ON THE U.S. HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE: WHICH HAIR STYLE WILL THE CHAIRMAN CHOOSE TO PROVE THE BENGHAZI "COVERUP"

Representative Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who represents South Carolina's 4th Congressional District, has been named by Speaker of the House John Boehner to head the House Select Committee investigating the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. According to FOX News, Congressman Gowdy is said to be "honored" to serve the Committee as Chairman.

The Left Lean

The most important question being discussed around the Washington Beltway by those who know and work with the Congressman, however, is which Trey Gowdy will show up to lead the committee? Family, friends and the Washington media appear to be in complete disagreement.

"I think he will go with the left lean look," says his former high school math teacher, Mrs. Wanderlust. It shows he is not the hard-nosed former prosecutor those left-leaning Democrats will be expecting. "He was always a teddy bear in my classes," said the bespectacled former school marm.

The Right Lean

The Washington Times has predicted his right-lean look for the Conservative Republican. Reporter Millie Sung Yung Moon has written that Congressman Gowdy is a real Southern boy who would never even think of leaning left, much less wearing his hair that way for such an important matter. "He even wears his underwear to the right," Ms. Moon claimed.

The Swept Back

Mr. Gowdy's second-cousin Wilbur, a sixth-generation South Carolina hog farmer, had this to say about his cousin, "I think he will go for the straight-back down the middle look to show how non-partisan he is." Speaking to the Spartanburg Barbecue and Tobacco Daily News, Mr. Wilbur added, "My cousin is straight up the smartest person in our family so he'll know what to do."

The Summer Buzz

However, when the reporter for the Spartanburg Daily News asked Mr. Gowdy's first-cousin Wilbur for a prediction, he stated flatly, "Every Summer when we was catching polywogs at the pond Trey would have a buzz cut. I don't think he'll change that for those smartypants up in Washington."

Patty Nicholson, University of South Carolina Junior and President of the Young Republicans of South Carolina, thinks Trey Gowdy should wear a more youthful look.

The Down In Front & Unshaven

"He's so cute," she told the Gamecock Weekly News, "Why would he want to look old while all those really old Democrats, like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, show they're geezers and liars?" she continued. "Wear it down in front and don't shave," said the 20-year old Gamecock's cheerleader. "Too bad he doesn't have a cool 'tat' on his neck to add to his coolness," said Ms. Nicholson.

A 4th District staff member, who asked not to be named because she was not authorized to speak for the Congressman, told a fellow staff member that she heard no decision has been made on which look the Congressman will bring to the Committee.

The Pompadour & Glasses

In her estimation, however, he should go with the, "cool youthful pompadour, but he should add glasses so he looks twice as smart as he really is, and three times as smart as his cousin Wilbur." When asked which Cousin Wilbur she was talking about, she exclaimed," Both of them!"

Reached at his home in Spartanburg, Mr. Gowdy had this to say about his appearance as Chairman of the Select Committee. 

The Mohawk & Glasses

"As I told FOX News recently I will hold a full and fair hearing on this cover up and apparent attempt to dupe the American people. I will look under every stone that proves President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton lied to the American people about Benghazi, Obamacare, his birth certificate, the Postal Service, Monica Lewinsky, the VA, the IRS, and anything else they touched since that Kenyan was elected President of our nation."

As for the hairstyle he will wear as Chairman of the Select Committee, the Congressman was non-committal.

Since Mr. Gowdy joined Congress as a Freshman in 2011 I have been able to discern at least 12 different hairstyles worn by the Representative. Obviously, he believes his hair is at least as important as the work he does for his constituents.

ON MAYA ANGELOU: A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN GONE

APRIL 4, 1928-MAY 28, 2014

"IF YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, CHANGE IT. IF YOU CAN'T, CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE."   Maya Angelou 

ON THE DEATH PENALTY: STATES FIGHT TO RETURN OLD-STYLE EXECUTION METHODS

Recently we learned several states within the U.S. cannot procure the drugs they need to execute prisoners as efficiently as they would like by intravenous injection.

Some, for example Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio, have resorted to creating their own lethal injection protocols or having drugs compounded in secret laboratories.

Two recent executions employing these new techniques, however, went terribly wrong, one each in Ohio and Oklahoma. In the Oklahoma debacle, it took Clayton Lockett more than a half hour to die...and he died of a heart attack, not by lethal injection.

In response to these two episodes some states are getting creative. According to The Guardian, Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed legislation allowing his state to execute prisoners by electric chair if the state finds itself unable to procure drugs needed for lethal injection.

The Governor's spokesman, Jimmie Ray Bigbutt, speaking by telephone to the Tennessee Hillbilly Radio Network, explained why the need for this legislation. 

"The pinkos in Europe, ya'll know them there Frenchies and Eyetalians, are attempting to keep Americans from exercising their God-given right to kill people who have no right to live on God's green earth."

In Wyoming, under the same pressure as its sister state in the South, legislators are preparing a bill to return the firing squad as a means to execute prisoners. The bill is scheduled to be heard during the state's next legislative session, according to The Guardian.

Like previous actions by Arizona regarding abortion laws, however, [See: AZ Governor Wages War on Southern Pride], these moves are not sitting well with the Governors of states located in the Deep South.

Governor Nathan Deal, who recently signed the "Guns Everywhere" Law [See: GA Guns Everywhere Law] in an attempt to keep his state ahead in gun legislation, was red-faced when told about the moves by Tennessee and Wyoming. "This is outrageous behavior," he told a reporter for the Vidalia Onion and Conservative Weekly.

The Governor has mentioned that he might call on state legislators to come up with some alternatives for the Peach State. State Senator Bobby "Reds" Muffinbottom, an ordained minister, told The Peach Pit News and Sentinel that he is considering sponsoring a bill to bring back crucifixion. 

"Hell's fire, if it was good enough for the Lord Jesus Christ our Almighty Savior, it's good enough for the likes of murderers and other low lifes."

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley told the Mobile Backwater Country Fish Wrap Times that he is also concerned with this movement in other states.  He explained,

"As a physician I can tell you that lethal injection is a very good way to kill someone without hurting them. However, in reviewing other humane ways to execute, I asked my friends at the Alabama Medical Society for advice. They think the guillotine is our best alternative option. 

First, the machinery is readily available from Harbor Freight. Second, it kills the prisoner quickly and without pain. And, third, it's clear we'd be able to harvest their organs for use by indigent Alabamans."

Rick Scott of Florida, who is running for re-election this year, refused to comment. The first-term Governor's campaign office did release a brief statement, however. It read:

"Everyone knows it's the fault of Obamacare that we can't get our hands on these important lethal drugs used to weed out the worst in our society. We also know that Governor Scott's opponent, Democrat Charlie Crist, picked the wrong side in this important battle for state's rights. Now let's get to work." 

FOX Sports 1 executive Wayne "Killer" DuPre has hinted that if states continue this trend, he is ready to go live with FOX Sports 2 producing 24-hour coverage of murder trials and executions.

"Unlike ESPN, MSNBC,  and CNN, we have the stomach and  the means to show Americans what they really want to see," the former UFC fighter exclaimed.  "We at FOX think this'll surpass even auto racing as the best spectator sport in the South," DuPre continued.

ON MEMORIAL DAY: HOW AMERICANS REMEMBER THEIR FALLEN HEROES IN 2014

Decoration Day was first commemorated on May 30, 1868, to remember those who died in America's Civil War battles to preserve the Union. 

After a few more wars, and several thousand more dead Americans, the name was changed to Memorial Day in the early 20th Century. It was to be a day to remember all Americans who died serving their nation.

Not all of America, however, commemorated this new holiday. When I lived in the Deep South in the late 1960's, because of it's Union origin, this day was not celebrated by our Southern kin.

In 1971 Memorial Day finally became a National Holiday to be celebrated throughout all of the United States. It is a day now that commemorates the loss of more than 1,000,000 American men and women in battles near and far.

The soldiers and sailors we remember this day fought and died for both righteous and moral causes, as well as political and economic vanity. But, die they did.

So, how do we commemorate such a mournful day in the year 2014, a year when we still have troops in harm's way in Afghanistan and elsewhere? 

For some Americans, it seems they commemorate by uttering the trivial phrase, "Thank you for your service." For me, this is a sentence that needs completion. Could that completed sentence be, "because I feel guilty you served and I did not?" Seems fitting to me.

But, also in America, a land filled with unhindered capitalism and a people who can turn any serious event into nonsense, businesses place advertising to honor the day. Here are some of those ads from one newspaper published today.*

Drive to Clearwater, Florida, for the Walker is Ford "Memorial Day All-Star Event" with a $750 Military Bonus Cash offer for those who served. Evidently there is no $750 Military Bonus Cash for the surviving parents and loved ones of those who actually died in war, the very people we are supposed to be remembering this day. I think a free Ford is the least the company could do today for these survivors.

Not to be outdone, for all who lived through one or more of America's wars and speak Spanish, Tom Castriota, from Hudson, Florida, says, "Castriota saluda a nuestros militares." A photograph of Mr. Castriota is prominent in the ad, along with a claim that he is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps.  If you lived to see this Memorial Day, you can purchase a Chevrolet Malibu LS for only $99 per month. Again, no one memorialized whatsoever and no deals for any dead veterans' families.

A "Memorial Day Triple Zero Sales Event" is being held at Sun Toyota of New Port Richey where you can get $0 down payment, $0 payments for 90 days, and 0% factory financing on your new Toyota. Ferman Nissan is "Remembering our Memorial Days Past & Present..." Ford of Port Richey has a "Memorial Mega Sale" going on for 5 days with $5 down and a 5-day guarantee.

Whatever these three car dealers are trying to peddle, you evidently do not have to even be a veteran to participate. It is just their patriotic way of saying, "None of us need serve."

The list goes on. Kane's Furniture offers two pages of "Memorial Day Sale" with up to 50% off or 50 months no interest. LaZboy offers a "Memorial Day Sale" and 25% off on purchases of $3,000 or more. All Dillard's department stores are having a "Memorial Day Weekend Clearance" sale of 65% off. Consignment Furniture Stores, both locations, are having a "Huge Memorial Day Sale" on pre-owned furniture. And, again, you need not have served to participate in these bargains.

If you are an American, read your newspaper and watch your television advertising today. Think about what this day is about and see if the two relate.

If what you see and hear resembles those ads I noted above, write to your newspaper and tell them you are outraged. Boycott vendors who trivialize those lives sacrificed on the altar of freedom.

Remember to thank a veteran; then, tell them why you did not serve. It is okay.

Veterans feel guilty also...we survived while our friends and comrades did not.

*Tampa Bay Times, Monday, May 26, 2014

ON NOT BEING SHOT AT THE MOVIES: FADING GIGOLO

For the first time since Curtis Reeves shot and killed Chad Oulson at a local movie theatre, I went to see a movie at a Florida public theatre last Saturday. I wanted to see John Turturro's new film, Fading Gigolo, so much I was willing to risk life and limb in downtown St. Petersburg. I even had popcorn!

Featuring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber, Sofia Vergara, and Vanessa Paradis, I laughed out loud until I cried. Turturro wrote, directed and starred in this wonderful New York-based film. Even his diner breakfast order was a symphony of New York.

The best part, no one pulled out a gun and shot me.  Thank goodness for little miracles here in my adopted state.  Who knows?  Maybe I will try it again soon.

ON HOW I LEARNED TO BE ALONE WITHOUT FEELING LONELY: IT'S BEGINNING

Recently, a close friend, who is in the middle of a break up with her beau, as well as recovering from the death of her father, asked me how I deal with loneliness.  I flippantly exclaimed, "I masturbate."

It was a school boy's toss-away  line to garner a laugh, while also giving me time to think about the truth.  I wrote to my friend the next day and explained not only how I deal with loneliness, but how I came to be alone.

I have discussed previously the daily physical abuse experienced in my twelve years' of Roman Catholic education. [CLICK HERE] What I have not described as yet is the physical and emotional abuse prevalent in my Irish Catholic home, abuse that was also a daily event.

My mother was a violent alcoholic who was once described by a psychoanalyst friend of mine as a "malignant personality."

Since then I have come to understand that she was perhaps the poster child for malignant narcissistic personality, or narcissistic personality disorder (for those following in their DSM-IV-TR Classification listing, you will find it under Diagnosis 301.81). Or, more to the point, she was a piece of work.

Even from my days as an infant and toddler I can still remember violent screaming in the house between my mother and father.  Both parents often came home drunk.  One night I found my father passed out in the hallway, the bedroom door locked in front of him.

I also remember numerous occasions when the Baltimore police came to our home in the wee hours, always taking the side of my mother as she manipulated them with tears and sobs.  I was too young and too scared to toddle down the stairs and point and scream, "You've got the wrong man, officers, cuff her!" 

She smoked too much, she drank too much, she cursed too much, and she cared no more for her four children than she gave a damn about the man in the moon.  And, she liked to use her hands.  She beat the hell out of both my father and, later, my stepfather.  Nails always at the ready and kicking feet not far behind.

Like Muhammad Ali I learned to float like a butterfly to avoid her long reach. I remember many moments where this instinct kept me away from her flailing hands and long fingernails.

Early one morning I was awakened by my 10-year-old sister running up the stairs screaming, "Eddie's on fire." My older brother and I jumped from bed and ran downstairs.

Standing on the sofa was my little brother. He was naked and screaming; tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. I will never forget his yellow, black, and brown body.  From his neck to his groin, the skin was dark and peeling. It was the very last time I saw him.

At just shy of four years of age my brother, playing with matches my mother left carelessly within reach of all her children, set himself on fire.

His clothing burned into his skin in the early morning as he ran from the far end of our yard to his home in search of mommy's help. Because she did not want to be disturbed, our mother had locked the basement door. Despite his frantic screams, he could not reach the safety of his family.

Fortunately, our neighbor was outside and he jumped the fence and tore my brother's clothes off his body to remove the flames.  He brought my brother to the house.  My mother called my father to come home from his job. Eddie had arisen early that morning in order to have breakfast with daddy.

Though he was my best friend, I was not allowed to visit him in the two hospitals that tried to save him, St. Agnes and, later, Kernan (the latter a children's orthopedic hospital).

I remember being taken to the hospital for one of my mother's visits. She forced me to sit in a large wooden chair all alone in the lobby of St. Agnes Hospital. My feet dangling above the floor, under the stare of a statue of Jesus, my mother told me to wait. "I won't be long," she said, "stay right in this chair."

She told me I was not old enough to see my best friend. The smells and the atmosphere of the hospital were frightening. The hour or so in that chair screamed loudly to me, "You are all alone!"

Edward Michael Daugherty passed from life one day. No one from my family took me aside and talked with me about this awful family tragedy. I was not dressed up to attend a funeral.

I learned he passed the moment my sister handed me a brown-paper grocery-store bag full of toys. She offered no explanation to me other than, "These were given to Eddie. He can't use them. They're for you." Ironically, and I am sure without a single thought, the bag was emblazoned with the name of our local Baltimore grocer, Eddie's.

The toys were expensive. They never would have been purchased for me. These were gifts given from guilt. Because they were now mine, I knew Eddie was not returning home. And, I rarely played with them. The name on the bag told me the real owner's name.

I internalized the fact that my family had made a decision to shun me, to treat me as not worthy of consideration of support or involvement in the family's pain. It told me to trust no one to come to my rescue.

I was almost six years old and very afraid. I knew my childhood was finished. From now on I would sleep with one eye open.

The die was now cast for me. In my mind being alone and alive was far better than trusting people to protect me who would not.

ON THE USA: NOW A NATION RULED BY A LOUD AND WEALTHY MINORITY

I was born in, grew up in, and defended in war what I thought was a democracy. You know, a place where we debate ideas and values then vote to decide who we want to represent us for the next two, four, or six years?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that ideal no longer exists in the United States of America. Today a rich and loud minority rules our nation.

As an example, let me start with Congress. In the Senate, where Democrats are in the majority, the Republican minority is able to stop legislation that more than half the members wish to approve. It is called "filibuster," from an old Dutch word meaning privateer or pirate.

Do not confuse this type of filibuster with the one portrayed by Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. No Republican Senator is required to stand talking for hours and hours. This filibuster is procedural only.

Just the other day a bi-partisan energy savings bill was voted down by a vote of 55-36 in the Senate. Yes, you read that right. It was voted down with 55 ayes and only 36 nays. The only way a bill passes now in the Senate is if it can garner at least 60 votes in favor, thus invoking cloture and ending the filibuster. The why of it befuddles me, but it means the majority no longer rules in the United States Senate.

Not to be outdone, the House of Representatives, where the Republicans have the majority, also has a minority that skews the voting. Republicans in the lower house not only have Democrats to contend with, they also have a wing of their party known as the Tea Party.

The Tea Party wing does not care about making our Federal government work efficiently. These so-called Conservatives think the Federal government is an irritant that needs to be shut down.

They are a decidedly anarchistic part of the Republican Party, claiming Conservative ideals are more important than national governance. They are the same portion of the Republican Party that closed the government down last year led by members like Representatives Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), along with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

But, this minority tyranny does not end with Congress. On other issues, the vociferous minority rules. Let me explain.

According to Gallup surveys, 59% of Americans have no gun in their home and only 13% of citizens believe gun regulations should be less restrictive. Yet, states like Georgia, Florida and others keep passing laws that loosen restrictions on gun owners.

The fact that the National Rifle Association has only about 3 million members within a nation of more than 300 million people proves the NRA is a considerable minority, unworthy of the power it yields.

But, with huge sums of money given them by the gun and ammo manufacturers, they hold sway in Congress. The NRA provides direct campaign financing and PAC money to members in vast quantities. Their strong-arm tactics, where they publicly grade politicians as to how they voted on what the NRA wants passed, is legendary. Our weak-willed Congress members dare not stand up for constituent desire and need.

Americans want immigration reform, as does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and most large businesses, but we do not get it.  The Tea Party believes that all persons who live in the United States without proper paperwork should leave the country...all estimated 11 million of them.  And, if they do not, there will be no immigration reform. A small portion of one party holds sway over all Americans.

Who do these Tea Party Americans listen to? They listen to the voices of people looking for ratings on their media shows. Rush Limbaugh screams outrage. Glenn Beck bubbles over with bizarre conjecture. FOX News concocts the same tag lines for all its "newscasters." These are not people elected by voters to govern. These are self-absorbed dilettantes who use controversy to boost ratings and put money into their own pockets.

Now, thanks to the Supreme Court allowing a free flow of corporate dollars into our election process, people like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, another group of self-interested billionaires, can throw money into campaigns like it is confetti. These wealthy men do not care about politics, they care about controlling politicians who will allow their respective businesses to grow without taxation or regulation.

Last February I wrote about our atrocious voting record, especially in non-Presidential candidate years like 2014. [Click Here for Full Blog] In the last four off-year Congressional voting cycles we have just barely averaged 37% of voters going to the polls.  37%!!

So, barely one-third of our citizens elect the characters that only 13.6% of us approve. Do you get the picture? Like idiots, Americans stay away from the polls and expect wonderful things to happen. No wonder nothing gets done!

Until a majority of Americans get off their collective arses and vote none of this will change. Congress will remain a pit of self-absorbed and graft-taking hacks that includes anarchists.

The upper 1% of the wealthy will control what trickles down to each of us at our jobs. People will continue to use semi-automatic, military-style weaponry to kill large numbers of us at the mall, the movie theatre, and at the job site. Screaming idiots will go on spewing hate from our TV and our radio to increase their advertising revenue.

And, most importantly, we will continue to disintegrate into a nation of third-rate schools, deteriorating bridges and roads, and racially-profiled and incarcerated citizens.

Nothing will change in America unless first Americans change.