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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

the good and the bad


Although I had no intention of writing again about the Marathon bombings and resultant gun battle and chase, I can't resist commenting on the ridiculousness of some of our US Senators. Yes, Lindsey and John top the list once again with Peter not far behind. What is wrong with these guys and even more how do they keep getting elected?

I get it with Lindsey in a way as he is in a Southern state that would not easily elect a Democrat. When someone has been in power as long as he has, his own party doesn't run anybody against him but seriously, South Carolina, you can't do better???

Lindsey is one of those people that when I say whines, I am not exaggerating. He began as soon as there was the chance they would get the second bomber alive. Enemy combatant, he said with that way he has of irritating me the instant he opens his mouth. Seriously, this guy who would defend the Constitution forever and ever, for the right to own assault rifles and against any kind of background checks, was part of throwing the Bill of Rights out the door after 9/11. 

Now he and his ilk would have not read the murderer his Miranda rights and wanted him declared an Enemy Combatant thereby giving him a level of legitimacy that he does not deserve. These guys were murderers plain and simple. Just because they want to see themselves as soldiers in a new crusade by a new Tamerlane does not mean the rest of us should become so nutty. 

These two Boston killers were just like all of our homegrown mass murderers have been. Losers using some pathetic excuse to attack winners. But what would Lindsey and his ilk do-- give him credibility. Rush him off to Guantanamo where they haven't had any successful trials (in the United States we have put on trial terrorists and successfully put them away). With Guantanamo who knows even who they have. If this guy had been sent there, we'd never learn anything more about what he did. 

I would shake my head over Lindsey except I have long since given up thinking that our country will elect reasonable, responsible and intelligent leaders in all states. Democrats also have had their share of rotten elected officials. I just wish we'd learn from it and kick out the current crop of those who work for lobbyists not the people.

They can interview this current killer all they want and get anything he says because they will not need any of it to convict him of heinous crimes-- brutal murders and an attempt to frighten the United States-- this done by two people who got help from this country and rewarded it by kicking it in the face. That does NOT mean every immigrant should be judged likewise. It would be like saying every Senator was a Lindsey Graham.

Americans come in all different kinds of sizes as do immigrants. After the bombing, we were given story after story of heroism with those who put their own lives on the line potentially as they helped strangers.

One of my favorite stories was the man who had lost his son in Iraq, gone through a terrible bout of depression but was there that day and applied tourniquets to save the life of a man who had had his legs blown off. This was captured with the photo of one man with a cowboy hat holding his hand on another in a wheel chair who is being rushed to get surgical care. 

Think about it. That one man saved the life of the one man who was standing right next to the bomb when it went off. The one man who saw clearly the killer and met his eyes as he set the bomb down. The one man, who as soon as he came out of the anesthetic, asked for paper to write what he had seen. He's the one who led to the early identification of the bombers, who since they were building more bombs likely would have killed more.

So one man saved the life of another with no idea at that point that it would lead to the capture of the bombers. That is how life goes and there is something like it all the time in life. Thinking on the positive side lets us pay attention to what happens but also let it go. 

BUT-- South Carolina, get that guy out of the Senate--- please!


Bleeding heart photos from a hike Monday in Beazell, a park beautifully set aside for everyone to enjoy by one family's desire to see its beauty preserved and a county's goals to make available to appreciate.

7 comments:

Meryl Baer said...

Maybe a lot of us should become residents of SC long enough to vote the guy out - assuming we have Senators and Congressmen and women in our own states we can currently live with.

Tabor said...

I do feel very dismayed when I hear national Congresspeople demand we follow the intent of the constitution when it directly affects them and their constituents but expect all other citizens to lose their rights if the Congressperson sees it another way. It is my understanding that we are now force feeding those in Guantanamo who after 10 years have had not resolution to their arrest and now are going on a hunger strike!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I am depressed and dismayed by so many of the Congress who seem not to give a damn about THE PEOPLE, and only care about lining their pockets....I recall when the Southern States were all Democratic....That seems like a lifetime ago...AND, in fact, it was!!! The Old White Mans Club is alive and well!!!

Celia said...

We have some in WA who need to go but still remain, Cathy McMorris Rogers among others but it's easier said than done, but we keep trying. I saw a piece on the evening news about the force feeding. I wondered if that young doctor had higher aspirations when he went to medical school.

Diane Widler Wenzel said...

The Red Cross stand on force feeding at Guantanamo is that it is the right of prisoners to refuse food even if death follows. However, if many of these prisoners were allowed to take their own life many of their followers stil at large would be angry maybe revengeful.
I wish I had an idea of how to get out of this mess.

Hattie said...

I just happened to see an unedited version of that "iconic" photo of the rescuer with the man in the wheelchair. His lower legs were shredded meat with splintered bones sticking out. Our media masters, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to spare us the sight and have pulled the uncropped photo.
In any case, the stupidity around this trauma is piling up to the skies.

Rain Trueax said...

he seems to have a positive view of what is possible for his life now as i've seen photos of him in the hospital. It will be a hard road ahead for them all. One thing that helps is all the massive trauma our medical people have learned to deal with during our wars. The potential is much greater for what they can look forward to with the improved prosthetics not that it'd be a big consolation where this was such a senseless act-- as to me all terrorism is.