My Side of the Story 2004

Kwanzaa: Political Correctness Run Amok 1/13/2004	What happened to the students who protested on Martin Luther King Day? 2/17/2004	Not Gay Rights, Equal Rights for Gays 3/19/2004
A Close Encounter of the First Kind 4/20/2004	Keep Prisoner Abuse Scandal in Perspective 5/18/2004	Second thoughts on the lesser of two evils 6/15/2004
Give a man the right to choose too 7/23/2004	"Do you know who I am?" Democrats 9/03/2004

I have been driving a company van for about a year and a half and I had never made a rude gesture or rude remark to another driver, at least not until I had a run-in with a "Do you know who I am?" Democrat. I have seen this phenomenon from a distance, but never up close and personal. This "Do you know who I am?" Democrat made it personal.

Since the Democratic Party is the party of the workingman, they set up their convention in such a manor as to terrify most Boston workers into taking their vacations during the week of the Democratic National Convention. I, looking forward to the adventure, decided to work that week. Of course the D.N.C. did their best to make as small of an impact as possible by closing most major arteries by 4p.m. and cutting off several lanes of traffic for the entire week. In sticking with the Democrat's concern for the workingman, the only way for me to be sure to get out of the city by 4p.m. was to adjust my schedule.

Luckily for me the Democrats put enough fear into the hearts of the workingman that there was very little traffic around the city. One afternoon I was following a Boston cab eastbound on Storrow Drive and we were the only two cars around. As we came out of the Storrow Drive tunnel I noticed two large SUV's above us on the on-ramp. We were in the middle lane so I didn't think anything of it. The cab was far enough ahead of me that he probably never even saw them. Well not until it was almost too late anyway.

The SUV's didn't even slow down as they entered the right lane, but then suddenly the driver of the first SUV stuck his hand out of the window as if to say "Here we come". There was no way for the cabbie to see this "Do you know who I am" kind of wave until the SUV almost sideswiped him. The cab locked up and skidded sideways a bit and then regained control. I was in shock at what this idiot in the SUV had done and maintained my position behind the cab as he managed to pull ahead of the SUV's and move to the right. I followed right behind him.

The SUV's moved their way over to the third lane and as they went by I mouthed a rude remark that could easily have been translated even through the tinted windows. Well after a year and a half I had finally done it; I swore at a fellow driver. It took the week of the Democratic National Convention and some dingbat, "Do you know who I am" Democrat to drive me over the edge.

Now, being such an intelligent crew down there at the Fleet Center, this dynamic duo of SUV's continued on towards the Fleet Center in the left lane. Driving with a brain slightly less than that of a titmouse, this demagogue of the D.N.C. stayed in the left lane of Storrow Drive right up to the Fleet Center where it turns to a Left Turn Only lane. Oh, but wait, this "Do you know who I am" Democrat could just pull another stunt like he did to the cabbie and myself, but unfortunately for him the traffic had backed up a bit at the Leverett Circle lights and even "Do you know who I am" Democrats can't pull a right turn from left lane with Boston drivers.

As I made it through the lights towards route 93 north, I looked in my rear view and saw the two SUV's just making it into the middle lane and they had one more lane to go to get to the exit for The Fleet Center. It is hard to believe that we the people of the United States of America are leaving the driving to people like them.

Also, before I get any mail declaring that the "Republicans are no different", I will admit upfront, that this phenomenon is bipartisan and runs rampant through the ranks of Independents and third parties as well. It is just that I live next to and work in the State of low numbered license plates, privileged parking, and life-long politicians. They cut lines, they get into the best restaurants, and sometimes they can even get the city to move a fire hydrant and that is my side of the story.

Give a man the right to choose, too

A Man's Right to Choose (My Title)
By Ken Goodall

I read a prayer request for a person who didn't want an abortion. That's right, I said someone who didn't want an abortion. Yes I am playing with words since he wasn't the one getting the abortion but it was part of him that had created this new life. I am absolutely Anti-Abortion, but I am also Pro-Choice. There are those that say this can't be but it is so. That being said this is about abortion it just happens to be from a completely different angle.

This man and woman made a mistake and like with most mistakes they should accept it and try to do the right thing. The right thing to do is usually the harder thing to do and although abortions certainly do leave visible and invisible scars, becoming pregnant at a bad time can leave a scar no matter which choice is made. We all make bad decisions and most of us try to make the best of it. What else can we do?

Well this woman had decided that getting an abortion was the best decision for her. Unfortunately for the man, he had no say in the matter. He was heart broken and felt a loss beyond belief. This was a living part of him that would never get the chance to mature. I don't know any more than this about the people involved, but I began to think of different scenarios for the different types of people they may be.

If this man has been making a good living and proven to be a good citizen, and he was willing to support this baby and absolve this woman of all responsibility for this baby, then shouldn't he have some right to give this baby a happy life?

Does a man have the right to choose?

Understanding that the right thing to do is often the hardest it certainly seems that the right thing to do is to give the man some say in the decision to abort a living thing. Even though there seems to be some logic in this idea it would cause havoc in the American Justice system. Time limits would have to be a consideration right from the start and they would obviously have to be set less than nine months. There are also games to be played between humans, but of course some women are already playing games and the way things are now, the man can't do a thing about it. There would be men who would try to use this to force the woman into something she didn't want to do, although some women probably get abortions out of spite as well.

I am sure that there are some women who would have the baby to stay connected to a man and some others who only have the baby to get a support check. Some accidental pregnancies are blessed events, while others bring out the darkest side of humanity. To have a man willing to take responsibility for his actions and also be willing to share his love with a child and bring that child up to the best of his ability is a gesture that should not go unnoticed. This kind of gesture should be given serious consideration especially considering that the life in question has the same genes and bloodline of the person wanting to accept responsibility for this life.

For some reason I had never considered this before I read the request for a prayer to help this man. Why aren't pro-life groups out there trying to get father's rights regarding saving the lives of some of these babies? It seems to me that this would be a good avenue for these groups to take if they truly wanted to save the lives of babies.

If a man can show that he has been an upstanding citizen and has the ability to take care of a child, then that man should have a right to choose whether his baby lives or dies. This seems like a basic right for a parent. I understand that it is the woman's body that would have to go through the process of giving birth and this would have to be weighed out some how. The courts would have to be very careful about people trying to use this as a form of revenge or harassment, but when it comes to the life of a child, a man should have the right to choose and that is my side of the story.

My Grandfather was a Big D Democrat and I grew up with a fondness for John F. Kennedy even though I was only three when he was assassinated. I remember my first mock election in the third grade. Naturally I voted for Hubert Humphrey, the Democrat. During the next election I was a Muskie man. That would have been Senator Edmond Muskie from Maine, and then he cried. I ended up going with George McGovern, but I wasn't happy about it. That was the first time that I voted for the lesser of two evils.

At this point I was starting junior high school, working, and paying bills. After a few years of school, work, and paying taxes, I could no longer accept the choices offered by the two major parties. I was fed up with the Democrats and after "Tricky Dick" Nixon, I could never like Republicans. Basically my attitude during the 1976 election was "Who cares?"

When 1980 came along and I was actually able to vote in a Presidential election, I started my personal rebellion. I don't know if I voted for the independent John Anderson or the libertarian Ed Clark, but I seem to remember not really liking Anderson. I do remember voting libertarian in the next two presidential elections.

This is where I started to hear people saying that I was wasting my vote. I still hear this from people today. They feel that a vote for the third party is just a vote for the stronger of the two major party candidates. My opinion at the time was that voting for the lesser of two evils was actually selling out our true American heritage called democracy.

I also believe that it is a person's right not to vote. That is called freedom. Many people become infuriated by that comment, but someone who has no faith in the system should not feel some duty to vote. The system is built on settling. You find a candidate that you can support, you support them as best you can, and then if they drop out, you settle for the next candidate in line. This candidate may not be who you are looking for but they are better than the alternative, the lesser of two evils.

In 1992 I broke my vow and voted for a Democrat Tom Laughlin, the actor who played "Billy Jack". He didn't make it far past New Hampshire. I ended up voting for Ross Perot. When two of Perot's employees were kidnapped, he organized a rescue mission and then snuck into Iran to check up on the progress. His people were rescued and, yes, I voted for him twice.

Many people say that Perot cost Bush the election. Having gone through eight years with President Clinton and feeling as angry towards him as I had been towards Nixon, I started to reconsider the theory of the lesser of two evils. After having my second amendment rights being gnawed away and an Enron-type economy that was finally heading towards it's true level, I couldn't take anymore from the Democrats and voted for George W. Bush, the lesser of two evils.

It wasn't long before President Bush began to offer criminals a get-out-of-jail-free card by allowing illegal aliens to become legal- so much for the law. Then with Sept. 11, I thought my choice may have been a good one after all, but now we have the government reading our e-mails and checking out our library cards. It is very hard for me to deal with this kind of thing when one of my favorite quotes is by Ben Franklin when he said, "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

I also chose the lesser of two evils in New Hampshire when I voted for Craig Bensen. He seemed to be a smart businessman and I thought that he could use that kind of knowledge to fix some of the problems in New Hampshire. Now I read about the many former cabletron cronies that he has hired or has arranged to "volunteer" at the Statehouse and they are involved in brokering with out a license and misdirecting state funds. Some of these cronies are getting money from other sources while volunteering for the state and others are getting hefty salaries from the State of New Hampshire. All the while Gov. Bensen is considering paying his debtors at the Golf Course of New England twenty five cents on the dollar. I wonder how Cabletron would have done collecting twenty-five cents on the dollar?

I am starting to have second thoughts about the lesser of two evils, sometimes evil is just that, evil, and that is my side of the story.

War is hell, but that is no excuse for the actions of some of our military personnel as of late. Don't take that comment out of context because in reality I believe that the mainstream media has blown this way out of proportion. Yes a small percentage of American Soldiers have crossed the line in terms of interrogation of Iraqi prisoners, but that still does not compare to what went on during Saddam Hussein's reign of terror. No that doesn't make our soldier's actions right, but please let's keep these things in perspective.

Let's see, in March of 1988 Iraq's air force gassed a Kurdish village killing 5000 Iraqi's and harming many more. Men, Women, and children were killed using different forms of chemical weapons including mustard gas. According to a 2001 Amnesty International report, Iraqi citizens were not only tortured by beatings but by electric shock and in some cases having their eyes gouged out. Saddam also used allegations of prostitution to justify beheading women to intimidate his opposition. This is what our boys and girls have to put up with over there, so if a few, and I do believe that it is only a few over all who are crossing the line during interrogations, then they should be dealt with. As for the interrogation process in general, beating and mild torture is a small price to pay to save American lives.

I have heard stories from World War Two and have talked to a person who performed interrogations in Vietnam, and from that I can safely say that War is hell and sometimes you have to do what ever it takes to get the information needed to save American lives and put an end to the war. Just last year an American officer was put through the ringer for firing a gun near the head of a prisoner. He got the information he needed and possibly saved lives. Tell me how else can information be retrieved from an enemy unless humiliation, terror, and fear are used? Maybe the military should send them to their cells with out supper? Maybe then they would give up their military positions and maybe even the location of the weapons of mass destruction.

These prisoners are being interrogated because they have a connection to the insurgents fighting the coalition forces in Iraq. The 3000 Americans in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 were just every day Joe's at work trying to make a living. Many people are still saying that there is no connection between Iraq and the World Trade Center bombings and maybe there isn't any hard evidence, but there is certainly a good amount of circumstantial evidence. Just look at that poor civilian Nicholas Berg who was kidnapped and beheaded just recently. The people who committed this atrocity have admitted their connection to Al Queda. For a country that had no ties to terrorism or the World Trade Center bombing there is certainly a lot of Al Queda connections showing up now. Ahh, but it is still only circumstantial.

There was nothing circumstantial about the World Trade Center tumbling to the ground, but some of the images from that day rarely make into the media today. Some newspapers printed pictures of military coffins arriving back in the United States and most papers have printed pictures of the tortured prisoners, but hardly any ran the pictures of the people jumping from the World Trade Center as it burned. People driven by terror. Driven to the point where jumping from the highest floors of the buildings was better than staying put. Imagine the terror they must have felt to choose jumping from that height. There are many pictures of the people falling to their death but these images were not published in the mainstream press as much as the pictures of these tortured prisoners.

The key word here is perspective. We should keep all of this in perspective. Molestation and rape are absolutely unacceptable forms of interrogation and the service men and women involved should be punished, but this is war and war is hell. As Robert E. Lee once said, "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" and that is my side of the story.

Sometime during the summer of 1974 my parents brought a friend of mine with us camping in Campton, NH. Boys will be boys and we snuck out of camp late one night. It was a bright night and we made our way to the end of the campground and the beginning of the trail along the Pemigewassett River. The moon shone through the trees to our left as we made our way along the river until we came to a shallow spot. We waded across the river.

There was quite a hill on the other side of the river and in places we used trees to pull ourselves up. We came to a railroad bed and after crossing that we continued our climb upward. When we finally reached level ground we were standing on the edge of Route 93. It was quite late, or possibly quite early depending on your point of view, and as we looked across the highway we noticed it, one of those tall ledges that you see along the highway. Well, boys will be boys.

We crossed the south and north lanes of Route 93 and climbed up the side of the ledges and made it to the top. While sitting on the top we noticed the moon shinning off to the right.

"Wasn't the moon more to the left a while ago" I asked my friend.

He replied, "I thought so too. Maybe we got mixed up during the climb."

After enjoying the view for a while we made our way down the hill and toward the exit off of Route 93. The moon seemed oddly bright as it lit our way back towards the campground. As we walked down the road we noticed a bunch of people standing in the road. The moon seemed to be hanging right in front of them.

"The moon is real bright tonight", I said.

"It's not the moon," a man answered, "It's been moving."

When I looked up again, I realized, it's not the moon and it was hanging right in front of us. I didn't see any colored lights or anything like that, just a glowing white ball floating right in front of us. Suddenly it flew to the right in an instant and sat there for a while. Then in a streak of light it flew straight up in the air and disappeared.

My friend and I had to walk right past where the object had been in order to cross the bridge to get back to the campground. It seemed much darker crossing the bridge then it had been when we waded across the river. We snuck into the tent and managed to fall asleep. Neither one of us talked much about it and I only told a couple close friends. I wouldn't even tell my parents until years later.

Eventually I became open about it and whenever the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects comes up, I say, "I've seen one!"

I used to see my friend around town from time to time and once I asked him if he remembered the event. He said that he didn't remember that at all. I couldn't believe it, this memory has been a vivid one for me ever since the event occurred. I know that I have been telling people about this for quite some time, but could I have somehow taken a dream and made it real?

This memory seems for too clear and vivid to have been a dream. I remember more details of this event than any dream; it's one of the core memories of my lifetime. All through high school I had an interest in the Betty and Barney Hill story, The Incident at Exeter, and reading Eric Von Daniken and Kurt Vonnegut. There has to be more out there than just humanity; we have even found evidence of water on Mars.

I know now that certain times become active for UFO reports and found one documented sighting in Nashua NH in 1974 and there were two national stories on UFO sightings. Two very famous people saw unidentified Flying Objects in 1974, one was John Lennon in New York City and the other was Ronald Reagan. Reagan publicly admitted to seeing UFO's on two different occasions. One of those occasions occurred while he was Governor of California in 1974. So I was not alone in experiencing a close encounter of the first kind. That would be seeing a UFO. A close encounter of the second kind is one that includes physical evidence and the third kind is making contact as we know from the movie, and that is my side of the story.

I have a friend who belongs to an organization and has held just about every office in that organization. He has helped clean highways, run events, and collect money for several charities. He is always doing some kind of community service. He is also Gay. He gave me a Thompson/Center Arms Muzzleloader with which I shot my one and only deer. When he offered it to me, I told him that the firearm would always be his, and he told me to keep it for him.

He had planned a trip to Washington D.C. in 1993, but the two friends who he was going with had to back out because of work. He had already paid for the room so I went with him instead. It was the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. The first day that we were in Washington we visited a couple monuments and then the Vietnam Memorial, The Wall. That in itself was an awe-inspiring event.

That night we went out to eat and ended up in Falls Church, I believe, in a military bar right down to the Patches on the wall and marching band music in the background. The military memorabilia was incredible, but the marching band music began to get old. The waiter asked if we were here for the march. When we said yes, he gave us a wink. Don't ask; don't tell.

The next day was April 25th, 1993 and it was the Third Annual Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation march. According to the Alternate Orange, a Syracuse University Student Newspaper, the march's main demands included "an end to all discrimination and "sodomy" laws; massive funding for AIDS and universal health care; full rights for lesbian and gay families and an end to homophobia in education; an end to all racism and racist discrimination; full reproductive freedom and an end to sexism." Holy cow, I marched for Universal Healthcare!

Maybe I have never believed in universal healthcare, but the rest of the demands were all worthy causes. We started the day in the staging area and desperately searched for the Seacoast PFLAG Group (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). My friend had made his way across the street and as I was halfway across when a group passed by and I had to fight my way through the signs. By the time that I reached the other side of the road, my friend had vanished.

While looking around for him, I found the seacoast PFLAG group. It was then that I saw my childhood Doctor and his wife. I had been a good friend with one of their sons. When I asked why they were there, they said they were supporting their son. A friend from 20 years earlier, I find out now is Gay. The parade groups were gathering so they handed me a sign and off we went. My friend didn't make it in time to march.

I do not belong to PFLAG but I marched with the southern NH group anyway. I had lost my friend in the crowd, He never found the group but I did. He didn't march, I did. The parade ended at the Mall. The Aids Quilt was displayed on the Mall in front of the Washington Monument. I walked around the quilt and looked at a bunch of booths with all kinds of civil rights information. Then I returned along the parade route looking for my friend on the way back to the truck. When I found him and told him that I had found the group and marched with them, he gave me a big hug.

The media claimed only a couple hundred thousand were there. They lied. There were at least a half a million people just around the Mall. It was crowded back to the Washington Monument. Adding to that all of the people along the parade route it was possible that the parade had hit its mark of 1 million people.

I am known as a conservative Republican and have been called many things, especially An NRA/GOP Type. I have stated my belief in a woman's right to chose, and now that I also support gays. I don't support "Gay Rights", but I do support Equal Rights for gays. With all of the news surrounding gay marriage and with everything that I have said against the use of the word marriage, I am not sure how my friend feels about the subject. When I told him about my column on the march inWashington, he said that he would help me out with the story. I decided to go it alone on this one, but maybe we can work on another one in the future. The fact is whether my friend chooses a life partner, a union, or even a marriage; I wish him all the best. He deserves it and that is my side of the story.

(NOT as printed in the Exeter News-Letter on Tuesday February 17th. I will edit my text to reflect the changes made by the editors of the News-Letter when I get a chance.)

Well it's that time of year again. The time of year where we honor that great American, Martin Luther King. He over-came adversity and not only made something of himself, but he gave back to the people that he believed in. He struggled to bring the rights of minorities to the forefront of Americana and in the end, he paid the ultimate price for those beliefs.

Last year over one hundred Exeter High School students decided to walk out of school because of the school's lack of attention towards Martin Luther King Day. They believed that walking out of school, leaving school grounds, and violating school rules was done in honor of Martin Luther King. Well I don't believe that Dr. King would have been very impressed with their tactics, or the repercussions of their actions on that fateful day.

You see this year is the first year where the Exeter School District has put Martin Luther King Day on the list of holidays where school will not be in session. So the students now have what they have fought for and had the whole day off from school to honor, study, and observe Martin Luther King Day to the fullest extent possible to respect the man who brought civil rights to the forefront of America's society. I have been waiting for three weeks to read about the good deeds and tributes that these students felt that Dr. King so richly deserved and that the school system had ignored, but the silence is deafening.

Where are those students who accused the school system of disrespecting Martin Luther King by ignoring the day that honors his memory? Many of these students may have been seniors last year, but if they were so determined to honor Dr. King, so much so to walk out of school and leave school grounds to march to the SAU16 Administration offices, then whether they are in college or in the workforce, what happened to their passion for Dr. king this year? I have not read about one protest by any of those who walked out last year. Did any of them take the day off from college or work to do community service or to honor Dr. king in some other way? I doubt it.

Also, what about the sophomores and juniors who walked out of school last year? They did have MLK Day off last month and I have not read one thing about their appreciation for the school system honoring Dr. King by giving them the day off or about any of them doing any kind of community service to honor Martin Luther King. Where were you, Aaron Davis, the student who organized last years walk out? Where were you, Seth Hoffman, Amanda Schimmel, and Greg Elwood? You felt strong enough to walk out of school so where were you this year? Did any of you celebrate Martin Luther King by doing community service or possibly writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to support and honor the man or did you take the day to go to the mall?

Not only did the Exeter School System decide to drop Martin Luther King Day from the calendar, but they also added January 30th as a school day to observe diversity. They are calling it Diversity Day. A slave from Sudan spoke about his life as a slave prior to his escape and a representative from The American Anti-Slavery Group discussed modern day slavery. There were also films on Civil Rights and Diversity in America. It is a shame that the School Board did not have the strength to honor Dr. King by keeping kids in school and celebrating Diversity on a day that would truly be deserving of the celebration. That day should have been the day honoring the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Where were all of these so-called activist students who felt so strong as to walk out of school? If any one of them did something to truly honor Dr. King, I would love to hear about it. Maybe a letter to the editor of the Exeter News-Letter describing their service to the community or some kind of activity that would have been in line with the beliefs of Martin Luther King; just one. I am not talking about Diversity day either; I am talking about Martin Luther King Day, the real day to celebrate diversity and that is my side of the story.

(I received two e-mails regarding this column, one from a person who said that I was off base since the school did observe Diversity Day and from the mother of a student who said that her child did community service on MLK Day and on many other occasions during the year. I will be donating the money from my column to the organization where that student performed community service.

She was also upset that I had used the students names with out contacting them. I said that they had no problem with getting their names in the paper when they walked out of school and left school grounds. - Ken Goodall)

Kwanzaa: Political Correctness Run Amok

Kwanzaa The Pagan Holiday (My Title)
By Ken Goodall

(My Side of the Story As printed in The Exeter News-Letter on Tuesday 01/13/2004)

Kwanzaa is the new politically correct holiday for African-Americans. Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 in celebration of African heritage. Kwanza comes from the Swahili language of eastern Africa and means "first", but the letter "a" was added to Americanize the word. The original celebration in Africa was known as "matunda ya kwanza" which means First Fruits. It is also known as the first feast of fruits.

Of course, there isn't much being harvested in Africa in December and this is where the paganism comes into the picture. From what I have read the earliest time for the Feast of Fruits would have been January and that was if the rains were on time. So, the good Doctor Maulana chose the week of December 26th to January 1st and according to the official Kwanzaa website "you should not mix the Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values and practice with any other culture. This would violate the principles of Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) and thus violate the integrity of the holiday."

Any true celebration of Kwanzaa in a Christian home had better get those decorations down real fast. The Kwanzaa website also states that gift giving is acceptable especially for children, but they aren't trying to take away from Christmas. No, of course not.

Kwanza is the celebration of the seven principles. Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) include Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). These are good principles to live by in any religion or philosophy. Unfortunately, Ronald Everett seemed to forget these principles when he tortured two women who were members of the United Slaves. The United Slaves was a radical black organization of the 60's and was founded by Ronald Everett, or should I say, Dr. Maulana Karenga.

That's right, Ron Everett abandoned his slave name and chose Maulana, which means master teacher. Even though Kwanzaa should not be mixed with other celebrations, Karenga claims that the celebration was not meant to take away from Christmas but to celebrate African Heritage. As early as 1971 others involved in African heritage had different beliefs. That is when a minister proclaimed that Kwanzaa was a way of "de-whitizing" Christmas. That minister is now running for President of the United States and his name is Al Sharpton.

Al Sharpton, the man who in 1987 backed Tawana Brawley in her allegations of rape and torture involving two to six white men. The case fell apart when a security guard for her lawyers admitted that Sharpton and the lawyers knew that Brawley was lying. Sharpton lost a defamation case to the tune of $65,000. I guess he was taking unity a bit too far. Another upstanding citizen who supports Kwanzaa, now that is quite a heritage to celebrate.

Now back to the Seven Principles, as I said earlier these would be excellent principles to live one's life by, except that they too have somewhat of a tarnished history. Another group of that Era who's specialty was bank robbing and kidnapping had the same values as those of Karenga and Kwanzaa. The Symbionese Liberation Army the group that kidnapped Pattie Hearst in 1974 had carried the symbol of a seven-headed cobra and each head stood for one of the seven principles. These are the same seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Now what exactly set me off on Kwanzaa was seeing my granddaughter singing happy Kwanzaa with her class in school. The educational system of today is too busy with political correctness and constant worry over the possibility of offending someone. Celebrating a holiday created by a man, who, after he created the holiday, tortured two black women by whipping them and burning one with a hot iron, does not offer much unity or faith in African Heritage. Just five short years after creating Kwanzaa, the Master Teacher was sentenced to five years for torturing these two women and now schools across the country have students singing songs celebrating a convicted felon.

The schools are not alone, even President George Bush proclaimed that the Whitehouse celebrated Kwanzaa, but then again I am not surprised since he also wants to offer millions of illegal aliens amnesty and bestow upon them Guest status with all the benefits. This administration is becoming as thick as thieves, celebrating a criminal's pagan holiday and rewarding other criminals with amnesty. So this is Kwanzaa?

I used to believe that education was about teaching history, not fiction, but now it seems that fiction is the word of the day along with political correctness. Will the children of today ever be offered the truth about anything in their education? I guess the lesson of today is crime does pay and sometimes you'll even get a holiday out of it. Oh and where is Dr. Maulana Karenga now you ask? He is professor and chair of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Now why doesn't that surprise me? Happy Kwanzaa and that's my side of the story.

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