Ted Kennedy; moderate Muslims; and the return to values

No one wishes ill-will or painful sorrow for the Kennedy family members who love and honor their Uncle Teddy. Horrible and cruel things were directed from the far-left at President Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston both when they were diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease - as President Reagan said when he told us that he was entering that long journey into the dark night of soul. How many belittled Nancy Reagan and seemed to be gleeful at the tragedy she would face alone? Americans don't have to like each others politics but we can agree that when tragedy strikes a family, we can feel compassion for the family. For me, it is difficult to have much compassion for the extreme far-left, the ones who seem to blame America, and, by extension me and you, for the problems of the entire world when we are the most generous people on earth. What intellectual giants! How do we take responsibility for the coal plants in China belching out black soot into the air 24/7? Back to... Having said that, I heard two interesting comments on the Michael Savage show last night sort by accident. Health care in America: It was mentioned that Teddy Kennedy will not have to wait for health care as will be the case when we ordinary people are forced into universal health care. I would suggest that if you are a 75 year old man who has paid into the health care system all of your life and are now on Medicare, your treatment options would be slim and slimmer all the way to none. Why? You aren't important or viewed as productive. Weep not for Senator Ted Kennedy - 45 years so far - in the United States Senate, itself the epitome of the "welfare state on steroids." For 45 years, we have paid taxes and have provided Senator Kennedy with the best health care available in the world. No waiting, no limited choice in doctors, no limits on the treatment he will get - paid for by us, keeping in mind that he has no need of our tax dollars to pay for his medical treatment - treatment to which you will never have access. The Senate and the House - designed by our Founding Fathers - to be groups of elected representatives for the House and state legislature appointed Senators - have gone from being Senate/House citizen statesmen with jobs in the communities of those they represent to being the "poster systems" at its greatest for welfare jobs. These statesmen have gone so far as to penalize their fellow elected leaders if they work in their local communities and thereby, stay in touch with their constituents. While our prayers go out to the family, rest easy; your tax dollars will keep the Senator as safe as possible and, due to your dedicated and hard work, the Senator will have no medical bills. Not one... The families who have been torn apart due to policies supported by Senator Kennedy and the "welfare dependency" state he helped create for them can be at peace knowing that no one in the Senate or House has to deal with getting insurance. They only have to get elected... Those families who cannot access vouchers to move their children from failing and dangerous schools can take heart that the Senator has opposed school vouchers for poor children (any skin color) in failing schools? Why? Would it be that a good education would allow these children upward mobility? Senator Kennedy may well have some good years left to "represent" various interest groups in the Senate. He will receive prayers from many across the nation and especially from the very people he has "kept down." Non-radical Muslims to bring religious values to the United States?: I could not believe this one but I heard this on the Michael Savage show, last night. I'll have to paraphrase because I was not able to write down the comment. Essentially, Michael was speaking about the seeming dwindling of Christian values in America, our turning away from the strong bonds to God that we had and maintained from our founding until the latter part of the 1900s. The point was that the non-fundamentalist/non-radical Islamists Muslims in the United States have a chance to re-introduce spiritual values into our nation which seems rudderless and generally spiritually void. A few comments were made regarding the Jewish Reform movement and the dwindling numbers of people attending Christian churches today. I can see this in the large, urban cities such as San Francisco, New York, and others; however, middle America's Christian churches are filling with continual and renewing growth. My small church has been experiencing the same ebb and flow - the reduction and and new growth. The ebb and flow of times and the tide. People come and go; life is not guaranteed to any of us. Civilizations rise and fall. The point is that we have a choice in some of these matters - the latter. Martin Luther changed the world when he nailed his 99 items to the door of the church. He changed the world... We can either engage in life or we can let it pass us by. Either way, life goes on - with or without us... Let's be a part of it. And although Mary Jo Kopechne is no longer with us; her life ended at the age of 29 - no husband, no children, no grandchildren; Senator Kennedy still has life to live, decisions to make, grandchildren to hold and love. He is human as are we; my prayers are with the family of Mary Jo Kopechne. I do not wish Senator Kennedy ill-will but I cannot gush about things that I do not feel. I cannot spout off a litany of the good he had done for 45 years in the Senate - I cringe at his handiwork in support of abortions-on-demand, the killing of our unborn. But I cannot judge him nor can I tout the "good" he has done. As Doc Holliday said in "Tombstone," 'my hypocrisy can only go so far.' I have to step away... Compassion can come from us; Forgiveness comes from God.