Any questions?

Not Again? Why do we let this happen again and again?

I don't want to say too much about this. After all, what can I possibly say that I have not said before?

I do not want to sensationalize nor do I want to point fingers. I just want this madness to end. Twice in one week--and a third incident this we

ek occurred in California this evening--this time, thankfully, without death or injury--we have had a crazed gunman unleashing whatever madness from which they suffered upon innocent victims.

Of course, I am talking about the senseless tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. 
I am sad beyond sad. When I heard the news I sat stunned and I was mortified... and like most of you, I choked on the realization that 20 young children died so senselessly. Once again, young innocents died because of our cowardice to face the facts, that our fetish with guns is killing us.

12 beautiful little girls and 8 boys' families today are suffering in pain, anguish and despair. Seven adults' families' lives also are shattered (including the gunman's). This school's children today lost their innocence. The trauma they have suffered will surely haunt them for a long, long time.

I am sad beyond sad. As the President said yesterday, "I grieve as a parent." I cannot imagine the pain and sorrow these families are experiencing today. 

The time has long passed that we find a way to satisfy those who insist they must have their guns and those of us who sensibly ask for some kind of checks and balances to alleviate such tragedies. 

Between the years of 2000 and 2009, 298,000 Americans have died from violence surrounding our second amendment right to a own gun. Roughly, 30,000 Americans have died annually from gunshots. Some will claim, "take away guns and a murderer will still find away to kill." Perhaps so. But a gun makes killing so easy, so impersonal. Take a gun out of the equation and some of these 298,000 Americans might still have died, but NOT 298,000. 

The average murderer, if ever there was such a thing, with no access to a gun is less likely to kill. Most will not use a knife in fear of having it turned against them. Most will not have access to poison nor know how to use it if they did. Most would not use a car (yet another of those asinine arguments that cars kill people but no one advocates taking them away). Most would not attempt to physically kill... again, fearful of being killed themselves.

Social commentator Michael Moore today observed that on this, the 221st anniversary of the passage of the second amendment, we can see that our founding fathers took around 15 seconds to load a musket. Today, in those same 15 seconds one can kill dozens, if not hundreds of people!

So.... No more madness. No more blame. We must sensibly and calmly find a way to 1) address the health issues of those who have let loose their fury on children, on men and women with weapons that have no business being sold. Clearly, these people are suffering from sort of mental malady. 

2) We must and I do mean MUST sit down--both sides of the debate on gun control and do more than merely give lip service. If we do nothing, the comments "oh, this is terrible... those poor poor children..." and countless other offers of condolences will continue. 

Be clear here. Anyone who knows me knows I have no love of guns. I don't like them. I refuse to own one and I will never own one. 

That said, I do not advocate taking guns away from citizens, BUT I do insist there is absolutely no logical reason for an average citizen to own a high-powered automatic assault rifle. None.

I'm sorry, but whether anyone wants to admit, there is no reason for a gun to exist other than to kill and/or destroy... and yes, I realize a gun can also be used to protect. I understand that. I do not deny that, but sensible gun laws can be made that permit someone to own a gun without the fear of them going out and killing the masses indiscriminately.

I tire of the snarky remarks that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." 

This is incorrect. People do kill people... and they do it with guns. I am tired of the arguing. I shake my head when hearing people say we need more guns, not less. 

I am tired of those shouting down other who ask for a calm, logical dialogue. And most importantly, I am tired of us, as a nation, being forced to going through this time and time again.

Our children, our citizens, deserve better than this. Like you, I just want this madness to stop. 

Undefeated! ND? Yes!!! ND!!

Tonight, my team--the University of Notre Dame--won their final game of the season, defeating their longtime nemesis, University of Southern California. This was a milestone for the team! They ended their season 12-0, the first time the Fighting Irish have had an undefeated season since 1988. On to Miami for a chance at being national champs! Way to go, Irish!

Remembering--Honoring our Heroes

As Memorial Day approaches, I want to recall for you all a sad, but necessary tradition performed by servicemembers when a comrade has fallen. I witnessed--and participated in this in 2008 and 2009. The ceremony known as Fallen Comrade Ceremonial Parade.

As fate would have it, I was twice at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan when the following occurred.

In the dark of night (the first at 0200, the second night at 0400), while many of us were asleep, the base intercom shattered the already unquiet night (no matter what time, day or night, the whine of jet engines screaming and other activities fill the air at Bagram).

The voice called us out to join together to honor a fallen comrade.
As we pulled ourselves from the warmth of our sleeping bags (it was in winter months of November and February) and in the dark we fumbled to get into our uniforms, put on our cover, coat and gloves and we left our tents to walk up to the main street of the base. As we stumbled out to the street, we joined together in a fellowship only we servicemembers can truly appreciate.

We lined up standing side-by-side on the street. Men. Women. Americans. British—all coalition members. Both sides of the street we stood.

I leaned inward and looked to my left and right. What I saw was sobering. For the entire length of the street… at least a mile, I saw an unbroken line of servicemembers, hundreds of us, from all branches of service. We stood in silence. Alone in our thoughts, some in silent prayer. And we solemnly waited.

Eventually a vehicle would turn on to the street, from a starting point I do not know. It slowly approached us. As it neared, we all snapped to! Standing at attention. Being pulled behind the vehicle was a cart carrying a flag-draped coffin.

As the vehicle neared each of us we rendered a hand salute. As it passed we slowly de-saluted and returned to Attention!

We stood for a few minutes before breaking ranks and we returned to our tents, to the gym, to the Pat Tillman USO Center, the dining facilities, to our own thoughts and our own devices.

These two men's coffins were loaded aboard an awaiting plane to return their bodies home. Home to their loved ones.

For us, life went on.

Except for these two brave men (the first was American, the second a few months later, was a Polish soldier). You see, we didn’t care of what nationality. We didn’t care if we personally knew them or not.
We cared that they were honored… and especially that they were remembered. Someone’s son, brother, grandson, someone’s husband. Someone’s friend.

As I walked away from the second ceremony early that morning I remember thinking of the poor family back home that was probably just learning of their loved one’s death. I cried.

I was not in Afghanistan 11 months ago, but I know my former student Ben Rast was afforded this time honored ceremony after his death. I hope the Fallen Comrade Ceremonial Parade offers some comfort to those personally affected. I know I was. I’ll never forget it.

I wish I could present you a photograph of this ceremony. I almost took my camera (both times) with me that night and then thought better of it. I didn’t want to be “on duty” for this. I wanted to honor these two men in full. Somehow taking a picture for my own edification felt wrong. I don’t regret it, and you know, none of this was for me, it was for our honored dead.

I hope that ceremonies such as this are soon a thing of the past. Please think of this as you enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. The true meaning of the holiday is not for any of us, but for those who fought, and especially for those who died defending the ideals of what we hold dear.

U.S. Navy Hospitalman Ben Rast

Dec. 24, 1987 - April 6, 2011

Divisiveness. Us vs. Them! is pure ugliness!

This objectionable photo is making the rounds again.

I first saw this when then-Senator Obama was running for President while I was stationed in Afghanistan in 2008. It angered me then; this weekend I saw it once again on Facebook and it pisses me off just as much now as it did four years ago. It was originally used to attempt to dissuade voters for voting for "one of them."

If this photo had been taken of President Bush, he'd have been holding a coloring book (j/k). Okay, okay, cheap shot.

Seriously, I see great things in this photo.

1) The photo shows Senator (when this photo was taken) Obama reading. Think of the message this sends out to young kids! The President is a man of books, scholarly books no less!

2) He is reading a book about other cultures! I only wish earlier Presidents had done more of this, maybe then they'd have had a better understanding of the people in the Middle East--nay, the world!

Our country has a long history of supporting the "wrong people" in that region... witness this, in the 1950s through the late 70s we supported the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein in Iran and yes, the U.S. even supported Osama Bin Laden's attempts to combat Russia in Afghanistan in the late 70s, long before he turned on us. Our support for each of these men has come back to haunt our nation in countless ways in which we are still reaping the ill-effects.

3) His wedding band is clearly visible. Need I say more about that? Okay, maybe I should. I am referring to the fact that the President loves his family. He loves his wife and his two daughters! i.e., He IS a family man.

As to when I mentioned that earlier Presidents should expose themselves to other cultures either through book or more personal means, I think too many of all our politicians rely far too much on intelligence reports alone and not enough on just going out and testing the waters themselves (within the bounds of safety, of course). If we all truly were to experience the people here and abroad, I'd think we'd see that our perceived enemies are not so different than ourselves.

My comments below are aimed at no one in particular but just some thoughts and observations I have made while in Kuwait and in Afghanistan. I'm sure some of "my brothers and sisters" with whom I served have their own observations as well.

All peoples, all of them, worry about surviving one day to the next; we worry about feeding our children; worry about their future; hoping for a better day, etc.

For many cultures abroad, those people worry about from where their next meal will come.

Yes, many Americans worry about that as well, which only serves to make my point...

Many abroad worry about what disease might come along to wipe out all that they cherish; or if their own government will enslave them, or steal their children to fight their wars; and countless other things that we Americans would never ever consider or even question.

I have seen our people, leaders and civilians alike, spouting stupidity, saying other cultures place little or no value on human life. I dare anyone to go overseas, Africa or Afghanistan, or southeast Asia, for example, and talk to a parent who has watched a child die.

I posit they feel every bit the same loss we do when we lose a child.

While covering a story in Afghanistan, I personally witnessed the anguish of a father who had come to an Afghan medical clinic to see his son (a member of the Afghan National Police) who had been shot in the head by the Taliban. When told his son would never leave the clinic alive, I saw the pain as the father turned, head bowed as he walked silently away. Having a son myself, I can empathize how I would have felt. I wanted to cry for this man, so please do not tell me "they" do not value life the way we do.

Sure, it's easy to say things like that when we see someone walk into a crowd wearing a suicide vest. Sure, it's easy to point fingers and say, "see, this what the Muslim faith condones." I say hogwash! The Christian Crusades of earlier times was no less brutal and no less hateful.

I hesitate even doing the "my pain is worse than yours;" I am constantly reminded of the "people are people so why should it be that we get along so awfully (as the song says)?"

We've certainly had our own share of loonies here who have killed indiscriminately. Look at Timothy McVeigh, for example. His bomb targeted the innocent and left many a family in despair, wondering “why us? What did we do to deserve this?”

So many of us have not seen the abject poverty abroad (except perhaps those who have volunteered their time doing missionary work... or those of us servicemembers who have been stationed overseas).

I venture a guess that if our own people suffered from the same level of sadness, those who have witnessed civil war on a daily basis, the governments who have enslaved or starved their people, or those who have lived in a war zone day in and day out for year after year... witnessing pure futility. If we witnessed those kinds of horrors every day, do you really think we would act any better?

For our leaders who find it so easy to send our children into harm's way, I say that maybe they might be more hesitant to do so if they had to send their own children. In fact, I almost think it should be a prerequisite for sending others to war.

Sure, those of us who serve understand the magnitude and danger AND possible consequences of our actions. BUT tell that to a young child. Do they understand what it really means when Mommy or Daddy or their big brother or sister may not come home again? That they may never see them again. I firmly believe our leaders, Democrat and Republican alike, find it too easy to send troops overseas.

So why this lengthy commentary? If you read the original comment attached to the photo...

[THIS WILL CURDLE YOUR BLOOD AND CURL YOUR HAIR: The name of the book Obama is reading is called: The Post-American World and it was written by a fellow Muslim. "Post" America means the World After America! Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican. Folks we need to be aware of what our President is thinking--or planning. We must expose Obama's radical ideas and his intent to bring down our beloved America!]

One can easily see the author was attempting to divide us by trying to paint the President as "one of them." It's outrageous, it's divisive, it's racist, it's anti-religious and it is pure bigotry. And I am sick of it.

And if you aren't, why not???