IT’S JUST MY OPINION

Why can’t people just say “I made a mistake” or “I’m sorry”? This week we had two major instances of celebrities who cannot accept that they are not Jesus Christ reincarnate, i.e., Will Gere and Alex Baldwin.

Alex Baldwin stepped over the line when he yelled at his daughter in a taped telephone message. His subsequent ongoing tirade and bashing of his ex wife served only to underscore his candidacy for anger management. In my opinion, he appears to be a man out of control and in need of help. He was wrong, his outburst was wrong and he is human, so just get over it, Alex.

Will Gere overstepped the line when, against the law in India, he kissed a woman in public in what was an offensive act to Indian culture. He apologized but it was not a heartfelt apology. In the same breath as he spoke his apology he attacked the ultra conservative culture that bans such actions in public. In other words, he does not see anything wrong with what he did thus the Indian culture is too conservative and dogmatic? Is that for him to judge or even comment on? What gives him the right to tell the people of India what is right or wrong? It sounds to me like another out of control Hollywood personality. How sad that these two Hollywood creatures are getting all of the publicity for their “bad boy” acts of contrition.

It seems to me that these two examples of American lack of respect for others is what is wrong with our American society. Too many of us feel that they somehow are “above it all” and that their actions should not be subject to any criticism no matter how offensive they may be to others.

CONGRESSIONAL MISFITS?

The Congress of the United States has, in my opinion, revealed its self for what it truly is, a group of misfits. By their passing of the bill that would sit a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, they have shown that they have no interest in preserving the freedom of this country. They have failed to act as good custodians of our Constitution and they have let the President, our soldiers and the American people down.

I cannot believe that the Congress has had the audacity to send the Iraq funding bill to the President with billions of dollars in pork and a time table for withdrawal from Iraq. All of that pork and no compassion or concern for the people of Iraq. They are truly demonstrative of the selfishness that seems to be developing in this country. Do they not understand or see that we have no choice but to fight the battle in Iraq? Withdrawal is not an option. Where is their head? I urge the President to veto this bill and I will applaud him his vision. In my opinion,those who were elected to preserve and protect our Constitution have failed.

President Bush has acted with concern and devotion to country while too many of the duly elected custodians apparently lack the ability to understand their responsibility in helping secure our country. They have, in my opinion, lost their way. Unfortunately, the American people seem to share in their lack of character and for that, we may all pay the price. Perhaps the sitting Congress is truly representative of the lack of foresight, vision and compassion of our citizens at large and, if so, the future appears very gloomy. I hope that the President will follow through with his vow to veto this bill. If he does not, I will be very disappointed.

JUST ANOTHER DIVERSION?

Yesterday, April 19, Attorney General Gonzalez appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend the firing of eight Federal Attorneys. I believe that Gonzalez and the administration had every right to decide whether to fire attorneys appointed by them and in whom they had lost faith for whatever reasons i.e., incompetence, sluggish work ethic (in my day it was called laziness) or simple lack of compatible moral character or political philosophy. The action by the Senates Judiciary Committee is, in my opinion, in response to the "sour grapes" of "poor losers" who lost their Federal job. They probably thought that once "in" they were above the fold and could not or would not be disturbed.

Questions have been asked as to the extent politics may have provided the motivation for the firings. It would seem to me that any person serving in any Administration should realize that they are serving within a political environment at the pleasure of the party in power. In my opinion, this is not an issue that the Country should become alarmed about. It strikes me that what we have encountered here is a group of card carrying Republicans who failed to impress their boss, right or wrong. Perhaps their work ethic or relationships more closely identified with liberal philosophies that did not bode well for their job responsibilities. Many registered Republicans are closely aligned to the liberal views of the Democratic Party and thus, it is easy for them to "cry foul". As the two parties have grown to be less and less individualistic and increasingly embrace similar views, it is difficult to differentiate philosophies.

I personally am getting tired of the politicians constantly nit picking at each other and using valuable taxpayer monies to criticize and create disillusionment with our President. We elected the President and the Congress to do a job, and it is time they did that for which they were elected and stopped playing politics with our taxpayer money.

RESPECT ?

As I watched the televised convocation services from Virginia Tech yesterday (Wednesday, April 17), I was puzzled. Would it not have been proper for the school officials in their address to the assembled group to acknowledge the President and Mrs. Bush in their preamble? None of the school administrators that I saw, including the President of the University, did so. The Governor of Virginia, in his address, acknowledged the President and Mrs. Bush. I would have thought that this simple act of respect would have been proper at all levels on any occasion.

Is this yet another example of the failure of higher education to set an example for respect and proper etiquette? I found this omission of acknowledgement offensive. I felt guilty that I was having this feeling amid the suffering and grief of this learned body. Nevertheless, I wondered if the absence of what I perceive to be a proper acknowledgments of the President and First Lady was perhaps, a deliberate omission. As badly as I feel for this terrible tragedy that has come upon the students and staff at this University, I also feel disappointment in its leadership.

A friend forward to me the following "blurb" "© 2007 WorldNetDaily.Com 'Speakers at the Virginia Tech convocation yesterday called on Allah and Buddha in their efforts to minister to the survivors, family and friends of victims of the shooting massacre at the school – but Jesus wasn't mentioned."

Perhaps I am alone, but I expected more from a well respected University. The tragedy of what has happened there is no excuse for these oversights, in my view.

HOW COULD IT HAPPEN?

Not since 9/11 have we, the citizens of this country, felt so inadequate. The slaughter of our College students at Virginia Tech today has left us numb, disbelieving and wondering where we have gone wrong.

It is too soon to blame. We must wait for the details to be revealed to us. In the meantime, our hearts go out in sympathy and compassion to the families who have lost their children in this unspeakable act of violence. Let us not engage in quick and illogical fault finding, let us learn the facts and when the facts have been revealed, act to correct our inadequacies. .

In the interim, God bless the families who suffer tonight and the survivors at Virginia Tech who will never forget this terrible day.