George A. Sprecace M.D., J.D., F.A.C.P. and Allergy Associates of New London, P.C.
www.asthma.drsprecace.com
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RAPID RESPONSE (Archives)...Daily Commentary on News of the Day
This is a new section.  It will offer fresh, quick reactions by myself to news and events of the day, day by day, in this rapid-fire world of ours.  Of course, as in military campaigns, a rapid response in one direction may occasionally have to be followed by a "strategic withdrawal" in another direction.  Charge that to "the fog of war", and to the necessary flexibility any mental or military campaign must maintain to be effective.  But the mission will always be the same: common sense, based upon facts and "real politick", supported by a visceral sense of Justice and a commitment to be pro-active.  That's all I promise.
GS

Click here to return to the current Rapid Response list


MONDAY and TUESDAY, January 30 and 31, 2017

CONNECTICUT: A POSTER-STATE FOR NATION-WIDE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PROFLIGACY IN DEALING WITH THE PEOPLE'S FINANCES.

As reported earlier in this section, I tried to address this problem in 1990 during my campaign for the State Senate...and was rewarded with defeat at the polls by both Democrats and Republicans.

GS

A legacy of debt: Connecticut standing on its own fiscal cliff - CTMirror.Com

SUNDAY, January 29, 2017

ON THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION:
Let's get some facts straight here!
  1. The United States Constitution guarantees Freedom of Religion, not Freedom from Religion.
  2. An attack on any one Religion is an attack on all Religions.
  3. A counter-attack on vicious, murderous, God-less fundamentalist "Islam" and Isis that have declared and begun their global attack on the civil and religious world is NOT an attack on the great Religion of Islam.
  4. The Religion of Islam in this country will never be allowed to operate as a Secular government for Muslims in this country as it does in Muslim countries (ie. Sharia Law). America is "...one nation, under God..." and under Law, American Law. Muslims have a choice in this country: abide by American Law or leave America. To amalgamate and integrate into American Society would also be great - for all Americans and also for themselves. Immigrants to this country who have not integrated into American society - while retaining their own identity and culture - have always remained second - class citizens.
  5. America has a right and an obligation to identify and to defend its national borders and its immigration policies - especially from those who have clearly stated their intent to do us grave harm. This is an existential threat. American courts must realize and support this situation. And representatives of Religions, while always promoting the Golden Rule, must avoid over-stepping their bounds, at risk of becoming irrelevant.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?"

GS

SATURDAY, January 28, 2017

RR#1

ATTENZIONE!
In recent months, several useful clinical topics - apart from the ever-present "urban legends" - have been reliably reported and deserve inclusion in standard medical practice, in my opinion.

1) Regarding Proton Pump Inhibitors (eg. Nexium, Protonix, etc), the plethora of recent warnings have been found by GI specialists to be overblown.  The most important goal is controlling GERD totally. If medications like Ranitidine (H2 antihistamines with dual effect) and Sucralfate work, fine.  If they don't, continue the use of PPI's.

2) Low Vitamin D has been found to be both nearly epidemic in the general population and important in many more areas of Health than just regarding bone health.  Thus, Vitamin D levels should be obtained on all patients (25 Hydroxy Vitamin D), and levels below 30 should be treated aggressively with Vitamin D replacement. 
3) Sleep Deprivation is clearly an epidemic in today's society. There are many causes, including addiction to phones and gizmos used to and through bedtime, and the inordinate and inhuman demands of some employers to have employees "on call" at all times.  But an easily diagnosable and treatable cause is Obstructive Sleep Apnea, also present in epidemic form if looked for.  I use a Sleep Questionnaire and a Nocturnal O2 Saturation Test (performed at home) as screening devices. If either or both of these and the patient's initial history are suggestive, I order an Overnight Sleep Study, preferably performed in a formal Sleep Lab.  If that test is positive for OSA, the patient is placed on CPAP and/or on O2 during all hours of sleep. Untreated OSA  contributes to or causes obesity, GERD, high blood pressure, diabetes...and sudden death during sleep!

4) The following is an "oldie but a goodie": THE PROPER EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA.
Notwithstanding the resistance and temerity of too many Pulmonary physicians to acknowledge this decades-long established fact, Bronchial Asthma - and also Chronic Bronchitis (aka "COPD") cannot be properly evaluated or treated without an Allergy Evaluation. In fact, COPD is a waste-basket diagnosis without that, a point at long last acknowledged by the admission of combined COPD - Bronchial Asthma syndrome. The patient, at least, should recognize this...and should self-refer if necessary. 

5) Mental Health in today's world is much more than the absence of established psychiatric disease...and much more  than taking handfuls of psychotropic medications. See the section on this web-site entitled "Physician - Patient Spirituality" for some valuable insights.

6) Most patients these days have 3,4,or 5 different physicians. And too often, they don't talk to each other about the patient's multiple and often intertwined conditions and needs.  Seek out a physician who adds "coordination of care" to his or her offerings in your behalf.

7) We learned in Medical School (for me having graduated 60 years ago) that "the three most important attributes of a physician from the viewpoint of a patient are: Ability, Affability, and Availability...
in REVERSE ORDER."  Make sure that your physician is AVAILABLE  to you when you need him.

GS

RR#2

FINALLY, ADULT-SPEAK!

GS

Tycoon Carlos Slim Offers to Help Mexico Negotiate With Trump - NewsMax.Com

RR#3

AS I WAS SAYING...
Where have the Bishops been during the last centuries when 1% of Mexicans own 99% of the land? Where was the Church when "Liberation Theology" was condemned out of hand as "Communist".

How many Mexican Bishops live in the grinding poverty of their flock that they have acquiesced to?

"LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE".

GS

Mexican bishops blast Trump’s plan for a border wall as “inhuman” - CruxNow.Com

RR#4

TO ALL STUDENTS PREPARING FOR OR ALREADY IN COLLEGE:
...and you pay between $20,000. and $80,000. per year for this?  An out-of -mind experience predicted by George Orwell.

GS

Censorship Is Free Speech? It Must Be the Class of 1984 - WallStreetJournal.Com

FRIDAY, January 27, 2017

RR#1

NOT A BAD IDEA,
Depending on how many WACKOS there really are in California.
Then we in America could have our own Western Wall.

GS

Proposal would establish California as separate nation - TheDay.Com

RR#2

REGARDING AMERICAN NATIONAL IMMIGRATION POLICY...AND RELIGION.
Nothing that follows is at variance with my positions on this subject as posted here for years. You may look it up.
1) As President Trump has said, a nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.
2) The failure of our immigration laws and policies to date has been the direct result of our failure as business people, as citizens and as legislators to demand the enforcement of related laws already on the books: that "great sucking sound" in reverse.  As a result, the current situation is our fault. And cries against "Amnesty" are hollow and cynical.
3) This is a nation of immigrants. And the vast majority of new immigrants already here are good people, family people...religious, law-abiding, hard-working. They and their children born here should be immediately given a track toward citizenship. By contrast, law-breakers should be hunted down, punished and deported ASAP.
4) A Border Wall is an ugly but necessary means of restoring our national sovereignty, given the geography of our southern border and the abject failure and unwillingness of our "neighbors" to take care of their own citizens. And those nations should not be rewarded for those actions and inactions.
5) Religion, certainly Judeo-Christian Religion, is all about taking care of one's fellow man. What do you expect them to say, consistent with the bedrock of their Faith, about people in need? But theirs should not be political statements about how a nation regains and retains its sovereignty. Josef Stalin had that right, however vicious his observation:
"How Many Divisions Does The Pope Have?"

This is how the Trump Administration and the rest of our government should proceed in healing this self-inflicted wound.

GS

RR#3

EXACTLY RIGHT,
especially regarding efforts at Trump / Putin rapprochement...and regarding his reference to the "military - industrial complex" of the world.

GS

Gorbachev: Trump, Putin Need to Align as 'World Preparing for War' - NewsMax.Com

RR#4

"NEWS FLASH: STATE DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP RESIGNING IN DROVES".
Now there's a SWAMP!

GS

RR#5

DOING WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD DO...
What a concept!

GS

No Surprises from President Trump - GingrichProductions.Com

THURSDAY, January 26, 2017

WHAT? A RATIONAL, ACCURATE AND CHARITABLE COMMENT FROM A SELF-DESCRIBED LIBERAL?
Right / Write On.  And Thank You.

GS

Political differences not as stark as letters suggest - TheDay.Com

WEDNESDAY, January 25, 2017

RR#1

Quote of the Week.................
 
When asked what he thinks about General Mattis being sworn in as  Secretary of Defense, Rob O’Neill (the man who killed Bin Laden) said :

“General Mattis has a bear rug in his home, but it's not dead. It's just afraid to move.”

RR#2

Trump Gives Jacksonian Inaugural - NewsMax.Com

RR#3

REGARDING THE ISSUE OF "VOTER FRAUD"...

2016 is the best election to investigate, given the level of controversy, of animus, of our vanishing Southern border, and the stakes involved. For this purpose, the pronouncements of the "foxes in the chicken coops" are not reassuring.

The pending investigation just announced by the Trump administration will be of great value, whatever it finds or doesn't find.

I suggest they start with Chicago and the entire State of IIlinois, a bellweather for this if there ever was one.

GS

RR#4

REGARDING THE ISSUE OF "VOTER FRAUD"...
 2016 is the best election to investigate, given the level of controversy, of animus, of our vanishing Southern border, and the stakes involved. For this purpose, the pronouncements of the "foxes in the chicken coops" are not reassuring. 
The pending in

GS

The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump - GingrichProductions.Com

TUESDAY, January 24, 2017

God BLESS THEM ALL.
PS: Women have always been the greater of the sexes. 

GS

VETERANS ARE VETERANS
 
May God Bless and look after all those who have served and are serving.



We see lots of pictures of wounded male veterans but women
vets get wounded and maimed too.

You  may need to take a second, closer look though.  The first thing I
saw was a bunch of beautiful smiles.

Study this picture again. Let the story it tells sink in.  These women and
many others, as well as their male comrades, paid  this price for our
freedoms.

And they did it for less than what welfare recipients and over-paid athletes
who choose to "take a knee" when the National Anthem is played.
 

They risked these injuries (or death) FOR AMERICA!
GOD BLESS ALL OF THEM!!!




MONDAY, January 23, 2017

MY DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
For the last eight years, and especially during the last 18 months, I have had to keep up with the distortions, lies, threats and outrageous actions emanating from Washington, from its wholly-owned subsidiary - the "Main Media", and from the Articulate, Arrogant and Asinine "Left". 
No Mas.
Now rational adults are back in charge. The irrational mobs will be treated here with "zealous neglect". In fact, I suggest that Bill O'Reilly, who gives too much air time to these idiots in his quest to be "fair and balanced", should do the same. 
I will continue to critique the positions and actions of our leaders and of rational and fact-based commentators.
The rest of you: grow up, if you can. You don't matter.

GS

SUNDAY, January 22, 2017

RR#1

WHAT THE HELL...!
The Physical Exam might be called
"GETTING TO KNOW YOU..."
Or doesn't that count anymore?

GS

AMA Holds Funeral Service for Physical Exam - GomerBlog.Com

RR#2

THE ARCTIC...AND GLOBAL WARMING.

For a number of years, I have been maintaining a section on my web site (www.asthma.drsprecace.com) entitled THE ARCTIC.  I have changed the title to reflect its more global scope, as noted above.
Today, I provide a significant addition to the information available there - probably the last addition for some time, in view of the unsettled state of that subject.

However, I offer here my "bottom-line", so far.
  1. Global Warming is Real, and will be with us for a long time.
  2. Global Warming is the main reason for our more violent weather, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
  3. Human activity is a clear contributor to that change.
  4. How much of a contributor is a legitimate question, which should be subject to scientific analysis and not to invective and diatribe.
  5. Since Global Warming is acknowledged to cause many more serious problems for humanity than promoting benefit (like greater crop production from higher CO2 levels), we have an obligation, personally and as societies, to mitigate our contribution to this process as much as is consistent with our current needs, survival and progress. We have no obligation to threaten our needs and survival with excessive modifications in human activity that could easily produce global disasters, unrest, famines, floods, and War.
  6. We do have an obligation to stay informed on the matter - and to resist the inevitable efforts at manipulation of this issue for personal, organizational or national gain. "No Crisis Should Be Wasted" has no place in an issue that eventually could impact the survival of Humanity.
It is with this position in mind that I offer my research and information:

THE ARCTIC... AND GLOBAL WARMING.

GS

RR#3

Movie Review...

"Hidden Figures"

Two parts infuriating, three parts uplifting.
Altogether, a five star effort by all involved, in all categories.
And the best part: it's a true story!
Another reminder, which we human beings always need, of how low we can descend, and of how high we can rise.
An "A"...and a multi-Oscar accomplishment.

GS

SATURDAY, January 21, 2017

RR#1

Folks,
this Ad appears in today's The Day, pA3, right in the middle of all the reportage about the Trump Presidency. 
We're both here to stay.

GS



RR#2

"MY BODY, MY CHOICE".
WELL, NOT EXACTLY.
A woman's choice...UNTIL she is pregnant.
From that moment on, from that conception until natural birth, a woman has responsibility for two human beings, each with the basic right to life. 
That's a woman's special gift: to support life from conception - not to destroy it. That's why she must safeguard that gift...and offer it with great care. 
Pope Francis has spoken clearly on this subject, not only for Catholics but for all moral human beings.

"Here I feel it urgent to state that, if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed. So great is the value of human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the womb, that no alleged right to one's body can justify a decision to terminate that life."

THAT IS EXACTLY THE ISSUE.

GS

THURSDAY and FRIDAY, January 19 and 20, 2017

RR#1

WHAT A FARCE!
THANK GOD THAT FORMER PRESIDENT BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS GONE.

GS
Thousands join Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore in pre-inauguration protest outside Trump Hotel - Yahoo.Com

RR#2

HEREWITH, TWO GENERATIONS OF CYNICAL AND FRAUDULENT COLLEGE ADMINISTATORS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT ENABLERS.
And what can be said about the students? Are they deadbeats...
or are they repaying the true value of their "education" for many of them?

GS

Student Debt Payback Far Worse Than Believed - Yahoo.Com

RR#3

HERE IS PART OF THE SWAMP.
Time for Lady Justice to remove her blindfold.

GS

The Clinton Foundation Is Dead — But The Case Against Hillary Isn't - Investors.Com

RR#4

HAIL TO THE CHIEF.

GS

Inaugural cheers, fireworks: Trump sweeps in for his big day - TheDay.Com

RR#5

COULD IT BE TRUE? COULD IT BE REAL?
This sounds like my plan for Connecticut when I ran (unsuccessfully) for State Senate from the 20th District as a Democrat in 1990...before the State Income Tax and before Connecticut became nearly bankrupt (or hadn't you noticed). At that time, I offered a plan to reduce the then-26 State agencies to 18 and to reduce all remaining agency budgets by 5%. I also declined to offer support for Weicker's State income tax unless and until these cuts were implemented. It turns out that I was opposed in that effort by both Republicans and by Democrats - including those in New London whom I had already served in elected public office (Board of Education and City Council) for 6 years.
You're Welcome.

GS

Report: Trump Actually Draining the Swamp, Preparing Huge Cuts - PJMedia.Com


WEDNESDAY, January 18, 2017

RR#1

PRECISELY, YOU TWITS!

GS
Turns out that Donald Trump doesn't really like Twitter -- and it's the media's fault - Yahoo.Com

RR#2

MORE ON WHAT HAS PASSED FOR "BLACK LEADERSHIP" FOR DECADES...AND THE RESULTS FOR THEIR BLIND FOLLOWERS.

See "John Lewis's Record In Congress Is Less Than Heroic", by Jason L. Riley, WSJ Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, Opinion, pA19.

GS

TUESDAY, January 17, 2017

RR#1

VERY INTERESTING: RELEVANT HISTORY.

GS
Lewis skipped Bush inaugural too, said he was not president - WashingtonExaminer.Com

RR#2

VERY INTERESTING../.AND WELL-BALANCED.

GS
Please Mr. President, put down your phone - WashingtonExaminer.Com

RR#3

WHAT PUTIN HAS TO SAY ABOUT AMERICA IN TRANSITION.

GS
Putin accuses Obama administration of working to undermine Trump - TheDay.Com

MONDAY, January 16, 2017

A LITTLE EARLY TO COMPARE PRESIDENT - ELECT TRUMP WITH ONE WHO "IS WIDELY REGARDED AS ONE OF AMERICA'S BEST PRESIDENTS". ALSO A LITTLE EARLY TO DECLARE HIS LEGACY.

GS

What, one wonders, would Mark Twain make of Donald Trump? Twain was not known for political punditry, but late in his life he acquired a visceral aversion to President Theodore Roosevelt, who was the showy egoist of his era. Indeed, the novelist labeled the Rough Rider far and away the worst President we have ever had and the most formidable disaster that has befallen the country since the Civil War.

Mark Twain on Teddy Roosevelt and Guess Who - CTViewPoints.Org

SUNDAY, January 15, 2017

RR#1

PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT BE SUGGESTING THIS PROPOSAL,  SINCE I DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO EVALUATE ITS FEASIBILITY.

But why not consider including all persons currently enrolled in Obamacare into basic Medicare coverage, with any Supplemental coverage to be bought by them - or not? That might be at least an immediate holding action to be followed by a more appropriate and lasting solution to be drafted and passed including the Health Care Reforms that I have long proposed. Please see a Summary of those Reforms, which follows.

GS

Trump says new health plan will be offered - MDLinx.Com

THE STATE OF OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
By George A. Sprecace., M.D., J.D.
A Recent Interview with Adam Sprecace, PE,
On the Lee Elci Radio Show, December 13, 2016
Q&A


Note:  You can also hear the segment broadcast on December 30, 2015...


1) A BRIEF SUMMARY OF HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA?
Quality: excellent at the top; modest on average, and decreasing.
Access: sporadic.
Cost: excessive and wasteful.
IN GREAT NEED OF EFFECTIVE REFORM.

2) WHAT HAS LIFE BEEN LIKE, WORKING IN THE TIME OF OBAMACARE?
(eg. patient workload, reimbursement rates and dependability, electronic record-keeping, etc.)
Workload increasing; compensation decreasing; EMR’s poor for the private practicing physician and patient, necessary for hospitals but generating increasing cost and workload and decreasing quality as measured by productive provider – patient interaction.

3) HOW HAS OBAMACARE AFFECTED PHYSICIANS?
Much more stress and strain, with less physician and patient satisfaction.
Physician burn-out and declining physician health.
Pressure to practice UNETHICALLY: eg. ACO’s, BUNDLING, etc., which for first time would force the physician’s self-interest to work at variance with that of his or her patient, with whom he has a Fiduciary Responsibility.

4) IS OBAMACARE GETTING BETTER OR WORSE?
Increased premiums, reduced coverage….
Obamacare was and is a Christmas Tree of Wants, with no attention given to needed Health Care Reforms. The Goals are reduced costs at any cost, and increased Regulations by many who have no knowledge of what they are doing. Example: THE 30 DAY READMSSION RULE, which substantially  penalizes hospitals for readmitting an inpatient within 30 days of discharge…EVEN FOR AN UNRELATED READMISSION DIAGNOSIS! 

5) WHAT ABOUT THE PENALTIES FOR REFUSING TO BUY MEDICAL CARE COVERAGE UNDER OBAMACARE?
20 million subject to penalty. 8 million paid penalty. 12 million exempt. Thus, more subject to penalty than were covered.

6) WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING WITH RELIGIOUS HOSPITALS THAT REFUSE  TO FOLLOW OBAMACARE MANDATES?
Endless Litigation, including the USSC. Coercion: loss of Freedom of Religion, reduced quality and availability due to intimidation and decisions in a System (ie. Catholic Hospitals) that is nearly the largest in the nation.

7) WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT OBAMACARE?
Repeal and Replace, with a two year transition period. a) increase insurance policy competition across State lines; b) reduce and rationalize Regulations; c) make all patients financially at stake at every encounter (HSA’a, co-pays, defined contribution instead of defined benefit plans, etc; d) retain coverage for pre-existing conditions while imposing penalties for continued bad life-styles, which account for about 50% of all health care costs; e) as “Defensive Medicine” accounts for 20-30% of health care orders – costs, REFORM MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAW – eg. Health Law Courts; f) promote and enforce End Of Life Decisions – 50% of Medecare costs occur in the last 6 months of a recipients life!;g) make electronic medical records OPTIONAL for private physicians; h) re-think and revise EMTALA LAW – currently a poor and wasteful use of ER’s; i) prohibit UNETHICAL medical practice and payment programs; j) pay physicians fairly – they are now bearing the brunt of this Christmas Tree. ETC.

8) DO PHYSICIANS AND HOSPITALS GENERALLY AGREE WITH YOUR POSITIONS ON OBAMACARE?
Most physicians, yes.  Hospitals are ambivalent: gaming the system where they can; merging and selling out; trying to “go along” so as to “be at the table” when government decisions are made – not working; acting like trained businessmen when dealing with professionals: “win-lose” instead of “win-win”, treating professionals like widgets…. A bad plan.

WHAT IS YOUR PROGNOSIS?
Short-Term, GUARDED. Much damage has been done.  Long-Term, FAIR, now that competents have retaken the ASYLUM.

NB: GEORGE A. SPRECACE, M.D., J.D. has been writing and speaking on this subject since the late 1970’s, a practicing physician for 60 years…and counting.

These Commentaries are found on www.asthma.drsprecace.com

RR#2

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO - AND OVER 70 TO BLOVIATE.
This is the greatest failure of the failing United Nations since its founding in the 1940's.
And they continue to offer the same thin gruel.
As we say in Italian: BASTA...and AVANTI!

GS

World diplomats tell Trump, Israel: Mideast needs peace - Yahoo.Com

RR#3

"PEOPLE NEEDING PEOPLE"

GS

Most doctors ignore one of the most potent ways to improve health, Penn experts say - MDLinx.Com

RR#4

ABOUT OBAMA AND RACE RELATIONS.
This commentary, offered on the day before Martin Luther King Day, is based closely on the Editorial in The Day (www.theday.com), Jan. 15, 2017. Please read it closely.

1) Dr. King, if he were alive, would be disappointed.
2) The country has changed, and not for the better in this regard.
3) In recent decades, except for pockets of stupid and/or malicious people, non-Blacks have been prepared to act and have acted in a color-blind manner.
4) But they have been confronted by two negative forces: a) so-called Black "Leaders" constantly mouthing a sermon (including from many churches of worship) of special history, special demands and also special guilt to placed on all current non-Blacks for the disaster of Slavery centuries ago; b) decades of Black family destruction, rampant abuse of their women and millions of related abortions, destruction of inner city public schools and of their students, thanks to Black support of those benighted schools and systems, and rampant crime perpetrated mainly by the products of those forces - with no respect for the Law, any Law.
5) America is built on Diversity, celebrates Diversity. You want Equality? Can you handle Equality?
If so, the vast majority of Americans are ready to share Equality with you. Just address the above issues as a noble people - like the rest of us. If you want something else, something un-American called Racism, you will reap the whirlwind. Your choice.

GS

Moving forward on race relations as Obama exits - TheDay.Com

RR#5

ON GLOBAL WARMING: ON THE OTHER HAND...
A "Risk / Benefit Analysis"...as is all of Life.

GS

Trump meets with Princeton physicist who says global warming is good for us - WashingtonPost.Com

SATURDAY, January 14, 2017

RR#1

If you'd like to know more about Trump's pick for Homeland Security, USMC Gen. John Kelly, please read the speech that he gave just 4 days after he lost his son in combat. One can hardly conceive of the enormous grief held quietly within General Kelly as he spoke.

Even if you've read this before, read it again and then forward it to your friends......
 
"The Last Six Seconds"

On Nov 13, 2010, Lt General John Kelly, USMC, gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis, MO. This was four days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC, was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of our young men and women who step forward each and every day to protect us.

During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last six seconds in the lives of two young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother Marines.

"I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are, about the quality of the steel in their backs, about the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as veterans. Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22 ND of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and whom he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000.

Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island. They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America's exist simultaneously depending on one's race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.

The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like, "Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass. You clear?"

I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like, "Yes Sergeant," with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, "No kidding, we know what we're doing." They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq.

A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way - perhaps 60-70 yards in length, and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck's engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn't have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.

When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event - just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I'd have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.

I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, "We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing." The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, "They'd run like any normal man would to save his life." "What he didn't know until then," he said, "And what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal."
Choking past the emotion he said, "Sir, in the name of God, no sane man would have stood there and done what they did. No sane man. They saved us all."

What we didn't know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.

You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before, "Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass." The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.

It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were - some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live.

For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines' weapons firing non-stop the truck's windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the ( I deleted) who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers - American and Iraqi-bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.

If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.

The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight - for you.

We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth - freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious - our soldiers, sailors, airmen, U S Customs and Border Patrol, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines - to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can ever steal it away.

It has been my distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our America, this experiment in democracy started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the "land of the free and home of the brave" so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm.

God Bless America , and SEMPER FIDELIS !"

IT WOULD BE NICE (GREAT!) TO SEE the message spread if more would pass it on. Semper Fi, God Bless America and God Bless the United States Marine Corps...

Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever.

RR#2

BE AWARE: THIS UNFORTUNATE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS WILL BECOME MORE COMMON - UNTIL RESPECT FOR THE LAW IS RESTORED.

GS

Good Samaritan Motorist Kills Man Who Shot, Assaulted State Trooper - Yahoo.Com

FRIDAY, January 13, 2017

RR#1

A CHRISTIAN MOVE BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

GS

Malta church goes beyond pope in remarriage guidelines - Yahoo.Com

RR#2

AS DONE PERIODICALLY,
I OFFER THE FOLLOWING READING LIST AS
IMPORTANT NEWS - NOT "FAKE NEWS".
And of course, I offer my opinion on each subject.
GS.

1) On A "GLOBAL ORDER"
a) "We Are Not The World", by Greg Ip, WSJ Review, Jan. 7-8, 2017, pC1.
b) "In Search of World Order", two offerings in NY Times Book Review, Dec. 18, 2016.
c) "Out of Order? The Future of the International System", Foreign Affairs (foreignaffairs.com), Jan. - Feb. 2017.
Human beings have always been tribal in nature.
"Us versus Them" is never far below the civil surface of Society.  Thus, the League of Nations failed. The United Nations is failing, as is the European Union.  It is not that we cannot cooperate...but ONLY when it is in our national self-interest. No nation has friends - only INTERESTS.

2) "THE OBAMA LEGACY", Editorial, WSJ Jan. 10, 2017, Opinion, pA14.
Read it and weep...for ourselves. And welcome a new day.

3) a) "U.S., Russians Using Same Trickster Handbook", by Cal Thomas, in The Day (theday.com), Jan. 11, 2017, Opinion, pA4.
b) "CYBERWAR", NYTimes Book Review, Jan. 8, 2017.

All of the crocodile tears being shed over Russia's alleged hacking of us do not help us prepare for the real WW lV coming, where MAD will result only if one party fails to produce at least a stalemate in the Cyberwar already engaged.

3) "NUCLEAR POWER SOUNDS THE RETREAT", by Russell Gold and Cassandra Sweet, WSJ Jan. 10, 2017, Business and Finance, B1.

STUPIDO! This nation has suffered since the 1960's and will continue to suffer from this severe myopia.  Nuclear power, both current and developing, is the cleanest, cheapest and most potentially available energy source - except for the stupidity and politics involved.

4) "THE OVER-INFLATED PRESIDENCY", by Jeffrey Rosen, WSJ Review, Dec. 17-18-2016, Review, pC1.

"CLOSE...BUT NO CIGAR".
America has always wanted and needed a strong President, beginning with George Washington.  And it has suffered under weak or weakened Presidents.  It is the politicians, legislators, bureaucrats and special interests (much better represented than the People) who want otherwise.  And this scenario is playing out now again with the success of President-Elect Donald Trump...and of the People, this time. And it involves "all the usual suspects": Republican, Democrat, trade unions, Wall Street, etc.

5) "TOM SOWELL,A FEARLESS CONTRARIAN, PUTS DOWN THE PEN", by Jason L. Riley, in WSJ Jan. 4, 2017, Opinion, pA15.
"The 86-year-old economist asked questions others didn't and wrote the answers in plain English."

Contrast this with the fulminations of Paul Krugman, the Linus Pauling of Economics...he who lost his way in the thicket of Vitamin C.

"THAT'S ALL, FOLKS".

GS

THURSDAY, January 12, 2017

"FAKE NEWS?"
"A picture is worth..."

GS

A Picture's Worth... (.pdf)

WEDNESDAY, January 11, 2017

AS THE "Nattering Nabobs of Negativity", ESPECIALLY THE NYTIMES AND NBC, CONTINUE THEIR INCESSANT DRUMBEAT FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT FOUR YEARS, the following is what we mere Americans must focus on, monitor and work to implement.

That is our democracy.

GS

Why It’s Important to Understand Trump and Trumpism - GingrichProductions.Com

TUESDAY, January 10, 2017

INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT OUR WORLD.
I found #17 especially telling...about America's priorities. At least it's not politicians.

GS

Intersting Maps (.pdf)

MONDAY, January 9, 2017

"...AS A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS"...
And as if as a further exclamation point, one of our largest and oldest Sequoias felled by a California deluge.

GS

Death Rides A Pale Horse - American Center for Democracy

SUNDAY, January 8, 2017

RR#1

"FAKE FACTS"?
I Don't Think So.

GS

Obama, the laziest president, demonstrates the problem with politics - CTViewPoints.Org

RR#2

DECEMBER 7, 1941.  A date "that will live in infamy"...but that does not even live in the consciousness of thousands of our "students".

And that story has clear relevance for America's safety today. For the lessons that should have been learned from that experience HAVE NOT BEEN LEARNED.

This nation is more vulnerable to direct attack and destruction today than on Dec. 7, 1941: different, but more direct and more deadly - and here I don't even include massive nuclear attack.
Read: "All The Gallant Men: The First Memoir by a USS Arizona Survivor", by Donald Stratton (with Ken Gire), Harper Collins, 2016.

It is not easy.  Have a towel handy. And definitely read and study Chapter 12, "The Lessons of Pearl Harbor".

GS

SATURDAY, January 7, 2017

RR#1

"GROUP-THINK": A GROWING CANCER IN AMERICA'S EDUCATIONAL LIFE,
now reportedly beginning in grammar school.

As I have said and written many times, this nation is in real danger from Totalitarianism from the Left: those victims and perpetrators of mass hysteria, mass hypnosis...the Articulate, Arrogant and Asinine among us.  They are no longer capable of Rational Thought.

They must be identified and resisted, treated or marginalized.

Nothing less than the survival of the experiment called America is at stake.

This nation has no greater enemy at this time and for the next generation.

GS

Georgia Tech Climatologist Chooses 'Career Suicide' to Keep Her 'Scientific Integrity' - PJMedia.Com

RR#2

WHAT IS "CONSERVATISM"?

AND WHAT IS "AMERICAN CONSERVATISM"?

Herewith, the Antidote to "Group-Think".

GS

A More American Conservatism - Hillsdale.Edu

RR#3

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR A WHILE.

GS

Trump: Only 'Stupid People' or 'Fools' Think Good US-Russia Relations Are Bad - NewsMax.Com

FRIDAY, January 6, 2017

FORGET THE "BUCKET LIST" AND THE BUCKET.
Empty it now - and keep it empty!

GS

AND THEN IT IS WINTER....
 
THIS IS RIGHT ON THE NOSE. .......READ IT SLOWLY... I DON'T KNOW WHO WROTE IT, BUT I AM GUESSING IT WAS A SENIOR!!! I FIRST STARTED READING THIS EMAIL & WAS READING FAST UNTIL I REACHED THE THIRD SENTENCE. I STOPPED AND STARTED OVER READING SLOWER AND THINKING ABOUT EVERY WORD. THIS EMAIL IS VERY THOUGHT-PROVOKING. MAKES YOU STOP AND THINK.

AND THEN IT IS WINTER
 
You know. . . time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.
 
It seems just yesterday that I was young, and embarking on my new life. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams. But, here it is... the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go?
 
I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like. But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.
 
Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory!  Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!
 
And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!
 
But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...it's NOT over. A new adventure will begin!
 
Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime.
 
So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!
 
Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!
 
"Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.
LIVE IT WELL! ENJOY TODAY! DO SOMETHING FUN! BE HAPPY! HAVE A GREAT DAY!
 
REMEMBER:....
"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
"LIVE HAPPY IN THIS YEAR AND EVERY YEAR!
 
LASTLY, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:
TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE SO - ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.
~Your kids are becoming you......
~Going out is good.. Coming home is better!
~You forget names.... But it's OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!!
~You realize you're never going to be really good at anything.... especially golf.
~The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don't care to do them anymore.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than in bed. It's called "pre-sleep".
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch.
~You tend to use more 4 letter words ... "what?".."when?"... "what?" . ???
~Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere.
~You notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!!
~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
~Everybody whispers.
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet.... 2 of which you will never wear.
~But Old is good in some things: Old Songs, Old movies, and best of all, OLD FRIENDS!!
 
Stay well, "OLD FRIEND.

It's Not What You Gather, But What You Scatter That Tells What Kind Of Life You Have Lived.

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY, January 4 and 5, 2017

RR#1

EXACTLY!

GS

Whose Table? - GingrichProductions.Com

RR#2

AS I HAVE BEEN WARNING MY COLLEAGUES AND THE LEADERSHIP AT LAWRENCE AND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL SINCE THE EARLY 1980'S:
"Watch out, or Backus will eat your lunch."

This began with a successful "palace revolt" by the Backus Hospital Medical Staff against its administration which took place in the mid-1970's.  From that point on, the Backus physicians have played a major role in the development of that hospital. Meanwhile, a successive array of LM CEO's, their Boards and some physician leadership have progressively marginalized the LM Medical Staff to its current truncated state with a "win-lose" approach endemic in the mind -set of less-enlightened business "Suits" everywhere.

"YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB, BROWNIE".

GS

Waterford surgery center to double in size - TheDay.Com

RR#3

PUBLIC SCHOOL POLITICS:
Another SWAMP that needs draining.

GS

Mastery exam task force report due soon — its findings ‘predetermined’ - CTViewPoints.Org

TUESDAY, January 3, 2017

THE MISTREATMENT OF OUR VETERANS IS NOT NEW.

Where do Americans stand today?

GS



MONDAY, January 2, 2017

The Public School Mafia, aka Teachers' Unions, continue to fight school choice including charter schools and magnet schools. And their victims of over 40 years continue to support them and their wholly owned subsidiary - the Democratic Party.

Amazing:
Albert Einstein's definition of IDIOCY in action.
Please see: "Sanctuary Colleges, Public School Poverty", by Chris Powell, in The Day (www.theday.com), Sunday Jan. 1, 2017, Opinion, pB4.

GS

SUNDAY, January 1, 2017

RR#1

JUST SO YOU KNOW.  AND YOU NEED TO KNOW.

GS

In 2017, GOP Congress sees mandate to undo Obama's agenda - Yahoo.Com

RR#2

This is a needed discussion vital for our "children of all ages".
An excellent summary of the current facts and research, together with a cautionary tale
for physicians, has just been published;
"Malpractice Liability and Medical Marijuana", by Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D., in
The Health Lawyer (American Bar Association Health Law Section).
Volume 29, Number 2, December 2016, p1.

GS

Time to engage the debate on legalizing pot in Connecticut - TheDay.Com

RR#3


JUST AS WORLD WARS 1 AND 2 HAD THEIR TINDERBOXES, WORLD WAR 4 WILL HAVE ITS OWN:
THE MIDDLE EAST.

That's why what happens with Israel is so important to us in America. It is in our VITAL INTEREST.

See more on this subject:
"Obama to Israel: Drop Dead, Friend', by Cal Thomas,
in The Day (www.theday.com), Friday Dec. 30, 2016, Opinion, pA4.

GS

RR#4

AN OLD MAN AT THE WHITE HOUSE

One sunny day in 2017, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench.  He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton."

The Marine replied, "Sir, Mrs. Clinton is not President and doesn't reside here."
The old man said, "Okay," and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton".
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mrs. Clinton is not President and doesn't reside here."
The man thanked him and again walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Hillary Clinton."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mrs. Clinton. I've told you already several times that Mrs. Clinton is not the President and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?"

The old man answered, "Oh, I understand you fine. I just love hearing your answer."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, Sir."



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