Fear me

I wasn't aware when I got up this morning that I had become someone for people to fear. The country I served well and faithfully for over twenty years is now poised to add me to watch lists and terrorist alerts should I show too much evidence of being disgruntled. After all, I believe in such heinous things. I believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God and that He, not Barack Obama, is the only possible savior of the human race and I openly practice behaviors related to this belief and share my belief with others. I believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception. I am apprehensive of the intentions of the current administration towards the Second Amendment.

Apparently this makes me a security risk, according to Janet Napolitano. It's strange how such beliefs did not make me unable to hold a high security clearance when I was in the Air Force doing Intelligence work. Maybe it's because I'm too honest.

I tend to speak or write what's on my mind. Maybe I shouldn't tell people I listen to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Pat Robertson. Maybe I should quit telling folks that I think it's not moral to kill innocent babies in the womb. Maybe I should quit telling people I am a Desert Storm veteran. You know Timothy McVeigh was a Desert Storm veteran and look what he did. This seems to be MS Napolitano's justification for putting veterans under the microscope. One whacko out of how many thousands of Desert Storm vets? But wait, don't forget Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Whitman! They were veterans, too! I suggest you start watching Senator Kerry, too! Wasn't he a rather famously disgruntled veteran who threw his medals at the White House? Oh, I forgot! Those weren't actually his medals.

I know you supposedly apologized for the language in that report, MS Napolitano. I gave my grandfather an apology like that one once. My dad immediately cracked me across my smart butt and told me I'd better say it like I meant it. Like I said, I only gave Grandpa an apology like that ONCE.

By the way, I was wondering about that report itself. When I was in the Air Force I dealt with a great deal of classified information. If any report I handled which was labeled "For Official Use Only" had made its way onto the internet, the Air Force would have cheerfully presented me with a one-way all expenses paid trip to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where I would stay in the no luxury accommodations of the federal penitentiary. Are the rules so much different on Capital Hill? (When we get out of the current money mess, I'll start calling it Capitol Hill again.)

So, how about it, MS Napolitano? Am I to understand that any veteran who is critical of the current administration and its policies is to be considered an extremist, a terrorist, a traitor to the country he or she fought for? Are we to be banned from ownership of weapons? We once took up weapons to support and defend that which you now claim we are out to destroy. I weep for what my country has become.

Oh, well! I could be in worse company. I am a veteran like my grandfathers, my uncles, my brother and brother-in-law and my wife. I believe in the right of American citizens to freely bear arms like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. I also recall stories of another man who was considered an extremist, terrorist and a traitor by his country. They nailed Him to a tree, as I recall.

Say It Ain't So!

I just saw a blurb from the AP that said the Democrats were blasting Rush Limbaugh for a comment on Ted Kennedy. I'm shocked! Imagine Democrats taking issue with the scholarly erudition that flows like scented honey from the the oral cavity of the self-proclaimed smartest man alive! I would be even more shocked if it were not for one thing.

They are right this time! Rush let a comment fly about the proposed Democrat health care reform bill, stating that the Democrats will likely wish to call it the "Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill." While such may come to pass, it shows poor form, Mr. Limbaugh, to comment that a bill that may be attributed to a man who has recently been diagnosed with cancer which is supposedly inoperable, is therefore going to be named posthumously.

Do not get me wrong! I am not a Democrat, nor am I a liberal. I do not ascribe to Senator Kennedy's politics or his liberal values. I do, however, applaud Senator Kennedy for his many years of service to the causes and values he believes in. I believe we need to try to get back to the type of politics that were practiced by President Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill in the early 1980's.

Their political wrangling would go on and on. Then President Reagan would notice it was after 5 pm and call a halt for the day, at which point they would head off to dinner or to the bar. It was civilized. They were gentlemen who had respect for each other. The fact that we communicate our opinions through unofficial channels does not excuse us from similar conduct, sir!