Reaping The Whirlwind...

I won't lie to you: I cannot even begin to feign sorrow over the death of Osama Bin Laden.

I can't even muster up crocodile tears to shed for this very personification of death and evil.

I must say that-Osama Bin Laden aside--I am probably more close to being anti-Death Penalty than I have ever been (that subject is one of the few of which I can say I am a fence-sitter...but, not so much any more...but that is another subject, of course).

But we all know that this "man" perverted the Islamic faith--the vast, vast majority of whose adherents are peaceful, loving people (just like Christianity)--and twisted it to justify killing human beings about whom all he knew was that they happened to be walking on American soil--a soil that he hated with all his black, black heart.

And the "sin" for which they paid with their lives?? They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. This evil "man" hated with a passion that no one with even the slightest bit of true humanity in them could even begin to understand.

When I think of all the broken families, all the children whose moms and/or dads never came home to them, and the mothers & fathers who had to endure the unspeakable agony of having to bury (whatever was left of) their children, and the many heroes of Sept. 11, 2001 who were hurt or killed doing what they were trained to do--SAVE LIVES--I just cannot find it in myself to wish this situation had turned out differently. We can only hope that God takes mercy on his eternal soul.

While I can't take real joy in anyone's death, I CAN (and do) take comfort knowing that justice may sometimes be slow-in-coming, but that those who live by the sword cannot escape that same sword forever, and that just as 2 + 2 ALWAYS EQUALS 4, it will ALWAYS be a whirlwind you reap when you spend so much of your life & your energy sowing the wind.

Pixie Dust To The Rescue

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/26/regrowing.body.parts/index.html

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms & Moms-To-Be out there! Unfortunately, I won't get to see my mom today, but, like millions of other Americans on every 2nd Sunday in May, I will be calling her today to wish her a happy day today & to let her know how blessed I am that she's my mom!!

Below you will find a short history on Mother's Day from the good folks at Wikipedia, including the fact that it was originally intended by the woman who first thought up the idea in the U.S. shortly after the U.S. Civil War as a day for mothers (& others) to protest the idea of war. You can find a more detailed history of Mother's Day around the world & more info on how the original founder of Mother's Day in the US eventually came to renounce the day due to what she saw as it's over-commercialization at Mother's Day Central at http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/.

The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

The Right To Not Believe

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/26/atheist.soldier.ap/index.html

Soldier Jeremy Hall says he "was ashamed to say that [he is] an atheist..." during his tour in Iraq, but did so when he was directly asked by his commander, after an enemy attack, if he believed in God. For "coming out" of his atheist closet, some of Hall's peers labeled him "immoral", "a devil worshipper" and--OF COURSE--"gay".

After all the love & all the good deeds associated with Religion American Style, I couldn't begin to understand why this soldier can't find it in his heart to believe in God (I hope you can detect facetiousness when you read it!). :-/

Of course, it goes without saying that any of us American citizens has the right to believe (or not believe) in whatever higher being(s) or lack thereof suits us. That right is not removed or diminished when the uniform of the US Armed Forces is put on either; to the contrary, that right is made more real when you place your actual life & limb & blood on the line to fight for that right and all the others we cherish in the Land of The Free. Jeremy Hall has nothing to be ashamed of...unlike those who feel the need to hurl epithets & who obviously delight in bearing false witness against a brother soldier.

Not that I am advocating atheism, but I can see how some people could come to that conclusion. Unfortunately, not every person driven away from Religion will be able to Keep The Faith. So many mistakenly (I feel) believe that Religion=Faith. It took me a while to really understand that Religion & Faith are really antonyms.

This is certainly a case, for me, of "I may not agree with what you say [believe], but I will defend to the end your right to say [believe] it!"

Since that's what Jeremy is doing for the rest of us, I guess that's only fair.

Bo's Going Home

CNN Link to this story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/18/dog.adoption/index.html

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Bo, a 2-year-old black Labrador and specialized search dog, has good reason to be wagging his tail.

The military working canine officially hung up his war leash at a moving ceremony Friday and retired to the good life in Georgia after being wounded in a roadside bombing that killed his handler in Afghanistan last year.

Staff Sgt. Donald Tabb, 29, serving his fourth deployment with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, died February 5, 2007, when his vehicle was hit by the roadside bomb. Bo, who was trained to clear roadways, find explosives and bomb-making materials, survived and has been adopted by Tabb's family.

Willie Smith, Tabb's brother, fought back tears Friday as he officially received the dog.

"I just want to say, having Bo means a great deal to myself and my family," he said.

"Mr. Smith, today you've agreed to take Bo into your home to be part of your family," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Timmins, kennel master with the 6th Military Police Detachment. "You're not just receiving a pet today. Bo is an outstanding soldier, and he served his country with distinction."

Bo and Tabb went through extensive training together, graduating in March 2007 from the Defense Department's Dog Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The dog's specialized training allowed him to be "off the leash at distances up to 100 meters," according to an Army news release.

"It's impossible to spend two minutes with this dog without smiling at least once," Timmins said.

Of Tabb, Timmins added, "The one constant thing he would always tell me is how much everybody loved Bo. And I wholeheartedly believe that a dog takes on a personality of its handler ... because everyone who knew Sgt. Tabb loved him too."

Tabb served with the Military Working Dog section, 6th Military Police Detachment, 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Traditionally, a military working dog outranks the handler by one grade. Bo was officially retired as master sergeant. Tabb, an Atlanta native, was posthumously promoted to sergeant first class at Friday's ceremony at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Memorial.

Video of Bo's retirement & adoption ceremony:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/18/dog.adoption/index.html#cnnSTCVideo