What Might Have Been—And What Could Be

I’m think that I finally understand that, if it weren’t for having the experiences gained from living for 45 years, I wouldn’t know anything worth saying out loud that actually means anything to anyone but me in the “big picture” view of the world.

My writing falls in this same category. Do you know what I mean?

No?

Let me digress…

I was born in south Alabama back in the days when there were only 49 states in the union, Dwight Eisenhower was president, and George Corley Wallace had just recently suffered his first political defeat in the 1958 election for Governor of Alabama.

George was from Clio, Alabama--just down the road from Ozark where I was born. He was a Boxer in high school, a decorated fighter pilot in WWII, a lawyer, a judge, a Alabama State Representative, a two term Alabama Governor, and a candidate for US president in 1972 when some asshole named Arthur Bremer decided that, rather than let the American people decide the election by voting, he would end George’s candidacy in the parking lot of a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland by shooting him four times, relegating Mr. Wallace to living the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed, with a colostomy bag.

I think that option sucks--being considered an outspoken pseudo-racist doesn’t warrant being shot in the spine. George actually wasn’t a racist—he was just a politician following public opinion in the region of the country he lived in. He later apologized for is public statements made in the early 1960’s, and in spite of his injuries and disabilities, he was a visible figure—loved or reviled—for another 26 years in Alabama. I actually got to meet him and shake his hand in 1976.

Regarding extreme political activism, I’m also not a supporter of our current policies of abortion on demand, but I think that blowing up abortion clinics and shooting abortion doctors seems a bit extreme to me. A little more thinking and education and a little less sitting around smoking weed or crack cocaine would go a long way toward solving these problems. Holding a bible in one hand and a handgun in the other doesn’t, in my opinion, make you a Christian, in spite of what your preacher says. God has a sense of humor, and lightning does strike twice in the same place…so all of you “anti-abortion activists” need to watch your step.

Having said all of that, I have to address yesterday’s “activism activities” by the lovely, peaceful, European Muslims. I am seriously ready to hear some earnest denouncing of these type activities by major Muslim groups both domestically and abroad. I know that every Arab and Muslim isn’t directly responsible for these kinds of events, but I have little sympathy for the “talking heads” shown on TV sitting around complaining about the risks of “backlash” and “hate crimes” that might be committed against innocent Muslims in the future. “Live by the sword…die by the sword” comes to mind in this situation.

I think that their (the Muslim Terrorists) choice of England as a target, just like NY City in 2001, was a serious mistake—or at least a bad case of underestimation. The Brit’s that I know are some of the most hard headed, opinionated (in a good way) people ever and history dictates that a little hardship will not push them away from their goals and beliefs.

Just watch our domestic media, the liberals, the Democrats like Pelosi and Kennedy, and the international socialists wrestle with this situation. I predict that, following a period of silence and/or after issuing rote-like statements of support and consolation, they will all start gnashing their teeth and complaining about how the attacks are our own fault, and some will complain that the attacks unfairly add support to “Bush’s war on terror.”

Poor Bastards, when will they all get a clue?