AFTER THE FACT Now that Saddam Husein has been executed according to directives of an Iranian Court of Law, I, suddenly, find more people speaking out in opposition to the continued use of hanging in punishing criminals, of using the threat of it in prevention of potentially criminal pathways being chosen and as one means of maintaining a semblance of peace in certain areas of our, at times rather troubled Earth.
Have your feelings concerning hanging changed in any way recently?
In think the recent sneaking of the Heusen execution was unfortunate. I did not like the fact that it was so blatantly displayed on TV, the Internet and in printed materials as well. The real damage may yet be in the making as "experts"- self-styled as such - take existing materials and re-fashion them to suit their own highly divergent ideas. I do not know what the official records might show how often official photos have been made to encouraging serious studies of cases and to study the reaction of participants in that phase of the event, how they may be used to defer or pr prevent future crimes of a like nature, and to warn way curiosity seekers - opportunists such as guards carrying forbidden hidden cameras. Certainly the courts can determine just how far they can go in allowing journalists an and "fringe" associates access.
This was all brought to home for me this morning when I heard a ten-year old school girl declare unbidden: "Yes, we watched the man getting hanged on TV!" She knotted both hands to the side of her throat; stared into nothingness for a second, before falling semi-limp and gasping for breath.
Revived, she stood and declared. "My Daddy says and I say, watch out for anybody who goes around hanging other people. Oh, we felt so sorry for the the tired old man they killed...."
In wonder how many children and adults saw the execution in that manner.
Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 1-6-07 [c344wds]
THE DAY... It is not at all unusual for many of us to be prophets on the last day of the year known as 2006. It has been unusual in many ways. It will be one which will be remembered. Unpleasantly,too, for far too many people. The over shadowing of the war has been at the base of much of our doubts and uncertainties concerning survival. TV coverage of war in Iraq, and elsewhere, has done a great deal to show many people the horrors of war. Many people are meeting with this for the first time in their lives. They have never known a war which involve them so personal and so close. The destruction of the World Trade Towers in New York City opened many minds to the fact that wars can be almost anywhere at any time - including here. The bombing of trains, cars and planes as a daily routine have convinced many people that war is possible here at home.
The war is wider that we admit it to be.
I find otherwise knowledgeable people who are totally unaware of Ethiopia has been bombing Somalia in the oil-rich African "horn"area. They also have an invading army there and have taken and lost the capital within the last few days.
The Ethiospian forces are there are there to prevent a total take over of the Somalian government by a radical Muslim faction. Doesn't that sound like the situation in Lebanon a few, months ago.
The "battlefield" is in a multitude of varied locations and difficult to pin down.
The hanging of Saddam went rather quietly at first. There were several protest displays but none seemed to have had any real support. That will come as diplomats feel each other out and decide what actions may be possible.
On the whole, the outlook for the New Year called 2007 appears to be a rather gloomy one. We will have to wait, for one thing - for our at-home comedians to finish there up on their current line of gags about it being a "007" year with James Bond adventures ahead. That, in itself is a good omen. It is a fine thing that we can, as a nation, face up to what could be a very serious decade for all with a good sense of humor.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 12-31-06(A) [c406wds]
IF I WERE....If I were were writing a regular diary I would have writing a note marking the fact that former President Jerry Ford had died on the day after Christmas 2006. He, being one of those people who always always seemed do appear to be younger than than their actual span of years. Ford was ninety-three at the time of his death. He holds a special place among our Presidents.
Knowing the person of quality he was; seeing the good he did and observing the influence he had on other people set some higher marks for those who might aspire to a place in The Oval Office in years and decades ahead. His steady leadership gave us a pattern of the way public life might best be lived and viewed the people. You are probably among those who, along the way, more than once had at times when that Ford factor of honesty worked to your advantage.
Critics, unable to find many actual flaws, sought, and often found element of humor his actions. He was, one might say, athletically clumsy or awkward. He was photographed bumping his head on low aircraft doors; falling down steps and from platforms, as well, plus slips and slides on slick surfaces. Specialists in politically-oriented slurry love to point out that President Jerry Ford,whom, you may recall served as Vice-President of our nation when Spiro Agnew resigned, was never elected as either Vice-President or as President!
You can't claim you voted for Jerry Ford for either of those two high offices. I wonder, at times, how many voters do so.
Andrew McCaskey Sr. amccsr@adelphia.net 12-29-06 [c285wds]
