Political Boobs Cut off Breast Exams for Planned Parenthood Women

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has shown this week it's more concerned about bowing to pressure from Republican money-sources than preventing disease.

Helmed now by a staunch abortion foe, Komen this week announced it is cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice group that performs abortions in some of its clinics: just one of the many health services it offers to women wjo might not otherwise be able to afford them.

Komen claims it's because Congress has launched an investigation of how Planned Parenthood spends its money. Planned Parenthood and other organizations call the probe a "sham."

Also this week, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker was kicked out of an environmental committee hearing in Washington and arrested. The Republican chair of the committee cited a seldom-used credentialing rule to instigate the arrest by Capitol police.

And, finally, the American Family Association has launched a campaign against J.C. Penney. The department store chain just hired Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson. The American Family Association says she is not representative of the women who shop there.

I'm not a declared Republican or Democrat but power plays offend me, especially when a political party uses its clout in a way that could seriously endanger lives. Or manipulates the law to silence those who disagree with its principles and proposed laws. Or tries to silence a popular TV host because of her sexual orientation.

We can expect much more of this if we elect one of them as our President.

Animals

Bullying. Not a fond memory from childhood but brought back viscerally by the internet video of a Chicago teenager being beaten that was captured on video this week and posted to YouTube.

The victim was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital. His attackers have been arrested. One of them, who evidently aspires to a Hollywood career, allowed the camera to capture his face and is 17. He has been charged as an adult. I suspect that may have come as a surprise to his young self. I hope he got an inside view of Cook County jail, if only for a fleeting moment.

Prediction: The parents of these animals will hire good lawyers, the criminal justice system will slap their hands, and they will be allowed to continue in school with merely a reprimand of some kind on their records. That reprimand will not follow them into college, if any of these brainiacs actually make it there.

My suggestion of punishment: mandatory military service for all of them as soon as they are of age, with a posting to the most dangerous war zone available at that time. Fortunately, we'll likely have a few to choose from in the next few years.

End of story.

"And it came to pass . . ."

It's been an odd Christmas season.

It began when my pal, Linda's, parents died within ten days of each other after Thanksgiving. You can say they were old, at 85, and sick, which they were, and raring to go Home to Jesus, which is also true. But, darn it, I miss them. Christmas won't be the same without their quirky senses of humor and love of the season.

Then there have been the police officers killed this month. Three if I'm counting correctly. All protecting and serving when they were attacked. They all had children who will wake up Christmas morning without their fathers.

Add to that the embezzlement reported from the Toys for Tots fund in Chicago and the toys stolen from the Lutheran church up in Antioch. And the general state of the economy and the strangeness of the political season.

But then comes the story of the one-hundred fire trucks.

11-year-old Kyle McGetrick of Barnegat, New Jersey is dying of cancer. Within 24-hours this week, firefighters put together a convoy of nearly one-hundred fire vehicles which cruised past Kyle's house Wednesday night, sirens blaring and lights flashing...followed by a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, of course.

Kyle's dad, also a firefighter, is quoted in the local Barnegat Ocean-Patch:
“I don’t know how they orchestrated it all,” Gene McGetrick said. His son has been spending most of his time in bed, exhausted from his fight against the disease he’s battled for more than half his life. “But he got himself up to go and wave to everybody. They made his night last night.”

And then, in Garnerville, New York, the Thiells Fire Department learned of a nine-year-old boy suffering from leukemia. They brought him a dog for Christmas.

From LoHud.com:

"When he saw two firetrucks arrive in front of his house one recent evening, 9-year-old Sean DePatto was worried that his house might be on fire.

Jason Trow, the fire department’s 2nd lieutenant, organized the surprise. He said he and his fellow firefighters wanted to cheer up Sean and his family.

“We’re trying to do something nice for the family. I know it’s really hard … especially during the holidays,” Trow said. “We are trying to make it a really good Christmas for them.”

Kim DePatto said the surprise visit put a big smile on Sean’s face."

All of which reminds us that, amidst the darkness and pain of this Christmas season, light shines clearly and brightly, just as it did for the shepherds in a long-ago time...

"...and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

May God's Grace bless and keep you this holiday season and in the new year.

((Watch the video here: http://firetruckblog.com/2011/12/23/fire-service-flash-mob-in-barnegat-new-jersey-puts-on-a-show-for-a-firefighters-young-son-in-his-final-days/))

Governor Brownback! Time to Grow a Pair!

Dear Kansas Governor Sam Brownback,

You blew it, dude.

When Shawnee Mission East High School Senior Emma Sullivan tweeted a rude remark about you to her friends during a tour of the state capitol last week, one of your staffers snitched her off to her school. Good grief!

She claims her principal, Karl R. Krawitz, ordered that she write you an apology. Sullivan refused and the story went viral. Papers nationwide picked it up. Bloggers from Forbes to the Huffington Post castigated you for your harsh response.

Harsh? Come on! Kansas Republicans don't hide behind wimpy little school principals and their silly letters of apology, do they? They sure didn't when I lived there!

I say you lost a real chance to show that upstart high-schooler and all of her 6,000 sniveling Twitter friends just how a powerful Kansas Republican spells t-o-u-g-h.

You're Commander in Chief of the Kansas National Guard, aren't you? Within hours of learning of the offensive tweet, you could have had armed troops rappelling from helicopters into her yard.

You could have sent Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents to investigate the little rebel's family background and political leanings. Search their trash. Seize those damnable tweeterized cell phones.

Why, you could have had Kansas Highway Patrol Special Response Team troopers pepper spray her entire neighborhood!

Governor, let's be frank. You let an 18-year-old girl push you around! So what if she whined about "free speech?" You should be the one to determine who's allowed to speak freely. You're a REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR, for crying out loud.

Like Governor Walker in Wisconsin slammed the unions, you had a chance to hammer high-schoolers throughout Kansas into submission.

"Letter of apology?" Oh please.

Don't Insult John Wayne, Pilgrim

A number of years ago, I spoke to a group of school officials, discussing how they might choose to react after a mass casualty event such as the Columbine shootings.

I suggested it would be wise to brief the media sooner, rather than later, before someone like Reverend Jesse Camera Hog has a chance to show up and start spinning his own version of events.

The reaction from some members of the audience was so snap-quick and harsh, you would have thought I advocated throwing acid in the man's face

I learned a valuable lesson that day. One that some critics of the tea-party, Herman Cain, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, and football coaches like Joe Paterno, have yet to figure out.

Don't you dare take the name of a conservative idol in vain.

As my old cop-partner Kenny P. used to say, "Call John Wayne a sissy? Why them's fightin' words!"

The ultra-conservatives, especially those who only read the headline-speak of their candidates, cling tight to idyllic, can-do-no-wrong beliefs about their heroes. So tight that, to cause any ripple in The Force, is cause for immediate retribution. Condescending remarks are usually the first volley.

"You don't understand. Herman Cain didn't abuse those women. You're so simple-minded! You're falling for the Democratic plot to undermine his campaign." Or, "Michele Bachman isn't ever wrong! She just goes off message sometimes..." Or the best one lately, "Joe Paterno did what the law said he had to do...report to his superiors. Nothing required him to call the cops. You're just like all the rest...beating up on an old man."

And then there's the fallback: "Herman didn't do anything Obama hasn't done."

Huh?

No facts. No reasoning. No logical argument. Not even an agreement to disagree.

Instant vilification.

Why is that, do you suppose?

Seems to me, if you're blind to someone's failings, maybe you really don't know enough about them. Which, in this age of politics-lite, seems to so often be the case.

Sometimes the Reaction Says It All

Herman Cain has attacked the media for giving the sexual harrassment allegations story more legs than he feels it deserves. In a video bite last week, he ordered a staffer to send one reporter, who was persistently seeking his comment, a copy of the "journalistic code of ethics."

I'm not sure which "code" Cain wanted the reporter to follow but I looked up the one drawn by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). Yes, it calls for accuracy in reporting. Yes it calls for reporters to make every attempt to identify the sources of stories. It also states, "Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing."

Maybe Cain didn't read that part.

Cain, like many politicians of both parties, seems to feel he can dictate what's news and what isn't. That he can snuff the story because it makes him uncomfortable. To me, that's dictatorial, not Presidential.

In twenty-five years spent covering public officials, I found that the ones who rubuked or belittled me for asking questions usually had something to hide.

I think Herman Cain does, too.


**Full disclosure. One of Herman Cain's accusers, Sharon Bialek, worked at WGN Radio during the time I freelanced there. To the best of my knowledge, we never met.**

It's Hard to Imagine

I pity Paterno.

No, not because they booted him.

Rather, I feel sorry that he didn't immediately walk off the field, his head down in shame, rather than announcing he'd stick around until the end of the season. Like what he did, or didn't do, twenty years ago was not really such a big deal. That maybe everything wouldn't look so bad if he could ring in another winning season.

And I feel sorry that, twenty years ago, he believed the reputation of his institution was worth more than the emotional well-being of a child. That he may still not comprehend the enormity of the thing he helped kick under the rug.

I wonder if he's ever had a sleepless night over it. I wonder if he's ever allowed himself to imagine the terror that ten-year-old boy felt in the Penn State locker room while he was alledgedly being assaulted by Joe's good friend. The hopelessness and despair and confusion that inevitably followed.

Or the fact that, by remaining silent, he may have allowed other tragedies to occur.

I wonder how Joe feels in the wake of the shameless behavior of the student rioters. They certainly do not exemplify the honor he tried to instill in his players.

Frankly, neither does he.

Football's emperor is without clothes.

And that's a shame, too.