Justice for All - Even the Marathon Bomber

Some folks on Facebook and elsewhere believe our country's defense is best served by denying the surviving Marathon bomber his Miranda rights and access to a lawyer. Senator Lindsay Graham (whom I used to admire) thinks he should be given a military trial rather than a civil one.

People. This is totally not working for me! This 66-year old grandmother still believes:

That the Bill of Rights is our last, best defense against tyranny and totalitarianism.

That our system of justice and a trial by a jury of our peers is one of the best ways to achieve justice.

That torture debases what we stand for and has ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE as an investigative tool.

I desperately want to learn what caused this young man and his brother to commit these heinous acts. And if they had accomplices or were part of a larger movement.

But I believe to the depths of my soul that the best way to determine this is through skillful interrogative techniques that have little to do with torture and much to do with an intrinsic understanding of the human psyche.

And then, I admit it, I would like to see a trial by jury, conviction and death sentence like we saw in the case of the Oklahoma City Bomber.

My omission of the names of the terrorists is intentional. May they be stricken from the memory of the human race.

"Tips from Former Smokers" are NOT helping

Another pr abomination is permeating the airwaves. It is labeled "Tips from Former Smokers" and features "public service" notices by former smokers in the final stages of what are labeled as "smoking related" diseases.

These ads are GIVING ME NIGHTMARES. If anything, they make me want one more last drag on a cigarette before I expire from the hideous conditions they graphically describe!

I smoked cigarettes for 51 years before finally giving them up last September as the result of a major, severe, death-defying heart attack.

My heart disease is something I will live with for the rest of my life, whether it be measured in months, years or decades.

Cardio-vascular disease is scary. It can result in amputations, heart seizures, lots of very very bad stuff. It runs in one side of my family. Smoking probably makes it worse. But this sanctimonious ad campaign is hitting me personally at the ABSOLUTELY WRONG TIME!

I had a maternal great-aunt who never smoked a day in her life but who suffered from vascular disease and lost first her legs, then her arms, her mind and far later than she would have hoped her life! Every time I see the ads about vascular disease they remind me of her and make me wonder if this also is my future.

I had another great-aunt, another non-smoker, who lost control of her bowels and her bladder long before her mind faded. These insidious ads also remind me of her and her suffering.

I have no idea who the self-righteous, self-satisfied individual who made the final decision to use these ads was. But I wholeheartedly wish them to hell and back for the disgusting, painful and TOTALLY UNPRODUCTIVE suffering their precious sense of self-justification has caused innumerable persons who did not deserve this. You can take your "nanny" state and stick it up where the sun don't shine.

Table Talk - Thanksgiving

As I prepare to join loved ones for the Thanksgiving Holiday I try to remind myself:

1. The people I love best do not all hold similar political viewpoints.

2, Digestion and politics do not always mix well.

3. My family tends to be a tad diverse in its political philosophies (as in some voted for Obama and some really, really wanted Romney to win).

4. We all love turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, Mom's gravy and REAL mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

As Time Runs Out

I recently learned something interesting about myself. If I think I have very little time left, I will spend what time I do have trying to tie up loose ends!

Does this make sense? I am really not in a position to judge. I can only say that trying to make things easier for my loved ones down the road and attempting to fulfill the earthly obligations I believe I am responsible for, is more important to me than almost anything else.

Life Happens

During the wee hours of the morning on September 25, life happened. I awoke with what I thought was indigestion. Drove myself to the local hospital. And the medical profession and my family began a fight to keep me on this earthly plane awhile longer. A transfer to Albany Med's Cardiac Care Unit; an emergency angioplasty cum stents; an encounter with defibrillators; an anxious watch in ICU as my scattered family gathered to my bedside and an easing of tension as my condition stabilized and my family began to breath easier.

When I emerged from the fog, my older daughter was sitting quietly by my bedside. I apologized to her for being unable to be "sociable"! She calmly announced she was quite happy to just sit there quietly and keep me company.

Later that night my younger daughter and her husband brought my 97 year old mother 200 miles to my bedside. (They wheeled her in - for once she agreed to a wheel chair - her tartan hat in place, favorite earrings and gold pin on, calm and undramatic (that was NOT typical).)

On September 26 my husband arrived after a frantic scramble to get an earlier flight from Austin, TX.

Three weeks later I am finally beginning to process my changed reality. A person who has always HATED drugs, now takes a slew of them. I hadn't been feeling well for some time, but it never occurred to me I had heart disease. Think again - I do. I thought it was time for me to check out. The medical profession and my family disagreed. I am still here. But everything else seems different. I am a nonbeliever. But many, many people prayed very, very hard for my recovery. I thought my cigarette addiction would send me to my grave unabated, but I haven't had one since September 24 (I try really, really hard not to think about them). It seems like I have been given a "second chance", but part of me thinks it is still way too soon to tell.

Today I spoke with a good friend who had a very similar experience in 2008. Vivian and I made a pact - if we live to our 90th year, we will both take up smoking again!

Does Voter IDs = Voter Suppression?

Passing and enforcing voter ID/voter suppression laws across this country appears to be the latest manifestation of the "White Man's Burden."

Should Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and really poor people be allowed to vote? Evidently some think not.

Now you see them, now you don't... .

Why do I have this uneasy suspicion that the job of the elected Democrats and Republicans is to use their divisive issues to distract the populace from the activities of the real power brokers working behind the scenes to steal our birthright?