Could be political; read at your own peril

One comment at the family dinner may have been misunderstood. First born expressed displeasure with Indian casinos and how they might take over the country. She wants the loved one who asked, "What's wrong with that?" to know that her complaint involved specific behaviors which do not reflect the American spirit.

First, and the most flagrant violation of the spirit of the law, there is a woman and her three children in Southern California who have arranged to be certified as a "tribe," and they have contracted with Big Gambling to own a casino in which they do not work, but from which they each draw hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Other "tribes" have membership by consensus vote, and members can be decertified by the group at will. Many casinos employ few or no actual Native Americans, but simply gift them with hundreds of thousands annually as well.

Beyond the fact that gambling is a debilitating activity, the many excesses perpetrated by Big Gambling on the Indians and America are a drain on society. As long as the spirit of Big Gambling is involved, Indian casinos and those who manipulate them are not fit to "take over the country."

A holiday

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, I enjoyed the nicest day I have had for many years. First born and I traveled to the capital city for dinner with all four of my children, the significant others of three of them, and my grandson. Some of them had come from New York and Colorado to the home of the family love arranger. The only ones missing were two third and one fourth generation members who could not make it in from Tennessee.

It was the first time in a long time that so many family members had all been in the same place at the same time. It was a wonderful day for me; their mother would have loved it. At no time did anyone say the words that Bonnie Hunt ("The BH Show") says always ruin her family gatherings, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Suing doctors and banning chocolate milk at school

Judges of conscience do not hear cases which lack merit, and they reduce the exaggerated monetary awards that emotional juries improperly assess. What we need are more such judges.

The politicians aren't happy just picking on us adults with their rules and regulations and taxes, now they are coming after the children. Kids love chocolate milk, but they would punish them for the sake of a few calories. It's just more liberal meanness.

Pauper's perp walk

Please explain to me how fines and imprisonment will improve my life. It has now been verified that, under the House assault on freedom, you can be fined for not buying health insurance, and imprisoned if you don't pay. This is only one provision in 2,000 pages of God knows what. Do you want your health care to be between you and your doctor or between you and some politicians?

A possible portion of that travesty of rules and regulations I might support is one which encourages the proliferation of insurance companies, even across state lines, to create the competition which will bring down rates. Lower premiums will allow more Americans to afford insurance, and the companies with the most generous policy on existing conditions will survive. This should reduce the gap betwen those who are insured and the small percentage who aren't.

I have written to my Senators, but I am registered with the wrong party, and my opinion means nothing to them. Maybe you will have better luck. Don't let them oppress us with rules, regulations, commissions, boards, committees and higher taxes, in addition to the aforementioned fines and imprisonment. Do it for the generations to come.

Was Della only an employee?

As a youth, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Perry Mason was my hero, on TV, because I became addicted to visuals, and, as I discovered later, Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of the clever attorney, wasn't actually much of a writer. Then, I discovered I loved to sing, and I went to music school, and when I took a required basic history course, it was based on famous Supreme Court cases, and the professor, like author Gardner's writing style, was boring, and my ardor for the law waned. Besides, I met several interesting women in opera workshop.

So, I am not an attorney, but I have watched and enjoyed every lawyer show on TV for years. It seems clear to me that trying five terrorists in a U.S. court in New York is asking for them to be acquitted. None of them were read his Miranda rights, and the government itself has called their enhanced interrogation "torture." Case dismissed.

In addition, the terrorists welcome the opportunity to spout their venom near the scene of the crime, and will probably not move for dismissal until they have at least have had their Warhol fifteen minutes. After the terrorist recruitment lecture, any good lawyer will point out the obvious, and the judge will have no choice but to set them free. It may be that military tribunals are the only way to go, but it looks like we'll never know.

CONSPIRACY THEORY: Completely without evidence, I would suggest that, considering that the Obama administration's plan for employing such a tenuous method of prosecution seems bound to end in acquital, someone, for some purely perverse political reason, wants that to happen.

Bits and pieces

1. What a load of "who gives a damn?" There's s little water on the moon. Well, of course there is; it's made of cheese. After all, you can't make cheese without water (or eat jackass meat without ketchup). There's water deep in the ground in Nevada, too, where that "moon walk" took place.

2. (AS SEEN ON TV) It has been a month and a half since President Obama gave Iran two weeks to allow inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities. It's three months since he was supposed to send additional troops to Afghanistan. Why can't he act in a timely manner?

3. It was with deep regret that the state-run media (NBC) had to report that Representative William Jefferson (D-LA) was sentenced to thirteen years in prison for bribery. Good grief, a Democrat? Unbelieveable.

4. The base at Guantanamo, like American embassies around the world, is U.S. territory. Any federal court can convene there, and should, so that no terrorists have to be moved to New York. As usual, common sense trumps liberal symbolism.

Veterans' Day

I have always considered myself a veteran. I served for 21 months at approximately the same time as Elvis. In fact, we served a few hundred miles from each other -- I, in France; he, in Germany. Alas, we never met. Before the end of my 24-month commitment, I was granted early release to accept a teaching position with a man who turned out to be the worst principal for whom I ever worked. I experienced some regret that I had left my cushy job editing a small Army newspaper, but when the Vietnam War started, I was retroactively gratified by my perspicacity.

I served during a period called the Cold War when we had troops stationed in Europe, lest hostilities re-erupt. Ignoring the danger (actually, I just wanted to see Europe, which, as it turned out, became my only opportunity), I volunteered to go to France, and although I was not shot at, I was a soldier and could have been. Yet, I recently discovered that I am not eligible for most veterans' benefits, which are reserved for those who actually killed people and blew up things. Fair? I suppose; disappointing? Yes.

Today, we honor those who endured the shooting and bombing aspects of being a veteran, and especially those who gave their lives protecting our freedom. Wherever they are, I hope they can't see a certain 1,900 page assault on freedom under consideration in Congress.

FYI: While researching the spelling of my title, I learned that popular usage omits the apostrophe. Sorry, state-run media, but my spelling is more grammatically correct than yours.

Car shopping?

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- "Navy ships of the two Koreas exchanged fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border. . . [and] the North Korean ship was seriously damaged." North Korea has about a gajillion trained ground troops, and is rumored to have nuclear weapons, but South Korea shot first.

Wouldn't now be a fine time to buy a fully guaranteed South Korean car, such as a Kia or a Hyundai? Do you think Kim Jung (Mentally) Il will honor your warranty?

Beware (As seen on TV)

I feel it's only fair that I warn [California] Senators Feinstein and Boxer that if they allow the health care fiasco that was passed by the House to become law, their names will be cursed by generations of Americans for years to come.

More lies

After putting on his hair shirt and kissing ass around the world, President Obama recently insulted the American Indians by trying to equate his experience with that of the most oppressed tribal members. His description of himself as "an outsider who grew up without a father, moved around a lot, and understood what it was like to struggle and be ignored," is a load of crap.

If his half-brother is to be believed, his father was an abuser, and he was better off without him. He attended a prestigious private prep school, Punahou School, and went on to Columbia University and Harvard Law, He moved to Chicago and was embraced as the house Negro of the Daley Machine. Struggle, indeed!

A glimmer of hope

We are finally seeing some of that hope we were promised. Two states will now be run by new Republican governors. The state-run media is trying to put a good spin on it, but it does not bode well for the Obama administration, and that is the best thing that could happen to America. Keep it up until they know they can't take our freedom from us. Light up a cigarette, buy some incandescent light bulbs, crank up your Hummer, and spit on AlGore's shoe. Never stop telling them it's our country.

Democratic centralism

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines democratic centralism as "a principle of Communist party organization by which members take part in policy discussions and elections at all levels but follow decisions made at higher levels." It is curious how yet another organizational concept with "democratic" in its name can be so seriously flawed, and so resemble the regime of that demagogue I alluded to yesterday.

Demagogue

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines a demagogue as "a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power." Of whom does that remind you, in addition to Adolph Hitler?