The case for sterilization

Every once in a while there comes along a story which gives credence to starting a national program for involuntary sterilization of select citizens. Here are some candidates for first-dibs:

1) A woman in Kerrville who called 911 because her husband refused to eat his dinner. (It’s one thing to call 911 after someone has eaten dinner, but simply because they didn’t want to eat is not a good reason to dial the three magic digits.)

2) A woman in Boston who called 911 to report her 14-year-old son would not quit playing video games.The woman actually told a newspaper that she was glad she had the support of her church in the matter but she called police “because my son didn’t respect his mother.” (Somebody hold me back before I go smack the son … or the mother!)

3) A woman who went calmly into a story in Athens, Ga., and tried to return some items valued at a total of $7. Told she couldn’t return them without a receipt, the lady went bonkers, destroying more than $1,000 worth of perfume. (In a bad economy, the store probably was glad for the sale.)

4) U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama who switched political parties recently. One morning he was a Democrat, that afternoon he was a Republican. Griffith waxed eloquently about how he could no long align himself with a party that is doing so many things wrong. And, when asked about other Dems turning GOPer, he said, “If they do, I hope it’s on conviction and not politics.” (This was the statement by the man who was expected to get hammered next year in his re-election bid in a district that voted overwhelmingly for John McCain last year.)

5) Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder has a web section on his official government site called
"Kinder's Kids." One page is titled "Famous Missourians." One of the best know is Mark Twain,
who Kinder identifies as Samuel Longhorn Clemens. Last time we checked, Clemens' middle
name was Langhorn. (That's what you get, one can suspect, for hiring your cousin's niece's kid
as a summer intern and putting him or her in charge of updating the web site.)

6) House Speaker Harry Reid, who pushed like a bull ox to secure enough votes for health care
reform voted no when the bill came up for vote. He changed his vote, pleading the case that he
was "tired." (As are we all, and add "sick" to the description of our ailment).

7) California's GOP governor, Arhnold Schwarzenegger, appealed to the Obama administration
for help when the state's budget deficit rose to $21 billion. (Come on, Arhnold, the U.S. deficit
is bigger than that. Suck it up and quite whining.)

Who else would you put on the list?

(Submit potential candidates to gsid143@gmail.com)

A true Christmas story

A true Christmas story.


I brought pounds of meat to office for a staff lunch and realized we didn't have any lettuce, so I went by the nearby grocery store.

I approached an empty checkout line and this young girl with the name Charlene affixed to her store apron was reading a big book. I mean, a BIG book, one-tonner at least. I didn't get the title but commented how nice it was to see young people read.

"I'm not that young," she said. "I've got a four-year-old son."

She was pretty in a beaten-down sort of way, with bright-blue ornamental tattoos on her left shoulder and bicep.

As she was checking me out, I asked, inappropriately, "You look so young. How old are you?"

"20!" She said it defiantly.

"I think it's so neat that you find time to read. I read about 50 books a year."

"That's all I asked my family to give me for Christmas," she said. "Books."

I checked out and went to the office, picked up copies of my two novels, "Reveille" and
"Uncertain Times", wrote something I wanted to be profound to her, and took them back to the store.

She was stocking and I walked up and handed her the books. "Merry Christmas."

She took the books and looked at the covers. "These are for me?"

"Merry Christmas, Charlene. These are a gift from the author."

"The author?"

I turned "Reveille over" to my picture. "This guy."

She looked at the picture and looked back at me.

"Merry Christmas and keep reading."

I left her crying in the aisle.

I didn't make it to the car before I joined her.

Being with family at Christmas will be great.

But Charlene made my Christmas.

Politics is an ethics-killer

(Forgive the long bout of silence. I needed to recharge batteries ... and they are at full capacity now.)


What is about politics that turns one-time reasonable men and women into blithering idiots?

Being generous, it can be said that at one time or another, a majority of the U.S. congresspersons were honest, caring individuals who truly wanted to serve the country they call home.

Well, maybe not a majority exactly, but a hefty number. If not a hefty number, then, surely, more than a handful.

The point is that politics turns politicians into a different species entirely. Where once stood an honorable man or woman, after a few terms in Washington-on-the-Deficit, honesty is replace by avarice, greed trumps common sense, and political paybacks become a lifestyle choice.

It dawned on me one day I can not remember a single congressperson who didn’t come back from “serving” his or her country with more money in the bank than the amount they had when they were elected. How is that possible without cutting fiscal corners, getting kickbacks, being privy to insider information and getting better-than-possible deals from money-makers and economic corner-cutters?

Getting free haircuts at taxpayer expense is a nice perk … but it doesn’t fill your pockets with lucre.

Face it, you may like your elected representatives, but chances are they are crookeder than a dog’s hind leg and think ethics is a flu strain. Otherwise they wouldn’t do what they do while on the public dole.

Do. You know, spend the country into oblivion and make decisions that positively affect their star status and pocketbook.

Do. You know, like exclude themselves from the Social Security system because it’s not good enough. Here’s a factoid you can take to Sunday School and not be afraid of getting lightning-struck: If federal officials were in the Social Security system, there would be no problem with SS running out of money!

Here’s some more ifs to consider:

If it were mandatory that sons and daughters of elected officials serve in the military, there’re be a heckavu lot more diplomacy and fewer wars.

If members of Congress were subjected to reasonable term limits, like they demanded for the president, there would be more shining examples of public servants doing good works and spending less time on making sure they remained in office until the funeral home makeup artists show up.

If every department and agency in the federal government would cut expenses by 10 percent across-the-board, no one would notice the difference because of gross bloat in the budget. In other words, there’s so much waste in government that cutting the total budget by 10 percent would not make a whit of difference.

If elected officials wanted a balanced budget, there would be one. If they wanted a better, more equitable health care system, there would be one.

If this country went to a flat tax structure with no loopholes for the wealthy, the country would have more than enough money in which to operate every single program now in effect and invent a few new ones.

If the citizens were truly upset about the problems associated with government as it currently operates, most of the elected officials would be ousted summarily from office.

If public servants were not securely in the hip pockets of big corporations, gas would be cheaper, medicine would be less expensive, and insurance companies would pay what they rightfully owe up front and in a timely manner.

None of that will happen. So, guess people who believe in the “ifs” above are just flat-wrong about the problems facing this country and possible solutions.