In March of this year, I was taken by ambulance to my nearest hospital for chest pains which had been lingering for a few days. Try as I might to ignore them, they did not go away. So, after the new governor of NY State was sworn in, his speech given, I called the ambulance. Upon being diagnosed, it was revealed to me that I was suffering from a stress related heart arrhythmia. Meaning, my heart was beating irregularly. I was treated and release two days later. Thankfully, I had and still have the health insurance to pay for this hospitalization.
In fact as I laid in that hospital bed a previous column of mine came to mind where I wrote of those who do not have health insurance or where it can be ripped away from them in the blink of an eye.
Two friends of mine who were very concerned for my health told me I should back away from writing any political column and politics in general. They both told me to write of things that would uplift me and while I could have written said material and tried, I guess my heart is not into writing fluff pieces. In my opinion there is far too much fluff already being written out there and less substanativepieces. Also what I have written about in these past eight years has uplifted me in so many ways.
What I have come to learn it was not the politics that was causing this stress but personal stresses in my life which I will not go into. I remember for days on end, weeks on end and even months on end just looking at the computer monitor thinking; what can I write of if not politics? My mind drew a blank. In fact by not writing of politics, it was causing me even more stress. I think somehow, I was meant to write of it and the human condition. I even remember venturing into various AOL chat rooms and looking upon what was being discussed saying to myself: What am I doing here discussing such trivialities when there is true suffering going on out there? In fact, it was causing me stress seeing what BS was important to people. By the way, some of those folks in those AOL chat rooms seriously need to get a life to fully understand that there are those who are losing their lives each day.
Yes, I have to keep the eye on the ball when it comes to what is going on in my personal life, but still, I was called upon by a power greater than myself to write as I have done for the past eight years. It is in my blood.
When I hear President Bush tell Russia “Enough is enough” when it comes to their illegal invasion of Georgia, I am left asking; What moral authority gives this man whose own illegal invasion of Iraq the audacity to call upon Russia to stand down? Do I wish that Russia would stand down? Absolutely. The taking of innocent lives is never okay. I seem to remember just before our illegal invasion into Iraq the late Pope John Paul II stated to Bush, “You go without God.”
In fact, we have lost all moral authority in these past seven going on eight years to tell any aggressor what to do as our illegal invasion into Iraq caused the death of one million innocent Iraqis and over 4,000 U.S. soldiers.
As I read, this AP report where a US official stated that Russia is damaging Georgian airfields, I sat up and took notice of this passage, “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched emergency talks in France aimed at heading off a wider conflict.” Excuse me…Didn’t we vilify France for trying to do that as we invaded Iraq and by them not wanting to take part in our illegal invasion of it? Perhaps the country she should have held said emergency talks in would be Iraq. This administration has no credibility in speaking out on this deathly situation.
But, it is this message from Rice that had me seeing red, "The message is that Russia has perhaps not accepted that it is time to move on from the Cold War and it is time to move to a new era in which relations between states are on the basis of equality, and sovereignty and economic integration,"
Exactly where was Iraq's right to sovereignty when we illegally invaded it? Did we show Iraq any equality as we first sanctioned them during the nineties which led to the deaths of one million Iraqis? We did so since they were not abiding by certain UN resolutions. Note to this government, Israel is in violation of 71 UN resolutions. Why not sanction them or invade them? I guess some countries will always be treated unfairly by this government while others are supported.
Where exactly is the economic integration for Iraqis when we have turned their country into a war zone which looks like the gates of Hell?
When the U.S. government speaks of how others are being treated poorly in a foreign land we must examine how we are treating detainees and in this case an immigration detainee. I was appalled in reading this story as reported in the NY Times, “Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands” In fact, I had to write a letter to the NY Times expressing my own outrage which follows below.
Clearly this man was not seen as a human being by those who held him in detention. We as a society would scream our heads off if this were an animal and there are shows on Animal Planet to prove our outrage at such treatment. There are even societies such as the ASPCA to demand better treatment for our furry friends. Yet, for men like this, they suffer in silence. Whatever side one is on the immigration debate, we must remember first that these are human beings and if we are holding them in any form of detention, we must act accordingly and treat them with the dignity they deserve. I was happy to see that this appeared in the NY Times, but still we as a society are not responding enlarge demanding such treatment stop. Society cared more of how Paris Hilton was being treated in a LA County jail when she was arrested for a DUI. Stories such as these 'should' be the story of the day for many days holding the mirror up to all of us. We have lost all moral authority in the world if we can treat human beings like this.
Recently, the John Edward’s affair came to light and looking upon how this man, Hiu Lui Ng was treated: Is the Edwards affair more important than how this man was treated and I suspect many more are being treated? This man died in U.S. custody from a cancer-ridden body and was not seen by any doctor. How can we as a society puff out our chests and say we are better than the next guy if we can treat human beings in this fashion? This is our new society like it or not.
While some may look upon what John Edwards did as being immoral, one only has to look upon the actions of the U.S. government when it comes to Iraq and this immigration detainee. His actions did not result in the taking of any human life or debasement of said human life. He is a human being who has done what other human beings have done and that is to stray from their marriage. It is as simple as that and case closed. Some have dissected what would have happened had this come out before the Iowa caucuses and to them, it did not, move on.
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