Happy Birthday to the OOTM
The "Opinions Of The Month" was one year old last month, and I missed it. Of course I also missed my brother-in-laws birthday... I'm pretty bad at keeping up with that sort of thing. Last year I darned near forgot my own birthday... Ok, hurry up; blow out the candles, open the presents, and let's get on to the important stuff...
Hostages in Panama
Leftist Panamanian guerrillas have been holding a trio of American missionaries since 1993, the longest hostage scenario involving the U.S. in history. The men are missionaries who were living and working in a very small village in Panama. On January 31, 1993, armed guerrillas entered the village, raided the homes of these men and their families, and then left, taking the men with them. The men were taken into Colombia, where they continue to be held hostage nearly five years later.
David Mankins
Mark Rich
Rick Tenenoff
Have you ever heard of these men? Neither have I. Four more Americans were taken hostage by the same group just recently. Did you hear anything about that either? I didn't. What the hell is wrong with the media? There are three families in this nation missing family members. Three sets of children who have no fathers. Three women whose are imprisoned in Colombia by terrorist factions demanding $5 million dollars for their return.
Terry Andersen and Terry Waite, the men held hostage by Lebonese terrorists in the early 80's, are attempting to help the women appeal to the media for the attention necessary to help these men.
Now come on, is that what it takes? Do you *have* to have a celebrity on your side to receive the backing of the US government? And what made these men celebrities? What made it such a national crisis then? Was it that the US government was paying serious attention to a nation that controlled some portion of Arab oil reserves? It is because Lebanon was seen then as a political threat? Is the reason these latest hostages are being completely ignored because the US government does not see South American governments as political or economic threats? Shouldn't it be enough that these three hostages are US citizens, that they paid their taxes, that they lived good clean lives as model citizens?
These people need your help. Write your Congressman and tell him or her that the US government needs to come to the aid of it's citizens. NOW.
Insanity and the Death Penalty
I figure, by definition, you have to be insane to kill. The death penalty is not only society's way of penalizing those that allow themselves to take that turn into insanity, it's society's insurance that you won't make that turn again. So now we've got some guy claiming that he's not capable of understanding that he's about to die. That he's insane.
Uh huh.
So?
Strap him in and nuke him. He'll understand then. He'll understand about as much as I care that he understands.
Paula Jones
She had her day in court.
She lost.
She waited too long to report that she was sexually harassed.
She put on a pretty poor acting job last night telling the nation how she just couldn't believe the decision and she would appeal. She wept, hugged her husband, talked about her little angels, all right on queue. It was phony enough to make one puke.
She's being bankrolled by several political groups, including the Rutherford Institute, a conservative group that has spent over $300,000 on "legal expenses," which did not include attorneys' fees.. Her husband is unemployed, yet she gets $10,000 makeovers, drives a Mercedes, and can afford over a million dollars in legal fees. And her husband turns to the camera last night and said that the money wasn't important, so long as Clinton apologizes.
Well sure. An apology is an admission, and suddenly the book and movie rights are golden. Can you say "Gold-digger"?