The founding family of Trinity Broadcasting Network is facing two lawsuits in Los Angeles. The suits allege that televangelists Paul & Jan Crouch have spent well over $50,000,000 of worshippers’  donations on “personal” expenses, including 13 mansions, his-and-hers private jets and a $100,000 mobile home for Mrs. Crouch’s dogs. The jets are necessary, the Crouches’ lawyer told The Los Angeles Times, because the Crouches receive more death threats than even the president of the United States. Allegedly, the Crouches keep millions of dollars in cash on hand, but according to their lawyers, that is merely out of obedience to the biblical principle of “owing no man anything.”

Hmmmm, what to think? I think that if one wants to get rich quick, order a divinity degree online, found a church with a catchy name, memorize some scriptures, get a John Edwards style haircut, and watch the money roll in. All tax free, of course.

Shameful, that’s all it is. For shame.

Word is that Dave Duerson, the great former Chicago Bear, committed suicide and evidently he won’t be the last. His killing was a tragedy at a young age. An autopsy reveals that Duerson had the brain of an 80 year old who had boxed 40 years.  Now Junior Seau, one of the NFL’s all-time great linebackers, has killed himself at 43. Another tragic ending to a glorified career and a fine young man.

Add to this the NFL’s slap at the New Orleans Saints and Coaches Sean Payton & Gregg Williams.  Payton suspended for a year, Williams indefinitely for a “bounty’ system to reward Saints who injured other players. Commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended one Saint for a year and others for 3 to 6 months. Word is that the players will appeal & challenge Goodell’s ruling. Here’s hoping they lose their appellate efforts. I have Payton’s book on the Saints winning the NFL championship a couple of years ago, and I’ve trashed it. Don’t want it in my library.

The NFL gives fans what they want: uncontrolled violence. Highly skilled, muscular players weighing 250 pounds or more, crashing into others. Why more aren’t injured is a miracle to me.  Here’s hoping that the NFL cracks down even more. I like the sport but hate the injuries and the ending of careers. Most of all the brain concussions that have ramifications for the rest of players’ lives. This is an American tragedy that has to end. End of story.

Our Shameful Cuban Policy

            One year after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, President John F. Kennedy dispatched an aide to buy as many Cuban cigars as he could. The young man returned several hours later with over 1,200. An hour later, the president signed an Order of embargo against the Cuban nation. The stranglehold on the tiny island has now lasted over fifty years. It is a shameful disgrace and represents an abject failure of a misguided foreign policy. It is also willfully oppressive and life-threatening. 

            The goal of the embargo was to place such severe restrictions on the daily lives of Cubans that they’d rebel and overthrow Fidel Castro. It didn’t happen. Like most embargos, the effect was to galvanize the Cuban people, who rallied around their Marxist dictator.

            For half a century Cubans have gone without food stuffs, water quality supplies, diapers, bath soap, car and truck parts, medicines, medical supplies, critical parts for medical devices and other basic necessities. The effect has been devastating. The American Association for World Health has determined that the U.S. embargo of Cuba has dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of ordinary Cuban citizens. As an example, the association cites the unavailability of replacement parts for thirty-year old X-ray machines as a factor in a tragic human toll. Cubans are dying as a result of our shameful policy.

            The cruel embargo takes forms that many Americans may not be aware of. Since 1992 there has been a ban on “subsidiary” trade with Cuba. The result has been a severe constraint on Cuba’s ability to import medicines and medical supplies from third country sources. Since most major drug companies are American, the damage has been severe.

            U.S. embargos historically imposed against Iraq, Iran, Southern Rhodesia, Chile, Libya and South Africa have not restricted food imports. The Cuban policy does. So America, the most humanitarian nation on the planet, has an official policy of trying to starve the citizens of a small country ninety miles away.

            Since 1992 the embargo’s secondary trade restriction prohibits ships from loading or unloading cargo in U.S. ports for six months after delivering any cargo to Cuba. Thus shippers from other countries have been discouraged and have virtually stopped transports to the island nation. The effect has been to dramatically drive up shipping costs for Cuba when it imports critical medical supplies and goods from Asia, Europe and South America suppliers.

            Technically the U.S. Commerce Department is allowed, in principle, to license individual sales of medicines and medical supplies to Cuba. In practice, however, the licensing process is arduous and difficult. There’s frequently a denial of licensing based on “…..would be detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests.” The licensing process has drawn the attention of the United Nations, which has repeatedly condemned the embargo and the denials of permits, to no avail. The negative effect of the embargo has been pervasive.

            We openly trade with China, Viet Nam and other countries although we do not approve of their types of government or their leaders. Why Cuba? The answer is simple: Florida expatriates from Cuba represent one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country. An office seeker in Florida, from a local councilmember to a presidential contender, must pledge a continuation of the barbaric and oppressive embargo as a condition of receiving vast sums of political dollars. That ensures the brutal, life-threatening Cuban embargo will likely last another fifty years or more. Americans should be ashamed. 

Basketball fans are enjoying the playoffs now. Naturally I’m a big Okla City Thunder fan. The Okies have beaten the Dallas Mavs twice now and seem to have Mark Cuban’s guys’ number.

I’m amazed at the physicality of the game. I guess the zebras could call a foul on every possession based on how brutal the game is. I see Blake Griffin, the L.A. Clipper & former OU Sooner, get the hell beat out of him every game. Yet he comes back.

Ron Artest is history. The guy seemingly has some mental problems that detract from great skills. His elbow on James Harden of the Thunder was a cheap shop.

Look for the NBA games to get even more physical, if that’s possible. I just can’t believe it.

Obama and the Supreme Court

           As the United States Supreme Court considers the most revolutionary legislation in decades, the so-called “Obamacare” health act, the president has recently resorted to his “bully pulpit” to apparently send a message to the Supremes. 

             “I’d remind conservative commentators that for years what we’ve heard is ‘The biggest problem on the bench is judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint’ – that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law,” Obama said. He continued: “Well, this is a good example. And I’m pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step.” The president went on to say that if the court overturns the 2010 Affordable Care and Prevention Act, the decision would be “unprecedented.”

             The president’s political remarks reveal a striking lack of knowledge how the High Court operates.  No pressure, regardless of the source, will persuade the Chief Justice and his eight colleagues to deviate from their two oaths of office, one pledging to support and defend the constitution, and the other to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal rights to the poor and the rich. The justices only rule on questions of a constitutional nature, and the health care act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama is rife with constitutional challenges.

             The core of the legislation, the so-called “mandate,” poses troubling legal questions for the administration and supporters of the act.  The act requires all Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, assessed as a tax on their 1040 tax return. The obvious question that most of the justices posed to the Solicitor General and lawyers representing the administration dealt with a limit, if any, on what Congress can compel the American people to do. Where to draw the line and find whether the Health Care Act crossed it or not will be the primary challenge of the High Court in ruling on the legislation.

             Columnists and observers at the court’s unprecedented six hours of oral argument about the Health Care Act have repeatedly commented about the questions the justices posed to the lawyers appearing before them. Many have drawn inferences from those questions how the individual justices will ultimately vote. That, in my view, is sheer folly. The questions invariably offer not a clue how the justices will eventually rule. In fact, history has shown that some justices ask questions that are diametrically opposite to the opinion eventually written by him or her.

             The real work began long before the arguments in the form of a legion of highly skilled law clerks dissecting the voluminous act and researching the constitutional laws that might apply to it.  That research will result in memoranda submitted to Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues on different sections of the law and issues that will be coalesced into a draft of a final version.

             Not long before the summer recess, the justices will meet behind closed doors and informally discuss the case. The most junior justice must verbally announce her view first, followed by seniority and ultimately, the Chief Justice himself. On reaching a decision, and determined by the numerical vote, either John Roberts or the senior justice representing a view contrary to the minority vote will be assigned to write the official opinion of the High Court or delegate same to another member of the court.  The clerks for the designated author will once again start their work, formulating drafts of an opinion their boss might approve. Not once in the history of the Supreme Court has the private agreement reached in chambers on how to rule in a particular case been leaked which speaks to the court’s integrity and professionalism. In some instances the opinion is not signed by a named justice and is labeled simply Per Curiam, or an opinion from the whole court itself.

             Newspaper editorials frequently criticize the High Court for rulings, especially in high-profile criminal cases. In doing so, the print media is exercising its First Amendment right of a free press, which the court zealously protects.

             Judicial activism is a two-way street and when the politics reverse, people reverse arguments. 

             One thing is certain: the United States Supreme Court will not respond to the president’s rhetoric or urgings in any manner. It will allow its final, landmark decision expected this summer to speak for it.  There’s an old saying: The Supreme Court is not final because it’s infallible; it’s infallible because it’s final.

This will be interesting. Mitt Romney is the presumptive G.O.P. nominee. A gentleman and evidently brilliant. He has made some bone-head moves, but so has the incumbent. Mitt will have a hard time being critical of the new Health Care Act since the Massachusetts legislation he put through served as the model for Obama’s.

The Supreme Court will rule on the Health Care Act by end of June, just before the Court’s annual recess. At first I didn’t think the legislation had a chance of being ruled invalid but now I believe it will be.  I’ll post a blog on Obama and the Supreme Court later.

Will publish my memoirs later this month. I know…..I don’t deserve a “memoir” but this is a story (true) about growing up in Southeast Oklahoma. Morris Publishing out of Kearney, Neb will do the work. More about this later. Have had a blast writing it.

Casual observers will agree that obesity is epidemic in America.  It is a frightening problem and alarmingly, seems to be prevalent with our youth.  Visit an ice cream parlor and note obese parents followed by extremely fat toddlers.  Why? I suggest the French may have an answer to what ails America.  The French don’t snack. They will tear off the end of a fresh baguette and eat it as they leave the boulangerie. That’s about all you see consumed on the street. In the USA, you see pizza, hot dogs, nachos, tacos, heroes, potato chips, sandwiches, half-gallon buckets of soft drinks (diet, of course), and heaven knows what else being consumed on the hoof.  The key, I think, is that French portions are fairly modest. Plus the French consume red wine, more than ten times more wine than Americans. Voila! Paradox explained.

To justify the unwarranted invasion of a sovereign nation and the killing of millions of people (including over 50,000 young U.S. servicemen) Robert McNamara and the generals in the Pentagon convinced LBJ of the “domino theory.” This absurd notion was premised on a belief that if America didn’t invade and fight Communism in Vietnam, other Asian countries, such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, etc., would fall to communism “like dominos.”  The Defense Department brass believed that the American people were so gullible that we’d fall for, and support, an ill-fated invasion and occupation of another country so long as we were spoon-fed with a slick marketing campaign.  We did, until we awakened and took to the streets.  In doing so we stopped an unjust war and toppled LBJ.  One can argue that if Americans had not turned to violent demonstrations to stop the needless slaughter in Vietnam, we’d still be there “preventing the dominos from falling.”

Now, we’re doing it again in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again we need a slogan to believe in:  The one I’m hearing that is being advanced by Robert Gates and his generals is “if we don’t fight them over there, we’ll have to fight them here.”  Yeah right. Once again, the ads are on the way. Get ready, America, we’re being suckered again. The defense contractors and their lobbyists are laughing at the stupid taxpayers who are paying the way.

The answer:  United States of America & Somalia. That’s correct.  A global children’s rights treaty ratified by every U.N. member except the U.S. & Somalia provides that children have basic rights to education, health care and protection from abuse.  What an outrage that the U.S. Government will not recognize basic rights for children!

Finally, America is apparently reconsidering. President Obama is reviving efforts to have the U.S. sign onto the children’s rights treaty.  It’s about time. We should be ashamed to be aligned with a country (Somalia) that has not had a functioning government in two decades in not recognizing basic rights for children. Could this be the result of lobbying efforts by industries who employ 8-9 year olds to work 12 hour shifts in dirty factories?