EXTREME BEAUTY

America's greatness comes from its principles...from the principles of the Founding Fathers as enumerated in the Constitution.

"WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT" Truths, not opinions, beliefs, whims, but truths, absolute truths. Not sometimes Truths, maybe Truths, occasional Truths, but Truths period, absolute forever Truths.

And they are SELF-EVIDENT. Open your eyes and look and you will see them. Open your mind, clear your vision of subjective feelings and see the objective Truths.

ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Not some men, not these but not those men, not men of certain groups or sects, but ALL men. EQUAL. Treated the same by the government, entitled to the same, held to the same standards. No political privileges, no special favors, no royalty.

THAT ALL MEN ARE ENDOWED WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. Not sometimes RIGHTS, occasional RIGHTS, only-in-this-situation RIGHTS, but immutable solid as a rock always RIGHTS.

Before the President enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL FAITHFULLY EXECUTE THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND WILL TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY, PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES" Not interpret the Constitution to my liking, not ignore its provisions when I don't think they apply anymore, but PRESERVE it as it was written, as it was intended.

Extreme, yes? Yes. Principles are extremes, absolutes about truths in reality, enduring, unchanging. America's greatness comes from its extreme once-in-the- history-of-the-world glorious principles.

When Sen. Arlen Specter said in the hearings on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court that he admired her sense of humor because "we want somebody to moderate the court", make no mistake, he meant someone to moderate our Founding principles. Which ones? In what way? Of course, no specificity because specificity = exactitude = absolute = extreme.

But principles are not "moderatable" and that should tell you something about where Senator Specter is, and where our country is heading.

A WAR BY ANY OTHER NAME

The war in Afghanistan is now the longest war in American history. Ooops, sorry, it's not a war, which under those casual notes the Founding Fathers signed some 235 years ago, only Congress has the power to declare war. There was a reason why the Founders included that provision: TO LIMIT THE DICTATORIAL POWER OF A CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT AND KEEP A CRITICAL DECISION ABOUT GOING TO WAR IN THE HANDS OF THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY IN OUR ENLIGHTENED COUNTRY, THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE.

But, alas, Presidents of all stripes have dictatorial blood running through their veins. The Vietnam War and the Korean War were not wars either...merely police actions, conflicts, counter-offensives...political euphemisms for the deadly reality of war.

Why the reluctance to officially calling the Afghan War what it is? There is the political reason. Legislators would have to vote Aye or Nay, go on the record...not something many would care to do in the face of voter discontent at fighting and dying for unpersuasive reasons. If things go poorly, "Hey, it's not my war, it's the President's...who inherited it from the prior President of the other party. Don't blame the 4,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, on us."

I think there is a second reason for misnaming the battle. The politicos running the war don't believe they can win it...the way we won WWII. The war is basically a guerrilla war and that's not where our strength is. There will be no unconditional surrender. Our enemies will be there after we leave, we know that. As they still are in Vietnam and Korea, half a century after we left. And we don't want to be associated with a lost war. Let's call it something else. and quietly say we have successfully completed our mission and are turning the fight over to local politicos. As we just did in Iraq, as we will soon do, or begin to do, in Afghanistan, Pakistan and anywhere else our enemy is found.

So, how about, containment. Let's contain Al Qaeda and the Taliban and our other sworn enemies, say our brilliant civilian military experts, inside other countries. They can't hurt us much from over there. Wonder why we didn't think of that before. "OK, AdolF, you have your concentration camps in Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen...contain your genocide to those camps and we can live with that. Just don't try to bring them to New Jersey."

But that can't be the reason for not declaring war, or the President would be securing our borders, which he refuses to do. That's the other half of the formula, isn't it: contain them there, keep them out of there.

So it must be that political thing. We fight and die with one hand tied behind our backs, we do not give the military everything they need to win, we advise our enemy when we will begin to evacuate and do that turnover thing to Karzai...all to get Obama, Pelosi and the rest of that gang reelected.

Or is it we can no longer clearly distinguish between who's right and who's wrong?

SECEDE, SI SI!

So, the President of the United States has canceled two functions in Arizona, presumably to punish the State and its citizens for passing a bill that would enforce America's immigration laws and would protect them from illegal immigrants. This bill parallels a federal law tat the President refuses to enforce. California, too, wants to restrain commerce and other connections to Arizona. (I guess the States aren’t as United as we thought they were.)

So, if I were Governor I would introduce this bill:

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one State to dissolve the political bonds which connect it with others, and to assume among the powers of the Earth the equal station to which the laws of nature entitle it, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind require that it should declare the causes which impel the separation:

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all States are created equal, and whenever any President of the United States fails to recognize that fact, then it becomes necessary to secede from the union of States and to institute a new status that will seem most likely to effect its safety and the happiness of its people.

The President has refused to enforce validly established laws that are his duty to enforce. He has forbidden Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless his Assent is obtained. He has endeavored to obstruct the laws for naturalization of foreigners. He has taxed our people but has refused to protect them. He has obstructed the administration of justice, treating some states more favorably than others.

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by acts which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be President of a free people.

We, therefore, declare that Arizona is and of a right ought to be a free and independent state, and hereby secedes from and is absolved from all political connection to the United States and to its President, and for support of this declaration we pledge our lives, our fortune and our sacred honor.”

THE NEW ABC'S

The Provincetown, Massachusetts educational system has passed a ruling that will distribute condoms to elementary school students, beginning with first graders...whether their parents object or not. Presumably the argument is they need to have the condoms to learn about sex. "Parents aren't teaching them, no other way for them to learn."

But the ruling does not go far enough. First graders should, on that enlightened line of reasoning, also be given:

a dildo
an IUD
a film on masturbation, oral-genital stimulation and anal intercourse
a film on lying convincingly
a bag of marijuana
a bag of heroin/cocaine/ecstasy
a bottle of scotch
a .22 pistol and some bullets
a hatchet
a vulgarity dictionary
a college diploma with a degree in teaching

Now they will be ready to face the world.

Assuming there still is a world.

SURFACE STUFF

General Stanley McChrystal, head of our forces in Afghanistan, has been reprimanded for comments he publicly made impugning the ability of some of our civilian leaders, including Vice President Biden, to be involved in the conduct of a military operation. And certainly, during a period of war, undeclared or not, a case can be made that the making of those comments was inappropriate, indiscreet, and demoralizing to the troops.

But that is not the main issue here...which is whether the comments made by General McChrystal, an esteemed and experienced military strategist, were correct or not. That is the hard core issue, and one that should be addressed and investigated. For if he is right, changes ought be made immediately to save the lives of our fighting men and women and expedite our victory.

But not a word can be heard about that issue. The focus of media organizations and, seemingly, the Administration, has been 100% on the General's apparent impropriety. Whether our civilian advisors to the President, and the President himself, are equipped to fight this war, goes unquestioned.

Apparently, the Image is Everything slogan of Andre Agassi's Canon commercials 15 years ago, has taken hold. Substance has gone by the wayside. Too much work to figure out who is right and who isn't (assuming there is a right and wrong to anything). Look good, say the right things, get the girl, get the job, get elected.

And get what you asked for. Or, rather, what you didn't ask about.

MAX AND MINNIE

Uncle Max and Aunt Minnie were a couple.

Max wanted to MAXIMIZE everything...he wanted the biggest house his money could buy, the fanciest car, the most friends, the biggest parties. Minnie wanted to MINIMIZE everything...big enough, new enough, enough already, were her slogans. He let the reins out, she pulled them in.

Somewhere in the middle, somehow, some way, Uncle Max and Aunt Minnie found the path they could both walk on. He bought into some of her simple satisfactions, and she found a light in some of his dreams. Together they found a rich happiness, enduring happiness.

Not so today. The ubiquitous Maxes are in the ascendant, frenzily, virtually, uncontrollably, chasing the maximum, seemingly never contented with what they have, dismayed by what they haven't. Maximum frustrations, disappointments, self immolation, attach to their prizes. The Minnies are shunned as passive, lazy, unmotivated sloths, caricatured as mere hitchhikers on the road of life. Their quest for serenity amidst the chaos, for spiritual comforts and enlightenment, are secretly scoffed and sneered at. But the Minnies smile.

It may be that the essential difference between them is primarily in the different ordering of their priorities, rather than in their quantity. I used to think that Uncle Max was more fun to be with, and that Aunt Minnie was smarter. I now realize I was half right.

SECOND TIME SWEET

Older people in our country are often relegated to memories...reminiscing fondly of past events in their lives. And those memories can be very sweet and enjoyable. I have so often seen the elderly sitting passively on a bench in a park, watching the younger joyfully excited about the moment, exchanging excitements, courting, frolicking. And the elderly remember their youth, and smile.

Memories play an important part in our lives, but for many, they are not enough. Because remembering entails looking back at the past, it is not truly living in the present. Watching television, reading books, even gazing at the lake, can be passive, unfulfilling time spenders. Active living is what is what is missing, and what is needed.

And so I am forming a new service for the elderly, a new service that I call "Second Time Sweet". A consultant of STS will, for a reasonable fee, personally meet with the elderly person, discuss the memory he or she would like to relive, and make all of the arrangements for that to happen, as if it were happening for the first time. Trip to another country, a first date, a party with childhood friends? To the extent possible, all will be provided. The memory will come to life, experienced anew, experienced, perhaps, even sweeter. Unity will be established between the past and the present.

And will give birth to yet another fond memory.

Imagine that!