Musings of the Great Gonzo

Time has winked by; and in so doing, it leaves me wondering how you have come to be the man you are. Only a few days ago you were just a boy. Nineteen years have passed and, to me, it feels as though a moment. How odd it is that when I was young, I could not wait for time to pass and now that I am older, I begrudge the passing. How I wish for those days back! There is still so much to tell you. There is still so much preparation to do. The real world is descending upon you; the carefree days of childhood are gone. Now you must lay the foundation from which to build the rest of your life. There are things you must do, and things I must tell you. To survive in this world you must prepare. You must take the time to give yourself the best chance for success. It will be difficult, as I have always promised you. Nevertheless, the foundation you lay now will support the structures you erect in the future. The blocks of this foundation are deceptively simple; complete your educat...

Its 4:00 a.m. in the tiny Midwestern suburb, the air is cool and still outside when a siren pierces the silence. The young boy wakes to the sound, he can tell the difference between the police siren and the fire truck siren. This siren is definitely the fire truck’s. The boy knows his father is on duty and on his way to another fire or accident. He knows that that means his father is in danger again. Children of first responders – firefighters, police officers, and EMTs -- often live in fear for the safety of their parents. Some even develop symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In a study by Christiane Duarte and associates, published April 2006 in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, it is concluded that, “Children in close contact with traumatized first responders may develop posttraumatic symptomatology.” The study goes on to report, “exposure to trauma is common among first responders, and if such exposure has considerable impact on their children, then we would expect th...

Just when you thought someone had come to their senses, idiocy rears its ugly head again. Time magazine has posted an article on its website today reporting that the despicable O.J. Simpson book, If I Did It… may yet appear on bookshelves albeit overseas. Publishers abroad are stepping all over each other to get the rights to the controversial book in which Simpson tells how he might have committed the crime. Let’s review here for those who may have missed the hoopla last month: O.J. Simpson, after being acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole and her lover Ron Goldman, some years ago and then subsequently losing the civil suit brought against him by the family of said ex-wife, thought it might be fun to hypothesize about how he might have carried off the deed – if he actually did do it. He wrote down this hypothesis in a book titled cleverly, If I Did It… much to the distress of the family and most of the American public. The only thing that might be tackier than this book is a ...

Scarlett Johansson has spoken out on her feelings regarding Presdient Bush's conservative views on sex. She says that the president is too unrealistic in his views on the subject. She objects to teaching abstinence as the most effective means of birth control. Excuse me Ms. Johansson, but as a parent to three teenage girls, I think you are out of your freaking mind! No sex, means no chance of pregnancy or STDs. I am all for freedoms; freedom of speech, freedom of religious choice, freedom of sexuality, etc. But, what Ms. Johansson seems to forget is that parents have a right and responsibility to know what their children are doing or having done to them. Here in Florida, a minor is not allowed to get a piercing without parental consent, a doctor cannot perform a procedure without the parents' knowledge, and school nurses cannot administer even an asprin without a note from a parent. Why then, would we consider making abortion available without parental knowledge? Let's look...

I went to a funeral today. The man who passed was a local police officer and died while riding his motorcycle through the mountains of eastern Tennessee. By all accounts he was a good man, a loving father, and a decorated patrolman. He was known as the “Gentle Giant” to many of his fellow officers and, in a touching eulogy, his daughter spoke of his tender love for her and his dislike for her growing up. He received full honors at the church – a color guard, honor guards, and hundreds of uniformed officers including the sheriff himself. After the service his casket was placed in the hearse and then escorted to the cemetery by motorcycle officers and patrol cars all with lights flashing and sirens wailing. Traffic was stopped on the road to his final resting place in both directions and at every cross street by what seemed a full regiment of police from numerous surrounding cities and counties. There was bagpiper playing Danny Boy and Amazing Grace , a trumpeter playing Taps , a 21-gun...

“The children born in 2006 will witness in their lifetimes the death of the West," warns columnist and politician Pat Buchanan in his new book, State of Emergency: Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. The book goes on to compare the current American and European immigration situation to that of ancient Rome. Western civilization, Buchanan says, is doomed. Why then, are the cries to our lawmakers falling on deaf ears? Why are there no initiatives – or very few anyway – to secure our borders? At the current rate of entry, the United States’ infrastructure will collapse under the weight of illegal immigrants using services essentially for free. In a matter of years, our own government will be unable to continue to support the influx and will begin to shut down. In California the shut downs have already begun in the form of hospitals closing their doors by the dozens because they can not continue to provide health care to uninsured immigrants using Emergency Rooms as cl...