Your Mother Is Hurting

True -or- False?

Things that are not living cannot change.

“There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west, and my spirit is crying for leaving. In my thoughts, I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who stand looking. It makes me wonder… it really makes me wonder.”

Your mother is hurting.

I guess I was lucky that I didn’t fall tumbling down an almost sheer granite cliff like a rag doll after climbing up nearly to the top in leather-soled cowboy boots en route to Sonora Pass in the Sierras along CA 108 in October ’08. Mom & Dad would’ve been very saddened. Instead, I got to see them die. Well, almost. They were both “on their death bed” when I last kissed them both — Daddy died a few years before Mother. I saw to it that

The Pornographer and The Preacher

Jerry Falwell, Jr. in the Bahamas July 2019, Instagram post

If “the farmer and the cowman should be friends,” then the pornographer and the preacher should be too.

Turns out, they did become friends.

By now, if you’ve not heard the name Jerry Falwell, some might wonder what cave in Tora Bora you’ve been hiding in for the last 40 years, or so.

And, if you enjoy any late-night teevee humorists – such as Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Samantha Bee, Bill Maher, etc., Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Conan O’Brien are ancient history – you should continue reading.

And if you don’t, you should STILL continue reading.

Why?

Freedom.

Because you do like it that way, don’t you?

Publisher Larry Flynt with the parody ad mocking Rev. Jerry Falwell, Sr., which initiated Falwell’s lawsuit against the magazine Hustler, and Flynt, its publisher. The case wound its way to the Supreme Court, and enjoyed a rare unanimous decision in Flynt’s favor.

First, some background:

There are now three men who’ve been named Jerry Falwell:
1.) The Reverend Jerry Falwell, Sr. (1933-2007)

2.) Jerry Falwell, Jr., (b.1962) an attorney/real estate developer who is the first born, and son of Jerry Falwell

3.) Jerry “Trey” Falwell, III (b.), the first born and son of Jerry Falwell, Jr.

It’s all your fault.

The Reverend started it all.

He started Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

He started the now-long-defunct religious political action group called the “Moral Majority.”

And, he started Liberty University.

He handed the keys of Liberty University to Jerry, Jr., while he handed the keys of the Thomas Road Baptist Church to son Jonathan.

The parody/satire ad in Hustler magazine that started it all. The parody is clearly marked as such at the center bottom, and is listed in the contents section as parody/satire, and states “not to be taken seriously.”

Good ol’ country boys

Like Falwell, Larry Flynt was good Southern boy, having been born in the hills and hollers of Eastern Kentucky in Lakeville, Magoffin County, while Falwell was born in Lynchburg, Virginia – about 216 miles from each other as the crow flies… or a 6+/- hours drive not-so directly East-West from each other. There’s hills and hollers throughout the area, you know. They happen to be called the Appalachians, for short. It’s hard to have a straight road in those mountainous areas.

Like Father, Not Like Son

Part of the greater underlying irony of the matter involving the Rev. Falwell, Sr., is that

All You Need Is Love

I recollect, a few years ago, having gone with a dear friend to the apartment where her former husband lived.

He had died alone.

D’Angelo (not his real name) was a retired Army NCO, whom had volunteered for service. He was genuinely a “squared away” soldier, and rose to the rank of First Sergeant (E-8), which rank is politely nicknamed “Top,” because, aside from Sergeant Major which is also an E-8 position, it is the highest rank and position a NCO can obtain.

His generosity was well-known, and his humility, honesty and genuine love for his fellow man was evident throughout his life. And though he was a good man with many admirable character qualities, a congenial fellow, well liked – even loved – by many, it seemed he never could win the battle over the bottle.

What little I knew of him from others’ reports and my own limited interaction with him, he was an honorable family man. And yet,

On the Bleeding Edge of the Front Line

Uncle Dean never spoke to his blood relatives about his WWII service – even though they inquired – which was for them, perplexing, and they eventually stopped asking. However, he voluntarily spoke at length about it with me.

Perhaps it was because we shared a common bond of military service, I don’t know. They never understood why he didn’t talk about his experience. His Purple Hearts, Bronze and Silver Stars, and other medals of valor that

Report: 20% of all American suicides are new Veterans

UPDATE 19 April 2012:

Major General Dr L. P. Chang, commander of 807th medical command says #army #suicide rate surpassed civilian rate in 2008. #AASConference
— Mayo Clinic (@MayoClinic) April 19, 2012

—
The news you don’t hear…

Just because you don’t hear it doesn’t mean it goes away.

Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Bryan B. Battaglia, who is the Defense Department’s top enlisted leader, held a press conference in Washington, D.C. December 9, 2011 in response a report to Congress on suicide among America’s military veterans conducted by Center for a New American Security. Testimony was given December 2, 2011 before the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, and may be found here. The findings are that suicide by veterans constitutes a serious threat to the stability of an all-volunteer military force. About 1% of Americans have served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but 20% of suicides in the United States are former service members. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 18 veterans die by suicide each day.

Never before have our military service members been asked to do so much. Never before have our military service members been asked — or required — to attend numerous tour of combat duty consecutively. Those changes occurred under

Video Shows Oakland Police Throwing Flashbang Grenades Onto Wounded Scott Olsen

Be certain you read the related story, and see the pics – the ones that news media will NOT show you.

Video follows the break…

In Memory on Memorial Day

My Great-Grandfather Michael emigrated from Ireland to the United States, and enlisted in the Union Army in Corinth, MS, 1862, and served the United States of America in the First Alabama Cavalry as a farrier. For more history on Union soldiers from the South, and the 1st Alabama Cavalry United States Volunteers, specifically, please see: http://www.1stAlabamaCavalryUSV.com

Age: 38
Birthplace: Langford, Ireland
Rank at enlistment: Private
Rank at discharge: Corporal
Company Assignment: C

12/6/1862  Enlisted, Corinth, MS
12/22/1862  Mustered In, Corinth, MS
12/17/1863 Mustered Out, Memphis, TN

My Great Grandfather, my father – a Korean War veteran of the Navy

WWJD Health Care: “Will this make your life better?”

I regularly contribute commentary to a blog entitled “OFFAir & ONLine,” by Tim Lennox. Mr. Lennox is a Viet Nam veteran and print/broadcast journalist of some years’ experience, and readers will see a link to his blog on this blog. His name or face maybe most recognizable from his 11-year tenure as News Anchor/Host of Alabama’s only statewide news program “For The Record,” broadcast on Alabama Public Television (APTV).

After APTV essentially deep-sixed the award-winning program, and its highly respected Host – calling long distance to bear bad news while he was attending a relative’s funeral almost half-way across the country – Mr. Lennox has quite fortunately again found gainful employment in his field.

Recently, Mr. Lennox cited a news item and posed a question to his readers, which was a reiteration of the same question asked by the subject of a news story to which he linked, and which was, “Will this make your life better?”

It’s said that there are two motivations for people: 1.) Love, and; 2.) Money.

If a person doesn’t do a thing for love, they then do it for money. And there is a word used to describe those whom do things exclusively for money: it’s called “prostitution.”

In that light, I composed the following response:

Fear mongering certainly seems to be Republicans’ political stock in trade.

I write that after reading the inane comments of Republican Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns in the linked story.

Concerning “government delivered healthcare,” the only comment I have, is that it certainly seems to work quite well for our Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen!

But this issue is NOT about government delivery.

It IS however, about deciding whether our nation can and should continue on the path we’ve been embarked upon for nearly three generations (post WWII era).

That being, whether we shall continue to allow for-profit, Wall Street mega-billionaires and their über-wealthy insurance companies to call the shots on our healthcare by the power of their purse.

They have made their fortunes upon the backs of the suffering, and in the process, because of lack of regulation, caused and increased unnecessary suffering among untold Americans’ lives.

Among other unconscionable and inhumane acts, they have refused to pay for procedures, medications and treatments that healthcare professionals have deemed necessary.

They have refused to pay for treatments after services were rendered after they cashed checks, claiming a “cap” or “incorrect date” was on the check. They’ve constantly changed the “rules of THEIR game,” even in the middle of the “game,” forcing the insured to dance to the tune of THEIR piper… like it or NOT! (Yeah, it’s a mixed metaphor… but it works!)

And these are but two egregious examples. There are countless, and untold MILLIONS more.

One significant reason why healthcare costs in this nation are so out-of-control are because of insurance companies.

It’s a very simple-to-understand idea: 

Anytime anyone gets in between you and the check-out stand, you’re gonna’ pay more.

Analogously, why would you pay me to pay your fuel costs for your automobile? Why would you pay me to pay for your groceries?

We’ve done similarly with our healthcare in this nation for so long (since post WWII) that we’ve become accustomed to it, and act as if it can’t be changed.

Perhaps that “genie can’t be put back into the bottle.”

I don’t know.

But, we can darn sure (and should) do something about the environment in which it is allowed to operate!

Besides… if competition is good (and it is), why would the insurance companies (private enterprise) NOT want competition from the government?

It just doesn’t make sense… like most of what insurance companies say and do.

Whatever they say, I’m disinclined to do, simply because they proven time and time and time again, that they CANNOT be trusted.

They’re in it to make money.

They DON’T give a damn about you.

Take away their profit motive and what do they have left?

No reason for existence.

They’re NOT charitable organizations… like hospitals have historically been.

Christian charities have operated hospitals for longer than health insurance companies have peddled health insurance.

And they did a darn sight better when those whose filthy lucre turned it into a den of thieves stayed out.