MONDAY through WEDNESDAY, June 28 through 30, 2004

• Happy Birthday, Iraq (June 28, 2004).   On that day, Tom Brokaw suggested that the Iraqi people were as yet not inclined to compare their day of independence with our July 4.   Mistake.  They should be making that precise comparison.  After July 4, 1776, the original Americans had to wage a fierce war, with unclear outcome, until 1781.  Their lives, liberty, reputation and property, and that of their families, hung in the balance.  Indeed, their fight had begun one year earlier, in 1775.  So far the Iraqi people have been slow and self - deluding in their diatribes and actions against America, whose role in Iraq was played by France in the American Revolution.  But freedom for them, as for us, will only come through their own actions, sweat and blood.
• The Democratic dittos continue.  "Kerry: Bush Should Push Allies To Help On Iraq." (by Mark Egan, Reuters, June 28, 2004).     And  one of our own Democratic state senators stressed that we should get our troops out of Iraq ASAP.  Wow!  What concepts.
• Our country's governance depends on Constitutional balance and separation of powers.  The U.S. Supreme Court and the Executive are playing their roles pro-actively in an appropriate manner.  Only the Legislative Branch of government is stuck in a form of "flagrante dilictu".  Two out of three just doesn't cut it, especially with the country in a state of war.
• Add the government's long policy regarding Cuba to the list of drug wars and immigration policies...that don't work!  Must we wait for the usual 30-odd years for the old bureaucrats to die off or to retire and write their "tell-all" memoirs before we admit to abject failures and devise better...and more humane...approaches to these critical people-problems?
• Governor Rowland, most of us take no pleasure in events of the last few months.  But you must have to admit to an inordinate degree of obtuseness, insensitivity and "hutzpa"...to say nothing of any actual criminal activity.  So you evidently had financial problems.  Regardless of how that happened, I am reminded of a political poster that made the rounds in the hayday of Welfare: "I Fight Poverty...I Work!"   Were no other, legitimate ways open to you?  It has always worked for me.
• And then there is the pharmaceutical industry.  Talk about Wall Street bears, bulls and PIGS,  they are rapidly approaching the tipping point for imposition of price controls and other effective regulation to bring those companies back to reality.  Pretty soon the people are "not gonna take it any more!"

SUNDAY, June 27, 2004

"Past is Prologue".  A famous saying that is no less true today.  The current trials of our forces in Iraq following our overthrow of its despotic regime receive some context from the reports in the NYTimes about the months following VE Day in Germany.  "Res Ipsa Loquitur".

GS

June 01, 2004, 2:33 p.m.
A Familiar Place, Mark R. Levin, National Review
It got ugly in postwar Germany, too.

With all the nay saying about our presence in Iraq, it's worth noting that none of these difficulties are particularly new. No postwar occupation has been without serious challenges, including the occupation of Germany after World War II. The New York Times ran a series of news stories in late 1945 reporting, in part, the following:

"Germans Reveal Hate of Americans," October 31, 1945

The German attitude toward the American occupation forces has swung from apathy and surface friendliness to active dislike. According to a military government official, this is finding expression in the organization of numerous local anti-American organizations throughout the zone and in a rapid increase in the number of attacks on American soldiers. There were more such attacks in the first week of October than in the preceding five months of the occupation, this source declared.
This official views the situation as so serious that he and others are protesting the withdrawal of 1,600 experienced military-government officers form the German governments on township, county and regional levels between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15. "We have been talking since the summer about the trouble that we expect this winter," the source said. "That trouble has now begun and we meet it with a plan to withdraw officers from communities where trouble is already being encountered.
 

"Loss of Victory in Germany Through U.S. Policy Feared," November 18, 1945

Grave concern was expressed today by informed officials that the United States might soon lose the fruits of victory in Germany through the failure to prepare adequately for carrying out its long-term commitments under the Potsdam Declaration. Government failures were attributed in part to public apathy. The predictions of a coming crisis are predicated upon three points:
1) The failure to start training a civilian corps of administrators to take over when the Army's Military Government pulls out of Germany by June 1.

2) The failure of the Government to set up an expert advisory group, such as that which existed in the Foreign Economic Administration's Enemy Branch to back up the American administrators of Germany with informed advice and provide a focal point in Washington for policy-making on the German question.

3) The failure of the Allies to decide together, or the United States for itself, the crucial economic question raised by the Potsdam Declaration; namely what level of German economic activity is desired over the long term?
 

"Germans Declare Americans Hated," December 3, 1945

An exhaustive compilation of opinions of Germans in all walks of life on their reaction to the United States occupation of their country was released this afternoon from the confidential status under which it was submitted to officials of the United States Forces in the European Theatre recently.
Bitter resentment and deep disappointment was voiced over the Americans' first six months of occupation, though there was some praise for the improvements in transportation, health conditions, book publishing and entertainment.
 

"German Election Set In Towns of U.S. Zone," December 19, 1945

United States Seventh Army headquarters announced today that plans had been completed for initial German elections in January at Gemuende. A statement said that a vast majority of Germans remained passive in attitude toward politics and displayed no disposition to take over civic responsibilities.
I think we can agree that the postwar occupation of Germany, and the rest of Europe, worked out quite well, despite numerous difficulties and the best efforts of the New York Times to highlight them — as it does today in postwar Iraq.

Mark R. Levin is president of Landmark Legal Foundation and talk-radio host on WABC 770 AM in New York.

FRIDAY and SATURDAY, June 25 and 26, 2004

• Community non-profit hospitals have been in the news again, and not for the right reasons.  We read that some have been charging uninsured patients full prices (which they never get for insured patients)...and then dunning them aggressively to boot.  Not nice, and not in the community-oriented spirit on which their tax-free status depends, regardless of the other social services that they may contribute.  First things first.  Their mission is to provide health care.  What they should be doing is giving "most favored nation" charges to such troubled patients, applying the lowest charges that they get reimbursed from any other payor. Public Relations Department...Call Your Office!
• The tax-disfavored status of single individuals is in the news again.  There are now 86 million unmarried adults in the U.S. at this time.  This may have been supported by desirable public policy in the past, but it is now an anachronism...and is patently unfair.  It should be fixed.  (See "The Singles Lobby...", by Jeff Zaslow, WSJ, Thursday, June 25, 2004, Personal Journal, pD1).
• Talk about "political power".   Two examples of "Not" come to mind: 1) Despite the massive number of single adults as noted above, the American Association of Single People counts 3,500 members! 2) American physicians, within or outside of the AMA, always overestimate their political power.  This winter, 1,800 of my Connecticut colleagues descended upon Hartford to influence the deliberations and vote on medical mal-practice reform legislation.  They lost.  What they should have done was to hire 1,800 buses, fill them with likely willing patients, and to go Hartford.  Get the message?
• The increasingly serious world dilemma regarding nuclear nation haves and have-nots is beginning to resemble the failed war on illicit drugs.  In both cases, perhaps it would be better allow, register and monitor (treat) nuclear capability (referring in drug cases only to addicts, and not "legalizing drug use")...and to sanction nuclear and drug criminals and pushers with swift and severe punishment.  This could work.
• Every review that I have seen about Bill Clinton's book has been critical and, in my opinion, true.  This is by, about and for a user of people, with tricks learned and honed during his "victimhood" reportedly at the hands of his step-father.  (See also his own section on this web site).
• Public schools - again.  See today's report on the state-wide Connecticut Mastery Tests (The Day, pA1).  I've stopped discussing this with teacher friends and patients of mine.  Anything I say sounds too mean-spirited...regardless of it's being gospel truth.  It's just the frustration of seeing generation after generation of young people, especially poor young people for whom a good education would be their only stock - in - trade as they embark on adult life, being denied it.  And it is the frustration of seeing the Democrats...who established and protect this "system" in its current form,  being supported decade after decade by those same poor people whose children have no choice...but could have.  (See the section on Public Education on this web site for more).
• News Flash!   Jobs, including good jobs, are increasing...while health benefits associated with jobs are decreasing.  As I have said for 25 years, from the beginning our American "health care cost crisis" has been a direct consequence of the tie-in between tax - deductible employer health benefits and those same tax -exempt employee benefits.  The prospective patient must be kept in the cost - care calculus if anything is to change for the better.  One good way, so good that it was blocked for fifteen years until recent passage of the Medicare Reform law, is the Health (of Medical) Savings Account.  Check it out!
• President Bush is being panned in Europe.  So, what else is new.  Those ingrates have always succumbed to envy and cowardice rather than to appreciation.  As the President said while in Ireland, that land of peace and harmony, the only poll that counts is being held in November, in America.  Meanwhile, let's be careful with our acquiescence to everything that "international bodies" like the Hague Court or the Red Cross or the U.N. demand.  Scratch the veneer of these groups...and out pop our old detractors.  Our national integrity must never be in play as we negotiate with these self-promoters.
• Yesterday, readers of both the NYTimes ("Tension rises...")and the WSJ ("Deadly Assaults...") had a clear opportunity to see how these two newspapers handled the same important story from Iraq on their front pages.  The Times spent the entire copy describing the carnage and the work of the terrorist al-Zarqawi, while the WSJ described in detail the actions and plans of Iraq Prime Minister Allawi and the Iraqi people (at long last!) to deal with the problem.  Presented with a room-full of manure...Democrats always see - just manure.

MONDAY through THURSDAY, June 21 through 24, 2004

More about "liberals", in the new and disparaging sense of the last few decades.  In a commentary published in The Day yesterday, Maureen Dowd compares the President and his administration with the worst of Bill Clinton: "they went after Saddam because they could". Comparing the motivation for Saddam with that for Monica, she opines: "Like Clinton, the president engaged in an enterprise of choice, not necessity."  (Commentary, pA7).  Couple that with the reckless fulminations of Algore today, and you have a bunch of junk-yard dogs firmly entrenched in the campaign of John Kerry.  Keep it up and you'll howl yourselves to a landslide victory for George W. Bush.  A useful read on this subject is the New York Times Bestseller: "Useful Idiots...How liberals got it wrong in the Cold War and still blame America first" by Mona Charen (Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2003)

Regarding U.S.Immigration policy, an example of national schizophrenia, see "About Those Huddled Masses", by Tamar Jacoby (WSJ, today, Opinion, pA10)  The American people are not anti-immigration.  Most of us owe our lives here to brave immigrants.  "What voters want is to get a grip on the problem: They want a solution and they want it to work."   Not too much to ask.

Two health - related issues.  The U.S. Supreme Court upheld ERISA pre-emption of state law in attempts to bring cases of health insurer treatment payment denial as cases of medical mal-practice.  This result can be based on Contract Law and on the practicality that otherwise the Managed Care Industry could fold under the weight of subsequent litigation.  Tough, but true.  That should never prevent a doctor from prescribing any indicated treatment - and a patient from receiving that treatment...and then suing the MCO in Federal Court for the cost outlay.  In such cases, there would be a high likelihood of success, in my opinion.  Then comes the article in the WSJ yesterday entitled "New Way To Curb Medical Costs: Make Employees Feel the Sting", by Ron Lieber (pA1). What a revolutionary concept!  (See my offerings on this website under Managed Care and related categories).    Now, please don't get me wrong.  All patients of mine knows how hard I fight for them, medically and as an advocate for their care.  But somebody has to tell the truth here.  I have been trying to do it for the last three decades.

GS

SATURDAY and SUNDAY, June 19 and 20, 2004

Happy Fathers' Day, to those who deserve the accolade.  They are the fathers in traditional families, who work and worry and watch over their kids...and who love and cherish their kids' mother.  They are the fathers who are at-home fathers, for one reason or another...reportedly over 100,000 of them.  They are the 2.2 million single fathers.

But what about the fathers, one in every three families, who are letting their kids grow up in a fatherless household?  And what about the households, one of every two, that are single-parent?   Was this what the Great Society was supposed to produce?  No accolades for this mess.  If this refers to you, WAKE UP.  Parenting is the single most important and difficult and rewarding job that you can aspire to in your lifetime.

• If you want to know some of the important facts unearthed by the 9/11 Commission, read "Spinning 9/11", the WSJ Editorial published on Friday, June 18, 2004, Opinion, pA10).  As I keep saying, you've got to cross-read in at least two newspapers...and not just the slanted headlines.
• Laughing at those "nuts" who keep yelling about global warming, and at the film "The Day After Tomorrow".  True, catastrophic changes will not occur in the course of several days.  But we are now told by scientists that they could occur within a decade, and not over eons, as we all suppose. Have you noticed the stories recently about severe drought conditions in our own Southwest as well as in the expanding African desert?  Have you noticed the worsening fire seasons in the West?  Have you heard that, this year, icebergs were found at their most southerly latitude in the Atlantic?  Have you read articles this year in Nature magazine regarding the findings of deep ice core borings and of increasing fresh water dumping from North American and northern European rivers onto the Gulf Stream currents, on which the moderate climate of the Northern Hemisphere depends? Have you read that "the March through May period was the third warmest spring on record for the United  States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday" (The Day, today, Nation, pA4)?  And if you're depending on your Federal Government, the sum total of all lobbyists, to keep you safe, remember... there are three kinds of liars: liars, damned liars, and the Federal Government.
• More regarding our Federal Government, extending over decades.  It continues to fail us in two vital areas: drug trafficking; and immigration policy.   Both are soluble problems, but only if the 50% of non-voting citizens get off their couch and get involved.
• And what about that new autobiography.  Just what's needed for the care and feeding of liberals.  I cannot improve upon the book review of Bill Clinton's latest offering that appears today in the N.Y.Times (pA1):  "The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull-- the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history".  (by Michiko Kakutani).

FRIDAY, June 18, 2004

One thing is sure: the current editorial content of The Day regarding the continuing saga of Iraq does not beat around the bush; it simply beats On Bush!  The editorial in that newspaper's edition today (pA10) rehashes all the original and continuing liberal objections to our having attacked Iraq without the blessing of Hans Blix and his ilk.  Their thinking is in a time warp unaffected by subsequent developments and by contrary professional opinion.  (See "The Pentagon's New Map", by Thomas P.M.Barnett, G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2004).   Now the big deal is the negative finding of the 9/11 Commission regarding "no credible evidence".  In logic and in scientific reasoning, a negative result has far less weight than a positive relationship.  (See also the information and opinion expressed in this section, with supporting references, since March, 2003).
Now comes today's revelation by Russian President Vladimir Putin that "After the events of September 11, 2001, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services several times received information that the official services of the Saddam regime were preparing 'terrorist acts' on the United States and beyond its borders....This information was passed on to our American colleagues."  ("Putin Says Russia Warned U.S. On Saddam", by Raushan Nurshayeva, Reuters, Friday, June 18, 2004, 9:36 AM ET).   And so I ask the editors of The Day, does any of this make any difference in your views on President George W. Bush, and on your world-view?  In the words of the sage Ted Turner:"Lead, Follow, or Get Out Of The Way".  Don't just "qvetch".     GS

TUESDAY through THURSDAY, June 15 through 17, 2004

Back to work...I mean back from work.

• Regarding the 9/11 Commission Report, how did they get to "no credible evidence" from "dysfunctional CIA", and then the great leap to "misled"?  How, indeed, except during an election year.
• Our "friends" around the world continue to hector us regarding the scheduled turnover of sovereignty in Iraq.  They are now questioning our planned handling of Saddam Hussein, himself.  More reason to predicate all our actions on what's right for America.  All other motivations need not apply!
• Our other "friends", the Saudis, continue to be kings of denial in their dealings with the insurgency in their midst.  See also "Saudi Arabia Is Not Our Friend", by Joel Mowbray (The Day, Saturday, June 12, 2004, Commentary, pA7).   Another one of many reasons why we should get real about energy self-sufficiency.  Otherwise, we may be in for a real war , beginning in that part of the world.
• Regarding the recent articles about some M.D.'s refusing to treat lawyers.  Outrageous and un-ethical.  Even lawyers are people.
• Now come the historical revisionists, a bit early, revising the facts about the last years of the Cold War and former President Reagan's central role in ending it.  Of course, the motivation for this is to get at the present President.  Forget Reagan's direct involvement with Poland, the Pope, and the accelerated arms race whereby America broke the economic back of the USSR.  See "In Solidarity", by Lech Walesa (WSJ, Friday, June 11, 2004, Opinion, pA8).
• Regarding the U.S. Catholic Bishops dilemma relating to alleged Catholic politicians, scandal and Holy Communion, the Vatican's topic for the 2005 Synod of Bishops is the Eucharist.  Two quotations from the outline are on point: "Communion can be received only in union with the whole church, after overcoming any separation because of religion or morality"; "If one is holy, come;"if one is not, repent."  (See "Vatican Synod....", in Four County Catholic, June, 2004, p17).  See also my earlier comments on the subject in this section.
• A report from the Harvard School of Public Health noted in today's The Day bemoans the fact that there are fewer social services, particularly directed toward the family, offered in this country as compared with other countries...meaning the socialist European countries with their confiscatory tax policies.  Perhaps some Americans should reconsider becoming part of the over 50% of families without an in-house father.  It takes two to tango...and to parent.  In addition, the following statements attributed to Abraham Lincoln should be taken to heart:

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves"

MONDAY, June 14, 2004

More on reported divisions within this country.  An up-lifting article in yesterday's N.Y.Times provides evidence that the Washington beltway and punditry and the liberal news media are the groups that are separated from the mainstream.  See "A Nation Divided?  Who Says?", by John Tierney, Week In Review, Section 4, p1. As stated earlier in this section, this election year Americans will be seeking out moderates of both parties who make sense, as distinguished from brittle idiologues, regarding domestic affairs.  Regarding foreign affairs, both we and the Iraqi people want the same thing: security.  How to achieve that is developing more and more into a consensus alligned with the Bush Doctrine and its logical extensions.  In addition to the book referenced above ("The Pentagon's New Map"), another new book by a senior foreign policy analyst gives high marks to many of the President's acts.  ("Power, Terror, Peace, and War", by Walter Russell Mead, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004).  It is interesting that, while the former describes the Department of Defense as behind the curve, the latter reports a worse situation in the Department of State: "A mix of incredulity, outrage, shock, anger and despair is running through the foreign policy establishment as many of its most cherished ideas and institutions are impatiently brushed aside".   And that's precisely what we need: thinking and acting outside the box whose lid closed with a massive blow on 9/11.  However, what America also deserves...and soon...is a clear articulation and re-affirmation of that Doctrine of pre-emptive defense and of engagement throughout the world for the benefit of all - but on our own terms.  The Bush administration has not yet achieved that goal with the American people.  The time is past due.  Meanwhile, read the books.  Illuminating and hopeful.

GS

SATURDAY and SUNDAY, June 12 and 13, 2004

And now for the return of the "But-Heads".  Yes, but...this.  Yes, but...that.  That is what we are now reading in the "liberal" press, a mis-use of that once honored word, after a week of "A Nation Coming Together"... as expressed in the Editorial of The Day (theday.com), on June 12.   "It is a sign of these troubling times, though, that Capitol Hill is a bitter place...."  How much more bitter could some people be than to have as this year's mantra "anyone but Bush".  Very thoughtful.  How much more bitter than the article in today's N.Y.Times by Frank Rich, dripping with contempt, entitled "First Reagan, Now His Stunt Double" (Art and Leisure, Section 2, p1).  And how much less conducive to the desired "real debate" than this arrogant and conclusory pronouncement in the Day editorial: "The most serious occasion in recent times was the development of a foreign policy, the Bush Doctrine, in which differences of opinion were not allowed, allies were not adequately consulted and bipartisanship fell prey to the hubris of a Republican administration bloated by conceit with its own power."  This is also the furor that President Harry Truman evoked in some quarters in the later 1940's when he set a true course against what would later be known as the "evil empire". Folks, when you're wrong, you're really wrong.  But then, you have had a lot of  practice at that during the last 30 years.

GS

FRIDAY, June 11, 2004

The memories of, and today's eulogies to former President Ronald Reagan offer a good opportunity to reflect on how this country came to stand as a colossus astride the world, to the bemusement of most Americans and to the consternation of others in that world...most notably the French.  We nearly destroyed ourselves in the Civil War.  Then we nearly worked ourselves to death chasing a combination of Manifest Destinty and the Industrial Revolution.  With the help of a massive infusion of human capital during the great influx of immigrants between 1865 and 1900, we not only survived, but thrived...and even began to try our hand at imperialism...something that did not come naturally to us.  World War l became a stern reminder of President Washington's admonition against "foreign entanglements", while the rest of the world learned about totalitarianism regimes like Communism and Fascism.  Like the proverbial elephant in the living room, we could not hide behind isolationism...and we had to win World War ll with our friends.  Since then, there has been no stopping us, notwithstanding serious challenges by the former Soviet Union and its client states.  So, here we are, the reluctant giant - admired and envied, sought out for help and feared, loved and hated.  One thing is sure: to retreat, either into isolationism or into the amorphous mass called globalism or the U.N., would create a great vacuum into which would be sucked all the evil and insanity that man is capable of.  And 9/11 showed us that we would not avoid that chaos either.  So, this is our Manifest Destiny for the 21st century.   A look back and ahead, aided by several recent books, is useful here.

• "The Anatomy of Fascism", by Robert O. Paxton, Alfred Knopf, New York, 2004.
• "The Piratization of Russia", by Marshall I. Goldman, Routledge - London, 2003.
• "Charlie Wilson's War", by George Crile, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.
• "The Pentagon's New War - War and Peace In the Twenty-First Century", by Thomas P.M. Barnett, G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2004.

GS

THURSDAY, June 10, 2004

I'm BAAACK.  Back to work.

• The legacy of former President Reagan will cast a long shadow in the memories and knowledge of Americans as they ponder this most important election cycle.  President Reagan was right in domestic affairs; he was right in foreign affairs; and he was right in emphasizing the central role of the U.S. to be played, whether we or anybody else likes it or not,  in the world for decades to come.   The results are there for all to see.  And so are the parallel positions of the Bush administration during the last four years.
• Iraq.  Finally, some good news, although very late in coming.  The administration was wrong in trying to do it "on the cheap", and failing thereby to establish security.  The Iraqi people have been late in assuming some responsibility for their own welfare.  Tom Friedman once again has it exactly right in today's N.Y.Times ("D-Day In Iraq").  Too bad the editorial writers of his own newspaper continue to be dense on the subject ("The U.N. Go-Ahead On Iraq", today).  By contrast, a  very informative summary of the Iraq situation appeared in the WSJ yesterday, entitled "The Road Map For A Sovereign Iraq", by Paul Wolfowitz (Opinion, pA12).
• Regarding the prisoner abuse issue, it appears that both great professions, Legal and Medical have been failing us.  Pentagon lawyers evidently tried to submerge the issue of torture within a bloated framework of "Presidential war powers", opting for "plausable deniability" and total "arguability", while ignoring the American principle of separation of powers...and also ignoring a simple smell test.  And today we read in the N.Y.Times that military doctors have been complicit by inaction in the shameful and illegal conduct.  ("Physician, Turn Thyself In", by M.Greg Bloche).  We all should have expected much better, even in war...especially in war.
• The most important news ;item to emerge from the G-8 Conference in Atlanta, Ga. recently is the fact that EGYPT, SAUDI ARABIA AND MOROCCO DID NOT ATTEND.  That speaks volumes.  And it also bodes ill for the future viability of their current leadership.  Remember Iran here, although the challenge will come soon from the young democratic-seeking street, and not the Medieval terrorist street.
• Meanwhile, Sharon and Arafat both continue to fly, moth-like, around the flame.
• Another sign of the bankruptcy of ideas among the Democrats is their stance regarding a re-employment account program, designed and funded for worker retraining, that has been approved by the House of Representatives.  Just watch the progress of this bill to learn whether the Democrats care about anything other than herding workers into their fold through demagoguery.
• Locally, the City of New London continues to fight itself inside a paper bag.  "Contracts and agreements?  What contracts and agreements?"  Well, I've done my best to bring some reason to the process.  And regarding the city's public school system, more brave words without action.  The kids deserve much more from their parents and from their teachers...like accountability and choice.  Maybe what might work while the current "leaders" retire or somehow disappear is to establish a "released time" program.  Remember that one, when Catholic students in public schools were given time off several times per week to attend Catholic instruction in nearby Catholic schools?  Only this would work to give any public school students time to really go and learn their lessons.  Sounds like a "win-win" situation to me.

SUNDAY, June 6, 2004

• Once again, I'm sorry about the interruption in these offerings.  I was away politicking on behalf of my son, David.   Now there's a life experience that every citizen should have, win or lose.  Running for public office is a great way to update your knowledge about human nature.  And he who knows human nature can predict the future.  Of course, you have to take to heart a saying attributed to Otto von Bismark, the "Iron Chancellor": "A thick skin is a gift from God".
• D Day.  A personal thanks to all those who fought on that fateful day.  They changed the course of history for all of us.  That war could have easily have been lost.
• Ronald Reagan.  A decent man and a great leader.  He won the Cold War, with a little help from his Polish friend.
• The prisoner abuse scandal.  What did I say about human nature - and especially bureaucratic human nature?  It is reported that, so far, an investigation of the higher-ups is AWOL.  What a surprise!
• Iraq.  Good news, for a change.  Could the Iraqi people finally be awakening to the fact that they are going to have to earn any freedom that they want, as we Americans did and still do?
• We read that President Bush and French President Chirac are trying to mend bruised relationships.  I have a better idea, which I found on a bumper sticker while in Denver, Co.: "KERRY FOR PRESIDENT OF FRANCE".
• Today we read in the N.Y.Times that "Potential Kerry Running Mates Vie To Sing His Praises Loudest".  Now there's a ready-made test of character for the rest of us to use in evaluating these people.
• Well, at least the U.S. Catholic Bishops have chosen a good locale in which reportedly to argue out some vital issues facing our Church and their flock: Englewood, Co., from where this offering is being composed today.  I read that they "hate" dissention and discord within their ranks, as is now the case with regard to the question of how the Church should deal with political alleged Catholics.  Here is one quotation on the subject published in the N.Y.Times today, pA18: "The last thing you touch is communion", Father Massa said, "because you're severing the Catholic from the community".  Wrong.  The political person already severed himself from the community by his actions and positions, in addition to giving scandal.  If he truly believes that he is right, he should arrange to receive Holy Communion privately; no scandal there, and an action based on free will.  But if in conscience he believes that he is wrong - and is merely being expedient and hypocritical, neither he nor anyone else can fault the Body of the Catholic Church, laity and clergy alike, for protecting itself from being used.   We hope that the U.S. Catholic bishops do not themselves give way to expediency in this very important and long festering issue.