The Late Great Bernie Dupont

My first boss and mentor, Bernie Dupont, is no longer among us. Whatever cancer he had ... caught up with him in late February.

I got wind of the passing by Googling him, out of idle curiosity.

I landed on his obit.

Bernie was, first, a great newspaperman. No matter the hour, no matter the weather, no matter whether or not is was a weekend, if news broke, Bernie was there with a Capital T.

He was also an extremely talented news photographer -- the only man  I have ever known to have owned not one--  but Two -- Leicas with complete lens sets.

I had the pleasure of working and learning from Bernie back in the days when I was a Cub Reporter, slaving away covering councils, cops and car crashes in the South-Central Massachusetts Boondocks for the Worcester Telegram & Evening Gazette.

I had some classroom knowledge of what the news business was about, And Bernie made it come alive. He taught me how to really structure my stories, how to conduct an effective interview, how to dig through public records, and how to play nice with the cops and the firemen.

Those are the fellas who really, really know the score.

And so it happened that on early New Years Day, 1971, one of the largest industrial fires ever seen in New England, raged in Webster, a mid-sized town in Massachusetts that kissed the Connecticut and Rhode Island borders.

Your humble scribe, I must confess, got himself extremely over-served on the Eve.

When the phone rang, I was still pretty incoherent. A couple of other sympathetic colleagues, Bruce Baker and Joe Capillo, -- actually, they were Ball Busters of the First Magnitude --  drove about 20 miles out of their way to pick me up.

At least I was sober enough to dress warmly. The temperature, you see, had set in at Minus 8 that very early morning.

As Bruce drove the 20 mile route over to Webster, I came fully around when I witnessed a visible Fireball hanging over Webster as though it had been hit during the Blitz.

In less than a half-hour, say about 3:30 AM, Bruce parked the car and we three walked towards the blaze.

Uncountable numbers of streams of water, from high-pressure hoses, rained down upon the 200,000 square foot mill -- now fully engulfed in flames reaching over 150 feet into the sky.

The blaze raged so intensely that steam from the fire hoses turned into a sooty kind of snow. Glazed ice was everywhere under foot, making our work, and that of the firemen, treacherous.

Capillo ordered me to account for the number of fire departments which responded to this general alarm -- there were over 40 of them, mostly volunteer units, arriving at the scene from a 30-mile radius encompassing three states. More important from the news side, he asked me to learn if there were any deaths or injuries.

As I strode carefully off, in the direction of the Fire Command Center, I ran into Bernie. He had taken seven rolls of film -- changing rolls bare-fingered in Minus Zero weather. He asked if any of the other reporters were on the way.

When I told him where Baker and Capillo were, he started heading off in their direction -- but not before I asked him how he had learned about the fire. Bernie told me that he had seen a Big Red Ball hovering in the night sky -- from his house in Providence, Rhode Island, some 40 miles away.

Here's his direct quote: "I knew that something big was happening."

Indeed...

Besides "shooting" numerous and amazing photos of the blaze, Bernie was the first to learn, from the fire marshal, that the blaze was an act of Arson. I think he received a few awards for his work that very, very cold night many years ago.

The most important lessons in journalism that I learned from Bernie were these: no matter what the circumstance, always, always, always treat people with respect. Help them feel comfortable in difficult situations. Listen to their story. Get the facts straight. Ask questions. And when you write, write clearly and concisely. If you don't understand all aspects of the story, don't submit it to the editors until you clear things up. Finally, never, ever miss a deadline!

A snot-nosed kid right out of college could not have asked for a better or more patient teacher and mentor.

Bernie was also proud of the fact that one of his "proteges" so-to-speak went on to become a managing editor and had worked for a United States senator.

Bernie loved to be called by his nick-name, Shue (a term of endearment from the Armenian language), he went on to have two of his novels published, and he wasn't bad on the golf course.

Wherever he is now, and in whatever form, I'm sure we'll hear from Shue ... that is, if there's any news breaking.

Bernard A. Dupont

If We're Going To Fight A War ...

Here we go again.

Once more, American military and treasure are being expended to defang a tyrant -- this time against our Old Friend, Libya's Khadafi.

The people of Libya have risen up: they had the Lion on the ropes for a few days, until he unleashed his "supporters" to crush uprisings in the eastern area of the country, especially in the city of Benghazi.

Khadafi's spearhead is composed of a cadre of his fellow tribesmen, supported by mercenaries imported from Mali, Chad, Upper Volta, and other land-locked African nations. This cadre of Yes-Men, fanatics, and hired guns are being paid handsomely, in Oil and Natural Gas Money, for their tastes and talent to commit unmitigated bloodshed against Libyan civilians caught in the No Man's Land between forces loyal to The Colonel and the rebels.

These are the guys who, as of Sunday, are feeling the effects from the Steel Rain coming down upon their columns and tanks from cruise missiles and jets flown by a coalition of pilots under the authority of UN Resolution 1973.

(NOTE: The Arab League is trying to weasel out of the UN resolution even as you read this! Stay tuned ... )

The resolution sets up a "No-Fly Zone" in Eastern Libya, ostensibly to protect innocent non-combatants living there.

Of course, US assets are playing a Key Role in the planning and implementation of the Bombing Campaign.

And to get the Lion's undivided attention, a coalition pilot (probably a Brit) dropped a 2,000 pound Calling Card into Khadafi's Compound -- to let him know we're all Pretty Serious this time.

I've picked up alot of Serious Hand-Wringing about the conduct of this Little War as of late.

Most of the angst centers on the role of the mission -- as ill-defined as it really is: who can say with any sense of accuracy exactly who-is-who among the rebels -- and the rest about using coalition air strength to gain control of the ground situation. Excellent starting points!

First point: ill-defined mission.

We really ought to learn all we can about exactly who comprises the rebel forces trying to depose The Colonel. All of the interviews I've heard so far tend to paint these guys as either under-paid, or out-of-work professionals.

For more than 30 years, we hear, Khadafi stood in their way of being able to experience the Great Libyan Dream.

For all I know, they're all just Al Queda In Drag. For all I know, they're awaiting their moment to declare an "Islamic Republic of Libya".

At this particular point in-time, my suspicions are probably just as good as the CIA's.

It's up to Barack to sell the Congress -- vested by the Constitution with all war-making authority -- on the fact that we actually have clear objectives in this war, and that we have an Exit Strategy. Americans just will not tolerate another Mess like the ones we encountered in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Second Point: use of air power.

Since the Days of The Iron Curtain, US military planners have developed  and perfected air-attack strategies to take out mechanized forces on the ground.

When massed, tanks are most-certainly potent spearheads capable of breaking through defensive parameters. When massed together, though, an enemy tank column forms an attractive target -- especially in cases in which the tank column lacks adequate air support.

This is the reason why any soldier -- on the offensive or defensive -- wants his or her forces to "own the skies."

Here's a bit of battlefield history ...

The Nazi Wehrmacht demonstrated the advantages of massed armor on several occasions during WW II.

As most folks over the age of 60 know, Germans used their Panzers to smash through Poland, Belgium, France, Eastern Poland, and, ultimately, through western Russia in what is called the Blitzkreig.

The only thing that saved the Russians in those grim times was this: the Winter of 1941-- it was one of the coldest on record.

The Nazis made it as far as the outskirts of Moscow before their soldiers, their armored cars, their machine guns, their mechanized equipment,  and, especially, their tanks, were frozen solid by week-after-week of sub-Zero temperature.

Despite the fact that the Germans had advanced too rapidly and too far ahead of their supply lines, they probably would have succeeded in crushing Moscow and the Russians the following Spring -- except for a pair of factors:

First, the Soviets placed the T-34 and KV-1 tanks into full production. Both of these behemoths were more than a match for the Panzers --in sheer terms of firepower, maneuverability, and armor protection.

Next, the Russians delivered an all-out effort to manufacture another pair of excellent tank-killers: the Sturmovik and Pe-2 airships, designed specifically to attack armored brigades.

Although it wasn't as decisive, the Russian SB-RK dive bomber was also an important weapon against massed armor, raining down havoc on Panzers during Germany's attempt to break out of Encirclement during the Watershed Battle of WW II -- Stalingrad.

A year later (July, 1943) Soviet air assets shot up German Panzers like Swiss Cheeese during the largest tank engagement ever fought -- the Battle of Kursk. This was a defeat  -- suffered due to the lack of any effective air support -- from which the Nazis would never recover.

The Battle of Kursk proved to be the decisive turning point of the war.

I mention all of the above for one reason: at least German and Russian tanks had lots of room to maneuver, and forests in which to hide, while planning or actually engaging in battle.

It's awfully hard to spot tanks among the trees -- as we learned the Hard Way during the days leading up to the Battle of the Bulge. Add cloud cover and the problem grows exponentially.

Libya, however, is All Sand Sahara, with cobalt skies. Sure, there's a wadi here and there, but nothing within which to hide tanks.

Rommels' Afrika Corps found this out at the hands Montgomery some 70 years ago.

Tanks just do not have a place to hide in such a barren landscape -- to say nothing about what gritty sand can do to a tank's mechanical components, cannon rifling, and drive train.

If The Colonel orders his tanks to "dig in," they become Sitting Ducks, easily bombed from the air. Khadafi ought to have learned this lesson by the way our Air Force chewed up Saddam's Republican Guard's tanks during Desert Storm One.

In any event, to "dig in" takes away a tank's main asset: it's mobility.

If Khadafi orders the tanks into cities, once again they surrender their mobility. They will become easy targets for another invention from WW II, the Molotov Cocktail.

Nothing like a few thousand flaming gasoline bombs raining down upon the tanks to ruin The Colonel's Day, I say!

But let's get back to Obama and what he owes to the Congress and the American People with regard to this Libyan Operation.

In two simple, single syllable words, Barack owes us "The Truth."

Because ...  If We're Going To Fight Another Damn War, We Damn Well Know What It's All About!

National Addiction -- Part II

Brother Bill From Brasil weighs in our National Addiction to Fossil Fuels.

Here's what's on his Very Fertile Mind ...

Hi there,

Great Blog about the forgotten carborator.  Here's another angle you may want to consider.....

Your brother lives in Brazil where when we pull into a gas station we can choose from multiple pumps:  Ethanol, Regular Gas, Diesel, AND Natural Gas.  Most cars here run on one or two of the energy sources.  What make of cars pulls up to the pumps?  Fords!  Chevrolets!  Toyotas!  Fiats!  And every other make and model.

It makes my blood BOIL when I think of these same companies (some/many U.S.) who will not, do not and refuse to convert our American-driven cars to these multiple-choice energy solutions. A car owner here can do it in an afternoon at a service station for a couple of hundred dollars if the car wasn't built with the fuel choice-button already installed.

The infrastructure in Brasil for the Natural Gas pumps is SO easy to install.  Every gas station has the usual gas, ethanol, diesel tanks below ground.  When you look to the left or right of the station you see a huge tank (about the size of a Airstream Trailer) that holds the Natural Gas.  The tank has a two-inch hose that goes to one or more pump where cars pull up for their LNG. 

When I think of America's (non-existant) energy policy and I see American car manufacturers selling energy efficient cars here I sometimes laugh, mostly cry and know who's truly controlling the situation in our beloved America:  The F-n Big Oil Companies that don't want us to use anything but what THEY process and sell. 

And, don't get me going about the huge wind farms we have in our state of Rio Grande do Norte  and now all over Brazil along the coast.  I took a 2 day trip last week to see them for myself and what I saw, not hearing one single sound but the whoosh of the wind, was electrical energy being produced efficiently, cleanly and cost effectively.  Each new 'farm' had a new powerline (grid) running from the farms to the main energy corridor along the highways.

Brazil is not perfect, but it can boast proudly that it is one of the largest, most successful, fast-growing economies in the world and is TOTALLY energy independent.  Yes, it has a few nuclear power plants, has dammed up some lovely river basins and you see more gas-guzzling SUVs now that people have more money.  But.... it imports no oil and nearly every car can be powered by multiple resources. 

If Detroit can do it for Brazil, why can't they do it for their own nation?!?  It's called Leadership.  It's called Smart Energy Policies.  It's called Brazil.

BTW.... Obama is here this week and the country's going CRAZY about him......  They can't get enough of that Kenyan-born, socialist radical. 

I love it.....

A Way Out Of A National Addiction

I’m no inventor.

But I know just enough about inventions to be dangerous.

Having admitted the Above, I now skate onto Thin Ice to offer a Little Suggestion which could go a Very Long Way in leaving out wallets a bit thicker, making our cars & trucks run more efficiently, protecting our farmlands for the growth of food, and – ultimately – breaking our National Addiction to Imported Foreign Oil.

But first: allow me to share a true story with you, one which might add some background to my Little Suggestion.

Here ‘Tis…

Several years ago, back when I was in the news business, I met a guy, whose name escapes me ,who drove a mid-Sized Buick, who invented and patented a new type of carburetor.

It looked like a flying saucer and was screwed onto the valve cover on the Buick’s engine just below the old-fashioned, round, air filter manifold.

He asserted his invention boosted gas mileage to over 70 miles per gallon. Back then, one must recall, one would Kiss one’s car’s Tail Pipe (excluding the cheap Japanese Imports, or course) if one’s Chevy or Buick or Ford or Chrysler yielded 20 mpg.  Back then, the average mileage was about 16 mpg.

I was somewhat skeptical about this guy's claim at first. But there were certain forces at work in the Economy then, ones that took more and more cash out of my pocket in order to satisfy the appetites of Big Oil, the Spot Market, and OPEC.

Please recall that one paid the outrageous price of $1.75 per gallon at the Gas Pump back in those days – outrageous!

Anyway, I set my doubts aside and set a modest set of terms & conditions for a newspaper story that I would write about this invention: he would demonstrate the mileage claim by filling the gas tank in New London, CT. From there, we would drive to Hyannis, MA for lunch. We would then return to the same gas station in New London, filler’ up and I would record the number of gallons it took to bring the car’s gas tank back to full capacity.

He had no problem with my stipulation, so we drove The Scenic Route over to Cape Cod, enjoyed a wonderful Bowl of Clam Chowder at a restaurant by the Hyannis Airport, and returned to New London after spending about six hours together debating the Fortunes, or Lack Thereof, of the Boston Red Sox.

The odometer reading stated that we had traveled 232.7 miles.

At the average-for-the-time 16 mpg rate, the standard auto should have burned about 14/5 gallons of fuel at a cost of $25.37 at the pump. When we filled this guy’s Buick, it took 3.1 gallons of gasoline at a pump cost of $4.25!

That’s 77 miles per gallon, coming from an old Buick, Friends…

I called the guy on the phone about a week later, to see if he had made any progress with selling the rights to his carburetor patent to one of the three major car manufacturers. He informed me that he had, indeed, heard from a Large Company, whose name he could not disclose.

He had been presented with a Licensing Agreement in which he would be paid an undisclosed Royalty Fee for every carburetor the Large Company manufactured.

He was also tendered an Up-Front, Good-Faith Cash Payment Offer in an amount he could not, under the terms of the agreement, divulge to any other party such as me.

Given the skimpiness of this information, it was impossible for me to write any substantive follow-up to my initial story.

As a consequence, I prepped a three-paragraph Brief for the Business Page and let it all go at that.

I never heard from, or of, the inventor again until, about a year later, a former colleague of mine mentioned that he had overheard something about a guy who raked in a mid-five-figure sum for an invention he perfected: had something to do with a new kind of carburetor.

Whoever or Whatever bought the invention did absolutely nothing to bring the device to the marketplace.

Gettting back to my Little Suggestion …

The time has arrived for the Automakers to re-visit their Patent Files and dig out all of those Gas-Saving, Filed-Away Inventions which – for one reason or another – never made it under the Hood of our vehicles.

The carmakers can begin by digging out the carburetor drawings.

What with the Mess in the Levant, complicated by any number of other Instabilities in the Mideast, coupled with the Japanese Reactor Melt-Downs, and fueled by domestic and world-wide oil demands this summer, the price of gasoline could reach $5 per gallon at the pump.

The consequences of all-of-the-above will most certainly cripple our fragile economic recovery and lead to even louder and more strident cries, from the Usual Suspects, about extending offshore drilling and the need for even more oil exploration and drilling in pristine, ecologically-sensitive places.

Then, there is the very serious matter of converting our fertile Crop Lands into high corn/soy production areas in order to meet emerging demand for the manufacture of Ethanol. The retail price for beef, pork and chicken is already skyrocketing due to the fact that grain crops are now being hoarded & hogged for the Ethanol market.

I have no problem with farmers earning their just keep, so long as they can sell me food and bread for the table whereby I do not have to secure a Second Mortgage just to pay for what I eat. Have you, too, noticed food prices inching upward at the Grocery Store lately?

What a Total Mess…

And a great starting point to solving this Total Mess may rest with the fact that the design for a very efficient carburetor is just sitting there, forlorn and forgotten, rotting away in some File Cabinet in Michigan.

Maybe it’s in the same file cabinet with plans for the Flux Capacitor.

An Outrage For The Ages

My blood boils every time I think about it, so the only way I know of, to decompress my anger is to write something about it.

Even after you read this, I'll probably by steaming -- but at least I'll have gotten it off my chest.

I'm not even going to start with the Florida GOP-Dominated Legislature's stated goal of wiping out the state and municipal unions, including all police, fire and teacher labor organizations. A bill to decertify them all is moving through committees without even as much as a Peep being reported in the Press.

I'm even going to elide over what this Crew did to ObamaCare. In less time than it would take for you to say Health Care Reform, the legislature rammed through a Referendum Question to Opt Out of National Health Care Reform, one that will appear on next November's Ballot.

In order to remain in a National Health Care Program, 60 percent of the voters will have to sign off on it. That's how the Neo-Con/Tea Bagger Gang ginned the Question!

You see, it's about our Freedom To Choose and the Tenth Amendment: State's Rights.

Enough of that.

Here's where I really want to start, and boy, it's a Doozie!

Earlier this week, the Republican, Tea Bagger, Neo-Con Controlled Legislature passed a bill to sharply reduce the sales tax levied on luxury yachts. The governor says he'll sign it.

You see, the GOP really, really believes that this measure will create "jobs."

This came down less than a day after the governor and the legislature had taken an Oath to cut the business/corporate tax rate in half this year -- with a Pledge to totally eliminate all business taxes in 2012.

Did I also mention that the legislature cut jobless benefits -- paid by businesses on a sliding scale based upon their employee turnover -- by six weeks, from 26 to 20? And that all kinds of regulations to prevent businesses from polluting rivers and lakes, and minimizing workplace injuries, are about to go the way of the Dodo Bird?

You Got It, Chester!

If anyone South of the Canadian Border and East of the Pacific Ocean really, really believes that these measures will add jobs to the economy, well... I have a Bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

We heard this Bazonga before, when the Intangible Tax (IT) was eliminated by the previous generation of Neo-Cons to control The Show in Tallahassee.

Neo-Cons -- Compassionate Conservatives as they called themselves back then -- said that all of the money saved by not taxing investment income would be plowed back into the economy in the form of Job Creation.

In a bit, I'll tell you what really happened...

But first ...

The IT added billions to the Florida State Treasury, money that supported programs for the elderly, disadvantaged children, and the poor. At one time, under Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham, Florida paid attention to the plight of the less-fortunate among its citizens: it ranked in the top 10 percent of program service delivery by state in the nation.

Today, Florida ranks in the bottom percentile in providing services to its elderly. its kids, and its needy -- right there with Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas.

... Now, here's what really, really happened.

Instead of hiring more employees, owners pocketed their IT savings and "invested" in new cars for themselves and their corporate-officer family members. If the cars were Big Enough and Cost Enough, they even got a break on their federal income tax through accelerated depreciation allowances!

Other businessmen used the IT savings to pay themselves bonuses -- or they "invested" in even more equities or stock in their own companies!

In a few weeks, thanks to the Neo-Con Show in Tallahassee, they can now buy luxury yachts and Duck the sales tax.

The job-seekers, the jobless, the elderly poor, the disadvantaged kids, and the poverty-stricken will suffer even more in the hands of Neo-Con Ideologues and their Tea Bagger Allies.

Instead of "The Sunshine State" as the Florida State Motto, how about "The Selfish State?" At least that motto has a ring of truth to it...

A Most Dangerous Fellow, Part II

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote what follows a bit down below about one month ago, long before any thoughts about a Government Shutdown became today's looming nightmare.

I'm re-posting this because I believe what's really Going Down on the Shut Down Front actually represents the First Major Battle of the 2012 National Elections.

The pre-eminent question on my mind is this: why would the House Speaker tell Democrats where the "Break Point" lay -- at $33 Billion (Boehner's Number) -- and then pull one of the all-time weasel deals known to American Politics by upping the number to $40 Billion?

Then, after getting Democrats to swallow his $33 Billion Rat, Mr. Speaker permits the Tea Baggers in his Caucus to add amendments outlawing something that is already not permitted by law: federal funding for abortions, and then slashing all funding for Planned Parenthood.

The answer: Boehner has thrown in with the Obama-Bashing, Liberal Hating, Neo-Con, Tea Bagging Wing of the GOP.

Boehner et. al. smell opportunity on several fronts: to draw a hard line exempting all federal dollars for health Care Reform; to frame all federal spending on national defense and homeland security; to cut all Social and Cultural Funding from the federal budget their own brand of a Social Agenda --one that was crafted to shore up their support among Evangelicals, Southern Baptists, and other Religious Fundamentalists (excluding the Muslims, of course.)

It is an exquisite Red State Southern Strategy, one which, if allowed to go unexposed and unchallenged, will secure both Congress and the White House for the Neo-Con Tea Baggers in 18 months.

Or so they calculate...

In any event, this Conservative, Neo-Con, Tea Bagging Social Agenda has been framed, and will be their rallying point.

The Major Domo, the Main Orchestrator, the Guru of this blatant Right-Hand Thrust? None other than our Old Friend ... Ralph Reed.

One other Architect has surfaced, Art Finkelstein. More about him later...

Herewith my original commentary... from March 9th.

 *****************************************************************************

My Liberal and Progressive friends keep blowing me off every time I mention this, so I’ll bring the matter to the forefront and let you think about it.

I maintain that the Most Dangerous Man in America is Ralph Reed.

I met Reed personally many years ago, when he was a mid-level spear-carrier working on the Reagan for President Campaign. His age, at the time, probably worked against his advancement to a high leadership position in Reagan’s run for the White House.

But he executed his sole task – getting out the Morality Vote for The Gipper – brilliantly.

Using the religious / evangelical networks as they existed back then in their infancy, Reed was able to deliver a 92 % Reagan vote out of a 67% Election Day turnout from that targeted group.

Those numbers only added Salt To The Wounds in Reagan’s Landslide victory over Jimmy Carter.

Reed’s “Get Out The Vote” skills most certainly caught the attention of the Republicans back then, especially the Conservatives. He had tapped into a Grass Roots Strategy that was alien to the Ivy Leaguers who called most of the shots for the GOP in those days.

And Get This: Reed had lifted just about all of his tactics from the Democratic Party Play Book!

Reed went on to become a Player in the George H.W. Bush campaigns, but I always believed that he was somewhat marginalized by the Bush Team’s Ivy League elitism.

First, Bush never played that well to Southern Baptists and the other members of the Religious Far Right. Second, Reed could have changed that situation if he was given that portfolio.

Nevertheless, Bush and his Yale Crew never used Reed’s skills to their full advantage and, as a result, Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.

But Reed Kept on Truckin’, as they say.

He launched his consulting and polling businesses in support of Conservative /NeoCon pols, kept his coalitions together, and waded through the political Back Waters of a handful of Southern States for four years supporting state-level candidates until ...

… Reed caught the attention of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Carl Rove, and a few others in the Texas Republican Mafia.

They hired Reed back in 1998 to execute one task – and one task only:

To Galvanize the Evangelicals / Southern Baptists / Fundamentalists into the Christian Coalition in full-throttle support of W’s run for the Oval Office in 2000.

Reed and his staffers spent much time in Florida back then. They succeeded in harvesting a 92% vote out of a 77% Election Day Religious Far Right turnout for Bush in the Sunshine State when "W" went on to defeat Al Gore – thanks to a little help from the courts involving “hanging chads.”

I call this seminal moment in US History the “Ralph Reed Factor.”

Without Reed’s two-year effort to get out more than 2.7 million, motivated, Religious Far Right votes, Gore would have cake-walked into the White House – and America would have ended up being a much different place in which we now live.

Until The Proverbial Cows Come Home, we could argue whether or not Gore would have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq. I, for one believe Gore would have had a different response to 9/11 and Saddam…

Nevertheless …

The Reed Organization is Back In Business. They're working for the GOP, preparing the Ground – especially Southern Ground -- for the 2012 national election.

They approach politics with a fervor that borders on zealotry.

I read an article a few days ago that predicted the GOP will spend more than $1 Billion on the Presidential Race alone! Another $2 Billion has been projected to be spent on US House and Senate races. That’s Billions with a Capital “B.”

All of this fund-raising, organizing, Grass Roots, GOTV, and candidate-grooming is taking place to accomplish one goal:

To Put The Big Hurt on Democrats, Progressives and Liberals in November, 2012. To make this happen, Reed's work in energizing the Religious Far Right will go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

I don’t need to remind my L/P Friends what’s at stake here.

But I do, indeed, need to remind them to get off of their Duffs and Wake Up -- Get To Work in amassing your campaign resources.

Otherwise, the NeoCons win. We Lose.

And that, my friends, is why I consider Ralph Reed the Most Dangerous Man in America.

Notes From The Cancer Wars - V

I read a story in USA Today about a guy in Oregon who has decided to Check Out.

Permanently.

He says he has lymphoma, which kind he failed to say. He claims the disease, which involves the lymphatic system, has now invaded his brain.

He reports that he is not suffering from pain (it's amazing lymphoma and brain cancer share one thing in common - neither one hurts.)

Rather, he has grown weary of living in a chemically-induced Fog.

He also says he's sick & tired of all the surgery, chemotherapy and other processes doctors employ to keep his disease in-check.

So he told his doctor to stop treating him.

Instead, he's going to take advantage of Oregon's Death With Dignity Statute and swallow a lethal cocktail.

The reporter from USA Today who wrote the story did a fantastic job in conveying senses of this man's dispondency and loneliness. I get the distinct impression that he has chosen to live his few remaining hours as a Home-Bound Agoraphobe.

I also sense he has run through all of his savings and assets to pay for his treatments.

If that's the case, I am deeply saddened.

I could be Flip and wish this guy Well as he plans to embark on his Journey Into Infinity -- May the Beer Be Cold and The Women Hot Wherever You End Up.

But seriously, and on many levels, I just can't relate for one very important reason: I, too, have lymphoma.

I don't know what type he has, but mine is called B-Cell Aggressive. My treatments have reduced my blood chemistry to that of an AIDS patient.

I don't know about how his treatments worked themselves out, but all I can say is this: mine Kick My Ass when I'm going through them during Week One of every other month.

The fatigue and the Fog settle in pretty heavily during Week Two.

In Week Three, and very, very gradually, they begin to lift.

By Week Four, I experience more Good Days than Bad Ones.

By Week Five, I feel about 85 percent back to normal.

I'm probably at 90% by the time Weeks Six, Seven and Eight roll around.

Then, it's back to see the doctor and the nurses for my Hook Up.

The whole process of Fog/Fatigue repeats itself.

This happens to be my Cycle and my Fate and I'm Cool With It.

And so it will go for as long as I live -- that is, unless a medical Genius discovers a cure -- or if my lymphoma decides to gain the Upper Hand & Take Me Out.

But let us now return to Oregon, to make one final observation about my Brother In Illness and, more important, to plead with him to reconsider the Act which he says he's about to commit.

• If you decided to stop treatments due to the Money Thing (or lack thereof), think about this: the USA Today story should bring you some level of help in that Department. You don't have to remind me how expensive treatments are -- you are worth every penny of it. Resources will flow to your need. 
• If it's all about living in the Fog/Fatigue, there are certain things medicine can do for you and that you can do for yourself. Try changing your diet and get some exercise each day. Man up, and manage it.
• Do you have a wife, daughter, son, girlfriend, father, mother, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin? Reach out! If not, make new friends, those who can and who will support you, emotionally, as you contend with your lymphoma. Draw strength from them. They will miss you more than you'll ever know if you decide to Pull The Plug. 
• Delay your decision until March 17th. In the meantime, listen to some Phil Coulter -- and read the Jacket Material.
• Finally, Lose The Internet. People who follow you on your Blog are rooting for your demise and care next-to-nothing about you as a person.

Here's the bottom line, Bro -- for you and for anyone else suffering with Lymphoma or any other form of Cancer:

Never Give Up! Never quit! Think Jimmy V!

It just doesn't make sense to embrace a permanent solution to a problem that is treatable, one that comes and goes.

Pumpkin, Shrinks & Other Things

Stray Cat Update

Remember "Pumpkin," nee"Tosca," nee Dona Ana, the world's greatest opera diva and flamenco dancing kitty?

The stray, female we rescued and had "attitude adjusted" a couple of weeks ago?

It's my duty and distinct honor to report that Pumps has settled into the hacienda's routine here quite well, thank you very much.

But there is this one small matter, so trivial, about this particular cat -- so minor -- that I am even now reluctant to mention it.

Oh, Hell! Why not?

To date, she has conned me into providing her with her very own Food Bowl, her very own Litter Box, her very own Nap Perch, and her very own Nappie-Blankie.

I must count my Blessings, however. Pumpkin takes her water, however reluctantly, with the rest of the knuckleheads -- the number of which I have vowed never to reveal.

I suspect they caucus when I am taking a nap, discussing the merits of forming a Union to bargain collectively for even more benefits of my hacienda.

(I suspect they overheard me say to Carol recently: "If I ever find evidence of a mouse around here, they're all fired!")

I never would have guessed that a kitty-kat could possess such organizing skills, and the true talents of a brilliant negotiatrix.

Proposed New Job Listing

I seldom mention the antics of our local Mayor & City Council -- controlled by a majority of Whackos, Neo-Con Wannabees, and Outed Tea Baggers.

What they do, collectively, to damage this city's reputation is beneath contempt. They've earned all of the ridicule they deserve.

However ...

Their latest example of nit-wittery involves severing the Utilities Department from Public Works -- in the name of cost-cutting and efficiency. Create yet another department, bring on additional professional staff, find them office space, rent/buy a fleet of trucks.

You see, the city fathers want to save us taxpayers some money ...

While you let that one sink in -- consider this: the council doesn't think the new department should be run by a Professional Engineer, which just happens to be a job requirement imposed by virtually every other municipally-owned utility on Earth.

You see, the City Manager has this friend ...

Memo to the city Human Resources Department: next time you post a job opening, advertise for a City Psychiatrist.

We need somebody who will check that certain members of the council, the mayor, and the city manager are taking their medication.

Did You Hear The One About ...

The Muscovy Duck that crashed into a business meeting over in Fort Myers, FL?

I am not making this up, but ...

It seems as though a businessman over there was having a meeting with a couple of his new clients in the Conference Room when the Duck crashed through the window.

The Duck then proceeded to hop up onto the Conference Room table and it started quacking loudly as it walked over the place, depositing alot of You-Know-What on the paperwork, the furniture and on the carpeting.

A few Animal Rescuers were called in. They finally wrestled the Duck into a sack and drove it to a pond several miles out-of-town where it was granted its freedom.

My guess is that the Duck didn't like the Quote ...

A Very Curious Court Ruling

Allow me to state, for the record, that I’m a strong advocate of Free Speech as a stimulus to civil discourse.

My professional career and my personal interests have always come down on the side of allowing anyone to say just about anything of concern to the Commonweal – so long as what is being said causes no undue harm, or undue anxiety, to any party.

We are indeed fortunate to be able to live in a country where such Speech is protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment. Numerous Supreme Court opinions have been handed down over the years to re-enforce and to clarify our basic right to speak our minds without fear of government retaliation.

The fundamental reason underlying High Court opinion always rested upon the belief that Free Speech – including Inciteful Speech – must show minimal concern to the person, or to the object, or to the institution -- as the antecedents -- concerning whatever ‘s being said in public.

Public statements must bear some semblance to the truth. They must not be unduly directed at private individuals. And they must not cross the line into what is now commonly referred to as “Hate Speech.”

Even in the event that a speaker or a group of speakers (read “protesters here) employs lies to make a point, and if what is said or written invades someone who cherishes privacy, and even in the instance where racial or other “hurtful” epithets are used against someone else, the speaker can usually escape a cause of action by issuing an apology for whatever what was said.

This was the law of the Land, that is, until the US Supreme Court handed down a recent ruling involving the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.

According to an Associated Press story, The Rev. Fred Phelps and family, who make up most of the congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church, like to picket military funerals in their quest to draw attention to a certain Core Belief of theirs.

Grieving families became their backdrop, or foils, to promulgate a message of extreme hate.

Here's a Belief, in the Name of Jesus, embraced by the folks at the Westboro Baptist Church.

As an article of faith, they preach that our soldiers' deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for “the nation's tolerance of homosexuality!”

Instead of waving “John 3/21” signs, the Phelps’ show up at soldiers’ funerals with ones that proclaim these alternative Messages:

"Thank God for dead soldiers!"
"You're Going to Hell!"
"God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11!"

The High Court got this “Nut Case” when a lower court reversed verdicts and monetary judgments against these Church-Goers, brought against Phelps et.al. by the family of a slain US Marine.

At this point, I invite you to don your Judicial Robes and ponder a few of this case’s key points.
You be the judge:

·         Were the Phelps’ signs “hateful?”

·         Did any of these signs contain even one nanogram of truth?

·         Can there be any act more private than when a family mourns the tragic death of a loved one?

·         Was it even relevant that the police kept demonstrators 1,000 feet away from the mourners at this particular funeral?

·         Was hateful, hurtful, Gay-Bashing language – even shrouded in a “religious message” composed by a fringe church, to be hurled in the face of those grieving the loss of a loved one in war -- worth the Constitution’s blanket protection?

Feel free to express your opinions on the matter any way that you see fit: I think you can figure out where I’m coming from.

This ruling, most certainly, will open the Door Wide to a slew of cases in which fringe religious sects will assert their rights to say anything and everything they want on any number of issues -- in hurtful, malicious and hateful ways.

All with the Full Blessing of our nation’s Highest Court.

Permit me to take a quick look at the Westboro sect.

But first, I'd like to offer my general review of Christianity.

Christians invariably align themselves along two distinct tenets: those who believe that they will be "saved" by their good acts performed here on Earth; and those who believe that they will be "saved" by faith alone.

There's quite a bit of debate on how Jesus rewards his followers down here on Earth: some denominations believe that their reward will come in Heaven as a result of sacrifice; others believe that they reap His rewards materially in this Life, as a manifestation of The Lord's Blessings.

The Westboro Baptists no doubt fall into a category: their faith saves them; and Jesus rewards them here.

The Dark Side of this, however, is the obverse of what they believe: anyone who lacks faith is damned; and anyone who lacks wealth or material possessions is cursed.

I've been told, personally, and by a Baptist, that my cancer diagnosis was a result of God's curse on me.

All I have to do to shed the curse? Be Baptised and embrace Jesus as My Lord & Savior.

If I do, I Will Be Saved and All Will Be Fine.

The concept boggles the mind of a metaphysician such as I ...

I also know a couple, one with a Down's Syndrome child, who were told by one of the Saved that their son was a result of God's punishment upon them for sins-past.

I cannot comprehend how hurtful this Judgment of The Lord sounded to Ricky's parents...

But I digress.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm all for Free Speech to encourage civil discourse.

I draw the line when speech becomes hateful, hurtful and meant to degrade another -- and especially when it comes all wrapped up, like a Taco, in the Name of Religion.

Planned Parenthood, Gays & Lesbians, The Handicapped, People of Color:

Be Warned!

PS: Topeka? Brown V. Board of Ed? Is there something in the water there?