyday. There must be a higher power overseeing anyone in a position of authority.

Citizens of the United States must wake up and observe how their government is being taken from them. The Executive branch believes itself to be above the law and the Constitution. The Legislative branch believes itself to be outside the law and looks only to line its pockets. The Judicial branch believes it should make law instead of applying the Constitution.

The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. He was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He wrote a poem:

America the Beautiful, or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride; I'm glad they'll never see.
Babies piled in dumpsters,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty; your house is on the sand.
Our children wander aimlessly, poisoned by cocaine

Choosing to indulge their lusts, when God has said abstain

From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love and a need to always pray.
We've kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool, and Heaven is His throne.
We've voted in a government that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges; who throw reason out the door,
Too soft to place a killer in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby before he leaves the womb.
You think that God's not angry, that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait before His judgment comes?
How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do, but stem this evil tide?
If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face and mend our evil way:
Then God will hear from Heaven; and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land and those who live within.
But, America the Beautiful, if you don't - then you will see,
A sad but Holy God withdraw His hand from Thee.

A Democracy in Default

It has been said a democracy can exist only until the electorate discover they can vote for someone who will give them something. Politicians at all levels are unethical, dishonest, and immoral. They will take care of themselves first, those who give them money second, and last and surely least, their constituents. At the Federal level they pay millions of dollars to obtain a job that pays a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year. When they complete their term they are millionaires over and beyond their net worth when they began their term in office.

Without a word being said the folks leaving office in Washington D.C. know the special interests will provide for them. With this assurance special attention is paid to the wants of those special interests while maintaining plausible deniability of any collusion.

Politicians are beyond the reach of the laws most Americans must follow and have become a government unto themselves. In practice they pass their place along to their children. Members of the Judicial branch, appointed by the members of the Legislative branch know if they rule as wanted by those same members of the Legislative branch they know more like them will be appointed and members of their families will be taken care of and all the while are able to maintain plausible deniability. To rule as required, the Judicial branch has stopped long ago applying the Constitution and have begun making laws themselves.

The ordinary American is out of the loop and is merely a surf to the Lordships.

With the blessing of the Legislators and the Executive branch selected members of the ruling hiarchy become millionaires and billionaires while the surfs lose their jobs. Our country manufactures nothing, leaving an economy based on lotteries and casinos.

We go to war, commit atrocities, sacrifice the lives and limbs of our military and then treat them as if they are the ugly step child when they return and all for the benefit of those special interests.

The women's lib movement of the 70s or so has resulted in women being successful if they dress and act like prostitutes and feel self expression includes participation in pornography. A surprise affect has been less children so the working class is dwindling while those on welfare and members of violent religions multiply by 4 and 5 times in one generation.

Being Politically Correct means one thinks they can pick up feces by the clean end.

Within this democracy we have minority rule, necessarily meaning America is self destructing.

America may survive but her best days are behind her.

How To Destroy America...The DIY Guide

In his book, "Mexifornia," Victor Hansen explains how immigration - both legal and illegal is destroying the entire state of California and that it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm suggests that destroying America is not very difficult to accomplish. He says if we believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, we should then destroy America. Arnold Toynbee has observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'" Lamm suggests the following eight ways to destroy America:

(1) Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.

(2) Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. Make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal; that there are no cultural differences. Make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

(3) Make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together. Encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.

(4) Make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.

(5) Get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.

(6) Include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide a re mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common Language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods All Greece took part in the Olympic Games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" –From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.

(7) Place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.

(8) Censor Victor Hanson Davis's book "Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book.

Every “thinking” American understands these are indeed the steps proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength.

Our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path especially The American Dream.

Civilian Governments Can Declare War But They Cannot Fight Them.

It has to be extremely difficult to be President today. The President has almost as many people critiquing him as an NFL Head Coach. He cannot change a decision because if he does the public will be all over him for every decision. It should not be like this but it is and it will change our country. GW, as a good cowboy, went to Iraq with vengeance in his eye because Saddam tried to kill his father. He thought he would ride in, arrest the varmit, and ride out. But it was bigger than he thought and he has sacrificed thousands of lives and altered tens of thousands of other lives because of his bad decision.

Now he cannot do anything until the new Secretary of Defense is up to speed or he will be accused of making Gates a puppet, which he is, but is not to be admitted. Meanwhile Americans are dying, for no good purpose. GW will be insignificant for the remainder of his term. As the United States fought the Russians by supporting their enemy, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran are fighting the United States by supporting our enemy, their covert military. Being stuck in Iraq, unable to win and unable to leave the United States is a sitting duck for all the small whiny countries to pick at and we will be unable to react.

During WWI General Pershing the command, once he was in France, it was the civilian government's job to support his decisions. Presidents and their cabinets cannot fight wars. Invariably they just screw things up... As Dirty Harry said, "A man has got to know his limitations."

Iraq, a Major Error

From the beginning of its involvement in the internal affairs of Iraq the United States was doomed to failure. The reasons are many and include Intelligence failure, Presidential arrogance, House and Senate ineffectiveness, and a citizenry ignorant of its own Constitution.

Prior to the invasion of Iraq, a Sunni ruled the Shia and Kurd population with violence. Iran, being majority Shia, and a Sunni led Iraq are natural enemies. Intelligence would have warned that Iran would seek to become involved in an unstable Iraq.

Recently Saudi Arabia has informed the United States they would support the minority Sunni if the United States left Iraq unsupported.

IRAQ Majority Shia
IRAN Majority Shia

SAUDI ARABIA Majority Sunni

SYRIA Majority Sunni
LEBANON Majority Shia
PALESTINIANS Majority Sunni

Our President has made a major error and as a result has made himself and his generals liable to War Crimes Trials, if the United States loses in Iraq. The real problem is there is no way for the United States to win.

What is an Apology?

Americans make too much of an individual apologizing for an act or comment.

An apology is an acknowledgement of some fault, injury, insult, etc. with an expression of regret and a plea for pardon and we insist the individual express that remorse or regret before we are willing to move on.

Americans of all ilks have their likes and dislikes; they have prejudices; they discriminate. Those are not bad terms unless they cause an individual to break a law or even worse, have an opinion different than our opinion. Remember the Constitution defines what the government can do not the people.

Celebrities will, on occasion say or do something that is upsetting to the public. They do not regret thinking the way they think or feeling the way they feel but they regret having to deal with the public's reaction to their thoughts or feelings. They are sorry…they were caught.

When an individual is convicted of committing a crime, Americans want to know why, so before we move on we demand an explanation. Of course, once convicted, the individual is sorry…they were caught.

Americans need to accept that we do not all think alike and as long as no law is broken that is OK. We may disagree and that is OK also. Some crimes have no rational explanation. We need to move past the infraction with those differences in place.

If Americans cannot forgive or forget at least we must stop insisting on being lied to.


Recently the Amish have exhibited an example of forgiveness from which we can all learn.

Iraq - Quagmire

The United States complains that Iran is providing money and weapons to the "bad guys" in Iraq. Remember the many times the United States provided money and weapons to people fighting our enemies? It was our way of fighting our enemy while maintaining space for a plausible denial. Are we so naïve that we do not recognize that we are fighting Iran AND Syria?

If the “bad guys” really wanted the United States to leave Iraq they would let things settle down. The United States would congratulate themselves on a job well done and leave, maybe leaving a token force as we do so often. The “bad guys” could then comeback and takeover the country with minimal fighting while the United States talked about what we should do. They might even kill some of our token force since it would be unable to defend itself.

But Iran and Syria do not want the United States to leave. They want to keep us there using up our resources and giving them opportunities to kill our military personnel and to make us look weak. They are behind the problems in Lebanon for the same reasons. Israel is using up their resources and it is an opportunity for Hezbollah to kill Israelis.

The United States is in a quagmire. We cannot win and we cannot leave.

There have been stories concerning what happens if we lose in Iraq? How about war crimes trials of Bush and Rumsfeld and all of the generals who have been in charge of the fiasco? We are kidding ourselves if we do not think it could happen.

Using Suffering to Promote Moral Goals

This past July, Dottie and I attended Summer Celebration at Lipscomb University in Nashville. One of the sessions was on the "Status of the Church of Christ." The speaker said we do not need the Bible nor do we need Jesus to:

• do no harm;
• do good (especially when it does not cost you much);
• tell the truth;
• practice fairness;
• keep your promises;
• respect autonomy;
• make reparations if you can.

His point was that being a Christian means more than those attributes.

He asked:

• Have you voluntarily reduced your standard of living in the past year and given the savings to help someone?
• Have you had the poor in your house?
• In the past 10 years is the church more diverse?

In his book “Letter to a Christian Nation”, Sam Harris writes “Christians believe that unless the Bible is accepted as the word of God, there can be no universal standard of morality But we can easily think of objective sources of moral order that do not require the existence of a lawgiving God.”

The speaker at Lipscomb was making a similar point.

One of the effects of religion is that it tends to divorce morality from the reality of human suffering. Religion allows Christians to imagine that our concerns are moral when they have nothing to do with suffering or its alleviation or when pressing these concerns inflicts unnecessary suffering on innocent human beings. This explains why we expend more “moral” energy opposing abortion than fighting genocide and why we are more concerned about human embryos than about the life saving promise of stem cell research and it explains why we preach against condom use while millions die from AIDS each year.

We direct our efforts to constrain the sexual behavior of consenting adults---and to discourage our children from having premarital sex--- are almost never geared toward the relief of human suffering. Relieving human suffering seems to rank low on our list of priorities.

Christians are not principally concerned about teen pregnancy and the spread of disease. That is we are not concerned with the suffering caused by sex; we are worried about sex.

I have noticed that people who say they are “pro life” are really “pro unborn life.” We do little for life once it is born. Handicapped, abused, genocide, orphaned, children of incest or rape, are categories in which we show little interest. Our President is against stem cell research that offers to improve the lives of the citizens of the United States and of the world but he is willing to sacrifice the lives of our citizens for people who do like us and in reality hate us as their religion approves the killing of those whom they label as “unbelievers.” We permit our government to sacrifice our fellow citizens on the altar of politics.

Various sexually transmitted diseases effect a large number of our citizens. One of which is HPV, which is believed to cause cervical cancer; the CDC estimates 5,000 women in the US of A and 200,000 women worldwide die each year. Tests show it appears to be safe and effective. Some Christian Conservatives in our government have resisted a vaccination program on the grounds that HPV is a valuable impediment to premarital sex. They want to preserve cervical cancer as an incentive toward abstinence, even if it means sacrificing the lives of thousands of women each year. I imagine some of those women are on the prayer list of some congregations, somewhere.

Gay Marriage or Gay Union

States changing their State Constitution may not be the end of the discussion.......

The Constitution, Article IV, Section 1,

Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved and the effect thereof.

Section 2, Paragraph ,

The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.